*Disclaimer: I do NOT own Love Live!

- "I won't. I love you. And let Nozomi know that Mimi is with us."

Since she couldn't see what Honoka was seeing, Kotori was momentarily confused. But she felt as Honoka tapped into their shared powers, letting it flow through her body. She felt as a few of Honoka's senses became more focused, and then felt the princess quickly move away. Kotori knew those to be signs that Honoka was focused on fighting, which was when Kotori realized the situation.

Kotori turned from the wall that had separated her from Honoka. She looked passed Rin and Eli, scanning as far as she could see for any sign of movement. But for the moment, she didn't see any. Or couldn't see any, she thought, hoping she was wrong about it.

Nozomi, Eli, and Rin waited patiently as Kotori was going through her thoughts. A few moments after Kotori had turned and scanned the area ahead, Nozomi decided to finally break the silence and got the fighter's attention with a single word.

"Well?"

"We should get moving," was Kotori's reply. "Oh, and Honoka says Mimi is with her."

"I know. I do share a special connection with Mimi after all."

"Has something come up?" Eli asked, not liking not knowing what was going on.

"I felt Honoka as she got ready to fight, and it's likely that whatever they're fighting brought company."

"Meaning we need to get moving and find a way to regroup with the others as quickly as possible," Rin said.

Nozomi reached around her back for her spear. "Best to be ready to fight at a moment's notice then."

The others brought their weapons out as well, and the four made their way for the only direction they could go. They moved at a brisk pace, making sure to pay attention to their surroundings as they went. They followed the singular path as it made a few sharp turns. However, were brought to stop, not by a monster, but by something more troubling given their current situation. Ahead of them, the single path split into two.

"Well, this just got a bit more interesting," Eli said, turning to the others. "Any suggestions?"

"Stick together," Kotori answered. "It'll probably hurt us more than help to split up in this situation."

"I agree, but then which direction to choose?" Nozomi asked.

"Easy, we go to the right," Rin responded quickly.

The other three all looked at Rin surprised. "What makes you so sure?" Nozomi asked curiously.

Rin pointed back the way they came. "I've been keeping track of the direction we came from, since that's also the same direction that the others headed off in. That way-"

"If we follow that general direction, we have a better chance at meeting up with the others," Kotori finished, realizing what Rin was thinking. The younger knight nodded to confirm.

"Then let's get moving," Eli suggested. "The sooner we can meet up with the others, the better."

The other three nodded and turned to the path Rin hand indicated, Kotori and Nozomi moving first. Just as Rin was about to follow, she heard Eli say, "Good job Rin." Doing her best to suppress her smile, the two knights followed after their friends.

They hurried through the maze, only stopping for a moment when the path split for Rin to point out the way. Occasionally they ran into a group of monsters. However they were only in small groups, and almost didn't stop their progress by even a second.

After a few minutes of this, the path opened up to a large circular area. Looking around, they found that there were several paths that all converged here. As Rin looked around, there was something that had caught her eye on the wall between two of the paths. It was a strange symbol she hasn't seen before. But before her curiosity could get any further-

"Move!"

Eli gave the desperate command a moment before Rin had finally sensed the oncoming danger. Caught off guard, Rin uncharacteristically couldn't react and move on instinct. As if to confirm the ominous feeling rapidly growing in her stomach, she looked up. A chill ran through her spine as she caught a glimpse of something rapidly descending toward the ground, toward her.

There was a loud sound and dust flew up from the impact. Rin, who should have been at the center of that impact, instead found herself lying with her back on the ground several meters from it.

"That was too close.."

At the last second, Eli jumped toward Rin, using her momentum to carry them out of harm's way. Picking herself up from the ground next to Rin, Eli gave a wry smile and let out a sigh of relief. Confirming the younger knight was fine, the senior knight turned to face their opponent.

But as the dust settled, all that was revealed was a pile of rocks. Their opponent was nowhere to be seen, or that was what they thought. In the next moment the rocks started to move on their own, rearranging into a human form. Once finished, it stood up on its own, with movements like a puppet pulled by strings.

"A golem, huh?"

