That night, sleep barely came to Leona. No matter how comfortable her accommodations were, the previous conversation she had with Robert weighed heavily on her mind.
"You might just be the hero of this neverending tale."
Doubts were nothing new to her—everyone faced it at some point. But facing off against the void itself? That was far greater than any passing uncertainty.
With a quiet sigh, she rose up from the couch and grabbed the staff before quietly making her way to the doors—hoping the fresh air would clear her mind. Upon opening one of them she felt a gentle breeze brush against her cheeks as she stepped outside.
The rocky ground felt cool beneath her bare feet as she made her way towards the entrance of the cave.
Pale moonlight bathed the forest below in a tint of blue, flowing into the vast ocean—like a mirror stretching endlessly throughout the horizon. The city of Nara to her right sparkled with firelight, each torch casting flickering hues against the night's blue embrace. The night was quiet, broken only by the rustling of leaves and the distant hoot of owls.
Bracing her weight with the staff, she lowered herself before crossing both legs and taking a slow, deep breath. The rich scent of earth and wood laced with a hint of ocean salt put her mind at ease. How many days had passed before she could allow herself to sit down and breathe?
'It had been so long…'
Despite the calm in her heart, the weight of her responsibilities had never felt this heavy. From a princess to a tactician, then a mage and now…
'A hero?' She shook her head with a bitter grin curling at the edge of her lips. 'I am no hero.'
The void was a foe beyond reckoning—that much was certain. She could feel it in her very soul. A snap of a finger. A twitch of an eye. A slight snicker—was enough to erase her existence altogether and yet… there was a glint of hope in that man's eyes. A man that witnessed the downfall of kingdoms, nations, worlds—entire timelines. It was something she could hardly fathom.
'What can I even do here?'
She closed her eyes as she focused on her own heartbeat. Each breath she took was steady and calculated in order to match the rhythm of her body. The calm pace made her mind sharper as mana started to slowly pour out of her.
'What can I do?'
Emotions swirled in her heart as she recalled each time she fought and persevered. From her humble beginnings in the desert of Windia to the pinnacle of magical strength against Akamui. Time and time again she would challenge ever greater foes and come out victorious.
'But each time there was a sacrifice.' Krieg's armor, Luke, Neiliel, Laslow, Laura, her father, Krieg's consciousness, Phoebe's legs, her own left arm. 'What else would I need to sacrifice in order to vanquish a foe as great as the void itself?'
She slowly closed her eyes as the wind gently brushed against her cheeks. There was a long pause before she opened her eyes and muttered under her breath.
"No… instead of thinking about what I have to sacrifice…" Suddenly, a burst of mana began to pour out of her like wildfire. Light blue flames engulfed her body as she entered a trance-like state. With half opened eyes she tilted her head forward as her irises went dim. "I should think of what I need to save."
Despite having her eyes open, her consciousness was drifting away in a lucid dream. Although her body could feel the cool breeze from the outside, her heart felt like a blazing core with each beat feeling like a rush of unfamiliar power running through her veins. It was as if herself and mana became one for a brief moment.
In one blink of an eye she soon found herself in her inner world. Empty and hollow—darkness expanded endlessly to all directions. There was no sound, no smell, nothing. It was a place fully devoid of life or meaning aside from her own awareness. Despite the bleak and hopeless atmosphere there was a sense of belonging rooted in her heart. It was as if she knew from the very beginning that the inner world she had been to before, wasn't exactly her own and this was the true state of it. A blank, empty world.
From her encounter with Lastraeous, borrowing the power of a legendary swordmaster to eventually learning what true mastery of magic meant, she was still walking on a path laid down to her. It was nothing more than a matter of circumstances which led her to this point and she was more than okay with it. There was nothing inherently wrong in following a path instead of carving your own, but this time was different.
Ever since she came to these lands, the world never seemed so bigger. So much so that the sheer weight of discovery felt like an insurmountable burden that could crush her at any point. But, even if the burden of knowledge was great, the power she wielded now was even greater than before.
"Compassion is only worth as much as the power behind it." She uttered out loud and streaks of light began to take root from her heart—illuminating the inner world like a newborn sun. "I hid behind my family's name. I was a coward that thought bringing peace to a war torn kingdom was just a matter of conviction."
