https://youtu.be/nJwquqvE-SI

"Misery builds character."

Before he'd blacked out, those were among the last words he'd heard, and even now, they stuck with him, ringing in his head. He couldn't say for sure what was going on here, but it wasn't pleasant in the least. Opening his eyes, Makoto found himself submerged fully in a vast ocean; dark, save for one source of light. A constellation in the distance made of orange stars, completely with lines connecting it and making it clear that this was a rendition of Crux, the Southern Cross. And naturally, he had no idea what this was meant to mean. But being here felt unusual, like an indecipherable attack on his senses - and like a blade made of pure static, he heard the following words jammed into his mind.

"Confusion...the name of this ocean in which we all dwell." it spoke. "Welcome to the ocean, child of order."

He gritted his teeth, flailing his arms around and trying to summon his weapon, but it would not come. The voice, unfazed by his actions, continued to speak to him.

"Before me stands a deeply distressed young man. One who stands at the height of distortion, at the centre of the fog." it said calmly. "You have been given knowledge - knowledge that shakes the very core of your being. You are filled with confusion, with fear."

At that, Makoto's mind went back to what Inigo had told him - that he was acting on someone else's behalf. On behalf of the very people he was certain his father had vaunted, and who he had done evil in the name of. He wanted to believe it was a lie, but try as he might, he simply couldn't delude himself. And then came the anger - which he'd wished to lash out at Inigo for, but in truth...he was angry at himself, wasn't he?

He had been a fool for so long, furthering the aims of the real monsters while chasing who was, in all honesty, the murder weapon. One who was doing his best to atone. But he had to be punished, surely? He still did the deed.

Makoto didn't know what to think. For every thought he had, the opposite would float through his mind, distressing him even more. He closed his eyes tightly, grabbing his hair and growling as he tried to generate a clear thought. The voice, unaffected, continued to speak.

"Do you know why you are in this dilemma? It is because you have allowed your desires to consume you, to distort you." it said. "You desire vengeance. You wish to feel sated after losing that which is dearest to you. But who are you, if not an avenger?"

That much...made sense. He'd dedicated just about everything to his revenge, and now he knew it was misguided, he didn't even know what he would do. In fact, who would he even be now?

He didn't have an answer, and that revelation struck him like a knife. The constellation in the distance seemed to realise this, as its next words revealed. "You draw a blank. There lies your problem." it told him. "And here lies the solution."

Between Makoto and the Crux constellation, a thin card made of orange light materialised into existence, spinning slowly. On both sides, he saw an art piece carved in white. A female silhouette, knelt down before a river, with two water cups in hand; one pouring water into the river, the other spilling it on the land. In the sky was a random scattering of shining stars, and up top was the numeral "XVII" scribed in an exquisite font. "You, child of order, are someone with potential. But it is clouded and messy." it continued. "This card holds the key to cutting through the mist. Take it, and all shall be clear."

Should he take it? He saw no reason not to. The answer to all his problems was right there, and all he had to do was reach out his hand. So he did, keeping his eyes wide open as he grasped onto the card. At once, he felt its power flowing into him, and with it, a surge of emotions. Of guilt, emptiness, and a profound fury. And hate - but for what, he didn't quite know. He didn't let go of the card, though, closing his eyes and clenching his teeth as he let go of his senses. All he needed to do was to just sit down and think.

.........

Inigo wasn't quite sure what to do with Makoto now that he'd seen him black out. He wanted to spend more time finding somewhere safe for him to rest, but he did have to look for Iago. On one hand, Erdeland was crawling with common thieves and right bastards who would leap at the chance to rob the unconscious, dapperly-dressed Makoto if Inigo just left him lying around. On the other, Libera themselves had Iago in their crosshairs. They might have already caught him, in fact.

So now, he was trapped. By his own conscience, to boot. What a pain. In search of a nearby inn, he left the square with Makoto floating behind him, while heading in the direction of the marketplace. He was certain he'd find one on the way. But he hadn't seen anything like it just yet.

As he moved into a quiet street, lit only by an assortment of lampposts, he gazed up at the moon, which seemed to light up the starless night. It was full and beautiful; the full moon was meant to be a sign of clarity, which was ironic considering nothing was or would ever be clear for him. But, oh well. Who said the moon was for him, anyway?

Before he could follow up that line of thought, however, he felt his psychic connection to Makoto's body break, and immediately he looked behind him, worried. Did it have a time limit? An effort limit? Makoto wasn't that heavy. What he saw as he turned around was just plain strange, though. Makoto was still floating in the air, though the violet glow indicating Inigo's control was no longer there, and his body had turned itself upright, having gone completely limp.

