--Setsuna POV--

“Nn…”

When I finally came to, I was in a strange room bathed in the dim light of sunrise. It was oddly familiar, but a quick look around told me I've never actually been here. The room was fairly large and empty. From the shapes of markings on the floor and walls where there used to be furniture, I assumed this was probably a library at some point in time. Then there was the architecture, which was very similar to the old Frost Tribe village, and that would explain the familiar ‘abandoned building’ vibe this place gives me. At present, the only eye-catching part of this room was a large window on the wall to the left of the door, which in turn was to my left. By a large window, I mean a large window. The window stretched from the floor and nearly reached the ceiling - ending in an arch right before it.

To my sides I could see my companions, both still unconscious. They both had their hands and feet tied by ropes with gags in their mouths. When I saw my friends bound like slaves, I noticed I was no exception. I could feel the rope digging into my wrists and ankles, and the tight cloth wrapped around my face made it difficult to breath. As any sensible person would, I tried breaking free using my Sacred Fire, as hereditary magic doesn't need an incantation to cast. To my surprise, however, I couldn't form the spell no matter how much I tried.

Sulking in defeat, I sat there for a while. How long I was there, I could only guess. Over the time I sat there, I watched Ina and Shimo come to, and I watched as each of them realized the situation we were in. Once they were both awake, things began to get interesting. And by interesting, I mean that I continued to sit there for a few more hours, but this time with silent company.

Day turned into night, as the sunlight filling the room began to fill with moonlight. Finally, the door opened, and a man entered. He had black hair and black eyes, and his face looked like that of seasoned warrior. I wouldn't have thought much of it, but I knew his face, and I started struggling against my bindings as the PTSD took hold.

“Mph! Mmph!!”

The man - who I recognized as Krilla Yoshikari, in other words Ren's killer - had crossed the room and was now standing in front of the large window, staring out with his arms behind his back. The man who should've been dead turned around after hearing my muffled yelling.

“Ah. So you're awake now. All of you.”

He silently walked towards us and knelt down in front of me, lifting my head by the chin and forcing me to look into his eyes. Of course, I did so as scornfully as possible.

“Hey now. Don't look at me like that. After all, we've only just met. If anything, I should be the one looking at you like that, and yet I'm the one trying to be a good host here. No, you must be mistaking me for my elder brother, Krilla. You know, the one you killed.” 

He emphasized the last word, gritting his teeth and smiling through the whole spiel.

“See, my name is Ikairu Yoshikagi, but you can call me Kai. Oh wait! You can't call me anything right now! Ha!”

I've managed to find myself in the most compromising position I could ever imagine. Right before me was the brother of the man I killed, and the brother of the man who killed Ren. Even worse, he clearly wouldn't be nearly as sensible as his brother. Those eyes contained no sanity, and likely haven't in a long time.

He stood and turned back around, raising one hand and creating a shadowy orb that he reached into with the other. Pulling his arm out the orb, he let it disappear, and in he now had Ren's katana that's been missing throughout this whole situation.

“Now that I've captured you, and this sword, there is only one thing that my master says can threaten Him, and you will serve as bait for me to eliminate that person as well. Which, of course, I think is dumb. This blade is the only thing that can hurt Him, so there shouldn't be a reason to go this far, but an order is an order, I guess. Hmph. Be glad He told me to wait for more orders before he tells me what to with you, otherwise you'd be suffering.”

He repeated his actions in which he made the katana appear, this time putting it back into the orb. He returned to his postion in front of the window, once again crossing his arms behind his back.

“It's just a matter of time now. Soon, he will be fully revived, and then. And then! This world will will truly suffer as I have.”

He stood there, staring out of the window in contemplation of something for a short while. Soon, a Shadow entered and approached him. He placed his hand on the creature’s forehead, and it quickly dissipated as if it was just killed using a powerful Light spell. Ikairu returned to his previous stance, slightly nodding his head.

