“Are you sure you can make it in time, Pruina,” Hikari said to the communicator.

“You made a high demand, Hikari,” said the voice from the other end of the receiver.

“Aren’t you the great Von Ozean?” Hikari dropped into a friendly tone with the woman she considered a friend. “I think you love challenges.”

“A city built by a Lord? Even I need time to crack that,” said the woman, Pruina.

“I’m fascinated you take the job,” Hikari said with mild disbelief. “I have no blueprint, no concrete detail, and you still accept my request.”

“Don’t fret about it,” the cold, snow-soft voice said humorlessly. “Luckily for you, Hecate is a rush job. Even if it is the Lord of Mechanical Magic, building a flawless city in two years is still too much of a tall order. Even a Lord with more time and better terrain made mistakes, much less someone as egotistical as Etaceh.”

Hikari was curious about Pruina Von Ozean’s strange familiarity with the situation, but she decided not to pursue the matter.

“Thanks,” Hikari bid farewell to a woman she considered a friend. “Bye, Pruina.”

“Take care of yourself, Hikari,” said the voice from the communicator.

Hikari switched off the communication device, letting herself melted in the puffy chair of her favorite coffee shop. Things were going well. Sure, there was a little bump in the road, and the risk of foreign subversion was more prominent than ever, but Hikari had neutralized the most urgent crisis and bought valuable time. Ciel, sympathetic to her cause, entertained playing a long-game. Nuan — as irritating as she was — couldn’t stop gluing herself to Hikari. The threat of Montgomery presented in Apolline halted after the Red Archangel dragged Hikari to the side after the orphanage visit and threatened her about the consequence of making those kids cry.

Hikari peered at the sample of the pills Ciel sent her — the main method of Etaceh’s invasion. Ciel told her about Etaceh’s infiltration into Eleanor. Hikari already made the plan to resist Etaceh’s influence. She already plotted to trace the drug’s supplier and prosecute their sale channel. Once those were done, Etaceh agents would be quickly identified and eliminated. While Borbonsi would gloss over the threat, capturing Etaceh’s agent would be more than enough to weaken her grip.

After that was where Pruina Von Ozean came in. Despite her inherent laziness, Pruina was one of the smartest women Hikari knew. The type would stop breathing out of laziness, if not for the fact dying would impede her scientific discovery. If someone could find an Achilles Heel in the flying city of Curtis and interfere with the various equipments and artifacts inside Etaceh’s arsenal, it was that egghead.

An interview with Ciel and Betty gave Hikari enough information to compile the list of potential threats and technology at Etaceh’s disposal. After sending all of that to Pruina, her only job for now was to wait for the sea-faring prodigy to do her things like she always had. 

Hikari got up from her comfortable chair and proceeded forward. She needed to inform the surviving members of the Golden Hand. It would be the first of a tiring long campaign.

…

Upon arriving at the Golden Hand’s dim dungeon, Hikari knew her campaign to rescue Eleanor had hit a brick wall.

A black sword was stabbed in front of the entrance to the gray corridor. Hikari knew what this black sword meant. She once stabbed that very sword into the same ground in her teenage years. This sword was once the rite of the passage, which shaped Hikari into who she was.

Obsidian Blade Challenge — a direct challenge for the leadership of the Golden Hand.

Hikari thought back to what she said to Ciel — the shakiness of her position and the potential threat it could bring. Now, before the sword which made her career, she slowly bought herself to accept the fact that everything that could go wrong had started to go wrong. The fire of resolve burned into her eyes, and she pulled the black sword out of the ground with a clang.

Victory was within her grasp. She had made every preparation needed to salvage Eleanor from its death spiral. All she had to do was overcome Murphy’s final spanner and put her foot down.

She knew the coming battle would define the fate of Eleanor.

…

For generations, the Black Hall tested those who rose to become the Gold Leader. A wide circular area the size of a basketball court, shielded by a stone fence, separated the ground paved with sand from the spectator area. A hole above the arena provided the source of illumination, allowing natural light to shine upon the duelist fighting in these matted black domes.

