Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka Gaiden – Sword Oratoria - Volume 6 - Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 A DUO OF SUN AND MOON 

Meren’s port lay flush with the elliptical curve around the brackish expanse of Lolog Lake. To the east of the port rose its trade and fishing piers, easily its busiest quarters, and to the west, its massive wharf and shipyard, where the giant galleons sailed in and laid anchor. 
On the occasions when the wharf wasn’t full, it opened its docks to overflow passenger ships from the trade pier. Even now, enough ships to form a fleet were tethered to its moors. In the shipyard, which jutted into dry land, a number of ships in either mid-repair or mid-construction lay in wait. 
Now that high-seas monster attacks were all too common, it had become common these days for shipwrights to coat ships, especially the bottom, in various types of sturdy ingots, though the most expensive (and most effective) ingots like mythril were reserved for boats of the wealthy and other large-scale vessels. 
Minerals and ores from the Dungeon like the resilient noh steel sold especially well here. And because the exchange and sale of Dungeon drop items were handled by commercial familias and merchants as well, this made for some rather aggressive negotiations when it came to the minerals they bought up from adventurers. 
Currently, the shipyard was devoid of shipwrights of any kind under the veil of night. The magic-stone lanterns had all been snuffed, and the warped outlines of wooden ships floated against the night sky. An eerie quiet, unsuitable for the “gateway to Orario” that Meren was, had settled over the perimeter. 
It was in this shipyard that they found Argana. 
“I’ve been waiting for you,” she greeted them in the tongue of their country. Behind her, a great many other Amazons awaited. 
“What happened to all the people here, huh?” Tione responded in kind. Argana’s smile never faltered. “I thought they typically worked late into the night.” 
“They…decided to turn in early.” 
Tione scowled. 
“Where’s Lefiya?” Tiona asked next to her. 
“She’s with Kali and Bache. Not here.” 
Compared to her crude Koine, Argana’s Amazonian language was smooth and fluent, with not a single stutter. She raised her arm, pointing off in a direction away from the city proper. 
“You’re to continue on, Tiona. The way will become clear. Bache is waiting for you.” 
The two sisters glanced at each other. 
Then, a nod. 
They had no choice but to obey their opponent’s demand and split up, effectively negating any chance they might have had to work together. 
“Don’t lose, Tiona,” Tione whispered behind her just as the moon peeked out from a gap in the clouds, bathing her in its light. Her eyes never left Argana. 
“…I won’t. You don’t, either,” Tiona replied briefly before running out ahead. Parting from her sister, she took off in the direction Argana had indicated. 
“You’ll follow me, Tione.” 
“…” 
Remaining vigilant, Tione made her way toward the other Amazon. 
They boarded a large galleon currently docked at the wharf, bodies melding into the darkness. 
“We’re going to fight here? Don’t you think this is a little conspicuous?” Tione remarked, brows furrowed, but Argana simply laughed. The rest of the Amazons quickly disappeared inside the ship. 
“Seeing us won’t do them any good if they can’t follow us.” 
Almost as if on cue, the ship began to move. 
As Tione gave a jump, large oars plunged out of the ship’s hold, landing in the water below, and soon they were sailing, farther and farther away from the wharf. 
“It’s a bit of an impromptu battlefield, so I’m afraid it won’t give us quite as much space as back home.” 
The ship sliced through the surface of the lake as the oars of the powerful Amazons belowdeck propelled it forward. 
“They’ve put some thought into this, huh…?” Tione murmured under her breath as the ship shuddered beneath her feet. No way anyone’s getting between us this far out at sea…It won’t be over till one of us kicks the bucket. 
Considering the ship’s “engine” was an entire host of Telskyuran warriors (each of whom was as powerful as a top-tier adventurer), even if another oar-driven ship set off from the coast now, they’d never be able to match their speed. 
It was an unreachable arena, a ring atop the sea. 
The perfect location to conduct the rite Argana so desired. 
And it had Kali’s name written all over it. 
“—Found them.” 
At the same time as Tione was boarding the ship, Aiz was focusing on a certain glint of light far off in the distance. She rose to her feet from her hiding place atop a building near the pier, alerting the girl behind her. 
“Narfi, go get the others,” Aiz ordered. 
“Roger!” Narfi responded, but Aiz was already gone. Darting out ahead of the group, she raced her way toward the shipyard. 
Tione…! 
She could already surmise Kali Familia’s plan the moment she saw Tione board the ship together with the group of Amazons. She had to catch up with them before that ship crossed over the ravine in the lake and disappeared into the open sea. 
Her legs moved even faster, turning her into a golden bullet as she sped forward. 
Only then— 
—Guuuuuwwwwooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggghhhh!! 
“?!” 
A thunderous roar shook the very air around her. 
“Violas?!” 
“At a time like this?!” 
Her peers shouted out in surprise from atop the roof behind her. 
There were seven of them, emerging with an explosive boom from the cargo area where multiple ships had unloaded their freight. Vibrantly colored petals parted to reveal spine-chilling jaws, sending tremors all throughout the peaceful port town. 
“Wh-whhhhuuuuaaaaaaaaaaagh?!” 
They’d appeared in the middle of the port, close to the trade pier, and upon seeing the monstrously large flowers reaching for the sky, the few sailors who remained in the vicinity let out screams of terror and ran for their lives. 
Why now? It couldn’t possibly be a coincidence, could it—? 
But Aiz didn’t have time to process the multitude of questions currently racing through her head. She had to act. And she had to act now. 
Ahead of her, she could see Tione’s ship putting more and more distance between them. 
Behind her, the violas were already going to town on the passenger ships currently moored at the dock, tentacles flying. 
Screams were now rippling all throughout the trade pier, and though it pained her, Aiz shouted instructions behind her. 
“Gngh—take care of them first!!” she screamed, sliding to a halt before spinning around. 
Though Tione’s ship was now disappearing behind her, she had a duty to protect the lives of the town’s civilians. 
“Violas?!” 
Tione looked out from her rapidly accelerating ship to see Aiz and the rest of her companions facing off against the swarm of man-eating flowers. As she stood there, slack-jawed, Argana’s voice rose to meet her. 
“Those are nothing but a diversion. Nothing more, nothing less. Pay them no heed.” 
“…Then…then you’re involved with those monsters after all?!” 
“I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about. We here knew nothing of the method of diversion prior to now,” the other Amazon responded noncombatively, her gaze fierce. 
Tione felt her rage begin to grow as the ship passed over the lake ravine and out into the open sea. Meren got smaller and smaller on the horizon, together with its accompanying cliffs. 
“But enough about that. Let’s begin.” Argana smiled with a sort of pure, unadulterated joy now that the time had come. 
Tione turned around, her mouth still closed as she faced off against her opponent for the rite. 
“…” 
The golden-haired, golden-eyed swordswoman struck out against the giant man-eating flowers. A ship was wrenched in two by those flying tentacles and flipped over on its side; the sailors fled for their lives; the fishermen pointed at the spectacle in frozen fear; shrill screams began to echo from every corner of the city. 
He watched all of this as he walked against the flow of the fleeing crowd of demi-humans and away from the scene. 
“?Riveria.” 
Loki took note of the man in question. 
The fishing pier was enveloped in a catastrophic cacophony as crowds of people came racing one after another out of the trade pier, joining the fishermen as they raced toward the safety of the city up on its higher ground. 
Riveria and her small group were standing by on the fishing pier, ensuring Aiz and the others could keep the monsters firmly contained within the net of the pier. She’d just started to make her way over to help them fight when Loki stopped her. 
“Now of all times! What is it, Loki?” Riveria and her comrades turned toward the goddess with a start. 
“I’m peacin’ out. Gotta go chase down a culprit…the one who set those violas loose in the lake, that is. Detective Loki has arrived!” Though her words were jocular, her eyes held a very real sense of sincerity. 
“Then we’re to come, too? But what of those monsters?” 
“Aizuu and the rest of ’em can handle those critters. ’Sides, all of us groupin’ together is exactly what the enemy wants,” Loki explained. The timing was simply too perfect for them to be anything other than a diversion, and Loki knew it. “You noticed it, too, yeah?” she continued, throwing a glance at the silent Riveria. “Not even our opponent knows what’s goin’ on anymore…Maybe they’ll turn tail and run.” 
“Then you’re saying now’s our chance?” 
“That I am. It’s time to present them with some evidence they can’t talk their way out of.” Loki’s eyes turned toward where the man she’d been watching previously had vanished. 
Though most of the group had no idea what Loki was talking about, Riveria remembered their conversation from earlier and the “threads” Loki had been hoping to follow. 
“…You’re right that Aiz and the others should have no trouble taking care of the situation on their own. But what of Tione and Tiona?” she asked after a moment of silence. The entire reason why Riveria had chosen to take out the violas immediately rather than wait—even despite the obvious trap—was so that either Aiz or she could continue to chase after Tione and her sister. 
Loki could see the high elf was concerned, perhaps thinking that Loki was simply hanging the two sisters out to dry. She replied optimistically all the same. 
“I’ve got faith in my kids! Everything’ll be fiiiiiiine.” 
Riveria didn’t have a response to that. 
Instead, she simply sighed. 
“’Sides! S’not like you can just go burning things up with your magic in the middle of town, right? Even you said so earlier! Leave the city destruction to Aiz and the others.” 
“…I suppose there’s nothing for it, then. Understood.” 
“Great. Then I’m leavin’ you in charge of that.” 
“Leave it to me. Alicia!” 
“Y-yes, m’lady?…What is it?” 
Riveria quickly leaned forward to whisper in the young elf’s long, slender ear. 
Alicia’s eyes widened in surprise, and then she nodded. 
As the two mages ran off ahead, Loki turned toward the rest of the group. “Rakuta! Elfie! Come with me, if you would? I know you just recovered, but yer gonna be my good luck charms. Leene, you and the other healers’ll stay here to look after anyone who gets hurt.” 
“U-understood!” 
Then Loki sped off into the night, followed by a very flustered hume bunny and elf. 
“We’re into the endgame now, girls!” 
 
Tiona continued straight along the path Argana had indicated. 
She walked out through the back of the shipyard, up and over a pile of ship parts in the far corner, then into an outcropping of wild trees near the lake’s cliffs. 
The way will become clear. That’s what Argana had told her. Just as she was beginning to wonder what on earth the other Amazon had been talking about, a sudden certain odor made her nostrils twitch. 
“This smell…” 
She knew this smell. 
Sniff, sniff. Her nose twitched like a dog’s as she made her way among the trees, when all of a sudden it came to her. 
Iron. It was iron. Iron mixed with rust. 
It was a smell she was all too familiar with, her daily bouquet back in her stone room in Telskyura. 
It was the smell of home. 
She understood what Argana had meant now. No doubt, they’d left her a trail of blood from wounds cut with rusted blades. Following the unforgettable smell through the woods, she began to run. 
“Here…?” 
She burst out of the trees, coming face-to-face with a small inlet, remarkably similar to the one she and the rest of the familia had played in upon their arrival in Meren. 
It was a little smaller, making it even less noticeable than their previous oasis, and deeper, too, more like a miniature ravine. The biggest difference, though, was its lack of a beach. Rather than facing the lake, this inlet took on the brunt of the sea, and the salty waters cut away at its walls of rock. 
“A sea cave…?” 
She spotted a small opening in the rock, carved away by the waves and large enough for a gathering of people to pass through. Descending down the cliff, she made her way over to it and found that it didn’t stop there, instead traveling deep into the earth. The black rock formed a cavernous tunnel of sorts, and after standing there studying it for a moment, Tiona made her way inside. 
