I thrust at Lysette as the two of us engage in our final battle. Filia in hand to help me read Lysette's movements and guide my responses, I push the initiative with everything I have. My skin is feeling parched from the flames which continue to burn all around, and though there's a long-term threat to Chloe, taking away one of Lysette's biggest advantages is an even more pressing concern.

But Lysette is crafty as well, the result of whatever harrowing journey she had to take to get to this point. Right before my blade is about to make contact, she leaps into the air, her wings splayed out behind her, riding the fiery updrafts up into the sky high above. I follow, my flight not hampered by the restrictions of my [Overlimit] in the slightest.

The two of us collide with a force that sends embers fluttering and the leaves on the few trees still upright shaking. I stow Filia away for a brief moment, catching Lysette's left hand with my right. Her crystalline fist collides against my metallic one. Neither budge, but the force nearly sends us apart. Another blow, and then another, each one full of so much concussive force that I can feel the vibrations reverberating through my body and hear the resonance my wings are making as they flutter about.

"Tell me, Seraphina. What is your plan from here?" Lysette asks telepathically as she delivers a spinning kick which I parry off my buckler.

"I haven't really decided just yet. I… I suppose if I live past this day, we're all going to need a few days to rest." I draw Filia out of my [Inventory] once more and stab at Lysette, who blocks the attack with her carapace.

"That's hardly reassuring, Seraphina." Lysette, having blocked my attack, throws a pair of jabs that effortlessly pierce through my unpracticed defenses. The last remnants of [Saintess's Cloister] eat the damage, but it's hardly reassuring to know my safety net is gone. "If you do not have a plan, you cannot hope to succeed."

"I have goals. Longer-term goals. Completing this Tower by defeating you? That's an important one. Continuing to study Ethertech? Enhancing my ability to cast magic? Building weapons and armor more suitable for the challenges still to come? Figuring out what to do with the national and international political agenda and trying to wrap my head around my role in it all? All of that and more is on my agenda. But no, I cannot say that I have any plans for tomorrow."

"Even one small step?"

"Right now, I need to rest and unwind. Time to sleep, time to just… be. To enjoy life with Chloe, to remember why I'm doing all of this. And then, once I've mentally recovered and have a plan in place, then I'll move forward. But no, tomorrow is a rest day."

Lysette looks almost… sad at the words. It doesn't slow her down in the slightest, nor has she held back the intensity of her punches and kicks, each of which take everything I have not to be knocked backward. Switching to a two-handed grip with my swordstaff, I go for a pair of quick piercing thrusts. The first one is blocked. The second is parried, though I'm quick enough with my flight to avoid the counterattack by the barest of margins.

"I guess I can't relate. I've not been able to sleep or rest in a long, long time."

"I'm sorry, Lysette."

"I will be able to soon, though. Once my journey is over, I'll sleep for a very, very long time."

"I wish you the best with it," I say.

"Hmph. Don't go getting sentimental on me now, Seraphina. More than one crafty opponent will play on your emotions, making you feel sorry for them, just so they can turn around and stab you in the back!"

I throw my legs upward, forcing myself up and over just in time to dodge the attack that was directly aimed at my back, right in the same spot where I was stabbed the last time. I spin that backward momentum into a barrel roll, and from there, deliver an arcing slice that cuts through Lysette's wrist and severs her right hand. I dare not stop, though, continuing to attack with abandon in the brief moment it takes her to reconstitute herself.

And it is working. At least physically. But I'm just not doing enough real damage to her. Her body is so tough, so naturally quick at regeneration that I'm just not damaging the core of her being. And even though my [Overlimit] is still in effect, I'm already starting to flag on [Ether], now down below my normal maximum and getting lower with every second of fighting at this intensity.

I make my decision. I can't win a fight of attrition. I still have just over a minute left, but that time won't do me any good if I don't incapacitate Lysette before I expire. So I decide to gamble everything on one strike, pour the entirety of my 7,000 remaining [Ether] into this final spell, and let it ride.

I cue up the same glyphs as the last time, only this time, I do include the [Conic] glyph alongside the others. With my Manifestation made that much easier in the [Overlimit] state and my heightened [Mind] helping me keep all the glyphs coordinated, it's just barely doable. With some pressure, like my brain is about to burst out of my skull. But for the sake of winning this fight and clearing the tower and most importantly, saving Chloe, it's worth it.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"So this is it, Seraphina?"

"That's right. I'm putting everything I have on one last attack. Do or die, this fight is going to be over one way or another."

"Good! Good! Show me exactly how far you can go!"

Lysette grits her teeth with hands outstretched and now nearly five hundred vines protruding out of her back, many, many more appendages to help her absorb what's coming. But I don't let her distract me, nor will I be unnerved by her inhuman display. Instead, I concentrate, ignoring everything but my magic and the workings of [Ether] in my body, forcing every last drop to come to the surface. Even the [Ether] which might be essential to life, I force myself to expel; if I don't win, I die anyway, so there's no downside.