Kotori recognized the strange being and commented while pulling summoning her sword. Nozomi readied her spear while asking a question.

"Do you think we triggered defenses of some kind, or maybe some kind of trap?"

"It doesn't really matter either way."

Eli responded as she held her scythe horizontally in front of her, letting its body unravel from a compact form for carrying to full length. Rin unsheathed her daggers as well, determination in her eyes. She was just slightly irritated that she had failed to notice a hostile presence in time herself, and she intended on making up for that right now.

Using her unique speed, Rin acted first. In the blink of an eye, she appeared behind the golem. Behind about twice their size, Rin had to jump to reach its 'upper body'. She delivered to horizontal slashes to the back of the golem's head then kicked off its back to immediately put space between them. As expected, her daggers didn't even leave a mark on the stone, but it accomplished its goal all the same. The golem felt the attack from behind, and turned to face Rin.

With its back now turned toward her, Eli sprinted forward. Rin's speed was unmatched, but Eli was no slouch either. The golem had just raised its right arm to attack Rin when Eli reached it, raising her scythe overhead and bringing it down to attempt to cut the golem's arm. The blade managed to cut about halfway through the rock limb, but only went that far. Eli quickly pulled the scythe out and jumped back as the golem tried to swipe at her with its left arm.

The entire exchange was only a few seconds. Although impressed with the two knights' speed and coordination, the result made Kotori frown.

"So, Eli's scythe couldn't make a clean cut."

It was a specially made scythe, with what was believed to be the strongest blade that could cut through almost anything. Seeing such a storied weapon stopped like this was alarming. And to make matters worse-

"No way…"

Nozomi said with disbelief. The visible gab left in the rock by Eli's scythe filled itself back in. The two small cuts in the back of the golems head also erased itself, as if the two attacks never happened.

"Attack again! Don't give it time to recover!"

Although a little dread crept up within her, Kotori still issued the order while stepping forward. The golem once again raised its right hand, bringing it down like a hammer. Although its movements were as quick as a human's, Kotori reacted faster. She jumped to the right while keeping her forward moment, continuing to run as she landed. Using her sword, she made a horizontal cut on the golem's left leg as she passed by.

The others had followed after her, swarming the golem from three different directions. Eli aimed for the left arm this time, while Rin and Nozomi each made cuts with their weapons as they passed. The golem tried unsuccessfully to retaliate, seemingly unable to keep up with them.

And then there was a change.

As Kotori went to attack, she felt it. The golem didn't raise its arm, but turned its head and appeared to look at her. Kotori stopped herself and created a barrier, only a moment before a beam crashed violently against it. While she wasn't hit by it, the impact had enough force to knock her back onto the ground. She felt magic more clearly this time coming from the golem, but it didn't have the same threat this time. Once again, the cuts caused by their weapons filled themselves in, and faster than the first time.

"It's using magic?"

"No way, how are we supposed to take it down like this?"

There was disappointment in Eli's tone. Likewise Rin, who had regrouped with the others, asked the obvious question.

Their weapons couldn't do enough physical damage to the golem's rock body before it could heal itself. Kotori had the option of enchanting her sword with magic, but she doubted she could do more damage on her own. They were in quite a predicament.

Once again there was a short build-up of magic followed by a beam. Kotori stood her ground and casted another barrier, making sure it was enough to cover her three friends behind her. Being prepared and using more magic to power the barrier, Kotori wasn't knocked back this time. But she still felt the strain of the attack against her barrier.

(The problem is its magic. If we could only cut that off somehow…)

Almost as soon as Kotori thought that, she felt something tug at the back of her mind. It was almost enough to break her concentration, and her barrier wavered slightly as a result.

"Kotori?"

Rin called out nervously behind her, but Kotori didn't respond. While maintaining focus on the barrier, she gave some attention to the feeling within her. It seemingly moved from her mind down her body, stopping at her heart. Or more specifically-

(The Link?)

"… Hey, I'm going to drop the barrier."

"What?" "Huh?"

"What's your plan?"

While Nozomi and Rin were both surprised, Eli seemed to understand that Kotori realized something. She kept her tone calm while she asked for Kotori to explain.

