The Weight of Sacrifice

Once the explosion of light subsided, the blue barrier could once again be seen.

Within it, Morgana was steadying her breathing and placing her staff back on the floor.

Arthur and Merlin looked around at the barrier and both let out sighs of relief.

"I can't believe you managed this kind of barrier on a whim," Arthur put a hand on Merlin's shoulder.

"Well, sire, I'm nothing if not studious. My knowledge has grown quite a bit. I just wish the same could be said for Morgana."

They looked at her with differing expressions, then looked at where Gilgamesh had been.

The space was eradicated, and nothing was left but emptiness.

Merlin removed the barrier, and they regrouped.

"That was reckless, Morgana. You almost damaged the Book." Arthur frowned.

Morgana was all smiles as she waved off his words, "But I didn't, did I? I knew you two would think of something."

She suddenly faltered and shot them both a glare.

"I'm more concerned with the fact that neither of you helped me! What the fuck was that about?"

"You chose to engage before our battle even started, what else could I do?" Arthur shrugged and Merlin acted as though he could not hear her.

They left the Book behind and entered the Infinite Emptiness.

They slowly approached the Bright Speck and Ateah.

"It is finished, Master." Arthur bowed, Merlin and Morgana knelt.

"See, girl? The brother you worshipped is now dead. What sense is there in holding out hope?"

"He cannot save you."

Ateah's wide, teary eyes had never left the mirror. She was focused on the spot where, up to just a short while ago, she had still been able to see Gilgamesh.

Now, there was nothing there. No trace of Gilgamesh at all.

Although she realized what that meant, she could not yet believe it. It slowly set in, though, and her tears came incessantly.

"My brother... Gilgamesh..."

"He died...?"

She turned to look at them with pleading eyes, as if she wanted them to tell her it was a lie.

Arthur sighed, Merlin averted his gaze, but Morgana smirked and raised her staff.

"That's right, little girl. The 11th is dead, and it was this staff that did him in!"

Morgana chuckled triumphantly, and Arthur and Merlin glanced at her out of the corners of their eyes.

How distasteful. She was lucky their Master did not mind.

The Bright Speck was actually focused on its dark counterpart at this time.

"Brother Dark, do you see? Regardless of everything, you still lost. With the 12th in my possession, I will now attain this Bookspace and finally ascend to the Beginningless Library."

"I bet you never thought you'd lose."

The Dark Speck lingered in place, doing nothing. Saying nothing.

Whatever it felt or was thinking was impossible to discern.

Perhaps it was not even thinking anything at all.

Ateah was distraught as she wept, and her spirits were at an all time low.

The Bright Speck focused up and drilled into her essential spirit with his power, creating a bore that extended into Ateah's deepest self.

"My brother can't be dead.... He can't be!"

"It's a lie!"

Morgana chortled and pointed her staff at the mirror.

"Watch then, 12th. Tell me if you think it's a lie!"

The mirror's screen warped, and Ateah hastily looked over at it through her crying eyes.

She saw the blurred image of Morgana's 'Brightness' attack, and Gilgamesh's last moments before he perished.

Her weeping only worsened.

Morgana laughed and played it again.

And again.

And again!

Arthur wanted nothing more than to make her stop, but he knew that the effect it was having on the 12th was exactly what their Master wanted.

Merlin turned away and shut his eyes tightly. He did not want to be a part of this, but he had to.

For the sake of securing the 12th Gilgamesh, any price was worth it. Any price at all.

Even if they had to abandon the very morals they were created to uphold, and become demons themselves.

Ateah, under the Bright Speck's light, tried to resist by twisting and contorting her body in all manner of ways, but she could not escape its grip.

She thrashed as best as she could, all while bawling pitifully.

'This is it,' the Bright Speck said to itself.

'I can feel her resolve weakening! I'm going to seize her essential soul in that instant, and make her mine!'

Holding off on breaking the final barrier that led to her essential soul, the Bright Speck waited for her to totally sink into despair.

When that happened, the wall would weaken on its own.

That was the moment it was waiting for. If the Bright Speck timed it just right, it could do it without even giving her a chance to try resisting.

If it could avoid that, then it might not have to sacrifice any of its three servants.

Especially Arthur! It needed Arthur with it when it ascended!

Ateah, under Morgana's taunting, wept silently. She was slowly losing her energy, and stopped trying to fight the Bright Speck.

'This is it!'

