The Siege of Evermere: Reclamation

Yuna rocketed towards Evermere like a comet. It would've been nearly a day's walk on-foot from the perimeter to the city itself - she would close the gap in less than sixty seconds. 

As she did so, a voice range out in her ear. 

"Be careful, Miss Yuna. The power bestowed on you by the God of Truth isn't compatible with your body. If you try to conjure too much of it at once, you'll run out of  stamina."

The gentle female voice came from Ada, the small artificial intelligence device that had been clipped onto her ear. Ada was like the ultimate companion for Yuna - advising her and acting on her behalf so that Yuna could focus on the task at-hand. 

"I know the risks, but we can't hold back in this situation! Ready the switch-bullets so we can begin firing as soon as we get close enough to the wall!"

"Understood, Miss Yuna..."

As instructed, Yuna heard faint 'clicking' noises as the bullets in her gun-blades swapped with something different. She drew them from her side and aimed them towards the battlefield below her. 

The Goddess did not take kindly to her presence reappearing. Within moments, a volley of divine light was barreling in her direction.

"Piloting and switching assistance, active."

With Ada in control of maneuvering, Yuna began peppering the ground in bullets as soon as she crossed the wall. She wasn't aiming for anything in particular - her goal was to spread out as many shots as possible over as wide of an area as she could. 

Ada did her best to maneuver Yuna around the oncoming onslaught, but it was to little avail. She managed to dodge a couple of direct hits, but the magic had a mind of its own. Within seconds, Yuna was surrounded and the holy fire engulfed her. 

At least, they tried to. 

Instead, Yuna teleported last-second, switching places with one of the switch-bullets that she had fired haphazardly into the city. She wasted no time - she immediately took flight and propelled herself towards the center of the city. 

This was the strategy that had been derived for Yuna's assault on the tower. Each switch-bullet broke apart upon leaving the gun, similar to a shotgun. Several dozens small pellets were scattered across the city with every trigger-pull, giving her ample places to teleport if impact were eminent. 

She could likely fire at least one-hundred pellets per second across a wide area. It would be difficult for the Goddess to track and eliminate every single one of them faster than she could fire them. That, on top of the Goddess' attention being split between the gigantic army outside the walls and the Starbeasts within the city itself. 

That being said, it was far from a foolproof plan. 

"You have roughly ten seconds before the Goddess is able to finish clearing out all Starbeasts and Directive soldiers within the proximity of Evermere."

"Understood!"

00:10

Between the distractions provided by the invasion and her frantic teleportation, Yuna managed to close the distance to the tower's base. Her head was pounding furiously from so much exertion, even with Ada helping her navigate. 

00:09

Before she could be surrounded, she rapidly began ascending up the tower. 

"Highlight the 42nd Floor!"

"Understood!"

In Yuna's vision, a small section of the tower began glowing blue. It was something only she could see through the influence of Ada. She wasn't sure how it worked, but there was no time for that. The powers of the God of Truth gave her an inherent understanding of her abilities, but it was purely reactive and on instinct. 

Yuna ascended the tower in a spiral, trying to make herself harder to hit. One gun-blade continued firing down the tower to provide more escape routes. The other was aimed at the tower itself. 

00:08

Yuna didn't even bother to try and time her entry. As soon as she was in front of the glowing portion, she fired through the windows and scattered switch-pellets all across the floor itself. She was rapidly surrounded by more divine fire again. 

This time, however, she was able to teleport and escape directly onto the 42nd floor. 

"Pulling up most direct route to Heart Chamber..."

00:07

Yuna quickly darted down the labyrinthine hallways of the 42nd floor. Any guards she came across were leapt on like a feral banshee. They were consumed by a flurry of blades and bullets before they could even retaliate. 

The first few went down easy, but her presence was noticed incredibly fast. The royal guards posted on this floor began to glow with platinum light as their bodies were empowered by the Goddess' magic. 

00:06

The guards were getting harder and harder to kill. At a certain point, she simply began firing switch-bullets behind them and porting to their location. 

Their bodies were fragile, and so they could only have their speed or strength enhanced. Yuna could kill the ones that weren't strong, and flee from the ones who weren't fast. 

00:05

One final corner, and she saw her destination ahead of her. 

It was a large, ornate door made of a platinum-like substance. A handful of guards were posted in front of it, and the entire door glimmered with divine magic. No typical magical attack was going to be able to pierce that, and Yuna did not have the strength to blast through it. 

There was a plan, though. But it would cost her almost all of her remaining energy. 

"Do it, Ada!"

Yuna lifted off of the ground with her wings and launched towards the door. She threw the gun-blades in the general direction of the guards, providing what little distraction she could. As she did, she elevated about ten feet off of the ground. 

She was aiming to slam into the door with enough force to splatter - unless Ada did her job right. 

"Quantum tunnelling initiated!"

Yuna shrieked as an unnaturally painful 'tearing' sensation ripped through her body. Almost every ounce of energy had been consumed at once, causing extreme pain and damage. 

But it worked. She passed right through the door, tumbling to the ground on the other side with a painful thud. 

00:04

Yuna was nearly unconscious after all that exertion, but she couldn't black out yet. She forced herself up and stumbled over to the center of the chamber. 

Lying there, in the center of this circular chamber, was her destination. A platinum coffin sitting atop a pedestal. 

00:03

Yuna forced her way over as fast as she could. Thirty feet - twenty feet - ten feet. 

00:02

"Begin the initiation, Ada," Yuna called out as loud as she could, which wasn't very loud. 

"Understood. Teleportation will commence immediately after contact is made with the Heart..."

00:01

This was it. She reached out her hand. As soon as her fingers touched the coffin, the Directive could teleport both Yuna and the Heart out of Evermere and ensure their victory. 

Then, a split-second before contact, everything went to disaster. 

From just outside Yuna's field of vision, a divine pillar of light cascaded through the space between Yuna and the coffin. Yuna just barely stumbled backwards to avoid it, but the same could not be said for her outstretched arm. 

All feeling left Yuna's right arm as the divine light incinerated her entire right arm. 

"So close," the Goddess' voice rung out from behind Yuna. "But a bit too predictable..."

00:00