The Protagonist Always Comes Last

The first thing I noticed was how quiet everything felt.

Not the chamber. That was still filled with cracking stone, falling ice, and everyone's heavy breathing.

I meant me.

The wind that had been screaming around my body moments ago was gone. I could still feel it, stronger than ever, but instead of tearing at everything nearby, it stayed close to my skin, waiting for me to move.

I looked down at my hands. They weren't shaking anymore.

Neither was I.

"...Finally back, huh?"

I turned toward Fourth. He was barely standing, one hand pressed against his side while blood slowly spread through his clothes again. Somehow, he still managed a tired grin.

"Idiot hero."

Before I could respond, something cold brushed past my cheek.

My body moved on its own, slipping aside as an ice spear cut through the space where my head had been and shattered against the wall behind me.

Rayne stood across the chamber with one hand extended. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth, his clothes were torn, and one leg dragged slightly whenever he moved.

He looked terrible, but he was still standing.

So was I.

I stepped toward him.

Another spear came straight for my chest, but a slight turn of my shoulder let it pass. A second aimed lower, and one short step carried me outside its path.

Everything felt strangely easy. My feet barely touched the floor before the wind carried me into the next movement, as if my Core finally understood exactly what I wanted without me having to force it.

Three more spears came at once.

I slipped between them without slowing and reached Rayne before he could properly raise his guard.

BAM!

My fist slammed into his ribs and sent him sideways, but frost spread from his hand before he even landed. Ice raced beneath my feet as several spikes erupted upward.

One went straight through my stomach.

I felt nothing.

The instant it touched me, that part of my body scattered into green-tinted wind, flowed around the spike, and reformed on the other side.

I understood immediately.

My Wind Core wasn't just surrounding my body anymore.

My body itself had become part of the wind.

Rayne seemed to realize it at nearly the same time. Fire erupted around me, but I stepped through it without slowing. The flames passed through the wind where my arms and chest had been, and my body reformed once I was clear.

A thick wall of ice rose between us.

I didn't bother going around it.

My weight disappeared as my body dissolved into wind and passed straight through the barrier. I reformed directly in front of Rayne and drove my fist into his stomach.

BOOM!

Wind burst outward and threw him across the chamber.

Before, I'd needed to force my way through everything he created.

Now there was nothing to force.

Rayne filled the space between us with fire, but I passed through it and appeared beside him. My elbow buckled his guard, a knee drove into his stomach, and the wind carried me around his side before he could recover.

My foot hooked behind his ankle and sent him to the floor.

Ice spikes erupted around him immediately, only for my body to scatter through them and reform behind his back.

THUD!

My fist sent him stumbling forward.

He spun around with fire already gathering in one hand, but I reached him before the flames could fully form and caught him across the jaw.

BAM!

Rayne threw an ice spear behind himself without looking. It passed harmlessly through my chest while I continued forward, and before he could turn again, another fist and knee drove him backward.

A burst of wind finished the sequence and sent him sliding across the chamber.

After that, Rayne barely had a chance to recover.

Fire swept across the floor and passed through me. Walls of ice closed around my body only to find wind between them, while spears coming from angles I couldn't avoid struck nothing solid.

Every attack he threw created another opening, and every opening let me get closer.

Soon, Rayne's expression changed.

He understood.

There was nothing he could do to stop me.

Behind him, I caught sight of Fourth leaning against the wall with one hand clamped over his side. Farther away, Meni remained beside Zack, somehow maintaining the thin layer of healing water around his injuries despite barely being able to sit upright herself.

All three of them looked terrible.

We're leaving together.

Rayne launched another wave of fire.

I passed straight through it and appeared in front of him.

BOOOOOOM!

My fist struck his chest and launched him through one of the broken pillars.

I followed before he stopped moving.

The moment Rayne hit the floor, a kick drove into his ribs and sent him sliding away. He desperately raised another wall of ice, but I passed through it and struck him again before his arms could come down.

He stumbled backward under another burst of wind.

There was no reason to rush anymore. A small step put me outside his next attack, and another carried me inside his guard.

Fourth had gotten back up for me. Zack had thrown himself in front of an attack for Meni, and Meni had kept healing us long after she should've had anything left.