"...the fuck?" Inigo raised an eyebrow, trying to work out on his own what the hell was going on here, but to no avail. He knew Makoto could fly, but only on those wings of his. Clearly, he was being controlled by something, but...

He watched as a light suddenly shone down on Makoto, and multiple Crux constellations formed around him as he raised his arms, spreading his wings as though he were being crucified. And then, he heard it - that voice:

"Congratulations, magician of mist. Through adversity, the core of his character has been exposed."

https://youtu.be/9APGl1dSaw8

Before Inigo could comment, a fierce, shining wind enveloped Makoto's body, shimmering brightly and obscuring him entirely. He leapt back instinctively, summoning his cane once again - with his luck, he'd need it. The tornado raged on, and as he wondered what on earth was going on, the voice, apparently reading his mind, was all too eager to respond.

"His mind is shackled - filled with an insurmountable fog. And then along came you, cutting through the mist and exposing what lies within. Now, he is thinking, and when his thoughts are complete, his perspective will be ever clearer."

Which certainly sounded good and all, but Inigo still had to be absolutely sure this would end well - whether it would be safe to leave his unofficial ward behind, or if he'd instead need to keep watching over him. "Does that mean I can go?" he asked aloud, only to be met with a short bout of sinister chuckling that immediately made him regret asking.

"As he ruminates, his mind and magic reach new heights, and you may observe some changes. He searches for the source of this newfound clarity, and as he finds it...you will have to push even further to truly get through to him. You have granted him manumission - now, won't you help him find out what that truly means?"

"...so, I have to fight him." Inigo narrowed his eyes, lowering his stance in preparation for combat. The voice hummed in approval, clearly preparing to enjoy what was about to unfold.

"You face off against an empty spear, one who has forgotten his purpose. One devoid of hope and faith. The stars shine bright, and on this dark night, you must help him find hope anew. Strike true, magician of mist, against the Star of the Void!"

"The what?"

Right on cue, the winds dissipated, revealing Makoto - but not quite as Inigo knew him. His wings had become the deep blue of the night sky, with stars twinkling within. On his arms and legs, he wore armour with celestial engravings. A diadem adorned with stars floated over his head, and his eyes glowed completely orange, concealing all detail. A gentle light shone over his body, and his expression was one of dead calm. He held his spear, which now had veins filled with the same nighttime display running down it.

A new look. He knew he'd have to be careful - if his magic had really reached 'new heights', then Makoto would be stronger than before, and possibly more skilled. Regardless, if fighting him was the way forth, then so be it. Holding his cane out in front of him, he allowed wind to gather around his body, taking a deep breath to psyche himself up. "So the game is freshly afoot."

https://youtu.be/s8esRJ9kF_Y

Makoto, seeming to agree with that sentiment, stared directly at Inigo, flapping his wings rapidly and whipping up a sparkling gale in his direction. Inigo, refraining from admiring the pretty lights, jumped up, the power of wind propelling him even higher. At the height of his jump, he sent a blade of wind Makoto's way with a spinning kick before propelling himself Makoto's way.

Makoto held his spear up, spinning it around rapidly and forming a protective dome of light around his body. Inigo collided with it in a diving kick, bouncing off it and landing right in front of his foe. The barrier disappeared, but Makoto still spun his weapon, plunging down to thrust it into Inigo's body. Inigo jumped to the side, noticing that tiny stars trailed off the spear with every movement, and without hesitation, lunged forth to jab him with his cane. He struck his torso, letting out a jet of water to propel himself back right before Makoto could strike again.

He aimed his cane, shooting strong blasts of water like rapid shotgun rounds as he tried to tease out an opening in Makoto's guard. This wasn't easy, though - Makoto's movements were too quick, too practised. Even now, he had the upper hand in a fair fight. If only he could dirty things somehow...

Before he could finish that thought, Makoto flew back, his spear's body becoming pure Natura as he prepared to aim it. Inigo jumped on the spot, already entering an evasive stance. As Makoto hurled it, Inigo jumped back, only to watch as it split into countless smaller spears, dispersing before launching downwards towards him.

This was a rather sticky situation - to dodge this, he'd need to be able to dodge rain itself, and he simply couldn't do that. Trying to mitigate as much damage as he could, he held his cane out, stepping further and further away into the road before flailing his weapon around as he inevitably got caught in the hail of spears. Some of them bounced off his cane, but more of them scraped and stabbed at his shield, and he felt them doing quite a number on him.

