“...Valkyrie.”

Byrhilda jerked up at the name, glancing over the crowd to see Homan moving towards her. Priscilla, who was standing next to her, moved between them.

“Why if it isn’t the White Wolf. If you’re still nursing a grudge over the last tournament, why don’t you settle it in the upcoming battles?” Byrhilda pulled on Priscilla’s arm and made a series of hand gestures.

“-Although Hilda here says that she can take you on anytime you wish.”

“...There seems to be a misunderstanding.” Homan shook his head in denial. “I have simply came to apologize.”

“What for-?” Priscilla cocked her head to the side, blonde hair spilling onto Byrhilda’s shoulder.

Hamon glanced around him before suggesting. “Perhaps we can take this to a more secluded area?”

“Is that something you should be asking a pair of ladies?”

Homan stared her coldly as he became the center of attention. “I came out of goodwill and with noble intentions. If you do not wish to reciprocate, then I will excuse myself.”

Before Priscilla could retort, Byrhilda tugged on her sleeve, shook her head and flashed a series of hand signs.

“It seems the rumors about you were misplaced.” Priscilla translates. “Come, let us go to my private viewing room.”

“Speaking of rumors, is it true that you turned down the Prince of Beast’s pledge?” Homan asked once they were seated in a small chamber near the center of the coliseum that was furnished lavishly and had a generous overview of the arena below. Homan was not accustomed to such luxury.

“It is true. I have no use for a fool that relies on the name of their family.” Priscilla huffed. “He even had the nerve to approach Hilda afterwards, so I ousted him and let rumors spread about my rejection of his proposal until he backed off.”

“...Is it me or are you acting differently?” Homan coughed, which caused Hilda to smile in response.

“The Princess of Flowers has an image to maintain in public. But as an apology for my actions, I believe you deserve a measure of trust.” Priscilla held up a kettle and eyed Homan, who shook his head in response. “Suit yourself.”

After Priscilla and Byrhilda had settled in with their respective cups of tea, Hamon decided to bring up the heart of the matter.

“You are aware that the matches are fixed in the favor of certain individuals, then?”

“Of course. How else would that unscrupulous rapscallion be the first ranked male cadet?” Priscilla smirked. “I intend to give him a rude awakening in this tournament.”

“My only fear is that he would act against Hilda here. My protection can only extend so far.”

Byrhilda made a few gestures, and Priscilla laughed. Almost as an afterthought, she turned to Homan.

“Hilda says to let them come, and she would cut them down. It is only a shame that the overgrown lizard doesn't dare to face her head on.”

“She's quite fearless, isn't she?”

“Which is why I refuse to accept anyone else as my knight.” Priscilla smiled as Byrhilda turned a shade of red. Homan wondered for a moment whether or not the rumor about the two’s relationship was true but quickly dismissed the thought.

“It seems that we have strayed off the main subject. I have come to ask the Valkyrie to be lenient in one of the upcoming battles.”

“Oh? The proud White Wolf is asking for leniency? Is it an underclassman of yours?” Priscilla’s curiosity was piqued, and even Byrhilda raised an eyebrow.

“Actually, one of yours. A first-year girl with the name of Yuelei Alia.” Homan’s words provoked a deathly silence from the two.

“May we hear your reasons?” Priscilla finally relented.

“I believe she has connections with the white wolf.” Homan continued. “Or perhaps she is the messenger of the Snow Princess herself, as there were rumors that she wields ice as if it was her plaything, and she converses with an Ice Phoenix.”

“We are aware of your story… But if I remember correctly, you have a duel with this person before Hilda here does.”

“I intend to forfeit.”

“It seems that not only you are convinced, you are also quite resolved.”

“There is a debt owed that must be repaid.” Homan shook his head. “I am not arrogant enough to ask you to go easy on her, but simple hold your blade if the chance presents itself.”

“Hilda says that it is a courtesy that can be payed.” Priscilla translated Byrhilda’s sighed. “But if she is the person you claim her to be… her strength may not be something she could hold back for.”

As Homan left to prepare for his upcoming battle, Priscilla turned to Byrhilda.

“Perhaps there are people worthy for you to unsheathe your treasured blade of holy lightning against after all.”

“Hey, watch it!” A figure behind Jourmind scowled as he walked through the crowd. The rowdy marketplace filled with human voices made his headache, and he had taken a different path through the slums.

“Didn’t you hear me? Are you too good to apologize!?” The haggled woman trailing between Jourmind grabbed at his trailing cloak. Unable to move forward without having his hood yanked off, Jourmind stopped.

“What the hell is wrong with you? You smell like a rotten corpse!” At her words, Jourmind’s mouth slowly twisted into a self-mocking smirk since that was precisely what he was.