The salty water barely came up to her knees, perhaps a result of its proximity to the lake, and after walking a short while, she found it disappeared completely, as the higher ground held the water back. Soon, the tunnel itself began to split off into all directions, almost like an ant colony, and her bare feet slapped against the darkened rock as she continued along. 
“Geez, it’s like the Dungeon down here.” 
There was no way anyone was going to be able to find them. Even if one were to stumble across the cave, sniffing out anyone hidden within its passageways would be near impossible. It was no wonder Kali and the others had chosen this cave to conceal themselves, and now Lefiya was down here, too. 
Most of it formed naturally, but…human hands certainly helped it along, she thought as she eyed the magic-stone lanterns hanging from the ceiling. The light was mixing with the faint moonlight peeking in through tiny cracks up above. The smell of blood she’d been following continued down one of the tunnels, and Tiona hastened her step, occasionally descending farther into the long, vast cavern. 
Finally. 
“So you made it.” 
“!” 
She found herself in a large open grotto. 
High above her head, the ceiling formed a wide cylindrical shape. The jet-black stone of the rest of the tunnel continued into the expanse, making the cave feel almost like the inside of a giant stone coffin. 
Atop the piles of rock to her either side stood her former colleagues, the warriors of Telskyura, and sitting cross-legged on the highest of the peaks was the source of the welcoming call—Kali herself. 
In front of her, though, was the one who mattered the most. 
The sandy-haired Amazon, her face half-hidden by her black neckerchief, stood there in silence, waiting for her. 
“Bache…” 
“…” 
Bache didn’t respond, instead merely directing her gaze toward Tiona. Her eyes glinted beneath the strands of her sandy bangs. 
“…Where’s Lefiya, Kali?” 
“We’ve got her somewhere else. Don’t worry, though. We’ll let her go…once the rite’s been finished,” she explained, her bloodred eyes narrowing in a look not dissimilar to a child who’d just recovered her long-lost treasure. “I must admit, I never thought this day would come. The opportunity to watch pupil challenge teacher, to see just how far they’ve each developed.” Her words crackled with an earnest zeal. 
She glanced toward Tiona’s chest, eyes narrowing in disappointment. 
“Though some parts haven’t developed as much as I would’ve liked…” 
“Can we cut it with the comments on my figure already?!” Tiona shouted back with an angry wave of her hands. 
As an aside, while Argana’s and Tione’s bust sizes were approximately the same, Bache’s surpassed both of them. Between the two younger sisters, Bache had beaten Tiona by a landslide. 
“—Prepare yourself, Tiona,” Bache spoke up, uttering her first words since the now red-faced Tiona had entered the room. Her voice was cheerless, a signal that the pleasantries were finished. “This is a fight to the death,” she continued matter-of-factly as she flung out her right arm to settle into a battle-ready position. 
“…We really have to?” 
“A little too late for that now, isn’t it, Tiona?” Kali said from above. 
“Yeah, but…I don’t wanna kill Bache…” Tiona responded without looking, her eyes focused directly on the woman in front of her. It was much the same as when she’d expressed her unwillingness to kill Tione all those years ago. 
“I should never have read those books to you…” Bache stated, her tone callous. She didn’t even move. 
Tiona scowled, but even as she did, she couldn’t help but notice something. Bache was cold, much more so than she’d been ten years prior. In fact, it almost seemed like she was now so sharp that the icy aura of antipathy around her was tangible. 
She was now more powerful and heartless than Tiona could have ever imagined. 
So close to becoming a “true warrior” of Telskyura. 
“You…killed Elnea, didn’t you?” 
“I did. Just as Argana killed Belnas…It’s what allowed us to reach Level Six.” 
Elnea and Belnas were the other two candidates in the running for familia captain. The last time Tiona had seen them, they’d been Level 5s, powerful enough to make Tiona shudder in fear and awe. Killing Elnea had been Bache’s final test—the rite that had propelled her to Level 6. 
Just like Argana. 
Both of them had become monsters manufactured by Telskyura, the sole survivors in the barrelful of rats, cannibalizing the others to make their way to the top. 
“I’ll give you no choice but to fight.” 
If Argana was the snake… 
…then right now, the warrior with bloodlust permeating her eyes was… 
“—Die Asura.” 
The ultra-short chant from Bache’s lips cut off her thoughts. 
It was similar to Aiz’s spell. Bache’s only magic. 
“Velgas.” 
Bache thrust out her right hand, a blackish purple film of light surrounding it. 
Then it solidified, growing rich and viscous enough to completely hide the initial radiant image summoned by the chant; it wriggled and squirmed to form a raging spiral. 
This was Velgas. An enchantment Bache cast upon her right hand. 
Element: poison. 
An undefendable, venomous fang she’d already used to incapacitate so many of her brethren in the rites. 
Yes, if Argana was the snake, then Bache was the venomous insect. 
Even her magic itself had been appropriately dubbed the “Poison Queen.” 
“?!!” 
As though waiting for just this moment, the crowd of Amazons surrounding them stamped their feet down in unison. Amid the tremors and shouts, the excitement and roars, a volatile sense of passion and fervor erupted throughout the stone coffin, bringing the rites of Telskyura to life before their eyes. 
“…!!” 
The poison in Bache’s magic guaranteed a swift kill. 
If Tiona didn’t fight back, she’d be dead before dessert. She had no choice but to ready her own fists as her former teacher—and another younger sister—aimed for her life. 
Standing there in the middle of their grotto battlefield—no, arena—their gazes met. 
“Heh. Perfect. Let’s begin.” 
Kali smiled as she looked down at them—then the two Amazons struck. 
 
“Nowwww, Haruhime.” 
Heavy clouds shielded the moon up above. Down below, the woman in question responded with a resigned “Yes, ma’am.” 
“—Grow.” 
She began the spell, chanting softly. 
“That power and that vessel. Breadth of wealth and breadth of wishes.” 
Though her voice was delicate as it wove the ephemeral tune, the magic it summoned was strong. 
“Until the bell tolls, bring forth glory and illusion.” 
As the sky shook with a thunderous roar, the shouts of adventurers shrill in the air, not a single soul noticed the hum of her chant. 
“—Grow.” 
The heavenly, commanding sound of her voice drew forth a golden light. It formed a mist, a golden cloud of luminous particles, rising from the ground. 
The veil hiding her face fluttered. 
“Confine divine offerings within this body. This golden light bestowed from above.” 
She hated this chant. 
Even if it ended up hurting someone, she had no way to save them. 
“Into the hammer and into the ground, may it bestow good fortune upon you.” 
No, she couldn’t save anyone, this puerile girl who refused to stand up against the laws that bound her. And to hold such a hope was nothing short of shameful. 
But perhaps, this light by itself would one day become a blessing. 
Though someone as stupid as she couldn’t be saved, perhaps it could be the sliver of hope that could save someone else. 
If that moment ever came, she would bestow everything upon that person, her body, her heart, and this light. 
Her jade-green eyes now uncovered, she looked away, then released her light. 
“—Grow.” 
The light became strength. 
 
“Guuuuuuuuuuuwwwwwooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaarrrrrgggghhh!! ” 
The deafening roar ended in a cry of agony as it pierced the very heavens. 
With one arcing swing of her sword, Aiz severed the head of the final viola. 
“That’s all of them!” 
“Are there any casualties?” 
“At the moment, no…The citizens have all been evacuated!” 
The voices of her fellow familia members filled the air of the loading dock, Narfi at their center. 
Though for many this had been their first encounter with the giant man-eating flowers, they’d come out of the battle relatively unscathed thanks to the intel Aiz and the others had already gathered on the beasts. They were, after all, members of the famed Loki Familia, which meant the whole lot of them were prodigies, even at Levels 2 and 3. 
The entire affair was over barely five minutes after the monsters had first appeared. 
The lights have all gone out…Could it be because of the battle? 
Aiz thought, having taken out four of the seven flowers herself. A sense of unease passed through her as she eyed the mostly snuffed magic-stone lanterns decorating the trade pier. It was almost as if someone, or perhaps the violas themselves, had purposefully smashed them in the midst of all the chaos. 
“…!” 
She didn’t have time to think about it long, though. 
Tiona’s and Tione’s faces sprang to her mind, and she immediately dashed off and into the night. 
—I’m afraiddddd I can’t let you do that. 
All of a sudden, she could have sworn she heard the croaking laughter of a frog. 
Then. 
“That was a wonderful show you all put on!” 
“?!” 
As the frigid voice gave a hiss, an entire swarm of shadows came flying out of the sky. 
“What—?!” 
“Kali Familia?!” 
The rest of Loki Familia was just as surprised, letting out shouts as the ambuscade of mysterious foes surrounded them, brandishing their weapons. The girls flung back a barrage of weapons of their own, from atop the storehouse and among the shadows of strewn cargo, sending them screaming toward their assailants the second they hit the ground, but every one of them missed. 
There were more than twenty enemies against only ten of them, Aiz included. 
And they had them completely surrounded. 
“What do we do?!” 
The faces of their enemies were hidden beneath turbans, but the exposed skin visible from their necks down was noticeably tanned and their armor was minimal, nothing but the bare essentials in order to maximize their movement. They were Amazons, no doubt about it. 
Though Aiz had escaped the initial attack, she turned back to them now, fully prepared to aid Narfi and the other second-tier-and-under adventurers in their fight against the twenty-plus masked assailants, until— 
“You’ll be facinggggggg me.” 
“?” 
All of a sudden, Aiz found herself veiled in an enormous shadow from behind. 
“Ngah—!!” 
“Gngh!!” 
The vertical strike came at her with incredible force. It was only thanks to her godlike reflexes that she was able to jump out of the way. 
There was a monstrous crack as the paved surface of the road underfoot exploded, sending splinters of wood, smoke, and debris flying up into the air. Aiz spun around, putting space between her and her new opponent as she turned to look at them head-on. 
She readied her sword, senses keen…then saw a quivering silhouette emerge from the cloud of dust. 
“…!” 
“Hee-hee-hee, you are goodddddd. You are!” 
A flickering metallic glint reflected in her golden eyes, opened wide in shock. 
It was a full-body suit of armor, easily more than two meders tall and a nauseating crimson color. 
Its wielder currently flaunted a giant ax in both their massive hands. There wasn’t even a trace of visible bare skin. Everything was completely covered by the glimmering armor, and from the fierce twinkle of the ingots within, it was as sturdy as an ox. It had to have been top-tier. And yet at the same time, there was something about it that was even more astounding, on multiple levels. The make was simply perfect, fit to its wielder’s body like a glove, almost as though it had been custom-made… 
An image flashed in the back of her mind, of the earthenware figurines she’d seen in that antique dealer’s shop while hunting around for a sword. The suit in front of her now looked almost the same, though a bit fatter around the middle. 
Almost like that monster…No, that voice… 
Shaking away the somewhat rude thoughts, she instead focused on the voice. As its timbre tickled the threads of her memory, she felt a name rise naturally to her lips. 
“Phryne Jamil…?” 
The armed figure twisted in a strange show of corpulent torment, almost as though sighing. 
“Was it thattttttttt obvious? Even through the armorrrrrrr?…It truly is a crimmmmmme to be beautiful.” 
Aiz’s brow drew tight at the confirmation. 
Phryne Jamil, otherwise known as Androctonus, the Man Slayer, was the captain of Ishtar Familia. 
—Which meant it wasn’t Kali Familia attacking them but…Ishtar Familia? 
