At last, face Elok Daven.

He floats no longer. Instead, he stands a short distance ahead, staring you down with his sword still in-hand. Down his immaculate, dark blue suit trimmed with gold is still the scorched crater made straight through the front. The skin beneath shows his chiseled figure. Around his fingers are beautiful rings of gold and silver. Down his back flows a pure black cloak, in contrast to his radiant golden hair--slicked back down past his neck, past his partly pointed ears. His body would appear flawless if not for the faint lines that draw down his face, over his eyes, in a manner somewhat similar to the ALICE golems. The weapon he wields is pale blue with a blade like polished silver, but of course this is merely the result of a spell. Still, you can tell it holds power on par with a real, physical enchanted sword, and just a brief look at his body can show that's far from the only thing more powerful than what's ordinary. A normal individual would have no torso remaining after what you did to him earlier. He's far beyond even an ELIS, or any construct you've seen. Standing before you is nothing short of a demi-god.

But you've handled demigods before, just not in combat.

The other figure is difficult to see. As nothing more than a silhouette, like all etherites, Nae appears like a cut-out of the night sky. Her slim figure is covered in stars and nebulae, and her cosmic hair is tied up into huge pigtails. Her eyes pierce the void like two full moons as she watches the altercation from above--a malevolent goddess, overseeing her domain.

There's a third. Even Elok seems surprised, though he tries to hide it. Your Kitty Sense picks up that perhaps he did consider himself abandoned until this moment, though his feelings about it are mixed.

Breiah stands watching, just as she always does, scribbling something down on a clipboard.

"You're still here," you say. "I thought you ran."

"Subject, David Garbarini. Born in the realm known as the United States of America, Earth." She takes her pencil and slides it through her hair, over her ear. "After three failed attempts, I managed to recover a human from the other world, as said was possible from Isekai Theory, just like my grandfather. He proved to be far more accepting than I first would have guessed."

"You're still observing," Elok says beneath his breath, with a hint of distain. "Help me then. We have to salvage all we've made together, Breiah, before we lose it all."

"Are you gonna fight yet or what?" Nae calls out from above. "I spent so much time with you guys crafting the ultimate evil lair, so I don't want you to just chat in the final boss room, all right?"

Breiah brings her hands behind her back. As always, her face is entirely vacant of emotion. She stands there, pale as a ghost, garbed in a lab coat and pencil skirt, with hair in pigtails albeit smaller than those of Nae. "We built upon research spanning generations, pertaining to the augmentation of life, Goa, Isekai Theory, and more. We were able to pierce the veil, and recover even more subjects. Earthlings were the secret all along. While they have no mana nor do they seem to have the ability to be given Goa's blessing, they can be altered in ways I could never have imagined. If my grandfather had discovered this in his time, he would perhaps still be alive today."

Elok peers back at you. "That's right. And after more experimentation, we finally crafted the perfect body. I have the spells I desire. The strength. The speed. The durability. My expertise was always automatons, however, and with levels in mage, and eventually artificer, I was able to create unparalleled lifeforms. Where Demon King Muian failed, I have succeeded with my ALICE, and eventually my ELIS androids. This is what I meant before, Kyle. It would be so easy to take this world for your own. I have connections far and wide, and in my years on this planet, look at what I've accomplished!"

"Finish things here. Then we'll rebuild, if you survive."

"You aren't going to help at all then."

Breiah looks to Nae with a nod.

Nae shrugs. "Sorry. She's made up her mind. Bye then!" she says, waving her hand. In a blip, the white-haired girl is gone.

"Whatever." Elok faces you once more. "I don't need her to kill you anyway. I just thought she might have wanted to join in on all the fun, at the end of things."

You bring up Lauo, and slide your hand up the weapon as you reinvigorate it with another jolt of magic. "Flare Blade," you whisper, causing the energy from the weapon to rise up into a inferno of pink fire. Then you pull the weapon back, and try your best to focus on the foe before you. It's all come down to this, but you can't let the pressure throw you off. All your allies are fine, in Avana, at Castle Phoenix, and back in the chamber. That's what your faith in your friends tells you anyway. Right now, it's all about you fight with Elok Daven.

He brings his blade up and places his hand upon it. "Flare Blade," he says as well. Suddenly, the weapon burst into an explosion of shadowy flames. You can feel the wave of energy from here. Just like you, he lowers himself into a readied position and eyes you down.

"Entangle," you whisper as you strafe to the side, setting an unseen trap back where you once stood.

Strafing the other way, Elok throws his free hand to the side, and just as it did before, it transforms into an arcane cannon beneath his sleeve. A cyan glow begins to hum from within the barrel. "Meti. She brought you to me, didn't she?"

You continue moving, slowly and carefully, but you don't answer.

"I should have killed her when I had the chance," he says. "Imagine the sort of loot a djinn would drop. You know about them, don't you? They hide treasures within their pocket dimension. If you kill one, it all becomes yours. They've been hunted to near extinction, just like those magic eaters." When he mentions the stel'ae, you feel as if he's remembering a recent event. He may have realized what Eva did to him earlier. "But this time, you really are out of options. Look at you. That energy you call upon, it's barely present in your system. Without your allies nearby, you're weak. How does it feel, having to rely on other people? Being weak without them?"

"You really don't ever shut the hell up, do you?"

After having moved clockwise from six-o'clock to ten, he gradually slows. A slight shift in his visage telegraphs to you his attack a moment before he throws his cannon forward for a powerful shot. The energy blast narrowly misses you, and you take the opportunity to dash forwards.

