Minutes before Kellen the First’s reveal.

  Haru

  With a deep sigh, I placed down a flask of holy water. “This is it from me, I’m afraid.” I handed it to a nurse who would dilute it in barrels of water. Feeling queasy, I sat on a bench overlooking the busy doctors as I gave my legs a rest.

  “This is more than enough, Your Grace! Without you here, we would be much more swamped with patients.”

  “Mmm…”

  I could still do more. Just a few more months…

  I could conjure three flasks worth of holy water now when the average is one every week thanks to Vanessa’s training. But compared to my real strength, it’s just a drop in the bucket. Medical staff rushed past me, preparing in the very early morning more casualties. Glances still stray their way to me. However, respect glinted in theirs, rather than the occasion hint of disgust. Which made it all the more frustrating. Only when I became of use did I stop being a stain in their eyes?

  “Hey, I can feel your anger all the way inside. Still want to go to the battlefield?”

  “No, it’s not that… Can’t you see it? The hate they have for us?”

  “Is it about the rumours?” Vanessa asked.

  “...”

  “*sigh* Even after had gone by… Excuse my language, but why do you give a fuck?”

  I straightened up. ”I…I….”

  “Between you and my husband's cryptic words, I know we contain power so great even the greatest warriors of the nation could not even imagine, and you care what some recruits chat about while they scratch their groins? Are you taking the opinions of these men seriously?”

  “I never-”

  “Even more! Why should you care when you are going to leave the only man who saw our true value!!?”

  I was struck silent by my past self. The girl who wouldn’t squeal if it annoyed someone became a hurricane of a woman.

  “How did I become like this…?”

  Before I could reply, a whiny noble shouted outside the tent.

  “Maid, I'm telling you because I get pissed. Get the damn mage and get the damn shackles off me!”

  I ran out of the tent, following the bastard's voice. By Tarion’s horse, his brother shouts down at a cloaked woman. I fought the urge to slice the coward with my blade.

  I felt my hand freeze. “Halt, Haru. Don’t you remember your brother-in-law?”

  “Remember? Haha! I wish to cut him into little pieces. The coward, betrayer!!”

  “My brother is still out there alone… Wait, was this his idea, Beatrice?”

  The cloaked person nodded. “Finally remembered my name, milord.”

  I gasped, covering my mouth with my hand. “She was Joshua’s maid but one of the better people in the manor. Without her and Susan, escaping would have been impossible. Why is she here…?”

  “Tarion likes to keep Umbra close; information is important in times of war.”

  “Umbra?”

  “Ah… I will explain later. Just hold your blade for now. Joshua is not the same boy as before.”

  “Bring me a mage, no-” The bastard's red eyes found me, and my back chilled. I almost turn away by instinct. “Hey, sister!” Joshua belted like a child seeing his Christmas presents. I hated how his juvenile smile suited him better than the scowl he always gave me.

  “It's been a very long time! Can’t wait to chat about my vacation, but can you do me a favour? This bi—the lady won't let me out of my shackles.”

  Rune-engraved Steel exploded on the spare’s wrist, and not a mark was left on his skin. A faint mana tether connected to me shimmered before fading away.

  “VANESSA!”

  In a blink, thick arms wrapped around me. “THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU~!!”

  What was Tarion feeding him?

  Joshua held my shoulders, showing me his large smile of perfect teeth. “I owe you!” He said excitedly as he gave me two pecks on my cheeks. Catching a rapier from the air, he pierced the air, causing the air to burst.

  “Beatrice… this is my…”

  His slices blur before he summoned lightning with the last slash. Joshua surprised me out of my awe but looking down at my waist.

  “Do you mind?” He said with his eyes stuck on my sabre. I unsheathed it and passed it to the Greystone, who tentatively received it.

  “I will bring him back, on my honour as a man of Greystone.” Lightning cloaked him from head to toe, raising his clothes and long red hair. “And Beatrice-”

  “Tarion knows you well. I will guard her.” Beatrice folded her arms in her cloak with a granite face.

  “Conniving bastards! Haha. The lot of you!” Leaving a vacuum in his wake, lightning shot like an arrow through the thick Vioden trees.

  I fell to my knee, feeling the tension release from my weak body. “Your Grace!” Stunned out of her stilted pose, Beatrice ran to help me.

  “It’s okay. I just need to rest for a while.”

  “So many changes, but can I adapt? I feel like I am swimming against rushing waters unable to deal with every obstacle, turn and distraction.”

  Let go. Let the river take you to its end.

