A few moments ago, inside the tower,

"Lyirrs, we are running out of time," Xara said. She paced behind the console, eyes fixed on Lyirrs, who was half submerged beneath the control panel, fingers buried in exposed wiring and glowing tubes.

"The girls do not have the strength to fight that thing anymore"

"I know," Lyirrs replied, breath uneven, her voice echoing faintly from beneath the console. Sparks danced around her hands as she twisted two large tubes together with careful precision.

"Just… give me a moment. The circuits are resisting... but...."

She emerged from the console, hair dishevelled and eyes blazing with focus, and stared at the massive screen where diagrams rotated slowly.

"I am almost done," she said, then straightened, "Yes. That should do it now." Her finger hovered for a heartbeat before she pressed the button.

Nothing happened.

Her shoulders slumped, "I… I am sorry," she murmured, "Something is still wrong. I did everything but I cannot see where—"

Thud!

A heavy thud echoed through the chamber as Xara drove her boot into the side of the console, metal groaning under the impact.

Energy surged violently through the tubes...

Sssnnnggg~

The tower roared back to life.

Lyirrs stared in disbelief, then slowly turned toward Xara, eyes wide. Xara only smirked, folding her arms as the lights stabilised.

"That is how you deal with children when they refuse to listen," she said, her tone half-teasing, half-dead serious.

Lyirrs let out a small, awkward breath and shook her head, a weak laugh escaping her as she turned back to the controls. She reinitialised the system carefully, fingers moving slower this time, reverent.

She did not shut the barrier down completely.

Instead, she altered the tower's internal flow, reconnecting the barrier's core through a modified sequence.

As the system stabilised, Lyirrs straightened and looked toward Xara. "Find the Sovereign," she said, "She should be positioned on top of the barrier."

"I need precise calibration," Lyirrs continued, eyes scanning shifting numbers and sigils. "Tell me if she starts lowering. Even the slightest movement matters. I need her mass, her resistance, everything."

Xara nodded once and moved toward the tower's edge, peering upward through the translucent barrier.

There, bathed in pale blue light, Dora lay atop the barrier as if in slumber.

"I am tuning in now," Lyirrs announced as she flipped two switches in rapid succession.

The barrier flickered violently, light warping as the entire structure trembled under the sudden adjustment.

Dora stirred, eyes snapping open as she felt the surface beneath her shift.

The barrier dipped.

It was only a few millimetres, barely perceptible, yet unmistakable.

Her brow furrowed as she looked down, meeting Xara's gaze through the shimmering field. Xara stared back, eyes locked, then gave a slow, deliberate nod, silently urging her to brace herself.

Dora inhaled deeply, muscles tightening as she prepared for whatever came next.

"Tuning in," Lyirrs shouted again, voice cutting through the air as she flipped two more switches and twisted a heavy knob.

The tower responded with a deep, resonant vibration, a magical hum rolling outward as power surged through every vein of the structure.

Dora felt it.

A millimetre at a time, layers beneath her feet slowly vanished, as though the barrier itself were shedding skin.

The resistance thinned steadily. She raised four fingers into the air, signalling the change.

"Tuning in!" Lyirrs shouted again, voice sharper this time.

This time, Dora felt her body press into the barrier.

Usually, it was as hard as stone. Now… it gave slightly beneath her. Not much, but enough to feel dangerous.

Xara noticed the difference instantly and informed Lyirrs of the change. Lyirrs reacted at once, hands snapping back across the controls, reversing the sequence she had just engaged.

The barrier stiffened again, solidifying with a sharp hum as the same number of switches were killed.

The softness vanished, replaced by that familiar, rigid resistance.

After several more careful calibrations, Lyirrs stepped back from the console, sweat beading along her brow. She looked at Xara and then at Celestia, her voice quieter now, "It's ready… but—" She hesitated, fingers curling slightly.

Worry flickered in her eyes, fear of a single miscalculation, of placing everyone in danger because of one missed detail.

Xara stepped closer and gently patted Lyirrs' shoulder, "For creators like us, hesitation matters," she said softly, pride threading through her tone. "It means we still have a heart." Her hand tightened into a fist as her voice hardened.