The two of us make one final bout of eye contact. I grimace, Lysette smiles. My blast roars out, filling the sky with a sea of violet-white which utterly blinds me. I begin to fall to the ground, my flight no longer working correctly. My [Archangel's Gaze] shuts down. My eyes close, my vision going dark. All sensation of the outside world vanishes, save for a single distant hit to my wrists. And then they too go numb as my consciousness expires.

I wake up to a familiar feeling. My body feels incredibly light, the characteristic of healing magic being worked upon it. But instead of Chloe tending to my injury, it's Lysette leaning over me, infusing me with a golden glow that is sending my [Ether] levels up rapidly. She seems a little tired, but otherwise physically healthy. More importantly, though, where in the nine hells is Chloe?

My heart rate skyrockets and I nearly leap to my feet before Lysette stops me with a single unspoken command. "Do not fear," she says. "Your companions are both alive and well. Their injuries were not too severe, but both are taking the opportunity to rest after the battle. You should as well."

"What happened?" I ask. "I didn't defeat you, but–"

"I interfered," Mirae says from behind me. "Against Lady Lysette's requests, I might add. Your attack was more powerful than she could reliably withstand, and the range was too broad for her to fission herself off in time. I could not run the risk that you would destroy her, so I knocked your attack off course at the last second."

"That blow to my wrist as I was losing consciousness?"

"Yes, Seraphina. I hit it with a large icicle at the last moment, deflecting your attack just enough that Lady Lysette only lost half her body in the impact."

"As far as I'm concerned, that counts as a win for you," Lysette says.

"It doesn't feel like one."

And it doesn't. For no reason other than that Mirae could have killed us at any time had they chosen to interfere. Nicholas was barely conscious, Chloe wasn't, and I was on death's door. We're alive, but purely on the two of their whims to heal us. Otherwise, we would and should be dead.

"You don't need to be upset," Lysette says.

"But, I–"

"Do you think I got where I am on my own? Sure, I worked hard, but I got lucky plenty of times along the way. Times I would have or should have died, had I not had a bout of good fortune. Not to mention the… divine providence I had that kept me from dying alongside my family on that night."

"I'm… I'm sorry, Lysette."

"Thank you." She shakes her head, making it clear she doesn't want to talk about it any longer.

A few moments later, once my head is no longer spinning, I stand up and look around, only to be tackle-hugged nearly to the ground by a very, very worried Chloe. She wraps both arms around me and locks lips with me, completely uncaring for Nicholas's judgemental stare a few yards behind us. After that battle, I can't be arsed to care about his judgements either, taking Chloe's passion and returning her kisses with equal fervor.

Mirae and Lysette don't seem to mind though, the latter leaning their head on the former's shoulder as they watch the two of us with a mixture of curiosity and… it looks a little like relief, as weird as it feels for them to be relieved about our being together.

"Sera, you are once again… So… damn, reckless and I…" Chloe has an angry tone, but though I stand there, head lowered, prepared for the rest of my berating about taking too much risk, said berating never comes. "I– I'm ready to be done with this place. Ready to be done, to go home, and to just… not step in another dungeon for a good long while."

"As am I."

"I hate to interrupt," Lysette says. "But I feel the boundaries here are starting to thicken, and the two of us are being drawn back to our world once more. Before that happens, I want to bestow upon each of you a portion of my power. Chloe, if you would."

Chloe approaches the blonde goddess, lowering her head slightly.

"To you, I bestow the power of [Blessed Regeneration]."

"Nicholas?"

"Yes, Ma'am?" He approaches, though he doesn't seem particularly pleased about it.

"To you, I bestow the power of [Mental Partitioning]."

Absolutely scary. He's already an analytical force of terror, on and off the battlefield. I don't even want to think about how dangerous he'll be with the ability to think even more and process even more information.

"And you, Seraphina. I wasn't sure what I should give you, but seeing your arms and your wings, I think a power to help you with further bodily manipulations would do you the most good."

[You have gained the General Skill [Biomechanization]. This Skill greatly improves the ability of the wielder to manipulate and control their body, including prostheses, cybernetics, and other nonstandard appendages, at both the microscopic and macroscopic levels. All prostheses, cybernetics, and artificial modifications are affected by spell-based [Healing] effects, and will slowly repair themselves over time in tandem with the wielder's regeneration (both natural and magically-induced).]

Sure enough, my arm, which got dented in dozens of places during that last fight with Lysette, is already beginning to buff itself out. Scratches are disappearing before my eyes, and my wings feel smoother, sleeker, and more aerodynamic. This Skill seems weak on its surface, but I think there's a lot more potential. Especially when I think about a certain something I have in my inventory.

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