Meanwhile, at the edge of Fuhai Lin.
Black Princess, holding the blue-haired little girl Aresia in her arms, stared at the battlefield thousands of miles away, her pupils contracting sharply.
The clouds had been swept from the sky, leaving it crystal-clear. Two spiraling bands of light resembled colossal pillars that tore through the earth and pierced the heavens.
One was the crimson radiance of the moon; the other, a golden torrent of starlight.
The final battle was at hand.
The shock in Altrouge's heart was beyond measure. Caught amid the intertwining Aether Storms of opposing polarities, her body swayed like a dead leaf drifting through the air, impossible to steady.
Was this their true power?
"Altrouge, you should leave..."
Just as Black Princess fell into a daze, a low murmur echoed by her ear.
Samael?
The familiar voice jolted Altrouge awake. Following its source, she instinctively lowered her head toward the Rune symbol that had somehow been drawn onto the back of her hand.
"Take Aresia and leave this place."
When no reply came, the subdued male voice reminded her again.
Altrouge came back to her senses, clenched her silver teeth, and could not help straightening up as she spoke.
"I..."
"Wait. I'm afraid I won't be able to protect you as well."
Before Black Princess could finish, Samael interrupted her stubborn protest. There was an unprecedented solemnity in his voice.
At once, Altrouge recalled the flash of blood atop that cliff.
If he had not been looking after her earlier, he never would have been wounded by the rampaging Arcueid. Perhaps things would not have become so irretrievable.
Black Princess's face gradually paled. Her clenched teeth unknowingly bit through her cherry lips.
That "Mother" had been right. She had always been so willful, so terribly fragile, yet because of