The ground ruptured.
Portals tore open-not five, not ten-everywhere.
Chains erupted like a storm. Unleashed.
From above, from below. From blind angles her body couldn't even process.
Miata moved. Too slow.
The first chain struck her shoulder. Pain exploded. Her grip faltered-but didn't break.
The second wrapped around her waist-yanked. She twisted mid-air, crashing into the ground, dirt tearing into her skin.
The third came for her neck. Zoe didn't move. Miata's eyes widened.
Zoe-?!
Nothing. No interception. No shield. No protection. Just presence. Watching.
The chain came closer. Miata forced her body to react. She rolled, barely. The chain tore past her ear, slicing a thin line of blood.
Her breath hitched. Her chest burned.
"Acceptable". Jaxson's voice echoed.
Cold. Observing.
Another wave. Faster, sharper.
Miata tried to block-
Her spear moved-
Too late-
Chain struck her arm. Another hit her side.
Another wrapped her ankle and slamned her down again.
Her body screamed. Her vision flickered.
Move...
She pushed up-
fell-
pushed again-
stood-
barely.
Zoe didn't move.
Why aren't you helping me...?
Silence answered.
Another chain came. This time she didn't call for Zoe.
She moved.
Instinct.
Desperate.
Something raw.
She twisted. Deflected it-
Barely.
For a moment-just one-she felt it. Not outside. Not separate-around her. The air. The ground.
She space between movement and thought.
Aether.
Her breath slowled. Just a fraction.
Jackson's eyes narrowed.
"There it is"
But he didn't stop. He intensified. Chains rained down like judgment. Restless. Merciless.
Miata's body couldn't keep up anymore. A strike hit her ribs-something cracked-another slammed into her back. She fell hard. Her spear slipped-again.
She didn't reach for it this time. Her fingers dug into the dirt instead. Her body refused to rise. Her vision blurred. Darkness creeping in. And in that breaking moment-she saw it again.
Maria.
Standing infront of her. Bleeding. Shaking. Still refusing to fall. That day. That moment. Maria burning through Aether- crossing a line no one should cross-just to protect her.
Miata-on the ground. Watching. Useless.
No...
Her fingers tightened.
Then-
'We'll invent our own magic '
A chain struck towards her.
'A magic nobody else has. We have each other even if we don't have creatures'.
Miata's eyes softened.
'We will make our own fun... Our own spells... and even our own adventures that no one else have'.
"No..." She slowly opened her eyes. "Not again"- she grabbed her spear into her hand. And inhaled. Deep. Painful.
She redirected the chain coming for her with her spear-barely. She looked at the ground beneath her feet trying to stand with the spear but she stumbled again on her knee anyway. She cough once-blood. Wiped her lips with the back of her palm.
"Six years ago... When my sister and I went to the Church for the first time-" she cough again " we... made a promise".
She paused, breath trembling-not from fear, but from memory.
"That no matter what happens...we would never give up".
Her grip tightened on the spear.
"Even if we don't have powers... even if we don't have magic... we would create our own strength".
A faint silence settled into the battlefield. She finally stood now in her feet, eyes hardened-yet softened at the same time.
"No matter what comes... we would always stand for each other".
She lifted her gaze fully to Jaxson now. Not defiant. Not pleading. Just certain.
"I said I would fulfill that promise..."
A breath.
"But I never did".
Her voice hardened, furious on herself.
"Because I am a weak, fool stupid nerd who always hid behind her. Who always get protected by others but do nothing for herself".
A cry escaped her throat.
"So this time. I won't just remember it".
Her gaze sharpened.
"I will live it!"
And in that moment-
Aether around her didn't just flow.
It responded.
From the moment her words settled, the field stopped feeling like ground. It felt like a breathing thing holding it's breath with her.
For a fraction of a second, Jaxson laugh-not mockery-recognition. His face was unreadable- he looked into the sky and whispered only for himself.
"I know... and I will meet her... soon".
Miata stood still... but the world around her did not.
Aether-no longer faint, no longer distant-began to ripple through the air like invisible tide water reacting to a storm beneath it.
Jaxson noticed. His gaze sharpened.
"... So it's finally woke up".
No satisfaction in his tone. Only recognition. And then he moved.
The ground split open in front of him. A massive portal tore through space like ink ripping fabric. Chains erupted instantly. A cage designed not to trap her but to erase every path she could take.
Miata didn't flinch. She inhaled. And for the first time she didn't feel the chains as incoming attacks.
