Earlier...

A cavity had opened up within Suzamete’s domain, and its meaning and purpose was all too clear to everyone inside: Jiggorrhax, the Fruit Bearers, Yuyui, Grim, the Stark Troops, and the guardian beasts.

You’re free to go and help the others.

Initially, Suzamete was against letting the two Unlimited Stars out for different reasons. For Yuyui, it was because she had yet to complete assimilating the boons she’d gleaned after her battle with Nigerra and the other three women from the Order of the Trodden Rose. Pressured inside Franceesta’s Territory, she had discovered the truth behind the prime way a combatant was meant to cultivate their strength using the Stages: At the Incandescent Stage and beyond, Nitros was meant to nourish the soul, rather than to forge a Territory.

Yuyui had begun doing so following her battle with the malevolent women, and Suzamete had been determined to keep her detained until she had her soul under control.

Similarly, the Deitess was unwilling to let Grim leave to fight alongside the other Unlimited Stars because the powers he had acquired after fighting the Chronocle and Impermanence Fiends were too great for his mortal body. She was able to lessen the burden on him when she had ample reserves of Divine energy to give, but when the battle between Skullius, Fulgardt, and the Deities began, she would have no such liberties. If Grim used his newfound powers to the fullest extent again, he would surely die.

...But now, a breach had opened in the domain. And also...

...!!!

Yuyui rose from where she was seated, meditating. Jiggorrhax frowned.

Grim, who was brooding near the guardian beasts, noticed the two’s sudden alarm.

"What?" he asked.

Yuyui didn’t look at him. She scowled. "That light..."

"There was a voice too," said Jiggorrhax, and his nostrils expelled a shuttle of steam. He was fond of his humanoid form now and had been adopting it ever since he and Grim had finished stitching the different drapes of Aigas with strings of time. He too rose to his feet. "I couldn’t hear what it said, though."

Grim looked between Yuyui and the dragon. "You’re pulling my leg, aren’t you? How come I didn’t see or hear this?"

Yuyui turned to him. She hesitated to say it plainly, afraid she would wound his pride. "You’re not at your best right now."

"I don’t like this," said Jiggorrhax. "What kind of power can casually breach a Deity’s domain, not to mention a voice. Something is wrong."

Yuyui considered the dragon. She agreed, but perhaps not for the same reason. She had cringed so many times, imagining the manner of horrors unfolding on the battlefield while she and Grim were trapped here. How long would she continue nourishing her soul? Since when was her brand of strength – the Unlimited Stars’ brand of strength – the kind that developed while they were sitting on their asses?

No. Skullius had fashioned the Impossible Task to establish the idea in his followers that it was possible to grow even while embroiled in malevolent chaos. The greatest trait for a warrior was being able to evolve during impossible circumstances, and not just before or after the fact.

’That’s how master grew to his level,’ Yuyui thought. She looked at the cavity in the domain.

"Yu..." Grim was by her side by then, eyeing her with a careful look.

Yuyui smiled at him. He could discern her intentions by looking into her eyes at this point. It was so effortless for him that it became rather annoying at times.

"Grim," she said, and she held his hand. "That light... whatever it is, it was a sign. Maybe not a good one, but a sign nonetheless. It’s time to go help the others."

"But...?" said Grim, scowling. "I should stay here. Is that what you were going to say?"

As Yuyui sighed, a difficult look on her face, Jiggorrhax chimed in. "She’s right. You can’t use your powers again. Not yet. I don’t imagine Asthon gave his life so you could gamble with yours where there’s no need."

Grim snapped to the dragon. "Where’s there’s no need? We know nothing about what’s going on out there. If I can help in any sort of way...."

"Not at the expense of your life. We don’t even know how long you’ll last, even if you could use your abilities one more time," Yuyui said. "Is that a risk you’re willing to take? You’ll lose the whole point of being an Unlimited Star – to get master’s soul back."

Grim balled his hands into fists. He ground his teeth hard. He thought of Asthon, and of Skullius and...

"And you’re allowed to risk your life guilt-free, huh?" he said. "What if things have gone way beyond awry and you just end up getting killed too? You’re not infallible either, Yu. Neither is the boss. All of this is a gamble. Why is it that I’m not allowed to gamble along with the rest of you? I’ll find a way to live through using my powers, even if only temporarily – until we get the real solution."

"That’s too great a gamble," said Yuyui. She couldn’t look him in the eye. "I wouldn’t be able to accept it if you played your cards wrong and ended up dead just like that. Do you know what that would do to master – what that would do to me?"

"I know," said Grim. He held Yuyui’s shoulders and looked intently into her eyes. There was more than caution, fear, and determination in the red of his irises. "I love only a few things in this world, and now that I’ve become an inhuman student of both death and time... I feel more strongly about those few things. I’ll do anything to keep them safe, against all odds."

Yuyui had nothing to say, but there was a feverish look in her eyes. She had never planned to stop Grim. Not really. Even if she successfully persuaded him to stay, she would feel infinitely better if he was by her side in the tragic battle ahead.

Yuyui’s soul throbbed, suffused with immense power. She was now capable of manipulating even her emotions on a dime through her soul, but for the moment, she allowed them to run wild.

"What do I know?" Jiggorrhax suddenly said with a snort of flame from his nostrils. "A relic like me has no bearing on the future. Do what you will."

Grim turned to him. "I’m honoring Asthon too, you know?"

"Perhaps you are. You would know," said the dragon. "I would like to do the same, but my place is here until the end. I feel Suzamete’s powers waning. She’s the only reason I’m still here in the future – or is it the present? In any case, I could vanish at any point."

Grim nodded solemnly. "I see."

He considered the dragon before smiling.

"You did enjoy the new body, though, right?"

Jiggorrhax grinned. "For once, I got to understand why you humans are so full of yourselves despite your inferior builds."