With Harold's vision clearing from the bright flash, he lands in a wide valley full of beautiful white lilies. Harold saw a giant blue neon tree in the middle of the valley that scattered leaves of Rysen throughout the entire valley. Both Harold and Konge watched in awe at the marvelous sight of the tree. Konge instantly recognized this unique tree by its neon glow. "That's an Ovanee tree, a tree made of pure Rysen. I've only seen a few in my entire lifespan." Konge then sees the lilies everywhere as a gentle breeze graces them. "It looks like the leaves of the tree are supplying these lilies with Rysen to keep them alive. That's why there are so many lilies prospering here."
Feeling the breeze of the wind, they looked behind them. It was a realization that immersed them in the beauty of the scenery. They were on top of a mountain overlooking Argon City. Behind the city was the sun slowly rising, eating away midnight with its warm presence. Harold smiled in amazement. "Whoa... I should bring Mina here one day. This looks amazing."
"Indeed. This is one of the greatest views the world has to offer." It was Stephen's voice that cut him out of the moment. Harold turned back to see Stephen standing by the Ovanee tree. Right next to him, Harold noticed an unmarked grave that was settled by the tree as well. Stephen stepped forward, stopping a couple of feet in front of Harold. "This is a spot that cannot be accessed by the public anymore. Yet, I still hold this place sacred in my heart." Stephen clutched his teleportation stone tightly as the inscription written on it could be seen fizzling away.
"At this stage, the Stone of Eternity should have the Rysen of thousands of souls. Meaning that my only obstacle is you now." Stephen aimed his Artifact at Harold. "Come, let's finish this once and for all, Harold Etton."
Harold readied his own Artifact in his hand as tensions of the final clash rose. It was visible that both of their Artifacts were dwindling in their hands. Their battle had exhausted too much Rysen for both sides, and they could only afford to do so little in this last exchange. In one second, their gazes sharpened, and in another, they ran into battle.
Stephen went with the first cut; it was sloppy with the weight of a fatiguing battle. Harold clashed with his sword, letting out a loud, exhausted grunt. One of Stephen's hands let loose from his hilt in order to hurl a fist toward Harold's chin amidst their clash. It was quick and sudden, and in a jolt of reflex, Harold slipped under the punch and charged into Stephen. In response, Stephen also charged in, letting their shoulders clash. For a brief moment, they were both locked in place from their collision before stepping back from each other in a conclusive push.
Their exchanges went back and forth. Petals of lilies covered the air as their movements sent them airborne. Anyone could tell Stephen was fighting with a flame inside of him, but Harold could also sense something from Stephen's face.
Harold parried his attacks left and right before retaliating with a thrust of his weapon. Their distance closed between them with the thrust, and looking up close to Stephen's face, Harold could see a small hint of sorrow hiding behind it. The glimpse surprised Harold briefly before they immediately backpedaled from the exchange. "You're... sad?" Harold questioned, to which Stephen ignored. Up to now, Harold has only seen a crazy, lunatic mass murderer with no remorse. So seeing Stephen convey a small emotion of sorrow was something entirely new to him.
Stephen released a shockwave around him, causing a wave of gravity to wash down on the surrounding area. The gravity shockwave pushed down the valley of lilies, and it was soon coming toward Harold. Harold leapt back with all his might to narrowly avoid the shockwave, but Stephen moved ahead alongside his gravity pulse, managing to close the distance between them once more. Stephen inched closer, preparing to stab Harold's throat, so Harold acted quickly. Clamping his blade into the floor to cut his momentum, Harold's sudden halt caught Stephen off guard.
And now, with Stephen off guard and their distance closed, Harold grit his teeth before charging up Divine Light within his blade and heaved it upwards at a left angle. The slash at the angle prevented Stephen's opportunity to side-step away, forcing him to be hit directly in the chest by the slash of Divine Light. As blood gushed out of his wound, he clutched it tight and growled to contain his scream of pain.
