The blurriness faded away, and darkness spread out, consuming the arena. Yet, Ragna could see everything as if it was day: The audience cheering at the combatants, the water playing around the platform, Winstone looming over her.

But not just her environment had changed. Her pain was gone, and her wounds had disappeared. Only the tears in her cloth reminded her of the damage Winstone had dealt to her.

“What’s going on?” she asked into the emptiness.

Liquid started to drip – in the distance and near her. Disappeared had the ground, and the sea had filled the darkness. On its surface, Ragna was floating. She repelled the water, and not a droplet touched her body.

Without any direction, she drifted back and forth. Ragna let all control go, giving it to the water. Her body couldn’t help but to relax; her face not to smile.

Ah, how great that felt.

Ragna didn’t have to think. She could shut off all her thoughts, ignore all the misery and failure. Even if it might be for a moment, she had escaped from the world. Her worries didn’t exist.

“Is this what you are doing?” Her Fylgja scowled. The luster in her eyes had become dull, and for a second, her figure flickered away. “The moment you see the possibility to escape from the world, you take it. How disappointing.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Ragna asked. “If you’ve to deal with this world all the time, you’ll suffocate. Can’t I just sleep for a minute of sleep without someone nagging?”

“Escapism may help some, but it’s a luxury you will never enjoy. Denial is a sanctuary no more.” Her Flygja’s words resonated with her memories. Once the shadow had said the same to her, and she had accepted the words without thinking about their consequences. But now, she understood. “You can never rest, only progress. Remember, you chose to protect your treasure, and you will guard it with every waking minute of your life. That is one of the prices you have to pay for the path you have chosen.”

“You’re right.” Ragna sighed and rose from the sea, the water falling from her like a curtain. She lacked a choice. “Still, it was nice while it lasted.”

She wanted to protect her treasure. For that, she couldn’t avert her eyes from all that wished to take it away from her.

The two walked further into the cave’s inner system until the water made place for land. In front of them shone a pile of gold that reached the cave’s roof and took most of the land. Millions of coins and other valuables reflected their glitter in Ragna’s eyes.

“So, this is my treasure?”

“Who knows what your treasure is?” Her Fylgja walked towards the pile. She caressed the coins with her fingers and slid through them before she sat on the gold like on a throne. She crossed her legs and stared at Ragna. “Tell me. What do you want to protect?”

“My friends. Everyone I love. Altera.” Ragna didn’t hesitate with her answer. She didn’t have to think about what her treasure would be. Many times, she had reaffirmed her choices. “My future, and happiness as well, and anyone I’ll ever care about.”

“That is a huge treasure. How greedy.” Her Fylgja smiled. “It allows you to gather vast riches, but in turn, you have to protect more, and the number of thieves increases tenfold.”

“I know.”

“And what about your initial dreams? Didn’t you wish to create a world where no one has to suffer loss as you did?”

“I’m not giving up on that either.”

Yes. Back when she used to attend the academy and had averted her eyes from reality, she wished to create a utopia. Her naivety and childishness had given birth to that dream, but that didn’t mean it in itself was wrong. Even if she had no idea how to accomplish her goals.

“And if you have to choose? Say, if you can have only either Altera or a world without suffering? What would you do?”

“I’ll take both. I’ll find a way to take both. No matter how hard it will be, I’m not giving up a single coin in my treasure.”

She would do it, no matter what everyone else said. That something was deemed impossible just meant everyone else had failed.

“Truly, you’re a greedy woman. That also means if the day ever comes when you can’t find a solution for that dilemma, you’ll break.”

“I know.” Ragna’s eyes reflected the coins her Fylgja was sitting on as a sad smile appeared on her face. She didn’t just say these words for dramatics. For the possibility to get everything, she had to wager that she would lose everything as well and be unable to recover. She was putting her life on the line. “But until then, I’ll do everything to protect it all.”

“Everything?” Her Fylgja tilted her head. “How far are you willing to go to protect what you hold dear? To achieve your happiness?”

Ragna took a deep breath. “Till the end of the world.”

She remembered how she had behaved during the game against Sahyir. At first, she had believed her Flgyja had manipulated her, but that wasn’t true. Her desire and greed had maximized to its logical conclusion.

“Know this.” Her Fylgja’s voice dropped, its frivolity gone. “I am neither evil nor am I good. In my desire to protect, I can do good, and I can do evil. I might save the world or destroy it. There is nothing I won’t do. There are no second thoughts, and there is no regret. I’m selfish and selfless. And I walk this path to the bitter end. Knowing this, do you still accept me?”

“Yes.”

Her Fylgja stood up. She walked towards Ragna and placed a kiss on her lips. Their tongues intertwined, her saliva mixed with Ragna’s, and rinsed down her throat.

“I have restored your Mana.” Her Fylgja removed her lips. “It would be a shame not to test your new power because of a lack of Mana. I won’t do this ever again, and some might consider it cheating, but you don’t care about that.”

“Thank you for everything.” Ragna smiled and returned the kiss. “You’ve always been there for me. Even if I don’t agree with all your actions, I understand where you were coming from.” She put her arms around, startling her Fylgja for a moment at the body contact. “ You’ve been at my side for twenty-one years and held on to me, even when I didn’t deserve it. You and I. We’ll walk this path together until the end.”

“Oh my. You are quite the charmer.” Once Raggna let go, her Fylgja chuckled. “While I wish for your success in general, this time, I really want you to win. The way your opponent treats his soul mate, it sickens me.”

“Because he hates his Ysbryd?”

Her Fylgja nodded. “I can hear the soul trying to reach out to him. I hear the pain of a soul giving everything for a love he will not reciprocate. Defeat him. And I guess, for that, you need something special.”

The woman’s lips moved further, spelling out the name of her Fylgja. And she disappeared.

