Lord Meruria had predicted Lord Geron’s witch would be the first to enter the battlefield. She was a master of lightning, and she accurately called the attack that she would use to announce her entrance.   

And yes, it was powerful.   

But Quella was the superior mage. The entire sky turned dark as night with thunderclouds, and it became filled with lightning bolts twice the size of what the witch had used to destroy that wyvern knight. And yet, she had enough control to shock the very particles in the air. She smashed the clouds, and those tiny, atom-like chunks dispersed over the battlefield like a horde of fireflies.  

And as they descended upon foe and ally alike, only our enemies became paralyzed.   

Paralyzed.   

Not killed.   

This was an order from Meruria herself—she knew there would be deaths, but she wanted to use Quella’s incredible control to end the fight as soon as possible.   

Why?  

I didn’t know, but perhaps it involved showing leniency to your enemies to more easily take over the country. Prisoners could be returned to friends and family and still be alive to break bread.   

Corpses couldn’t do that. 

But Quella’s role was finished. The storm would continue to spread towards the target. And everything in its path would lose control of their limbs for six hours.   

Only those strong enough to endure would retain some motion in a finger or toe.    

I used Carter’s drones to regroup the army. That took an hour, but not everyone would march on the city. Not even Lord Meruria could teleport us that far into Uquenia from Junsa, so we had to march the rest of the way. It was me, my sister, and 4,000 men, who had been resting for this moment. Half of us had horses. The others ran, and we sped down the road, stepping over paralyzed soldiers. Those with steeds focused on reaching the capital city. Those without mounts were collecting the fallen guards and imprisoning them.   

“Oh, you’re so beautiful, sister! The way your hair bounces behind you… Your regal look! You were always cut out to be the head!” My sister piled on the compliments. Her eyes sparkled like gemstones when she looked at me. 

“It’s time for you to shine, my sister... Let the world see your beauty... Let them gaze in awe upon your righteous strength...”  

“I shall shine bright enough to dull the sun if it’s for you!” 

---

We ran our horses fast and hard and reached the city five hours later. By then, the particles from Quella’s spell had ceased, and the paralyzed entities along the route were waking up.   

There was chaos in the city amongst the battalions stationed to defend it. It was understandable. Their limbs had been locked away for almost a quarter of the day. And they had to see the ominous thunderclouds approach.   

It was a force they hadn’t seen before. It was so overwhelming that people lost their minds. We arrived at the wide bridge leading to the gates, left our horses, and proceeded on foot, leaving behind 70% of our men to safeguard the rear. We marched across the bridge and waited for an aerial unit to take flight. They soared to the ramparts, fighting their way to the gate controls. It took a handful of minutes for the chains to cry out, opening the path forward. 

But it wasn’t empty. 

We were met with soldiers drunk on last-minute bravery—a desire to be echoed throughout time as proud heroes who protected their city, but they were slow. Dull, even. My sister moved like water, flowing like silk as she ducked and dodged, escorting our attackers to a quick death even after they refused to surrender.  

They could've surrendered after my sister showcased her power, but they never threw down their arms.   

Compressed nationalism could be either the most beautiful thing or the most foolish feeling in the world... 

“Let us continue, Sister.” Lori flourished her spear and pointed with her weapon’s tip. I joined her, and the others followed us down the city’s central path. It would lead to the square, and Lord Geron’s castle would be to the left—halfway between the eastern wall and the city square.  

“There they are! Fire! Attack!!!” Someone from the nearby roof shouted, and forty archers popped up and began a barrage of arrows and magic, but Lori and I swung our weapons and created a powerful wave of pressurized air, preventing the projectiles from coming close to tasting our blood.  

“Surrender now! You won’t get another opportunity!” I shouted, swapping to Shocking Flake. I illuminated the skies in a vivid, rampaging storm of lightning that brought everyone to their knees. The powerful display sapped any bravery, and I was sure the same happened over town.  

“We…can’t… You’re monsters… You’re monsters!!!” This time? They heeded our words and prevented unnecessary deaths.  

“Are we monsters?” I asked my sister.   

“I’ll become one if it’s what you desire, sister.”   

I looked behind and saw our allies shaking in their boots.    

A glare from me, and they remembered how to move their legs. They were to spread out and control the vital areas, restrain the surrendering soldiers, and keep the peace while my sister and I proceeded to the castle.  

