As if the earth had joined the sky to form an infinite sphere, darkness hung all-around of Laila's territory, a black globe extending without limits. Little similarly black stars dotted the place that had no shape or visible barriers, like black opals sewn into a gown of fine inky velvet. Noboru sat there in silence, examining his sword while Laila was healing herself, lying down closing her eyes, her ax beside her mending itself as well. The little kid was somewhere, playing with the black stars that neither burned nor froze what they touched.
"So… what happened there exactly?"
Laila opened her eyes, after a prolonged silence, and rolled on her side in the direction where Noboru was sitting.
"I do not know."
The man answered without raising his head, still occupied by his sword's brief disobedience. After breaking out from his seal, the sword was weakened and missing what seemed to be its most powerful piece, the red jewel clutched in the dragon's mouth. That was the shape Noboru had known the sword to take since he obtained it centuries ago, and despite his trials at figuring out its origins, he could never find an answer, but that jewel seemed the most important to the sword's fighting spirit. Losing it, it no longer acknowledged Noboru nor wanted to fight. He faced a great difficulty in both hiding his struggle with wielding the weapon against Ayumi and the other two princesses when they first met, and with actually commanding the sword to obey him. After escaping that dreadful place where he was sealed by Norico, the sword seemed dead, unresponsive, and Laila could not find any information about the jewel's whereabouts, but then the blade reverberated on its own, leading its current wielder in the direction of the volcano where Enya was taking refuge. Negotiations were easily made, and he did not care if the princess had any other ulterior motives. At first, Noboru thought the sword merely needed to reclaim its dark aura within the flames of the cursed river of fire where some said it was originally formed. However, there was an additional reason behind the sword's insistence on directing Noboru to the volcano. It seemed that without knowing, Enya had that jewel within her other territory all along and it was calling to the sword, taking the form the man had always known only when meeting its companion. He had never imagined something as pure and spiritual as that globe of light would be the source to his sword's ultimate power.
Noboru was deep in thoughts when Laila's voice caught his attention against his wishes, with her persistent inquiry.
"Someone there in that volcano made a wish but Hina's box only responds to sinister ones."
"Is there is anything more sinister than reviving a deceased body?"
The princess of darkness leaned her head on her elbow, enjoying her attempt at getting a rise out of the man sitting opposite her quietly.
"Was this your wish? To face two queens of light?"
"I made no wish, If I had relied on wishes, I would have arrived nowhere."
Noboru kept answering in a monotonous manner, without facing the woman speaking to him. He had grown used to her chippering voice and constant need for drawing conflicted answers from other people. Unfortunately for the princess, he was not one of them.
"No one can live without a wish or a dream, was not being able to kill Amaterasu a wish of yours?"
Laila asked again, taking the long route around the point she wanted to make or discover, and Noboru still did not look at her.
"Then I prefer to call them goals and ambitions."
"And you came right out to me to fulfill that wish…I mean goal."
Laila narrowed her eyes like a panther that succeeded in cornering his prey, and the man met her gaze at last.
"And you still have not collected your debt after all of these years, is that what you are getting at?"
Laila burst into a loud laughter that drew the little kid's attention for a moment before she returned to playing with the dim stars contrasting strikingly against her porcelain hands. Just like Noboru, the kid in the kimono had gotten used to the princess's loud expression of her emotions.
"You killing that woman was done with your own merit, you did not need me at all…"
This time, it was the man who narrowed his eyes while looking at the laughing woman who never ceased her laugh and smile as if she had cracked the most humorous joke, but it only made Noboru looks like a fool, at least from her perspective and he did not appreciate that as a dangerous aura, an additional one to the princess's, started permeating the territory. However, the princess did not seem threatened at all, still smiling and talking.
"Calm down, you cannot take me down."
"Do you want to bet?"
"I meant, as your ally, you should not do it!"
Laila laughed again, but the tension did not go away, even as Noboru's unsheathed part of the sword returned fully inside of it.
"You claim to be my ally, yet you still did not participate in that war."
"That was no war, it was a farce…"
Noboru commented and Laila replied shaking away what was left of her laughter, her mocking smile widening at the mention of that war. Looking at her supposed "ally", seeing anger flaring up again in his dark eyes, she waved her hand defensively adding:
"Besides, I did my bidding and helped you out, in a certain way or another..."
"What are you after?"
Noboru asked, he did indeed seek a way to be able to win against the most powerful queen of light and kill her, and then a girl in a short kimono with a very dark hair and a bird - like voice appeared, giving him a solution he had never thought was possible, and it worked. Ever since that meeting, the girl disappeared and reappeared while he was sealed, left in a state of stupor akin to death. How did that girl manage to break through, he could not tell, but she only stayed for short whiles, and he could not remember what she asked or what he said, what she was trying to do, was it helping him or something else? Still, she finally helped him break the seal and be free to find a new queen of light waiting to end the interrupted cycle of nature. And now, that cycle had been disrupted once again, in a more dangerous way, as two queens stood together at the same time.
"The queen of light did reappear again, as a little girl… and as her former self… this is more than what I can ask for."
Noboru answered. His tone should have sounded exited, but Laila caught no trace of interest or excitement. It sounded as if he was simply listing a chore he was obliged to do.
"Should not this be your thing? Killing and antagonizing the queen of light?"
Noboru turned at Laila, who had never shown any interest till his appearance in antagonizing any of the other elemental princesses of nature.
"Am I not right here, helping you?"
"Is this all what you are after?"
Noboru was not stupid, that girl in the short kimono not declaring who she truly was at their first meeting did not appear in a pure coincidence. She definitely had a purpose of her own, and he could not put his finger on it which irritated him, and despite her running mouth, the princess never took actions on her own, only whenever he asked for help.
''Maybe I do not have any dreams or wishes… and that is why I am helping someone else who does."
Laila replied, failing to convince Noboru and earning a geniunely concerned look from the little kid.
"Then how are you still living?"
The dark – haired man asked mocking her previous statement, and Laila actually appreciated the mockery, answering with a similar one.
"While you were sealed, and after killing Amaterasu… what other wishes did you have? Your old wish have come alive again, in another opportunity across times and now you can re – fulfill it… is that all what you are living for?"
Noboru remained silent, drifting his eyes to his sword again. He did not address the question and instead declared.
"It is time to take care of the new queen…"
"Want to shake her will and determination a little bit more?"
Laila straightened up, thrilled with what the man would come up with.
"I want to destroy her will and determination… to destroy her soul."
"Oh…"
"And for that we will need Kotohina's box… I did promise that girl a personal retribution, did I not?"
The little girl ceased her playing and pulled her box out of her sleeves, already prepared for whatever the man wanted to order or wish for.
"I cannot wait to see what you are planning."
Laila laid her hand on her ax, checking how far its mending was going with a quick glance, it was not progressing as fast as she was hoping, but in the end, the ax was not her only weapon, and even when that ax was incapacitated, it still held the power to destroy civilizations, let alone an idiotically optimistic girl, a walking – dead woman, and few other princesses.