PHASE 60 - SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW~

“That’s a bold proclamation you got there, arrogant king.” Jecchan made her smug towards Rikkun. “Surely, you remember that you lost the last time.”

“Ha! Clearly, you haven’t been paying attention to that last fight, you squeaky runt!” Rikkun said as he leaned back and crossed his arms. “Necross Hades does not have any means to even dent my Aether Armor. Tiara being able to sing the is a primary proof of that. If I kept my armor for myself, then I could defeat him!”

“You know that Necross Hades is immortal, right?” Guinevere asked after sipping her tea.

“That’s right. Anything that has corrupted by Necross will become an undead demon that is capable of impossible regeneration.” Z seconded. “You also need to deal with the God Core, which is quite an unbeatable combo.”

“Hmmm, maybe you’re right about that.” Rikkun held his chin. “But Tiara and I fought a Necross Eidolon earlier and we managed to defeat it with some kind of combo. I’m not saying that I will not take down Necross Hades alone. I know it. That’s why you guys are here, right?”

Suddenly, the adorable ash-white-haired witch smiled with confidence. “Yes! You got it! You’re way smarter than you look!”

“Since you already know what to do and had an idea who Necross Hades is, we’ll just leave all those things to you,” Guinevere said. “However, we already had a battle plan that would be more efficient than what you had in mind.”

“And what is it?” Rikkun sassily replied with a question as if he’s already against the idea.

“The battle plan is this,” Jecchan said as she pointed her index finger at me, who is still busy chowing down the apple pie. Guinevere had already given me her share so my eating time has been extended. “Tiara will take down Necross Hades himself. And you, Alaric, will be in charge of sealing Esperia. We have to make some distance from you and Necross Hades so that he can't summon Necross again.”

“What about any reinforcements? Surely you did not really want us to take those two for ourselves, right?” Rikkun said. “I bet this dumb witch and this sassy bitch here can do a handful of things.”

“You really sound like my master…” Z mumbled in which only I can hear.

“Ohoho, that is impossible, Mister Alaric Eisenhower.” Guinevere laughed. “Our time here is limited, so all we can do is to prepare you two from your battle.”

“Of course, your adorable Jeanne can provide for the support! I'm more than enough~,” Jecchan said. “If we try to reassemble Aether Crusade and ask for the Black Cross Legion for some recruits, they might end up being dead weight. The smaller the group, the better!”

“You are dead weight,” Rikkun said. “I wish to have Helena and Kristoff join the fight, but if we can’t have them, maybe Tiara and I will do fine without you.”

“Grrrr…” Jecchan growled like an angry wolf.

Rikkun and Jecchan have been teasing each other for the past hour as if they are waiting for someone to blow their own fuse. It’s quite entertaining actually, but there’s a hidden urge for me to punch both of their noses so that they could just stop this childish squabble.

Good thing somebody initiated to move on and make a progress in this meeting.

“Everything is settled then!” Suddenly, the witch named Z clapped her hands, and then her crimson eyes stared at me. She stood up and spread her arms wide as if she wants to start a celebration. “Let’s move to the most important reason why we’re here.”

“That’s right.” Guinevere gently put her teacup to the plate and then stood up. With a smile, she reached out her hand and materialized a white sword that is glowing with blue circuits. “Miss Tiara Hikari, are you ready?”

“E-Eh!?” I trembled in confusion. “W-What ready?”

“We are going to unlock your ultimate potential to defeat Necross Hades!” Z laughed.

Unlock my potential? Are they going to stab me again!?

<>

After supper, we assembled at the center of the oval where the statue of a woman riding a dragon is situated. Unlike the first and second time I went here, the fountain statue is now flowing with crystal clear waters that reflects the moonlight. It’s so beautiful that anyone could mistake it as a gigantic twinkling jewel from afar.

Rikkun and Jecchan are here as an audience, while Guinevere, Z, and I formed a triangle near the statue.

“Bear with this, Tiara. It will sting a little.” Z teased. “If you’re not going to behave, you’re going to die!”

“Wha-Whaaaat! D-Don’t stab me again, please!” I cried. “Auuuu…”

“Hahaha! I’m just kidding!” Z laughed. “You know, you really remind me of my best friend.”

“Ohoho! Stop scaring her, Z.” Guinevere said as she swung her white sword and pointed at my heart. The blue circuits started to flicker as I sense otherworldly prana in it. “Here it goes!”

Suddenly, the sword was engulfed with blue flaming light. It beamed towards my heart and felt my prana circuits and blood vessels energize with unknown energy.

“Archonlight System On. Bond Level recognized. Unlocking Ultimate and True Form.” Guinevere muttered as if she’s chanting those words.

Z started to close her eyes, controlling her breathing with each and every molecule. In an instant, rainbow wings spread out from her back, and a colorful crystalline-scaled dragon tail spawned. She made some hand gestures as if she’s going to unleash a Hadouken, and a colorful rainbow orb materialized between her palms.

And then, the orb rushed towards my heart!

“Ah!”

Suddenly…

My vision went black. It’s not like I lost consciousness, but more like I was immediately teleported to an endless void. I saw trillions of colorful glowing dots around which assembled into disks of different shapes and sizes. It’s like I’m watching a planetarium that shows a movie about the Big Bang.

It’s the birth of the universe. No, it’s much more than that. It is an infinite process of zooming out, seemingly endless in expanding. It is not birth or death. It is a cycle of the multiverse, as it has no beginning nor an end.

My vision whited out, and then I found myself in a world full of ice. In front of me is a diamond crystal where the is sealed and is made to sing the for all eternity. I looked around and saw millions of floating shards that reflect my memories on the previous timelines.

I saw everything. I saw the past, present, future. I saw probabilities and possibilities. I saw different times, spaces, and dimensions. I saw all births and all deaths. I saw all the cycles. I saw “what ifs” and impossible scenarios. This infinite information shall be forgotten by me for my brain is not able to process all this information.

But there is one thing I can take from this omniscient vision.

I can take the power… the power to defeat Necross Hades and even Necross himself. I don’t need the Eye of Deus to do this. All I need is this feeling I have stored in my heart for so long.

Because I am…

<>

When I blinked back to reality, I saw that the whole hill of Cathedral Exa is bright. I’m the source of light, for there is a pillar of aether that surrounds me. It’s like a rainbow Aurora Borealis but it’s all gathering to me as the epicenter and the source.

I looked around and saw the surprised face of Jecchan, Z, Guinevere, and especially Rikkun. I think Rikkun has fallen in love with me again with that passionate gaze of him.

“Archonlight’s Unlocking potential is complete,” Guinevere said.

“Rainbow Form augmented jumpstart is also a success,” Z said.

“Hey, hey…” Jecchan had this troubled smile on her face. “I know you’re going to give her access to her ultimate and awakened form, but isn’t that too much?”

“We thought so too, but…” Z said.

“...This is the true power of Tiara Hikari.” Guinevere finished the sentence.

Somehow, I feel like I’m weirdly capable of anything. I looked at my hands and my body, but everything is the same. At first, I thought this is just an invisible spiritual power-up until I looked at my back.

There are now nine tails swaying on my back. It’s not my regular nine tails as a Brightmore Witch. They don’t look the same. They are now colored with red, orange, yellow, green, violet, indigo, blue, pink, and brown, like a rainbow.