Then the other assailants, too—were they Berbera? Aiz found herself at a complete loss, filled with both disbelief and a rising sense of urgency. There was no chance she’d be able to aid Tiona and Tione with one of Orario’s largest familias standing in her way. 
Meanwhile, Phryne, unaware of Aiz’s inner turmoil, popped open the visor on her helm with a sharp clang, revealing her frog-like features. 
“Nnnnnno bother. If I simply kill you nowwwwww, no one will be the wiiiiiiser!” 
Loki Familia’s Sword Princess, Aiz Wallenstein, and Ishtar Familia’s Androctonus, Phryne Jamil, shared a long history. Though it was perhaps one-sided, as Aiz, for the life of her, could not figure out why the atrocious frog of a woman had it out for her. 
Three times now, they’d crossed swords. 
In their first duel, Aiz had been a Level-2 rookie who’d left Phryne with nothing but malicious resentment. 
Their second duel had come two years later, a chance encounter deep within the halls of the Dungeon. 
And their third duel had taken place right after Aiz had leveled up to Level 5. 
The first time, Phryne had had Aiz right where she wanted her when Riveria and the others had intervened, leaving the actual outcome up in the air. The second time had been a draw. And the third time had been a sound victory on Aiz’s part. 
“What reason could you have to attack us? And now?” 
“Do I need a reaaason to beat you until that mouth of yoursssssss no longer works?” Phryne shot back. 
It was the same basic reasoning she gave every time they fought—pure, unadulterated hatred. Even the first time, Phryne had only wanted to give the hotshot record breaker a proper “baptism.” Of course, she had no way of knowing that the hotshot record breaker would go on to rise in power at an almost phenomenal rate, nor that she’d quickly surpass Phryne in terms of status, fame, and strength. 
Stronger than you. More beautiful than you. 
Though Phryne would never admit it, her valuation of others was different. And there were just some things that were unforgivable. With every fiber of her being, she hated this beautiful young girl who’d zoomed up the ranks to first-tier in the blink of an eye. The same way that Ishtar despised Freya, in fact. 
Phryne’s bloodshot eyes stared out from within the confines of her open visor. 
Even though she wasn’t privy to Phryne’s thoughts, Aiz knew this fight was inevitable, both from the wrath and bloodlust practically radiating from the other woman, as well as from her experience with their past encounters. 
—Are those…particles of light? 
She thought with a start as something caught her attention. 
And indeed, tiny light particles seemed to be drifting up from Phryne’s face—the parts exposed to the open air, anyway. 
“Today will be the day I finnnnnnnally crush you, Sword Princesssssssss!!” 
Her booming voice brought her visor slamming back down, and with it, Aiz’s view of the light particles was cut off. 
A mere second later, Phryne was charging, giant axes held high. 
“?” 
The attack was strong. 
A true threat, faster and more powerful than Aiz could have possibly expected. 
“Gngh?!” 
The spot she’d been occupying only a moment ago went up in a catastrophic wreath of debris, just like before. 
Though she was able to dodge the ax in Phryne’s right hand with a hairbreadth to spare, the ax in her left hand came down on her before she had a chance to react. 
She brought up her sword, and the incoming attack slammed into it with such force that it sent a rippling tremor through her body. 
—She’s strong!! 
So strong she could barely believe her eyes. 
Her power, her speed—everything was on par with Aiz’s own, despite the Amazon being an entire level lower than her. 
“Hee-hee-hee! What’ssssss wrong, Sword Princessssssss?” 
“…Ngh?!” 
She moved her sword in desperation, hurtling toward the twin ax attacks coming at her from all sides. 
The violent duel was enough to make the rest of Aiz’s familia and the other Amazons, currently observing from off to the side, gulp in fear. Sparks flew as the three blades clashed against one another again and again, echoing all throughout the trade pier. 
Could she have leveled up? Maybe she’s a Level 6 now, too…?! 
Her strength, speed, perception—everything was far too high to belong to a Level 5. 
Perhaps they hadn’t informed the Guild of her level-up? Or perhaps the official report was never updated? She could think of many possible circumstances that would have led to word of her achievement never making the news. Could she truly have reached Level 6? 
But if so, what was this strange feeling Aiz couldn’t quite shake? 
Almost as though her opponent were doused in a heavenly sort of nectar—? 
“Miss Aiz!!” 
The shrill voices of her companions shook her from her reverie, returning her to the duel at hand. Even as she focused on her own fight against two Amazons at the same time, Narfi, as well as the rest of the girls, couldn’t help but shout in response to Aiz’s peril. 
“Ssssssssso irritating! Stop with the screamingggggg!” Phryne shouted before chucking one of her axes in Narfi’s direction. 
She seemed completely unconcerned at potentially hitting her own comrades currently surrounding the girl, putting enough force behind the ironhanded throw to smash all of them into dust. 
Narfi and the Amazons both froze at the sight of the ax hurtling toward them. 
“?!” 
And in that second, Aiz ran, taking advantage of the space she’d put between her and Phryne and racing toward the direction of the flying ax. 
She flung herself in the path of the spinning cutter, stopping it with her sword. 
“Hee-hee-hee, what a fool!” Phryne laughed with scorn. She immediately dashed forward, eliminating the distance between Aiz and her. With one mighty swoop, she brought her remaining ax down on Aiz, who was still shaking from the tremendous force the flying cutter had applied to her body. 
“Gnnngahh!” 
Aiz’s sword caught the ax just in time with a direct block to her front. The impact sent her to her knees with enough force to split the ground below. 
Phryne’s face broke into a smile, eyeing the swordswoman like a butterfly caught in a net. “Nowwwww, Sharay! Do it nowwwwww!!” she screamed. 
The command’s intended recipient was currently waiting outside the scene of the battle. 
Hiding herself atop one of the nearby buildings, she directed her staff toward Aiz and the others in perfect sync with Phryne’s shout, her lips forming the words of a chant. 
“??!” 
All of a sudden, a wave of high-pitched, high-frequency sound washed over them. 
It felt like it was boring into her chest. Unable to take it any longer, Aiz flung away Phryne’s ax before tumbling out of range of the spell. 
“What was…that…?” 
Though her ears continued to ring, there was no real damage done to her body, and she didn’t seem to be suffering from any sort of status effect, either. 
Back at the scene of the attack, Phryne seemed to have taken the full brunt of the hit, but from what she could tell, nothing about the armor-clad woman had changed. Instead, she was now simply gazing in her direction, almost curiously. 
Aiz felt a feeling of dread rush through her. Her instincts as a swordswoman were tingling. 
—She couldn’t have…?! 
Hoping to suppress the foreboding thought before it could become reality, she parted her lips. 
“…Awaken, Tempest.” 
Only the wind enchantment that should have formed around her at those words failed to respond. Her Airiel was gone. 
“…?!” 
“Hee-hee-hee-hee, it worked, it woooorked!!” Phryne let out her loudest belt of laughter yet. 
The frog woman’s glee said everything, and Aiz realized all too well what had just happened. 
“A curse…!” 
“Biiiingo!” 
Much like its name implied, a “curse” was a type of jinx, different from other “pure” magic spells. It debilitated a target via a variety of witchcraft-like effects that magic couldn’t produce, in exchange for a penalty placed on the caster. Status effects were ineffective against it, and only by a very limited number of methods could it be fended off or lifted. 
No doubt, the curse she was afflicted with now was a silencing curse—capable of rendering its target incapable of magic. 
And that frog’s never been able to use magic in the first place…! 
Aiz realized this with a start, which was why the curse had had no effect on her. Had this been her plan all along? 
Saving her Airiel for later had proved to be her own undoing. 
Her trump card had been effectively nullified. 
“I readdddddddied these anti-statuses and curses for my fight with Ottarrrrr, but…hee-hee…you’rrrrrrre proving to be a fine guinea pigggg!” Phryne hissed as she studied Aiz carefully, sliding her tongue across her lips within her mighty helm. “Though I wasssssss hoping to try it out on that Nine Hell, toooooooo. Seemssssss she was able to sniff me out!” 
“…!” 
“An elfffffffff without magic? You might as wellllllllll replace her with a steaming pile of dog shit!” 
“You monster!!” Aiz shouted, or at least she would have, had Phryne’s ax not come tumbling down out of the sky toward her. 
She quickly brought her sword up to block it, and the high-pitched screech of the resulting impact echoed all throughout the pier. 
“Muchhhhhhhhh like you now, hmmmmmm? You’re no match for me nooooooow!!” 
“Gngh…!!” 
The only way Aiz could think of to break the curse was to take out its caster, but the one in question had already flown the coop. She had no choice—she’d have to continue like this. 
Waiting it out wouldn’t do any good, either, considering she had to get to Tiona and Tione as quickly as possible. 
Aiz’s eyes flashed. She’d have to face this monster of a woman, whose strength was on par with any Level 6, with nothing but her sword. 
—It’s almost like the fairy tale. 
The young animal woman hidden among the shadows atop the storehouse couldn’t help but think to herself as she watched the Sword Princess fight gallantly. 
“…” 
An assortment of feelings reflected in her jade-colored eyes as she watched the swordswoman surrounded by all those Amazon envoys, the long-legged one included. 
Beneath the veil disguising her features, her golden locks, the same brilliant gold as Aiz’s own, trembled with abashment. 
 
Tione and Argana’s ship had already made its way well out to sea. 
This far away from the coast, nothing but the gleam of the cliff-top lighthouse could reach them. 
And atop that boat, a similar scene to the one deep within the bowels of Tiona’s sea cave was currently taking place, Amazons whooping in virulent passion as the sounds of fist on skin reverberated throughout the deck. 
“Gnnngh!” 
Tione aimed a kick for Argana’s head, but the other woman blocked it with her arm before jumping out of reach. 
Argana cocked her head to the side curiously. “You’re fighting much better than yesterday…Why is that, Tione?” 
And it was true—Tione’s strikes were hitting with much greater precision than they had the day prior. The increased speed and accuracy enabled her to actually fight on par with her opponent. 
“You sure it’s not just you gettin’ soft?” Tione snapped back, though not before she cursed internally. 
Tione and Tiona had leveled up only a mere day before they came to Meren. Neither one of them had been able to fully come to terms with their new boosted abilities. There was still a bit of a gap between their bodies and minds, which, though slight, could prove fatal in a match against another top-tier adventurer. 
Her fight with Tiona back in the abandoned warehouse had been to rectify exactly this. Just as Aiz had gone up against that giant swarm of monsters immediately after her own level-up, Tione, too, had “adjusted” herself—the sister vs. sister practice duel let her put her new abilities into practice. 
She’d been able to rein in the stampeding horse that was her own body. She wasn’t going to be defeated this time. And she assumed it would be the same for Tiona, now able to hold her own against Bache. 
Still…she’s got the advantage when it comes to sheer power… 
Argana and Bache, too, might have leveled up only a short while ago, but it was still a longer period of time than Tione and Tiona had. Ability-wise, at least, they’d always be ahead. She also hadn’t been able to sense any openings in the other woman’s moves, at least nothing like some of the ones she’d seen in Finn and the others. 
Which meant everything was going to come down to technique and strategy. Victory would fall to the one who craved it the most. 
“Hmm, yes. Perhaps that is it. I’ve grown soft.” Argana laughed—a remarkable feat considering she was currently locked in a duel to the death. She seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself. “Then I suppose I’ll have to up my game.” 
“…!!” 
