The bloom was collapsing.

From the Halcyon's bridge, the crew could see it, a massive sphere of shimmering light, once steady and perfect, now folding in on itself like the dying heart of a star. Cracks of white-blue energy webbed across its surface as the sphere began to shrink, ripples distorting the air around it.

"Commander! The bloom's collapsing, it seems Kentaro has done it!" Riku shouted, his voice breaking with excitement.

"YEAH!" The crew erupted in cheers, fists pumping, a sudden burst of celebration sweeping across the deck. But amid the noise, Tenka remained composed, or maybe her nerves had finally eased. Her hands were half-covering her face, a rare, small smile breaking through.

"Thank goodness you're alive, Kentaro," she whispered, too quietly for anyone else to hear.

A heartbeat later, her expression sharpened. The commander was back.

"Alright, listen up! We're going to beat Cradle to the punch. As soon as we see Kentaro, our best bet is to pull him through Vaelion. From there, we deploy the squad to the location Rin marked for Aria. We move fast. I want tracking on the bloom's wave patterns, to predict the exact exit point before Cradle does."

"YESSIR!" The crew roared in unison, snapping back to their stations.

"Shogo!" Tenka barked, "Get the teleporter prepped for immediate departure. The second Kentaro's through, we move him. No hesitation. I don't know how long Akio will wait before she stops playing nice and starts hunting our ship, and if I had to guess, they're already planning to strike him down."

"Understood, ma'am!" Shogo saluted sharply and dashed toward the teleporter controls.

Tenka turned back to the main screen. The bloom's swirling vortex dominated the view, light twisting and bending inward like a whirlpool swallowing itself. The room was filled with the staccato tapping of keyboards, the crisp chirps of sensor scans, and the low hum of the ship's systems straining to keep up.

A hand touched her shoulder.

"Commander," Haruka's voice was calm but carried weight.

Tenka blinked as if shaken from a trance. "Woah, hey, Haruka. What's up?"

Haruka tilted her head, almost amused at catching the commander daydreaming.

"I was thinking… Should we get the van ready? That way, we can send Kentaro and the others straight to save the Songstress."

Tenka froze for a fraction of a second, her eyes widening just slightly. Something about those words sparked a memory, something sharp and unspoken. But the moment passed, and she smiled faintly.

"Yeah, do it. Also, I want Kentaro directed to the nearest door; we've got them linked to multiple points depending on which side he comes out from. Haruka… The moment he's clear, get him and Serica moving. No delays."

"Understood, Commander." Haruka tapped her tablet and walked briskly toward the exit.

Left alone for a moment, Tenka exhaled slowly, her eyes still locked on the shrinking bloom. Her voice dropped to a mutter.

"Just give it up, Akio… Reiden… We're saving both Alberlines."

*

"Supreme Commander! The bloom is collapsing!" A Cradle soldier's voice cut through the hum of the command deck.

Akio rose slowly from her chair, one gloved hand pressing against the edge of the table as she turned to face the massive viewport. Outside, the bloom was shifting, its once-stable surface now swirling violently, layers of dark and pale light folding inward as the sphere began to shrink and shed fragments of energy into the void.

Her lips curved into a slow smile. "Good… Make sure we have eyes on every angle. Inside, outside, anything that comes near that bloom, I want it tagged and tracked. We can expect visitors… Whether they're the ones trapped inside, or the vultures waiting for them."

"Yes, ma'am!" the soldiers chorused.

"And," she added, her voice dropping into a sharper edge, "get the E-W Fireshot ready. If anyone interferes, I want them erased before they can blink."

"Yes, Supreme Commander!" The deck sprang into motion, screens flickering with tracking grids, weapon crews barking confirmations as systems powered up.

Akio didn't move from the viewport. She watched the bloom's violent rotation tighten, its light growing erratic, as if it were fighting against itself. That smile on her face deepened, calm, but with a promise of violence beneath it.

"Bring it on," she murmured, the words for herself more than her crew. "I'll crush anyone who gets in my way…" Her eyes narrowed, glinting with satisfaction. "Especially an Alberline… Or you, Reiden."

*

Kentaro and Serica had been running for what felt like forever. His lungs burned. Her breathing came in sharp, uneven bursts. He could hear her struggling just as much as he was, but there was no stopping, not with the bloom collapsing behind them.

His heart hammered against his ribs. Every step sounded different now, the crunch of frozen leaves underfoot, the faint slide of ice beneath, the distant crack of something breaking apart in the distance. The trees around them stayed frozen, but the entire world was trembling. The sound of the bloom folding in on itself was like a constant roar in his ears, an unending reminder that if they slowed down, they were done.

"Just how long is this damn path?!" Kentaro shouted, his voice rasping.

Serica kept pace behind him, her hand gripping his tightly.

"I don't know, Kentaro! I'm sorry for putting you through this, it's just-" she gasped for air, "I really thought you'd died… And without you… I wouldn't know what to do with my life anymore. You gave me a chance again. So please, don't hate me!"

