After spending a long time to calm down the huge crowd forming beneath the central tower, captain Olivia assembled a meeting with everyone involved in the assault inside Maple inn. Some familiar faces were present amongst the soldiers, namely Henry, Jill and Hank, the trio took a table in the far corner as Leona's group had the middle table for themselves with Elizabeth and the captain standing across them. The blind Minerva sat lonely by a table while holding a steamy hot drink between her pale hands.
"We managed to hold our ground against him for now." Olivia looked at the tactician. "But we can't make a move and leave the city unguarded, we have soldiers that are still loyal to Oliver."
Leona shook her head.
"I wouldn't dare to ask any more of you, Captain Olivia, this matter falls into our hands now. With a flying death angel there is no telling where or when he'll attack plus even if Athena finishes her project we wouldn't be able to make use of it since that flying menace could just knock us out of the sky."
"I heard from my husband, it has no defense capabilities as far as I know."
"That is what I fear." The tactician sighed briefly before looking at the assassin. "But I'm sure with Lady Elizabeth's help we'll be able to kill them for good."
"You don't mean to hunt it by yourselves right?" Jill voiced her concern and all eyes went to her direction. "Even with a squadron's worth of ammunition we weren't able to deal any significant damage to it."
"You soldiers just lack the methods." The assassin said with disdain. "Shooting at it aimlessly will get you nowhere."
"With all due respect Lady Elizabeth." Henry began to speak. "If our training was lacking that much I believe the capital would have been already overrun by other things like demons and such."
"Besides." Olivia continued as she looked at the assassin through the corner of her eyes. "I would much rather have my soldiers accompany Princess Leona than an infamous king slayer."
Upset, Phoebe slammed the table with her closed fist prompting everyone to stop.
"Let's cease with the pointless jabs at each other's ego and instead work together, how does that sound?" She glanced at Elizabeth. "Princess Leona mentioned you managed to wound it with your blade. How so?"
"Blade energy."
She answered as her hand went for her weapon's handle, it made the captain and soldiers feel uneasy but since she was still holding a conversation they simply held in their instinct to pull out their own weapons.
Once unsheathed the blade seemed to be made of ordinary steel, though the sharpness rivaled even the best of what Londrian smiths could provide, as Elizabeth held the weapon she closed her eyes and for a brief moment the blade emitted a blue glow covering the entire length of the blade like a translucent scabbard. Krieg decided to explain seeing how Leona had a puzzled expression on her face.
"By reinforcing the blade with mana it becomes possible to cut through even the toughest of foes. That's how Eleonora managed to defeat many demons in her time."
"I see…" The tactician returned to look at the blade that was now just a simple hunk of metal. "No doubt you must be the only one here that can use blade energy, can I count on you to come with us, Lady Elizabeth?"
She sheathed the sword before folding her arms, with her eyes closed she replied.
"I refuse."
That made Olivia visibly angry.
"I believe I made myself clear that I would only allow you in this city because of your help, if you refuse to do so I will have to take other measures."
"Then let me ask you something in return Captain Olivia. If your child's life was on the line would you fight for strangers that would shoot you on sight or would you rather take your child and run away?"
Further provocation only made the captain grit her teeth in anger, the answer was obvious but in that tense situation everyone was on edge and she refused to answer the assassin's question.
"Mother." Minerva broke the tension with her calm voice. "Please, if not for the Londrians, at least help Princess Leona. If it wasn't for her family we wouldn't even have met in the first place. Who knows, maybe I wouldn't even be alive to be quite honest."
The soldiers glanced at the tactician who held her head low.
"My parents are no longer in this world, but…" She raised her head and looked the assassin in the eyes. "...if I can prevent countless others from losing their loved ones while also achieving my own goals, why shouldn't I try it? Arcadians, Londrians, Akrapocalians, Asterians, in the end, we are not so different."
"Hnnk- Hahahaha!" Elizabeth began to laugh, it caught everyone off guard as the trio of soldiers had almost pulled out their weapons from the sheer shock. "I'm sorry, I'm not laughing about you or your ideals, it's just- refreshing to get to know someone like you Leona. Your mother and father used to say the same back when the war had ended, I truly had hope for Arcadia once they were announced as advisors for the Queen." She took a deep breath and unfolded her arms. "Very well, my blade is yours."
A smile began to form in the tactician's face.
"Thank you-!"
"However." Elizabeth raised her hand and continued but this time looking at Olivia. "I shall make an official request for you, specifically captain. No matter what happens, even if we are all to perish, promise me you'll take care of my daughter as if she was your own."
"Mother!"
