“So that’s the side you’ve decided to take…”

Seraphim’s words were laced with bitter resentment, each consonant enunciated like it was a foul taste to spit out.

His eyes swiveled in their sockets as he launched off the ground towards me, arms sharpened and poised to strike.

“As the challenger, shouldn’t I be making the first move?”

Right here and right now, I was faster than him.

The gap between us vanished in an instant as I swung a left hook towards his face.

Bam!

His head reeled back from the sudden shock, but sustained no damage.

Continuing the momentum from my swing, I spun my body around, now laying both hands on the katana in my grasp.

Clang!

He swiftly blocked with his forearm, sparks flying as the steel clashed against his body.

With another motion, he jabbed towards my eyes with his other arm, forcing me to leap a couple paces back. 

“Coward!”

He lunged forwards once more.

Verse 1 (x4): Steps in powdered snow

Backwards three times to dodge…

His swings narrowly passed by my face each time.

Then forwards once to counter.

I felt the tip of the blade sink shallowly into his chest, tracing along a path before I withdrew it.

“This is the strength you think will defeat me?”

“Killing you wasn’t my goal,” I replied, flashing Yukiko’s dagger in my left hand.

I tossed the dagger over in Yukiko’s direction, watching as it fell and sunk into the dirt a few feet beside her.

“I’ve fulfilled my end of the promise now.”

I returned my gaze to Seraphim, the corrupted wings of my aura blazing.

“Die!”

We charged towards each other again and again.

Each and every contest was a battle of strength and skill that sent the echoes of tempered steel ringing throughout the area.

I had to confine our fight to this vicinity.

I wouldn’t allow him to move closer to Synoria Outlook nor Yukiko.

This battle was for myself and Seraphim to finish.

“Kaito! Focus in with your right eye. Something’s going on between the two identities!”

I didn’t have time to focus.

He was slowing down and that’s what mattered.

I could finish this if I just pushed forwards a little bit more.

“WATCH OUT!”

This time, it felt as if someone else had grabbed onto my body, dragging me back and away from the battlefield.

I regained my balance and looked up.

Jutting out from Seraphim’s chest were spikes of immeasurably dense corrupted energy.

Those weren’t merely constructs of average corrupted energy– No… that was the result of core manipulation–

“He has two–”

Before either of us could properly realize what had happened, those spiked pieces of Seraphim’s core converged on one another, forming a massive serpent that rushed towards me with jaws agape.

“Go up!”

I listened and channeled my strength into my wings and the air around me, narrowly launching myself out of the way with a gust of wind.

Having missed its target, the serpent retreated to within Seraphim’s chest.

As I hovered midair, carefully surveying the situation below me, it all clicked in my head.

The reason Seraphim had been slowing down was due to the identities splitting. The one that had just tried to attack me itself was a manifestation of the first identity, aggressive and violent. Meanwhile, the other was the second identity that had attempted to subdue the other.

I could see it clearly now– two bright masses of energy that remained distinctly isolated from one another within Seraphim’s body.

I looked in the opposite direction.

With Yukiko’s help, it seemed both Seika and Setsuya were getting up, gradually regaining their bearings.

Not only were Seraphim’s identities losing control over themselves, they were also losing their influence over the area surrounding them.

I watched as Seika and Setsuya looked up at me in shock, shaking their heads at each other before returning their gaze to the enemy before them.

They were beginning to make their moves.

Setsuya looked at me once more and gave a brief nod.

We all had a role to play in their plan.

There was no time to discuss what this plan would be, but I could put together the pieces to some extent.

Seraphim might have had multiple identities residing within one body, but that didn’t change the fact that there was only one physical embodiment for them to share.

In other words, their maximum output could only be achieved if those other two identities were able to work together and focus their wills on a common goal.

Right now, for whatever reason, the two of them could no longer coexist. They were unstable, uncooperative, and most importantly, vulnerable.

I looked at Setsuya’s katana within my hands.

“Divide and conquer…” I muttered, solidifying the plan within my own mind.

I allowed my wings to fold in on themselves, encircling my body as I plummeted towards the ground.