The Bright Speck pushed, and in an instant, it had reached Ateah essential soul!

Only...

The successful outcome it had been predicting did not come.

As soon as Ateah essential soul was breached, her left eye became white, and her right eye became black.

A sizzling sound came from her eyes as her tears evaporated, and her body was instantly freed from the Bright Speck's hold.

She levitated freely, and she bared her teeth wrathfully, like an enraged animal.

"The fuck-" Morgana shrieked, but before she could do anything else, Ateah made a grabbing motion toward her.

"You!"

In that instant, Morgana's head was clutched by an insanely powerful, invisible hand. Her skull was slowly crushed, and her eyes popped out of their sockets, hanging by thin, bloody cords.

Pop!

Her head exploded, like a crushed watermelon.

Arthur and Merlin were shocked.

In an instant, a powerful Bookkeeper was killed.

Under Ateah's intense gaze, even the Bright Speck was speechless and did not dare do anything.

The instant Ateah became like this, its power was driven out of her body by a will it could not defy.

Involuntarily, the Bright Speck thought back to how the Absolute Authority Gilgamesh had beaten it silly.

It had yet to get past that trauma.

Ateah glared at Morgana's corpse and ignored the rest, before turning to face the mirror.

Only then did her wrathful expression seem to soften.

"My Brother... cannot die!"

All of a sudden, her body attained a strange aura that limitlessly surged. Within that aura, they could sense a will that desired to circumvent everything the Bright Speck had created.

It encapsulated the entirety of the Infinite Emptiness, flowing everywhere.

Her focus was on the spot where Gilgamesh had been killed, but she lacked the experience necessary to control her immense power.

It leaked, and affected things she did not even wish to be affected.

Her eyes flashed a wide variety or colors and shades, as images flashed in them. She was trying to see her brother, but ended up seeing iterations of him all across time.

Her power was out of control.

No one would dare interrupt her when she was like this!

Ateah's vision spanned all of time and space within the Bookspace, and she eventually settled on an iteration of Gilgamesh she herself had never even witnessed.

"I can help you, Big Brother..."

"Look... I can be your sword..."

As she spoke the words, her aura created a suspended reversal of time and space, linking a past event with what she was now doing.

In that instant, all the way back in the mystic realm, in the distant past, the Old Power was sifting through the stream of souls.

It was looking for a soul with enough power to fuel a sword it was making.

Suddenly, out of the soul stream, a single soul presented itself, almost as if it was begging to be chosen.

Seeing that soul, the Hand reached out and grabbed it, instantly assessing it.

'Ah, this is a good one,' the Hand evaluated, and then began forging a sword.

This sword had a pitch black, slightly curved blade, and a handle wrapped in black cloth. The pommel closely resembled a pointed shard of black steel.

This sword was Samael.

As for the spirit within it?

Ateah had taken its place.

Perhaps it had always been her, or perhaps her actions had actually changed history.

Time was funny like that.

Once this was complete, Ateah's aura faded and her body weakened.

The Bright Speck quickly grabbed her with its power and assessed her condition, while also reaching toward her essential soul as fast as it could.

That was when, for the first time, Arthur and Merlin saw their Master express nothing but pure rage.

"FUCK! NOO!! NOOOO!!!!"

The Bright Speck grew to its usual size, emitting nothing but pure red light, indicating its rage.

"Master!?" Merlin almost jumpee out of his skin.

"What is it, Master?" Arthur gulped.

The Bright Speck was seething in rage.

"This little girl...."

"THIS LITTLE GIRL!!!"

"SHE NO LONGER POSSESSES THE POWER OF A GILGAMESH!"

Arthur and Merlin were slack-jawed.

She did what!?

Before they could even properly consider what had happened, the Bright Speck crazily barked orders at them.

"QUICK! YOU MUST FIND OUT WHAT SHE DID WITH IT!"

"SCOUR THE BOOKS! EVERYWHERE THAT THE 11TH WAS!"

"FIND THAT POWER!"

"BRING IT BACK TO ME!!!"

While the Bright Speck was freaking it, and Arthur and Merlin hurried to enact its will, Ateah was steadily getting weaker and weaker.

Her skin paled and dried up, her hair turned brittle and her eyes glazed over.

She lacked the ability to speak, and so could only say the words in her heart.

'Little Feather... finally got the chance to save you... Big Brother...'

Those were...

Ateah's last words.