"I'm going to try something, but I need you three to keep its attention off of me until it's time."

"… Can we get a little more detail than that?"

Kotori gave a wry smile, although she knew Rin couldn't see it while behind her.

"Just in case it doesn't work, I don't want to get your hopes up. To be honest, this is just a feeling."

"Well, it's not like we have another plan right now. I suppose it's worth a shot."

As usual Nozomi tried to add a little humor to keep their spirits up, but even she was focused on what needed to be done. Kotori waited for the three to take action. Once they had left the safety of her barrier and charged for the golem, she dropped her barrier while simultaneously jumping to the side to avoid the beam. With her sword in hand, she began.

XXX

Without magic to rely on, getting hit by any magic attack would be disastrous for Nozomi, Eli, and Rin. Still, their odds were better compared to before. They no longer had to desperately find an opening. They just had to distract the golem, meaning they could keep a safe distance and focus mostly on evading.

They also held the advantage in terms of numbers. Since it was only one enemy, the golem couldn't focus on all three of them at once. Rin had been the first to attack the golem, causing it to face her. Like before, it attacked Rin in response. While Rin easily dodged, Eli came from the side and struck with her scythe. As expected, it didn't go very far, but it served its purpose. Feeling the blade, the golem turned to face Eli as she had jumped back to a safer distance. Eli evaded the predicted counter attack, with Nozomi sweeping in this time.

Like this, they continuously swarmed the golem. Although they were not making much progress harming the golem, they knew they just had to buy enough time for Kotori. And finally that time came.

XXX

(To think even a spell like this exists, magic is quite useful isn't it?)

Kotori thought that and was honestly impressed.

Perhaps on instinct, Kotori had used her sword, which doubled as her channeling item like Hanayo's staff, to access the feeling that had appeared within her just moments ago. From there, she expressed her intention to find a spell that could help them in this situation by cutting off the golem's magic.

A few things became clear to her in that moment.

The spell that she sought out, one that interrupts the flow of magic from an owner to their puppets, was revealed in her mind. It was a spell attuned to Dark, her specialty. She had never seen or heard of this spell before, but understood how to use it as if she learned it long ago.

Kotori began channeling the appropriate amount of magic for her new spell. Once more tapping into her Link with Honoka, she drew from their shared magic power to speed the up the process. As she did, she checked on the condition of the battle in front of her. Her friends were beautifully executing hit-and-run attacks while juggling the golem's focus. Even if Kotori had to rely on her own magic, seeing that coordinated offense made her feel comfortable that they would've bought more time if she needed it.

But she didn't need it. Getting ready to end it, Kotori yelled.

"Everyone, move!"

Hearing her voice, Nozomi, Eli, and Rin all jumped backwards from the golem in an instant.

"O bonds of magic, shatter!"

The spell circle completed underneath her and she immediately turned it loose. A black ring appeared around the golem, trapping the golem in place with the first part of the spell before flying above. It stopped in the air as the magic characters engraved on the black ring started to glow purple. This revealed several small threads of blue that started on different parts of the golem and ran through the magic ring. There was a flash of light as the magic characters reached their max brightness, and those blue threads were cut in an instant.

With the spell finished, the ring disappeared along with the blue threads turning invisible to them as they fell back down to the golem. But knowing what was left, Kotori continued her commands.

"Eli, strike it now!"

Eli didn't hesitate, moving almost as soon as Kotori commanded. She reached full speed in a second, jumping up while raising her scythe above her head. Putting all her strength into ending it now, she swung her scythe downwards. The sound of her blade making a clean cut through pierced the air, and after a second of pause, the golem's body split and crumbled to the ground. The four held their breaths as they waiting a moment, but the rocks didn't magically move themselves back into position.

With this, the golem was defeated.

Sensing this, the four of them relaxed and let out relieved sighs at the same time.

"Good job everyone."

Kotori commended the others, but Nozomi immediately shook her head.

"We should be saying that to you only. Without your magic, the battle would've been hopeless."

"Speaking of which, what kind of spell did you use?"

Rin asked while showing her curiosity. However it was Eli that spoke first.

