Masako faced the creature as the landscape around her turned to ruin, transforming to the alternative dimension she could fight freely in without worry of harming others or doing damage to existing buildings and people.

  She had activated her Switch, transforming it from the black and red axe to one with a brilliant black handle with a glowing silver head that seemed to pulsate and radiate with power. A moment later, it seemed to fizzle, like a dying light, and then returned to the regular axe, which made her blink with worry and confusion.

  She grimaced and stumbled forward as a sheen of sweat formed on her forehead, caused by the wounds that had been inflicted on her when the Corrupted had pounced after diving out of the way to save her daughters. It was fine because her daughters were safe. That’s what ultimately mattered. Still, this thing had to be defeated.

  And she felt so weak, and her Switch…? What was going on with it? It had never transformed back like that.

  She smiled knowingly, a worry wrapping around her that she might not make it through this. And that would lead to dark consequences that she hoped the Higher Order or another Switch Guardian could stifle before it got out of hand. Worst-case scenario, though. Maybe Demi was nearby and could help her out. Even so, while her moment of ending was coming, was near, it wasn’t now.

  She felt at one of her wounds and winced, lifting a bloody and shaking hand to her eyes.

  “Shit.” She grimaced as she felt lightheaded. This was not good. Well, maybe worst-case scenario was going to happen. She was losing her life, and thus her energy, which is why she had lost the activated Switch. If that was the case, she would at least finish this goddamned Corrupted. She still had life in her. Her last act would be triumphant in taking this thing down.

  She knew she was in trouble, though, because the wound was deep and bleeding badly, and her powers were not working right, which she didn’t know why. She wasn’t healing properly. It didn’t matter, though, as she had a duty to dispatch Corrupted, so she swung her Switch forward fiercely like all the other times, steady and true and strong. Yet since she was wounded and weakened, and her Switch wasn’t activated. The beast was faster than she anticipated, and it struck her again as they slid by one another. She fell to a knee, sliding to a stop, spitting up blood from a third gashing wound on her thigh.

  What was happening? Why wasn’t she healing?

  She smiled bitterly as many unexpected things had happened this night. She felt terrible for having had told her daughters a lie as she expected to see them again, to be right behind them. Such arrogance and ego she had. Yet… these wounds were mortal ones, and her time was coming to an end. Perhaps it was because she was already near her allotted lifespan. Was it because she was struck outside of her Limit Barrier? That had never happened. It didn’t matter, though. She thought about her poor girls and how they would not known the truth about her. Granted, they would know she was destroyed by a beast, but they would not see her again, and that was a terrible torment that she had to accept as she coughed up blood and her body began to give out. Still, her Exalted had kicked into gear, and she had been Bolstered, which would let her unleash energy blasts to help her finish this Corrupted, thank God.

  And since she had been pushed to her limit, on the verge of destruction, the passive part of her Exalted, Bolster, had activated as she was near her end, and so she unleashed its fury and let out a battle cry.

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  She turned and faced the creature, steady and strong as she gripped her axe and pushed all her energy to the surface in a riotous burst, then charged.

  The two of them met, and she was able to deliver a finishing blow to the beast as she unleashed all her Vigor in a final energy blast. But as the beast faded and was absorbed into her Switch Weapon, as all Corrupted did when they were slain, she fell to a knee, her vision blurring, her head ringing, her body raging with pain. The absorption of its dark power was too much for her weakened form to handle, and her Limit Barrier, like her soul, shattered.

  She collapsed to the ground as the Limit Barrier gave way, returning her back to Aurora City, the rain lightly falling in the surrounding darkness. Her Switch clattered against the asphalt, disappearing into a wispy energy as blood pooled around her, diluted by the falling rain. She blinked in rapid movement, the beat of her heart slowing.

  Footsteps echoed in squishing motions as a body slid to her side and warm hands propped her up. She peered up at her husband and smiled, speaking in a hushed whisper as her throat, despite being wet from the rain, was dry and raspy.

  “Oh, Richard, you’re here.” She lifted a weak hand to him. “I’m so glad you came. I’m sorry about this. The ch-children… are they… safe?” She coughed up blood against his arm, and he didn’t care as he held onto her.

  “Yes, they are, but you…,” he said, touching her face tenderly, looking around to see where the culprit was that had done this to her as she was bloodied and beaten down badly. He gulped and met her eyes as her soft hand touched his cheek. He leaned down and they embraced and kissed one last time. He felt himself falter, and break. “W-What should I do?”

  She smiled which seemed like the hardest thing in the world as her energy was fading, and so was her will.

  “Nothing.” It was hard to say, but it was the truth. “It’s too late. I am so sorry, my dear, but I’m fading.”

  He didn’t want to leave her, but also didn’t know what to do. He looked from left to right, his jerky movements frantic as he cried out for help, the rain drowning out his pleas. He glanced back down at her, his tears mixing with rain. “I can’t lose you. Please don’t leave me.”

  Yet, she had spoken the truth, and he knew this was her end. She had come back from things before, healed up, been okay. The way she spoke, though, how she looked, and how the light was fading from her eyes. He just knew. He nodded, tears streaming down his face as he had accepted this would come sooner or later, as he knew her secret of being a Switch Guardian. She hadn’t told him at first, but she eventually divulged it, trusting he would keep her secret, even though her master before her had told her to not tell anyone.

  He held her eyes and smiled, knowing she was fading, leaving him, yet couldn’t let go, couldn’t say goodbye, sobbed, and then he heard a familiar voice, the voice of a woman his wife had trained to take her place. A woman he knew. The voice of Demitria Fall.

  “You need to step back and let me take over,” she said, tenderly gripping his shoulder.

  He nodded, waving her away as he was breaking down and didn’t have the capacity to contain his feelings. “J-just give me a moment.” He didn’t mean for it to be harsh, but it felt that way. The bitterness boiled inside of him. He wanted to beg and plead, to go back and tell Masako not to take on this foolish task of being a stupid Switch Guardian. To live a full and normal life with their daughters.

  Curse it all. He wiped the wetness from his eyes, not that it mattered with the downpour and soaking of his hair and clothes. He didn’t want to let go, but after a moment that seemed like a long time, he slowly and surely set her body down, stumbled back and let Demi take over.

  He didn’t know what to do as Demi examined the body.

  “Go home,” she said over her shoulder. “Take care of your daughters.”

  Her tone was cold, or was that his body from the realization of what had happened, what he was going to do, and how he was going to address the situation to his daughters. His poor girls.

  “This is going to get ugly,” Demi said, turning back to the body of her master. She didn’t look at him, nor meet his eyes, but her words were final, and so he did as he was told, giving his wife one more look, then turned and left.