“May the blessing of Lord Meruria be with you both! Men! Move out!” The leader of the aerial squad squawked and flapped his wings, taking flight to the rooftops with ropes and chains.  

My sister and I ran through the city, and after arriving at the city square...with the castle in our sights... 

“I won’t allow you to progress anymore! [Judgement Pillar]!” A beam of holy magic smashed into the pavement. My sister and I jumped back and readied our weapons.   

“Above?” I saw a shimmering outline of a man riding a pegasus—a winged-horse horse from our world’s mythology. His armor was golden and shiny. His helmet was fully closed. I didn’t know what he looked like.   

Four others were floating behind him. One was a knight wearing armor with a dragon motif who wielded a spear. One was a witch on a broomstick. It glowed a soft silver—the same hue around their bodies. The other female was a woman who looked like a prostitute-turned-assassin, and the last was a man with a beard as long as his arms hanging from his chin. His robes were frayed and tattered—looking just as worn as the splintering staff he held.  

But appearances couldn’t be trusted. Those items were undoubtedly made just for that mage.  

“I don’t see your lord. Where is he?”  

“He has no need to come and face you,” said the pegasus knight. His horse neighed and flapped its wings.    

“The town has been taken. You cannot hope to defeat us. Protect your potential, knight, and surrender.”  

“Potential?”  

“That’s right. Your deaths will be futile. They won’t amount to anything. Bend the knee to our lord, drop your weapons, and you will keep your head.”  

“They are not the type to listen, sister,” said Lori. She readied her spear and transformed it into Black Viper. The sinister fangs leaked venom.    

“Your sister is right! We fight to defend Uquenia!”  

“And what do you think we’re doing? Shall I remind you of the state of Junsa?" 

“IT WASN’T SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THAT!” shouted the witch. She groaned and gripped her head.    

Infighting? 

“It does not matter. Since you don’t intend to bend the knee…”  

Lori stabbed Black Viper into the ground, causing snakes to burrow from the pavement. They spat darkness at our enemies, who easily dodged them. The pegasus knight flew around the skies, summoning a lance of gold. The tip glowed, then released accelerated beams, which I deflected away with a mere parry.   

He kept the assault while the witch used more lightning, but Shocking Flake acted like a lightning rod. I held the katana up and focused, using the accumulated energy to charge it. Before I let it go, the dragon lancer dropped from the sky, his spear aimed towards my head.   

I dashed back and readied a counter, meeting the surprised knight with something he didn’t expect. He leapt back, then the assassin appeared from a cloud of dust behind my sister. She sensed the strike and ducked, then grabbed her spear and went for the kill.   

“Not so fast!” I looked up and saw the aged wizard chanting. The assassin appeared beside him, a look of abject horror on her face. She touched her stomach and vomited from uncertainty.   

She was mere hair lengths away from death.    

“End the farce.”  

The pegasus knight replied with more beams. I sighed and deflected them towards his allies. The wizard used a shield, but I used the energy I had accumulated to launch the same strike I used to destroy the demon-filled temple’s entrance.   

They couldn’t block it. No, the wizard had no choice but to teleport them away mere moments before they were reduced to dust.    

But Lori was there. She used Earth Spike to create rocky pillars, and I sliced them with Wind Speed, then used them as projectiles to keep the pressure up. They teleported a dozen times before he groaned from exhaustion. They started to fall, but the witch grabbed the assassin and wizard. The pegasus knight and dragon knight landed. They faced us down.   

And the fight began in earnest.    

It was a whirling clash of blades. Lori met her opponent every step of the way, meeting him thrust for thrust. Sparks from their strikes dazzled her face.   

“Focus on the fight!” The pegasus knight charged with the lance. I met it head on and pushed his weapon away. Wind Speed engulfed my body, making me faster than his projectiles. I danced around his horse faster than he could turn, and my strikes wore away at the armor protecting its hide. He shouted with each blow dealt, cursing me.    

My senses tingled.   

I jumped into the sky and switched to Shocking Flake, using its icy abilities to coat the blade in pure snow. I let it go, shooting a beam of frost towards the square, engulfing half the town in a layer of cold.   

And right there, standing where I had just been…  

The assassin's daggers were readying to take my neck, but I saw through it.   

“Metica!” cried the pegasus knight. I looked at Lori and saw her on the advance. Her flurry was too fast. The dragon knight needed everything he had to remain standing.   

“Don’t turn your eyes from the fight.”  

“What?!”  

“[Install: Thunderflash].”  