"Before that, how about we get moving? We still don't know how or why this golem appeared. And if we're being targeted in anyway, I'd like to make it harder to get caught."

"Eli's right. But, does anyone know which way to go?"

Upon hearing Kotori's question, all eyes naturally turned to Rin who had been navigating them up until this point. She was expecting this, but could only make a wry smile.

"Sorry, but the battle made me lose track of direction. I-"

As Rin's eyes started to wander, they fell upon something familiar. It was the strange symbol she had seen earlier.

"It's that way."

"Hmm?"

Nozomi and the others followed Rin's eyes, but couldn't see anything that would've drawn the young knight's eyes. She realized this and explained.

"I had noticed this symbol earlier. It's why I was distracted when the golem showed up. But it's definitely the right way to go."

XXX

Some time had passed since they continued making their way through the maze. Crucially, no monsters showed up again so far, allowing Kotori to speak without interruption.

"Heh, just how many more secrets are there hidden in the Links?"

After hearing Kotori's explanation on what had taken place, Nozomi smiled while speaking her thoughts.

"It seems only useful for Kotori and the others that can use magic though."

"With all the things we still don't know about how these Links work, I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Rin offered her opinion and Kotori responded in kind. Then Eli spoke up next.

"What concerns me more is the golem. If it really was a puppet, then someone was controlling it. If that's the case, then the ones targeting the Creators beat us here."

"Demons."

Eli nodded.

"We should hurry and meet up with the others, before anything else can happen."

XXX

After deciding they should increase their pace, they had been continuing along with almost no interruption. Like before their fight with the golem, the monsters they encountered along the way didn't pose much threat to them. But their numbers were much greater than before.

Before long, they could no longer keep moving while easily dispatching them. Much to their annoyance, they felt the gradual effects from the continuous fighting. Not just slower progress, but they slowly started to feel the fatigue from constantly pushing their bodies. Only Kotori didn't show any problems, thanks to her shared magic with Honoka. Although the distance did weaken their Link overall, their strong Spirit Link and the incredible amount of magic they shared (mostly from Honoka) gave Kotori plenty of magic to work with. As a result, Kotori ended up leading the way using magic to quickly clear their path while Rin continued to navigate for them.

Eventually, the number of monsters they were encountering slowly began to decrease. Although it seemed encouraging at first, they knew not to relax just yet.

Finally, they reached another open area like where they had fought the golem. Unlike that last time, it wasn't empty, as a lone figure was standing close to the center with their back toward them. They could guess the gender just based off the dress, but they got confirmation as the mysterious person turned around, revealing a girl with silver hair and eyes that almost looked grey. She wore a mostly red dress with white on the bottom of the skirt separated by hearts, a red cloak with the hood which looked like animal ears pulled up, a red ribbon, black shoes and black knee-high socks.

Despite the smile on her face, there was an ominous air about her. Kotori and the others cautiously approached her.

"Oh my, it looks like the guests have arrived."

Her calm voice didn't match the feeling they were getting from the mysterious girl. Trying to keep her voice even, Kotori decided to respond.

"By guests, it sounds like you were expecting us."

"But of course. After all, we've felt your presence the moment you stepped into this forest, and have been tracking you ever since."

Although she was expecting it at this point, it still annoyed Kotori a bit to hear they were being watched the whole time.

"I have to admit, I honestly wasn't expecting you to make it past one of Master's beloved Toys. I commend you for that, but this is as far as you go."

In front of the red girl appeared her weapon, a sniper rifle that the girl snatched out of the air and shouldered in one fluid motion.

"Sorry, but there's no way we're letting you stand in the way of what we need to do."

The girl seemed to smirk at Kotori. That was all the warning she got. Kotori materialized her sword into her right hand, then extended her left hand. A split second after the loud sound, the sniper round came within a meter of Kotori's face before fizzling out.

"Fufu, not bad. I haven't had such a promising plaything in a long time now."

Although the girl was still smiling, the aura about her was completely different now. Had she not felt the pure killing intent released in that moment, Kotori wouldn't have reacted in time.

"What scary speed and accuracy. I almost didn't sense it either."