“So. She's finally arrived…”

--Mira POV--

I took the lead position as Freiya cast another Greater Illusion. None of us knew the interior of this building, so it was best for the strongest melee fighter - me - to be in the front. When Freiya gave me the go-ahead, I slowly opened the door with my Light-infused katana at the ready. Luckily, there were no enemies in this room. 

The entryway to the mansion was as grand as the exterior. A massive chandelier hung from the second story ceiling, and the room was flanked by staircases leading to the next floor on both sides. Aside from the chandelier, however, there were no other decorations, reminding me that this village really was abandoned. 

“Mira, lead the way. My Clairvoyance doesn't tell me their exact location, but they're somewhere in here, so we just need to look.”

“Ah. Then let's go… to the right.”

Making a quick, hopeful decision, I led the three of us into the hallway on the right. In short, it was basically empty. Every door was open, and every room was completely devoid of any sort of furniture.. When we reached the room at the end of the hall, it wasn't so empty. The rest of the rooms were about the same size, but this one looked to be about as big as two or three of the previous ones. It still had no furniture, but inside there was a ring of Shadows with what looked to be two Brawlers wrestling in the middle.

We didn't stick around long enough to see who won (My bet's on the Brawler), and the left wing was practically the same: Completely empty except for the final room containing Shadows performing very human-like activities. Thus time they had a table set up where they were hitting balls with wooden poles. Again, we didn't stick around.

Obviously, since there was no sign of our kidnapped chief on the first floor, climbed to the second, starting on the right again. We carefully made our way through the corridor - this time there were a good few Shadows moving about - and passed by many open and empty rooms just like the previous two. This time, instead of a bigger room at the end, there was a staircase leading to a third floor. The three of us huddled together to quietly discuss it without being found.

“Miss Freiya, what should we do?”

“Hm… I think it may be best to ignore it and come back after exploring the rest of this floor. What do you two think.”

“That should be fine. Kino?”

“Yeah. Whatever guarantees we find them.”

“Then it's settled. Just keep following me.

We slowly made our way back to the entrance, where we descended and climbed the other set of stairs. This side was about the same, except it was mostly full of Brawlers instead of the usual Shadows. We reached another set of stairs, and decided to climb these. If they didn't lead to anything, we decided to take the one we found before. From the outside, it seemed like there would be three stories at most, so one of the two stairwells had to lead to our destination.

At the top of the somewhat spiralling stairs, there was a small room, and on the other end there was a door. It wouldn't have been difficult to walk through, however, the door was blocked by another Brawler. Again, not usually a challenge, but this one was armored. It was wearing black plate, with only the shape and shine being different than its usual form and color. It was completely covered, so I doubted my magic would work. Well, Purge and Light Javelin would probably work, but it'd be a waste of mana if I could kill this thing without. 

I heard Freiya whisper behind me.

“I can feel my daughter behind that door. Surely, she isn't alone. Take down this thing, then distract whatever's in that room while we take care of saving the girls.”

“Got it.”

Preparing for battle, I cast Strength and Speed. I had maintained Divinity ever since I cast it in the street, so I figured I was as ready as I'll ever be. Approaching the Brawler, I was still under Greater Illusion, and as I raised my sword above my head I felt Freiya remove the effect from me so that I wouldn't break it for all three of us. It knew I was here now, and tried to react, but before it could do anything, I swung down with all my might.

Basically, if I couldn't attack through the armor, I'd just have to break it by repeatedly hitting it really hard. My sword made contact with the armor, but it didn't stop. It cut into the Brawler’s shoulder, but it didn't stop. My swing didn't stop until I had cleaved my enemy in two. 

“Oh.”

That was… a little stronger than expected. Unfortunately, while I killed the creature, I swung too hard, and my blade was warped from the impact.

“Hmm… Guess I can't use this anymore.”

