The emptiness persisted.

“Shouldn’t we have been sent back by now?”

As if triggered by my question, the darkness faded and opened to a brand new scene.

***

Only, this scene wasn’t the present-time real world I was supposed to return to.

Even so, I had been here before.

Ruined streets, crumbling buildings, hills of dirt and soot– I recognized all of it. This was the same Synoria Outlook from that memory of Yukiko’s past.

However, my perspective this time around wasn’t quite the same.

For some reason, I felt as if I were viewing the streets from slightly higher up.

“You asked before about how I, the original Seraphim, still exist in spite of being decayed by the corruption.”

Seraphim still with me in this memory?

“I decided the best way to tell you would be to show you. I’m sure you recognize the time and place. Yukiko told me that you had seen it before, only from a perspective closer to hers. Right now, you’re viewing the fall of Synoria Outlook from my own.”

We descended from the air, hovering just above the ground.

“That girl over there is the same Yukiko that you know now. In the chaos of Ezirok’s rampage through Synoria, she was separated from her brother and guild. I’m not too sure what happened following their separation, but she eventually ended up here… alone, isolated from the ones she loved, and surrounded by death.”

So that was the full story of this memory…

“I doubt it helped her nerves at all, considering my identity, but I was the first one to find her in this state.”

My view suddenly switched to a 3rd person perspective, no longer viewing the world from Seraphim’s eyes.

“Before encountering her, my mind was almost gone, broken into pieces by the strain of the corruption.”

I saw Seraphim offer a hand to the young Yukiko, the same way I had done to her when I first found myself in his position.

“The being I had become never would’ve helped someone as I did here. I wasn’t even a Herald yet, so I had no obligations to Synoria. It wasn’t that other identity that reached out to Yukiko, but my own.”

He paused for a moment before continuing.

“In all honesty… she reminded me of my own daughter. In that sense, she was my ‘saving grace’ that pulled the smallest bit of my former self out from the depths of that being. In that emptiness, I became conscious again. I was fully aware that I wasn’t in control of my own body, but from that moment on, ‘I’ existed beneath the exterior of ‘Seraphim.’”

I watched as Seraphim pulled Yukiko onto her feet, leading her out of that dirty alley and into the light of day.

She squinted her eyes and shielded her face with her forearm.

“I struck a deal with that other me. I wanted to see my family again– see my daughter again… that was the only thing that that fragment of me knew. In the depths of my mindscape, I pieced together every broken piece of my former self I could find. Bits of personality, of memory, of emotion, all of it. It was like trying to put a shattered vase back together. I would never repair myself to be the same, but beneath the other me where nobody would ever know me, beneath the guilt of my own choices, I could feel just a bit satisfied.”

“So that’s why she allowed you to use her image in my mindscape…”

“Yes. It was thanks to that chance encounter that we both are where we are now. If not for me, it's unlikely she would’ve ever gotten the courage to leave that place alone. If not for her, ‘Seraphim’ would have simply become the being you first encountered. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“I understand now.”

With every passing moment I shared with Seraphim, I could feel my perception of him growing ever more human.

“Thank you for telling me all this.”

“It’s the only way I could think to repay you for what you two have already done for me.”

“Is there a… different name you had back in your own world? Something I could call you that’s a bit less–”

“There is not. The name I once bore wasn’t among the memories I was able to retrieve. However, ‘Seraphim’ will do just fine. At least now, its meaning has become something I can consider my own.”

The Seraphim and Yukiko of this memory were walking towards the southern gate.

As they neared it, a troop of soldiers on horseback approached, likely combing through ruined settlements for survivors. They raised their swords and spears towards Seraphim in hostility.

Yet, he didn’t attack. Instead, he simply smiled at Yukiko, a distant warmth in his eyes, before taking to the skies, his wings guiding his flight as his figure slowly faded in the distance.

What it meant to be a hero… what it meant to save someone… I no longer thought any of it could be truly grasped through a single definition.

Yukiko’s POV

“Back in the real world at last…”

I shakily rose to my knees, taking care to not hit my head against the roofing overhead.

With one hand, I gently pushed aside a tile, allowing the sunlight to beam onto my face.

I was told to seek shelter by my brother before the blast that sent us all into our worst of memories. The building I had decided to hide myself in lay to the north of Synoria Outlook, almost entirely untouched by the previous battle.

My safety was merely a stroke of luck.

I fully emerged onto the rooftops, surveying the damage.

It seemed that Seraphim’s ‘Heavenly Lance’ technique was both physical and psychological, being able to do massive damage even from the in-between.

“One more round…” I muttered as I dashed towards the crater to the south.

Seraphim’s body remained unmoving as I approached. His first and second identities hadn’t yet returned to the real world.

It would’ve been much simpler to end our battle right here and now, but a spiraling storm of corrupted energy raged around his body.

I picked up a small stone no larger than my pinky finger and tossed it towards that mass of energy.

It was instantly torn to shreds.

As I suspected, approaching him even as he slumbered would’ve been too dangerous.

Directly across from Seraphim stood Kaito, his body similarly surrounded by a whirling mass of energy. However, his was mainly composed of mana, various attributes intertwining with one another, and layered over by a faint trace of something else.