Eli sounded impressed, realizing the same thing Kotori did. Rin responded while readying her daggers.

"Even so, she can't track four targets at once."

"Come on, come on! Let's get this game started already."

It wasn't clear to them if the girl could hear their conversation, but her words definitely reached them. Despite her words, she made the first move. She kicked off the ground, attempting to create distance between them. As she did she aimed and fired her sniper rifle. Kotori didn't use magic to guard this time and just evaded it normally. Meanwhile the other three spread to either of her sides and moved forward to try and close the distance.

Starting in the center gave the girl in red a lot of room to work with. She continued to jump backwards while displaying more of her skills with her sniper rifle. She aimed to the lone target on her right, which was Rin, and fired three shots. The first was aimed directly at Rin, which she dodged to the right. The second shot happened the moment Rin moved, and was aimed at her landing spot. The third was a prediction over that, aiming more to the right where she expected Rin to move. Noticing the barrel move just before the third shot, Rin stopped herself from jumping to the right again and used her dagger to deflect the second shot instead.

But that's what the girl wanted, because it made Rin stop running. Without the threat to the right now, the girl jumped to the right to keep her distance from Nozomi and Eli approaching to her left. She aimed for the left of the pair, Nozomi. Once more showing off her speed and accuracy, she fired three shots toward Nozomi, though this time all close to the same spot. Nozomi dodged to the right to avoid all three shots, also forcing her to stop.

Despite how quick the girl was, stopping Nozomi and Rin within a few seconds after the fight began, Eli managed to close the gap. She shot once, which Eli deflected off her scythe's blade as she took one last step, using her momentum to swing he scythe horizontally. The girl managed to just barely avoid the blade, but that was within Eli's prediction. She pivoted her right foot as she continued her swing. She spun a she brought spear overhead and back for a downward slash all in one motion. Again the blade was just a centimeter from connecting, but the girl jumped just in time.

But again that's what Eli was hoping for. Using her speed, Rin had appeared behind where the girl would land, already stabbing for the girl's exposed back. An unexpected clash of metal caused the two knights to gasp while the girl remained smiling.

Rather than her back, Rin's daggers were instead caught by the tips of a unique looking spear. But it wasn't another person that had arrived with it. The girl in red had materialized it in her left hand and spun her body around midair, just in time to block Rin.

"I have to admit, that was pretty good. Had I not known how fast you were, I might've been careless and not kept track of you."

She jerked her spear to the right, causing Rin to loose balance as she had still been pushing against it with her daggers. She then aimed the back end of the spear and jabbed it into Rin's stomach. Rin felt the air leave her lungs as she fell to her knees.

"Rin!"

Eli took a step forward, but instantly stopped as the gun pointed toward her. Despite it being a sniper rifle, usually requiring both hands to aim accurately, something told Eli that this girl would have no problem hitting her with one hand. Still, the girl's smirk was starting to irritate Eli, especially after what she had just done to Rin.

Unexpectedly, the girl jumped away from Eli. She quickly understood why, as a spear glowing orange and black pierced the ground where the girl in red was just a moment before. Kotori's spell barely missed, just like their attacks had up until this point. The girl they faced seemed to be focused on defense and evasion, if the spear and rifle combo was any indication.

(Well, she can't dodge forever!)

Continuously attack. While not a good plan given the situation, Eli found herself not caring anymore. Adjusting the grip on her scythe, Eli kicked off the ground and chased after the girl. She avoided the bullet shot her way almost at the same time she realized it was shot, and once more closed the gap between her and her target.

Horizontal slashes toward the chest, a diagonal slash, a sweep at the legs, Eli chained attacks effortlessly together while paying just enough attention to counterattacks. She chose not to defend, instead evading a rifle shot here and sidestepping a spear stab there. It was more risk than necessary, but Eli took it so she could continue her offense without pause. The girl still evaded everything like before, but Eli convinced herself this wouldn't last much longer.

XXX

Although a lot of the pain had passed, Rin could still feel it and tried not to move too much. Still, hearing the sounds of blades clashing and gunshots reminded her she was in the middle of a battle and couldn't afford to stay still for long. She slowly tried to stand, but the pain in her stomach shot up again. She felt herself about to fall forward, but was stopped as something caught her. She looked and saw Kotori beside her.