I tossed my sword - if it could even be called that anymore - and its sheath to the side and prepared my next spell in my mind. I had learned the second tier spell Metal Mold when I had learned the rest of the spells in that tier, but I never used it since. Now that I don't have a weapon anymore - excluding the dagger on my thigh - it might actually see some action tonight, with it being able to form anything I want with a good, strong steel.

In case I didn't need to use it, I left it at the back of my mind as I entered the final room. 

In front of me was another empty room, bigger than any others I've seen so far. To my right, I finally saw them. The three foxkin women we came here for were bound and leaning against the wall. 

In the middle, there was the orange- haired one from my visions. Her face was… concerning. It was stained with tears and looked as if she had completely given up and resigned herself to fate.

On one side of her was a foxkin girl with long, snow-white hair and a large bust with wide hips on top of a fairly muscular build. She was Freiya's daughter if I had to guess, and she looked like she fully understood the situation she was in, but was still hopeful that someone would save her.

On the other side of the chief was another foxkin with short yellow hair, and she seemed to be examining me, as if trying to see whether or not I was a threat. 

I didn't look at them for long, as my attention was stolen by a vaguely familiar man to my left, staring out a tall, arched window with his hands behind his back. He turned to me and spoke, since I wasn't exactly hiding my presence.

“So. You've finally arrived. A hero, come to save the princess. I don't suppose you think you'll actually save those three, do you?”

“That's what I'm here for, and I don't intend to leave empty handed.” After all, I have a mission, and these girls might just hold the key to my memory.

“Wonderful! A women without a weapon, ignorant of her identity, come to defeat me!? With mere magic!!! How incredibly stupid! I've been granted permission to kill you, but where's the fun in that when you're unarmed? Here! This one's on me!”

The man - if you could even call him that with his obvious state of mind - stuck both hands into the air, and spheres made of some kind of dark energy formed in front of them. He plunged his hands in, and when he removed them the orbs dissapeared. In one hand he held the katana from my visions, and in the other he held some kind of wierd box that I couldn't get a look at. He tossed the sword to me, as if knowing it's my prefered weapon, and I caught it. I was confused as to why he was doing this, but I made sure not to let my guard down as I affixed the sheathed blade to my belt.

“Good! Let the battle begin! Good luck trying to draw that sword!”

When he finished speaking he held his box up, and I reflexively took a stance with my hand on the sword’s handle, ready to draw at a moment's notice. To my suprise, the box wasn't an attack, but instead spread over his body starting from his hand, creating some sort of gray armor that covered his body. It kind of reminded me of… what is it… a superhero? That's the word that popped up in my head, but whatever it was, while it was quite a marvelous sight, I couldn't admire it for too long. He held his palm towards me, and it looked like he was actually going to attack now.

“Come at me if you dare!!”

“As you wish.”

Since he asked so politely, I drew my new sword and dashed at him, clearing the gap in… less than a second? I cut clean through him and his armor with an effortless strength even greater than what I previously thought was my best. As the split body fell to the floor, I turned around and saw the other five people in the room - Freiya likely dispelled the Greater Illusion around herself and Kino having finished untying the other girls - with very shocked expressions. I knew what they were going to ask, and honestly, the only thing I could think of is that this is some kind of magic sword.

I opened my mouth to speak, but the chief beat me to the punch.

“H- How… How can you draw that sword?”

“Hm? I- What do you mean?”

The girl just stared at me, and Freiya answered in her stead.

“That sword… is special. As you likely just noticed, it enhances physical abilities for the wielder. However, there's supposed to only be one person who can draw it from its sheath. That man was Kino's brother, and as you heard from her…” 

She went quiet before she finished, but I understood what she meant. Her brother died, and therefore could no longer use the sword. I walked forward, towards the mystery girl of my dreams.

“We can figure that stuff out later. For now…” I held out my hand to help her up. “I'm Mira.”

“... Setsuna.”

She accepted my offer to help her out, and the moment she took my hand, I was assaulted by a splitting headache. Before I could register what happened, I lost consciousness.