Finale ~ Staring down the infernal chains of revenge, she found herself taking on the form of a monster to protect the ones that she loves.

Kiel lunges at me with her spear. In spite of her standoffish behavior from before, it's readily apparent she's got a bloodlust for me.

I push myself out of the way. She tries to go for a follow-up, swinging her spear at me, but at most she manages to graze me as I dodge once again.

"Zeph!!" I scream out, in the midst of her attacks.

"Y-yes...?"

"Put out the fires-- use water magic or something!!" I attempt to tackle Kiel, but she quickly jumps to the side before I can connect.

"A-are you-"

"NOW!!" Now isn't the time to be polite-- too much is at stake.

She squeals, before pulling out her spellbook to attempt to contain the fire. I'll apologize to her later.

Kiel grazes me again. She's good at this-- that's for certain. But I've been through enough scraps in the past week to be on alert.

"Get to the castle!" I shout to one of the villagers. It doesn't matter who-- most of them have taken cover. "Bring the others here!!" A few of them nod and oblige.

"Tch. Can't handle this on your own?" Kiel taunts me, stopping her assault briefly.

One of the villagers chucks a rock at her, nailing her in the head and causing her to look their way.

This is my opening.

Before she can realize it, I lunge, flapping my wings at full force as I wrap my arms around her and take off to the sky.

"I just need to get you away from my damn village!!"

I've lost one village.

I refuse to lose another.

No more running away, Pento.

Flying as fast as I can, I try to get the two of us as far away from the forest as possible. I've gotten her in a tight grip, digging my claws into her back.

Kiel dismisses her spear, switching for a dagger-

!!

-which she uses to s-stab me... at the base of my wings. The immense pain causes us to veer out of control, spinning wildly as we approach the ground.

SLAAAAM

Unluckily, I was the one that broke her fall, slamming back first against the bedrock that makes up the nearby mountain range. I hear a loud cracking noise, with the sudden spike of adrenaline telling me my wings shattered from the impact.

"Thanks for that." She chuckles. Glad that smugness runs in the family-- not.

I struggle to get to my feet, ...throwing up all over the ground as I do.

"Why..." I wipe my mouth. "...are you even doing this? You've been estranged from Anson for a while, if the dust in your room meant anything."

"Tch." She dismisses her dagger. "I hate her, yeah. But what gives you the right to decide if she deserves to die or not?"

...

I don't have an easy answer for that.

"I didn't think so."

She's a monster who's ruined countless lives-- that's done, now that she's gone. That's a good thing, I'd say.

But how much better am I, if I'm the one who decided she needed to die?

"Lay down and die, and I'll make your death quick."

...

"You're a godsdamn hypocrite, you know that?"

She flinches. "Hm?"

"What gives you the right if I deserve to die? All you're doing is perpetuating a chain of revenge."

"..." She's speechless.

"Besides-- she had my step-dad as one of her slaves."

"S-sh..."

"I'm sorry I hurt you, like your mom hurt me and my sister."

Her brow furrows; she clenches her fists. "...shut up."

"But it doesn't have to be like this. Just walk away."

"I said... SHUT UP!!"

She lunges for me, tackling me to the ground. Then, she starts slamming her fists into my face... over... and over... and over...

"I'm fucking tired of people telling me what to do! Day in and day out... 'Do this, Kiel', 'Don't do this, Kiel', 'Why are you always like this, Kiel'... I've had enough! ENOUGH!"

She sounds just like me... when I was her age.

"You're- ghkkh... heading down- gaaakkh... a dark path... Kiel." I force out between beatings, as well as the blood I'm coughing out. The fact she's forced me onto my back doesn't help the immense pain I'm in right now.

"What? The hells are you talking about?" She stops, still kneeled on top of me.

"I-I was... like you. Pushing... myself away... from people who cared about me." I wheeze. "It's good to want to be independent... e-especially when you get away from those who hurt or abuse you... but when you isolate yourself... refuse to connect with anyone..."

"..."

I laugh nervously, not sure if I'm even going to make it out of this conversation. "You end up hurting yourself deeply-- like I did in my past life."

"...nnngh..."

She grits her teeth, wrapping her hands around my neck.

