“W-what did you just say…?”

Ana and Maria were now standing in front of Kuzon, Edward, and Serah—with Ciel and Maria’s clone trailing behind the former group.

Ana’s eyes were currently twitching in surprise as she heard the explanation Kuzon and Serah gave about how they messed up the plan.

“So everything was for nothing…?”

Ana felt her heart racing as she stared at Kuzon’s downtrodden expression.

She could tell that no one among them felt worse than he did. Even though no one officially acknowledged it, he had taken the role of their unofficial leader.

And yet… despite all of the things at stake, he messed up.

“We were tricked by Legris. It must have been his plan from the start, so there’s no need to beat yourself up about it too much.” Ana stated, causing Kuzon’s body to tremble slightly.

Sure, she was trying to make him feel better, but Ana considered her words mostly stating facts.

Moping around and feeling self-pity wasn’t going to miraculously change the situation.

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.” Kuzon sighed, covering a portion of his face with his hand.

“But we’ve tried everything. Before the two of you arrived, we tried all we could… but nothing worked. We can’t access the world that has been pruned.”

It was out of the reach of even Constellations.

“I see…” Ana muttered, rubbing her chin.

“We also tried to reach that point on our own, but stepping outside the Aether Realm means we are stripped of any form of protection. We would die before even getting anywhere close to the target.”

Serah’s words caused all attention to turn to her at this point. Even though she was sighing, it was clear that she was still trying to find alternatives.

Nothing just seemed to click.

“I understand the situation now. But I don’t think it’ll be a problem.” Ana mumbled, rubbing her small chin as she spoke.

“You have a solution?!”

The entirety of the trio asked the question at the same time, and for a moment there was a spike in adrenaline.

Their desperation reached its peak as they all stared intensely at Ana.

“Somewhat. The plan is going to involve her, though.” Ana pointed towards the docile Ciel who stood behind her.

“…”

lightsΝοvel.cοm For a moment, there was silence in the group.

Even though Ana had briefly explained that Ciel and Maria’s doppelganger were under her control, it wasn’t like she went into details.

It was unnecessary to do so, even at this point, but she could at least understand why they were giving such skeptical and unsure expressions.

“Relax. She’s under my complete control. Besides, I don’t see any other way to go about this.”

If they wanted to win, they had to use their only cards available.

“How exactly do you want to use her to reach Legris’ real cocoon?”

Ana smiled a little as she heard Edward’s question.

“I often speculate on this theory, but after all that has happened—especially my talk with the Constellations—I could finally confirm it…” She began, folding her arms.

“… The nature of the Aether and Nether Trees.”

Ana went on to explain what she meant.

“Both trees exist distinct from each other, and they do not exist in the same location. Hence, there has to be some distance between them, considering their different positions.”

Since this was established, she went on.

“Using The World Arcana, it’s possible to travel to one Realm from another. Traveling a certain distance through a gap that exists somewhere.”

“What exactly are you driving at?” Serah asked impatiently,

Time was flying and she didn’t want to drive around in circles.

“If the Nether Tree and Aether Tree are what make up all of existence, then what is that distance that needs to be traveled before we can reach either of them?” Ana asked, her smile broadening.

No one said anything for a while. Until…

“Nonexistence. The distance doesn’t exist, but that in itself is a concept.” Kuzon spoke.

His response elucidated a nod from Ana. However, he too wasn’t done with his analysis.

“Nonexistence… that’s the same thing as Legris, isn’t it? He exists somewhere within that distance between the Aether and Nether Tree…”

“Precisely! Though it’s useless to try to pinpoint his position at this point, we can speculate that this nonexistence as a concept is something that ‘is’, and if that’s the case… then we can travel through it as well.”

Even though her theory seemed to be outlandish, Ana felt very confident in it.

“In simple terms, just as we can use The World to travel through nonexistence and reach another Tree, we can use it to traverse what doesn’t exist between us and the pruned world.”

That was her plan dumbed down to its most basic form.

“But we don’t have the Arcana… ahh…” Edward stopped himself from saying any more.

“Precisely.” Ana chucked a little, seeing that even Edward was already beginning to understand.

“That’s where Ciel comes in. With her Forge Of Creation, she can reproduce the Arcanas—including The World.”

With that Arcana, they stood a chance of reaching Legris before it was too late, and ultimately defeat him.

“There’s a possibility that Legris planned for this too.” Kuzon murmured in hesitation.

However, he quickly pulled himself back up before anyone could respond to his despairing statement.

“If we operate under that assumption, we’ll never get anything done. We just have to try our best no matter what.”

Everyone nodded as soon as Kuzon uttered those words, and he turned to Ana to give her the most cheerful smile ever.

“Thank you, Ana.”

“You can thank me later. Right now, let’s try this out and hope it works.” She smiled.

Kuzon’s grin grew broader, and for a moment, the both of them were locked in a lover’s daze.

Until—

“Need some help with that?” A voice echoed from far behind the group, causing everyone to look in the direction.

“You guys…!” Edward beamed with both surprise and relief as he watched the rest of their allies approach.

All of them were in perfect shape, and they were all smiling in resolution.

Jerry, Ciara, Beruel, Lemi, Aurora, and Aloe all stood before the rest of the group with resolute expressions decorating their features.

No doubt, they already knew about the failed plan.

But, no one spoke about that.

Everyone, as if speaking in unison, only had one thing to say.

“What can we do to help?”

*

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A

/N

Thanks for reading, everyone!

It wouldn’t be fair if I ignore the fights of these characters, so I’d like to take some time in exposing just how they managed to win.

Should only take a few chapters max.

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