Like many generations before, all available assassins of the Golden Hand assembled to witness this moment uttered no sound as Hikari walked through the gap in the ring. She stabbed the black blade in the sand and greeted her challenger.

It was a sacred tradition to test the mettle of Gold Leaders. To lead the shadow enforcer of Eleanor, the candidate must find the hidden headquarters or serve among them. Then he or she must defeat the current Gold Leader in a one-on-one duel of the Obsidian Blade Challenge, with over fifteen assassins as a witness.

While she walked through the gloomy corridor, Hikari, in a pure-black combat butler suit, mulled over who would be crazy enough to chase for her fragile position in this turbulent time.

She got her answer in a brunette wearing a Beret hat and a crisp pure black featureless bodysuit.

“Carolina Westerna,” Hikari growled.

“Please, it’s only Carolina now,” said Curtis’ former Deputy Commissioner of Military Police. “You must be Hikari — the current Gold Leader.”

In her last appearance, Caroline Ex-Westerna barely dragged herself from the failed raid of Hecate, which saw the elite team of the Military Police annihilated. Most women would probably rethink their career, quit life, and start a quiet bakery after nearly dying from a hoard of killer golems and crash-landed into a side of a mountain. But Carolina wasn’t most women. The plucky girl picked herself from the dead career and started over in the land of crime, inequality, and trade.

For weeks, she brainstormed for a way forward, living on a small fortune she scurried away for this kind of rainy day. Then she struck upon an idea. As a Deputy of what was essentially Curtis’ secret police, Carolina had many transferable skills for wet works. She knew she was a perfect candidate for the Golden Hand. A humbler person might decide to start small, but Carolina was a risk-taker — a very ambitious risk-taker to boot.

So she aimed straight at the top. She made her preparations. She did her research. Finally, she came face-to-face with the final goal-keeper.

Carolina was confident in her victory. Few more hoops left then, viola, fortune and power.

“Do you know what you are doing?” Hikari questioned the obviously clueless Carolina.

“Challenging you to combat, climbing the career ladder?” Carolina answered as she put on a pair of black gloves. “Quite peachy.”

Hikari didn’t respond. The Obsidian Blade Challenge couldn’t be taken back. No matter what happened, the following combat would be inevitable.

“I hope you don’t regret this,” Hikari said. A twin knife slipped from her sleeves.

Carolina produced spherical storage artifacts — a NecroBall (yes, folks, Carolina is a Pokémon trainer), “Oh, you should be more worried about yourself.”

It was then the battle began.

Carolina tossed out the NecroBall, which exploded to create a gigantic tiger three-meters in length. The tiger immediately burst into flames and lunged at Hikari with all its tremendous girt.

Hikari dove underneath the leaping tiger. Her knives flashed, dividing the modified zombies in half, and causing it to explode upon defeat. Not a single hair on her head was signed by the clashes. Still, Hikari grimaced. It was clear that Carolina had gone shopping in Eleanor’s market, purchasing carcasses and making zombies to use in this battle. Aside from being an experienced intelligence officer, Carolina was also adept in necromancy, capable of creating many kinds of zombies. That last tiger, in particular, was effective in its simplicity — a giant tiger as base with salamanders’ additives.

From the first exchange, Hikari knew the battle wouldn't be an easy one.

Then Hikari felt the rising Black Mana.

Black Magic Rank 2: Slaughter x25

Twenty-five canon-balls of Black Magic appeared above Carolina and fired upon Hikari. They dropped like bombs, blowing craters after craters on the black sands. In response, Hikari weaved past the rapid bombardment. She hopped, spun, and twirled through the raining ball of darkness until she reached the stone fencing of this simple arena. Not wasting any time, Hikari put her boot on the fence, and began running on its wall supported by nothing but pure speed, technique, and Aura amplification. As she made a beeline to Carolina, Hikari threw out three throwing knives.