"But there are moments when we must choose. Even if that choice costs lives."

Celestia parted her lips, clearly wanting to say something. After a brief pause, she closed her mouth again.

Lyirrs inhaled deeply, steadying herself, then nodded. "Your words…" she said quietly. "My mother once said the same" she smiled weakly before fading as resolve took over.

"I will start the thinning process." She turned off a switch while slowly raising the knob, movements deliberate, reverent.

Thuck.

Thuck.

Thuck.

With each switch disengaged, the core crystal trembled, its glow pulsing unevenly. The tower shook violently, stone groaning, energy roaring through its veins like a restrained storm.

"Lyirrs?" Xara muttered, while thinking, 'I said even if it costs lives… but I am not ready to give mine'

"Just hold on," Lyirrs replied, "A few more minutes." She continued turning off the switches, inch by inch, raising the knob.

The barrier began thinning layer by layer, its form distorting until it resembled a fragile sheet, wobbling in the air like stretched plastic barely holding together.

Except—

"Has the Sovereign reached us?" Lyirrs asked suddenly.

Xara moved out of the console room to check, and the moment her eyes lifted upward—

"Holy shit," she muttered.

Dora was nearly at the tower's top.

Her weight pressed the barrier downward, forcing the thin, paper-like layer to sink visibly. The outer edges bulged upward while the centre dipped under her mass, the entire surface resembling an overinflated balloon on the verge of bursting.

Had Dora known what they were thinking at that moment, she might have been crying in some corner, horrified that they thought she was unbearably heavy.

But there was a reason she stood atop the barrier.... a reason she herself did not yet understand.

As Dora drew closer, she felt her body almost plastered against the surface.

The barrier no longer felt solid.

It felt elastic, swollen, trembling beneath her as a balloon stretched too far.

Inside the tower, Lyirrs' fingers hovered inches from the final switch.

The moment of truth loomed.

Once it flipped, even a stone could tear through their barrier.

Just then,

PUFF!

Not the thinned barrier, but the console itself burst open as one of the knobs failed catastrophically, metal cracking apart while thick smoke curled upward in choking spirals.

Sparks danced wildly as the core crystals began to glow brighter, their light pulsing faster and faster like an unstable heartbeat.

"Shit!" Lyirrs shouted, lunging forward as she tried to flip the control back, but the damage had already been done.

Her fingers froze mid-motion as she realised the consequence. "The energy too much relied on the knob... fuck! If I push it down now, the entire console will fail," she said through clenched teeth. "We cannot afford that." She turned sharply toward Xara, "The system will reactivate the barrier the moment we turn off the last switch."

That means... It's impossible to send out the Metallic figure and the ladies getting behind the barrier.

Xara bit her lip, "Can we hold it for a few seconds?" she asked, "How else are the others supposed to get inside?"

The plan was simple: Just thin the barrier and send out the metallic figure and instantly recreate the barrier inside the thinned barrier, and the ladies had to get inside before the recreated barrier fully soldified which was a slightly longer distance than pervious barrier.

Like, literally, a gap of 100 meters.

Lyirrs bit her own lip as she turned back to the console, flipping additional switches in rapid succession. The readings on the display shifted, runes rearranging themselves, but none of it looked promising.

The glow remained unstable, the hum uneven.

Lyirrs sighed, "The maximum I can do is change the reappearing position of the new barrier," she said slowly. "I can bring it closer to the previous point… about sixty meters, but... but solidification will be in three seconds." She paused, jaw tightening.

"But if I do that, we lose time with the last switch. Barely five seconds. That is all the thinning process will give us before the repositioning triggers."

Xara's face hardened as the numbers echoed in her mind.

Fifty meters.

Three seconds.

Was it even possible?

Should they wait for Sandra and the others to reach the location instead?

But no.

The barrier was already too thin. Any sudden disturbance could cause it to rupture completely, and worse, the tower was barely holding it.

Time was no longer on their side.

Waiting would only make things worse.

Honestly... Everyone didn't plan very well!

"What is the current situation?" Xara asked.