Brimming with an almost tangible thirst for blood, Argana sprinted forward. Tione rose to meet her, kicking her leg up to block the incoming attack. Argana’s fists flew at her, from the left, from the right, like deadly sickles slicing through the air. 
Her nails were long, like a monster’s claws, and her attacks were all the more snakelike when she didn’t have her hands curled into their ironlike fists. Tione quickly crouched in order to evade the relentless blows as the close-range duel of fist on fist continued. 
“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Finally, you’re back to the old you!” 
“Just shut up and fight already!” 
It wouldn’t do Tione any good to remain on the defensive in a fight against someone like Argana, who had killed so many of her own kin. There was no one in the world who’d be able to endure this woman’s monstrous attacks for long. At some point, she herself would need to attack. 
The two Amazons whaled on each other, spurred on by burgeoning waves of fury and rage. They were like crazed bulls in an arena; each strike soliciting a return barrage; one hit turned into two. It was almost as if the battles they’d waged so long ago in that stone training room were returning to life before their eyes, only fiercer, more savage. 
“Huuuuuuuuuuwwwwwwwwooooooooooaaaaaaaarrrrrgggghh!!” 
Their attacks were as sharp as razor blades, their techniques swift and sure enough to elicit gasps of astonishment. And as the other Amazons watched this duel of the fates unfold, they let out bellowing roars. The sheer power erupting from their lungs was enough to change the minds of any monsters thinking of approaching the ship. 
The light of the magic-stone lanterns on deck trembled. 
“Gnngh?!” 
Argana’s claws grazed Tione’s cheek, drawing blood. The Amazon curled her long tongue upward to lick at the drops that had splattered on her own cheek. 
“You…you snake!!” Tione exploded, all the thoughts of her youth, those memories of anger and pain rushing up through her. Not even realizing she’d activated her Berserker skill, she let her fist fly with the weight of every one of those poignant memories behind it. 
“Your blood is as delicious as I always thought it would be…” 
“You’re sick!!” 
“I’ve wanted to drink it for so long…so long, Tione. Down to the very…last…drop,” she murmured, dodging Tione’s attack as her eyes lit up with the fiery passion of a woman in love. 
Tione would have backed away in disgust if she could. Argana’s eyes were more reptilian than ever. Her ex-teacher’s claws bit into her again, her arms this time, and she was quick to lap up the red blood. 
“—Ngh.” 
A strange feeling of discomfort washed over her. 
It started out slight but grew and grew, and to Tione’s horror, she saw the wounds on her arm grow, and more and more blood flowed from the split skin to sate her opponent’s snakelike tongue. 
She sent an enraged fist flying in Argana’s direction, but the other Amazon was already long gone. 
More and more of her attacks were missing. 
—Wait a minute. 
Just as Tione’s power was growing with the help of her Berserker skill, so, too, was her opponent’s—. 
“You’re too slow, Tione.” 
“ ? ” 
Argana nimbly sidestepped her punch, disappearing from her field of vision. 
Before suddenly wrapping herself around her back, limbs sliding around her like a snake curling around its prey. There was a hiss in her ear, then Argana’s incisors sank into Tione’s neck. 
“?Grrrrrrrraaaaaaahhhhhh?!” 
Her nerves burned with a fiery pain. She could actually feel her skin and flesh tearing and hear her blood being sucked out. 
Then came Argana’s tongue, groping inside her like some kind of parasitic centipede, triggering a violent revulsion that sent goose bumps down her whole body. 
She tumbled to the floor of the deck as Argana quickly rose to her feet, on the defensive once again. 
“You…you hag…!” Tione hissed as she staggered back to her feet, trying to suppress the blood pouring freely from the fresh holes in her neck. 
Argana merely narrowed her eyes, tongue sliding over and savoring her bloodstained lips. 
It was a sight Tione had seen far too many times back in Telskyura—the aberrant warrior mercilessly draining the blood of her opponents as they screamed in vain. 
Body trembling in pain and anger, Tione reaffirmed her resolve. 
“That’s how you get your power, isn’t it…? From the blood of your opponents…?!” 
Argana sneered. 
Tione was right on the money. 
“You’ve noticed, have you?” 
“Is it the same magic as Bache’s…?!” 
“Mine is a curse,” the other Amazon responded, caressing her exposed skin. “It’s known as Kalima. As you’ve already guessed, it allows me to strengthen my abilities through the blood of others blessed with the power of the Falna.” 
“…?!” 
“Kali refers to it as ‘Blood Drain.’ Only she and Bache know about it…and considering I never used it during your training, it’s no surprise you never noticed it, either.” 
Kalima. Blood Drain. A curse. 
As each of the words passed Argana’s lips, connections began forming in Tione’s memories. 
She’d always assumed Argana’s bloodsucking attacks, and even that nickname, Kalima, had simply been a show of force used to strike fear in her opponents. But looking back now, it had a legitimate purpose. And it was why that annoying name had come to be used as her own alias to boot. Everything made sense. 
The impact of this revelation was enough to throw Tione for a momentary loop. “Is there no end to how strong it can make you…? How…how is that even fair?!” she spit out, her voice husky. 
“Of course not. Break the curse, and my abilities return to normal. Also, a piddling splash of blood would do no good. It needs to be an ample amount, like the mouthful I took from you earlier.” 
“…Then, the sacrifice?” 
“My endurance. It drops significantly.” 
Just tell all your deepest secrets, why don’t you?! Tione couldn’t help but think even as she remained in awe of the information being revealed. 
A secret technique that, upon fulfilling its requirements, would grant its user a truly limitless increase in their Status in exchange for a sharp drop in endurance? Curses were rare enough as it was among magic users, but this one in particular had to be the rarest of the rare. 
A skill known only to Argana. A blood sacrifice. There wasn’t a more perfect skill for the powerful yet despicable warrior. 
“You remember, don’t you, Tione? When you asked me whether I felt anything about killing my own brethren?” Argana asked, Tione’s breath ragged opposite her. “I feel elation. By feasting on their flesh, I grow stronger. They’re not gone—they’re inside me! They get to live forever, cheating death as they propel me to the highest of plateaus, the strongest warrior in all the world!” The Telskyuran monster was shouting now as she offered up her prayers of gratitude to the many souls she’d consumed. 
“They have no reason to mourn! Their blood shall become mine, and we’ll live together…forever!!” The snake laughed, childlike joy bubbling up and out from her lungs. Her eyes sparkled, her mind truly convinced that she was nothing short of a savior to the victims who’d died at her hands. 
“And Kali…Kali is waiting, too. She’s waiting for me to become the strongest in all the land. Which is why…I’ll be feasting on your flesh soon, Tione.” 
“Like hell, you monster…!!” Tione shouted back, her teeth bared in anger. All around them, the other Amazons swallowed hard in fear. 
“From the moment I saw you in the lake…I knew it was fate.” 
Meanwhile, a similarly violent duel was taking place down in the cave by the sea. 
Bache’s and Tiona’s strikes swung at each other back and forth in the middle of their arena of stone, as Kali and the other Amazons spectated from above. Like Tione and Argana, they, too, wielded nothing but their bare fists and feet. 
There was only one weapon, Bache’s Velgas, which came at Tiona like a deadly storm in her flurry of attacks. With each sweep of the poisonous crystal of purplish-black light coating her right hand, the ground below let out a monstrous phwooooooooooom and a plume of smoke, its surface now stained the same color as her hand. 
There was no way for Tiona to defend against this type of magic attack, and she found herself unable to do anything but evade the incoming strikes again and again. 
“I hated Kali at first…for letting the two of you leave. You were supposed to be mine to kill…and yet you got away.” 
“…!” 
“Argana felt the same,” Bache continued, stoic. The only thing that betrayed her true emotions was the sheer ferocity behind her attacks. As she attacked, Tiona attempted to use the same combat techniques she’d instilled in her so many years ago to send her own Velgas flying back at her. 
“For us to be fighting like this…now…here…it is truly our destiny.” 
“Geez, Bache. I didn’t even know you had that many words in you!” 
“Yes. I do have a tendency to talk more when I get excited,” Bache responded, though none of the excitement she mentioned was revealed on her face. Tiona couldn’t help but feel glad that Lefiya wasn’t present. 
Their conversation was a mix of Amazonian language and Koine, the differing languages enough to make her head spin. And what was worse, she felt like Bache was already gaining on her. Her opponent’s strikes were simply too powerful. 
My body’s actually doing what I want it to do thanks to that warm-up fight with Tione, but…that magic is somethin’ else! 
She couldn’t even get close to the other Amazon. Her head flashed with memories of the past, of her fellow brethren writhing in pain from a mere graze from Bache’s Velgas. As a young girl, the sight of that coolheaded warrior woman calmly exterminating her prey had been enough to traumatize her for life. 
Yikes! Thinking’s not gonna do me any good here! I don’t have Tione and the others to back me up! she thought—a thought very unbecoming to an adventurer who had to be ready with a plan at all times when Dungeon crawling—before effectively turning off her brain and simply darting forward. 
“Me, though? I was always pleased as punch, you know? How you’d read books to me and sometimes even wipe me down after our training sessions?” 
“…All of that was nothing but…ways to pass the time.” 
Tiona flew at her, even with the threat of Bache’s venomous fist looming in front of her. There was no way she’d be able to dodge every one of the incoming punches, and in due course, one of the magic-infused strikes grazed the side of her body. 
Pain flared up across her skin in an instant, a strange odor mixing with the rising smoke. 
With the hit, Bache’s defense rose, as well. 
“Hngh!” 
“??!” 
Bache’s eyes narrowed, and she aimed a strike straight toward Tiona’s chest. 
Though Tiona was able to block the direct attack with her left arm, it screamed with the sting of Bache’s Velgas. The rippling pain of her skin melting before her eyes was enough to make her realize she couldn’t keep this up for long. 
From atop her vantage point, Kali watched everything with a thin smile, reveling in the way Tiona refused to back down despite repeated hits from Bache’s Velgas. 
“Status resistance, hmm? No doubt something she picked up in Orario. But how long will she be able to keep it up? The venom of those Dungeon monsters doesn’t hold a candle to my Bache’s.” 
Not once during their training back in Telskyura had Bache used her magic on Tiona. 
But it was not out of kindness. No, Bache used her magic only when she was sure that she was going to take down her prey. Never would she allow her opponent to take countermeasures or develop a resistance to her venom. 
It had to be a sure kill. 
—Swifter and deadlier than even the toxin of a poison vermis. 
Colder than the venom of any monster writhing and squirming down in the Dungeon. 
Tiona felt that chill pass through her now, but at the same time, something warm was forming inside her. 
It was her Berserk skill, the same as her sister’s. A skill that boosted her attack power the more damage she took. Feeling the power surging within her, she gave up on petty tricks and simply launched everything she had straight at the woman in front of her. 
“!!” 
Bache’s eyes widened for the first time at the unexpected assault. 
The attack sailed toward her like a river breaking through a dam, and she flung up her Velgas to ward it off, but Tiona paid it no heed. As it carved through her shoulder, it only increased her power, and she drove her head straight into her opponent’s body with all the force her skill could lend her. 
“Hnnguh?!” 
The plump roundness of Bache’s chest took the full brunt of the attack, and her legs crumpled beneath her. 
Tiona took that opportunity to spin around into a powerful roundhouse kick even as her charred shoulder wailed in pain. 
Tione’s favorite kick?!! 
“Strong enough to cut through flesh and bone.” 
Her entire body whirled to drive the kick straight at Bache’s face. 
It happened in an instant—THWACK!! 