Carolina, surrounded in Black Mana, dashed to the side, dodging it with an Aura-clad speed. She raised her index finger and gave it a gentle tug.

Hikari, feeling the coming attack in her gut, leapt out from the wall as the stone was sliced in half. Carolina’s technique was invisible, with almost no telltale sign, but Hikari instantly deduced its identity — piano wires.

Steel strings laced with Aura flew in the air, connected to the black glove worn by Carolina. With this weapon, the full repertoire of Carolina was fully displayed. Aside from her skill in necromancy and Black Magic, Carolina was also an Aura practitioner who preferred piano wires as her weapon.

Hikari closely dodged the flashing metal strings, which sliced a tip of her hair. She twisted her way through the barely visible strands of sharpness, relying on her keen eyesight and gut-feeling. The Aura-clad strings landed several light cuts on her suit, and drew blood from her cheek, but Hikari successfully fought through the array of wires.

Hikari lunged with her combat knife, coated in Aura. Given wires were incredibly cumbersome to wield, Hikari believed she would best finish this fight at close-quarters.

Fully prepared, Carolina tossed another NecroBall. This time, a zombified spider emerged and spit webs on Hikari. It was a wide conical webbing that squarely tangled Hikari in a spiderweb.

Carolina snapped her finger, “Goodbye, Gold Leader.”

The webbing — lazed with extract from a Salamander — caught on fire, engulfing Hikari in flames.

As she tanked the fires, a doubt sneaked inside Hikari. The fight was lopsided in Carolina's favor. Her opponent was an advanced Black mage; a few steps shy from Rank 6 and backed by modified zombies. Meanwhile, Hikari was adept in assassination, not a duel. The ball was totally in Carolina court, and her victory was doubtful.

But at that moment of weakness, Hikari thought about what was riding on her shoulder. The orphanage that barely got started. Other social reforms to aid Eleanor. The victory of her hard-fought diplomatic tug-of-war with Unity Lord and Red Archangel. Hikari was carrying the nation on her shoulder. She couldn’t afford to lose this battle. She doubted Carolina would go ahead with the reform to the slum or the hospital she planned to build. Hikari thought back to the scholarship she wanted to make. The feeling of having a charity named after her filled her with a certain giddiness.

Apolline would never forgive her for losing. Someone needed to stop that clingy idiot from bothering the other guest. More importantly, she couldn’t afford to have Lord Ciel packed and left when she was this close to pulling a victory.

Hikari must protect Eleanor from Etaceh.

With that duty, Hikari gave it her all. She burst with Aura, tore off her flaming jacket, and threw a knife at Carolina through the flames.

The knife flew true with the speed Carolina couldn’t react to. It impaled her arm down to the bone, causing her left-side to go limp. If Hikari had time to lace the knife with poison, she would likely have won right there.

Hikari charged past the fire, closing the distance to finish the battle.

Carolina tried to stop Hikari charged with her wires, but the pain from the wounded arm made her wince. The knife sticking out of her wasn’t flung out randomly. Hikari was aiming for her blood vessels and nerves, and she hit it perfectly. Carolina begrudgingly gave her opponent credit for the marksmanship.

“S1-Explode!” Carolina issued a voice command.

The internal runes inside the giant spider flickered, causing the zombie to explode in a massive explosion right next to Hikari.

Undeterred, Hikari fought past the explosion. Her reinforced shirt signed from the heat, and her face tainted by the soot, but could still keep going.

However, the explosion bought some time for a Black Magic.

Black Magic Rank 3: Mental Pollution

Hikari was suddenly hit by a migraine. She faltered for a second, but powered through the spell. However, the following thread of Black Mana hit her at full-power.

Black Magic Rank: Puppetry

The Black Mana restrained Hikari, forcing her body to bend at an awkward angle. Still, she refused to bow. With raw willpower and tremendous Aura, Hikari overpowered the spell, snapping the structure of the Magic in a burst of raw power.

