“Not this one either . . .'' Yui sighed as she peered into a prisonerless cell. Rats scrambled back into the darkness at the sight of Miki’s orange glow. It felt like ages since she had donned her huntress garbs — an ebony silk, fitted tunic tucked into slim leather trousers, topped with a hooded pelerine — and prowled the shadows. The last she could remember was the Renegade Hunt. Though she did not mind this line of work, she’d rather feel the thrill of clashing steel than snooping for scraps like a rodent.

Nonetheless, another empty cell and the rising tension in Logtown began to prick her nerves. The people of Logtown voiced their concern and anger of yesterday’s tragedy by rioting and lashing out at outsiders or anyone who were deemed suspicious. Those who did not partake in the outcry hid indoors, fearful of being labeled a heretic and joining the others in ash. Her restaurant unspared from vandalism and looting. Relations with the other houses worsened; Agents shifted the fault of treason down each house then cycled it back and repeated. The Tridon houses were no exception. All due to the unclaimed purblight who wrecked the city, murdered the innocent, a knight of the Order. . . and a priestess of the church. Or at least that is what was declared to the public. But Yui had witnessed the true events.

Dark clouds had consumed the blue sky like a black tidal wave, the rain fell in an instant, and the wind conjured a ferocious storm, throwing small children with each gale. Then came the lightning. Bolts hailed down from the heavens, buildings collapsed and set ablaze, attendees struck turned black, and roads were left in ruins. With it, thunder cracked the sky and Yui felt the boom shake her core. But everyone who had a sense for the lords’ power had their focus elsewhere — the bell tower. Royal flashes spasmed across the city as if it were a beating heart. Something about it had a peculiar gravity that pulled her closer yet commanded a kneel.

When they had arrived, Leor cradled Ceri in his arms as lovers. Perhaps they did have that kind of relationship. No doubt it was tragic to lose a girl like her, but that did not concern Yui. Her duty was to her empress and clan. With the rising tension, she had sent most of her men away, ordering them not to stir any trouble until their summons. She would not have any accusations sully their empress’s honor. The only two she allowed to stay were the twins whom she commanded to guard and console Lady Maria during her difficult times of mourning. That and to keep her distracted.

Carving winds blew at her when Yui exited the tower turret. Her heels clicked silently against the puddled gray stone as she made her way to the parapet. Still, rain hammered the city, the usual summer sun nowhere to be seen for miles. It must have been mid-afternoon by now, but the black sea of clouds made it hard to tell. Unconscious guards laid disarmed on the floor, their fires and licht lamps kept alive so as to not warn the others. She stood by the wall’s edge of her seventh watchtower and scanned the remaining ones she had yet to storm. Many of the towers had been abandoned or empty of knights for reasons she did not know why. A handful were stationed at the burnings, another bunch at the church rounding up the refugees, a dozen where the third son of Lord Gwyn housed, and what was left tended to the rubble and debris. She did not have an exact number but surely there were more knights than that. . . the emptied towers proved it.

An erupting fire drew her attention below. At the base of the bell tower, an inferno burned atop a platform at the center of an audience. Bones snapped in the crackling fire. The wind howled with each body thrown into the flame as if their soul screamed knowing they have been forsaken by their gods. These unholy flames had been ablaze all day. It almost seemed the fire had turned black with death. Vile animals, Yui thought as she heard the crowd cheer and swear at the embered bodies. She could not help but remember her conversation with Ceri. Least I blessed the poor souls with sacred flames.

“Where could he be?” Yui wondered. She squeezed the two katanas resting on her hip, reassuring herself they were safely tied to her waist. It had been . . . too many years to remember since she held actual swords — not since Soul Bearing Rite. She thought back when she crossed swords with Leor, the sweet ringing of Yonchin steel filled the air like the metallic screech of a burnt tail hawk in the Smoldering Forest. It was then she realized Leor’s swords were from Yonchin, which was strange in itself — katanas forged with the Sacred Flame are forbidden to leave the country. But it wasn’t until she convinced Lord Alden to allow her to care for Leor’s weapon and glimpsed the teethed lightning hamon did she realize who they belonged to: Hayashi Minoru the Sky Splitter, the dual swordsman who was once Lady Azura’s retainer and guard during the Great Calamity. No one had seen him in some thirty years and now, he remains a legend for the children to admire. The fire within her burned at the thought. Only those who’ve been granted a rank by the empress may brandish a named blade, not an honorless purblight.

A flash of lightning raked the sky and caught her attention. The watchtower near the church was tormented with raining bolts, one after another, in a rhythmic dance. A faint violet mist rolled down its sides, bleeding from the arrow slits. Had it always been there? Beyond her comprehension, the tower seduced her forth. He had to be there.

