In a castle within the mountain range that crosses through the Kyrie Kingdom, a Dragon Lord was giving her report to her Master.

"The King of Storms...they told you that that was their name?"

The Dragon Lord of the Violet Death, Scath, said so as she squinted her eyes in an inquisitive manner. Her face was that of a young adult woman in her prime while her dark violet hair flowed straight all the way to her hips. She had four horns, all exquisite in a natural beauty, for they looked like the branches of an old and wise tree. Two of them, the bigger ones, adorned the top of her head, growing upwards in a hook-like manner with inverted ends and small bifurcations, like branches. While the smaller ones adorned the sides of her head, growing diagonally near her ears with many smaller bifurcations. They had the same color as her hair and had complex arcane-like designs on their surface, but those seemed natural instead of carved.

In any case, despite all her years of living, that was the first time she had heard of such a name or title. As such, a certain tinge of curiosity could be detected on her voice as she asked her servant.

"Yes, Master...they said to call them that..."

Said servant’s voice was like a melancholic whisper that carried a certain coldness at the same time.

She was Bryn, the Dragon Lord of The Eternal Winter.

She recounted all that happened as she knelt before her Master. From the information the puppets divulged, to the presence of the Black Knight and its companions. As well as her confrontation with said Black Knight and its power.

Her body still ached.

And her Master had noticed, despite her best efforts to hide it.

Her Master wasn't angered or even disappointed, she seemed more aloof about the consequences of today's events than anything else.

Clearly, her interest lay elsewhere.

Furthermore, the moment Bryn arrived before her and she noticed the state her servant was in, she ordered her to rest until night, as if the word urgency had no meaning for her.

"The King of Storms never physically damaged you, they only pulled you towards them and immobilized your hand, but...having your [Hailstorm] taken from you and then dispelled, caused incredible pain to permeate your body. Yes?"

Bryn nodded in shame.

If someone were to ask her where the pain was, she would only be able to tell them that it was in every part of her body, and at the same time in none. The word ‘phantom pain’ would be appropriate once again.

"Hmm…those who have arcane knowledge would pose a hypothesis that what was hurt in this case was the soul, but others would counter with saying that it was a whiplash reaction caused by one's own mana connection to the spell being severed. I hazard to say that it is a mix of both. After all, a soul without mana is still a soul, but one that received the world's mana is called a spirit. That is the source of our mana. Magic being then an extension of our spirit creating different effects, called spells, in the world. If someone were to subjugate it and break it...the backlash towards the caster whose spell was broken would be proportional to the magnitude of the spell, and in turn, damage the spirit."

Her words, full of the wisdom that she had acquired through the ages, quickly explained away what ailed her subordinate.

Nevertheless...it still hurt.

"Your [Ice Garden of Silence] was broken and you felt barely any pain, but when your [Hailstorm] was taken and broken. You said it felt like all your strength had left your body followed by a searing pain...correct?"

Bryn nodded again, holding down her head in shame.

Scath kept her hand near her chin while pondering.

"Add to that a Blessed Weapon that can purify the Evil God's Blood and enough mana to encroach a Dragon Lord's to the point of immobilizing them, planting fear in their minds..."

Bryn grinded her teeth in frustration as she listened to her Master's words.

To the truth that Black Knight had told her before leaving her on that mountain.

"The King of Storms, what a troublesome yet interesting existence you are."

Scath's lips formed an amused smile as she said that.

"It is obvious that the storm of a few days ago was related to you, as much as the Goddess behind it and that lance you wield."

As she spoke, her gaze fell on her servant for a moment and found her frustration equally amusing, but not enough to hold her attention for more than that.

Thus, she then turned to the window on her right and there, flying in the starry sky, she found a group of winged beasts looking for prey.

"Such an unexpected development is to be welcomed. After all, living this long and discovering that life still has surprises for me puts me in quite the fine mood."

As she finished saying that her eyes glowed with a violet for a moment and then, the winged beasts writhed in pain before they fell from the air, dead.

"Bryn, I will leave to you those subordinates you mentioned and do enjoy yourself with that human you seem so interested in. You may find a true battle waiting for you. For my part, I shall have a closer look of their master when the time comes."

"Yes...Master..."

With that, Bryn clenched her fist anticipating that battle…but she was unable swallow her frustration.

The words of the King of Storms ever looming inside her head.

"King of Storms, you seem to know about my involvement in the play that is the Kingdom and took away some of the props I had been seeking. Things will need to hasten and be not as amusing. So, at least entertain me well as payment, yes?"

Scath let out a small laugh as she looked at the moon while she dismissed her servant with her hand, for she needed no company to rearrange her play.

___________________________________________________________________

Or that is what would have happened if it wasn’t for all the lighting in her room turning off the very moment the door to her private quarters closed, leaving Scath in the dark.

But alas, she didn't seem to care. Her expression showed that she was more than accustomed to that happening.

"You lost the stone, Elder."

Said a deep voice within the shadows of the room.

"I believe I told you to refer to me as teacher or by name and not elder, boy."

Said Scath annoyed and losing the smile she had moments before.