  Beatrice held me as she brought me to my tent to rest. Laying me down on the bed, a familiar smell in the sheets distracts me.

  “Its end may fall sharply off the precipice,” I said to my past self. “The water could overwhelm me. Drown me deep.”

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  “Sounds like you're waiting. Waiting for someone to reach out and help.”

  In my mind's eye, the man who made my heart jump held out his hand for me.

  “I will be around, Your Grace.” In her dark hood, she bowed and left quietly.

  Tears trickled down the sides of my face. “I am sorry, Vanessa…” I whispered with an aching heart. “I am so sorry for messing things up. I shouldn’t have come back-”

  “Rest, Haru. We will be busy later.”

  “Yes…busy…” I closed my eyes, feeling the sleep settle in me.

  A big gust of wind flapped the tent opening aside. I wiped my wet eyes quickly. “What happened?” I said with stinging eyes. “Is it urgent? Someone injured?”

  “No.”

  I froze as his cold-toned voice echoed in the tent.

  “Well~, it might be urgent. You see, I really REALLY wanted to see what the hullabaloo was about. I wanted to see her, the famous duchess with priestess power on everyone's lips. How fascinating.” Words roll off the sociopath's tongue like a snake, curling and wiggling their way into my ears. I swallow deep to stop vomit from ejecting out.

  He is right there! I reach for a blade I gave away. The prince crept close with his arm behind him. With a regal red jacket almost touching the grass, each step to me twisted my soul.

  “Mm? What's wrong? Nervous, Milady? AHAHAHA! How cute! How cute indeed…” He barely hid his manipulative grin. My eyes darted to the floor as I shivered in his presence. “Is it your first time meeting royalty? I see; I have become so used to reverence that I have forgotten what shyness looked like.” He stepped closer, looking down at me and my served meat. He leaned forward, breathing hard like a wildebeest, puffing his stinky breath across my neck.

  “However… I could make you feel comfortable.” His leather-gloved right hand reached for my face.

  Vanessa Greystone

  I took the prince’s hand and shook it. His eyes twisted with puzzlement; he took back his hand as if burnt.

  “Oh, sorry! I thought you were asking to shake! Apologies!” I curtsied. “Thank you for blessing us with your presence this late at night. Duchess Vanessa Greystone, Please to meet you, Your Highness.”

  “Ah, yes, well met.” Shocked but still a royal, he accepted the greeting with a nod.

  “If you are here for my husband. He is quite…occupied with other matters.”

  “Husband? And he left you here alone. Had I been the enemy-”

  “You would have protected me. Isn’t that why you are here, Your Highness? Otherwise, why else would a prince of a nation sneak into the room of the duke's wife so late at night?”

  The prince's lips tightened. “‘Wife,’ ‘Husband’—using’ the titles you threw away.”

  I looked down, feigning guilt. “Yes. It is true. It seems you are quite invested in our marriage, your highness.”

  “I am the future of the country; it is my duty to learn about my subject's troubles.”

  “But will the public see it the same way?”

  “Wha- What are you insinuating?!”

  “I am sure someone of your skills evaded all eyes, but some have better ears. Some may spread silly rumours of you being a belligerent prince. A royal drunk on his power. An adulterer.”

  The prince looked around the tent using whatever heightened senses he had to find a listener. Thinking of himself as safe, the prince grinned as he stepped forward in the candlelight.

  “I need no approval from beggars. My every motion is correct, and every word I utter is right. I am the law of the land. You have all to lose.”

  With a click of a finger, candlelight was snuffed and darkness filled the tent. My mana’s hue lit the room with a soft blue glow, casting light on four new dark-cloaked guests. “But with more to lose, I fight back harder.”

  “Ahh… Umbra… They really accepted you. I understand. A simple mistake on my front. Curiosity took hold of me. But now that I am here. It was worth it. Tarion was a lucky man. But who could be next…” Walking back slowly in the dark, the prince shot me an eerie wink and slinked back outside.

  “Should I just kill him?” Beatrice asked with her claws of wind ready.

  “If you can kill a ninth circle, go ahead!” The rest of the shadowed Umbra chuckle with me.

  “I could if I prepare well.” Beatrice was dead serious; I love her for that.

  “Okay, back to your positions.”

  Saluting in the dark, they disappeared, and candlelight returned as I was alone in my tent. Back in my bed, I lay, trying to get back the rest that escaped me.

  “Thank you,” Haru said within the depths of my soul.

  “Mm.” I turned to my side, wrapping the bed cover around me.