Yui hopped from roof to roof, running along the wires meant for messengers, to reach the looming tower. The pressure in the air made her body feel sluggish as she was trekking through knee-deep mud. No guards manned the outside, just like the others, but this tower was different. The stone was cracked and moss grew between the crevices, the walls battered and holed. It had not been abandoned yesterday but perhaps months ago. At her command, Miki shot arrows made of solid flames spiraling along the stone, dissipating with each step as Yui scaled the outer wall, nimble as a panther.

A chunk of wall was missing from the highest floor, the remains were seeded along the scattered puddles. The purple fog drifted across the granite flooring from the hollow before her. Invisible hands dragged her forth by the limbs and voices of the dead whispered sweet nothings into her ear. It sent a shiver up her spine and goosebumps crept up her arms. Miki formed into her blade; flames trickled down the edge like a river of smoldering amber, painting the tunnel walls with a sunset hue.

An eternity passed as she walked through the abyssal hall. The crackle of fire and her heels echoed into the void, never returning back. Before long, she reached the end. To her odd surprise, she found not a cell but an aged timber and iron door with a tarnished bolt of Ouranós hidden beneath the rot and mold. The room was pitch black before Yui entered with her flaming blade. It was what she expected when faced with such an ancient door: cobweb-ridden, a table on the verge of succumbing to its age, and a bed layered with years of dust. It was there she found the man she had sought the entire day.

“Leor.” she called out to him.

No response. He sat still as ice with his back against the wooden bed frame, his chin tucked at his chest. Dark circles plumped under his hooded eyes and the color drained from his face. Yui glanced at the untouched food atop the table: a loaf of bread and a bowl of soup with the fat coagulating on the surface.

“An old bed chamber . . . Lord Alden favors you so. If not for him, you’d be rotting in a dungeon or your head’d be mounted on a pike where you slew the old knight.” She checked for a response to no avail. He continued his stare into some space Yui could not see. “The summons draw closer and the chasm widened with your doing, but I presume that means little to a purblight.”

Yui sighed in place of his silence and clutched the sword’s hilt. To think I praised his swordplay. “There are no greater weapons forged from the Sacred Flame. Yonchin prides itself with its superior steel, craving through earth and rock and metals as if it were paper. Many murder and steal to obtain a blessed Yonchin blade — named ones even more so.”

She removed the longer sword from her hip and illuminated the broken blade under Miki’s brilliance. Her fist tightened around the handle as the chipped edge mocked her.

“How could you let this happen? You dishonor my people’s work with your pathetic loss to a knight, one who does not wield the power of light I might add. And with Inazuma in your possession.”

Leor peeked through his bangs with half-widened eyes at the sword’s name. A reaction at last. The air in the room blazed but Yui did not seem to notice. She pointed Ikazuchi at his cheek. “You will tell me where you stole Inazuma and Ikazuchi, from whom, and how.”

“Are you finished?” Leor scoffed, unfazed by the point pressing against his skin. He turned his head to the wall as if commanding the conversation finished.

Fire rose within her and spewed onto the floor, Miki flared in size and vaunted her gigantic wings like two banners fluttering in the wind. All the shadows cowered back into their origin. Yui imagined plunging her sword through his chest and twisting it, but knew she could not. Her empress commanded her to hear what Lord Gwyn wanted and nothing more. If he wanted to see this bastard, so be it. She reached behind her and flung the other half of Inazuma, staking it to the timber floor. “Well, it matters not whether they were stolen or gifted. Inazuma and Ikazuchi choose their own master and your actions have brought ruin to their legacy. Just as you did to Ceri.”

Leor sprung from his seat and would’ve had Yui’s throat in his clutches if it weren’t for Miki. Yui eyed him, cold and stoic as ever; she had no doubt Miki would stop his assault. He glared at her with hollow eyes through her familiar’s flames, his hands clamped down hard around the phoenix. Miki screeched in pain, thrashed in his palm, her fire shrank as his hand tightened around her body. A sharp pinch squeezed Yui’s chest like a thousand needles jamming into her from all directions. Storm’s Decree glinted from the corner of Yui’s eye. Before she could move, Leor released his grip, his eyes fell dark. “Leave me be. . . please.”

Caught off guard by the sudden change of heart, she had Miki return within her. A cold chill breezed behind her. The hairs on her neck kicked up. Someone was coming. Tying the break-ins with the Yonchins was the last thing she wanted.

“No truth stays hidden forever. I pray you live long enough to see it.” Yui said before disappearing into the dark corridor.