Rushing into battle against Harold, visions emerged in Stephen's mind.
A vision of Miranda smiling came to him in a blurred mess.
"How long has it been since I last saw her smile?"
Stephen struck away Harold's blade with his own and then interlocked his arm with his. Now clutching his arm, he reeled back his head before head-butting him with full force. The bludgeoning disoriented them both, and in his wobbly state, Harold pushed Stephen off him with his left leg.
Another vision of Miranda came to Stephen, this time of them holding hands.
"How long has it been since I felt her warmth?"
The moment Stephen returned to reality, Harold's sword was inching towards his face. He leaned back, barely dodging the tip of the blade before retaliating with a quick elbow to Harold's jaw.
Then, the final vision of Miranda came to him. The moment they kissed for the first time.
"How long has it been since I told her I loved her?"
Harold stumbled back, barely able to stand upright. They both paused their attacks, their movements sluggish and their breathing heaving. Harold looked up at Stephen's disheveled hair and saw his face. Tears were streaming down Stephen's face, and his stoic demeanor finally broke. It was a pained expression, and one without the flame of battle in it. Still, Stephen clutched his Artifact tightly to battle Harold.
Harold couldn't understand what caused the sudden shift in emotions, but he did see one thing. He saw a man with a shattered dream, unyielding in his determination. Harold can tell that Stephen's given up at this point but still fights, and that called out to him. He remembered what Stephen mentioned earlier at the very start of their battle. It was about a 'she' he didn't know about. Someone so precious to him that he'd still talk about her to this day after her passing. And in some sense, Harold felt he had someone similar. When he thinks of that equivalent, a sight of Mina appears in his mind.
"My body is breaking down..." Harold chuckled. "I'm nearly out of Rysen, and I can barely keep my Artifact summoned." Harold felt an inner light awaken inside him as he stared into the eyes of Stephen. It trail of hope that clashes against Stephen's despair. The sun rose higher into the sky, casting the morning light upon Harold. "My life was full of ups and downs, so I recognize that look anywhere, Stephen!" His Artifact shined a bright light, engulfing the area with Divine Light. Konge immediately recognized the transformation and warned him. "Harold, you shouldn't activate King's Will here! You're pushing yourself too much!" Harold grinned, his grin bright as ever. "King's Will grants me more power, right? Then I'll use it to make my body strong enough to do my last attack!"
Stephen witnessed his resolve to respond to his might and gripped his hilt tighter. Stephen charged up immense gravity pressure around his blade, allowing additional power on collision. Now ready to engage, he charged right in.
Harold also dashed in, but kept his grin solid. "I'll have to take a page out of Mina's book!" Taking a stance, Harold prepared an attack like no other. Konge watched Harold take a familiar stance he had seen before. It was Lunar Style's first form that Mina demonstrated to Harold—Lunar Descent. The issue was that there was an inconsistency in his form. Konge wanted to warn Harold, but the pace of the battle was too quick to warn him of his faults.
Suddenly, he realized it wasn't an inconsistency at all. Harold angled his sword to go up, compared to how Mina showed him to angle his blade down. "Mina, I want to tell you 'thank you' from the bottom of my heart. Even when you had nothing, you always tried your best for me; you always wanted to be with me, and you wanted me to be the most important person in your life. And that's why, when you taught me your Lunar Style, I changed it just for you."
Harold's blade began to shimmer with a bright orange aura before he wound his blade behind him. "You walk a dark, lonely path, Mina. So I vow that I'll be the sunlight in your darkness!" The moment Stephen went to do an overhead slice onto him, Harold slashed directly upwards, causing his sword to emanate an orange glow that trailed behind. Harold's slash made him boost into the air with Sunlight Rysen to spread its warm orange glow.
"Sunlight Style: Sunlight Ascent."
The strike sliced through him like butter and trailed Sunlight Rysen to burn the flesh on contact. And in the air, Harold slowly descended with the Sunlight Rysen mellowing out.
"Thank you, Mina."