Meanwhile, outside ..
The appearance of Adyr had shaken the battlefield entirely.
With Wesker forcibly sealed away, the Empire was allowed to breathe again.
But victory was far from assured.
Sir Alon and Emperor Maekar Valerion were gone.
Two SS+ pillars had fallen .. and the Empire had lost its greatest weapons.
Frey Starlight was completely exhausted.
And Snow Leonheart...
His condition was far worse.
His body had been destroyed by Wisker’s strike .. only the Soul of Light was preventing his death.
He was hanging on by a thread.
...
...
...
-Frey Starlight’s POV-
"Huff..."
I drew a long, deep breath as I crawled over the blood-slick, filthy ground, tuning out the roar of battle around me.
My eyes found only Snow — lying nearby.
We had been utterly defeated by a Fourth-Rank Demon despite fighting with everything we had. It had been obvious from the start: facing a foe of Wisker’s caliber was premature for us.
I didn’t know everything that had happened earlier .. only that someone had managed to drive Wisker away for the moment, and Snow and I had fallen from the sky, slamming painfully into the earth below.
So much was at stake. In moments like these, bitter and wretched, I felt helpless for the first time in a very long while.
My friends could be wiped out any second. I had no idea what had happened to my sister across the other side of the world.
I’d been toyed with by Wesker .. a puppet in his hands. I was so desperate I called out to that being living somewhere inside me... but even Nameless did not answer.
Those horrific visions the system had shown me once were beginning to bleed into reality.
In one battle it felt like I could lose everything. I would have been ready to die to prevent that.
So much was riding on this, and my body refused to obey.
Yet even in these bitter, broken moments I kept looking at Snow, who lay near me on the field.
Wesker had tried to kill him properly .. so much so that Snow himself had nearly vanished; only the Soul of Light clung to him and kept him here, by sheer will.
"Don’t die... Snow..."
I whispered with great effort, squeezing my eyes shut as I tried to manipulate aura despite being utterly depleted.
"I still... need power."
Power above all else .. if I wanted to save what I could save.
I would not let Snow die.
He was the brother I never had in this world. I would not let him go.
"You are the brother I never had... so you won’t die. I won’t let you."
I spat bitter blood into my mouth and forced the words out. Then, after crawling the last few agonizing meters, I collapsed beside him and slammed my palm against his chest.
Snow looked terrible .. face drained, lying on his back.. his Soul of Light flickering, about to go out.
"You won’t die... you won’t die..."
I said it with difficulty as explosions and destruction echoed around us. The Ultras were very close. None of that mattered now.
Slowly I laid my hand over his heart and, using the third stage of Shadow Adaptation, poured the last of my aura into him.
I didn’t know exactly how much remained inside me .. only that it was precious and scarce. Burning those auras might end me; aura was the life force keeping my body from collapsing.
Still, trying was better than letting him die.
"Snow... I’m sorry I haven’t been honest with you about so many things..."
I’d hidden so much from him .. so much that he might hate me if he heard the whole truth. And yet I should have told him before. About everything.
"Since I opened my eyes in this world as Frey Starlight, I fought alone. I believed I alone could change my fate. I thought my strength was everything."
I had been willing to do anything to gain power.
"But you changed everything. You opened my eyes to what’s right. You carried this burden with me. You walked this path by my side. Snow, I don’t want to fight alone anymore."
My eyes burned red from strain as I was completely hollowed out and powerless. The violet aura I tried to give him was the only thing I had left to offer.
"I don’t know how I succeed without you, Snow. So don’t die... I beg you."
I choked the words out and felt my chest tear as I transferred the last drops of my aura into him.
Snow remained unconscious, sinking deeper into darkness despite the Soul of Light fighting to hold him. I reached for him, trying to find purchase .. but only moments later the last of my own aura evaporated.
So there, in that bloodied battlefield between Empire and Ultras, we lay side by side and closed our eyes to the world.
We had both failed miserably. Between one dying and the other surviving, perhaps dying together would have been easier .. that cold, monstrous darkness felt oddly familiar.
...
...
...
In the center of the battlefield, Frey and Snow lay motionless .. like corpses emptied of life.
The earth’s champions: Frey the Black Knight, Snow the White Knight.
The two warriors who had stood against the monsters from above were down; their death would mean the end. They could not be allowed to die at any cost.
But no human could save them now. Their comrades were completely embroiled in fights for their own lives.
As blood spilled and men fell one after another, Frey and Snow lay unseen.
In those moments when death and blood reigned, everything turned gray .. death loomed nearer than ever .. until, strangely, a different color descended through the gray.
A red butterfly came down from the sky, slow and calm, glowing faintly.
No one saw it. No one knew whence it came.
The butterfly navigated through the carnage toward a single person, ignoring everything else.
Finally, it settled gently on Frey’s chest .. as if it had found its shelter at last.
Magically, the butterfly scattered crimson-red dust that curled around Frey, then Snow, wrapping them in a web of deep, dark crimson aura that warmed their hearts strangely.
In those decisive moments, an ancient female voice whispered:
"I will not repeat my past mistake... this time, I will choose you both."
Light curled around Frey and Snow, illuminating a new path for them.