“Okay, this should be it.” Glyn pushes open a steel door in front of him.
The door swings open with the loud screech of metal. Inside a large control console sits covered in a black fleshy mass. Next to the control console, a map of the ship hangs on the wall, with two chairs sitting in front of the console. Pepper flies in, burning away the flesh covering the console as Glyn enters and places Mila down in the room's corner. She stammers, shivering, as Glyn rubs her cheek.
“Pepper, watch the door and try healing Mila if you can. I’ll make the preparations.” He stands looking down at the floor. “This is an annoying little ritual. But if I do this right, then we can proceed. If I don’t, then we’re dead.”
“That’s no pressure at all.”
“I’ve researched it, and I have the diagram for the magic circle memorized. So, if I don’t get this right, then it’s truly lost forever. It’s time to revive impossible magic again.”
“Again!? Oh, right, with Fenwick’s girls and those monsters. But the Spirit Summoning is different from crafting a Holy Weapon, right?”
He nods. “In theory, yes. But when I was researching the two rituals, they have a similar structure in how they work. It’s just their source that makes it different. I even have a theory that the ones who originally made this spell were looking into the Spirit Summoning ritual in an attempt to make their own.” Glyn says with a smile on his face.
Pepper stares at him. “Despite the dire circumstances, I have a feeling this is almost fun for you.”
“Trust me, this is interesting, but I’m putting saving our lives and beating that Demon as my highest priority. But I can’t help but be a little happy that I finally get to test my theory.”
“I guess I can understand that a little. I guess.” Pepper says, patting Mila’s head as she stirs. “But I wonder just how can we pull this off without Mila. In my current state, my Mana won’t be enough.”
“If worse comes to worst, I can exhaust the Mana in my body and try to overpower the curse. It’s an extremely dangerous method, and I may never recover afterwards, but. If it’ll kill this Demon then….”
“Calling it dangerous is underselling it. With your situation, you may never wake up, or you could even die from the attempt.”
“If it’ll keep everyone safe, then it's worth it. Even if it only buys them a few moments of safety, that’s good too. At least this way, I don’t drag anyone else down with me. I’ll do what I can to keep everyone safe. I am the King after all.” He says with a smile.
Pepper shakes her head. “You know none of us will accept that.”
“I know.”
“Then why would you do it?”
“Because if anyone’s going to get hurt, then I’d rather it be me than someone else. I’ll do what I can to keep everyone safe. Even if it costs me at the end of the day.”
Pepper sits in silence watching Glyn sitting on Mila’s head. “Come on. You have to wake up. If you don’t, then you're going to lose something important to you.”
Mila sits in the darkness, cradling herself as she stares off into the nothingness surrounding her. She hears voices echoing through the darkness. But every voice comes out jumbled and distorted, incomprehensible to her. She simply sits there, wrapping her tails around herself as she sits, her eyes dazed over as the world fades out around her.
“
How long are you going to keep sitting there?
” A voice reaches her.
She turns her gaze to see a roaring flame looking back at her. “What?”
“
How long are you going to sit here? Everyone’s waiting on you.
” The flame cries out in her voice.
“I…” She tries to speak, but her voice cracks.
“
You’ve been sitting here alone all this time. Everyone’s waiting for you to get back.
”
“I messed up. It’s my fault.”
“
Oh?
”
“I can’t control myself. I made us split up, and I nearly hurt Glyn. I didn’t listen to him, and I can’t do anything but rampage. Everyone’s better off without me.”
“
That’s just an excuse.
”
“Huh?”
“
You're scared and running away. If you want, then just give in to your power like you have before. Even with the seal over your power, it should be easy for you to just let that power rampage within you.
”
“I….”
“
You're nothing but a coward. Running away from a fight, running away scared, the boy you like won’t love you, running away from your pain, and everything else. All you do is run away. You can’t even face yourself, can you?
”
“I…”
“
So just give up and give yourself over to me. Let me take control and give up on yourself. Just like always.
”
Mila shakes. “I don’t want to. I….”
“
Just give up and break open the seal. Burn it away with your flames and give yourself over to me!
”
She reaches out to the flames as the Queen Piece appears in front of her. Cracked and barely standing together, the Queen Piece sits in front of her. She pauses, looking at the Piece as a warm sensation radiates from the Piece before her.
“This is.”