“Look at me when I’m speaking to you!” The mentally ill woman’s ramblings were starting to raise in volume, and Jourmind fixed his dead eyes onto hers as she yanked at his cloak again.

“You….. you!” Jourmind’s red eyes seemed to shock the woman, causing her to shriek. “The dead walk among us…”

At her words, Jourmind’s ashen hand stirred restlessly, and the next moment, a dark curved blade sprang from the woman’s back. The brief sense of clarity he had before all but faded away, dimmed by a dark hazy mist in his mind.

It is said later in the day that several corpses were found in an alley. The culprit was never identified.

“Goddess. Heed my words.” Arfled’s armor flashed brightly as it was imbued with last traces of his magic. The clinging Shadowless slowly fell off his body, one by one, burnt away by the light that was fueled with the last vestiges of his strength. No longer able to feel pain, he charged into battle, wielding a spear forged from light.

“Let my left hand to cleave those that harm the innocent, and my right to bring judgement to my foes. For the sake of those I hold dear, grant me the power to do what is necessary.” A prayer to the Goddess sprang from his lips as Arfled mustered the strength to continue. Shadowless after Shadowless fell, littering the ground with piles of white flakes. Even the Shadeless could not escape his wrath, his attacks knocking them over fifty meters into the distance.

Even as his body was torn into pieces, he did not relent and continued to cleave down one after another.

“Once more Goddess, grant me the strength to triumph over one more...” Arfled continuously repeated until he fought to the bitter end.

This was what it meant to be a knight, and a father.

“Hmm, it seems that the subjects from the Adventurer’s Guild is more sturdy than most.” Councilmember Siana laughed as she held up a cruel-looking dagger with a serrated edge. “I should really strive to acquire more individuals from there instead of the average combat slave.”

“Kill me…” Zuan begged from the torture rack, the skin of his belly torn aside and revealing everything within.

“Oh, you will be killed in time... once I'm done with this.” Diana flashed a grin as she rummaged through a potion rack.

“You… you won't get away with this. The Adventurer’s League will... eventually find you.” Zuan tried to muster up the saliva to spit at her, but his voice was choked up; It was likely due to the needle that stabbed through his lungs injecting a vicious-looking purple liquid.

“Now, now, Zuan, do you remember our little agreement? It would be a shame if something were to happen to your wife and daughter now, wouldn’t it?” Unfazed, Siana simply warned him again what would happen if she was displeased.

“Do hang in there until I’m done, will you?”

“By the Goddess, what happened here?” Several figures atop horses poked around the Justinia Estate. Some of them ventured into the storage cellar, others were moving aside what was remaining of the Justinia mansion.“How can there possibly be ice and snow in the middle of the Month of Light?”

“Don’t touch the statues! Keep away from them!” The commanding knight yelled at his subordinates as he turned to a woman in a white outfit with a large two handed sword strapped onto her back. At the hilt, the weapon was affixed with the symbol of the goddess, and the sides of the hilt tapered off in what appeared to be wings.

“Sister Niana, I’m afraid we couldn’t find any bodies, much less survivors…”

“...Then it is as I feared. We were too late.” Sister Niana said quietly. As soon as Galvin had cut the connection, she had petitioned the High Priestess to personally set out as reinforcement. Was the one girl mentioned in the reports capable of doing all of this?

“But, this cold is truly unnatural.” The commanding knight commented as he rubbed his gauntlets together in an effort to warm up. “Even though the sun is beating down on us over our heads, I don’t feel as if the cold is going away at all.”

“Powerful magic tends to linger, and whatever caused this was nothing if not powerful.” Sister Niana explained, although she wasn’t quite confident in the answer herself. Whatever caused this frost wasn’t powerful, it was downright devastating. Some of the pillars of ice that jutted out from the ground were easily three times the height of a human being, and there were even corpses of birds that had froze to death in midair and fallen to the ground. However, what truly bothered her were the hundreds of ice statues that littered the grounds. Many of them had already melted, but some still had the distinctive claws and gaping maws of the Shadowless.

“Sir! You’re going to want to see this!” A young cadet rushed over, yelling to get their attention.

After following the cadet for while, they had found a dome shaped structure made from ice. A small entrance to the side had particles of light pouring out, and Sister Niana realized it wasn’t light but white flakes.

“...Sweet Goddess” Sister Niana instinctively held a hand over her heart as she saw what was inside the dome. The knights behind her stopped in place as they beheld the location of Arfled’s last stand.

Although the ice dome blocked off light, the inside was illuminated by the heaps of white flakes that littered the ground, the ephemeral signs of a Shadowless’s defeat that vanishes with dawn. At the very center of the dome was a clear area where a battered set of silver armor laid, accompanied by a pair of swords stuck into the ground.

