Merlin's spectacles caught the glimmer of Yuna's fading light.
"Well," he said, tapping his wand against the floor, "if that doesn't deserve a field test, I don't know what does."
Skuld blinked. "You mean—now?"
"Before the tea goes cold," he said cheerfully. "Follow me, all of you."
The group followed him into a domed chamber wrapped in pale glass. Beneath the transparent floor, Traverse Town glimmered like a sea of lanterns. Glyphs rotated slowly along the walls, marking the room much bigger than it looked on the outside. Downstairs was four times bigger than the outside, but this was twenty times bigger.
Merlin twirled his wand. "A controlled environment—give or take the occasional explosion."
At his gesture, furniture woke: chairs straightened like soldiers, wardrobes flexed their hinges, and tomes hovered in defensive formation. Six shimmering orbs of condensed magic floated into place—fire, ice, thunder, wind, light, and shadow.
"Targets active," Merlin said. "Try not to erase the ceiling like last time."
Skuld rolled her shoulders. "No promises."
Skuld reached toward the Faithspark Gem that pulsed in rhythm with her heart. Its glow spread through her veins like light remembering its source.
Her voice rang clear and steady.
"Your faith guides me once more!"
The chamber's glyphs ignited, flaring in sequence—wind, fire, thunder, ice, and light—each rune spinning faster until they converged beneath her feet.
From the radiant circle rose Yuna, born of wind and memory, ribbons flowing like tides. She hovered just above the sigil, her gaze calm but unyielding, her staff balanced in her grip.
Merlin squinted, murmuring to Aqua, "She isn't reacting to command—it's synchronization. Their hearts become one in this instant."
Aqua's eyes softened. "Then let's see what this harmony can really do."
"Valefor Form!"
The Faithspark flared sky blue. A breeze swept through the room—then lifted into a roaring current that circled Yuna in ascending rings. Her outfit shimmered and transformed, fabric peeling into light.
A cropped kimono jacket appeared first, short in front but flowing behind like wings of silk. Pale coral and sky blue patterns rippled across the fabric, the wind-spirals shifting with each breath she took. Sheer layered sleeves spread outward, catching the air like Valefor's wings. Her hakama pants tapered at the ankle, designed for graceful motion.
Feathered ear ornaments fluttered as she rose, and the anklets of light feathers around her bare feet trailed glimmering lines across the air.
Her hair loosened, silver-blue streaks glowing faintly as if caught in a constant breeze.
In her hands, the Sky Staff spun—white driftwood crowned by a swirling orb of air.
Yuna twirled the staff once, and the pressure in the room changed.
Aerial Spiral!
A cyclone burst forth, lifting Skuld with her. Together they twisted through the updraft—Skuld's Keyblade striking through the wind-orb as Yuna showered it in radiant feathers that cut like glass.
Merlin shouted over the roaring gale, "Beautiful coordination!"
Circe clung to a railing, laughing wildly. "It's a dance and a massacre!"
When they landed, the air stilled—but Skuld's heartbeat echoed like a drum of triumph.
The Faithspark pulsed crimson, and the temperature spiked. The air shimmered like heat mirage.
Yuna's wings disintegrated into flame. Her attire reformed in molten red light—a halter top of fireglass scales gleaming like embers, a split battle skirt over leather shorts, and gold bangles that smoldered with each motion. Her boots, black volcanic glass, flared molten red as she stepped forward.
Her hair flared upward, copper streaks blazing; smoke curled faintly from her shoulders. She spun the Inferno Rod, its claw-shaped head glowing like a branding iron.
"Crimson Vow!"
Yuna slammed her staff into the ground. Lava-like fissures spidered across the floor, magma lines pulsing beneath her and Skuld's feet. Skuld leapt between them, her Keyblade igniting as it struck, her movements echoing Yuna's fiery rhythm.
The fire-orb retaliated, spitting a torrent of flame. Yuna raised the Inferno Rod, swirling a circle of sigils in the air.
Infernal Pyre!
Ifrit's spectral claws burst from rifts of molten light, dragging the orb into a vortex of roaring fire that exploded like a miniature sun.
Helga shielded her eyes. "That's not magic—that's as powerful as an artillery!"
Merlin grinned like a proud lunatic. "Controlled fire magic can match an artillery, my dear!"