She felt them as movement inside Aether itself.
Zoe shifted. Not Infront of her. Beside her. For the first time, not protecting. Responding.
The chain storm collapsed in. Miata moved through the gap between moments. Her body twisted-just slightly- and the first chain missed her throat by a fraction of breath.
Another came. She stepped into it. The chain struck empty air as she passed beneath it.
Jaxson's eyes narrowed further.
"She is reading it now".
A third chain erupted from above. Miata lifted her spear-but didn't block it. She guited. Aether pushed through her arms.
The spear tilted and the chain slide off it like water of stone.
Zoe moved. This time not reacting late, but anticipating. A blur of motion. Aether flickered around her like a second heartbeat.
She struck a chain mid-air redirecting it into another portal opening behind them.
The battlefield shifted.
"You are syncing", he said quietly.
Miata didn't answer. She couldn't. Her focus had narrowed into something razor, thin. Not thought, not instinct. Something in between.
Another wave of chains came. This time faster, heavier. Denser.
Miata felt it before it hit. Not with eyes, with Aether. A pressure building in space.
She moved. Zoe moved with her- together.
Chains struck but where they expected resistance, there was only flaw.
Miata slipped through them like water breaking through crack's in stone.
Zoe shattered one chain, then another. Her movements no longer defensive but assertive.
Jaxson raised his spear.
"Enough warming up".
His voice dropped and the ground cracked. The portals multiplied instantly. Chains erupted like a collapsing sky. Every angle. Every direction. No space left untouched.
Miata felt it. For the first time- pressure. Real pressure. Existenal.
Her breath caught. Zoe's presence flared beside her.
And then-something inside Miata clicked. Recognition.
Aether wasn't something she was borrowing anymore. It was something she was standing inside.
Her hands tightened on her spear. The air around her condensed. Like the world itself bent slightly towards her awareness.
Chains struck but slowed. Just slightly. Like they were moving through thicker reality.
Jaxson's eyes widened a fraction.
Miata stepped forward. One step. The chain did not reach her. They curved, faltered, missed.
Zoe surged ahead, breaking the formation. A chain shattered against her movement. Another dissolved as Miata's spear passed through it.
The battlefield wasn't a cage anymore. It was becoming a system. And Miata was learning it's language.
Jaxson suddenly appeared behind her-the movement was too fast to follow.
His spear came down.
Miata turned-just enough. Her spear met his
The impact didn't explode outward. It folded inward. Aether absorbing force instead of resisting it.
Jaxson's eyes sharpened to something almost unreadable.
"Good".
He pushed harder.
The ground around them cracked violently. Portals opened above Miata. A full collapse of space.
Zoe moved instantly. But this time Miata stopped her.
No!
Zoe paused. And Miata stepped forward alone. She closed her eyes. Just for a fraction of a second and listened with Aether. Then she moved, freeing her spear from Jaxson's and struck it on the ground. Aether answered.
The chains bent-redirected. They turned mid-air, colliding with each other, breaking their own formation.
The battlefield exploded into collapsing Interference.
Jaxson froze.
"So that's what Maria meant", he murmured.
Miata didn't hear. Or maybe she did but she didn't stop. Zoe stood beside her now-not guarding, not waiting-existing in sync.
And then everything went still. Chains disappeared. Portals closed. Silence returned. Heavy complete. Jaxson lowered his spear slowly. His gaze fixed on Miata.
"You didn't awaken powers. You stopped separating from it".
Miata stood there. Breathing hard. Alive. Changed.
Then her eyes flickered towards the 4 figures at the edge of the field. And suddenly her eyes shimmered.
There stood Maria. Eyes filled with something deeper than pride. Something that understood exactly what this moment meant.
Nora was standing there too beside Maria and in her side was Twilla.
And on the other side was-Amelia. She looked at Zoe in silence.
Very well. You have unlocked it before than expected. Now we just have to wait for the two of them to appear because we don't have much time.
I know and I can feel them. They both are near somewhere. Maybe already watching us.
Yeah. I can feel them too.
Maria's lips curved slightly. Not a smile. Something quieter. Stronger.
You finally stood on your own.
Across the field, Miata smile faintly- still holding the tears not to fall.
She slowly stepped forward towards Maria but her body gave up already- muscles aching-and she fell on the ground.
Maria crossed the field towards Miata. Hold her into her lap and slowly whispered
"You finally did it".
While Nora starts gathering Aether on her palms . A soft green glow lingered around them, collecting together into her palms healing the wounds for Miata.