“Just how many did he kill?” The knight commander murmured as he stared at the piles of flakes that rose up to his ankles. “A single Shadowless only creates a handful of flakes at best…”

“We shouldn’t move forward any further.” Sister Niana gave the order to return, thinking it was not right to disturb this holy resting ground. “Something like this should be reported to the High Priestess herself, she would like to come and see it for herself…”

Just as she finished, a cracking sound started to occur and she gasped in shock as the dome started to open from above. As soon as the first ray of light touched the pile of flakes, they flew up and disappeared, until all that remained was Arfled’s armor and weapons.

“...What’s that?” A cadet pointed out to a blue scroll that had fallen from above at Sister Niana’s feet. As she grasped it in her hand, she had a sense of unease as the bluish paper seemed to radiate cold. She opened it and glanced over its contents.

“So.. what does it say?” the knight commander asked cautiously.

Sister Niana did not say a word as she shut her eyes and closed the scroll. A split second later, she turned and left the dome while tracing a communication rune in the air.

“...What have we done?” Sister Niana’s words were only caught by a few, but those that heard her were struck with a deep rooted sense of foreboding.

“Why! Why is there a human at the very top of the tower!” A young girl in dressed in royal regalia cried out in frustration. “How can the Enlightened Beast of the Marble Tower be a human?!”

“Human? Did my power look to be that of a human or something?” Fieluri cocked her head and gestured to the ground around them where flames, ice, lightning, and all other manner of elements fizzled on the ground. “But that look on your face is quite something to behold of all of those that have ascended to here.”

“You… what are you?” The girl who was on her knees used her sword to lift herself up the ground. “Where is the treasure? The potion that cures all illnesses? A portal to a different world?!”

“Ah… you heroes always ask the same question.” Fieluri reclined on her marble throne and yawned. “The tablets at the bottom that claim things from ‘ancient treasure’, ‘the secret to immortality’ and ‘portal to the heavens’ are bait to draw in adventurers and heroes like yourself.”

“But why? What is it that you want?!”

“Amusement, and your lives.” Fieluri replied nonchalantly. “You can say this Enlightened Beast has a certain craving that can only be fulfilled by the greatest of stories, and whose soul contains such a story if not those of heroes?”

“That’s…”

“So do entertain me before you fall, fabled heroine with the heart of dragons, wielder of Saika, Lilianna of Lorresta!”

“No! I refuse to play your little game.” Lilianna snarled at her and turned around to leave.

“Is that so? Then I’m afraid the lives of your comrade will be for nought.” Her words caused Lilianna to halt her steps and turn around.

“It was not for nought! When I return to the bottom, I will tell the entire world of your lies and together we will rise and destroy this tower!”

“Then I will simply raise another. I was tiring of the color white anyway.” Fieluri shrugged, unconcerned. “But there is one thing you said that is wrong.”

Lilianna hesitated, thinking that to continue this conversation is exactly what the Enlightened Beast wanted. She struggled, but her curiosity got the better of her, and she opened her mouth.

“What?”

“Treasured swords, immortality, a portal to another world, even the rebirth of your father’s kingdom.” Fieluri smiled as she spoke, a certain corrupted allure that tugged the hearts of men creeping into her voice. “All of that is possible, if you can defeat me.”

“You lie.” The girl replied, but even doubts were starting to form in her thoughts.

“A demonstration then.” Fieluri clapped her hands, and a large two handed sword was deposited from a portal. “Woah-” Fieluri caught the hilt before the blade could sink through the marble ground, cutting through it like paper.

“This is Worldcleaver, the weapon spoken of in the tablets below. As you can see-” Fieluri casually swung the sword with one hand and a tearing sound assaulted the girl’s ears. She watched in shock as the clouds in the sky seemed to split in half while a gigantic fissure formed at the base of the Marble Tower that continued to grow and spread outwards.

“Hmm. I suppose even I can’t wield this with simply one hand.” Fieluri shrugged as placed her other hand on the weapon, intending to give it another swing.

“Stop! There are people that live at the base of the tower!” The girl yelled. At her words Fieluri simply grinned, raised Worldcleaver higher in the air.

Rinnnnng. The sound of colliding metal drowned out the sound of the wind atop the tower.

“Didn’t I tell you to stop!?” The girl gritted her teeth as a deep cut appeared in her armor despite the fact that she had blocked the blow with her sword.

“To be able to take a strike from the Worldcleaver…Admirable.” Fieluri praised. “But I thought you were leaving? I won’t stop you, but I do need to deal with my irritation.”

“Is that how you’ve managed to convince all the others before me to stay?“ The girl’s eyes were filled with rage.

“Something like this tower… Something like you…”

“Should not… Must not be allowed to exist!”

“Then-” Fieluri leaned forward and whispered the girl’s ear. “-kill me”

For a split second, Liliana wondered if that was a pleading note in her voice.