Nega End

Giselle Mercury and Amadam stood facing each other.

A burning killer intent was emitted from Amadam in all directions. A strange power gathered around the third arm that was a symbol of that power. It was such an overwhelming power that even Giselle could sense it despite not knowing the details behind the structure of that magic.

Giselle had no choice but to face that opponent alone. Amadam had defeated her whole team. There was no one she could rely on.

However, she was not overpowered.

Giselle tightly clenched her right fist as she faced the enemy before her eyes.

"You've hurt my daughter, Amadam. I think it's time to show you just how lukewarm the hell you came from really is!"

"Hah! In the years that we've been apart, you seem to have decayed in skill—" Before Amadam finished his sentence, his black wing was hoisted into the air; as blood was flowing out of his body.

"I may be old, but I can still pull it off." Giselle smirked—she hadn't even morphed yet, too; and she was dominating Amadam.

"Tch." Amadam created a countless number of spears of light in the sky; flinging them towards Giselle at high speeds.

"Hmph." Giselle simply smirked; as she vanished from Amadam's sights; before materializing once more and delivering a deadly kick to his chest; sending him crashing down below.

Amadam couldn't catch Giselle because he wasn't able to keep up with the movements that could be said to be as fast as the speed of light. The one who was overwhelming Team Daybreak was being played around with.

"Guh." Amadam tried to attack Giselle with a spear of light and a sword of light, but Giselle swung her arm to the side and vaporized them.

Creating tracks of light, Giselle shot forth like a bullet—her fist dug deep into Amadam's stomach; as he bent unnaturally as if he were snapped in half, collapsing upon the ground. "It's over." Giselle immediately dropped her 'sibling', as she began to leave casually.

"I do not think so." Amadam immediately began to rise; as the white tints in his armour changed their shading to crimson. "This strength...as well as..." An aura of emerald manifested around his body; as he appeared good as new—he had healed himself. "The strength to rise again, in the face of fierce opposition—"

"You've gained a fighting spirit?" Giselle smirked; as she noted, "More data you've gathered from humans, I presume? And here I thought you hated humans."

"Correct. Among their kind, this type of data is fairly common." Amadam summoned his spear to his hand once more; swinging it around. Dear sister...I was once truly vexed, unable to understand how you could seal me away before. Of course, now, it's painfully obvious. I simply lacked the necessary data. That's all it was." With that, the seven orbs manifested around Amadam, floating in a circle.

Giselle chuckled sardonically. "Ahaha, that's cute. You think that following a bunch of data on how people act makes you human?" Slipping an emerald ring upon her finger, she scanned the ring over the belt around her waist; causing the belt to expand around her waist like a deck of cards wrapping around. Giselle threw her right arm at a diagonal to her right then rotated it clock-wise until it was a diagonal to her left, then she retracted it to her waist and thrust out her left arm at a diagonal to her right.

With this, her special belt released five cards of pure magical power before her, blasting an approaching demon away as Giselle's speed picked up- running through the series of cards, as she left the projections, everything about her changed completely.

Giselle was now clothed in white robes which had golden linings; covering her upper body in a glowing mantle that draped her shoulders. Her attire otherwise consisted of a white trenchcoat, white baggy pants, as well as white, pointed, elf-esque boots. She wore black gloves, and her face was concealed by a draconic-looking orange mask, which was covered by a hood. "Phoenix Knight, let's do it!" Giselle triumphant declared; as she continued, "You're wrong, brother. It's not data that guides their actions. It's their emotions."

"Semantics." After placing an orb under his feet, Amadam ascended into the air. "Those emotions are nothing more than a form of data!"

"It's not that simple." Giselle smirked; she awakened her phoenix wings, ascending to the air instantly. "Shining...Onslaught!" Giselle released that enormous beam of light from her blade into the sky; aiming to knock her 'brother' down a peg.

"No, no, no. It really is." Amadam snapped back; manifesting one of his orbs near Giselle; a spiral appeared in front of it, sucking up the Shining Onslaught. "Reflection." He cackled, "The more data I gather, the stronger I become, and the stronger I become, the closer I come to perfection."

While she remained on high alert, the spiral manifested below Giselle; allowing her own attack to rip through it. "Tch." Giselle hissed as she evaded it, releasing another Shining Onslaught towards Amadam, declaring, "Shining Onslaught- Hundred Million!" It was the scattered type, hitting Amadam like a shotgun.

"And should the being closest to perfection rule the galaxy?" Amadam manifested another orb in front of him; which expanded, transforming into several humanoid-dragon warriors; though they perished from experiencing the might of Giselle's attack—Amadam had used them as human shields. "I have free reign to shape this universe as I see fit. The anticipation has me beside myself."

"That's not going to happen." Giselle snapped. A giant sword manifested in her hand, as she gripped it, spinning around. This shining sword itself was the nostalgic, sorrowful, and exalted dream of the legendary hero; the crystallization of the prayer named 'glory'. Proudly uplifting this will, ascertaining that this faith will be seen to its end, Giselle now loudly declared the name of this miracle she held in her hands.

