Leon felt like an invisible weight around his shoulders had been lifted as he returned his mind to the physical world. Scrapping his Mind Palace had been the best decision he’d made in a while, and was the sole reason he had a light smile on his face.

That the Thunderbird was impressed with his lack of sentimentality was another source of pride for him; she had said that the reason many people remain at the sixth-tier rather than ascending to the seventh was that they grew too invested in the time and effort that they’d already put into a Mind Palace that would never work. They’d get stuck trying to fix or perfect something inherently flawed, and in doing so, rarely, if ever, finish their Mind Palace and ascend. This held true even in the Nexus, at least from what the Thunderbird knew of the place as it was now, where the baseline power level didn’t even reach above the sixth-tier despite the abundant magical resources to assist progression.

But as Leon leaned back in his stone chair in the underground camp that, until a mere few hours before, had housed his unit, reality came crashing back in, obliterating his good mood and leaving him with nothing but depressing thoughts, chief among them was what he had to do about Valeria.

During the battle, she’d ascended to the fifth-tier, allowing her to use elemental magic, greatly increasing the threat she posed to him. Without Trajan, without Naiad, without Lapis and the giants, without the Barons and their retainers, Leon was more vulnerable now than he’d been in years.

He had to stop procrastinating. He had to act before she grew any more powerful. He had to act before he lost anything else.

So, still fired up a bit from his decisiveness in the throwing away of his Mind Palace, Leon rose from his chair and left his room. Most of the neighboring rooms hewn from stone were empty. They’d been the sleeping quarters of the Barons for what little time they’d spent here. A few Legion soldiers and noble servants were busy moving things in and out in other sections of the camp to prepare for the higher-ups in the Legion and noble armies above to move in if they were going to stay for longer than a day, but at least for a few hours, Leon and the few survivors of his unit that stuck around had their sleeping quarters to themselves.

Across the hall from Leon were Marcus and Alcander’s rooms. From the sounds that Leon could hear, the two were in Marcus’ room playing some tactical board game as they wound down from the long battle and processed the terrible losses they’d taken. A little further down the hall were Alix and Valeria’s rooms. Alix had racked out, but Leon noticed with his magic senses that Valeria was still awake and experimenting with her new powers by creating small objects out of ice. Fortunately, it seemed that she hadn’t yet begun experimenting with her magic senses, for she didn’t appear to notice Leon’s quick probe.

Before going to Valeria’s room, Leon went and got Anzu. The young griffin had been laying down in his own chamber right next to Leon’s recuperating from his wounds. Leon’s healing spells had done most of the work, but Anzu still needed some rest. Despite this, when Leon poked his head through the door, Anzu’s head shot up and he stared at his human.

“Come on!” Leon called to his war beast, and Anzu rose as quickly as he could and bounded over, almost pushing Leon over as he nuzzled the human.

Leon took a few minutes to give Anzu plenty of head pats and to run his fingers through the griffin’s feathers before proceeding, enjoying what could very well be the last few moments of calm he’d ever experience. Once he confronted Valeria, there would be no going back. He’d either convince her to join him or make an enemy of her. If the latter came to be, then he’d have to kill her or she’d get away and tell her father about him, which given how most of Leon’s family had ended up, would force Leon into hiding or be assassinated.

So, despite everything that Leon had ever gone through, all the battles and killing and violence, his heart still pounded in his ears. Blood rushed through his veins so quickly that he almost thought that they’d explode before he could get this over with. Dread settled into his stomach like a heavy meal, weighing it down and making him feel weak and sluggish. He noticed his hands start to shake as he slowly preened Anzu’s wings and he felt a terrible lump in his throat.

And then it was time. Artorias. Trajan. Naiad. Lapis. The memory of all those that had supported him in some way flashed through his mind, giving him strength, reinforcing the conviction that he used to throw away his Mind Palace. It was time.

Leon looked up at Anzu, who’d grown so much that he now towered over Leon. Their eyes met, Leon’s shining gold and Anzu’s bright red, but both so strangely similar. An understanding passed through them, one that Leon needn’t explain. He sensed the smallest, subtlest waver in Anzu’s aura as a thread of killing wound its way in, and he knew that the griffin was with him one hundred percent.

Leon turned around and walked back into the hallway, his footsteps echoing in his ears. He was almost painfully aware of every step he took, shockwaves racing up his leg with every step as if he were a thousand feet tall. Each footfall took him one step closer to answers, one step closer to vengeance, or one step closer to death.

He thought of Elise. He regretted that he couldn’t speak to her about this. He regretted that she would never allow this to happen if she knew—one of her best friends and the man she loved about to come into terrible conflict. No, he knew she’d never approve of this. Worse, if Leon failed and had to escape, then he could imagine that his enemies would go after her. Unfortunately, the die had already been cast on that front; she was too close to him for them to ever ignore her.

But he had to do it. If things went south, he’d return to her and beg for forgiveness, but he had to do this now before Valeria slit his throat in his sleep.

He passed Alix’s door and briefly considered letting her in on this. She knew his real identity… but no, Leon didn’t want to involve Alix in something so deeply personal. He moved on, leaving the young woman to rest. She’d earned it, and from the way her aura radiated from her, Leon could tell that she was close to the fourth-tier, perhaps close enough to reach it with a couple of weeks of hard training.

Just a few more steps and there he was, outside of Valeria’s door, his face a grim visage of intent and hostility. This was his last chance to bail, to return to his room and pretend that Valeria was just another friend, just another knight that he could fight alongside of without thought. The last chance he would have to ignore the strange looks she’d been giving him, the last chance to ignore the fact that she probably knew who he was.

