The Demons of Shadow Moon

Part 70 - The End of the Battle

"... My apologies. Eclipse... was... an ally of mine. She was created not long after my parents passed. Even before I met you, Luna. And you likely caught on to the fact she was created for me..." Akira explained.

"Yeah, she raged about that every two minutes or so," Aki commented.

"... why was she here if she was created for you?" Luna asked.

Akira refused to meet her gaze...

"... I trusted her to watch over you; however, it would appear... that she really was just like everyone else... she only cared about my position as king and how I would fulfil it," Akira mumbled.

"Tst. So you ordered Eclipse to watch over Luna like she was just some defenceless pet?! You should learn to respect the things you claim to love so much! Luna's a lot stronger than you think!" Yukine interrupted.

"I only wanted to keep her safe while I was unable to protect her," Akira returned.

"That thing almost killed her! You call that protecting?! You knew she was a threat; why the hell didn't you do anything about it?! Even just now, you hesitated to kill her!!" Yukine grunted.

Akira looked at Luna for a moment. He then looked back and answered.

"... Why do you think I wanted you to protect her?" Akira asked.

Yukine gasped, taking a moment for Akira's words to sink in. 

"You... You really did just do this for yourself, didn't you? You don't give a damn if she saves me. You just wanted me to make sure your mistake didn't kill her!" he growled.

"Think of it what you will. It's not my place to give you your reasons for protecting her. All that matters to me is that she is, in fact, being protected. Hate me for it if you want. I'm used to it by now anyway..." Akira finished, turning to leave.

"So that's it? You're just gonna leave again like a COWARD?!" Yukine yelled.

Akira paused.

"Are you really so childish that you're name-calling now?" Akira muttered, glimpsing back at him.

"You're the childish one for letting your emotions get the better of you over an illusion of magic!" Yukine argued.

"And what do you know about emotions, huh, Yukine?!" Akira suddenly barked back with a sharp sting to his gaze.

"..." Yukine snarled but didn't reply.

And with that, Akira cast a portal back to his world...

"Ah-wait! Akira, please! Don't...! Leave..." Luna hurried to him as he vanished from sight.

She fell to her knees from stumbling over, staring into the space he had vanished from.

She didn't cry. She had cried over him so many times now that she just didn't see the point in it anymore.

"I... didn't even get to talk to him..." Luna mumbled disappointedly.

"Come on, Luna. I think we should head back to Shadow Moon..." Yukine told her.

"Err, guys, what about the dragon?" Aki pointed out.

"What about it?" Echo asked, staring into the space the dragon was.

"Uh..." Luna gasped as she turned her head to see...

".... it's.... gone..."

"It's made from magic. It must have disappeared since its creator perished," Haru mentioned.

"Uh. Haru, is your hand ok?! You used Yachel's blade..." Echo suddenly brought up, grabbing Haru's hand.