As Yamato waited for Yuki to regain consciousness, Amael and Marneras finally arrived at the scene as well.
"And where have you been?"
"Apologies, Lordship… We were just admiring Lady Yuki's descent,, as we saw her being assaulted by her sister Natsumi out of nowhere. However, as we came to help, we fell victim to her… Outburst, and only now came back to our senses…"
"It is as he says… How is Milady? And I must point out that having her stand next to you unrestrained is…", Amael said as he gave her a suspicious glance.
"It will not be a problem, but thank you for your concern. And Yuki's alright. I need you two to return to the Absolute Citadel though. And take these guys with you. Bring them to Lucy and have them wait for my return."
"But the area is not yet fully prepared for takeover, and with Yuki still in that condition…"
"I said it won't be a problem."
"Yes, of course… We will take our leave then. Natsumi…"
"Amael…"
Amael and Natsumi shared a short moment of eye contact, as ir was their first encounter in this world since he had been summoned. There was not any particular history between them, but they did know each other from before, so it was somewhat awkward for both of them. Especially for Natsumi, having to see everyone worship Yamato like that. It was bad enough when Yuki did it. Speaking of, as she woke up in Yamato's arms, with Natsumi's face leaning over hers, she instinctively punch her but did not escalate further since she did not want to stop leaning against Yamato. And if this were a combat situation, she would not just wake up in that position, which she obviously immediately noticed, but chose to ignore and get a justifiable punch in on her anyway.
"Ouch…!"
"Oops, sorry, my mistake."
"I think my nose broke for a second there!"
"Pft, whatever. Tiny little crack at best, so it already healed anyway."
"You're mean!"
"Whatever. So how come you're so calm next to us… Where you beaten into submission?"
"I was not beaten into submission…!"
"Uh huh…"
"I was not!! I chose to part ways with the violence, as I should have done from the very beginning, and did something like a deal, I guess…"
"A deal…? On what terms?"
"I… I won't tell you!"
"…Okay? I'm just gonna ask my boo later then."
"Boo? When did that start… And he won't tell you either!"
"Why wouldn't I?"
Yamato asked, confused by where Natsumi got the idea that he would keep quiet from.
"B-because you promised me something! And to make that happen, telling her would not help if it's supposed to be genuine!"
"I guess… But if she asks me about it directly, lying about it is kind of weird."
"But—"
"—Is it about restoring our sisterhood?"
"N-no…! It's about… Something else entirely different from that!"
"Whatever. I'm gonna get my answer eventually, if that wasn't one already… Now, boo and I are gonna go do grown up stuff. You best stay here and don't cause any more problems than you already have, okay?"
"I am also a grown up! And arguably more mature than you too!"
"Well, go argue about that with someone then. See ya."
"H-hey, wait—!"
Yuki teleported herself and Yamato away, before Natsumi could protest further. Not that her protests would have actually won her the argument, or made any difference at all. But the fact that she could talk to Yuki like that, without having to dodge lethal attacks, right after taking Yamato's hand did make her feel a warmth spread through her chest, as well as a bit of annoyance. Had it always been this easy? She asked herself that as she was left alone on the street, feeling like an unattended child. The fact that she felt that way, which only affirmed Yuki's patronizing from earlier, infuriating her. So she went and go look for them. On foot, since she was not in a time rush and still a bit exhausted from being exposed to Yuki's outburst earlier.
Meanwhile, Yuki and Yamato appeared in the main castle where, if he has not fled already, emperor Arctinus would most certainly be. Walking through the large hallway's, killing the last line of defense with relative ease, Yuki casually spoke to Yamato as golden swords pierced and sliced through incoming guards.
"So, what happened between you and my sister while I was out?"
"I put a stop to her perusing taking you back to heaven for now."
"And how did you do that? She said you promised her something…"
"Well, she was right in saying that telling you might make it more difficult to fulfill the promise… "
"To genuinely make them sisters again, I can't really tell her because she would just do it because I told her to… Natsumi made clear that that's not the kind of solution she wants by pointing it out earlier, and I do have the intention of honoring my promise if possible…"
"So you don't want to tell me?"
"If you insist, I will. But if you think you can trust me that it is nothing you need to worry about, then I'd like to fulfill the promise as best as I can. Which would include not telling you."
"That's really suspicious, boo… But okay. If you say I don't need to know. I suppose I can live with not knowing for now."
"I promise I will tell you as soon as possible."
