[Lifespan Remaining : 1 hours, 10 minutes.]
Deciding to sacrifice another hour of his lifespan, Noct unfurled his remaining wings, allowing the pocket of air to surround them and condense around their bodies.
Wind wrapped around Noelle’s limbs, lifting her weight until she no longer needed to swim.
"You’ll be able to move normally now."
"Normally?"
"Close enough."
Faust remained ahead, suspended within a web of dark-blue veins. His eyes were closed, and water flowed continuously through his body before spreading throughout Leviathan.
No words were exchanged between the two, yet they both knew what to do next.
Noct guided them through the water while Noelle raised her dagger right above Faust’s heart before driving it down with all her strength.
CLANG—!
The blade stopped just inches from his chest.
A transparent layer of compressed water surrounded Faust’s body. It had remained invisible until the moment Noelle struck, only appearing when its host was in real danger.
The resulting force threw them backward, but Noct’s wings flared, just barely stopping them before they could be launched too far from each other.
’That barrier is directly connected to Leviathan’s true body!’ Sylph warned. ’It’s using its authority from the Spirit World to protect its sanctuary.’
"How do we break it?"
’Overwhelm it.’
’Ugh...of course it’s always that hard..’
Naturally, Leviathan wasn’t going to sit there and let them destroy its host. Tendrils erupted from every surrounding wave, converging on their location at once.
Noct pulled Noelle aside as several passed between them. Others curved and followed, their ends transforming into jaws filled with glowing blue fangs.
The small air pocket divided itself into two separate layers. One wrapped tightly around Noct, while the other formed around Noelle.
More currents gathered beneath their feet and behind their backs, acting like propellers. Now, both of them could glide inside the water, without any resistance whatsoever.
Noelle instantly understood the situation, bursting forward with tremendous speed and going on the offensive.
A tendril snapped at her waist, but Noelle twisted above it like a graceful ballerina doing her routine. She then "landed" before changing her direction without losing any speed whatsoever.
Noct circled Faust from the opposite direction while Leviathan’s tendrils pursued him through the darkness.
Noelle ducked beneath one and severed another with her dagger. The third came from outside her vision, but a wind sword got to it first.
Noct did not need to warn her, as through the air surrounding Noelle’s body, he could feel every movement she made. Each shift of her weight told him where she intended to go next.
CLANG—!
Noelle’s dagger struck Faust’s barrier again, finally causing a crack to appear along its surface.
Leviathan roared, finally realizing that these two puny humans actually posed a threat to it and its plans.
And with the threat, Leviathan started closing off the passage in a last-ditch effort to save itself. But it was too late.
Noct folded his wings and shot through the closing walls like a speeding bullet. Noelle hid herself inside his shadow just a moment before the currents crushed everything between them.
Noct emerged beyond the attack. Noelle rose from his shadow with her dagger already descending toward the barrier.
CLANG—!
A second crack appeared wider than the first.
Dark water exploded from Faust’s barrier, forming dozens of serpents around them. Noct summoned his remaining arsenal, a total of twelve swords, already prepared to deal with the serpents.
’Something changed,’ Sylph warned.
The surrounding walls followed, losing their shape as every drop of water inside Leviathan rushed toward Faust.
"IT WILL NOT END HERE! NOT AFTER COMING THIS FAR!"
The Disaster Spirit abandoned its attacks.
It abandoned its colossal body, the flood surrounding Altaire, and even the currents holding Noct and Noelle inside its manifestation.
Everything was redirected toward one purpose:
Protecting the sanctuary.
BOOOOOOOM—!
The resulting pressure expelled Noct and Noelle from Leviathan’s body.
They burst into the open sky alongside millions of gallons of water. Supported by the remaining current, both Noct and Noelle managed to float in the air harmlessly, staring down at the scene below.
Leviathan’s seemingly endless coils gathered around Faust’s body. Layer after layer of dark water compressed around his body, creating a small sphere above Altaire.
The water was pressurized into an impossible density, so much so that it looked more like a black pearl.
Noelle floated back up to Noct, asking in between breaths. "Can we break through that thing at all?"
Noct looked toward his timer.
[Lifespan Remaining: 59 minutes.]
’Sylph.’
’I know what you’re thinking.’
’Do we have something strong enough?’
’We do, but—’
Noct didn’t even let her finish.
’How much would it cost?’
’...Almost everything,’ she spoke in his mind softly. ’Once you use it, Sacred Assimilation will collapse, and you’ll likely be in a state between life and death...’