"Don't worry, I got you."

"Thanks, Kotori."

Although it still hurt, Rin managed to stand up with Kotori as support. She did her best to endure the pain as she took in the situation. Nozomi was just a bit ahead of them, her spear held but not moving. At first Rin was a bit surprised as she thought she would be fighting alongside Eli. But as she looked past her, she understood why.

The fight happening before them was unreal. Eli used all kinds of combinations with her scythe, attacking continuously without giving the girl in red any real windows to counter. Even so, the girl did manage to sneak a counter here and there. But Eli was barely managing to evade them as she kept attacking, showing speed that Rin had never seen before from her captain and close friend. To the three spectators, the fight was almost like an intricate dance.

But for Rin, that impression didn't last long as she started to feel nervous. She's known Eli for a long time, yet she has never seen her show this much emotion all at once. Even in the middle of a fight, Eli was usually very calm and composed. Rin had no idea what to expect with Eli fighting the way she was right now.

There was also something else that was bugging Rin as she watched the fight, but she couldn't quite think of what it was. She just had this feeling that something was… off. Though as she continued to watch the fight, she slowly started to realize what the odd feeling was.

No matter what kind of move Eli used, the girl always managed to block it with her spear or use her speed to evade it. But for the few times the girl would counter attack, Eli wouldn't try to block it. And rather than evading, Rin realized that Eli only happened to move out of the way because of the momentum from swinging her scythe. Rin was starting to get nervous watching Eli fighting so uncharacteristically reckless.

And her worries got worse when Rin realized something important. Despite the relentlessly quick attacks and seamless flow of moves from one to another, Eli's singular focus on attack was making her predictable. And she was sure that she wasn't the only one that realized it.

That certainty made it clear to her that the odd feeling she had, It was the fear of what was about to happen.

"No…"

Kotori had been momentarily mesmerized by the dance-like fight, but Rin's trembling voice had snapped her out of it. Unfortunately, only a moment after she heard it did the weight she was supporting suddenly disappear all at once.

Eli was starting to get really frustrated that her attacks still weren't landing, even more so since she was only just missing the girl every time. And while her anger was rising, her confidence was starting to weaken. She could feel herself getting tired from how hard and how fast she was pushing herself. Yet, her opponent showed no signs of slowing down at all, as if this was light exercise for her. She knew she couldn't keep this up much longer, and the thought of wearing out her opponent now felt impossible.

(No, I can't give up yet.)

That's right. The girl in front of her did something unforgivable, and Eli had to make her pay no matter what. Steeling her resolve again she continued to press her attack. But with her wavering thoughts and the momentary pause she needed to gather herself mentally, she missed a crucial move from her opponent.

As Eli made another horizontal slice from left to right, the girl didn't just backwards this time. Instead, she dropped the rifle in her right hand, using both hands to stab her spear into the ground as she jumped toward Eli. Eli's scythe knocked the spear out of the ground from its upright position, but it was already too late. Using her momentum, the girl aimed a kick for Eli's head. Somehow, Eli managed to move her left arm in time to block, but the force along with the girl's momentum knocked Eli off her feet and she was sent flying backwards. The girl adjusted herself in midair to land upright in a crouching position, her right hand instinctively retrieving her rifle where it lay on the floor. Within a second, she aimed ahead and fired.

She clearly heard the sound of the gunshot, but Eli didn't feel a bullet pass through her. The pain from where she got kicked on her left arm was there, but was surprisingly not the focus of her attention at that moment. Right before she hit the ground, she felt something bump into her. Curious, and a little afraid of what she'd find, she looked up and over to where she would have landed. She felt her heart drop when she saw Rin lying on the ground. A little bit of hope came when Rin tried to get up, but red liquid spread from underneath her, and the young girl's face twisted in pain as she fell back down.

"Aww, too bad. Looks like for all of your speed, you still weren't fast enough."