“All paths but one have closed. For all eternity. You have no choice to follow the road in front of your own eyes.”

The shadow spoke to her. Ragna couldn’t see it, but she knew it was here, watching her.

“But do not worry. Your fate is still open to evolve into unpredictable futures. The core of your abilities has been finalized. There is more for you to discover, more for you to change. What you will become lies in your hands.”

֎

Ragna looked around. The cave had disappeared, and in front of her roared her opponent. The audience had grown silent, their eyes and cameras observing the events that had occurred seconds before. And with them watched the entire world.

Black leather batwings grew out of her shoulder blades. Metallic night-blue armor covered her arms and legs like stockings and her torso like a corset. Alabaster horns extended out of her head, and a long black tail ending on an arrowhead from her coccyx. Her fingers had turned into claws, her pupils into slits, and her canine teeth into fangs.

Ragna raised her arm.

Ah, now it made sense. Aspects of her Fylgja had manifested at various times in the past. What she had considered mysteries or miracles turned out to be early manifestations of her abilities.

When she and Altera fell off the Bifrost, they had survived the fall because she had activated her wings. During their imprisonment at Clockwork’s hands, she had gained the increased strength her Fylgja provided her to destroy her shackles. At times, she roared in a volume her lungs couldn’t. Sometimes, her eyes would turn to slits. When she had fought Quin, she had manifested her tail to trip her. Seblances of her Fylgja had activated in other instances, too.

She starred at her opponent, and her opponent looked back at her. Winstone’s mouth widened to a grin as his body crouched, ready to attack, telling her to come at him.

His senses might have deteriorated to those of a mindless beast, but in the brain’s depths, his instincts had ingrained the ability to recognize an enemy that could kill him. And right now, he acknowledged her as a worthy opponent to satisfy his lust for the battlefield.

Ragna smiled. “So, be it.”

She widened her wings and jetted towards him. Winstone sprinted as well. In the ring’s center, the two adversaries met.

Winstone threw his arm at him, and Ragna flew out of the way. In turn, her claws tore through his flesh. Blood splattered, and Winstone roared. He jumped, snapping his teeth at her. She raised her elbow, and his fangs bit into the metal.

Ragna groaned. Winstone’s weight dragged her to the ground. He had captured her with his fangs and scraped her armor. The pressure he exerted increased, but his teeth couldn’t tear through the metal scales.

Ragna beat her wings with all her might, yet she couldn’t free herself either. Her Fylgja had increased her strength, but it paled against Winstone’s. She couldn’t overpower him.

She raised her tail. A layer of ice covered it, sharpened the arrowhead to an icicle, and she lunged it at Winstone’s chest. The beast didn’t attempt to evade or protect himself.

Her tail pierced his chest, and the ice crept into his organs. Winstone didn’t react and continued to bite into her scales. Steam emitted from the wound as his body heat melted the ice on her tail.

Ragna gnashed her teeth.

Dammit. She had to get out. Like in a video game, the damage wouldn’t slow Winstone down. Unless she knocked him out, killed him, or depleted all his Mana, he would fight as if she hadn’t dealt any damage to him. If the fight turned into a war of attrition, she would lose. She had to find another way to win.

Her eyes glanced at her left hand.

Perhaps that could work?

“Activate,” Ragna said.

For a second, a blue light covered her body. The pressure Ray’s teeth exerted into her arm and the weight of his body that bound her to the ground disappeared. Ragna rattled her arm free. She shot into the sky outside Ray’s reach and looked down on the arena as she smiled.

Yes.

Her idea had paid off. As she had predicted, the gravity manipulator had merged with her armor.

The beast was running through the arena, seemingly unable to compute what actions it could perform without an opponent within its reach.

Ragna widened her wings, and on their edges formed spheres of ice. Once they had grown to the size of soccer balls, she beat her wings and threw them at Winstone. New orbs grew from the edges. As Ragna flew over the arena, they dropped to the ground, filling the area with a cacophony of shatters and howls.

Within seconds, she had created a new set, and she continued to bombard Winstone with her constructs.

No matter where he would try to run, he wouldn’t escape her bombing raid. Ice dust spewed into the air and fogged up the arena. A veil of mist had spread and obscured her view of the battlefield.

Winstone’s body heat defogged the area within his perimeter and created a circle of clarity within the mist. Blood and bruises littered his body. Patches of his fur, her ice sphere had eviscerated, and dents and bulges marked the spots where she had caused the most damage. Even if it didn’t reduce his stamina and he didn’t feel pain, his body couldn’t move if she had broken his bones.

Ragna dove into the mist, her eyes locking onto her opponent. Winstone stomped his feet to the ground and took a stand.

Either he wanted to withstand her attack or catch her.

Frozen mirrors rose from the ground. Their surfaces reflected the remains of the dead under the glass and threw their rainbow lights into Winstone’s face. The colors burned into his eyes, forcing him to close them.

Ragna dove into the circle, Winstone’s heat cleared off. She smiled and activated the gravity manipulator, reducing her opponent’s weight to zero. Ragna grabbed him with her claws and tackled him across the arena until she reached its edge and threw him over the border.

Winstone splashed into the water, and Ragna floated above him.

The audience had become silent, all eyes glued on the arena’s edge.

“We … We have a winner,” the speaker’s voice sounded uncertain. They stumbled on their words, and only once they seemed to realize what had happened, did their tone increase in volume. “Ragna Griffin has defeated the unbeatable champion. She has won match.”

As the audience’s eyes followed the combatants, Ray raised his head. “Looks like you’re a hero. It’s your destiny to win. And a monster’s to be defeated.”

“I already told you I’m not a hero.” Ragna’s expression didn’t betray any emotions. “But I’m not a monster, either. What does that say about my destiny?”