The roots suddenly bursted out, creating an intricate web that started to fill the world devoid of life.
"Conviction without power is pointless." She closed her hand into a tight fist and brought it closer to her heart. "And power without conviction is meaningless."
She raised her fist which was glowing light blue with mana.
"I will stop at nothing to see the end of my path. I swear on my name!"
Suddenly the roots started to glow even brighter until it became a blinding light that forced Leona to close her eyes. As warmth washed over her—a sense of relief and familiarity started to grow in her heart.
As she opened her eyes she found herself in a throne room. Red carpet extended beneath her feet with the polished marble flooring glistering from the reflection of sunlight coming from behind her. A lone throne made of marble adorned with red cushions and golden accentuated corners was placed at the top of a few stairs.
She noticed a shadow of a person appear by her feet and as she turned around, she noticed herself standing at the doorway. A Leona clad in red plate armor stood in the middle of the doorway. Her long blonde hair was tied back with some of the strands fanning out behind her legs, the sharp aquamarine eyes locked with hers as she brought her left hand onto the guard of the sheathed black blade on her hip.
"Leona." She spoke. Her voice felt more mature than her own. "Do not commit the same mistakes as I did."
"I won't. Because unlike you, I am not alone." She stood proudly with the staff on her hand as it supported some of her weight against the floor beneath. "You were a proud Empress of a holy empire born out of strife. Your conviction as well as your power knows no bounds, but at the same time, this boundless strength was also your downfall. I will nurture my kingdom with hope and power in equal measures so that one day we may yet cease all this pointless fighting. One day… we will drive off the void that grows off our despair."
Despite her rugged appearance, the older Leona smiled as she turned around. The tactician walked forward and stood beside her. Beyond the ornate metal doors lied a capital city of her dreams, a bustling Arcadia that knew no strife nor sorrow. A kingdom born from strength and purpose.
"This time for sure." The Empress spoke as her left hand tightened around the guard of her sheathed blade. "Drive off the darkness from our people's heart, rally them to you, become a beacon of hope in these dark tides—surely then the bards will sing of wise Leona, the great Arcadian Queen."
Leona chuckled sourly as she tilted her head to the side and looked at the Empress beside her.
"Do not yet sing your praises, old Empress. There is still much to be done." She extended her right hand towards her as a friendly gesture. "But, we can start slow, isn't that right? Me?"
The woman's sharp gaze softened if only for a brief moment as she turned to hold her hand. Once she did however, a flash of memories started to rush through Leona's eyes and the world around her began to change. The bright sky turned orange, then black, a gnawing darkness approached the horizon—an ever growing void that seemed to snuff even light.
"Leona!"
She instinctively turned around and saw a fully armored Xenovia standing at the top of the staircase leading to the throne room. Her white full plated armor was almost blinding as Leona had to squint her eyes in order to better see the warrior princess' expression.
"This is the end of the road for you!"
Despite addressing her by name, the tactician felt her gaze elsewhere and as she followed her eyes. The Empress of Annihilation was sitting on a dilapidated throne with nobody at her side, just the presence of the familiar eerie black sword leaned against the foot of her seat.
"So you finally have come." She grabbed the weapon and stood up. "You are the only one left, Xenovia." Once the black steel left its sheath, she tossed it aside and pointed the tip of the blade at her own flesh and blood. "Once I deal with you, nobody else will stand in my way."
"Do you not realize?! You are destroying our world!"
"Destroying? No, those who oppose me should know their place." She raised her left hand towards her face and from between each finger, her eyes widened as a hysterical laughter left her mouth. "The world is mine to command!" At that moment she snapped back and glared at Xenovia. "And you—are in my way."
With inhuman speed, the Empress dashed at Xenovia with an overhead strike. The warrior stood her ground and raised the shaft of her axe horizontally—blocking the attack before shoving her opponent's blade to the side and swinging her weapon into an upwards slash.
With one sidestep, the red knight dodged the attack before following with a thrust at Xenovia's left armpit. Despite aiming for the weak point in her armor, the blade was stopped by something that came from inside the armor and grabbed onto the blade like an appendage of some kind.
"What the-?!"