He still remained standing despite the attack, taking a deep breath as he tried to stay on his feet. It wasn't game over yet, after all. Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out one of his few remaining bombs and began to run in Makoto's direction, pulling the pin and hurling it at him. Makoto tried to block, but the attack went wide before he could. Inigo slammed the tip of his cane into the ground, putting it under his control, before continuing his charge.

Makoto, seeing he was still running, conjured up another spear before charging towards Inigo, his every movement followed by a trailing orange light, like a comet. He prepared to stab Inigo, who didn't seem to be trying to dodge, instead wagging his cane. Before Makoto could reach him, the bomb flew into his back, igniting the air and engulfing Makoto in a great conflagration.

Makoto staggered a little, a break in his defences, and Inigo exploited this by generating a storm of water feathers and firing them at him like a fan of knives. While Makoto was buffeted by the watery onslaught, Inigo ran around him, jumping on top of a car and leaping towards him, wind gathering around his feet to boost his manoeuvrability.

As Makoto came back to his senses, he thrust his spear outwards, and Inigo quickly cancelled his own attack, shooting a blast of wind to propel him away as he landed on the ground. He jumped back up in time to dodge a spear that Makoto hurled at him, which exploded into a pillar of light as it hit the car behind him.

He held his cane like a blade, unsure whether he was better off in melee or at a distance against this foe. As he thrust his sword at Makoto, the latter flew out of reach before diving down, unleashing a circular pulse of lightning that Inigo jumped over, turning around to fire a bullet of wind as he landed before closing the gap with a flurry of jabs. Makoto met the attack with his spear, determined not to lose this dance.

.........

And what a dance it was. As Makoto tried to go on the offensive, Inigo, nimble as ever, would weave around the attack and deliver his counterattack. He seemed to be going for a 'death of a thousand cuts' tactic - but would it be enough? He was already caught up in this fight, which was, in all likelihood, not his initial objective.

Scarlett thought so, as she watched them from atop a nearby convenience store. She'd been hoping to surprise Inigo and get him back from the times he'd randomly appeared from above, and she was a bit of a natural talent as far as parkour went. On the way, she'd gotten a little caught up helping civilians, but now she was sure there were none left, so she could focus on finding Inigo. And now, here he was, locked in combat with an odd-looking Makoto.

No time like now to act, she thought - though she felt he wouldn't blame her if she'd left him to his fate, she balked at the very thought. She kept her eyes on the scene, summoning her sword to hand, and with a hop, skip and leap, she landed on the building they were directly underneath, Inigo bouncing around to make himself an elusive target as he peppered Makoto with weak attacks, while the winged spearman used his speed to close the gaps and go in for melee strikes. He was focused entirely on his prey. Now was her chance.

She jumped off, her body igniting in a crimson blaze laced with pink as she descended. Her sword was held out in front of her as she headed towards Makoto, and she smiled as she saw the look of surprise on Inigo's face, though he kept fighting regardless, locking Makoto in place with his psychic hold before jumping away from him. Just in time, too, as Scarlett landed with a swift, flaming cut. Without missing a beat, she swung her sword upwards, slashing Makoto, and the flames around her gathered to form the shape of an enormous peacock, which rose with her blade before descending on Makoto in a great inferno.

Now freed, Makoto glanced back at her before focusing on Inigo, who was also staring at Scarlett, visibly impressed before returning to the fight. "Scarlett?"

"Hey!" she beamed, before clearing her throat and bowing her head. "Sorry if I'm intruding!"

Inigo, ducking and rolling under a spear of sparkling lightning, shook his head while otherwise not looking at her. "The help is appreciated!"

Scarlett nodded, noticing that Makoto seemed entirely focused on Inigo once again. Simultaneously insulted and relieved by this, she got to work, beginning a frenzied, forceful dance while her eyes followed Inigo's rapid movements. Inigo remained focused on dodging until he felt the Natura within him suddenly spike - like a pool of deep water had spontaneously come to a boil. Inigo hummed a bit - so this was what her magic dance felt like.

Makoto seemed to know what was going on here, and as he raised his spear, it vanished, only for an enormous, identical one to show up in his hands. Inigo saw him beginning to charge towards him and looked straight at Scarlett. "Keep him busy." was all he said before spinning around on the spot, rapidly rotating as a tornado swirled around him before he jumped up to the sky, riding the wind as it took him up higher than he'd ever gone before.

Scarlett, mildly alarmed that she hadn't been given the chance to question this order, put her sword away and ran towards Makoto. He hadn't started paying attention to her just yet, instead preparing to fly after Inigo. She needed to steal his attention somehow.