The dull sound of flesh on flesh, bone on bone, echoed throughout the cavern, hushing the exuberant cries of the surrounding Amazons. Silence settled over the crowd. Kali, too, said nothing as she looked down at the two warriors, her legs still crossed beneath her. 
Then, just when it seemed the silence was liable to carve through their very eardrums… 

Tiona’s eyes dilated in shock. 
It wasn’t because Bache had somehow gotten her left hand up just in time to block the incoming kick. 
No, it was at the purplish-black tangle of light that now enveloped her entire body. 
“What…?” she gasped as she heard her right foot begin to thrum with an unnerving phroooooom. 
What the…hell? 
“You didn’t know, did you…?” 
But the voice wasn’t from Bache, who was currently directing her gaze toward Tiona in cold silence, but from Kali up above them. 
“When Bache reached Level Six, her Velgas leveled up, too. Not only did its power increase…but so did its range.” 
It was the blessing that came with every level-up. The increase that was applied to not only one’s abilities but one’s magic power, as well. Though Bache had only ever been able to enchant her right hand with her Velgas before, now she was able to enchant her whole body, the same as Aiz did with her Airiel. 
Even now, Bache’s bewitching copper skin seemed awash in an almost electrifying purplish-black light, turning her entire body into a glowing insect shell. 
“Gnnngah, hot, hot, hottt??!” Tiona screeched, forced to retreat as the stretched seconds sped forward to catch up with reality. 
Her leg had turned an unsettling color, now seemingly devoid of strength. Bache, however, paid this no mind, already racing toward her in merciless pursuit. 
“My magic may not be strong enough to act as armor, but it’s plenty strong enough to enhance the pain and suffering of my opponents.” 
“Eek! Unngah?!” 
“Why don’t you attack? If you just stand there like a bump on a log, I’ll take you out with ease.” 
Tiona stumbled backward as Bache advanced, her every ominously glowing limb attacking from all sides. 
Even before, the Amazon’s uncanny strength was enough to crush a person whole, but now with the added power of her Velgas covering her entire form, she could easily rend even a sturdy-bodied first-tier adventurer limb from limb. 
Bones cracking, skin prickling with a searing pain, Tiona spat blood from between her teeth. 
—What gives, huh? How’m I supposed to beat this lady?! 
She couldn’t let herself get hit. She couldn’t do the hitting. 
Which meant…she was gonna die long before she’d have any chance of taking Bache down—. 
Despair began to gnaw away at her heart like little worms as the view in front of her became ever more clouded with incoming strikes. 
“Have I broken your spirit, Tiona?” 
“Hu—gggnnnnnnnnwwwwuuuaaaaAAAAARRRRRGGGHHH!!” 
Bache’s hand grabbed ahold of Tiona’s face and lifted her. 
She couldn’t see, coughing up smoke and muck as her face sizzled beneath Bache’s fingers. She screamed. Grappling desperately at the fingers digging into her skin, she attempted to pull away the other woman’s grip, but the powerful vise was simply too strong. 
Bache began to squeeze, slowly crushing her head like a ripe berry. 
“Tiona…do you know why it is that I trained you so diligently?” 
“……!!” 
Bache’s icy voice filled her ears, her world shrouded in light—blackish, purplish, venomous light. 
“It was for this very day. The day when I could fight against you in all your glory…and feast upon your flesh.” 
“?!” 
“I’ve been preparing myself since the moment we first met. Yes, you would grow strong…so strong…and through that strength, I, too, would reach a new plateau—by killing you.” 
She would level up. That’s what she was referring to. The ritualistic act where lower-world denizens would break free of the container of their Statuses and reach new heights in their abilities. 
By felling Tiona now that her strength had matured, by feasting on her, Bache would accomplish a true feat, propelling her to that coveted next level. 
“Not once have I ever thought of Argana as a sister. In my eyes, she’s nothing but a predator.” A momentary glint of fear flashed across her steely eyes. “A predator I refuse to let consume me. I…don’t want to die.” 
They were just like Tiona and Tione. 
Since the moment she was born, Bache had been plagued by a monster—her sister. 
This was the reason for Bache’s reticence, for her paucity of emotion. She didn’t want to die. Even letting the words pass her lips sent tendrils of irrepressible fear squirming throughout her entire body. 
Bache knew. Even if she were to escape the confines of Telskyura, her other half, the other being with whom she shared her talents and abilities, would follow her to the ends of the earth. That bothersome bond of blood would always draw them together. 
Back when Kali had stepped in to keep her sister from killing her, Bache had learned there was only one truth she could cling to: 
“Strength. I needed to be strong. I needed a power that couldn’t be stolen from me.” 
Combining her fear of death with her insatiable thirst for life, she’d fostered the fighting spirit inside her. And from the amalgam of survival and fighting instincts, a new warrior, in her purest form, was born. 
She coveted strength, craved it as a coldhearted, inhuman warrior. 
“I will kill you and your sister…I will kill Argana…and then I will become the most powerful warrior in the whole world,” the Poison Queen hissed, as Kali watched over her with intrigue and love. 
“!!” 
Tiona willed up every ounce of strength she could muster, even as the poison continued to scald her face. Swinging her leg upward in a mighty kick, she somehow managed to make contact with Bache, who released the confining grip on her head. Around and around she spun, not even caring about the burn the contact had left on her leg, focusing only on putting distance between herself and her attacker. 
“Hah…hah…?!” 
Her whole face felt like it was on fire; pain and a strange sense of intoxication ravaged her being. The venom was strong. Like a fever, it washed over her body, and beads of sweat developed across her skin. Even the globules of blood she coughed up from her mouth had begun to take on a blackish hue. 
Down on all fours, she supported herself with shaking arms, and the excruciating pain was enough that a tear fell from her eye and ran down the length of her cheek. Inside, she could feel a crack working its way through her heart—the callous confession of the woman she’d once regarded as her second sister hit where it hurt the most. 
It hurts. 
It hurts so bad! 
I can’t do this anymore!! 
“Tio…ne…” 
Tione?Tione!! 
Help me, Tione!! 
It hurts too much! I don’t wanna fight anymore! 
I don’t wanna fight?. 
Tiona’s consciousness lost itself somewhere along the line between past and present as poison consumed her body and cracks spread across her heart. 
Deep inside the dark reaches of her soul, Little Tiona was crying. 
She didn’t wanna fight. She didn’t wanna fight. 
“ ? !!” 
The Amazons roared, Tiona no longer able to move as her chest heaved up and down. 
“On your feet!” they cried. “Kill her!” they cried. 
Bache turned her cold, ruthless eyes toward the girl on the ground, and the writhing blob of light around her hand let out an audible crackle as it flashed. 
And then she started toward her, slowly, as Kali watched from above. 
“Gngh…ah?!” 
With a loud thud, Tione flew backward, breaking through a nearby barrel and colliding with the side of the ship. 
Her body was already a bloody mess. Blood poured like rivers from her open wounds and mouth, her skin littered with swollen bruises and sores. 
The spectating Amazons let out excited whoops and hollers as Argana approached. 
“Have you had enough yet, Tione?” 
“…!” 
Argana ran her arm across her cheek, licking at the mixture of blood—some of it Tione’s, some of it her own. Her body, too, looked decidedly worse for wear, and her garments, dragon-scale belt included, were tattered and ragged. 
“Though you’ve lost your edge as a warrior…you’ve lasted longer than I thought you would. I must admit that you’ve grown stronger. You’re not that sad waste of flesh that you were so many years ago.” 
Her voice sounded so far away. It buzzed in her ears. 
Damn you, Tione cursed the woman in her head. But she’d lost too much blood. It was hard to think. Her mind was hazy and slipping in and out of consciousness. 
She let herself slide down the side of the ship, her head starting to droop. 
“I’d never given much thought to you so-called adventurers…but now I’ve actually started to look forward to it. That boaz in particular. I’ll be interested to see just how strong he is.” 
Argana was saying something. 
Prattling on about something. 
“Ah, but first things first. You’ll allow me to eat you now, won’t you?” 
Yakking, yakking, yakking—. 
“I suppose if Bache has been defeated…heh…then I’ll just have to kill Tiona, too.” 
—In that moment, something snapped. 
There came a resounding crack, the likes of which she’d never heard before, and her vision went red with flames. 
Her head rolled upward, the entirety of her being exploded with a fiery heat—and then she was off. 
“?” 
Argana didn’t even have time to react. 
Nor to evade the incoming fist. 
Tione pushed herself off the side of the ship, spraying splinters of wood as she sent her fist into the side of Argana’s jaw. 
“Wha—?!” 
The Amazon went flying. 
Now it was her turn to sail through the air, breaking through barrels to slam painfully into the opposite wall. 
Blood dribbled down from between her lips as she looked up in shock at the crimson snake of fury now staring her down. 
“I’ll kill you…!!” 
Tione’s fist was clenched in rage, her body stained a brilliant red, her own blood dyeing her skin. 
She was furious. 
A pure, unadulterated enmity churned through her veins, stronger than any she’d ever felt before, stronger than when she’d been pelted with blows, stronger than when she’d had her own blood sucked from her body and the shame had been seared into her memory. 
And as all that ire flowed through her like flames licking at her skin, she roared. 
“If you kill her, I’ll kill you!!” 
“…!!” 
The sheer force of all that furor was enough to steal the breath of every Amazon on board. 
Not even Tione herself knew what had caused it. 
It was a livid inferno the likes of which she’d never felt before. 
But she didn’t have to understand it to let her mouth run away from her. 
“Lay one finger on her. I dare you!! You’ll rue the day you were born!!!!” 
As Tione screamed, she began to realize just where her shouts were coming from. 
Oh, how she hated that stupid smile. 
But oh, how she needed it. 
She always had. And she’d always do whatever it took. She had a duty to fulfill. 
Because that stupid idiot was her other half—her one and only little sister. 
“I’ll never let you touch her!!” 
She would protect her. She would protect her Tiona. 
She had to keep her safe. Because they only had each other. 
She protected her when the other Amazons targeted her in the arena. When she fell asleep first next to her. 
She’d always quietly protected her—the dazzling sun that shone its light on her life. 
And she wasn’t about to stop now. 
“You two are…really a different breed of Amazon,” Argana mused. The fact that the sisters had been able to retain their bond even in the cutthroat world of Telskyura was a miracle, indeed. She smiled. “You love each other, don’t you?” 
“What?!” 
“Since you seem to be in the dark, I guess I’ll go ahead and tell you. It’s been so long, after all.” Argana rose to her feet, that same amused smile still playing on her lips. “Tiona has always been protecting you.” 
 
—Tione, Tione. 
Again and again, Little Tiona called out her sister’s name through the darkness. 
She could see her back quivering as she cried and cried, only a few steps ahead. 
Little Tione would never be a warrior. 
She’d strayed from the warrior’s path. 
Tiona knew why. As thick as she could be at times, she still understood why. 
It was simple. Because she was simply Tione. 
On the day she saw her sister crying, reduced to tears after having killed Seldas, a feeling took root inside Tiona. 
—She needed to protect her. 
It wasn’t because she empathized with her. But simply because it seemed natural to do so. She was her other half, after all. Just like she didn’t need a reason to protect herself, she didn’t need a reason to protect her sister. 
And so, from that day, Tiona began killing the other girls in their room. Or, perhaps more concisely, she volunteered to fight them in the rites. Whenever Tione was scheduled to fight against one of their own roommates, Tiona would go to Kali and request that she be switched in for her sister. It was her way of protecting her sister’s heart, haggard and broken as it was from Argana’s training. 