Noct looked toward Noelle and remembered the promise she made to save him. Perhaps it was foolish to stake his remaining life on a promise made while trapped in a Disaster Spirit.
But if not her, then who else?
’Do it.’
’Noct—’
’I trust her.’
’...Understood.’
The final halo-like rings began rotating behind Noct’s head. Noelle felt the wind surrounding her beginning to disappear.
"Young Master?"
"Once I break the barrier, go directly for Faust."
"What are you going to—"
"There’s no time," he cut her off. "I can only do this once, so we won’t have another chance."
"Can you trust me?"
Noelle hesitated. When Noct planned something, he almost always ignored the cost. But this time, she had to believe in him.
"Always."
The air surrounding Noelle thinned, but Noct maintained the currents beneath her feet long enough for her to reach the opposite side of the barrier. Once he sensed that she had arrived, Noct flew straight into the clouds.
He continued climbing until Altaire appeared small beneath him and the compressed sphere looked like a dark moon suspended above the city.
As the power of causality, the closer he was to death, the more those minutes mattered to him, which meant...the stronger this final attack became.
Noct raised two fingers, and his arsenal arranged themself around him before pointing skyward. Now that he was under the moonlit sky, Sylpheed’s domain...
Nothing could stop him.
"O wandering winds beneath the moonlit sky, gather before the throne of your sovereign."
One by one, the blades’ physical shapes dissolved into streams of green mana, gathering at his fingertips.
[Lifespan Remaining: 49 minutes.]
"O blades of fae, surrender your forms and become a single dream."
The nearby clouds seemed to heed his call, giving up their green wind mana to help build the shaft, extending it hundreds of meters into the sky.
[Lifespan Remaining: 27 minutes.]
"O final breath of summer, pierce the endless night—"
Noct’s remaining wings and halo dissolved into the completed spear, which glowed like a radiant comet.
[Lifespan Remaining: 5 minutes.]
?Regalia Ultima— Grand Fantasia?
"...Awaken in this world, and purge it of all evil."
Noct swept two fingers downward...and the colossal spear plunged from the sky.
One moment, it hovered among the clouds. The next, it descended like divine artillery upon the mortal world.
The atmosphere ruptured around its blade. Green light swallowed Altaire as the weapon tore through the night, leaving shock waves in its wake.
Leviathan sensed the danger. The black sphere began rotating faster, drawing every remaining drop of water toward the point directly above Faust.
"YOU CANNOT BREAK ME!"
Layers of compressed water stacked over one another. The sphere shrank, sacrificing its size to increase its density even further.
But then...it arrived.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM—!
Shock waves shook the heavens, scattering clouds above and flattening floods underneath it.
The barrier managed to hold, and for several seconds, the spear remained embedded within its surface. Wind and water collided against one another, shaking even the mountains.
Everyone within Altaire saw the clash happen, but instead of running away, they could not tear their eyes off the sight.
Then...one crack appeared.
Then another.
Soon, fractures covered the entire sphere.
KRRRRRRR—!
"NO!"
"Now, Noelle!"
...RRRRAAAAK—!
Water exploded outward in every direction, falling across Altaire as a torrential downpour. At the center of it all, Faust’s unprotected body hung in the air.
Leviathan desperately gathered the scattered water around its sanctuary. Tendrils formed from the rain and converged upon her, attempting to rebuild the barrier before she could arrive.
But it was all too late.
She emerged from Faust’s shadow with her dagger raised, only muttering her last words under her breath. "You’ve caused the Young Master too much grief."
"Repent in another life."
SHNKK—!
Time seemed to stop for a moment when that happened. Then...the Disaster Spirit let out a guttural roar as water particles started pulling back into the sea.
"YOU CANNOT BANISH ME! I AM THE DEPTH BENEATH ALL WORLDS! I AM—"
Yet, before it could finish...the last remaining drop of dark water disappeared back into the ocean—banished back to its realm.
Its suffocating presence disappeared, and the clouds above Altaire parted, revealing the moon once more.
Noelle held Faust’s lifeless body as they descended. One of Noct’s fading currents reached her, slowing their fall until the frozen port came into view beneath them.
It was finally over.
She laid the body to the ground, turning around to look back up at the stars. Anxiety filled her chest, hoping that Noct would be alright.
But parting from the skies, a figure plummeted without his crown or mantle.
Alone.
A lord—
Who had exhausted everything.
"YOUNG MASTER!"