Lia descended.
The air weighed like lead in her lungs. Each exhalation burned as her eyes scanned the place, searching every nook and cranny for signs of life.
The ground, icy, bit into her feet. She hadn't noticed it until now: the cold in that place was not normal. It crept under the skin as if searching for the soul.
She lifted her head suddenly. Something made her muscles tense.
She fixed her gaze in a precise direction. Dust and smoke blurred her vision. A shiver ran down her spine. It wasn't fear. It was instinct. Something was there. Motionless. Lurking.
The silence was so thick it could be cut with his sword.
Until—
Zing!
A blade cut through the darkness from the gloom and grazed her cheek. A burning line opened on her skin. She didn't flinch; the heat of her blood sliding down her face only fanned the flame in her gaze.
She clenched her fist.
In the blink of an eye, a dozen mana blades materialized around her, spinning like a silvery whirlwind before hurtling into the void.
Clang-clang-clang-clang!
The metals collided in a symphony of sparks, illuminating Seik's figure for an instant. The boy emerged from the flashes, flowing like ink on paper.
But Lia was no longer there.
For Seik, this was training. Difficult, yes... but it was still training. Compared to his fight against Erick, he still had room to breathe.
He inhaled deeply.
He remembered the training. The effort. The past duels...
His death.
Suddenly, he was behind Lia.
He launched a slash straight at her back.
But Lia felt it—that subtle change in air pressure. She spun, enveloped in an electric flash, and teleported to her right. She counterattacked instantly: her mana sword sliced through the void where Seik had been a split second before.
But he had already vanished.
It was a sharp dance of ghosts, choreographed in an endless night.
They appeared. They disappeared. The air trembled with each teleportation, each impact echoing like distant thunder. The drops of the Phoenix and the trickle of the Machine set the rhythm, like distant, relentless war drums.
Seik was adapting. He was learning. His movements became faster, more lethal. He dodged the blade traps created by Lia. He read angles. She read breaths. He listened to the echo of her footsteps and anticipated each strike before it happened.
But Lia... she was pure fury. Fury in human form.
With a choked scream, she pivoted on her heel. Her aura burst into a halo of violet energy, pushing the shadows back like a contained explosion.
Zzack!
The ground cracked under the shockwave.
And then—
Seik appeared behind her, right in the middle of the electric burst.
Lia spun sharply—frantic—teleported to the ground and jumped back to gain distance. But it was too late: he had already thrown his blade. She blocked it by pure instinct with her mana sword... just as Seik had predicted.
That automatic reflex left her exposed.
The boy teleported to the ground and lunged at her without hesitation. He landed a sharp blow to her abdomen and, before she could react, another straight to the back of her head.
The impact shook her. Lia gritted her teeth, her eyes widening, twitching with pain.
"It worked for me... the old reliable," Seik muttered sarcastically.
Lia fell to her knees. The sword slipped from her hands, clattering to the ground with a muffled sound.
She gasped. Her breathing was erratic, a back-and-forth broken by pain. The blows had robbed her of air, and rage boiled in her chest.
"What did you do to me, you bastard?" she spat, blood flecking her lips. "I don't want to die! If life betrayed me... then I'll make sure it doesn't happen again!"
Then, screaming, Lia lunged forward.
She gripped the sword tightly and slashed furiously toward Seik's face.
He jerked back. The blade grazed his left cheek, leaving a clean cut. A trickle of blood ran slowly down his skin.
Seik stepped back a few meters, clenching his jaw. His eyes remained unchanged.
"Lia... you really don't want to?" he asked. His voice, empty, floated between them without emotion. He wasn't looking at Lia. He stared into the darkness behind her.
She watched him like a cornered beast, panting in the shadows.
Her hands trembled as she held the sword.
"I-I told you no! Why don't you understand, child?! I don't want to! I don't want to!"
And she collapsed.