The two of you lock into a barrage of bladework. Some miss, others lock together, but you can feel the might of his blows each time he blocks or parries. You're quick enough to avoid damage, but he has an incredible defense. And when you attempt to disengage, it opens you up to his ranged attacks. You'll have to do more than swing your sword to win this one. You've been through so much--faced so many foes, been hurt, struggled. You're stronger now, and faster as well. And with the size of your mana reserves, there's no reason to slow down.

With one wider slash, forcing him to dodge back a couple steps, you thrust forward and shout, "Entangle Bolt!" to send a blast of energy to his chest.

Elok moves his weapon up to block, but it was a foolish move. It seems he's still learning about your Spell Blending ability. When it hits the blade, the momentum sends his hand into his cannon, tying them together with blue tendrils. His eyes widen, realizing he's entirely exposed.

You unleash a barrage of slashes, and while the first few miss, suddenly a gash opens up over his cheek. Realizing he needs to unstick himself and fast, he dismisses the conjured sword, loosening the tendrils enough to fall to the ground and vanish. He instead grabs the cannon for better accuracy, and aims it directly towards you with a quick shot.

Much like him, you raise your blade to block, and the **** sends you tumbling backwards onto your ass.

"Haa!" Elok uses his ability to fly to his advantage by taking flight, and throwing a bolt of cracking magic down at you like a spear. "Lightning Lance!"

You roll to the side. Your hair stands up from the shock of electricity behind you, but thankfully you avoid the hit. Then you stand back up, and stare up and the man above. "Hiding in the air again, are you?"

He throws his cannon to the side at the same time it transforms back into a regular arm. "I don't hide. I tower above." Then as he raises his hands towards the sky, he conjures up the mana for another mighty spell.

"I don't think so," you grumble before using Bunny Hop to warm right before him. You bring back your sword, and with one mighty thrust, you pierce straight into--

"Gravity Wave!" he shouts.

Before you make contact, you feel the weight of a building crush you straight back down to the ground. With how hardly the floor is, the pain is immense. Lauo flies from your hand as you're not only cracked against the ground, but pinned there by an invisible ****. You groan as you clench your teeth, trying everything in your power to at least **** yourself through the pain to stand. Slowly, you manage to fight against the gravitational **** to rise to your knee.

Against all odds, you manage to hurl yourself out of the wave. Despite having no weapon in sight, you don't think twice about bringing up your empty hand, thrusting it up towards him, and shouting, "Flare Bolt!" It burns your skin, but a rush of mana wafts down your arm into a blast of pink fire. The bolt propels up right into Elok's chest, where the tear in his suit was already present, and it sends him back groaning in pain. His spell vanishes as well.

"... Without a sword," he says to himself.

You look around until you spot Lauo a distance behind him.

He notices too, however, and lowers himself slightly to block the path. "Look at me, Kyle. You may have gotten some hits in, but I'm not even short on breath. I have no lethal damage anywhere on my body. You're going to tire out, even if we manage to fight long enough for that to happen. This is just a waste of time." Suddenly, his body surges with mana as he musters up the strength to cast yet another spell.

This time, you step back and ready yourself to dodge.

"Fall already, Kyle Warren. And then we'll salvage your body, and improve my form even further! Take this, Meteor Storm!"

It's just like at the Sport's Festival. Far in the sky, flaming rocks manifest, and they begin to crash down to the surface one at a time. Each causes a devastating, burning explosion, with shockwaves of intense heat. While you manage to maneuver away from them fine at first, they start overwhelming you. The sundering ground causes you to tumble, and one meteor detonates far too close. You're launched away, tumbling and smoldering.

Through the smoke, you can see that Elok is grabbing the back of his head. His mana sparks strangely.

Where he's holding. That's where Eva bit him. Could she have screwed up his strange, custom magical circuits or whatever? It almost looks like he's leaking mana. Maybe he has fewer spells in him than he wants me to believe.

You grunt as you pull yourself back up. Fuck. Everything hurts. This has all gone on far too long. Amara may have healed me, and gave me the Bless spell, but I feel like I've been fighting through enemies for days straight.

"Wait. Where'd you--"

During the chaos, you didn't even see him move, nor did you hear him. In his hand is once again a summoned sword, which you feel firsthand when it cuts across your torso. Thankfully his Flare Blade isn't active, or it may have cut your armour clean off. Still, you feel the sting over your chin, your stomach, and your waist, and the impact still crushes your chest behind the armoured suit you wear. The strike sends you back, and you leap even farther as to avoid a continued combo.

You were right to do so, because he immediately strikes again, and this time, you narrowly dodge. You feel the wind cut right past your ear.

The area is now shrouded in flames and debris. Elok Daven levitates through the smoke, and as he does, he blades his hand against his weapon before speaking, "Flare Blade". Once again, his conjured weapon engulfs in black fire. "Now you're alone, and unarmed. Do me a favour and lose your head next!" He lunges across the battlefield towards you, ready to strike, and while you may be able to dodge, you have no way to parry, and certainly no way to counterattack.

"Alone this. Alone that," you mutter. "You need to stop projecting. No matter how much you say it, that won't be true. This isn't about the power of friendship or anything like that. You may have started the process, but I made me. Not you. And I made myself the type of person who actually cares about people!"

Just before his weapon makes contact with your head, a sudden shock of energy sends him back.

You feel it. Something is welling up inside of you--a familiar feeling, but far beyond anything prior. It's like electricity surging through your veins. Looking down at your hands, you can see pink lightning crackling along your skin. Your hair blows in a non-existent wind, coating in the same rising energy. You face him with a piercing stare as the pain of your body subsides. Where exhaustion was beginning, a rush of energy takes its place. You feel goosebumps down your skin, and a burning in your heart--but not in a painful way, instead like the warmth of a fireplace in winter time, with a mug of hot cocoa, surrounded by everyone you care about. You feel a flame, but one of passion. It rises higher, flickers harder, all while images flash through your mind.