But there was still the anxiety Tione always felt as the days for her rites grew near. Tiona didn’t like that, either. And so she went to Kali again. And agreed to do whatever Kali asked so long as her wish was fulfilled. She killed all of them. In a single long night of rite after rite after rite, she piled their bodies high. Tione never even noticed. 
It was that one bond she had with her sister that let her simply be Tiona Hyrute rather than a warrior of Telskyura. 
Perhaps if she’d never seen Tione crying in her room that one night, she, too, would have turned out just like Argana and Bache—an Amazon who filled the hole in her heart with nothing but ceaseless fighting. She would have become a true berserker, mercilessly slaughtering her opponents, awash in their blood yet radiating a pure and innocent smile all the while. 
Tiona knew all this. She understood the paper-thin line she’d tread. And that her sister’s presence had been the one thing someone as stupid as her could hold onto. 
Tione was the moon. 
She lit the way forward through the darkness when neither of them knew where to go. She was always there next to her in her moonlike tranquility when it came time to sleep. Tiona had always liked Tione the best at night. It was the one time the restless, angry girl of the day could settle down. She held her so, so close, a cradle of the moon, rocking her to sleep. 
Tiona couldn’t sleep unless she was next to Tione. 
—Tione, Tione. 
Little Tiona was crying. I can’t get up, she said. 
She liked to fight, but she didn’t like to kill. She’d wept salty wet tears beneath her mask upon killing their final roommate. It hurt so badly. So badly her whole body and heart ached. 
—Tione, save me. 
Where was she to hit her on the head, call her stupid, and tug her hand? 
She rubbed at her chest, looking down into the darkness, into the deep, deep pool of her heart to where Little Tiona continued to cry. 
Closing her eyes, she reopened them to see her—Tione, standing above her. 
—Don’t lose, Tiona. 
That’s what she’d told her just a short while ago when the two had separated. 
She saw her sister’s back, framed in the light of the moon above. 
Standing behind her younger self, she bent down to pick up the book lying at her feet. 
Then handed it to the weeping girl in front of her. 
—Try to hold out just a bit longer, okay? 
—Tione’s doing her best, too. 
She laughed, her smile as bright and gleaming as the sun. 
Little Tiona placed her hand on the book’s cover, blinking curiously. She flipped through its pages, and after several hundred of the paper sheets had gone by, she came to a stop on the hero of the legend—and instantly brightened. 
The two Tionas, the young girl and the warrior, looked at each other and smiled, then took each other’s hands. 
“?Ngh!!” 
Tiona’s eyes shot open with a powerful snap. 
Her consciousness was suddenly as sharp as a tack, and she sprang instantly to her feet. 
“!” 
Bache gave a start, then leaped backward. As she eyed the rejuvenated girl suspiciously, the Amazonian spectators above let out resounding cries of adulation. 
“Hoh-hoh. So you’re back on your feet,” Kali mused, smiling beneath her mask. “What’s your plan, then, hmm? Doesn’t look to me like you’re doing so hot. You sure you can still fight?” 
Indeed, smoke continued to rise from Tiona’s body where Bache’s Velgas had seared the skin. 
Tiona brought an arm up to wipe at her poison-smeared face—perhaps Kali’s words had reached her?—then she formed both her hands into fists before gearing up for a mighty yell. 
“It doesn’t hurt. Not one bit!!” 
Bache’s eyes grew round in surprise. 
“And your words don’t hurt me, either. Not one bit!!” 
Now it was Kali’s turn to open her mouth with surprise. 
“I can still fight. I can keep doin’ this forever!!” 
Not a single Amazon moved, all of them as still as statues. 
“You think I’d lose to the likes of you?!” 
And then Tiona’s smile deepened. 
She squeezed her fists tighter, readying herself for combat as if her skin wasn’t currently covered in poison and giving off smoke. 
She’d just figured out the one tactic she could use against Bache’s Velgas. 
She just had to ignore it—to tough it out. 
It was the plan of a girl whose head didn’t quite function the way others’ did and a culmination of all her thickheaded stupidity. 
“Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!” 
With a start, the tiny, cherubic goddess watching over them let out a great, gulping guffaw, breaking the silence like water bursting through a dam. Holding both hands to her stomach, she flapped her feet in the air, practically tumbling straight off her perch. 
Down below, Bache’s expression never faltered. Even as her goddess’s laughter echoed throughout the cavern, she only narrowed her eyes. 
“…My Velgas isn’t something you can just ignore.” 
“’Course! It actually hurts like hell!” 
“Well, then—” 
But Tiona interrupted before she could finish. 
“But it’s not gonna keep me from smilin’!” 
Bache’s eyes widened for a second time. 
“It doesn’t matter how much it hurts, how much my heart aches, how much I wanna cry—I’ll just keep on smilin’!” 
True to her words, a giant smile was currently plastered across her face. 
It was a smile from cheek to cheek and which was completely out of place considering her current state. 
—What was it that had separated Tiona and Tione into light and dark back in Telskyura? Yes, it had been that book, the epic. 
She could still remember losing herself among the pages of that story as Bache read it aloud to her. She could still remember the very first time she’d laughed so hard she couldn’t stop at the ridiculous dialogue of the story’s hero. 
And she could still remember the burst of courage those words had given her. 
“I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed…so yeah! Maybe this is the only thing I can do!” 
Maybe that beautiful story had been the one place she could run when the days tried to drive her into the ground. Maybe it was only through that legendary epic that she’d been able to console herself after what she’d done. 
Of all the things that story may have given her, the one that Tiona was most sure of—was her smile. 
“But you can bet I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna keep on smiling!” 
If she just kept on smiling, then maybe, maybe Tione would smile, too. 
If someone like Tiona wasn’t even able to smile, then there was no way that faded world of blood and ash they lived in was ever going to change. 
So she smiled. 
Because of that epic, even when it was just the two of them in that cold world, Tiona could light up the sky with her expression of joy. 
And finally, she’d been able to make Tione smile, too. 
“So long as I’m smiling, I don’t care about all that bad stuff!” 
Tiona had a favorite story among all those poems. 
It was the story of Argonaut. 
An ordinary boy who dreamed of becoming a hero. 
A farcical story that had left her drowning in tears of mirth. 
Oh, I will smile. 
No matter how much I may be made the fool, no matter how many times the derisive laughter of others may scorn me, I shall curve these lips upward. 
If not, how should the spirit smile? How should the goddess of fortune grin? 
—Smile. 
Just like the fairy-tale hero who had so encouraged her. 
Just like the characters in that beautiful story. 
No matter how much it hurt, no matter how much she might suffer, no matter how much she had to fake it. 
She would simply smile. 
Smile for that bright tomorrow she knew awaited. 
She wasn’t trying to play hero. She was merely doing everything she could do—and for someone like her, someone who wasn’t as smart, wasn’t as clever, that was fine enough!! 
“I have to smile…for all those who can’t!!” she declared, sporting her biggest grin yet. “And if I have to smile forever before you’ll smile back, then that’s what I’ll do!” 
“That’s bullshit…!” Tione hissed with a clench of her fists, doing her best to mask the tumult of emotions in her heart. Tiona had killed even more of their sisters back in Telskyura? 
But it all made sense. 
When Tione’s eyes and heart had grown worn and tattered, Tiona had been the one to smile for her. 
—“That girl, Aiz. She reminds me a lot of you way back when.” 
And then Aiz had come along. And Tiona began to smile for her, just like she’d always done for Tione. 
Tione finally realized the reason behind that smile—that idiot sister of hers was always protecting her from the shadows. 
“That asshole…Thinking she can be a hero to me…?!” 
Tiona might have been taken in by those stories of hero-hood, but she wasn’t waiting for a hero to come save her. No, she had to be the hero. Because she had another part of her that needed protection. So her simpleminded sister had kept on smiling. 
Until the day she could make Tione smile. 
Tione had always thought she’d been the one supporting and protecting Tiona. But in reality, Tiona had been the one defending and upholding her. 
And it had been the same for Tiona. 
Backs together, the two sisters had always protected each other. 
“What do you think I am? Some princess waiting for her hero to come? I’d rather eat shit and die!!” 
Tiona wasn’t coming. And even if she did, Tione was only going to give her an earful—with her fist. 
She was the only one who could take out the opponent standing before her now. 
Take her out—and protect her Tiona. 
“Argana—I’m going to kill you.” 
“What a wonderful look that is in your eyes, Tione…Finally, you’ve become a warrior again,” Argana mused. Tingling pinpricks worked their way up her spine at the way Tione’s gaze bored into her. 
Tione ignored her comment, opening her mouth as a red-stained puff of air passed her lips. 
“…You haven’t changed, Tiona,” Bache murmured, taking in the sight of the smiling girl before her. “You always were the biggest idiot in Telskyura…the craziest animal.” 
No matter what kind of dilemma she’d found herself in, no matter how tight a corner she’d found herself in, that grin of hers had never vanished. She was always, always smiling. 
With that brilliant, innocent, virulent smile pasted on her face, she wrested victory from her enemies. With that one smile, she’d overcome everything the world had tried to throw at her. 
“What were you expectin’? Of course she hasn’t changed! Even Tione may have changed over the years, but this girl’ll always be the same stupid idiot!!” Kali howled giddily before bringing her laughter-induced convulsions to an abrupt stop. She slowly pulled herself back up to a sitting position, grin widening as she glanced down at the two warriors below. “—This is great! I knew I liked you better than Tione!” she exclaimed, almost as though trying to draw a sympathetic response from her immortal kin. 
Tiona smirked. 
Having made the self-encouraging assertion that she felt no pain, she let her lips part just slightly. 
Revealing a solid red puff of air. 
—This is it. 
Bache’s face tightened at the sight. 
Tiona’s breath was red. And not just metaphorically, either, but truly red—the heat inside her was great enough to stain the very air she was breathing. 
It was Tiona’s rare skill, Intense Heat. 
Its effects activated before her Berserk ability finished, providing her a massive boost in ability if her status entered critical. It had the same activation requirements as Tione’s own attack-boosting skill, Backdraft. So long as the two sisters had these skills, no matter how dire their situation, the further they were pushed, the higher their combat power would rise. 
The Hyrute sisters were most dangerous when they were cornered. 
From atop that boat. 
From within that cave by the sea. 
The two rites reached their climaxes at the exact same time. 
Around both of them, Amazons stomped their feet in unison, letting out ever more deafening cries of war, one atop another atop another. 
“My future of war…let’s see how it plays out.” Kali’s voice melted into the darkness. 
Then the decisive battles began. 
 
The shadow raced through the dark night. 
It hadn’t stopped since seeing those monsters appear in the port. 
There was something it needed to confirm. Back to the screams and chaos of the wharf in its wake, it ran all the way outside the city. 
It arrived at a cave, not altogether unlike the sea cave Tiona had ventured into only a short while earlier. Cautiously, it slipped inside, not making a sound. Breath stilled, it wove its way through the ant-like tunnels of the cavern, careful not to get lost among its passageways. It didn’t use a light, instead feeling the wall against its hand to lead it along, a shadow melting into the surrounding darkness as it continued forward through the gloomy tunnel. 
“—!” 
It was then that it saw them. 
Cages, seven of them, all containing a miniature viola with flower bud closed and tentacles coiled up around it. And carved into the earth around the cages were ruts, leftover evidence from the earlier journey the cages made from the city. 
“Someone turn on a light in here!” 
“?!” 