She fell into herself, curled up in a ball. She cried as if those words—saying them aloud—were tearing out more than just her soul. As if, at last, she had admitted that she no longer wanted to be what she was... and didn't know how to stop being it.
Seeing her like that, broken, sobbing, could make anyone think she was innocent.
Or that she was simply trapped.
Maybe she was. Maybe it was all a façade.
And that was the doubt that inhabited Seik.
Because you don't kill just for the sake of killing. You have to understand what's behind it first.
And that was exactly what he was doing.
"I understand," he said at last, lowering his gaze slightly to meet his face in the shadows. "I will proceed with your execution."
Seik's words made Lia flinch. She sat up with an effort, staggering, but before she could say anything, he was already on top of her.
A blade sliced through the air. She blocked it awkwardly as she stepped back.
She raised her left arm toward Seik. In her palm, the air began to condense, vibrating, as if something invisible was taking shape.
Seik advanced with slow steps, the blade glowing in the darkness.
"If you take one more step, I'll send you flying, you damned devil child! Stay away from me!"
He stopped just at the edge of the next step.
The Phoenix's droplets were falling harder. Silver light filtered through the crack in the ceiling, illuminating the floor between them. Shadows lengthened like tentacles.
Seik's face was half covered by the gloom. His eyes, intense, seemed to light up.
Up there, in the shadows, Erick watched them without intervening. He was not looking at Lia, only at his son. Every gesture, every step, he analyzed with attention.
Lia felt her body tense again. Her eyes widened. Tears, uncontainable, ran down her cheeks like overflowing rivers.
"Lia... You didn't kill for pleasure, did you? You were forced to. You said survival was the only thing you had left, no matter what it took. Then you said you'd never be anyone's weapon again. Then you..."
Seik's eyes lit up again. His crimson light seemed to have finished the study. His gaze was cutting, as if he had just found the root of it all.
"You are not a murderer," he said. "You are a victim."
He held out his hand to her. He was still. Precise.
The sound of the phoenix's droplets began fading, slow and distant.
"Lia, survive with me. I can see how you wear those masks... but right now, I see the real Lia."
Lia stopped crying. Astonishment tightened her face. Her lips trembled.
For an instant, there was only the distant echo of the machine dripping on the wooden chair. But even that sound was beginning to fade.
Lia lowered her arm weakly, as if it were suddenly too heavy. The air in her palm slowly dissipated, as if the pain were slowly subsiding.
Her expression changed. And then, at last, the tears came. This time, for real.
The mana sword unraveled between her fingers. It did not burst. It did not break. It was as if the soul itself released it with a sigh. It just... vanished, as if it had never been a part of her.
Her knees gave way, hitting the ground with a muffled tremor. Dust rose faintly, as if the place itself were admiring the moment.
Lia covered her face with both hands, trying to stifle the crying, but her breath broke into small gasps that choked her further. There was no way to stop it. She was a whirlwind of emotions.
Tears seeped through her fingers, falling heavily on the floor. Each drop seemed to darken the dust around her a little more.
With effort—an effort that demanded more from her than any battle—Lia raised her head.
Her eyes reddened, her cheeks—flushed and soaked—trembled with each sob. For a few seconds, she seemed to debate between staying in that abyss or stepping onto that path of light and darkness she felt in the boy.
And then, as if her soul had painted the first page of a blank book...
She extended a hand toward Seik, barely a weak gesture... but before her fingers reached the child, her strength left her, and her body leaned forward, defeated by exhaustion. She began to fall.
Seik reacted instantly, catching her before she collapsed completely.
"Don't worry," he whispered in a voice both soft and firm.
Lia's eyes slowly closed, surrendering to exhaustion. She felt that on that white, painted sheet, she had written the first letter.
Gently, Seik lifted her in his arms and carried her to a safe corner, away from the rubble, where he laid her down carefully.
Then he slowly stood.
Erick was standing there behind him.
Seik turned calmly and met his father's eyes. Silence enveloped them.