Sora continued to fall. As she plunged, a sudden flash of light flared up from her right. Her eyes began to glow, shifting through a kaleidoscope of colors: blue, red, pink, purple, green, and white.
A stray ember drifted toward her, gently tapping her forehead. Sora snapped her eyes shut. When she opened them again, she froze. She was standing in a completely white void, stripped of all color.
This was the Realm of Infinite Light.
Before her stood Ibaraki. He looked exactly as he always did—featureless, with no eyes, no nose, and pure white skin.
"Do not try to peer into the memories of others," Ibaraki warned her. "Make sure you lock that out of your mind. Doing so could literally cause your brain to explode."
"Is this a memory, or something else?" Sora asked, her voice barely a whisper.
"No," Ibaraki replied. "I brought you here using your own willpower. You must move as fast as possible. Massive devils are heading your way to intercept you and ruin your mission to stop Yugo. Valentina has been brutally injured, but I have already sent Naruko to save her. I am forced to drop the invisible barrier protecting all the Sorcerers, because Osaka is currently under direct attack by Yugo."
Suddenly, Yamato and Takami materialized right next to Ibaraki.
"I am sure you will succeed," Takami told Sora. "Don't give up, keep going! We will be waiting for you in Osaka once you're done."
"But... but will you guys be okay? Tell me!" Sora yelled.
"We'll be fine, just keep moving," Takami reassured her. "I've already contacted other Sorcerers, and they are on their way to back us up. Don't worry."
In his signature calm, quiet voice, Ibaraki added: "The core is located high up in the barrier."
In an instant, everything vanished. Sora was thrown back into the depths of the barrier, resuming her endless fall.
Sora opened her eyes, gasping heavily for air. She looked to her right and froze in sheer shock.
She saw everyone happily eating sweets. Struggling to breathe, she choked out: "Farzo... what? You?!"
Farzo was handing out sweets to everyone.
"No, no! Don't eat them! No, no, stop!" Sora screamed.
She rushed forward to stop them, but her hands passed right through their bodies. They were incorporeal. She was looking at the past.
She burst into tears, begging the empty air: "Please, stop! Don't touch them, I beg you! Those sweets are contaminated!"
In the memory, Ezo asked, completely oblivious: "Hey guys, does anyone know where Akos is? Why didn't he show up at all for the new year of 2014?"
"As far as I know, he went to that strange city, Sinish," Ruka replied. "He went to carry out his final mission."
The entire room fell into a heavy silence.
Sora, sobbing uncontrollably, whispered: "What... final mission? No, no..."
She collapsed, sliding slowly down the wall. "I can't believe you're abandoning us! After all the chaos we've been through, you decided to just leave?"
She closed her eyes, and for one last time, the vision shifted violently.
She found herself in the forest. She stood paralyzed with horror, seeing Tenji brutally injured nearby and Mikaro plunging his bare hand deep into Akos's chest, grabbing his heart.
Mikaro whispered to Akos with a sorrowful gaze: "I'm sorry... I know it hurts, but this heart had to stop beating today."
With a swift pull, Mikaro ripped the heart out. Akos whispered his very last words: "If it has to end by your hand... then it's fine, Mikaro."
Akos's body collapsed limply to the cold ground.
Sora, who had been watching from behind a tree, let out a bloodcurdling shriek: "WHAT DID YOU DO?! NO, NO!"
She tried to sprint toward Akos, but the ground opened up beneath her, swallowing her whole. She began to sink rapidly as her tears rained down.
Drowning in the suffocating darkness, she finally gave up.
"Are we put in this world only to die?" she whispered, slipping away into the depths of the barrier.
Sora plunged into the pitch-black void. Drowning in the darkness, her eyes began to flutter shut.
She closed them, prepared for it to be the last time, as she lost all remaining control and sank deeper into the abyss.
Suddenly, a desperate shriek shattered the silence: "SORAAAAAAA! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"
Abruptly, someone yanked Sora upward with immense force. It was Ruka! She dragged her out of the depths, and both of them collapsed heavily onto the hard floor outside.