But those spells bought enough time for Carolina to pull out her trump card. It was an idea she had after being defeated in Curtis. Personally, Carolina partially regretted committing to its creation. She needed to pull several all-nighters to complete this.

The NecroBall hit the ground and a swarm of bats emerged, clouding the arena with wing rodents.

Hikari’s vision was soon interfered by fluttering wings and screeching of zombified bats, but that was far from the worst.

“B-Swarm, mass explosion!” Carolina issued the order and dove for cover.

The spectators, the seasoned assassin of Golden Hand, knew what was up and immediately followed Carolina’s example.

…

The force of the explosion collapsed the base of the Golden Hand. The tower which stood for generations of Gold Leader fell into piles of bricks, falling into the sinkholes of the Black Hall. The noise was thunderous, and panic soon spread across the slums. Screams, rose. Dust clouded the area, preventing most from making heads or tails of how the situation developed.

It was, without a doubt, the most destructive Obsidian Blade Challenge in the history of Eleanor.

…

Carolina crawled out of the stone fence which shielded her from the explosion. She should have won. No one could survive that point-black explosion. Carolina allowed herself to believe that for a microsecond, before being alerted to the danger, turning in time to stop the knife coming at her face with her good forearm. The knife penetrated her bone. Blood, her own blood, sprayed on her face, as she mustered the Aura to stop the killing blow.

But she still couldn’t believe what her eyes told her.

Carolina couldn’t believe it, “How are you still alive?”

Hikari looked terrible. If she wasn’t wearing black, her clothes would be dyed red. Her sleeves were torn from the explosion, revealing lacerated forearms. A river of blood was flowing from her forehead. Her hands were wet with blood and her left-leg was dislocated.

“No idea,” Hikari honestly  had no idea how she survived that explosion. “But I refuse to die.”

Carolina gulped. If it was her with that injury, she would already kick the bucket. The former Deputy Commissioner must admire Hikari’s endurance. It was one hell of a feat to stomach that explosion and get up with enough strength to stab her in the face.

And speaking of stabs, it hurt like hell. Hikari’s blade was dangerously inching to her face at the very moment. Even when battered, it was clear Hikari’s Aura was much stronger than hers.

As she huffed in pain, the Gold Leader’s pupil caught a sight of a bat from the corner of her eyes.

“I see the bat also comes with an observation function,” Hikari said, putting all her power into the stab. “What a shame. You are the first to survive my sneak attack.”

Carolina silently praised her paranoia while resisting Hikari’s final blow in agony. Aside from explosive function, she rigged several of her zombified bats with a spyware to look-out for a sneak attack. That streak of cleverness had saved her at the last juncture.

Carolina smiled, “Thanks for the compliment, but there aren’t just two functions in the bat, you know. It must be kicking in now.”

Hikari’s vision suddenly blurred.

“Poison?” Hikari slurred, feeling her grip weakening  “You lace the bat with vaporizable poison.”

“Yep,” Carolina said, gathering her Mana and using that moment to strike, throwing her forearm aside and tackling Hikari.

Black Magic Rank 1: Drain

Hikari felt her strength rapidly draining from the combination of poison and the Drain of Carolina straddling on top of her. This was bad. She was losing too much blood.

“Just give up and die,” Carolina growled.

“Dream on,” Hikari refused to give-in.

“Have it your way,” Carolina tapped her boot, causing the sole of her footwear to fall away. From it emerged a hidden scorpion. Unable to evade in time from the effect of the poison, Black Magic, and injuries, the zombie-scorpion successfully crept up Hikari’s exposed ankle and stung, injecting an elephant’s worth of paralytic.

Hikari went numb as the drug took effect. No matter how much she wanted to resist. Her body sank.

Carolina stood triumphant. Across the ruin of the Black Hall, the surviving members of the Golden Hand emerged from the wreckage and bowed to their now Gold Leader.

And with that, Eleanor’s fate was sealed.