"I'm done with you."

I feel her crushing my windpipe. I... can't breathe. Can't breathe fire, as a result.

Can't throw her off of me, either. I'd have to put even more pressure on my broken wings.

My vision's starting to fade.

I can't die here... right? I've had enough close calls to last a lifetime, but this one seems particularly dire. No one's here to bail me out. It's just me... and Kiel.

I... don't want to die.

I've still got to take over the world.

I've still got to fulfill Khil's wish.

...

I've still got to raise Renato.

"?!"

I'm suddenly filled with a massive burst of energy-- the shockwave of which sending Kiel flying off of me. I roll over, getting back to my feet, no longer feeling any pain.

"The hell...? S-stay away from me, you freak!"

In fact... I feel better than I ever have been. I begin to approach her, watching her back away from me.

She manifests two daggers, throwing them directly into my chest. They meekly stop in my body, as if being thrown directly into sludge. It doesn't hurt.

My form feels like it's losing shape.

...Yet it feels like I can extend myself further.

I concentrate, attempting to reshape myself like a putty slime. In a burst of golden flames, black tendrils erupt from my back, wrapping themselves around Kiel's neck.

"Nnnkhhh...! P-p-please..." She's sobbing, makeup running down her face.

Half of me feels like I shouldn't be doing this. She's young, brash and impulsive...

...But the other half wants to protect herself and her village.

She chose her fate when she detonated that collar.

"PENTO, NO!"

I'm suddenly knocked off my feet by a giant, blue mass slamming into me.

It's...

"N-Narce...?"

Landing on the ground, dragging his claws against the stone to stop himself, he continues. "We've put out the fire... everyone's fine. Don't do anything you'll regret." He speaks with a grim fierceness.

"What...?"

I start to come to my senses. What... came over me?

In Narce's eyes... I see my reflection.

My sclera have turned jet black. The golden accents across my body are glowing brightly.

...My-

My body looks like it's melting, or as if it's made out of sludge.

"What's... happening to me?!"

Ignoring me, Narce looks to face Kiel. He approaches her slowly-- his imposing size paralyzing her with fear.

A hypnotic pattern begins to form in his eyes-- I look away out of instinct. Kiel, on the other hand, isn't so lucky-- her eyes glazing over.

Then... after some time, she falls to the ground, unconscious.

"What... did you do?" I ask.

"I've wiped her memory of the past few days-- She should not be of any trouble to us, for now."

He turns to face me.

"...You've returned back to normal."

I look into his eyes again-- it's just like he said. I'm back to my regular old self... broken wings, stab wounds and all. Narce casts some healing magic to fix all that up.

"It should still take some time before you can use your wings again-- you've really done a number on them." He chuckles.

"...Crash landing onto a mountain does that to you."

Narce lets me climb on top of him, and after picking up Kiel, takes off for the village.

"Thanks... for bailing me out. I don't know what happened there."

"Some sort of survival instinct, perhaps." He muses. "There's more to you than meets the eye, it seems."

"You've said it."

Arriving back at the village, Narce drops me off, waving with a chuckle before flying away to deal with Kiel.

...A lot of the trees here have been damaged by the fire, but whatever. The forest still stands. Nature will still heal.

Exgrave rushes to me. "P... Penelope. I'm glad to see you in one piece." I've known them long enough to tell when they're putting up a front of stoicism. They were genuinely worried for me.

I crouch down to give them a hug. "I'm glad too."

"Who was that...?"

"Anson's daughter. Narce is handling the situation now, though."

Exgrave nods.

"Hey, I've got a question. It's... important."

"Yes?"

"What spell did you use to summon me?"

They pause, confused. "The... spell I had used to summon you."

I look at them, expectantly. They take a moment, trying to remember. Or perhaps, trying to figure out how to answer my question?

"It was..."

"A spell for summoning an aberration, I believe."

They shrug their shoulders. "Not that it matters; seeing how it, of course, was a failure-- much like my resurrection spell."

Summon... aberration.

"Why do you ask?"

I'm... a cat, though. I've always been a cat, until I started being a dragon.

...

"There's a chance... that the spell didn't fail in the way that you'd thought it did."