"I am not that child anymore and you lost the stone that you promised to acquire. What shall you do?"

The voice reproached her in a hard tone, but Scath was unaffected by it.

"For me, you will always be that mewling child, no matter how threatening you try to sound. And that little stone is nothing compared with what lies under the Kingdom's Palace. That is a true treasure."

She looked at her hand, moving it casually, all without a single care in the world for the pressure the voice was creating around her.

She even seemed bored.

Even if all the lesser dragon lords in the area fainted due to that same pressure.

"Seize it."

Ordered the voice.

"Oh, I will, but not in the way you so desperately want. Do not dare try and mess with my play now that it has become more entertaining. Or else, shall I remind you why is one of your horns missing?"

Scath’s expression turned cold for a second, easily breaking through the pressure the voice was releasing and asserting her own.

A pressure filled with killing intent and the power to back it up.

The shadows stirred.

"Do not fail to make the Kingdom fall and take what lies in its ruins...elder."

Said the voice before the lighting to Scath's private quarters returned, signaling that the uninvited guest was gone and with that, Scath let out a tired sigh.

"You always must have the last word. That is why you keep being just a boy, no matter how powerful you get. And now, there seems to be someone that can even surpass you. So, that arrogance of yours will soon become a weakness. Still, King of Storms, what are you? Are you like us...?"

Her smile returned as she imagined what kind of scenarios would play out now.

Then, she extended her hand towards a set of ancient looking books and one came floating to her.

It was a grimoire, one that was surging with magical energy in a form akin to electricity, and on its cover lied what seemed to be the metallic skull of a horse.

"...or something more? That name of yours, shall we test it a bit more?"

A small laugh came out of her mouth as she enjoyed the night sky along with her thoughts.

____________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, back in Illumbee Village, two people stood in the dirt road the led to the capital from the village. Said road had revitalized cornfields on both sides, their leaves dancing with the nightly breeze.

If anyone saw them, they would be immediately thought of as suspicious people given that their little meeting was in the middle of the night.

"Here is everything that happened in these two days, make sure it arrives well."

Said one of the hooded figures as they gave a set of scrolls to the other.

"As always, it shall be delivered without fail."

Answered the other hooded figure, accepting the scrolls and quickly putting them inside a satchel.

Of course, they were both extremely careful of not saying anything more than necessary, like to whom those scrolls were for.

"See? I told you they were going to be here."

""...!""

But sadly, all that care was meaningless as the voice of an unknown female came out from the cornfield on right side of the road, surprising both hooded figures. Still, that was only for a moment, for they were quick to take out their knives, ready to deal with whoever got in the way of their mission.

"Wow, is that the right way to treat one of your comrades in keeping an eye to the village? Dove? Rat?"

The owner of the voice was soon revealed to be a slim brown-haired woman in a maid outfit as she came out into the open and let out such words while making an exaggerated offended expression.

“How did you know our cod—mph?!”

"Shut it. And you, none of our comrades looks like you."

Said one of the hooded figures as they stopped their comrade, a man, from saying more than they should by putting their hand on their mouth. Meanwhile, the woman widened her eyes in surprise and then she remembered something.

"Ah, right. Of course, you wouldn't recognize me. Oh well, my job was to distract you so forget about anything I said. Night, night."

With that, the woman waved goodbye to them, and while her words confused the hooded figures, that was only for a moment.

For regardless of her words, it was clear that the woman was an obstacle that needed to be removed.

"You are not goi—!"

As such, one of the hooded figures tried to attack her but…they failed to notice something.

They failed to notice that their accomplice was already knocked out cold on the ground and worst of all, at least for them, their turn had come too.

It was fast and precise.

They fell without knowing what hit them.

Specifically, who.

It was another woman dressed in a similar outfit, one with a seemingly shy demeanor and her eyes were covered by her bangs.

Luca, one of the Maid-Knights serving Auros.

An hour before this, the unnamed Maid-Knight had woken up from her slumber and went outside of her room, knowing that Luca was keeping an eye on her.

There, she told her about a certain meeting taking place.

And after consulting with Erevain and Auros, a plan was decided.

"Now, we just exchange these scrolls here with these ones that have false information about our general appearance, names and so on…"

Said the unnamed Maid-Knight as she took out the scrolls that were in the man’s satchel and replaced them with the ones that she carried in one of her outfit’s hidden pockets, all while humming happily.

"Done. With this Master can go to the capital without a hitch. Ah, just for context sake..."

The brown-haired maid smiled as she casually took the coin sacks of her former comrades, almost emptying them, only leaving enough money for the one who must return to the capital for their plan to work.

"..."

Luca looked at her reproachfully...or at least that is what the brown-haired maid felt.

"What? This way they will think we were after their money and not the information. You know, they were on a lonely road in the middle of the night. Shit happens."

She shrugged, confident that what she said made perfect sense.

In response, Luca sighed and started walking back to the village.

"H-Hey, wait for me!"

So, the unnamed Maid-Knight hurried to Luca's side.

Thus, another night went by.

 

To be continued...(cue Luca figure pre-order ad. Get your own cute maid knight now for only $999)