She took a deep breath, regulating her breathing as her body became covered with vibrant flames, and she leapt towards Makoto, grabbing onto him from the side and holding him tightly. Makoto raised an eyebrow, attempting to shake her off, but with each move her grip only became tighter, and the flames became more intense. Eventually, he had enough, repeatedly beating her with his wing before she relented and dropped to the ground, leaping to her feet immediately afterwards with her sword in hand.

She was going to be a tough one. Makoto could tell that much. So, he thrust his spear at her, only for her to twirl out of harm's way. With a graceful step, she closed the gap between them and slashed his knees. Then, with a sword lit ablaze, she jumped up with a rising slash and a backflip, landing perfectly on two feet. Makoto continued to attack her, sending a blinding flurry of jabs her way, but she stayed just out of reach for a little while before taking a long leap back and landing on a car. With a flick of the wrist, the flames on her sword grew, taking the shape of a whip, which she lashed at him from afar.

Inigo, who by this point, had reached the apex of his jump, locked in on Makoto, who seemed to be dealing with Scarlett's flaming whiplashes rather frustratedly, parrying away the fire with his spear and lunging in for an attack that missed Scarlett but grazed the car she was on. She had his attention...which meant he didn't. With a low hum, he descended, using the pressure of water and the speed of wind to empower an axe kick, only to realise that much strength was too much for him to handle like this. Plan B, then. Maintaining his downward descent, he crossed his arms together and began to spin once again, forming a drill-like whirlwind around his body. The wind would guide him. All he had to do was land.

Meanwhile, Scarlett continued to attack Makoto, dodging his strikes and jumping off the car before it took too much damage. Makoto took this as his chance to try closing the gap, but she stepped away from his spear before lunging towards him and thrusting at his chest. He took the hit, at which point he began to flap his wings repeatedly, calling forth his cosmic wind to try and blow her away. She tried to hold on, but the wind was too strong, and she ended up caught in it, tossed away along with a few cars in the path, like a wrapper among cans.

While he was focused on her, he abruptly stopped as he felt a drill colliding with him at top speed, piercing him like a great spear and persisting in attacking him. Inigo spun around, not letting up one bit until he realised he was dizzy, at which point he kicked off him, the wind gathering at the soles of his feet and forming many swirling blades on that position on Makoto's back.

Inigo landed, trying to regain his bearings, and an enraged Makoto turned to face the source of his confusion - that was beginning to fade away. All he saw was white, but whether it was light or fog, he couldn't tell. He clenched his teeth, unleashing a roar to the heavens above as his wings spread out wide, his spear vanishing completely as Crux shone in the air above, filling the night sky with stars.

This couldn't be good, thought Inigo, and as Scarlett got up and gazed upwards, her thoughts were more or less the same. "Scarlett?" Inigo called out. "I think he's gonna break stuff!"

"Then we need to stop him right away!" she replied. "What's gotten into him, anyway?"

"I'm not too clear on that myself. But to reverse it, we have to defeat him."

Scarlett nodded, and at that, it began to rain. That is to say, the stars began falling, crashing onto the road in the form of enormous light spears, whose patterns seemed to be random, and leaving craters and sheer destruction in their wake. Seeing the first few fall, the pair knew they had to get on the move, post-haste. They looked up to the sky to determine where the next ones were going to fall, and stayed as far as they could as they fired elemental projectiles - Inigo's rockets of water and Scarlett's whip-like fire slashes.

They remained moving, jumping around and dancing through the battlefield in a marvelous display of dexterity and magic, and eventually, there remained a single star, while the road was left in ruins. They felt varying degrees of sympathy for the car owners, but now wasn't really the time for that, so they focused on the main threat. Inigo stopped moving, closing his eyes and feeling Scarlett's spell beginning to run out. He had to make the most of what was left.

As Scarlett leapt towards Makoto to assault him with a calculated tango of fiery slashes, Inigo pulled out his cane and, with a little psychic assistance, balanced his last bomb on its tip. Swirling a concentrated mass of water behind it, he took a deep breath, removed the pin, and fired his deadliest shot yet - a high-powered beam of rushing water, with a powerful explosive leading its path. Eventually, the bomb broke off from the blast and, as Scarlett jumped back to safety, it slammed into Makoto and blew up, before the water followed suit, loading its pressure and power onto Makoto's shield until it couldn't take anymore.

Inigo stopped at the sound of shattered glass, and at once, all trace of Makoto's magic vanished. The spear disappeared in a twinkling burst, his eyes and clothes returned to normal, and he fell to the ground as his wings returned to normal before vanishing, too. The three of them were all alone, with Makoto staring into the distance, his eyes completely and utterly blank.