Hitirus rose from the mound of snow he landed in. The flakes clung to his eyebrows and hair, giving him more of a unique Thawed look.
Frigid breezes washed over the side of the mountain, carrying away any drifting flakes into the distant orange fields. Hitirus stretched and looked down at himself.
Tattered clothes clung onto his skin, burning crisply beneath the necklace. A sense of accomplishment motivated his mouth to twist in a smile.
Unlike most other smiles, this one wasn't hostile or menacing. But a pure smile. One of Hitirus' first in a long time. He was happy to know his Thawed finally placed their trust in him enough to let them pray in harmony.
"Nazuk-cul'kuva (Thank you greatly), Shazziz (Guardian)." Hitirus whispered.
When he turned around to make his journey back to the others, he realized the Iron Butler and Befehlnadir stood proud before him. The duo seemed like proud parents, except one of them had no resemblance to a face.
"Look at you! With your pretty little necklace and everything. Notice how your body isn't morphing already," Befehlnadir cheered.
Hitirus continued his proud and cheerful smile, even when the others looked on. He looked down again, looking for any parts of himself that weren't supposed to be there or seemed off for a Thawed.
Yet it was all normal.
"A relic of worship. You made a fine choice asking for one, perhaps this shows the Nine Rules aren't keen on... ending you," the Iron Butler commented.
Befehlnadir glanced over at him. "Wrong, they are probably unsure of our existence. Servants teamed up with King Oraton and his Noble Minds to defeat the first million of us before we went underground."
Hitirus sighed. "Aren't the Nine supposed to be all-knowing? Why would it be a surprise if we still exist? And most importantly, why haven't they found us?"
"Servants are strange anomalies in existence. Unlike the common thrall or slave, Servants are messengers. Like a watchman, they spot what is clear and deliver that information to their Wielders," the Iron Butler explained.
"How would you know that?" Hitirus asked.
"Isn't it obvious? I am a Servant's Servant - if you can even call me that. My Wielder is indebted to the Nine as an experiment and a medium between normality and Distortion," the Iron Butler explained.
Befehlnadir rose a hand up to gesture at the Iron Butler. "That's cool, now let's show Hitirus what I found against Nestres. Start the simulation."
The Iron Butler nodded, then stomped his foot into the ground. Befehlnadir and Hitirus blinked in unison, only to open their eyes in the Sister Fields.
A replica of Befehlnadir stared up at Ventelu. Jade flashes of energy held still in the air, while a glaring Heir kept his gaze fixed on the opposing pre-Noble.
"Welcome to the Sister Fields. This is all there is to this place, and the weakness is simple." Befehlnadir stepped away from his replica. "Whatever you do here will affect up there. Here's an example -"
He snapped his fingers, causing the flow of time to resume. Several explosions leveled the space surrounding the replica. Sendig pieces or rock into his body, lodging themselves inside.
Another snap paused the action. Letting the trio get a better look at what happened.
"If you look up -" Befehlnadir pointed at the impact zone of Nestres' rocky-explosion. "You will notice there is an explosion right there, too. Simple gimmick, really. It just gets problematic when you try to figure out where the other guy is."
Befehlnadir waved his right hand, causing time to go faster. Stopping when the hurricane-level winds tore through the Sister Fields.
"As you can see -" Befehlnadir allowed time to flow normally. He watched himself transform into a Wind Ripper. "It is possible to go onto the other field. But then fighting Nestres himself would be another challenge."
The trio teleported behind Befehlnadir's replica to match his speed, stopping when he tackled Nestres and dragged him through the terrain. Befehlnadir noticed the little amounts of blood coming off Nestres.
Each slam and drag seemed to barely make his skin red. He instantly recognized just how much tougher Nestres was.
If he was in the Heir's position, he would be bleeding gallons by the end. This was no doubt something he had developed, or maybe traced against his staff.
"Look at this. He is punching faster than I could even react," Befehlnadir commented.
Nestres' barrage of punches replayed repeatedly. Hitirus tried to follow along with each fist, but they simply out-paced his vision. It looked like they weren't even moving, just standing still.
"Speed is often compared to precision. However, many tend to dismiss the possibility of using both in junction with one another," the Iron Butler commented.
"If we look at the impact, we see it gets struck tiwice. From what I can gather, this is probably due to Nestres first using his stronger hand to weaken a limb, with the weaker hand to break it completely."
The Iron Butler looked at Befehlnadir's torso. He examined each spot that seemed battered and broken when the tyrant first came back.
"Looks like each punch had more than physical trauma impacting you," the Iron Butler pointed out. "Your wounds aren't fully healed, which means this dealt more damage to your existence than being."
Befehlnadir grinned as he turned away from the scene. "Exactly. Nestres doesn't seem like he'll fight himself, probably let's his pre-Nobles work first before fighting back."
Hitirus locked eyes with his pre-Noble. The two fell silent, not sure how to effectively counter Nestres.
"Ether said something about being his trophy boy for a while, maybe he knows something. But as it stands now, he is tough, yeah." Hitirus commented.
"That's right. Let's check if Ether has anything to say regarding his previous... 'owner.'" The Iron Butler agreed.
The simulation came to a screeching halt, finally revealing Nestres' fists. Hitirus kept his gaze fixed on the focused stare Nestres kept.
"Get ready, Hitirus. We'll soon face Nestres down," Befehlnadir concluded.