Chapter 23: Believe.

I analyze my opponent. Taller, twice as wide as me, and it’s just a bunch of conglomerated ashes that are trying to kill me. I’m clearly at a disadvantage. I think I'm going to call it Chuck.

Chuck’s sword is longer, so distance is my enemy.

I recall all the kendo postures I've learned and all the practices with Dad.

I run and lunge towards Chuck's chest. Our swords collide before the impact makes me jump back.

Chuck lunges towards me. I cut the air with the sword to make the wind burst, making space between me and Chuck.

Chuck manages to make a cut on my right shoulder. It is not too deep, but it hurts.

So this is what fighting with real swords is like? I need to figure out a better strategy.

I need to find and hit Chuck's weak points.

"Rurn. Speed," I say.

I sprint towards Chuck, aiming for the gem in the center of its chest, but Chuck has it covered. Its posture doesn't leave a single space for me to attack.

I duck Chuck's lunge and swiftly move behind his back.

There’s got to be another weak point.

Hoping to hit the gem, I lunge blindly at Chuck's back.

The impact throws me against the wall. The back of my head receives a good portion of the impact. Pain bursts out.

I watch how a shallow cut on Chuck's back regenerates in a couple of seconds.

I look up at Ellie. She's almost there. I just have to distract Chuck a little longer.

Chuck realizes what Ellie is doing and starts running to the obelisk.

I lunge at Chuck's ankles. The cut is not deep, but it makes Chuck fall to the ground.

I quickly run to attack the chest, but Chuck covers the gem against the ground.

I hit the back again, and once again, the impact throws me against the wall.

The cuts on Chuck’s back and ankles regenerate, this time slower. That might be the key to defeat him. If I make enough cuts, then I might break down its posture and find an aperture to hit the gem.

Before Chuck is able to stand, I cut its ankles and behind the knees. Extremities are not as hard as the back, so the cuts don’t throw me back.

I run to the right shoulder, but when I’m about to hit it, Chuck blocks my sword with its head.

The sword is stuck. I try to take it off Chuck’s head when it lunges and cuts my left leg.

Under a rush of panic, I kick the sword out of Chuck’s head.

I back up from the sharp pain in my leg. Chuck lunges to my head. I receive the impact, and the collision sends me flying back.

"Rurn. Fufugo!" I scream as the flare covers Chuck. I feel how the spell drains my energy. I don’t think I’ll be able to cast another Fufugo, so this has to work.

Chuck runs out of the flames unscathed.

With a flashy jump, Chuck lunges to my chest.

The impact resonates with pain throughout my body. I feel like I’m about to break.

While I hold my sword against Chuck's, I get a glimpse of Ellie taking the gem.

Just a little more.

"Rurn. Boom!" I shout as an air blast explodes between Chuck and me.

Chuck falls a few meters ahead. I hit the wall and fall to my knees, pain pulsing in the back of my head.

I gasp for air. My limbs start trembling out of exhaustion.

"I got it, Rin!" Ellie shouts from the top of the obelisk, holding the shining gem.

I look at Chuck, expecting its body to turn into a pile of ashes. But Chuck stays unwavering and starts running to the obelisk.

Ellie doesn't notice. She just keeps climbing down.

Think. Fast.

The only way to attack Chuck's weak point…

"Rurn. Impulse." I mutter.

The wave of power hits my muscles and projects me in Chuck's direction.

I intercept Chuck with a cut in the air, creating an air blast that takes Chuck out of balance.

With a final move, I crush Chuck's chest gem with my sword.

Chuck crumbles to the ground, disintegrating into a bunch of ashes.

"Rin!!!!" Ellie shrieks as she comes down the obelisk, the gem in her hand.

I fall, Chuck's sword plunged into my right side.

When I hit the ground, the sword comes off by its own weight. Blood starts bursting out of the wound.

Ellie runs and sits next to me.

"I've been trying to place the gem in the staff, but it's not working!" Ellie stammers, tears coming down her eyes.

She hurriedly lays my head on top of her lap and covers my wound with her hands.

"Pom. Heal Rin!" Ellie says.

I feel nothing is happening.

"Pom. Close the wound!" Ellie exclaims.

I look at how a pinkish glow covers my wound, but nothing happens. Blood keeps flowing out of my body.

"Pom. Stop the bleeding," Ellie urges, Green light starts coming out of Ellie's hands, but the bleeding stays the same.

As Ellie keeps helplessly trying multiple combinations of spells, I take a look at the staff lying on the floor, the gleaming gem next to it. I grab them with my weak hands.

Ellie sighs, exhausted after casting so many spells with little to no result. She covers my wound with a piece of fabric, doing her best to stop the bleeding.

"Why did this happen?" Ellie asks, frustrated.

"The only way I could uncover its weak point was by letting mine be vulnerable," I say as I cough. "I wouldn't let it reach you."

Ellie takes the staff and the gem out of my hands and shows me how she tried to ensemble it. The gem just won't fit inside the cage.

"Look!" Ellie says, as her trembling hands position the gem in that cage at any possible angle. "It won't fit inside in any way!"

I start laughing lightly. The struggle makes me cough even more. I feel how the blood leaving my body makes my limbs get cold. My breathing turns weaker.

"Why are you laughing?!" Ellie exclaims.

I look at Ellie's face. Her eyes are red and teary. Her expression desperate and anguished, but she still shines like a star in the middle of the darkness of the vault.

"Why did you have to do something so stupid?!" she complains.

"Because I love you," I murmur.

I gently take the gem off Ellie's hands and place it on the cage. It just clicks.

"You were doing it the wrong way," I say, giggling.

A blast of white light explodes and floods the whole vault with white light.

The big dragon before us starts cracking, just like Jern and Adhair did.

"We've made it, Ellie," I whisper, out of energy.

"You should have told me I was doing it the wrong way!" Ellie complains, trying to sound angry but can't stop crying.

Now, I feel so weak that I can barely keep my eyes open.

"Rin!" Ellie urges. "Don't fall asleep. Stay with me."

I try to keep my eyes open, but it feels so complicated.

The dragon comes to life with a roar.

"Hey, Dragon!" Ellie shouts.

"My name is Gaol the Bright," the dragon says with pride.

"Ok. Gaol. My name is Ellie, this is my friend Rin," She says. "Ignis sent us to release you, but my friend got injured. We need your help."

I try to stay awake to see what is happening, but all I manage to do is to get little snippets of the situation.

"Your friend has been injured by a dark weapon," Gaol says, leaning closer to inspect me. "Not any kind of magic will heal him."

I hear Ellie having a rapid conversation with Gaol. They discuss a few things.

The next thing I notice is an explosion on top of the vault, making a hole from where sunlight peers into the place.

I feel how I’m being lifted from the ground. I close my eyes and open them.

"Stay with me, Rin," Ellie says, shaking my shoulder.

Now we're on top of Gaol, flying who knows where.

On the horizon, I glimpse three dragons flying in our direction, the sun setting behind them.

"What happened?!" Ignis' voice says.

I hear the dragons discussing in the background. I can't make out what they're saying. I start shaking.

"There's no time," a voice urges. "You have to send them back!"

"Rin! Stay with me," Ellie says.

I wander between consciousness and unconsciousness. Getting a few phrases from the discussions here and there.

"It was an honor meeting you, mate," Jern voice whispers to my ear. "I'm going to miss you."

Ellie keeps hugging me when darkness surrounds me.

I feel how my body levitates for a second, and then I hit the ground.

An incandescent light shines on the ceiling, the cold ceramic floor beneath me and Ellie’s warm hand holding mine.

Exhausted, I close my eyes.