It came from behind—and suddenly the light of a magic-stone lantern illuminated the perimeter. 
It was Loki, having successfully followed the shadow without being noticed thanks to the help of her familia members. Loki shone the light on her target, revealing its true form. 
Everyone in the entourage she’d brought with her inhaled sharply in unison, taken by surprise at the revelation. 
“Not who you were expectin’, was it?” 
The shadow, no, the man boasted a stocky frame of roughly two meders tall, and shining beneath his black crop of hair was a pair of obsidian eyes. Firm, tanned skin stretched over the muscles of his arms and chest, revealing a body perfectly honed for fishing. 
A human man. 
“Rod…wasn’t it?” 
“My…lady…?” 
The Njör?r Familia captain, Rod, stood staring at Loki with his eyes as round as saucers. 
His voice caught in his throat as he looked from Loki and her magic-stone lantern to the gaggle of girls behind her. It didn’t take him long to realize he’d been followed. 
Throwing a glance at the immature violas behind him, he finally spoke, his voice hoarse. “W-well, isn’t this a surprise? How, uh…how long have you been, uh…following me? Ha-ha…Guess I was in too much of a rush to notice. Goddammit…” He let out an undeniably forced chuckle, trying what he could to smooth over the incriminating situation. 
Next to Loki and her glare of incredulity, the hume bunny Rakuta spoke up, no longer able to keep her thoughts to herself. 
“Y-you’re the one who’s been setting loose the violas in the lake?” 
“—That, uh…Yes! Yes, I am! It was all me! You caught me!” he suddenly blurted out, seemingly out of desperation. Eyes flashing, he raised his voice even louder. “It was definitely me! I was the one who set loose all these monsters into the—!!” 
“All right, all right. We get it already,” Loki cut in before he could finish. She waved a flippant hand in the frozen man’s direction, ever so slightly widening her vermilion eyes. 
“You’re really gonna let your kid take all the flak for this, are ya, Njör?r?” 
A heavy silence settled down over the cave. 
Only after Loki’s voice had echoed into the depth of the cavern and a painful silence descended did a figure emerge from the shadows. 
The sandal-clad foot of a finely shaped calf appeared first, followed by an auburn-tinged ponytail, hanging down loosely from the back of the man’s head. 
It was none other than the god Njör?r, his face taut with pensive reflection. 
“S-Skip, don’t…!” Rod pleaded despondently, but it was too late. 
“What the…hell is going on here?!” 
“Two scumbags for the price of one, that’s what’s goin’ on here,” Loki explained. 
Rakuta and the rest of Loki’s followers could only look back and forth between Rod and Njör?r with identical confounded looks. The person, or rather god Loki had seen escaping from the scene of the violas back at the wharf had, in fact, been Njör?r. 
But Loki hadn’t been the only one to notice Njör?r’s hasty retreat. Rod had, as well. Unable to shake his god’s questionably timed exit, Rod had followed him all the way to this cave, only to have Loki and her followers show up only moments later behind him. 
“Then that ‘confession’ he gave us…?” 
“He was just coverin’ for his pop…You’ve got yourself a good bunch of kiddos, don’t you, Njör?r?” 
While discovering his own god was behind the viola attacks must have been a considerable shock for Rod, the moment Loki and the rest of her followers had shown up, he hadn’t hesitated even a second to cover for Njör?r—his faith in and respect for his “Skip” were just that great. 
Behind Rod, Njör?r grimaced, his features a mixture of regret and shame. 
“It…it can’t really be true, can it, Skip? How could you unleash these monsters into the lake…?” 
“I’m afraid it is, Rod.” 
“Why? Why would you do something like that?!” Rod’s face was twisting now, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. 
“…I’m not the wonderful god you all believe me to be,” Njör?r responded, avoiding Rod’s gaze and looking, instead, toward Loki. “Loki, this is all my doing…” 
“Yeah, cat’s out of the bag already. No use hidin’ things now.” Loki lobbed a small bag at Njör?r’s feet. The multicolored powder mixture Rod had shown Aiz and the others down at the pier the other day spilled out of the opening—the “magic dust” Rod and his men used to ward off monsters out at sea. 
Njör?r’s brows creased further still. 
“I’ve been sending my kids all over. To the folks at the Guild and even to Old Man Murdock himself. Finally, I’ve got my evidence,” Loki continued, alluding to the bag that Aiz had given her not long ago. 
“…!” 
Njör?r brought a hand to his head in resignation, visibly pale. 
But before he could offer up a response, Rod did for him, voice laced with surprise. “Master Borg? And…the Guild? But…but what do they have to do with any of this, milady?!” he asked shakily. 
“Well…” Loki started. “It goes somethin’ like this—” 
“—one of you isn’t the culprit. All of you are the culprits!” 
A similar conversation was currently taking place in an empty storehouse behind the Guild Branch Office. 
The Guild Branch chief himself, Rubart, paled in the face of Riveria’s accusation. 
“What are you…? A-an accusation like that is an insult to the Guild—!” 
“Then what does that make you, the one who carried out the actions in question?” 
As chaos overwhelmed the city of Meren, the branch chief had been taking advantage of the similar commotion in the branch office to slip out of sight and cart with him a certain item to the storehouse. 
What he hadn’t expected, though, was the sudden appearance of a green-haired high elf, and—caught red-handed—he let one of the items in his arms drop to the floor as his face twitched. The item in question was of a decidedly magic-stone make. 
“The reason Meren has not called for aid from Orario, even in a dire situation such as this…is because you control the signal!” 
And, indeed, the telescope-like signal itself was right there in his hands. The series of magic-stone flashes it created was strong enough to reach the guard post along Orario’s great stone walls, allowing Meren to alert the city, even from kirlos away, of any urgent distress. 
“You know that if any adventurers from Guild Headquarters were to come now, they’d become instantly aware of all the dirty dealings currently occurring. For instance, our little viola situation…Am I correct?” Riveria stated, one eye closed as she stared Rubart down with the other. 
“…!” 
Rubart’s face began losing its color at a nigh unparalleled rate. 
“All that earlier chicanery about not being on good terms with the Guild was simply to keep us from discovering your involvement as a conspirator, yes?” 
“L-Loki Familia…!” 
In yet a third similar conversation, Alicia was currently accosting a certain Borg Murdock, head of Meren, at his family estate. The village chief’s hands were gripping the sides of a large hemp sack containing, quite clearly, the “magic dust” in question. 
Though he at first attempted to conceal the sack, he quickly realized such actions were too little, too late, instead simply slumping to the floor in resignation. 
“But what could all of them have to do with those flower creatures…?” 
Loki could hear her followers’ bewildered voices behind her but didn’t reply; instead, she looked first to the motionless violas who appeared to be sleeping in their black cages, then next to the powder scattered around Njör?r’s feet. 
“There’re magic stones mixed in with all that stuff…ain’t there?” 
“…There are,” Njör?r responded, defeated. 
There was another collective gasp of surprise from Rod and the rest of Loki’s familia. Loki, however, just moved the conversation along. 
“Crushed ’em up good and small to keep anyone from noticing…then mixed ’em up with fishy parts and all other sorts of raw, stinky gook…That sound about right?” 
“Indeed. I’m impressed, Loki. I put a lot of work into that to make sure even other gods wouldn’t see through it…” 
“I had Aizuu sniff things out. She’s got a nose for this kinda stuff. Snuck into Murdock’s place and found his little stash of magic stones in the basement.” 
Njör?r’s lips curled upward in a self-deprecating grin. 
Rod, still stunned between the two, cut in with his own request for clarification. “W-wait just a second here, milady! By magic stones you don’t mean…mean those, do you? Those…stones inside monsters’ chests?! How the devil would something like that keep those same monsters at bay?” 
“Those flowers…Seems there’s one thing they like even more than the taste of human flesh—other monsters. Or, more accurately, the magic stones of other monsters. This was news to me, too,” Loki explained, and the eyes of Rakuta and the other girls behind her widened further. 
This had been what Aiz and company had reported following the last expedition. The vibrantly colored monsters such as the violas and the caterpillars were merely “tentacles” for the corrupted spirit, seeking out magic stones for the spirit to feed on. 
“Scatterin’ this stuff with its magic stones out in the water makes the violas go crazy, drawing their attention away from the boats themselves and allowin’ ’em to sail through without so much as a scratch.” 
When Tiona had called the magic dust “monster bait” the other day, she’d been right on the money. This was an item perfectly crafted for viola-repelling use. 
“But…but…but it just doesn’t make sense! Why would…But other monsters, too! They didn’t attack the boats, either!” Rod insisted. 
“Didn’t I just say those flower beasties prefer the taste of their own kind?” Loki explained with a sigh. “They ate everything! ‘Magic dust’ and other monsters alike. Why else do you think the seas have been so peaceful lately?” 
As Rod’s eyes widened in realization, first he, then Rakuta and the others, and finally Loki, too, all threw their gazes in Njör?r’s direction. 
“I’m pretty sure I know the answer already, but…I just hafta ask,” Loki continued. “Why’d ya do it?” 
Njör?r took a few steps farther inside the cavern, walking over toward a small spring before plunging his hand in the water. When his fist emerged, it was wrapped tightly around the tail of a fish. 
“…Take a look at this fish, Loki.” 
It was a dodobass, big and black. Though still young, it was already as long as most other fish in their prime, and its tough ovular scales were already growing in all across its body. 
“Wonderful batch of scales it has, yes? All of it a result of evolution—to protect itself from the monsters in the lake.” 
“You don’t have to tell me. Things like that have been happenin’ since monsters first emerged on the surface. The whole ecosystem’s careening out of control.” 
“Exactly, exactly…But this dodobass, you see, is actually quite lucky. It was somehow able to keep itself alive; its children were able to find food. Others, however, weren’t so lucky…” 
“And…that’s why you set loose all those violas into the lake?” 
Njör?r nodded, his face cheerless. Around him, Rod and the others couldn’t help the somewhat sardonic half smiles that rose to their lips. “The oceans of this world, they’re in a…horrid state. The increase in monsters these past five hundred years has simply been too great.” 
“I guess that makes sense…Up on land, we’re somehow able to keep ’em under control, but there aren’t a lotta people who could do the same thing out on the open sea.” 
“Yes. Poseidon and his followers did what they could, but it was a Sisyphean task from the start. If it had gone on much longer, my men and I, well…we’d have been out of jobs. And not just us—fishing would become a fool’s errand in every sea of the world. I simply couldn’t let that happen.” 
Njör?r was, after all, a god of the rod. 
The whole reason he’d descended to the human world was to reap the bounties of its waters. Next to him, Rod, his fellow fishing captain, stood stock-still, simply listening to his deity’s confession. 
“Meren almost reached a breaking point not long ago,” Njör?r continued. “The fish dropped to dangerously low levels. The lake’s monsters nabbed all of them before we fishermen could reel them in. Orario, of course, had enough money that it could simply import its fish from elsewhere, but what were my men and I supposed to do?” 
“…” 
“Fishing is our livelihood. We have no other way of making money. But fishing requires that we venture out to sea, and with each passing voyage…my men were dying. Rod’s father…and his grandfather both met their ends this way.” He smiled sadly at Loki, silent for a moment before continuing. “My blessing did them no good. They were no match for those monsters.” 
“Skip Njör?r…” Rod sniffled, looking as though he was about to cry. 
“Alternatively, I could have gone the Poseidon route and militarized my familia…The thought had crossed my mind. But my men would, no doubt, have had none of that. It would have been as impossible a task as Poseidon’s attempt to clear the ocean! Needless to say, I’d reached quite an impasse…until I learned of these monsters’ existence,” he concluded, throwing a glance at the violas in question. 