That taunt wasn't for her, but Eli still felt the anger inside her grow to new heights. She looked over to the girl, her face once more showing off an arrogant smirk. She turned that smirk to Eli, but before she could point her gun toward the knight, the girl was once again forced back by a magic spear glowing black and orange flying toward her. She felt the wind as Nozomi rushed by her, followed a bit after by Kotori. Kotori was slowly advancing, casting spells as she did to cover Nozomi and allow her to get into close range. Once Nozomi was close enough, Kotori turned to Eli. "Hurry," was all she said before turned back to join the fight.

Eli didn't need clarification, and definitely didn't need a second invitation. She rushed over to Rin and quickly fell to her knees, lifting the younger knight into her arms, supporting her upper body like she was holding a baby.

"Rin? Come on Rin, hang in there. Don't give out on me now."

After a bit of shaking, a grown escaped Rin's lips. Slowly the younger girl opened her eyes, looking up into the worried face of her captain. Her lips slowly forced a smile.

"Hey, Eli… Are you okay?"

She clearly heard the pain in Rin's voice, causing Eli's chest to tighten. Even though that was Rin's personality, how could she try to joke around in a time like this? Or why would she put herself in danger like that? Those were the things Eli wanted to say out of reflex, but instead she settled for something simpler, but more effective.

"Thank you, Rin."

Rin suddenly coughed, and a bit of blood jumped out. Eli's eyes widened and fear took over straight away.

"Rin?!"

"Heh… seems like that bullet was poisoned. I can feel it eating away inside me."

Eli understood right away what Rin was implying. Unable to believe what was happening, she turned her head away.

"I'm sorry."

She felt Rin slowly shake her head on her left arm.

"That's not true. I'm really glad for what you did."

Surprised, Eli looked back at the younger knight.

"How can you even say that?"

"Because, you were doing it for me. It makes me happy knowing that, that I was able to help you out in the end, that I could make you proud."

Eli couldn't help but smile. "Idiot, I've always been proud of you."

Rin's smile relaxed as she slowly closed her eyes. She turned her body to the right, her legs slowly curling up, her left arm brought in front of her to rest on Eli's stomach. The Knights' captain quietly gasped at the contact, but responded by holding the cat-like girl closer to her. She lowered her head, lips stopping right by Rin's ear, breath tickling the younger girl as three longed-for words were finally spoken.

XXX

Although Kotori wasn't much of a traditional magic-user, she continued to keep her distance from her opponent while using the same spell that rained magic spears down toward her target. She didn't overdo it, because Nozomi needed room to maneuver in and out for her attacks.

The reason she took this approach was because Kotori understood what she needed to do. Her role right now wasn't to try and end this fight quickly with Nozomi; it was just to buy some time. For that, she couldn't let the red dressed girl out of her sight even for a second, nor could she tip off what she was trying to accomplish. Admittedly she was getting a bit impatient, if only because she wanted to go after the girl with full force. But she felt a surge of power from behind her, telling her that her patience had paid off.

Of course, both the power and light being emitted behind her didn't go unnoticed from the enemy, either. But this is exactly why she was keeping her distance up until this point. The moment the girl realized what was going on, she used her speed to turn toward the pair of knights. As fast as she was, Kotori was in the right position to stop her. Knowing the dangers, Kotori used a magic barrier, not with the intent to catch the girl but to create an obstacle the girl needed to avoid. It worked as the girl had to fix her direction to the left. By the time she would have resumed moving toward her target, the gathering powered reached its peak and exploded outward in all directions.

Caught in midair at that moment, the girl was met with enough force to send her flying backwards before she could reach the ground. As she rotated herself in midair to land, she felt killing intent from her intended landing spot. She turned to see the blond knight standing there, already preparing to swing her scythe. She got her spear ready, but just as she was getting ready for what should happen, the blond knight was gone, and in her place was the younger knight that should've died by her poison bullet. Unable to adjust again in time, she was forced to follow through and thrust her spear toward the knight. Rin expertly caught the tip of the spear with both her daggers, somehow stopping all of the girl's momentum! The girl had no time to being to understand how as she started moving on instinct. Because of that, she narrowly avoided being sliced by the scythe. But she realized too late that the scythe attack was just a feint as it would have missed her even if she hadn't moved. To make things worse, Rin had let go of her spear, giving her less control of herself in the air. Unable to evade or even brace herself, the follow-up kick by Eli met her with full force and she was sent flying backwards again, her back slamming into one of the walls of the maze before she hit the ground.

