"Whitney."
"No, stop!" The girl tore herself away, recoiling as Blue tried to grasp the source of her distress. "Just… stop, please."
"I can't. I absolutely can't turn back now." Blue denied her plea with unwavering resolve. "Tell me what's going on."
"It's all my fault…"
"What is?"
"All of it. All of this. Everything came from my selfishness."
She broke down before Blue, finally confessing the truth she had clung to alone.
"That day in the canyon… I did the very thing I judged her family for," she began. "Without considering how much it would hurt her, or what would come of my actions that day, I released my 'impartation' to her."
Blue understood instantly.
In fact, she had already deduced as much earlier, while trapped inside the zone.
"I was desperate to give her everything I possibly could, so I chose my life in exchange for all my strength reaching her instead."
Whitney's Authority of Impartation had been what allowed Rita to defeat the mutated Shadowbeast, however, there had been a flaw in her intentions.
"But I overestimated how much that was truly worth." As she spoke, her tears flowed without end, her regret finally breaking the surface. "Authorities are fair in their own way, I can admit that. Without meaning to, I didn't just grant her my measly levels. I burdened her with my fears, my hopes, my regrets, and every last one of my desires."
"Final gambits, huh? Wouldn't recommend it. It's easy for a greenhorn to cause more harm than good when they're desperate. A situation where you've given up on living is the worst time to be tactical."
That had been Cosmo's response when Blue once asked him about choices like those.
Of course, he never taught them how to actually use such measures, because according to him, they wouldn't be left in a predicament that required last resorts anytime soon.
But with Rita's team abandoned in that canyon, half of them brutally slaughtered, Blue couldn't help but wonder what other choice Whitney had truly possessed that day.
"I don't regret being able to help her," Whitney continued, "but how am I supposed to feel about cursing my best friend?"
Of all the times Blue had seen Whitney, this was the worst state she had ever witnessed her in.
At this moment, the girl seemed on the brink of self‑destruction.
And now, the mystery of why Whitney had been the least hindered manifestation within the zone, and why she was here at all, finally became clear.
While everything else was conjured by the Spire using Rita's memories, Whitney herself had been created by copying the imprint she left within Rita.
That was why she was exempt from the rules.
"Why would you try to stop me?" Blue asked, this time without anger.
"…I don't have the right… to stop Rita," Whitney said after a long pause. "Rita already can't ever go back to the way she was. There's no way I can just tell her what I felt back then wasn't the truth. I thought I'd just let her see it through without any harm."
"How would that–"
"That thing is already bonded with her consciousness! There's no telling what it would do if anyone tries to pry her out, or if she second‑guesses it for even a moment!"
This isn't fair. Blue thought.
To her, none of it was.
They were just kids forced into a precarious situation, yet they had to pay for it for the rest of their lives?
This was something that had to be unraveled, no matter what.
"Whitney, what do you want for her?"
Whitney looked back at Blue, lost and bewildered.
But as she gazed at her, something in Blue's expression seemed to calm her.
"I want her to live. To walk forward without having to look back again. I want Rita to never be forced to bear the weight of anyone else's wishes."
"Oh? Then what about your life?" Blue asked without hesitation. "Fear of death drives Rita to reach back toward a past she should have let go. Can you claim you don't feel the same?"
"Of course not," Whitney admitted. "I don't want to die. I don't want to accept it."
She clasped her trembling hands together, and her body seemed to shiver a bit.
Yet she continued.
"But it's already happened, and I know that. No matter how hard it is, I have to accept it. All I want now… is to save my friend."
Blue smiled, placing her fist firmly against her chest.
"I, Blue Acciari, Recruit Officer of the Nebula Branch, Veil‑0056, accept your request."
She extended a hand toward Whitney, who let out a soft laugh before taking it.
She rose to her feet and wiped her tears.
"Okay. I'll leave it to you."
They embraced once more, but this time, neither let go.
"Yes. I'll handle everything, and I'll stay with you until the end."
From within, the tether anchoring the girl's presence finally released.
And in the end, she became light, fading with a wide, peaceful smile.
"Thank you, Whitney…"
Blue turned her head, confirming she had finally reached the right place.
"…and goodbye."
She approached the platinum‑haired girl curled alone in the white void, crying, presumably having witnessed her friend's departure.
"I just had a fruitful conversation," Blue said as she neared Rita, "and it seems we both agree you'd be better off without this toxic relationship you've gotten yourself trapped in."
…
Yonar's hand was caught mid‑swing, and he was yanked straight into a knee driven into his gut.
