Chapter 399: The Weight of the Final Step

Snow kept falling, thick and endless, soft enough to swallow every sound. The world was white and cold and quiet.

“Let me go, Luke,” Allison said. “Let me go or… or…”

They stayed like that, frozen in place, close enough to feel each other’s breath. His hands held her arms. Her blade hovered so near his throat that even a tremor would end it.

For a moment, it didn’t look like a fight at all.

“…Yeah. I lost this one,” Luke finally said. The words came out low, without struggle. He released her and pushed himself back.

Allison stayed where she was, still lying on the ground. She didn’t rush to stand. “Now that you lost, just leave.”

Luke didn’t move. He sat where he was. His chest felt tight, his limbs heavy. He could drag her if he wanted. He could force her. But doing that would break something in him. It would break who she was to him. And leaving her here to die felt just as wrong. He didn’t know what to do. And that uncertainty rooted him in place.

Allison turned her face up toward the shattered ceiling, now nothing more than broken stone and open sky. Snow drifted in through cracks and jagged holes. “Just go. Let me die here.”

Luke took a slow breath. Then he lay down beside her. Not touching, just sharing the same frozen floor.

She frowned. “What are you doing?” Irritation simmered under her voice. “Don’t tell me… you’re staying.”

“No,” he said, staring up, letting snow land on his face. “I’m going back to Earth.”

Silence stretched between them.

“But since you’re really set on dying, I’ll stay here. Just until the last ten seconds. I’m not letting you sit alone through the last few minutes.”

It took her a while to react. She pushed herself up slowly, as though gravity itself resented her moving. She walked to a fallen column and sat with the katana resting across her lap, but angled away from him.

“Knowing you, there’s going to be some trick. I’m not sitting close,” she muttered.

“Shame,” Luke murmured. “I did have one. I was going to put the mask on you, turn you to stone, and throw you into the portal.”

He let the angel mask slip from his hand. It landed in the snow with a quiet thud.

“I knew it…” Allison breathed.

“I had to try.” He didn’t lift his head. Didn’t move at all.

Franky slid across the snow toward him, scales gliding like oil. “So am I supposed to attack the stupid human woman or not?”

“No,” Luke answered. “We’re too weak. She’d kill us both right now if she felt like it.”

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Allison’s grip tightened on the sword. Franky understood that perfectly and retreated to the edge of the portal, silent.

[Estimated Time Until End: 04 minutes and 17 seconds]

“Allison, we only have a few minutes left to talk,” Luke said at last. “So sitting in silence seems like a terrible way to spend them. When ten seconds are left, I’ll go through the portal. And I’d rather not have my last conversation with you be nothing.”