Sora gasped frantically for air. "Ahhh... what happened? Are we... are we alive?"
She looked to her right and froze. Surrounding them was a scene of absolute carnage, littered with the corpses of slaughtered devils.
Alexandra lay on the ground, a deep, gashing wound tearing near her ear. Ruka's face was completely drenched in crimson, the blood heavily obscuring her eyes.
"I don't believe this!" Sora screamed in terror. She rushed over, shaking her friend frantically. "Ruka! Get up! Get up!"
Suddenly, Ruka grabbed her hand, pressing a glowing purple crystal into her palm. "I'll be fine," she whispered hoarsely.
"What? No! I can't leave you!" Sora cried out, but Alexandra screamed over the chaos: "Finish what we started! Run! Just go!"
Sora turned away, squeezing the crystal tightly in her fist. She cast one final glance back. Ruka raised her hand, giving her a reassuring "OK" sign, before pressing her closed fist over her heart with a faint smile.
Wiping her tears away, Sora spun around and sprinted back toward the barrier with everything she had.
Wiping her tears away, Sora spun around and sprinted back toward the barrier with everything she had.
Sora began to climb.
Slowly, agonizingly, she forced her way up, digging her fingers into the structure. Her fingernails ripped and shattered, but she refused to stop.
She slipped, nearly falling to her death, but managed to catch herself at the absolute last second.
"I can do this. can. can. can. can..."
She repeated the words dozens of times like a desperate mantra.
Clenching her bleeding hand around the apex of the pyramid, she finally reached the core. She stared at it, whispering through her teeth: "This nightmare ends now."
With a primal scream, she thrust the purple crystal deep into the core.
Suddenly, a massive, forty-meter bolt of lightning struck the barrier.
A colossal explosion erupted. A violent shockwave of raw energy surged outward, flattening trees and blasting everything in its path, illuminating the night sky for miles.
The Fake World barrier shattered into dust, finally releasing all the trapped memories and sorcerers' energy.
However, the scale of the explosion caused massive collateral damage.
The colossal wave of raw energy surged outward, violently slamming into the protective barrier erected by Yukito. This specific barrier had been keeping a 420-meter combat zone isolated, shielding the innocent citizens of Tokyo from the brutal battles raging inside.
Under the sheer force of Sora's blast, Yukito's protective shield shattered to pieces.
With the safety zone collapsed, the powerful devils previously trapped inside the 420-meter perimeter were instantly unleashed. They began pouring out of the zone, invading the surrounding, defenseless districts of Tokyo.
Meanwhile, the expanding wave of light swept further into the rest of the city, disintegrating the ordinary invading devils in an instant.
Suzuki, standing atop a skyscraper, watched the massive wave rushing toward him. He smiled, whispering: "You actually did it."
All across Tokyo, shocked citizens pulled out their phones, recording the spectacular light show in the sky, completely unaware of the horror that had just been unleashed.
Down on the pavement, Farzo looked up. He watched the glowing energy rain down upon them like starlight as the shield dissolved.
Whispering with a wicked grin, he said: "You actually did it... Ah, now the game truly begins."
The raw energy battered Sora's face, whipping her hair wildly, but she refused to back down. She gripped even tighter.
The crushing force of the energy hammered the upper half of her body, yet she held her ground.
Planting her feet firmly, she pushed against the barrier with every ounce of strength left in her, fighting against the violent backdraft.
Her body began to melt under the searing, agonizing heat.
"No matter what... I am not leaving! No matter what!"
She shut her eyes and screamed the words over and over, dozens of times: "I can do this... I can... I can...!"
Even her eyebrows disintegrated, scorched away by the sheer magnitude of the erupting energy.
Her hands melted rapidly under the extreme, searing temperature.
A massive wave of energy erupted, slamming into Sora and blasting the upper half of her body into the sky.
She gripped the crystal with only one hand, squeezing it as hard as she possibly could.
Her grip began to slip. Her head slowly bowed.
One by one, her fingers lost their hold until her hand was completely torn away.
Finally, her entire body was hurled high into the sky.