Ezette Golden Sun Training Grounds (Chaos)
Present
What do you mean by "the only answer"?! Azael, after everything that's happened, you're still talking all this nonsense?!
You're the one who backed everyone into a corner, who forced them to jump off the cliff, and now you've got the nerve to blame the world for not giving you a way out?!
Well, listen up, you're DEAD wrong!! There's only ever been one path for all of us—
Forward! Toward the sun we've always chased! Toward the light, no matter what!!
Kamui swings his weapon with all his might, driving Azael back several meters. But instead of pressing the attack, Azael remains rooted in place. He throws his head back and erupts into a twisted, maniacal laugh, as if he has just heard the most absurd joke imaginable.
Ha... Forward? Forward to where? Deeper into the valley? Straight into the abyss?
It doesn't matter which direction you pick, the end's always a cliff!! Destruction is the only fate waiting for us!!
So now you get to stand there all high and mighty, spouting pretty words, acting like you don't feel a thing?
Don't you dare forget, Kamui... I didn't force that ending on you. You saw it yourself!
Every nightmare during your adaptation, every time I nearly tore your M.I.N.D. apart. Those were all futures born from your own fears!
You know this could happen! This world will strip everything away from us!! How can you stand there and tell me you're not terrified?!
Azael mapped out this path from the beginning. He calculated the move based on his understanding of Kamui's personality, knowing he would never back down until hitting rock bottom.
...You're right. I am terrified of losing the people I love. I am terrified that someday I'll be walking this path all alone.
It is precisely because he cherishes the love he has received that partings bring him such agony. The deeper his connections with others become, the more they are etched into his very being. And when they are torn from him, it feels as if a part of his soul is ripped away, a pain that consumes him to his core.
No matter how many times he starts over, he can never forget these "pains."
But the pains teach him far more than just suffering. Kamui pulls his heavy blade from the ground, resting it lightly on the surface as he drags it forward. Drawing closer to the light, he emerges from darkness, gradually gaining clarity about where he stands and where he is headed.
But... even if I'm terrified, I'll keep moving forward.
Even if I'm crying, even if I'm broken, even if the whole world gets in my way, nothing's gonna stop me from charging ahead toward what's out there!!
Because this isn't just my dream anymore!! They pushed me this far—they believed in me—and I'm NOT stopping now!
I don't care what stands in my way! I don't care how many times I fall!
Forget all that!! The only thing that matters is... I've always had the courage to run toward the sun!
Foolish courage!!
Azael charges forward once more, bringing his weapon down as he confronts Kamui. Now face-to-face, he glares into Kamui's eyes with fury, driven by the urge to scold him like an older brother, just as he used to.
Kamui... you've filled your head with too many fairy tales! You can't tell fantasy from reality anymore!
I know exactly what you're gonna say. Those stupid, laughable stories we heard as children...
The old man who moved mountains! The bird that tried to fill the sea! And fools just like you who chased the sun until they burned to death! That's it, isn't it?!
None of them ever made it!! If you follow their example, you'll burn to ashes the second you get close to the sun!!
...Then I'll worry about that when I actually burn up.
And until I've given everything I've got—
I'm never gonna stop running!
People ran ahead of me once. They shielded me from the sun. And even if I fall, everyone I've protected behind me will step up and take my place.
Even if my flesh and bones burn to ash, I'll ride the wind as dust and keep moving forward.
And someday, we're gonna catch up to that sun we could never reach!!
You stubborn idiot!!
Azael brings his full force down, the blow sending Kamui staggering. His gaze drifts to the charred remains
Keep putting on that brave face, Kamui. Others might buy it, but I know you better than anyone. You haven't changed since we were kids.
You're still that crybaby who can't let go of anything! Paralyzed by your own emotions!
Is that your big plan? Hurting, crying, and still pushing forward through the tears?! Then take a good look at every single one of them.
Azael seizes the charred bodies around him and flings them toward Kamui. These are the remains of those he once called family, their "wholeness" a shrine he has tended for years. Now, he casts them aside without hesitation, weaponizing their broken forms only to shatter Kamui's composure.
Go ahead! Say it to their faces!! Tell them about your courage to move forward!
Look at them! Don't you feel ashamed?! Don't you feel regret?! Doesn't it hurt?!
Do you really have the heart to turn your back on them?! To leave them behind forever?!
Azael thought Kamui would hesitate, but he was wrong. When Kamui faced the charred corpses hurled as weapons, he shattered them without a moment's doubt.
Is that all you remember about them?!
You trapped them in death! You only remember the grief, the pain, the loss...
But Azael... ask yourself!! Is pain and grief all they gave us?! Is that really all that's left of them?!
Kamui charges forward fearlessly as Azael continues to throw the remains of their "family" at him—a shared journey now fractured by conflicting dreams.
Azael tries to twist family into painful scars, but Kamui sees only long-lost, warm embraces.
So he holds no doubt. He knows, with unshakeable certainty, that if any of them still lived, they would never truly raise their blade against him.
In this moment, even as their shattered remains are weaponized against him, their souls would perceive it not as an attack, but as a reunion, an embrace.
Kamui shatters the mechanical parts and severed limbs flying toward him, each step bringing him closer to that
That cleaved arm likely belonged to Odile after the modification, the very arm young Kamui once slept against.
A howl erupts from bone-white teeth. That should be Eurytes', who once sang him sweet lullabies.
A chunk of bloody flesh flies from a blade; Kamui slices through it, releasing dark blood. Just like the wound Leif suffered protecting him when he was young and reckless.
Bandages flutter from Azael's face. The eyes they covered are probably Catrayv's, eyes that suffered from night blindness. Kamui cannot bear to imagine how they endured endless darkness all those years.
There are many, many more. Parts he once knew, pieces he can identify, fragments too damaged to recognize, all used as weapons by Azael.
But amid the bloody storm, Kamui feels their warm embraces.
Go forth, Kamui; don't look back, Kamui; come home, Kamui.
They smile, welcoming his return as his family.
Thank you for bringing us home, Kamui.
AAARGHHH!!!
Kamui roars into the distance, finally repelling the storm's last assault. He pours every ounce of his grief and fury into that howl, the only way to hold the tears threatening to fall.
Course I remember... and I'm never gonna forget.
Every single one of them. How they came into my life, and why they left.
What about you, Azael?! I don't believe you only remember the pain.
You remember too, don't you?! Look at this family you've torn apart, locked up like prisoners, don't they remind you of the warmth and love they gave you?!
How could you do this to them?! How could you repay their love with nothing but death and suffering?!
Have you forgotten every moment that gave us strength?! Every moment that gave us hope?!!!
Azael ceases his struggle, Kamui's words striking a chord deep within him.
How could he forget? For years, in his self-imposed isolation, he has whispered to the traces each of them left behind—reliving every memory, treasuring every mark of their existence.
Without those moments to sustain his illusions, how could he have held on in this dead place till this day?
He has asked himself this question countless times, but the answer is always the same: so what?
...So what?
I can't stop now, Kamui.
The cold charred corpses and mangled limbs remind him only that the seeds of his sins have already taken root. Given what stands before him, what else can he do?
Every path behind him lies severed. There is no turning back now.
If you can't, then let me handle it.
Kamui tightens his grip on his weapon once more, readying himself to strike.
Leave the path ahead to me. I'm taking you back!!