As he recoiled from the blow, the bottom of a gun's grip slammed downward against his cervical spine.
He crashed into the shallow water, but thanks to the scales, he avoided lasting damage.
Pushing up with every ounce of strength he could muster in so little time, he flipped his body vertically to evade two shots aimed at him, following through with a kick carried by the same momentum.
The phantom slipped aside before driving a kick toward Yonar's face.
The boy pushed off the ground to dodge, but a spinning strike from the phantom's other leg rendered his efforts futile.
It landed squarely against his torso and sent him flying before he could react.
"Ack!"
He skipped across the water, each splash making him resemble a skipping stone.
"Before we were so rudely interrupted that day," the phantom began, "what were those foolish words you were so inclined to tell me?"
Yonar lay back against the ground, one ear submerged so Zatch's voice dulled before it could fully reach him.
Even so, he could make out the general meaning, not that he felt any urge to respond.
What am I doing?
He stared blankly upward.
"Speaking of, have you realized how small you would've ended up if I hadn't picked you up? I thought about it every time you showed results. Your potential would've been squandered if you chose to dwell on that woman earlier."
Everyone is fighting with everything they have, while I'm here playing around like some weak little fool. It's like I've gone back to those times.
Like I'm still just a cowardly little shit who only thought about how I'd survive and no one else.
"Then again, I suppose our little barter was cut short as well, wasn't it? Funny, though, what if we continued again? Overrule this foolish creature and climb together once more."
Has nothing about me really changed? If I'm doomed to repeat what I did back then to the people I have now, do I even have the right to fear death?
"No? A shame, then. Consider it my first and last jest with you, from father to son."
""Hey, are you alright over there?""
I wish he'd just shut up and get it over with. I'm no use to anyone anyway.
""Oh, bad time? Alright, bye.""
Wait–Captain?! What's going on? It's like you're in my head.
Yon realized a moment too late that he wasn't imagining it. The voice reverberated through his mind.
It wasn't sound reaching his ears, but rather a thought echoing from within, mimicking a voice–Cosmo's voice.
I'm hearing things now. Or is this just another trick?
""Well, no. I'm sending encrypted intentions to your mind using a sub‑class of 'inclination.'""
You can do that?!
""Technically, any Eminent can learn it. I just never bothered until now because it's usually reserved for cooperative assignments, so you don't waste useful authority. And I…""
Right, you're as lonely as it gets.
""Watch it. Anyway, what's going on with you? Your conviction's been forcibly shut twice now. What the hell is the problem this time? And correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I just heard you say something extremely foolish.""
It's nothing. Just a little family reunion.
""Huh?! Listen here, streaks–""
What?
""You took the hand I offered that day, did you not?""
…yeah, but only because I thought–
""When I told you we'd be going through hell to help those two, did you turn back then? Or better yet, when we were up there about to leap into who‑knows‑where, why didn't I see you turn tail?""
I…
""Three‑step verification, idiot, congrats! Now you've become irreplaceable to the Nebula. Meaning there's no going back from here on. And when you choose to be an officer, know clearly that your current family is the one you stand back‑to‑back with.""
…
""I can't guess what's happening over there, but I'm sure it's not relevant to the task I assigned you. And I don't assign tasks I expect to fail, because that would make me nothing but scum. And I'll be damned if I let you make me that when we've gotten this far. Is that understood!""
Yon exhaled in exasperation before sitting up.
Alright…
""Good. Now if you're done moping, get your *ss back to work!""
When silence finally returned, Yon turned his head toward the phantom of his father.
"Sorry. The captain's a bit too bossy and not very understanding. Kinda like you, I guess."
He rose, sword in hand.
"I can't stick around anymore. I've got a job to do, after all."
In hindsight, it could have been that he didn't need to talk. He only needed someone to snap him out of it. To remind him of where he was.
Still, it helped him see clearly what he had to do.
The phantom raised the barrel toward him once again.
"Are you finally ready to face me seriously?"
"I wanted to," Yon replied as he began walking toward the phantom, "but I guess it won't happen today."
Zatch pulled the trigger for two rapid‑fire shots.
SWISH!
Yet nothing flew out.
The boy now stood behind him, sheathing his blade.
"For my mom, and all those you killed, I hope you pay for all of it."
Everything along the same axis as the gun had been cleaved cleanly by a single slash.
Following this, the illusion began to crumble away, revealing the withering amalgamation that had been deceiving his senses.
"But… thank you for teaching me how to be strong. I'll see you when it's my turn."
Through the same crevice Blue had passed through, he followed after her.