THAT DAY I BECAME A STAR

"Urgh…" 

Damn, it hurts!! My stomach hadn't fully healed from Roxcia's hit but now, with what Tatiana just did, blood is spurting out of my stomach like crazy. I am surprised this is the only amount of pain I feel with this wound which is gape opened. 

I guess it is the effect of the poison. My body is trembling all over and I feel colder and colder though. I try to stand up but my back won't answer. My arms won't respond. My legs just don't want to go on anymore. Just what was the point of all this? What did I want to prove? My strength? My love? How am I different from my father who cowardly ran away to save at least his wife? 

"Sigh…Here I go, thinking about stupid things again." I wonder who I took that from. Surely my coward of a father. "Ahh!!" 

I give it my all and stand back up.. Tatiana's hit was strong enough to throw me out of the stage, in the rubbles of the coliseum. My ears are ringing like crazy so I can barely hear anything. My vision is clear, though. I can perfectly see Genesis clashing with Maria and Farner with her bare hands even though those two are using their weapons with everything they have, while some sort of tentacles growing out of her are blocking not only N'donkeu but even Excia and Roxcia scripts and arrows. She really is a powerhouse of another level. And here I was thinking my original plan was to take her on alone. 

This looks like a scene from a book that nobody would believe to be real no matter how many times you read it. Willhem also seems to be taking care of Tatiana and Veronica. Or at least, he is trying. Fighting a coward bitch who was so afraid that she lost herself into the darkness and a crazy suicidal out of her mind bitch who couldn't bear it anymore can't be easy. Besides…

"This is my fight, anyway." 

I place a foot before the other, then again and again and again. I can't feel the sole of my feet already which means that time is growing short. I should really hurry up. 

"Ahhh!!!!!" 

Unconsciously, I scream while I hurl myself at Veronica on the stage. She turns to me with anticipation and points her sword at me. But right as I am about to collide with her, her head starts turning to her back. Ah, I see. You think I am going to use Disperse. I didn't I was that predictable. 

"Orahh!!" I slash but only now do I notice that I don't have Maria's Raizen anymore. 

My hand passes above her sword but Veronica isn't hit. She looks back at me with an otherworldy surprised face. 

"Ahahaha!!" Tatiana jumps above her, surely laughing at the fact that I tried to strike her without a weapon. Willhem appears above her as well, ready to strike.

"No!!!" This is my fight so let me handle it. 

Tatiana falls on me and I use Disperse as they wanted me to. I land behind Veronica who reflexively throws a knife at me. When I evade it, she uses those dark spikes again but only one wounds my arm. 

"Now, finish him!" Under her mother's order, Tatiana comes once again but this time, the surprise is ready. I use the one thing I had created because I was tired of forgetting my weapon or losing it here and there. Raizen appears and its shine glows even in Tatiana's eyes as I smash her down to the floor with it. A crystal comes out of her at the same time

"What?!!" 

Before Veronica can react, I use the momentum of my body since my head was already going down and grabs hers with my legs, then I spin and smash her as well. A crystal pops out when her face brutally kisses the tiles of the stage. 

***

"You bastard!" Veronica is the first to stand back up after that. Finally, she is showing some emotions. "You little shit who couldn't even die properly!!" 

Her Longinus gear finally covers her head as well and instead of remaining purple, it takes some sort of orange color. I guess we are going seriously now. 

"Do you think our plans can be outrun by the likes of you?!!" She swings her sword and when I counter, the air vibrates way more than before. "Do you know how long I have been working on this?!!! Do you know for how long I have-"

I keep attacking and when she makes an upward strike, I dodge it and strike her ribs with Raizen. It is hard to apply enough strength with only one hand but still, it will be okay. Her armor breaks and pieces of it fall to the ground while she is staggered. 

I raise my weapon as if to continue attacking but of course, Tatiana plays her role to perfection and jumps in, sending me away with a kick. I let myself go and lend a few meters away. Tatiana fully arms herself with her Longinus gear as well and I see Willhem landing brutally outside the stage from the corner of my eyes. Even with him and Cissa, they still haven't taken care of Genesis. I should handle those guys quickly and go there to help as well. Farner and Maria surely need a helping hand. 

"Don't you think we should finish this?" 

Tatiana asks me while her armor gradually fades from her body. She won't go full armor like Veronica? The said Veronica comes and stands right by her side. They both take a different stance but you can easily see that each of them covers the possible weaknesses of the other. I can only answer in kind, right? I take on Selene's stance and create bullets from Excafol's script. 

"When Tatradum was destroyed, the villagers were screaming as you were ripping them to shred. How did you feel, Tatiana?" 

"Thousand steps of Lighting." She activates the only thing that made me admire her after so long.

I kept trying to deny it but I know it is the truth. That day, when she used this script, I saw Tatiana as a goddess. A real goddess that was shining with a ray of hope. 

"There is no use for words anymore, right?" Tatiana smiles when I say that and then she disappears. 

Veronica comes straight to me. The woman who caused Excafol and Selene's death. The cause of all this grief. 

"Selene said to always start a fight with an overhead strike." I use Sever the sky and Veronica evades it, though her armor gets grazed by it. 

She reaches me at the time as her daughter. 

"And Rose taught me that it is a weapon heavy enough for this to come handy." Using the speed I acquired when I fired Sever the sky, I immediately launch Lumion at Veronica. She gets hit and stumbles a bit while I give crescent bullets to Tatiana. 

"It is not enough!!" Tatiana receives the bullets with all her body but manages to get through. She has lost an arm and another crystal though. 

"Die, brat!" Her mother is also vehemently trying to slash my head. Now, this is a moment where you can use Disperse. 

I land on Veronica's left side, since she was attacking from the right, she can't do much even if she predicted it. 

I use Tremor on her and when I hit her shoulder, the armor breaks like glass but Veronica manages somehow to turn in the meantime and reduce the impact of the hit. When I raise my arm to strike her again, the spikes she used earlier comes from her mouth this time and I get stabbed everywhere My throat, my arm, my chest… 

"Ahhh!!!" Sorry for you, your poison was too effective. I don't feel shit anymore. 

I push forward to strike her but before I can do it, she cuts my arm off. Then Veronica bites the spikes of her mouth and tries to stab my heart. 

"It's over now, you insolent little brat!!" Yeah, you are most certainly right. It is all over. I wonder why I suddenly see Farner and Lanuvel's faces right in front of me. I was really a fool, right? 

Right as she is about to stab my heart, Tatiana appears on her side and cuts her arm off as well. I didn't need your help, you know.

"Tatianaaaaa!!!-"

I hit her with my only remaining arm. Now, that I think about it, Two called the dragon's roar the world's roar. I never used that name again but I think this technique could really be named like that. 

"I really wonder…" As I turn my arm around, I use Lightning Fist and Overwhelming simultaneously. 

My consciousness fades while Veronica gets engulfed in a storm of Angas. This is the end so I can close my eyes now, right?