A Moment’s Peace
Location: Calistra – Battlefield, 47 Minutes After Crown Ascension
The battlefield was no longer a battlefield. It had become something… surreal.
Time had begun to fragment. Whole seconds stuttered like skipped frames in a broken film. The air shimmered with overlapping echoes—past voices bleeding into the present.
"Don't let them rewrite us—stay anchored!"
Thea's voice rang out over the comm-link, stabilizing the crumbling ether around the Integral Knights. Her radiant aura, magnified by Divine Assimilation, created a sphere of clarity where the corruption couldn't touch.
Elaine hovered just behind her, wind spiraling upward to redirect the collapsing debris.
"Is it really over... or just paused?"
"Neither," muttered Astron, emerging from the shadows with Umbrix drawn. "It's the eye of the storm."
Location: Throne of Echoes – Rift Core Chamber
Inside the epicenter, the Abyss Emperor stood, motionless. Not in defeat—in restraint.
He sat now upon the dark throne, the First Crown resting upon his head like a memory recovered.
The Octagon approached once more, their movements tentative, blades lowered—not in surrender, but in understanding.
"Why… why stop?" Mia asked, voice fragile.
The Emperor's eyes were distant.
"Because you saw it. Through your soulbond, through Lexigra."
He looked directly at Cyg.
"You saw what I was trying to erase."
Cyg nodded.
"A world where only the chosen few had power… and the rest suffered for it."
"And now?" the Emperor asked.
"Now I know you weren't entirely wrong," Cyg replied. "But you're still not right."
Location: Gaia HQ – War Room
The Octagram, battered but alive, returned to HQ hours later. Leonardo stood before the central table, his face shadowed.
All around him, Knights were resting, medics worked overtime, and council members quietly debated the implications of what had happened.
Leonardo placed both hands on the table, heavy with guilt.
"He was my friend. My brother-in-arms before Gaia ever took its name."
He turned to Thea.
"Do we lock him away again?"
Thea didn't respond at first. Then, with her eyes closed, she whispered,
"No. We listen. We cannot fear our foundation, even if it is cracked."
Location: Memorial Hall – Eve of the Recovery
Harriet leaned against the cool marble wall, watching as Hikari played a soft tune on a reconstructed violin Sylvia had tuned herself.
Charlotte fiddled with a projection of the battle, trying to patch the moments when time had gone out of sync.
Eun-Ha knelt silently near the stone garden, her hands glowing faintly as she restored fallen Knights' tokens.
Cyg, standing at the far end of the chamber, spoke aloud for the first time that evening.
"We faced a god... and all he wanted was not to be forgotten."
Sylvia's eyes softened.
"Then maybe we should remember him. Not as an enemy. But as the first to fall... and the first to rise."
Location: Abyssal Rift – Sealed Chamber of the Emperor
The Emperor was no longer at war. For now, he had returned to his throne beneath the rift, content with the knowledge that he had been heard.
Mirror Blades stood sentinel, not in hostility—but in silence.
He looked toward the sky, now calm, his voice soft.
"The Octagon has teeth… but also heart. That is rare."
Erebus appeared beside him, crossing his arms.
"Do we wait?"
"Yes," the Emperor murmured. "Because peace… is a moment, not a gift. And they've earned this one."
Final Scene: Gaia HQ Courtyard – Just Before Midnight
The eight of them stood beneath the stars. No armor. No titles. Just eight young people who had seen war, loss, and what it meant to carry the world on their shoulders.
Hikari quietly leaned against Cyg. Sylvia chatted softly with Elaine. Mia sat cross-legged in the grass, humming an unfinished melody.
Eun-Ha, arms crossed, looked to the moon. "He'll be back."
"Then we'll be ready," Harriet said with a grin. "Octagon or not… we're Gaia."
Charlotte looked up.
"For now... let's just breathe."
And for once, in all the chaos, they did.