Without warning, the flames bent sideways as a new charge filled the air—electricity crawling along the chamber walls.
Yuna's silhouette blurred; sparks raced across her body as armor replaced flame. Her new attire was built for speed: a sleek sleeveless tunic with glowing segmented plates at the shoulders and collarbones, asymmetric leggings streaked with lightning, and a belt of orbiting glyphs spinning like electrons. Her boots crackled with power, leaving trails of static as she moved.
Her hair spiked, silver-violet strands crackling like live wires.
The Inferno Rod reshaped into the Thunderbrand, a lance split by electric arcs.
"Skuld—keep pace!"
Yuna vanished in a flash—Thunder Gallop!
She dashed between orbs faster than the eye could track, each strike releasing a thunderclap that sent shockwaves through the chamber. Skuld matched her rhythm, moving like a mirror in lightning's reflection.
Their paths crossed midair, sigils of light forming under their feet as they struck the thunder-orb simultaneously.
Volt Judgment!
A spectral image of Ixion's horn materialized above them and unleashed a radial shockwave of golden light. The orb exploded into a rain of sparks, fading harmlessly against the wards.
Merlin blinked furiously. "Excellent accuracy! Though I may need new glasses."
The chamber fell silent. The heat and crackle faded into stillness.
Frost whispered across the walls as Yuna's body shimmered to pale light-blue.
Her new attire glistened like sculpted glass—a corset gown of crystalline silk, a skirt of drifting frost-mist, and bare feet wrapped in glowing frostlight. Her hair, braided long and flowing, shimmered with icy ribbons, while a delicate half-mask of ice framed one eye.
She moved like falling snow.
Glacial Prayer.
A dome of frost expanded from her, encasing the room in a glowing blue serenity. Every breath turned to shimmering mist, fatigue melting away in the cold calm.
The shadow-orb retaliated, hurling jagged lances of dark magic.
Yuna's eyes opened. Her body spun in perfect rhythm.
Diamond Waltz!
Each gesture drew arcs of frost, freezing the lances mid-flight before shattering them into glittering shards.
Aqua whispered, awed, "I think even I'd need a few seconds to get through that."
Then came the tremor—the build-up before transcendence.
The Faithspark flared through every color—air, fire, lightning, and ice—and merged into blinding white. The chamber shook as the light folded inward. Yuna's body dissolved into streaks of radiance, her form remade in divine fire.
She emerged draped in royal violet and gold-scaled armor, her bodysuit sleek yet regal. A golden sigil of Bahamut blazed across her chestplate, and wings of pure light spread from her back like a living mantle.
Dragon-claw gauntlets extended into conduits for the Seraphic Staff, its blade vibrating with starlight.
Crowned with luminous horns, her hair flared outward in streaks of violet flame.
Around her, the air shimmered as the sigils of her past forms appeared—Valefor's feathers, Ifrit's embers, Ixion's lightning, Shiva's frost—all spiraling inward toward her heart.
Merlin took one nervous step backward. "Ah. The unnecessarily enormous part."
The sigils fused into a starburst halo.
Yuna raised her staff.
"Mega Flare!"
The chamber erupted in light—the roar that followed wasn't sound but pressure and awe, the sensation of gravity bowing. A beam of cosmic fire tore through the final light-orb, its force channeled harmlessly through Merlin's containment wards before bursting into the sky beyond the glass dome as a silent aurora.
When the light dimmed, the wards smoked faintly, but the chamber still stood.
Merlin adjusted his askew hat, his beard faintly singed. "Marvelous restraint. I still have eyebrows, which is the mark of a successful test."
Skuld staggered, laughing breathlessly. Yuna touched her shoulder, the contact sending a ripple of gentle warmth through her.
Yuna smiled, faint and proud.
Merlin examined his wand, which now emitted tiny sparks. "Remarkable partnership—emotion as the command interface, elemental resonance as output. Truly unprecedented."
Helga crossed her arms. "Translation: she just got a powerful magical multitool."
"Not exactly, more so an ally than a tool," Merlin said, utterly delighted.
Yuna looked to Skuld. "Whenever your heart calls, I'll answer again."
She bowed, whispering her farewell phrase—
"When a heart remembers, even silence can become a song."
Her form dissolved into motes of light that lingered like an aurora across the ceiling.
Skuld stood in the quiet aftermath, chest rising and falling, eyes bright with new power.