I wasn't letting this end any other way.

Rayne staggered back and raised both hands. Layer after layer of ice formed around him until I couldn't even see through it.

I stepped forward anyway.

My body flowed through the barrier as wind gathered tightly around my fist. When I reformed on the other side, Rayne's eyes widened and his arms crossed desperately in front of his chest.

Fourth's words came back to me.

A hero makes sure people can go home.

My fist remained perfectly steady.

I struck.

BOOOOOOM!

Rayne tore through the ice behind him, smashed through another broken pillar, and hit the far wall hard enough to crack it from floor to ceiling.

Dust swallowed him.

I landed as the wind settled around me.

Then, all at once, it vanished.

My knee hit the floor.

"...Ah."

I reached for my Orka and found almost nothing left.

I'd used it all.

My breathing grew heavier as the green around my vision faded.

I'm out.

I stared into the dust where Rayne had disappeared.

Nothing moved.

For a moment, I thought it was over.

Then a hand emerged through the cloud.

Rayne caught the broken wall and slowly pulled himself upright.

My stomach dropped.

"...Seriously?"

He started toward me, dragging one leg behind him while his other arm hung uselessly at his side. Blood covered half his face, and every step looked like it should've put him back on the floor.

Somehow, he kept coming.

I tried to stand, but my leg refused.

Normally, someone moving that slowly would've been easy to avoid. Right now, he might as well have been sprinting.

I pressed my hands against the floor and tried forcing myself up.

Nothing.

Then water caught the edge of my vision.

Meni sat beside Zack with one hand pressed against his burned side. The healing water covering him was thin, but some color had returned to his face.

Zack opened his eyes and immediately saw Rayne approaching.

His good hand lifted.

THOOM!

Gravity crashed down.

Rayne dropped beneath the weight, his injured leg bending as cracks spread beneath his boots. Zack's arm began shaking almost immediately, but when Rayne forced one foot forward, he pushed down harder.

Meni kept the healing water around him as he held the pressure.

Together, they slowed Rayne.

They couldn't stop him.

Rayne dragged himself forward until his hand began reaching toward me.

I looked down at my own.

There was almost nothing left, but maybe enough for one attack.

I pulled the last of my Orka into my right arm, gathering the wind into a tight spiral around my fist.

God Wind.

One hit was all I needed.

Rayne forced himself farther through Zack's Gravity.

I tried drawing my arm back.

Pain exploded through it.

"—!"

The wind wavered as I looked down and finally noticed the angle of my right arm.

Broken.

This is bad.

I'd punched through enough ice while I was out of control.

There was a price for that.

The attack was ready.

My arm just couldn't deliver it.

Rayne took another step as Zack's Gravity weakened. I tried moving my arm again, but pain shot through it without producing so much as an inch.

His fingers came closer.

Come on.

Then—

FWOOM!

A pale-blue beam struck Rayne's arm.

He flinched, but there was no explosion or wound. His arm simply jerked sideways, pulled away from me as though something had grabbed it.

Rayne's eyes widened.

...Is that?

Before I could even turn, uneven footsteps scraped rapidly across the stone.

A hand grabbed my broken wrist.

Fourth rushed past me, dragging my arm with him.

The wind around my fist surged.

Fourth planted his foot, grabbed my arm with both hands, and pulled with everything he had.

My fist shot forward.

Rayne was suddenly right there.

We shouted together.

"GOD WIND!"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The chamber disappeared beneath the blast.

Wind ripped across the floor, carrying shattered ice, broken stone, and Rayne with it. He flew backward and crashed into the far wall hard enough to shake the entire room.

Then everything went quiet.

My arm dropped, and I went down with it.

Fourth lost his grip and collapsed beside me with something between a groan and a curse.

Neither of us moved while the dust slowly settled.

Rayne lay against the ruined wall.

I watched him for any sign of movement.

There wasn't one.

This time, he stayed down.

My head dropped back against the floor.

"...We won."

Fourth didn't answer.

I turned toward him and found him staring blankly at the ceiling.

"Fourth?"

"...Please don't make me move again."

A laugh almost escaped me.