“When was that? And how was that, huh?” Loki prodded. 
“Seven years ago, perhaps? Or, no…six? One of them washed right down the sewers from Orario and landed in our lake.” 
While it had caused some damage, the beast had eventually been taken care of by a familia who’d just so happened to have been there on a trip. It was exactly when the viola had been about to attack another monster, actually—something Njör?r hadn’t failed to miss. Following the source of the creature, he’d made his way into Orario’s sewers to investigate the matter for himself. Quite opposite of the raider fish that made their way to Orario from the lake, these man-eating flowers were, in fact, making their way from Orario. Of course, this was before the mythril gate had been installed on the sewer’s drainage pipe. 
“It was there, prowling around as I was in the sewers without permission…that I met a human most strange.” 
“A human? What kinda human?” 
“Deathly pale, almost as though his very skin simply refused to absorb light from the sun. And with eyes hidden beneath long bangs…” 
If the strange gentleman hadn’t accosted him first, Njör?r likely wouldn’t have approached. But seeing as he had… 
“I ask for only a few things in return. Then, you may use these monsters any way you see fit, my lord.” 
With those words, a secret pact had been forged between them. 
And in return for releasing the violas into the lake and nearby ocean, Njör?r agreed to help the man smuggle his goods out of Meren. 
“…Then that’s why the Guild Branch Office and the Murdock estate had to get involved?” 
“Indeed.” 
Loki sighed as Njör?r let his shoulders droop. 
It would have been pretty difficult to smuggle anything out of Meren without the aforementioned entities’ help, after all. And given that Njör?r’s plan would lead to safer seas and a more sustainable crop of fish, Borg had agreed. The Guild Branch Office’s cooperation, meanwhile—or more specifically, Rubart’s—had come out of a monetary necessity. 
“In order to make the powder, we needed magic stones…and getting our hands on those, or shall we say, stealing them, required the help of the Guild Branch Office…” 
Rubart controlled the flow of magic stones from the main headquarters. 
Borg processed the powder in the basement of his estate. 
And Njör?r had simply feigned innocence, continuing to fish in the lake and ocean as the violas effectively culled the overwhelming monster population. 
As much as possible, the three conspirators attempted to disguise their involvement. 
Meanwhile, Borg made sure that every incoming and outgoing ship received a batch of the powder to ensure their safety in the waters. It was a process that had been going on for years. 
“And what about those folks who don’t have the powder, huh? They’d still get attacked by the violas,” Loki pointed out. “Did you take them into account as part of your little plan?” 
“Compared to the numbers I was losing to the myriad monsters out at sea…it seemed a small price to pay,” Njör?r responded with a short laugh, to which Loki just sighed. 
Fishing, the sea, and all those of the lower world involved in the two—Njör?r simply loved them too much. As charitable as he was, he’d even lent his aid readily to Loki and her followers in their own investigation. 
“You really are an idiot…” Loki muttered. 
Rod, too, could do nothing but silently hang his head. 
“One more thing I wanna make clear,” Loki started again. “In any of your dealin’s, did you ever come in contact with any of those Evils remnants? Or those human-monster creature hybrids?” 
“I’m not sure I know what either of those are, so…I would assume no?” 
Then the true enemy they’d been tracking had nothing to do with the goings-on in the port. Loki felt a sense of futility wash over her, but she continued all the same. 
“But somebody had to have hauled all these violas here, right? From Orario? Then you did the duty of tossin’ ’em in the lake? Who’s your delivery boy?” 
“That’s, erm…well…” 
“Spit it out, Njör?r.” 
“…Ishtar Familia,” he finally admitted sheepishly. “They acted as a sort of…contact for us. Or perhaps intermediary would be a better word. With our mutual friend in the sewers. At any rate, they’ve done a lot for us, always coming to our aid when we needed it. Apparently they use some sort of agency to get in and out of the city without being seen, and they always take care of any flowers who’ve grown too big for their britches…” 
“Then they’re also the ones who set loose those violas in the port, I assume…” Loki mused. 
“…I would imagine.” 
Seeing the unbelievable sight of the violas at the pier had been the reason Njör?r had come down there in the first place. Hearing that Ishtar Familia was the one responsible got the cogs of Loki’s brain turning, and she mulled the familia’s name around in her mind. 
Seeing as she’d about exhausted her supply of information from Njör?r, she said, “I won’t tell anyone about what you’ve done here, all right?” and turned toward the other god. “After all, peace has returned to the city. But…I’m gonna have to tell the Guild about the violas. And you’re not gonna be able to use ’em anymore.” 
“All right…” 
“Also, I’m gonna work you like a damn packhorse after this for all the trouble you put me through, y’hear? I got plenty more things I’m gonna wanna ask you.” 
Njör?r’s head fell with a dispirited slump. “…Right.” 
Loki took a moment to survey the perimeter. “That miserable midget—erm, Kali’s probably usin’ these tunnels as her own personal fort, isn’t she?” 
“I believe so. She and Ishtar have…some sort of agreement.” 
“Then that means Lefiya and Tiona are here somewhere, too.” Loki nodded with a hum before turning around to face her followers. “Rakuta. Elfie. Let everyone else know that Lefiya and the others are here, would ya?” 
“Everyone, Miss Loki…?” 
“You, Miss Aiz, and…Lady Riveria…?” 
Loki just grinned. 
“I mean everyone.” 
 
A short while before Njör?r was making his confession… 
Aiz and company were still continuing to defend themselves against Ishtar Familia’s assault. The lights of Meren or, perhaps more accurately, the lights of Meren’s pier, had all been snuffed out. With the violas repelled, the last thing the citizens of Meren had expected was to find themselves with yet another violent battle on their hands in the middle of the wharf—a two-familia duel, no less—and the chaos and confusion had reached an all-time high. 
“Why the hell isn’t the signal going off?! What’s the Guild doing—sitting on their asses?!” 
“How should I know? Everyone down at the Branch Office is in a right tizzy, too. Seems somethin’s gone missing—not sure if it’s the signal or the branch manager himself!” 
The voices of the two men came from near the port city’s token short walls. Standing atop the watchtower, they stared morosely off into the distance at the motionless gate of Orario’s grand bulwark, the signal that should have been emanating from the Guild Branch Office nowhere to be found. 
“Goddammit! At this rate, we’re better off gettin’ the hell outta this pl—” 
The animal man’s rant stopped short, and the telescope he was currently gazing through fixed on a spot on Orario’s walls. 
“Oh…” 
“What is it? You see somethin’? Don’t tell me it’s somethin’ else!!” The human man next to him grabbed the telescope out of his hands before peering through it himself. 
And then. “Oh…” he replied simply, frozen to the spot the same as his partner. 
The telescope was directed toward the highest point on Orario’s mighty walls. 
At a certain item fluttering just in front of the parapets. 
“The…Trickster emblem…?” the first man murmured in wonderment. 
And, indeed, the flag of Orario’s strongest familia was currently whipping in the breeze atop the city’s walls. 
“Like hell we’re gonna let the girls have all the fun…” spat a certain young werewolf, standing atop the wall bordering Orario’s southwestern district. “Come on, you ingrates! You gonna let those girls walk all over us? Let’s do this!” 

 

“Hoo-rah!!” 
As Bete glanced behind him, eyes glinting, the gaggle of men to his rear let out a simultaneous cry of fortitude. They thrust their weapons in the air with a zeal that bordered on manic. Meanwhile, next to them, Aki brought her hands up to cover the catlike ears on top of her head. 
Every one of them atop that wall had their sights set on Meren’s trade pier, currently devoid of light in the distance. Even from Orario, they could see the relentless flashes of light staining the darkness like firecrackers—evidence of the sword duel currently under way. 
“Ha-ha-ha, Bete certainly knows how to rile up a crowd,” Finn mused with a smile. 
“Aye, but they’re already fit to be tied, the whole lot of ’em…What’s gone and crawled up their arses, ’ey, Raul?” Gareth turned his attention to the young man next to him. 
“Well, that’s, erm…We ran into a certain, uh…Little Rookie at the Flaming Wasp earlier…” Raul responded, clad in armor from head to toe and sporting his own weapon. 
“Aki! That’s the Kali Familia in question over there, is it not?” Finn called out to the young catgirl. 
Still flustered by the testosterone pressing down around her on all sides, Aki attempted to focus. “I-it is, sir! Which means Tione and Tiona must be there, too…” She’d come rushing to Finn’s and the others’ sides not too long ago with the news from Loki’s messenger—three pieces of news, in fact. 
One, a brief summary of what Kali Familia had done. 
Two, instructions to ready Aiz’s and the others’ weapons. 
And three, an order to rally the troops and launch an attack on Meren. 
“Is everyone here?” 
“This should be everyone, yeah!” 
After Aki’s report, Finn had ordered their flag to be erected atop the city walls posthaste as a symbol for the rest of the familia to assemble. Now, they stood there complete, with the comical grin of the Trickster gazing down at them. 
“Seems we’re drawin’ a bit of a crowd. Ye think it’ll be a problem, Finn?” Gareth pointed out. 
“Ganesha Familia, at least, hasn’t shown any signs of movement. We should be fine. You’ve delivered the magic letter to the Guild as I instructed, right, Aki?” 
“Sure did…” Aki replied with a tired sigh. 
Indeed, the Trickster flag had garnered the attention of more than just Loki Familia. Even now, far down on the ground below, gods and civilians alike were beginning to gather, all of them pointing up at the Loki Familia assemblage as they whispered, “What’s going on?” 
The magic letter, on the other hand, was a memo written by Loki for Ouranos—it explained the current situation in Meren, the underhanded dealings of the Guild Branch Office, and more than a few threatening complaints regarding the entire affair. Aki had expedited the letter just as her goddess had asked, which explained her current fatigue. 
“What of Aiz and the others’ weapons?” 
“Primed and ready. Thanks to the servicin’ Tsubaki gave ’em during the expedition, it didn’t take much to get ’em ready for the next fight,” Gareth assured him. 
“I’ve got Aiz’s sword,” Bete added. 
“W-wait a second! Does this mean I have to carry Misses Tione’s and Tiona’s weapons all by myself?!” Raul this time. And it was true, the weapons had already been passed out, with Aiz’s Desperate going to Bete, Riveria’s staff going to Finn, and Tiona’s giant oversized Urga falling directly into Raul’s unlucky hands. 
But no one paid him any mind, Finn turning around to address the rest of the group now that their preparations were complete. 
“All right then, everyone! Our mission this time is to meet up with a certain pair of rambunctious sisters. While this may not seem like much…I assure you we’re going to have our hands plenty full.” 
“You’re tellin’ us!” 
“I just hope Miss Tione doesn’t let me have it too hard!” 
As Finn shrugged, the rest of the men half joked, half yelped in fear. 
But even as they jested, ferocious grins of anger toward the ones threatening their companions proliferated throughout the entire group. 
“These are direct orders from Loki. We’re to find the two of them…and bring the hammer down.” 
The eyebrows of everyone present lifted in surprise. 
Then Finn’s smile vanished. In four words, he spurred them into action. 
“Troops! Let’s move out!” 
The reaction was immediate as they all leaped off the side of the towering walls in one fell swoop. Bracing themselves for landing, they made sure their eyes never left their target—the city of Meren, veiled in darkness in front of them. 
Loki Familia’s ridiculously powerful reinforcements were on their way.