Melissa with large iron cuffs that bound her hands together as well as her feet are standing on a podium while facing the 12 councils who were sitting behind the individual bench. All of the benches had a person sitting on it, minus 1, but already the 11 councils that were there are deliberating on Melissa's sentence. An audience is also there for her, nobles who seemed to not really pay much attention nor care for what's happening. To them this is compulsory where they need to attend if they wish to keep their prestigious family names on a good record, the nobles now don't know that they exist to serve as a different voice that may sway the 12 Councils' verdict.
A silent clamor from both the bench and the box were going on, but then both sides became dead silence when a middle-aged man walked into the courtroom.
"So good of you to come, though you're late, Lord Faust. We've already concluded what the witch's sentence is," said the 7th seat holder, the one that governs the very courtroom they're in, Jules Deibler.
Faust raised a brow while looking at Jules and the rest of the council in confusion.
"Haven't we already decided before holding this farce?" Said the middle-aged man, and it made Melissa lift her head and see the same man she saw in the belltower, now taking his seat on the empty bench.
Deibler and some of the Councils became flustered by what Faust had said. The nobles in the box however were more concerned if they missed an important day and Faust? He couldn't be any more pleased with himself with what he had done in mere moments in the courtroom.
"D, -Do you have anything you wish to add, Lord Faust?" Deibler asked to redirect the focus somewhere else as he wipes the sweat off his pudgy face with his crochet handkerchief.
Faust looks down at Melissa and upon doing so the witch looks away. He lets out a pondering sigh and begins flipping through the documents he had with him that he carried in his hand.
"She's the Cerulean Witch," casually Faust declared, and every noble in the box suddenly stares in befuddlement at Melissa. The Council however were staring at Faust, their eyes asking him if he was serious. "Why not? If we're going to kill her anyway, might as well make the most of it," he said under a low enough voice that only the 12 Councils could hear it.
"I, -I! I'm not the Cerulean Witch!" Melissa had already accepted becoming a criminal and the chance of death as a witch, but she did not expect this. She asked the world what she had done so grievously to deserve to die being labeled as the witch she loathed, the witch she wanted to take revenge on.
"Silence, you're not permitted to talk unless spoken to!" Deibler, to feel a sense of security for himself, raised his voice to gather everyone's attention to Melissa in hopes that they forget what Faust had said before. Internally he's panicking, thinking that Faust might attempt to make a fool of him again.
Faust didn't care anymore and was looking at Melissa, who was now looking back at him. It felt as though he only declared Melissa as the Cerulean Witch just so she would look at him instead of turning away.
After being told not to speak, Melissa kept quiet. She can feel stares all around the courtroom. All of them seeing her as the Cerulean Witch that Faust claims her to be. With no one there to object against Faust, Melissa's verdict has been rewritten. Her death sentence, one that was already decided won't change, but now instead of dying at the stake as some witch, Melissa will die with the title of the Cerulean Witch.
As gruesome as it sounds, there is a place in Mires that is dedicated to the execution of witches known as Laeth's Hill located in the western outskirts of Mires, outside its walls. A cement foundation built atop the hill and it is on that foundation that stone poles with iron cuffs stood tall and menacing.
Next to the cement foundation was a horse-drawn carriage that held a cage where Melissa was placed as she was taken to the execution grounds.
It had been two days since her sentencing and now she's being escorted by two knights in full-armor to one of the stakes. She didn't resist as they cuffed her arms and legs, binding her to the pole surrounded by hay and wood that's been soaked in oil.
People had already gathered to watch the witch burn, shouting how it's because of witches like Melissa that the world could never find peace. In-between shouts people would lay out profanities while throwing things at Melissa, hoping to add more fuel to the incoming fire.
A drunk man threw his bottle at Melissa but his aim was too high and the bottle instead cracks open on the pole, dousing Melissa in cheap alcohol and glittering her with glass shards. Another man threw a rock that he picked up from the ground and it hits Melissa on the side of the head. It doesn't knock her unconscious but it causes blood to stream down the left side of her face, and yet she doesn't react.
The crowd grows impatient and some of them began shouting that they ought to stone Melissa to death. The same man picked up another rock on the ground and was about to throw it, but someone grabbed his wrist, strong enough that if any more pressure was applied it would sprain it.
"W, -What's your deal!?" The hateful man asked.
"Put it down," said Erize who had been hiding in the crowd but could not stomach the people becoming a vile mob venting their frustrations on a scapegoat.
The hateful man relents and Erize lets go of his hand. She then approached the front, hoping to at least get a closer look at Melissa. As she did, the execution goes underway, with one of the knights taking a lit torch and throwing it into the pyre. In an instant, everything is set ablaze around Melissa. It painfully reminds her of the day the Cerulean Witch took everything from her and she can't help but smile at her own tragedy.