It was – "Shining ONSLAUGHT!!"

Light galloped.

Light roared.

The magical energy, accelerated by the factor of the Phoenix Knight, became a streak of light in the very form of a gigantic phoenix, a swirling and surging torrent that devoured Amadam together with the skies.

A serial of silent screams rose within the streets evaporating in an instant, as every single atom composing the body of the demon that had been the embodiment of terror was exposed to the scorching impact; as all matter was brought into another world, annihilated by the white light.

As the skies began to clear; Giselle's eyes widened underneath that mask of hers; as she saw...

"There's simply no stopping me. You have no hope of besting me now, dear sister!" Standing above was a human-shaped singularity that distorted the world more than a black hole, Amadam alone smiled. "It's already over. You were too late before. …But none of that matters now. This was destined to happen whether you were late or early."

"…I was too late?" Giselle's eyelids twitched oddly. She could not believe it. "Are you saying that you have the Philosopher's Stone!?"

"Oh, the stone," said Amadam with the look of someone recalling a trivial fact. "The Super Galaxy King already used it."

"…?" Giselle could not relax even for an instant.

Despite what he said, Amadam was not concerned or angry.

"But none of that ever really mattered." Amadam gave a light shrug. "The Philosopher's Stone was nothing more than an item used to complete the ritual for the Nega End. As long as I had a way of doing that without using the stone, it didn't matter at all. For example, there was the one and only means of killing me that you secretly developed."

"…"

"Also, all of the Zodiac Knights' actions may have been working toward the production of the stone, but that was not necessarily the only way of creating it. The Zodiac Knights' Demon Impact plan was just one more decoy. I could have made the Philosopher's Stone on my own, but if I revealed that, all of you might very well have interfered. I went out of my way to make sure that Kirika wanted the stone as she'd unwittingly carry out that decoy plan alongside my own. It was all so all of you would work to stop Kirika instead."

"You're…kidding…"

"About what? That I could so easily overturn the assumption that there was only one method of producing the Philosopher's Stone? Or that that mere phantasm and your comrades could be so easily deceived?" mockingly asked Amadam. "…All of your information about the Philosopher's Stone was spread by me. The Zodiac Knights and its enemies were manipulated by the information they found where I had conveniently left it for them. No matter what anyone says, that is the truth. Even you were deceived."

"..." Giselle could not keep up with the situation; her brain refused to comprehend the information. Amadam had shaken the world so greatly, but all of that had been pointless effort that held no meaning?

The Zodiac Knights had been nothing but a safety measure meant to hide the true time limit?

He had done it all alone.

The man known as Amadam had manipulated the entire world.

"Now, let's have some fun."

Giselle heard a sound like a rock landing in some mud.

"Hah." Amadam laughed and arched his back.

An unpleasant noise rang out.

The tip of the spear was not a sharply pointed blade like on a knife. It was a wide blade as if a double-edged sword had been forcibly attached. What would happen if that was forcibly dragged from his narrow eye socket? The sound of a joint popping continued on and on with a sticky sound mixed in. No, that was the sound of something breaking and splitting. His eye socket may have been spreading and distorting like a hole in a rubber band. It may have even grown larger than his face.

"…Shit…" Giselle's body froze as if paralyzed while she watched this overwhelming sight. She could do nothing but watch; she could not even guess how much pain that would cause. She could not imagine what was going on in her sibling's head as he continued to smile.

And…

A lance covered in a dark red liquid made its horizontal entrance into the world.

Amadam grabbed the second blade he had produced from within his own body and looked down on Giselle once more; his face had returned to normal. Had it truly possessed the strange elasticity of rubber?

Or had he somehow instantly repaired his smashed and destroyed skull?

"Thanks to all of you, the Philosopher's Stone—and the souls of the Zodiac Knights played into my hands. Do not think of me as a mere legend any longer. I will now show the world what Amadam truly is."

"The hell you will!" Giselle cried out; as she was freed from the worry keeping her frozen in place; she was afraid her mind would collapse if she did not oppose Amadam; however...more than that, she wished for one thing...

Amadam lightly spun his lance around in one hand and pointed its tip toward the heavens.

He spoke slowly.

He uttered two short sentences.

"You've put up an admirable effort, but now I've obtained the Mystical Magical Power, I have no need for these small fights. Nega...End."

Without paying any attention to her surroundings, Giselle ran so she could get as close as possible to her daughter; who was slowly standing up. In an instant, Giselle's Soul Armour dispersed the moment that she reached her daughter, skidding to a halt as her knees speared into the pavement, wrapping her arms around Tsuruko in a motherly embrace.

"...Mum...?" Tsuruko was barely conscious; her vision was blurry—but she was capable of understanding who exactly this was—this sensation she was feeling; it was just like when she was young.

A mother embracing her child.

"Tsuruko..." Giselle gently stroked her daughter's hair; whispering sadly as tears brimmed in her eyes, "...I love you."

And exactly as Amadam had announced, the world was immediately destroyed; swallowed up into a vast abyss of darkness.