The stone crumbled under Aya's step, the heel of her black boots grinding the stone to dust. Her stance wide, and fingers hovering over the hilt of her sword, she uttered the words: "Fire moon."

Flames exploded from her sheathed sword, extending outwards from the tip of the hilt and the tip of the blade, curving inward as if to form a half circle. "First form: Rising moon."

Without drawing the sword, Aya directed the half circle - or rather, the crescent moon of fire - towards the figure. The crescent form of fire was faster than the eye could see; it reached the figure in the blink of an eye and then broke against the air in front of it, as if slamming into a wall. The form of the attack crumbled, shooting torrents of fire over and around the figure.

"Is that all?" the figure asked, unphased by the attack.

Aya took a deep breath. Even Aisella who was uninitiated in the ways of high-level combat could tell that this one breath contained within it an immeasurable malice and desire to murder.

"Second form: Sun burial," Aya said, closing her gauntleted fingers into a fist. Remnant sparks from the first attack coalesced around the figure, taking shape as flaming, golden feathers that hovered in mid-air, before lunging towards the figure.

This time, the figure had to dodge. Though to say the figure dodged would not be the correct way to describe it. One moment the figure stood there, defenseless, and the next he was several meters away from there, as the pinions bombarded the spot, forming a fireball that exploded quickly after, bathing the area in flames.

The flames, however, did not expand naturally, and instead they followed the figure, extending like a spear of annihilation towards it.

Aisella could feel the heat of the flames - in fact, she felt light-headed already. It was as if all the oxygen in the room disappeared and she could barely breathe at all.

The figure pointed a finger at the spear-like flame causing it to stop in mid-air as if frozen in time. Beautiful orange and red plasma hovered there, motionless.

"It looks like fire," the figure said, "But your Sphere is plasma. You are not human, are you?"

"The pot calling the kettle black?" Aya asked calmly. "Your Sphere... I can't even comprehend."

Aisella did not understand what a Sphere even was. This was the first time she heard of it. Even if she heard of it before, she could barely even form thoughts. The heat was so oppressive.

"Collapse," Aya spoke casually, and the frozen spear-like flame became more compact, shrinking down. Then it changed color, from orange-red to blue-violet. Lightning jumped off the fire, carving into the stone floor and leaving a luminescent, molten trail.

Then the spear broke free of its containment and lunged at the figure. An explosion shook the chamber, blowing out the wall on the opposite side of Aisella, and every stone fragment became dust as the lightning from the explosion touched them.

The figure took a graceful step backwards from the impact and the air about him changed. In hindsight, he seemed a lot more casual and carefree before, and by contrast, now seemed rather serious.

"I won't offer you mercy again. Give up Iris, and I shall forget about this," the figure said.

Aya finally grasped the hilt of her sword, fingers coiling around the leather wrapping. "Third form: Stell--"

Before she could finish, the figure appeared before Aya, his fingers coiling around her delicate neck.

"You, mortals, never cease to surprise me with your stubborness and your inability to read the situation," the figure said, as he lifted Aya off the ground. "Even if you create weapons like this thing, you can never reach the stars amongst which we dwell. Even your petty Gods can only look up with envy."

The Duke's expression was deadly serious.

"Because you cast down the ancient demons of this place, you think you severed the ties of your destiny? You think you distanced yourself from the order of nature?"

"You cannot have Aisella," the Duke said.

"Iris. Her name is Iris," the figure said. "And she is ours - she has always been ours."

"Aya," the duke said. "You have my permission to draw your sword."

Aya's eyes flashed red once more.

Without any obvious explanation, the figure let go of Aya and instantly jumped back - as far as he could get from Aya. Vexed - that was the only way to describe the mannerisms of the figure.

There was a crack on the figure's mask that was not there before.

"Midnight moon," Aya spoke calmly. "First form..."

As she spoke the words, Aya slowly began to draw the blade from its sheath. The blade itself seemed to reflect the light of the moon, even though it was mid-day. The light was cold, and pale blue, yet it was so intense that it seemed to make the whole chapel darker.

"I see," the figure spoke. "You have put Satella's fragments to good use, Baran. But even if I let you keep her, as useless as she is to us now, you cannot avoid what is to come."

"I will burn that bridge when I cross it," the Duke replied. "Aya, stand down."

The figure turned towards Aisella for a moment and then back to the Duke. "She is coming. Nine Suns and Moon will be whole again; I am eager to see how you will handle their reunion. Until then, I will be observing."

The figure shimmered out of existence, as if it was a phantasm all along.

Aisella was the most confused among them. In fact, it seemed like she was the only one who was confused.

"Father... who was that? What is going on?"

Of course, those were all important questions, but the question that burned the hottest in her mind was whether she was who she thought she was or not. Was her name really Iris?

"In Aelwyn Tradition canon, he is known as Mao Basarai Nen; Redemption Through Annihilation."

"Aelwyn Tradition?" Aisella asked. She has heard of it before, she was sure of that, but she knew next to nothing about it, except that it exists. It is not a religion, per se, but its followers were considered religious fanatics.

"Aisella, there is much that you don't know, and that I haven't told you. To begin with, you are not really my daughter. I will explain everything, but first, we must find a safe place. Duke Calion is waiting for us in his demesne. Let's go."