Xenovia saw the opportunity and swung the weapon down with full force at her left shoulder. In their previous encounter, that was the moment the warrior princess' lost her arm, but not this time. Her strike was so powerful it created a small crater on the marble ground as she successfully slammed the Empress down to the floor.
"Ugh!" Despite her grunt of pain, the armor remained intact. "You little-!"
Xenovia quickly lifted her axe and aimed for her head, but she dodged the attack at the last second by rolling out of the way. With a loud thump, the axe blade embedded itself deep into the floor—so much so that it would leave her too exposed if she were to try and take it out.
"Die!" The Empress shouted as she once again brandished her blade at her. Xenovia knew how sharp that weapon was so instead of trying to get her weapon, she hopped backwards and raised her fists. "Do you really think you can win against me without any weapons?"
"It doesn't seem like I need one."
Her taunt didn't go unpunished. The Empress enchanted her blade with wind magic and in a blink of an eye she was sent flying towards one of the pillars that held the throne room together.
"Damn your magic…" Xenovia grunted as she moved rubble from over her. Dust covered the room. "You know… Master used to tell me a saying… I'm sure he told you the same when you trained under him."
Leona watched as the Empress headed to where she had sent Xenovia.
"Save your pointless chatter for the afterlife."
With little regard to the life of her own flesh and blood, she swung the black blade down but something was wrong. While she did hit metal, she didn't feel any flesh being cut. As she was about to turn around and swing her sword, the blade remained stuck amidst the warrior's armor.
"An attack does the most damage—if your enemy is caught by surprise!"
Hiding from within the settling dust, Xenovia appeared with a frostburnt silver blade as she drove the sword through her opponent's back, piercing through the front of her chest with it. She had shed her armor and was now wearing a black Londrian uniform.
"Argh! You…!" Despite the fatal injury, she grabbed the blade with both of her hands and turned around, forcing Xenovia to jump back. "You… dare… to use it against me?! I am a dragonslayer, a god empress!"
Blood dripped from her wound as she ruthlessly forced the blade backwards. The silver longsword clattered alongside the rubble before she picked it up. A surge of mana suddenly arose from the silver blade. Avalon had been used extensively to hunt down monstrosities that posed a threat to her empire, but after serving its purpose, it was nothing more than a relic of the past. Or so she thought.
"That was your best shot at killing me and yet you failed once again…" She clenched her hand and her wound started to seal with pure mana extracted from Avalon itself. "Now, know despair as I snuff your meaningless life out of your body!"
As she took a step forward, something felt wrong. Her body, despite being healed, felt heavy.
"What… what is this?!"
"Your downfall." Xenovia spoke calmly as she looked into her eyes. "Why do you think I didn't aim for your throat in the first place? Or why did I leave the blade inside you all along?"
A lone clap echoed from behind the Empress and once her and Leona looked at the figure standing amidst the rubble it shocked them both.
"Robert?!" The dragonslayer shouted with anger boiling in her eyes. "What have you done to me?!"
"Just a bit of mana manipulation."
He snapped his fingers and suddenly the Empress was slammed into the ground with full force.
"Argh!"
"Normally one would never consider using mana from an enemy's weapon. But thanks to your boundless pride, I managed to do just that."
"How…?! I'm the only rightful ruler… the one and only Avalon's wielder…!"
"Hahahaha! Did it never occur to you that Xenovia shares your blood as well?"
At that point, it all made sense. The Empress' eyes were flaring with anger and hatred.
"I WILL KILL YOU!"
"Perhaps you will. But not now anyway." He spoke before looking at Xenovia. "Bring her to the basement, I've got everything set up there."
Without replying, the warrior nodded before heading over the fallen Empress. She started by taking the silver blade out of her grip and sheathing it back into the scabbard before slinging it over her shoulder. Robert walked to the staircase behind the throne and vanished into the darkness.
As Xenovia approached to lift her up—the Empress' realization that she lost just hit her now.
"No… no…! Xenovia! Do not do what that man tells you to!"
"...it's too late now, grandmother."
"No! You don't understand! He'll kill us both if you give him this chance!" Despite her complaints, Xenovia simply lifted her from the hip and adjusted her body on her shoulder. "No! NO!"