She's going to end how she started, surrounded by flames that consume everything, the flames she detested and feared. Closing her eyes as she accepts her fate, Melissa finds herself seeing her family surrounding her. She at least wants to imagine that instead of a wrathful fire consuming her, it would be her loving family embracing her warmly.
Erize watches in horror as the flames raged on and inched towards Melissa who closed her eyes in front of her. The young Cerenian woman took a brave step forward, preparing herself to leap in and save Melissa and accept whatever consequences there are for opposing the verdict of the 12 Councils.
But just as Erize was about to take action, a silhouette covered in deep blue flames shoots down from the sky, falling straight onto the pyre. The very same blue fire the silhouette carried, erupts from the center of the roaring red flames, creating an even more deafening howl as it freezes with the pyre's flames, trapping the two knights that were beside the pyre. They see a tattered red cloak worn by the silhouette revealing himself to be Andrew who stood at the center, staring down Melissa.
Everyone, especially the two knights, and most especially Erize were in awe at what just happened. But, the one who couldn't believe it the most is Melissa who had her handcuffs broken off by Andrew using his black executioner's sword.
Erize's words resonated with him and Drew believed that Melissa not only deserved a second chance but also properly find peace in her loss.
"I have no idea of the things or the people you've lost, but I do know that I would also be where you are if everyone I loved disappeared." Andrew looked at Melissa, no longer with hate, but with a sense of responsibility.
He's not only doing this for Melissa but Cecil and Erize as well. He especially didn't want to worry about Erize becoming a wanted criminal and after hearing Cecil talk about becoming friends with her, he wanted to give Melissa that second chance that seemed so distant.
Andrew unslung something from his shoulder, Melissa couldn't see it because of the red cloak, but she knew what it was from the sound it made. He held it out her rifle that he had asked Miya to repair, which she was able to do in one night.
The time Andrew had left was spent telling Miya that what he's about to do is stupid to which Miya responds with a warm smile and telling him that no matter what happens he'll always have a family before she gave him enough Lira to travel and survive for a month or two.
"W, -Why are you doing this?" Melissa asked, her voice cracking as she's unable to make sense of it all.
A moment ago, she might as well have been dead, but now her body welled with emotions, warm emotions as she receives her rifle back from Andrew.
"My friend, Erize -the Anti-Mage that you confronted, wanted to give you a second chance no matter what. I'm here in her stead because I don't want her to lose everything she has," Andrew replied with a bit of a smile growing on his face. He's accepted his fate and how he's about to change Melissa's.
"W, -What about you then!? You probably have things to lose right!? And, why would you do this! I assumed you were my quarry, I'm responsible for the burn on your arm -I even bit it!"
"I hit you in the gut and I took what was important to you. I think that makes us even, now c'mon -ah right you're probably too hungry to move. Upsy-daisy!" Andrew after sheathing his sword carries Melissa into his arms, princess-style. Melissa didn't like it but because it was something she didn't expect. Her face turned beet red, her eyes became sharp while her lips furrowed.
Drew leaps out of the giant ice flower and took one of the horses from the carriage, untying the animal and using it to ride off the hill.
The crowd tried to stop them by getting in the way but quickly scattered like ants when Drew plans to barrel through them with the horse he's riding on. Melissa turned around as she catches something red in the crowd. She sees Erize dumbfounded but smiling. Melissa wanted to say something, even if her throat was too dry for another shout.
"THANK YOU!" She shouted at Erize who was in the crowd, smiling even wider as tears welled in the corners of her eyes. "I promise! We'll meet again, and I'm sorry for hurtin' ya!"
Drew had an awkward smile on him as he sighed, feeling like he's not really the hero who saved Melissa, but instead, it was Erize who gave her hope and a reason to smile.
Melissa still had a lot of questions in her mind, but the warm and fuzzy feeling in her chest melted away any and all cynicism she had and now she's fine with being patient and waiting for her questions to be answered. She also wanted to savor the feeling of warmth she had forgotten while losing herself in her own little imaginations of her having caring friends.
Because Andrew had taken Mires' Anti-Mages and its soldiers, called knights, by surprise he manages to ride across the northern plains using the nearest dirt road he could see as their path to their next destination. He knows by traveling this road they'll be in Aspen, a town they can't stay in long as the country's soldiers would take action and give chase.
Whatever happens though, Andrew vowed that he'll never regret his decisions and continue to move forward, seeking both to redeem himself and Melissa. Little does he know that a war is underway and that he'll have to choose which side he'll participate in.