I became the embodiment of lightning and descended just as fast.   

My target?  

The horse.   

I cleaved through its head, slamming into the ground hard enough to radiate a shockwave that damaged the entire city. The unsteady force combined with the frost and scattered flakes into the sky, where they joined together in Shocking Flake’s sole combination ability.   

“[Thunderfrost Annihilation].” I raised my sword and summoned a bolt of lightning, which spread amongst the flakes, creating a tremendously large electric field that dropped the surrounding temperature to below freezing.    

“AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”  

The pegasus knight and his allies screamed in pain.  

The steed he was on vanished, so it wasn’t physical. The knight, however, remained steady. But the armor became slightly transparent as the conflicting nature of electricity and ice engulfed him alive.   

The witch and assassin had dropped their knees and coughed blood. The wizard had long since bowed out of the fight since he ran out of mana. It took all he had to keep his eyes open.   

Their skin was turning blue-gray. Frostbite was settling in.    

And the dragon knight?  

He had determination. He endured my sister’s attacks, not allowing his knee to touch the ground. 

“I…” I looked at the golden knight. “I won’t let you do this!!!!” He grew wings and took flight, flying high into the air. He ascended with so much force that he scattered my attack to the far reaches of the city, diluting it to the point where it canceled itself.    

I looked at my sister and saw her wield a spear that wasn’t there.   

It was called Phantom Pain. Only she could see it. Whatever it ‘cut,’ ‘thrust,’ or ‘pierced’ wouldn’t die. But they would feel the agony it would’ve caused. It was the perfect torture weapon.   

Or one to use when training. Or when you needed to defeat your enemy and didn’t want to kill them. But the pain wasn’t real. It was fake. Anyone with a strong will could shrug off that which wasn’t there.    

But she had it plunged into the dragon knight's heart, and his heartfelt cries nearly drowned her voice.   

He wasn’t strong enough. It sounded like he was screaming beside my ear through that enclosed helmet.    

“STOP HURTING HIM!!!!” Suddenly, I heard the golden knight's voice. I looked up and blinked. He was there, flying towards me with his lance held down. It shimmered brighter than I had ever seen it.   

“Hmph.” I sheathed my katana and focused… Sight wasn’t necessary… All I required was my senses… I waited… Reading the flow of the wind… Harnessing the noise…  

My breathing had all but stopped… 

There... 

I drew a blade only I could see, ‘severing’ my opponent’s head with one sword while simultaneously using Shocking Flake to stop his downward thrust.   

Two forms at once.  

I had achieved it.   

“GGGAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!” The knight screamed with the invisible blade lodged deep inside his head. I sent him away into the sky, expending most of Shocking Flake’s remaining energy to send him higher and higher as the ground cratered beneath my feet, shattering in a spiral, web-like pattern. Lori kicked the dragoon to the ground and left him there, then switched to Earth Spike. She used the last remains of her soul energy to create four pillars as high as I had sent my opponent.   

Wing Travel, another of my katana’s forms that had little wings etched on the blade and handle, appeared. I threw it at the ascending pillar, got it stuck, and then used its ability to teleport to it. I repeated that until I got to the top. The knight was still soaring, and I dashed from pillar to pillar, using Phantom Pain to force him to experience phantom death.     

“No… I can’t… Not here… I can’t die!!! I CAN’T DIE!!! I… CAN’T GIVE UP!!!” A golden light encased my opponent. It morphed around him like a ball, and when it broke, he was back on his winged-horse.   

“A second wind? It does not matter how many times you try. You will never win. Let us fight, pegasus knight.”  

We dueled as we fell to the ground. My opponent wielded two lances, and the horse shot light beams from its mouth.   

It was a spectacle. A pure volley. We clashed every second as I kicked off the pillars, breaking them. I had no choice but to use Wing Travel to teleport between the raining debris.   

But he never landed a hit.   

I always deflected or avoided them.   

His anger got the better of him. His wrath dulled his instinct.   

He was a toy, and I was the maker.  

But…  

He never gave up.   

He always attempted to take my life.   

If it didn’t work, he’d try it again.   

And if that failed, I knew I could count on him to give it another go.    

You learned a lot from swapping blows. It was the fastest way to know someone.   

And this knight… He wasn’t true to himself. He held hesitation in his heart. He wanted—yearned to be something he wasn’t. But why?  