  “I will leave it all to you.” Like a forgotten memory, I felt something disappearing from my mind. I concentrated, finding myself back in my old room that became my jail. A depressed woman sat on the bed with a thousand-yard stare. I look carefully at her visage. Wounds and scars were visible on her whole body. I sat close, holding onto her hand.

  “Leave what? Running away already?”

  “I… I can’t do it!” Tears drop down Haru’s like a waterfall of diamonds. “This world isn’t for me! This life isn’t for me to take over. I almost shattered like brittle glass under his gaze; how could I fight against him?!

  “With my help. With Beatrice’s, Joshua, with Tarion’s help.” She turned me with tears flowing. “Because of you, I see the world with new eyes,” I told her. “I have seen how fortunate I have been, but because of you, I have also seen that there is danger out there that we must destroy. Aid me, advise me and I will aid you.”

  Words seemed stuck in the throat of the shivering saint. How dare they make her like this? How dare they!!?

  I hugged her tight in the golden room. “Thank you for coming back.”

  The saint wailed on my shoulder; I felt her comforting warmth as she apologised again and again. The golden room broke apart, leaving two sisters of terrible fate to embrace in the dark. But as I console my elder self, I plan.

  Back in reality, I sat up in my body and clicked a finger. Beatrice arrived quickly.

  “So… How would you kill a ninth circle?

  Beatrice smiled.

  Joshua

  A lightning step on a branch launched me high above the forest. Filling the air with lightning, I remember my brother's teachings and speed through the air. The forest ended below, and I met with the horror of war. From high, I see blue and red swirling like ants fighting off a caterpillar. The men of heavy steel, Uncle’s Osberg knights, bulldozed into soldiers with the specially bred horses. The glaive, axes and hammer smash, bludgeon and splatter bodies in the way. I look to the left and find a section of the Osberg army, mostly filled with commoners of little armour, fighting with bucklers and spears as they march down to the side of the city wall to the slums.

  Thunder. My eyes followed the ear-bursting noise and found my bound fight against a master. I could help, team up on the old fucker. I noticed a dead body shoved to the side of the burning crater.

  Laurent… Lands above.

  If I went down there, would I become like him?

  Lightning buzzes near my elevation, and I watch a wolfburn clash swords with an ageing warrior. With each clash, the old warrior backed away, flinging sharp ice at his enemy. The younger fighter dogged it all and slashed down to feint for a stomach cut.

  “Uncle!”

  Bloodier than the butcher room, Charles showed me all those years ago. I landed in the muck, running past corpses. Every step flung me further and faster. A cut to a thigh dropped the brown-eyed Greystone. “Fuck!” I spun my circle till my chest stung. “FUCK!!” I stepped deep into the earth as I saw a sword drop down on a fallen warrior.

  “UNCLE!!!” Both men turn. My feet ruined the earth beneath, and with a great leap, my sword descended on my enemy. Kellen parries both swords with ease, swooping them to the right. I twisted and returned with a backkick with all my lightning.

  “Had you fought me before-” Out of the dust and flying grass, the wolfburn grabbed my boot. “You could have come out on top.” Before he could slice down my leg, my mana shield ballooned from my boot sole, liberating me from Kellen’s grasp. I jumped to Uncle Laron, checking if he was alright.

  “This is who you chose? This old weak man?”

  “Oh, fuck off! Go suck on some souls or something.” I checked his injuries. Shallow.

  Ice flew to guard me from behind. Jumping to the side, Kellen escaped from an ice bullet to the head.

  “You know why he likes me better? Cos, I am unpredictable!”

  Nearby blood shot at Kellen's back. A quick slice of the lightning sword evaporated the liquid. Laron moves closer with movement smoother and quicker than his age should allow. Slash, slash and slash low, and water whipped at Kellen's face at sound-breaking speed.

  An opening.

  I circled around, stabbing at my uncle’s back.

  Kellen smiled.

  Instinct made me retreat and I saw Laron did the same. But relief was short-lived.

  “Shit. Unlucky…” Uncle Laron’s mouth leaked blood as he struggled to hold himself up with a tendril in his gut.

  “UNCLEEEE!!!” Pulling him up by the stomach, Kellen’s tendril flicked away like ear fluff. On a nail.

  “YOU BAASSTAAAAARD!” Anger pulsed energy in my veins. My circle burnt my chest as Qi filled me entirely. I left nothing back.

  “I sense him. He wishes to hide no longer. As do I.” Kellen regarded me as his skin turned to sickly grey, ears elongating, and his eyes became like my brother's on the night he defeated the horn.

  “Tell me before I cut you down. Where is my mother?”