"… Damn."

She slowly picked herself up as she cursed to herself. The situation had turned around on her too quickly even for her. When only the younger knight could match her speed, she believed she could handle things. But now a second one suddenly had that same speed, which finally put her at a disadvantage. She realized her life could be in danger at this rate, and reached for something underneath her clothes and pressed it.

"Master, help."

To her, especially after the confidence she showed before taking on her task, it was like admitting defeat, that she was wrong. But if she doesn't lose her life here, then she could make it up to her master the next time. That was her belief.

She realized that the four had heard what she said. But even with the speed of the two knights, they couldn't react in time. Wall segments rose up from the ground, separating her from them, while simultaneously the wall she had just hit receded into the ground. The maze was readjusting itself according to her master, allowing the girl in red, now beaten up, to quickly rejoin her master and recover for the next battle.

XXX

"She got away."

After confirming they still can't break through any of the walls, Nozomi had made that simple comment. Kotori shook her head.

"Something tells me we'll be seeing her again soon."

Rin started taking in their surroundings, identifying where they had come from before pointing at the only other available path.

"Looks like that's the only way left."

"Got it, let's go then."

Kotori briefly caught sight of Eli. She offered the knight a smile before turning to lead the way. Nozomi similarly smiled to her as she followed right after Kotori. Then finally Rin stepped beside her, a gentle smile on her face as she looked slightly up to gaze into her eyes. After everything they had just been through, it felt surreal for Eli to be able to see that smile right now. Agreeing with her, Rin pulled out one of her daggers and showed it to Eli. It wasn't one of the old ones Eli had given her long ago, but a newer one with even more meaning behind it. Engraved on the blade was the image of a scythe with a dagger just below where the scythe's blade connects to the staff. On the other side of the scythe was the same angel wing that marked their Knights unit. Eli called for her scythe, seeing the same design engraved on its blade as well, finally smiling as the reality of it all set in.

Just like the feathers dancing along the sun's rays, or the spell book with pages that changed to cards, or the spear that races alongside bullets, this scythe and dagger symbolizes a miracle as well as the start of a new adventure.

Letting their weapons fade away until they needed them, the two knights- the two partners set off after their friends.

Hey everyone, nobodD here.

Yeah, I'm still around, surprisingly. I'm curious if people are still waiting on this or if everyone left, eheh.. *ahem* Anyway, there's nothing really I can say about my long absence to make up for it. I've been busy, yes, but it was also a big struggle with this chapter. I already had decided this would be a longer chapter than usual, just because of everything I wanted to include and the way the next 2 chapters are set up. But because of that, and sort of poor planning up until this point, it took me months to even get off of the first 2 paragraphs. In the meantime work and games have kept me busy almost all the time, with a bit of family time sprinkled in between. Again, it's not enough to make up for just disappearing for so long, but I figure you should just know generally what has happened.

*deep breath* Okay, moving on.

So yeah, with this pairing out of the way and currently four Soul Links established, that only leaves one left. So guess what's coming next chapter! … That being said, let's all hope and pray it goes a lot more smoothly. Like this chapter, the next one needs to make up for lack of build-up leading to this point. It most likely won't be as long as this one, but I plan for it to be longer than my normal chapters.

Also if you caught it earlier in this chapter, I introduced another part of the Soul Links. I follow a few Light Novel series, and one of them had a similar concept that I thought would actually fit well mixed into this world. At the moment it only concerns Kotori and Honoka, being the first Link of the story. But following the themes, 2 other pairings will make use of it once they progress far enough.

OH! Also there is a picture of the girl that was fought in this chapter on my dropbox. But last time I was active (yeah, last year) someone was telling me that the link on my profile wasn't working. The best I could come up with is adding the extension on my profile, but otherwise I have no idea how to show you guys. Sorry :X

Again, I'm really sorry for the long wait, and I hope this chapter can make up for a bit of it.