Meanwhile, in the imperial palace's throne room, which was just a massive hall with a window behind it, emperor Arctinus stood looking out of the window, at the fallen city. All members of the imperial high council had left the city by now, and he had ordered every soldier to do the same. The only ones that had remained, where Gilbert, the strongest knight of the empire, as well as the royal guard under him, which refused to leave him behind even after his direct order.
"Your majesty, are you certain? Now is the last chance for our escape."
"Escape to where, Gilbert?"
Arctinus looked outside the window onto his city, though calling it his even now was a debatable.
"We've lost, my friend… Even if, through some kind of miracle, this Yamato guy were to accept my surrender and let me live, just the thought alone lets me see Hana's disappointed gace sit upon my current state…"
"Do you believe Lady Nakahara would have been able to turn this into our favor?"
"Let's not go into what if scenarios… And I heard she lost in a fair duel. Or at least was not ambushed or anything of the kind, so I don't see why she would bring us victory in this situation… Though, I would feel much better knowing she were okay right now…"
As he thought back to his childhood, Hana was with him even then, mentoring him, teaching him. She had always had that same look on her face. Not just as an expression, but appearance wise, she had never aged and had looked as she did the day she died ever since he could think. Even though his parents died an early death due to disease, he had never truly felt alone since she was with him even then. He later learned she had been in service of the royal family for generations, centuries even. Yet, he had this desire to not be out lived by her, but rather live alongside her forever. When he was crowned emperor, he told her about his feelings, and she merely laughed, saying he was the first out of his family to ever propose to her, despite there having been multiple occasions where she felt a previous emperor had fallen in love with her. However, she did not instantly accept his proposal. She said "Only if you are able to live forever, will I accept your promise to stay with me forever." And with those words, his search for immortality began. She even helped him, though she made clear he would not be able to replicate her own immortality for himself, and had to find a completely different way. So he searched ancient ruins, read through every piece of paper containing information on the topic, even visited places outside of his country like the library in Lunis Magic Academy, all for nothing but dead ends. As he finally found a promising hint of something being able to grant immortality, he was reached by the message that one of his Barons had been murdered by his own son, and the town was taken over by some nobody apparently appointed by an angel. So he chose to put a temporary pause to his search, and focus on the saftey of his people first, which had all led to this moment. The massive door to his throne room was burst open, as Yuki and Yamato entered, looking around the room until their eyes locked onto the two men standing at the other end of the room. Gilbert, realizing all his remaining men must have been slaughtered, charged at them in a heroic last attempt to save his emperor.
"If you want to kill our emperor, you will have to get through me fir—Burgh…!"
Though he was by now means weak, he was immediately impaled by a golden light sword, piercing through his back, causing him to spit out blood as he was stopped in his charge only after getting halfway through of the room. And then another hit, followed by several more, until he was thrown into the corner of the room. As the swords disappeared, his body remained lifeless on the ground, with a pool of blood forming below him. Yuki did not even react otherwise and Yamato only followed his movements with his eyes.
"Farewell, Gilbert… I wish you had not stayed behind with me, but your presence did light up my last moments by quite a bit…"
"I'm assuming you are the emperor?"
Yamato asked as he studied Arctinus's clothes, the white and gold barely letting any other conclusion come to mind.
"That I was… I am a bit disappointed yours did not come to meet me himself, but I understand."
"Well, I am here, believe it or not."
"Really, you? I'm sorry, it's just… You are much younger than I expected. Though I think I was told something like that already, my mind is a bit off today…"
"That's understandable."
"Yeah, well… I applaud you. You did it. I saw you even manage to make Natsumi switch up on me, though she was probably never on my side to begin with… Quite a spectacle from up here, I have to admit. I do wonder if I would have been better off never working with her in the first place…"
"It would have made things much easier for me if you didn't, so you shouldn't feel any regrets about that."
"Oh, but I do… I regret so much right now. But at least now, I can go meet up with her again…"
"I assume you mean Hana. I did suspect there was some romantic connection between the two of you, but she was a bit hard to read on that. With you its much easier."
"Was she hard to read, really…? I always found it quite easy to tell how she was feeling… But maybe it's harder when you are in the middle of plunging a knife into their chest…"
"Self defense."
"Haha… Drop dead."
As he spoke those words with a particular tone of disgust and hatred, Yuki glanced down at the stone floor and the room was filled in flames, as an explosion detonated from from beneath the floor, shattering the giant window as well as vaporizing everything within the room. Or almost everything, as left unharmed were wings formed to a sphere-like shield, slowly opening up to reveal a hovering Yuki and Yamato.