13 - Final Stand

After sealing the portal, Takehaya landed himself and the other down on soil and immediately after reaching soil, Naoya let go of Takehaya and planted his face onto the grass with a giant smile on his face.

"OH, THANK LORDY!" said Naoya. "Oh how I have missed you, grass! I never want to be separated from you again..."

He then heard a familiar voice saying, "Oh really?" Naoya opened his eyes and looked up, seeing Ella in front of him with her arms crossed as she looked down at him. "You really must be taking your sweet time with that soil, aren't you Naoya?" She said, sounding unsurprised.

Naoya then carried himself up, getting rid of any soil or grass on his clothes. He cleared his throat and said, "I... Don't know how to explain this to you... uh..."

Luna and Mary giggled to themselves as they watched. Mary turned to Takehaya but realised that he had disappeared.

Worried, she said "Takehaya?!"

She then heard his voice echoing as he said, "I'm up here..." and upon looking up, they saw a spray of dust particles moving around at high speed as it revealed themselves to be Takehaya, "Hey!"

"But how?" asked Mary.

"Remember, Takehaya's body is still at the hospital!" explained Luna, "And since we freed him from down there, his body turned to THIS!"

"That's correct." said Takehaya, "We best get back to the hospital and reunite with my body."

Without seconds, the group walked away from the well.

Naoya said to Ella, "Sorry, I have to get-"

But Ella grabbed Naoya by his ear saying, "Not so fast!" Luna and Mary stopped as they looked in Naoya's direction. Ella apologised to Luna as she said, "Do forgive me for this Luna, but I'm going to have to request for Naoya to come with me as he promised to help out at the café."

Naoya sighed as he realised what she was referring to and told the others, "Sorry guys, I have to. I'll see you later."

Understanding this, Mary and Luna, along with the fog of Takehaya, went back to the hospital and as they were out of sight, Ella released Naoya's ear. Naoya sighed and said, "Let's head back to the-"

But suddenly, Naoya was attacked by Ella as she punched him in the face. She then tried to stab with an oddly designed knife while his guard was down but Naoya retaliated as he summoned his Lance weapon and blocked her attack. He then took a few steps back.

He asked, "Ella, what the hell are you doing?"

Ella began to tear up as she said, "Forgive me..."

Then, an Enigma parasite ripped out from her back and rolled itself away from Ella's body as it fell onto the grass, shocking Naoya.

He shouted, "Ella!"

Suddenly, more fully hosted Enigmas appeared and attacked Naoya but despite their numbers, Naoya managed to take them down, one by one. When it came to the final parasite standing, it began to take form while its face began to change into what resembled Ella's face but grotesque and seeing this disgusted and enraged Naoya as he immediately went for the attack. The Fake Ella Enigma then vomit out what appeared to be frost shards but browner but Naoya hastily dodged them, but the Enigma then vomited out more frost shard at a continuous rate.

Naoya continued to dodge but later forced to deflect them but in doing so, the frost shards exploded, causing mucus to go around every, making it difficult to block and even defend as he lost more ground, and he'd risk the chance of coming into contact with the mucus, but then there was the worry of Ella being touched by the mucus and therefore, Naoya was forced to send a shockwave with his lance and grab Ella and fled but unfortunately, one of the shards abruptly exploded and some of the mucus landed on Naoya, causing him to scream and fall.

He tried to endure the pain and flee, but he was struggling to do so with the mucus rotting away in his feet, he could only grab Ella and walk on foot while the Enigma was hunting him down.

MEANWHILE

Mary and Luna arrived in the city along with Takehaya.

Mary looked back, worried about Naoya for some reason, but then Luna assured her as she said, "Hey, don't worry about Naoya, he'll be alright... Let's go-"

They were about to make their way to the café, but they stopped as Takehaya said, "Wait!"

"What's wrong?" asked Mary.

Takehaya answered "Something's not right... It's Naoya! We have to go back, now!"

Immediately, Mary, Luna and Takehaya went back for Naoya.

FOREST

Naoya was then found by the Enigma. The Enigma opened its jaw, revealing rows of teeth as it was about to consume Ella and Naoya. Naoya held Ella tight, shielding her from it but then Ella, opened her eyes and unleashed a blizzard attack that caused the Enigma to fall back upon receiving snowflakes on the teeth.

"Ella!" said Naoya, worried about her.

The Enigma recovered and again went in for the attack, but then Luna appeared as she shot a blast from her Sun Cannon and straight into the Enigma which immediately screeched as it was thawing out from the attack.

Mary ran to Naoya while Luna continuously blasting at the Enigma until there was no more. After the Enigma was defeated, Luna ran to Naoya.

"Naoya, are you okay?" asked Takehaya.

Naoya answered, "NO!" as he breathed heavily, "Ella needs helps... and so do I!" Naoya then yelled in pain.

Luna instructed Mary, "Get the mirror from the café and bring it here STAT! Takehaya, go with her."

Mary and Takehaya said in unison, "Got it!"

Mary and Takehaya ran immediately back to the café while Luna took care of Naoya and Luna as they waited. Luna took out a bottle and doused Naoya's mucus infected foot with it, causing him to scream.

Naoya then chuckled as he joked, "Just can't get a break can I?!"

Luna looked at Naoya and seriously responded, "Now's not the time to joke! Hold on, they'll come back."

Mary and Takehaya ran together as they could to return to the café and as they arrived in the city, Takehaya was forced to hide himself inside Mary's clothes to avoid detection.

Seeing this, Mary threatened him saying, "You better not do anything stupid in there!"

Takehaya responded, "Don't worry about me, worry about Naoya!"

Mary finally arrived at the cafe but it was closed. Takehaya then exited out of Mary and hastily went through, and opened the door for her. And upon entering, she made her way to the back and got the mirror.