Even through the blur of motion, he glanced back at her. Her hair stuck to her face from the sweat and frost, her eyes wet, not from the cold, but from tears. Despite everything, despite the terror, he smiled.

"Serica," he shouted over the wind, "as long as I'm alive, I'll never hate you. Ever. Even if the whole damn world does, I'll still be with you. Always."

Her eyes widened. She could see the heat in his face, not from exhaustion, but from embarrassment.

"Hahaha… Thank you, Kentaro," she said, the edges of her lips curling upward. "I'm a lucky girl."

But the ground didn't care about their moment.

It started cracking, thin lines at first, then suddenly, sharp fractures racing toward them. Kentaro risked a glance over his shoulder and saw the earth behind them splitting wide open, the cracks widening into an endless, lightless void. The collapse was catching them.

"Serica, get ready!" Kentaro barked.

"What?" she asked, stumbling slightly but still running.

He slowed just enough for her to get ahead, then let go of her hand. She looked over her shoulder in confusion but didn't question him.

And then.

"Up we go, Serica!"

She let out a startled shriek as he swept her into a princess carry. The problem wasn't the speed boost; it was where one of his hands had landed, accidentally grabbing a full handful of her lower cheeks.

Her face flared red, lips curling into a faint pout as she mumbled, "Could ask first…"

"What?!" Kentaro blurted, ducking under a branch so low it almost took his head off.

She didn't answer, just clung tighter to him, her mind flashing back to a story Haruka had once shown her about a prince carrying his princess away from danger. It felt absurd, but in this instant, she didn't care if the world was ending; if she could hold onto Kentaro like this, she felt safe.

Two minutes of all-out sprinting felt like an eternity. His legs were screaming, his lungs tearing themselves apart. The edge of the bloom finally came into view. They were almost there....

But the collapse was moving faster now. The gaping void tore up the ground behind them, swallowing trees, earth, and stone. The rumble was deafening.

Come on… Just a little more…

Kentaro's vision swam. His body was at its limit, his arms trembled from holding Serica, and his legs felt like they could splinter at any second. But stopping wasn't an option. He couldn't stop, not when Serica's life was in his hands, not when he'd made a promise to Aria.

"RUN, DAMN IT! MOVE!" He screamed at himself.

The edge was so close, twenty feet. Just twenty more!

The world betrayed him.

The ground gave way beneath Kentaro's foot.

It wasn't a stumble; it was a violent, snapping break that ripped the world out from under him. His stomach lurched into his throat. For a fraction of a second, he was weightless.

And in that fraction of a second, time seemed to slow.

The sound of the collapsing earth roared around him, but it felt distant, muffled, as if the air itself had thickened. He could see Serica's hand slipping away from his. He reached for her, fingers stretching, straining, but she was already gone, tumbling ahead into the black below.

His mind screamed at him to move, but there was nothing to grab, nothing to fight. Just the crushing reality sinking in.

"I failed."

Aria's face flashed before his eyes. The Halcyon crew. Serica's smile. All of it was gone because he couldn't make those last few steps.

"I WAS RIGHT THERE!" Kentaro's voice tore from his throat, raw and breaking.

The edge above shrank away, the light around it fading until it was just a shrinking halo far overhead. The rest was darkness, thick, endless, swallowing him whole.

And then.

A sudden flare of light burst from below, flooding the walls of the abyss in white-blue. It wasn't gentle. It was sharp, blinding, cutting through the black like a blade.

"KENTARO!"

That voice, panicked, fierce, unshakable.

"SERICA!" He shouted back, twisting toward the glow.

She was rocketing upward toward him, armour blazing with the white sheen of her sublimation frame. The air around her shimmered from the strain. He knew this form couldn't last long, not in this collapsing space.

But she didn't hesitate. She closed the distance and snatched him mid-fall, the sudden grip jolting him hard. Her right arm hooked under his knees, her left… Landed squarely on his cheek.

Kentaro's eyes went wide. "H-hey!"

Her lips curved into a sharp grin, breath ragged from the climb. "That's for earlier," she said, not breaking pace.

They shot upward, the light from her frame tearing the darkness apart. The walls rushed past in a dizzy blur. Then impact. They broke through the bloom's surface, nighttime light hitting their eyes.

But there was no time to celebrate. Kentaro felt the power in her frame sputter and dim; her hold on him shifted as her flight started to falter.

They hit the ground hard, knees buckling. Kentaro staggered to his feet just in time to see the horizon shift, dozens of ships surrounding them, weapons primed and aimed.

Serica's armour flickered and disappeared, her time up.

Kentaro's gaze swept the ring of soldiers, the insignia on their gear.

They weren't Halcyon.

"…Cradle," he breathed.

The closest ship's cannons rotated toward them. A high-pitched charge built in the air, sharp, electric, rising.

And then...

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