ANTARA'S TOWN (PRESENT DAY)

  The Master’s voice is a ghost in Mami’s mind, echoing louder than the distant cracks of gunfire. I do believe in you.

  Mami’s shoulders ache.

  Night falls away as the first light of morning stirs, brightening the shattered concretes of Antara.

  Salion is a heavy, cold weight against her back.

  To her side, Tanya limps, her breathing a ragged whistle.

  Mami’s dry lips twist into a ghost of a smile.

  "Peace always comes with a price," she rasps.

  The copper tang of blood sits thick on her tongue.

  "But what is the point of peace if everyone you love dies? I’m still looking for that answer."

  Up ahead, the air vibrates.

  The sharp sounds of bullets cut through the heat.

  Johnny lunges through a cloud of dust, his fists blurred.

  Daisy veers aside, her boots skidding on the grit.

  Johnny closes the distance, throwing a heavy hook that whistles past Daisy’s ear.

  She doesn't strike back.

  She weaves, her movements fluid but desperate.

  "You have to stop!"

  Daisy shouts, her voice cracking.

  "This power isn't corrupt!"

  Johnny’s eyes flash with a frantic, jagged light.

  "That’s a lie!"

  He lunges again, but Mami is already there.

  She manifests in the space between them.

  Her palm connects with the side of Johnny’s head with a dull thud.

  His eyes roll back, his knees buckle, and he hits the dirt in a heap.

  Daisy’s face lights up.

  "Mami… you’re back."

  Then, Daisy’s gaze shifts.

  It lands on Salion’s body, draped over Mami’s shoulder like a broken doll.

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  The jagged wound is impossible to miss—a dark, wet void in the center of her stomach.

  The color drains from Daisy’s face.

  She stands frozen, her breath hitching in her throat.

  The air ripples behind them.

  Pious and Nathan appear.

  Before Mami can blink, the cold edge of Pious’s blade presses against the skin of her throat.

  "Tell me you didn't use it," Pious growls, his shadow long and sharp.

  "The Power. The Palms. I'm not here for a show, sister."

  Mami doesn't flinch.

  Her voice is steady, though it carries the weight of a thousand years.

  "No. I didn't. And you don't have to babysit me."

  Pious glares, his jaw tight enough to snap.

  "I will. I'll stay on you until you snap out of this self-hate. The guilt is rotting you."

  A sudden, violent pressure hits the air.

  A huge, dark aura spikes from Daisy’s body, swirling upward like black smoke.

  The concrete beneath her boots begins to spiderweb and shatter.

  Nathan recoils, shielding his eyes.

  "What’s happening to her?"

  "The Biskae’s Execution," Mami says, her eyes narrowing.

  "She’s letting Salion’s death fuel the rage. The weapon is feeding on her."

  Nathan rushes forward, hand reaching out.

  The dark aura flares.

  He is thrown back as if hit by a speeding truck.

  He crashes into a concrete pillar, the impact sounding like a hammer hitting a drum.

  Blood sprays from his lips, and his eyes bulge with shock.

  "Such… power…" he wheezes.

  Pious shifts his weight to move, but Mami’s hand clamps onto his shoulder.

  "Wait."

  "Why?"

  Mami steps forward into the swirling storm of Daisy’s grief.

  "Watch me. You deal with fire by taking away the air."

  The aura grows, a howling wind that smells of ozone and old iron.

  Mami drops into a low stance.

  She folds her fists, closes her eyes, and takes a single, deep breath.

  Poof.

  She reappears inches from Daisy’s face.

  The One-Biskae hums a high-pitched, deadly note, rising to cut through the air.

  Mami doesn't hesitate.

  She drives a double punch into Daisy’s chest—quick, precise.

  Time seems to snag on a jagged edge.

  The world goes silent for a heartbeat.

  Then, the pressure vanishes.

  The dark aura dissolves into the wind.

  Daisy’s knees hit the gravel with a heavy thud.

  Mami grips Daisy’s trembling shoulders, forcing the girl to look at her.

  "Daisy, listen to me. We are all grieving. I carry more ghosts than you can imagine."

  Her voice softens, turning into a steady anchor.

  "But we cannot let her die for nothing. We work together now. We make sure Salion's sacrifice means something."

  The words land like a physical weight.

  Daisy’s eyes clear, her dark eyes fading back to brown.

  A single tear tracks a line through the soot on her cheek, followed by another.

  She begins to sob—not the loud scream of rage, but the quiet, broken weeping of a child who has lost everything.

  Mami doesn't pull away.

  She lets the girl’s forehead rest against her shoulder.

  "We will find your friend, Uddin. We’ll do it together. You aren't alone anymore. We’re family now."

  Mami reaches down, taking Daisy’s hand.

  She pulls upward, firm and unyielding, until Daisy is standing on her own two feet.

  Mami taps Daisy’s head gently, a sad, enduring smile playing on her lips.

  "Good," Mami whispers. "Now you're back from the valley."

  Daisy stares at her, then lunges forward, hugging Mami with a strength that nearly knocks the wind out of her.

  "Thank you for being my guide," Daisy sobs into Mami's fabric.

  "I’ll work hard. I’ll never let the people I care about fall again."

  Mami’s smile widens just a fraction.

  "I love that ambition."

  She gently detaches Daisy, then points toward the unconscious Johnny.

  "Who is he?"

  "An uncle to a friend," Daisy says, wiping her eyes.

  "He isn't our enemy."

  Nathan and Pious move in, taking the lead.

  They lift the wounded and the fallen, their forms beginning to flicker as they prepare to fade.

  Mami starts walking toward the horizon, her boots crunching on the broken road.

  The deepened wounds she carries still ache, but her stride is long and her back is straight.

  "Then grab him," Mami calls back over her shoulder.

  "He comes with us."

  Daisy doesn't hesitate.

  She grabs Johnny’s arm, and in a blur of light, they fade away.

  The town of Antara falls back into silence, leaving only the shattered concrete behind.