Location: Tower of Harmony - Bottom of the Tower, Present Day
The air at the bottom of the tower was still and eerie.
Kandy and Sori finally reached the threshold where time shifted--where the great door marked the edge between reality and something far more fractured. The aura beyond shimmered like heat off stone, humming softly as they stepped forward.
Inside, barely past the glowing boundary, stood Abstra.
She didn't look at them at first--she was staring into the distance, her arm outstretched slightly, index finger twitching.
Kandy called out, "Abstra...?"
Abstra turned. Her expression was calm, too calm.
"It's been weeks," she said flatly. "Maybe months."
Sori blinked. "What?"
Abstra nodded, stepping toward them, pointing at the warped energy just behind her.
"Time inside the tower isn't aligned. I've been standing here... watching. Every second I move in and out, the difference becomes more dramatic. I marked a rock with chalk. Came back out a few seconds later. It was wet from rain and mossed over."
She looked at them with unnerving clarity.
"They don't even know how far time has passed outside."
Location: Tower of Harmony - Top of the Tower, Present Day
Blaidd stood motionless, staring at Hoshina. Glonk lingered at his side, silent.
His thoughts pulsed like drums.
That necklace. That power. I saw it. I felt it... I know it's the key.
Hoshina stirred softly in Rikushi's arms. Her new body--reborn by starlight--shimmered faintly under the remnants of magic. She looked up at him, eyes half-lidded.
"Riku..." she whispered, before drifting back into sleep.
Jin raised his hands, celestial energy radiating from his palms as he spun the air gently. Threads of starlight coalesced, weaving together a temporary dress of woven constellations--fabric that seemed to flicker with night itself. Jin draped it over her.
Valentine watched quietly, until he noticed movement.
Blaidd stepped forward. Too calmly.
LuLu tensed, fingers gently curling around the spine of her scythe, with the shadows bending just slightly toward her.
Blaidd knelt beside Hoshina and gently reached for her necklace. His hand trembled... but he gripped it.
He pulled.
The strands didn't snap.
He gritted his teeth.
Then, without a word, he unsheathed one of his daggers.
The air changed instantly.
Right before the blade could touch her neck--a blur.
Valentine tackled him, yanking Blaidd away, fury in his voice.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"
Blaidd's face twisted in a storm of rage and pain.
"This--this is what I've been looking for. You took it from me... after everything I've endured. You don't know why I've walked this past for the past 500 years, and what agony I endured, every smile I faked, every laugh is forced... It was so I could get to this place, but it was taken away because someone was careless and got struck..."
Valentine reeled back in disbelief. "You were her teacher... her ally! You're trying to kill her?!"
Glonk stepped forward and grabbed Valentine by the shoulders.
Suddenly, Toku emerged, his spear drawn and glowing, aimed squarely at Blaidd's chest.
"Let. Her. Go."
From opposite sides, Gem and Ceri stepped forward--each with relics drawn. Ceri's lightning-cracked gauntlets hummed. Gem's sharpened staff glistened with condensed healing magic, repurposed for harm.
Rikushi stood frozen.
Tears welled in his eyes.
His voice was barely above a whisper:
"You were my mentor..."
"...my friend."
Blaidd's gaze softened--for just a second. Then it hardened again.
Everything exploded into motion.
Valentine swung, LuLu's scythe sliced, and Toku's spear jabbed forward--only to be intercepted. Glonk tackled LuLu mid-swing, and Blaidd ducked under Toku's spear.
Gem and Ceri launched beams and blasts, striking only air as Blaidd danced around them. His dagger rose again.
He lunged for Hoshina's neck.
Then--
A blur of light and gold.
Valentine slammed into Blaidd with every ounce of strength, pushing him backwards.
Their bodies glowed with radiant power.
Their veins pulsed with ethereal magic.
Archangel forms awakened.
Wings of light erupted from their backs.
They shot off the balcony.
Glonk and LuLu followed.
High above Nova Terra, they clashed midair, bursts of power rippling across the skyline.
Back at the top of the tower, Toku stepped in front of Rikushi, Jin, and Hoshina--holding the line.
Rikushi wiped his tears.
"We have to go. Time's slipping. Every hour here... days pass outside."
Rikushi scooped up Hoshina carefully, and with one last look back--they ran.
Jin spread his wings and soared downward, grabbing Abstra with a shimmering chain like a leash. Her form yanked from the door with a frustrated yelp as he ascended.
Toku dropped down and snatched Kandy and Sori with each arm, the three vanishing into the clouds.
Location: Eagle City - Nighttime
Valentine grabs onto Blaidd, barreling towards a nearby building, crashing into the windows and onto inside.
The windows shattered as Valentine and Blaidd burst through, crashing through glass and steel. They hit the floor hard--blood and shards spraying.
LuLu and Glonk weren't far behind, diving into the fray.
Valentine and Blaidd locked eyes.
Then--their fists met with a thunderous snap, like a divine gunshot shaking the floor.
They clashed, again and again--magic, metal, fury.
Until--
A soft scream.
Everything stopped.
They turned.
Behind a temporary plastic wall... huddled together, eyes wide with fear:
Para. Ina. Reiku. Rumoto. TLK. Mek. Vera. Vee. Musi.
Civilians. Survivors. Friends.
Watching.
LuLu sprinted over, checking the corner--but they were real.
Valentine was frozen.
Blaidd raised his blade again.
He lunged.
But plasma-hand wrapped around his body midair--Jin's spell--restraining him in a collage of starlight. More hands grabbed Glonk, Valentine, and LuLu.
Jin floated in, glowing with divine energy.
From the other side of the skyscraper, Rikushi, Kandy, Sori, Toku, Abstra, and Hoshina arrived, windblown and exhausted.
Then Jin reached into a rift, pulling from a void-space two bound figures:
Kuro and Kai, trapped in suspended magical coils.
Jin's voice echoed like a closing chapter;
"Looks like the gangs' all here... But I'm done waiting."
He snapped his fingers.
A massive portal bloomed under the entire floor.
They all fell--including Reiku, Musi, TLK, Vera, everyone.
Darkness. Again.
Pure silence.
Then voices came aloud.
"Where... are we?"
"I... I can't feel anything."
"It's not Nova Terra anymore..."
"Why does it feel like the stars are gone?"
"Is this a prison?"
The lights clicked on.
Soft, warm, and brightening up the whole area.
And then they saw it.
Rows of polished walls.
Ancient carvings.
Dust and silence.
It was Tyrant's Vault.
But this time, there were no weapons.
No artifacts.
Just... people.
Dozens of them.
But the new arrivals looked under Jin, as there sat some familiar faces.
Davie. Faust. Rez. Kayma. Loth. Casa. Beau. Kuddle. Zamy. Tyrant...
Every fallen soul of the war... alive.
Breathing.
Confused.
Staring back.
Jin snaps his finger once again, summoning two smaller portals, which drop Yunoi and Kaide, one from each, joining the rest of them.
From the corner, Tyrant stepped forward, eye glowing, lips trembling.
"Jin..."
"What did you do?"
Jin looked at them all.
His voice was calm.
But with a serious yet calming tone.
"I gave us one last shot at Global-Redemption."