Without a heartbeat of hesitation

Alva lifted Absolution and shot forth, trusting in the Light of the Goddess. She moved like lightning, cleaving through the storm. Countless tendrils tried and failed to strike her, each becoming an empty threat. In an instant she was on Vhalnich and cleaved him in half.

He sacrificed the parts infused with light, retreating into the shadow. Alva gave him no time to breath, constantly closing in and scoring half-a-dozen blows. As each strike was made, Vhalnich grew more adept in evading them. He compressed his form, growing more solid as his power built.

Alva found herself smiling; this was what she was made for. This was the reason for her birth, for all the training, it was the culmination of a life serving the Goddess. The light in her flared again, thoughts of her mother and the realization of her glorious purpose giving her strength beyond her limits.

This was it. This was the meaning of everything. This was why an angel had descended to lay with a virgin, and left a child.

Alva raised her sword, shining like the sun itself, and swung.

The sun met a blade of endless night, and was stopped.

Ikarus Vhalnich, in his own form, held a blade of his own making, and stared into Alva's eyes. She saw her own reflection, eyes wide with surprise, and understood. For the first moment in her life, she understood.

It's not enough.

She had served the Goddess all her life, her birth had been dedicated to the Goddess. Her very name meant 'One who serves the Goddess'. But, none of that was her choice. It was something handed to her, it was something she'd been groomed to take up.

It was never enough.

She saw herself in his eyes, and realized they were a matched set. Neither of them had come here by choice. They had acted, once or twice, of their own will, but they had never recognized it. She had never understood her own heart, or the one wish that lay inside it.

I've been a fool.

Alva watched as her light faded and all her arms and armor crumbled away.

I've always been a fool.