I couldn’t quite judge what that other energy was. It was something I was unfamiliar with, being neither mana nor corruption. It seemed to be… of a higher order.

I then moved towards the bodies of Setsuya and Seika.

The two of them were lying on the ground, their brows tensing, then relaxing, then tensing again above their closed eyelids. Occasionally, they mumbled passing phrases I couldn’t quite make out, periodically tossing and turning between moments of stillness.

I found it unnerving seeing the two strongest people I knew reduced to such a state.

Regardless, I needed to wake them up. It was only a matter of time before Seraphim’s other two identities returned to fight us here.

I quickly took a knee and tried gently shaking my brother first, but to no avail. I shook him a little bit harder, calling out his name, but he still showed no signs of waking.

I tried doing the same with Seika, but was met with the same result.

“No…”

Rumble! 

I nearly fell over as a sudden tremor shook the ground.

Turning around, I could now see the corrupted energy surrounding Seraphim’s body beginning to pulsate, sparks like burning lightning bursting out, then vanishing as fast as they came. 

Was he already beginning to wake up?

There was no way I’d stand a chance alone, yet knowing that, I still tightly grasped the hilt of my dagger. 

Another tremor reverberated through the air.

Woosh! The energy around Seraphim dispersed in all directions, driving pulses of wind that battered the surrounding terrain.

His limbs creaked as they slowly began to move, regaining their range of motion. His eyes hadn’t quite opened just yet.

All that my senses could properly register was the immense pressure and presence emitted by this being before me, yet only a single thought occupied my mind, contradicting all my instincts to flee.

“If there was anything I could do without Setsuya, Seika, or Kaito beside me, it had to be right now.”

I could still try to inflict as much damage as I could before he awoke.

I focused my perception on Seraphim’s core.

The pressure continued to accumulate, now even beginning to exceed what I had felt from him in the in-between.

I likely didn’t have time to perform all three ‘dances’ of my technique, and it was even more likely that the first two alone wouldn’t be able to strike the core with sufficient force.

I broke into a sprint before finalizing my plan.

I could jump directly into a frontal attack using the third dance, but doing so would forgo the crucial momentum built up by the first two dances.

Would I really have to leave it all up to improvisation and luck?

Something of the sort seemed to align more with what the headstrong Kaito or brash Seika would do, but at this point, I had already committed by taking the first step, hadn’t I?

That’s right… It was about time I began allowing myself to freely grow in the heat of battle.

If I needed to charge my swing with more force than I could muster through my strength alone, then what was to say I had to do so through directly attacking?

First Step: Layered Snowstorm

Dances consisted of steps, of parts that made up a whole. 

I condensed my aura until it became as sharp as possible.

Second Step: Falling Thrust

Each step would add to the whole, not needing to be complete merely on its own.

I angled my body forwards more.

Seraphim was only a few more paces from me.

All the while, my blade swung towards nothing. 

I didn’t need to strike my opponent with each step of my dance. I only needed the steps to connect with one other, to flow into the next, all for the final motion that would complete the dance in its entirety.

Third Dance: Ice Pick

Pang!

An arrow of dagger and mana shot forwards towards Seraphim’s core.

A massive slash opened diagonally across his chest, expanding from the width of my dagger as it pierced through his hardened body.

My arms stopped moving forwards.

It wasn’t deep enough.

The cracks were propagating, but my dagger hadn’t been driven completely through. 

Seraphim opened his eyes.

“So you’re the girl those two are so interested in?! What a joke– But such an opportunity has presented itself to me! I’ll relish the looks on their faces…”

These had to have been the words of the first identity.

I could feel the core tighten around my dagger– Was he regenerating with it still lodged inside?!

His wings unfurled as their feathers sharpened like spearheads, poised to strike.

I couldn’t remove my dagger.

Yet, even with my life on the line, I didn’t want to let go.

I had built a new identity for myself in the past few days. I had grown into a person I could be more confident in– one that I could be proud of.

And this very weapon was one of the seeds that allowed me to do so– it was a gift– a treasure– a piece of what I had built up on my own.

***

To move forward between two is to let go of one.

***

The me I wanted to be didn’t have to be confined to this dagger.

I relaxed my fingers and let go as the blades of Seraphim’s wings plunged down.

I had made my decision with certainty, hadn’t I?

If so, then why did death still stare me down?

Was I too slow to make a choice?

Clang!

There was a flash of white before my eyes.

A swift arc of silver steel had intercepted the attack.

“Setsuya?! But how–”

As I began processing the sight before me, I froze, unable to finish my sentence.

Yes, it was Setsuya that had defended me then and there, yet his eyes were closed, his breathing slow, as if asleep.

“...I can’t talk for long… Get back from here… I’ll hold him off… Kaito still isn’t awake, right..?”

His words lacked the typical full strength of his voice.

Even so, I could understand what he was telling me to do.

I wouldn’t cause him any more worry.

Without another word, I sprinted away from the fight as my brother finally repelled Seraphim’s wings.

I didn’t quite understand how, but he seemed to have split his consciousness between the realm of his memories and the real world.

That was the only logical explanation for his current state.

As the ringing of clashing blades echoed behind me, I set my sights on only the task before me.

It was time for Kaito to return to the real world.