Pausing only to whisper a quiet apology to Elise and to conjure his armor, Leon pushed the door open and stepped into the room.

Valeria was still there, sitting on her bed practicing with her water magic. Her closed eyes snapped open as Leon entered her room and her right hand instinctively went for the glaive leaning against the head of the bed. Fortunately for Leon, her armor was piled up in a corner and not in her soul realm where it could be easily summoned.

“Sir Leon!” she exclaimed in surprise as she rocketed to her feet, glaive in hand. “What’s going on? Are we being attacked?”

“No, no we’re not,” Leon replied, his tone grave and serious enough to send chills down Valeria’s spine. “We need to talk.”

“A talk… in armor?” she asked. Leon noticed that she subtly tightened her grip on her glaive, so he began to call upon his lightning magic, just in case.

Leon took a few more steps into her room, just enough to let Anzu inside. The griffin slipped past him as smoothly as a snake, and though he moved with grace and silence, the way he kept his eyes locked on Valeria made her feel like a rabbit that had been cornered by a lion. When he came to a stop, he was between Valeria and her armor.

“Sir Leon, I—” she began, but Leon cut her off when he quietly closed the door, leaving the three about as alone as could be in the underground camp. None of them had much room to move in the cramped room, but Leon knew that they’d have to get very loud for anyone outside to hear them, making the small space worth it for that extra privacy alone.

As the door clicked shut, Anzu’s body tensed, and he lowered himself down and furled his wings as if he were getting to pounce on Valeria. She backed up a step and assumed a more overtly defensive posture, raising her glaive and keeping it between her and Anzu.

Her sapphire blue eyes, usually so cold and stoic, now frantically landed on Leon, and he could see deep fear and panic within. ‘Good’, he thought. At the very least, it was about as good a confirmation as he would get that she didn’t have some hidden guardian waiting in the wings to strike down all those who threatened her. It seemed that they truly were alone.

Answering the obvious question in her gaze, Leon simply stated as matter-of-factly as he could, “You know who I am.”

Valeria was quiet for a long time, but her eyes darted from Leon to Anzu and back again several times as if she were weighing her options. Leon sensed a thread of killing intent rise up from within her, but it was quickly suppressed. The rest of her aura, however, remained strong, and he could tell that she had already started to call upon her new powers. He didn’t, however, assume that it was a sign she was about to attack, and instead silently praised her wisdom for preparing to defend herself. He stood as calmly as he could between her and the door, his face stoic beneath his helmet, his off-hand resting on the hilt of his sheathed sword, his right hand hanging at his side. He did his best to project an air of confidence and control while she processed his intrusion.

After a long moment, though, Leon continued. He couldn’t let the responsibility for action fall upon her shoulders, not when he’d already lost so many.

“Say my name,” he whispered with a calm that surprised even him, though his voice carried with it an undercurrent of his power that had Valeria’s hair standing on end and her heart beating so fast that Leon could see her neck pulsing in time. “I know you know who I am. So tell me who I am. Say my name.”

As he spoke, his left hand tightened around the hilt of his blade and an arc of lightning flashed around his fingers. The Adamant metal was warm to the touch, and a feeling of comfort and power flowed into him through it.

Valeria stared at him, fear written all over her face. But when Leon finished speaking, that fear turned into something more desperate, something that gave Leon the impression that she was going to attack him.

He prepared himself for a fight, and Anzu started to twitch as he glared at Valeria.

But then her expression softened, turning back to the careful, controlled, perfectly neutral expression that Valeria nearly always sported. It took Leon a little off-guard, but when Valeria lunged forward, her glaive raised and on course to slash Leon across the chest, he drew his blade and deflected in one clean movement. It was a move he was familiar with given their habit of sparring with each other, and with lightning magic coursing through his body, she had no chance of taking him by surprise.

Anzu wasn’t far behind Leon. He shrieked and sprang, his talons raking across Valeria’s exposed midsection and his beak sinking into her right shoulder. Valeria cried out in pain and dropped her weapon as Anzu tore into the meat of her shoulder.

Leon then took a step forward and slammed his armored fist into her stomach. Her abdomen was already tight and as hard as iron from the pain of Anzu’s attack, but Leon’s strike with his gauntleted hand was powerful and she gasped and collapsed as the air was forced out of her lungs.

With a wave, Leon had Anzu release her and back up, her blood spattered over his white coat, his red eyes fixing solely upon her. If she so much as moved, Leon knew that Anzu would lunge again.

To prevent that, Leon kicked away the glaive—though, given the size of the room, it didn’t travel far—and stepped on her shoulder, simultaneously pinning her to the ground and putting enough pressure on her shoulder wound to keep her from bleeding out too quickly. Anzu had done serious damage, Leon could tell, and even with his boot keeping her shoulder from bleeding, the mauling she took to her stomach and lower ribs was already bleeding profusely, soaking her tight blue shirt in crimson blood and bright red mana.

Leon stared down at Valeria as she stared back up at him, something akin to sadness and resignation in her eyes. He didn’t think she’d move again, so he recalled his helmet back into his soul realm, allowing them to properly lock eyes.

With a shallow sigh, Leon asked, “Why did you do that? You can’t have imagined that you would kill me.”

“No… no, I didn’t,” Valeria gasped, her voice strained by pain. “I was… kind of hoping you’d kill me.”

“I need answers that you can provide, you’re not dying yet,” Leon replied.

Valeria smiled weakly. “And what… questions do you have… Leon Raime?”