If Philuffy resisted those orders, Hayes said, she would go on suffering from severe fevers and headaches until she eventually turned to dust.
One of those commands was connected to Lux himself. Because Philuffy was resisting it, her suffering only kept increasing.
Hayes pointed out that he now understood why he could not kill her, and asked him to lower his sword.
Then she offered him a deal.
Later, Lux brought Philuffy home while turning Hayes's words over and over. Philuffy did not have much time left to live. But if Lux carried out the mission Hayes had given him, she would use Ragnarok's power to save her.
His task was to open the deepest gate within the sacred ruins. A gate that required a key.
Before leaving, Hayes had told him to use that girl.
Confused, Lux had asked who Philuffy really was.
Hayes had asked him in return whether he had ever wondered why her silver hair resembled his own, while insisting that the two of them were completely different.
Lux looked at Philuffy and could not decide what he was supposed to do.
Then Philuffy woke up and said quietly that she was hungry.
Lux smiled at that and went to prepare food for her. While she ate, Philuffy admitted that she could barely remember anything from her past anymore. She asked him to eat with her, and Lux refused, because he had lost his appetite. Watching her from across the table, he noticed that her eyes had briefly returned to normal.
After leaving the room he struck his hand against the wall in frustration, remembering how he had once saved her before.
The headmaster came to him there.
Lux told her that he had met Philuffy seven years ago.
So the headmaster told him the horrifying truth. Long ago, Lux had indeed rescued Philuffy from human experimentation. But afterwards, she had technically died.
Lux refused to believe it. She was alive, right there in the next room.
The headmaster explained that after taking her position at the academy, she had discovered that Philuffy had already transformed into an Abyss. She believed that the power hidden inside the ruins could still save her.
And Lux understood, then, that this was the real reason all of them had been brought to the island.
The headmaster admitted that she intended to reach the deepest level of the ruins at any cost, even if it meant sacrificing her own life for Philuffy's sake.
After hearing it, Lux remembered painful things.
He remembered the time Philuffy came to visit his mother's grave. He had told her angrily to leave him alone, and instead of going she had hugged him tightly, and the moment she put her arms around him he had broken down crying.
He was still lost in it, sitting inside Bahamut, when Lisha interrupted and told him to stop daydreaming. She informed him that she had already prepared the Over Limit system, and that once she sent the release code he would have to activate Bahamut's full power.
Then Lux received a communication from Fugil.
Fugil warned him that if he truly wanted to save his childhood friend, he would have to destroy the horn and eliminate Ragnarok completely.
Lux asked whether he could trust him at all. Fugil replied that the decision was Lux's alone. He also had one question of his own for Lux.
Later, Lux went to see Philuffy again.
She was standing silently beside a window, and she spoke about the past. After her mother's death, her older sister had become lonely and miserable, and that was why Philuffy had decided she could not die yet. She remembered too how lonely and weak Lux used to be. But things had changed. Lux had many people who cared about him now, and his sister would never be alone as long as he was there.
He had become much stronger than before, she said, so everything would eventually be fine. Because of that, Philuffy believed she could die peacefully now.
Before she could finish speaking, Lux took hold of her tightly and declared that he was still weak. Back then, he had only survived because she had helped him. This time, whatever happened, he promised that he would truly save her.
Philuffy held him back and said softly that he had not changed at all.
Soon afterward, everyone finally entered the ruins. The place felt eerie and unnatural around them.
Lisha agreed to send Lux the release code, but warned him that she needed sixty seconds to complete the process.
Lux began attacking immediately with Reload on Fire while Lisha worked desperately behind him.
Hayes watched all of it and remarked that her prince seemed ready to die.
Lux fought Ragnarok with everything he had, and while he fought he kept hearing Fugil's harsh words. Even if Lux saved his friend, Fugil had claimed, nothing would truly change, because he would still fail to protect her in the end. He had called Lux's ideals empty and meaningless.
Remembering all of it, Lux unleashed a furious barrage of attacks.
Ragnarok caught him anyway.
Hayes mocked him again and reminded him that every attack against Ragnarok only made it stronger. Lux remembered Fugil calling him foolish and weak, exactly as he had always been, and overwhelmed by those words, he screamed in frustration.
Airi watched anxiously while Hayes declared that everything was over. She insulted him and told him he was no hero, and that the new empire would collapse all over again because of his weakness.
At that critical moment, Philuffy shouted that Hayes knew nothing about Lux.
Then she told him to stop fighting for other people, and to fight for himself instead.
Hearing her voice, Lux thanked her. Using every scrap of strength he had left, he unleashed an incredibly powerful attack that destroyed Ragnarok completely.
The impact was so overwhelming that even the ruins themselves fell back into the sea.
Hayes could not understand how Ragnarok had lost.
Fugil explained that they needed to retreat, because they could no longer defeat Lux. According to him, Hayes had failed to understand what Lux was truly trying to achieve. Lux had grown stronger constantly, and ordinary despair could never defeat someone like that. He had trained himself into that strength through his own efforts, and had overcome everything with his own power. The success of Bahamut's Over Limit had made the victory possible.
After the battle, Lux realized happily that Philuffy was finally safe.
Philuffy smiled and told him that she was alive only because he had fulfilled the promise he had made to her long ago.
Then she said, softly, that she loved him.
After recovering from the battle, Lux came back from the hospital and was welcomed warmly by everyone at the academy. Using Bahamut's dangerous Over Limit had left him bedridden for several days, and all of the girls had worried about him.
Airi pointed out teasingly just how concerned they had all been.
It also emerged that Lisha had caused an enormous disturbance during the incident and had even been made to pay a fine, though she somehow escaped any serious punishment. The headmaster explained that the capital was currently far too busy preparing for the kingdom's largest celebration, the founding festival, to bother with disciplinary matters.
The mention of the festival made Lisha nervous.
In the middle of the conversation Krulcifer invited Lux to go on a date with her during the festival.
Celis argued that their squad captain deserved the opportunity instead, so that she could get to know Lux better.
Philuffy admitted quietly that she wanted to go on a date with him too.
And Lisha declared, with complete confidence, that Lux would obviously be attending the festival with her.