“Faster… Faster…”

With the dirt inches before my face, I released the wind within my palm, redirecting the entirety of my momentum towards Seraphim.

In actuality, all this movement was nothing more than a fancy display involving the manipulation of energy.

These wings didn’t physically work like the ones on Seraphim’s real body.

Yet, even so, in this very moment, I felt as if I were actually flying.

I held the katana steady by my hip.

“Take their powers and make them my own… Bring wind and blade together as one…”

True Gale Iai Slash

A single, swift motion carved its path across Seraphim’s body.

Clang!

The core was still tougher.

I maintained the momentum of my attack while altering the blade's trajectory, swinging my arms high above my head.

Across both halves of Seraphim’s face, I could just make out the fleeting undertones of fear.

“Seraphim! Put everything you’ve got into this next strike!!”

“Understood!”

Three Wings: Feather of Blue and Red

I spun the katana around in my hands, the blade turned forwards once again.

***

A single stroke fell. Silently, without a sound. Yet, with the weight of all that I had become.

***

The entire center of Seraphim’s body had been completely annihilated.

“Why… Why..? WHY?! WHY HAVE YOU TURNED YOUR POWER ON ME?! WHY ARE YOU TOO ABANDONING ME?!”

“You… SOMEONE LIKE YOU COULD NEVER UNDERSTAND!”

Despite the damage they had sustained, the Seraphim’s other two identities were still desperately trying to cling onto life.

I watched as the smallest fragments of their cores, flung off to the side, tried to repair their bodies in vain.

Each was only able to reform half of the whole at best.

Suddenly, I felt the hilt of the katana being gently wrested from my grasp.

Brilliant streaks of red and white burned themselves into my vision as Seika and Setsuya returned to the battlefield, blasting through the regenerating pieces.

Right… before I had joined them in World Zero, these fights were supposed to be theirs.

“No… NO!! It won’t– IT CAN’T END HERE!”

Another bolt of white flashed by my eye, embedding itself within the haphazardly reformed core.

Alternate Dance: Snowflake Arrow

Off in the distance, I could hear Yukiko’s voice calling out to me.

“That’s the best I can do! Finish this!”

I could feel it for certain this time. This would be the final blow.

“One more time.”

“NO!! STAY AWAY! YOU CAN’T KILL ME! WHAT WILL BECOME OF YOUR REGRETS?!”

The closer I drew, the more it felt as if time were slowing down.

“You don’t get to define what my regrets mean to me.”

The instant I said those words, I could hear another voice speaking directly into my mind. 

It wasn’t quite the distinct voice of any of the three identities. Rather, it seemed to be a distant blend of the three. So distant, in fact, it didn’t even feel as if these words came from the present Seraphim.

“Regret… That is the single true common ground that unites all beings that walk this and every world. The bird, in its starvation, regrets its laziness as another claims the worm it had been eyeing. The lion, scarred and alone on its deathbed, regrets the meaningless battles it chose that whittled down its lifespan. And humans… humans are the weakest of all. They repress their traumas. They avoid the consequences of their actions. They, with their unrivaled intelligence, choose to hide behind facades of ‘ideals’ and ‘perfection’. They do not face their regrets… So for what reason do you believe your pitiful existence could suddenly shake off those shackles of regret after running away for so long?”

As I channeled my strength through clenched fists, I briefly wondered if these thoughts were how Seraphim had truly felt deep down.

“It’s simple… I can’t get rid of my regrets. They’ll be with me for the rest of my life, but shackles don’t have to hold you down forever. I’ll keep trying and I’ll get up from them eventually… and I’ll use them to make myself stronger than the person I was before.”

“So that’s your answer…”

I wouldn’t use any special moves to finish this battle. No techniques. No abilities.

In these final moments, the truth of Seraphim’s authority came to me.

Why had I been so weakened before? Why had I suddenly become so strong?

The answer was simple.

A power of regret that weakened one with regrets could equally strengthen them for overcoming such regrets.

I allowed my fist to break through his core for one last time.

“Goodbye… Seraphim I never got to know.”