“MARK!!!!! GET AWAY FROM MY BROTHER!!!” The witch flew in. A trident of lightning laid at the front of her broomstick. I kicked off Mark, the knight, and used Wing Travel to pierce the witch through the thigh. I grabbed her boom after warping to her, shattered it upon her head, stabbed the lightning-tipped trident portion through Mark’s legs, and kicked off her neck, accelerating her towards the rapidly approaching ground.   

“LULU!!!!!!” screamed Mark.    

The wizard managed to conjure a barrier at the last second. It shattered in her place, preventing her life from coming to a short and abrupt end.    

But I couldn’t say the same for Mark. After kicking him off his pegasus, I used Shocking Flake to taste his stomach’s blood, then filled his insides with lightning. We smashed into the city square, creating an even larger crater. I held a copy of Shocking Flake to the sky and used its lightning rod to attract all the leftover lightning particles for one last attack.   

The sky darkened. 

The very ground shuddered.  

A thousand large cracks webbed out from the epicenter, spreading all over town. I heard collapsing buildings nearby. And the castle? It was in ruins. It must’ve happened during the fight, but I didn’t know when.    

And the armor…  

It finally shattered…  

And the man inside?  

He was but a boy—probably around 13 or 14, with blond hair and a mole on his chin.    

“Consider me impressed, Mark. I don’t know how you’re still alive. Shall I correct it?” I jumped back, leaving my sword in his stomach. It took but a mere thought to recall it to my hand.   

Mark clenched his teeth so hard he chipped them.   

“I’m…” His words were filled with pain. Blood flowed like a waterfall from his stomach wound. “I’m not done.. I… I can’t….. I can’t stop. It’s not over… [Essence of Pegasus]!” More golden mana coalesced around his outstretched hand. His armored gloves appeared half-heartedly.  

He couldn’t sustain it.    

“JUST STOP IT, BROTHER!” Lulu dragged herself over. Her eyes were teary--her hat ruined. She looked at his leg and saw the wound I had inflicted on him. The aged wizard was kneeling with his head lowered. The assassin wasn’t moving. Neither was the dragoon, but both were alive. If only barely.   

“Bend the knee. Accept defeat. Surrender. Or you will die. And that would be a shame.”  

“Shame?” Mark scoffed, then vomited blood over his clothes.   

“Your potential shines bright. Death will be but a naught waste for someone like you. I cannot guarantee your survival, but I do not wish to take your head. Make your decision quickly, Mark. Your friends do not have much time left before the reaper comes to claim their lives.”  

Lori joined me, dragging the dragoon behind her. “He is inexperienced. His ability reminds me of us as children. But there is growth. I sense untapped potential.”  

“Indeed. The city has fallen. Your army is in disrepair. Who can save you? Your Holy Lord? I do not sense him.”  

“Fine… We…surrender… Your power… It’s so overwhelming… There’s no way we can win… We’re going to die anyways… Lulu… Forgive me… Metica… Hugo… Vincent… I’m…sorry…”  

“I don’t understand,” I said, retrieving potions from a pouch I held around my hips. They were just potent enough to stabilize my opponents.   

“It’s Geron. He can kill us at any moment with his miasma. He holds the axe above our necks…dangling it… It doesn’t matter if you kill us. If Lord Meruria spares us, we can still die if Geron chooses to end our lives.”  

“Sister, I think Lord Geron…”  

“I concur. Lord Geron's Soul Warriors were under duress from the moment of summoning. How awful. Until we know more, we can lay the blame solely on him…”  

“What?” Mark drank the potion and coughed because it went down the wrong pipe. “But we…”  

“Brother…” After Lulu downed her potion, she poured it down the assassin's mouth before removing the dragon knight’s helmet, revealing a man with blond hair and black tusks sprouting from his mouth. He didn’t look like an orc, so he was probably a species exclusive to the world he was summoned from.    

“Save your breath and strength for our summoner. I cannot promise your lord won’t appear, but he shall die by my hands if he shows himself.”   

And with that…  

The battle was over…  

The war between Cridia and Uquenia was short, and it came to a quick resolution.   

But…  

These Soul Warriors… They didn’t seem like they could create the bomb that blew up in Lord Meruria's church. I knew Lori thought the same. Lord Geron was a master of miasma. I doubt he would’ve used something other than his specialization if he wanted to cripple Cridia.  

What need was there to use his poison to hold his warriors hostage?  

Something didn’t make sense.  

“Carter,” I turned around and looked up at a drone. “Report to Lord Meruria our success. The battle is won. The war is over.”