“
Do you feel it now? The Piece may drain our Mana, but it connects us to everyone. Our power is their power, and their power is our power. Do you get what I mean?
”
She stares at the flames. “What are you? You….”
The flames take shape into a young girl identical to herself with a scowl on her face. “
It’s your fault for forgetting. But if you're going to be like me, then you'd better shape up. Understand!?
”
“Um….”
“
You'd better shape up. Your memories may be back, but that changes nothing. Just try your hardest, and don’t you dare die out there? Got it!?
”
Mila’s eyes crack open, looking up at Pepper as the fairy stares back at her.
“Pepper?”
“Mila. You're awake.”
“What’s happening?” Mila tries to stand, but her legs buckle under her own weight. “Huh?”
“Don’t move too much; you’ve exhausted a lot of your Mana and pushed yourself too hard. Your muscles must be exhausted by now.”
“Where’s Glyn? I thought I…”
Mila looks ahead to see Glyn standing in the middle of a red circle pattern on the ground. He stands looking down at the pattern at his feet. He goes across the spots, erasing and adding bits and pieces to correct the pattern. As he takes out a pen to add more to the pattern, he looks over at Mila, staring at him.
“Mila!” He rushes to her side, ignoring the magic circle as he stares at her. “Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?!”
Mila stares at him. “Glyn I…”
He stares at her, and his face goes red. He lowers his face away from her. “I’m happy you're awake.”
“I…” Mila’s mind flashes back to Glyn kissing her moments ago. “I…”
Pepper sighs. “That’s enough, you two. We have something important to do, right?”
Glyn nods. “You're right. Mila.” Glyn looks up and stares into Mila’s eyes. “There’s a lot I have to say to you. First off, I want to apologize for putting you in this much danger.”
“Oh, I… I don’t mind.”
“No, I… I should be more careful. Running into danger, it’s not…”
Mila grabs Glyn’s face and stares at him. “It’s fine. I want to support you and be at your side no matter what may come. Even if it puts me in danger, I couldn’t bear the idea of you being hurt and alone.”
“Mila….” Glyn stares at her and smiles. “Okay. But there’s something else we have to talk about. But that can wait for later. For now, we have a Demon to kill.”
“A Demon?” Mila stares ahead as Glyn stands.
He reaches his hand down towards her. “Mila, do you want to fight alongside me no matter what may come?!”
She grabs his hand. “Of course!”
“Good. Then let’s make you a Hero!”
“A Hero?”
Glyn pulls her up. “I’ll use your Mana as a medium to finish the Sacred Weapon summoning, and then you’ll slay the Demon, becoming a Hero not unlike the former king.”
“But I…. I….”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be by your side throughout the whole thing. We’ll work together, and we’ll kill this, Demon. Okay?”
She nods and smiles. “Okay. I trust you.”
“That’s good. I’d be devastated if you didn’t.”
As Glyn and Mila center themselves in the magic circle, it ignites, shining brightly as Mila stands at its center. The pair look at each other as a loud knock comes from the door. The door creaks open, and a large, red eye peers through, staring into the room.
“There you are!?”
“Great, another one. Pepper holds him back for now.” Glyn says.
Pepper nods and steps in front of the door. “Demon scum. Stay out of our way!” She yells, firing off a burst of wind that shoots the creature back. “I’ll hold him off; you two get to work.”
Glyn nods and rushes to the console. “Hopefully, this thing works.”
“What’re you doing?” Mila asks.
“I’m sending out a message. We’re going to need everyone to use their power to weaken this damned thing so we can kill it in a single swipe.” Glyn flips switches on the console as it powers on, parts and panels slowly coming to life as he finds a microphone nearby. “I hope this thing works.”
“I may not know what’s happening exactly. But I know we can pull this off.” Mila says.
Glyn nods and takes a deep breath. “To every King Candidate in the area, listen to me! This is Glyn Mattox. I’m speaking across every available frequency. I have a plan to destroy this Demon. I need you to fire your most powerful weapons at the Demon all at once. Once it's weakened, then we can finish it once and for all!” He yells out before repeating himself, sending his message across the islands.
Mila watches, putting her hands together as multiple tails come out, spreading across the magic circle. “We’ll kill that thing and go home. All of us!” She declares as flames burn on the ends of her tails, as the magic circle glows brighter.