Celestia nodded grimly. "They say they almost pushed that thing back," she replied. "But it is still not defeated."

Xara closed her eyes.

She was placing the entire world on the line. Her daughter was out there, too. One mistake, one wrong calculation, and nothing would bring them back.

'What would you do, Aether?' She thought... for the first time, she felt a pain of shouldering everything on her shoulders.

A single mistake and it ruins everything that she holds dear!

Celestia added, "Maybe we should stop this all and wait for another... I mean, it's not like they wouldn't come, right?"

Right...

But.... Xara shook her head, "What if they decided not to come anymore?"

"But they-"

"Are you 100% sure about this? We don't know anything... and they come and go, who knows if they decided to stop right after this? Huh?"

Celestia turned silent... sure, they weren't sure, but it's not worth putting everyone's life on the line, right?

Yet, when Xara opened her eyes again, her expression had turned cold, resolute, and almost indifferent. "Inform them," she said quietly. "This is their only chance." Her teeth pressed into her lower lip before she continued, voice dropping.

Celestia frowned before nodding and relaying the situation without hesitation.

Meanwhile, at the edge of the barrier, the group exchanged silent glances.

/We got this./

Celestia hummed softly as she looked back at Xara, nodding once.

Xara took a steady breath, shoulders squared. "Finish it," she said.

Lyirrs nodded, hands trembling just slightly as they hovered over the final control. A brief hesitation passed through her eyes, then she flipped the last switch.

Thuck!

One

Thalia's body erupted in furious light, flames blooming outward as if her blood itself had ignited. Fire sigils crawled across her skin in molten patterns, each pulse releasing waves of heat that distorted the air.

She became a living fireball, the ground beneath her feet cracking as molten veins spread outward. She dragged the flames inward with brutal force, compressing them until they screamed, her body trembling under the pressure.

Her eyes shut tightly, teeth clenched, hair whipping upward as if gravity itself had loosened its hold on her.

Two

The metallic figure lunged forward with everything it had, pistons shrieking as its limbs accelerated unnaturally.

Each step crushed stone into dust, shockwaves rippling outward.

Nightfire moved instinctively, scooping up jagged stones and hurling them in rapid succession. They struck the figure's face and joints, sparks bursting like dying stars, forcing its head to jerk aside again and again.

A savage swing, metal screaming through the air, and Nightfire was struck mid-motion. Her body slammed into the ground, skidding across broken stone as she groaned.

"Arrh!"

Three

Its humongous arm rose, turning into a huge, sharp blade.... shadow swallowed Thalia as energy gathered along its joints, pressure building for a killing blow.

*Do you think you can defeat me, bitch!*

The blade descended, speed and weight combining into a single annihilating strike, aimed to cut her pure half!

"Again… don't you dare call us bitch!"

Thud!

A sword slammed into the piston joint of its arm. The mechanism locked instantly, grinding sparks spraying outward as the entire limb froze mid-swing.

Four

She pushed off its shoulder in a fluid motion, twisting midair as she descended, one leg tucked, the other extended to redirect her landing. She had reached that position only because of Nightfire's distraction, slipping through blind angles.

/NOW!/

"THALIA!!"

Selene and Nightfire shouted together. Thalia's eyes snapped open, irises blazing like miniature suns as a wicked grin cut across her face.

"It's smashing time~" she said.

She pulled her arm back slowly, deliberately, muscles tightening as flames coiled tighter around her form. A massive magic circle ignited behind her elbow, layered rings of runes spinning in opposite directions.

Streams of fire fed into it from the ground, and the circle screamed.

KYYYYRRRRRR!!!

Thalia surged forward and drove her fist straight into the creature's metallic chest.

BOOOMMMMMM!!!

The impact detonated like a contained explosion. Fire and force tore through metal, punching a massive hole straight through its chest cavity.

Shockwaves ripped outward, hurling debris in every direction as the metallic figure was blasted backwards. Its body spun uncontrollably, smashing through the thinned barrier in a violent burst, the weakened layers tearing apart like paper under a storm.

ARRHHH!!

PUfffff!!!

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