Minerva was about to protest but Olivia replied with determination in her voice.
"I understand. Your previous transgressions won't be forgiven, but for your selfless service I shall do whatever is in my power to grant a comfortable life for her."
"You can't be serious mother!"
"Listen!" Her sudden strict voice made Minerva stop protesting. "Your brother is dead. He attacked Leona and I had to intervene."
"Jonathan…"
"I'm sorry Minerva… I should've been there for both of you. Letting your brother become a king slayer was a mistake." She looked at both of her hands. "Neither of you had to go through this…"
"But it was his choice." She was frowning. "So it is mine to go wherever you go."
"Stop it Minerva." Her left hand hung on her sword's handle. "I tried to provide for both of you but the world isn't kind to people like me, to assassins. Both of you paid the price for my mistakes."
"Mother, you of all people should know that life isn't made of only happiness. I still won't forget the pain of these last months, but I'm sure I'll be happier to be where you are rather than living away in regret of not doing what I wanted to do."
"If I may." Surprisingly, Krieg placed both of his hands on the table and interlocked his fingers. "Instead of preparing for the worst, shouldn't you instead think about the future you want to make? I've been through a lot with Princess Leona, we suffered, we mourned, however we endured it because we were together, it is my utmost honor to serve under someone like her." He glanced briefly at the tactician before returning his gaze to Elizabeth. "Isn't it your desire as well? To spend time with your daughter? These bonds are strong just as they are fleeting, you should know better than anyone."
The assassin closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"I…"
Their talk was interrupted by the sound of the door chime ringing. By the doorway, Olivia's husband, Lawrence was shouldering half of Athena's weight as the inventor stepped inside the inn.
"Hey, good to see everyone here." Seeing how everyone was quiet made her raise a brow. "Did I come in a bad time?"
"No, not at all." Olivia answered. "In fact, I'm glad you are well enough to walk."
"It was nothing major, thankfully the uniform and the rifle took the brunt of it." They both walked in and Hank prepared a chair beside Phoebe for Athena to sit, she did seem a bit reluctant to be right beside an assassin but nevertheless she sat down and looked at Lawrence. "Thank you."
"It's nothing." He replied before turning to Leona and pulling a chair to sit on the inventor's left side. "I'm glad that you are also okay, Miss Leona."
The tactician nodded with a half smile on her face.
"So I heard you have a death angel to deal with." Athena tried to adjust her posture but doing so made her wince from the sharp pain she felt so instead she curved her body a bit to the right. "We have good and bad news."
"News?"
Phoebe asked.
"Yes, while you were dealing with the crowd in front of the tower, me and Lawrence here had a few soldiers to secure Jakob's research materials for us."
"You what?!" Olivia shouted with a glare that could kill directed at the inventor. "Athena, you two are using documents acquired through illegal means! Do you realize how many lives were lost because of that man?!"
"Calm down Captain." She raised her left hand. "There is much in science that can be gained from failure as there is from success. A true affront to the dead would have been burning those research materials. Countless lives were lost because of him, true, but at the same time this knowledge can be used to save countless others." She then looked at Lawrence. "If you can explain it to them, I'm having trouble digesting all that information myself."
He nodded and then turned to the group, looking at each and everyone's face. His wife was clearly upset with the right hand clenching her left bicep.
"I was able to go through most of his notes, the most recent entry was about dragons, more specifically how their mana circuits closely resembles a death angel's or I should say the other way around. However since that winged death angel was too big to conduct experiments here and it would be suspicious if he just up and left the capital he had to use something or rather, someone else that could substitute it." He then turned to Krieg. "You are a descendant of a platinum dragon, or at least that is what Jakob concluded with the results of his tests."
Every pair of eyes in the room turned to Krieg. A dragon was by far one of the most powerful beings one could ever face in battle, however they are just as rare, the last sighting was a few years back when Eleonora was still queen of Arcadia.
"Me? Descendant of a dragon?" The knight laughed sourly. "If I really was one don't you think I'd be able to use magic?"
"That is the main catch. You are by far one of the most pure blooded descendants he ever came across. Minerva over there is also one, but there is less dragon blood inside her as her mana circuits resemble more of a human than a dragon." Lawrence continued, his unrelenting hunger for knowledge was starting to show by the enthusiasm in explaining. "Dragons by nature have closed mana circuits, they use their mana to strengthen their limbs and therefore achieve greater feats of physical prowess. However, unlike humans, they have what is called a breath sac within them, which converts the mana inside their bodies much like a mage casting a spell."
Leona glanced at the knight as thoughts began to form inside her head.
'Krieg was always very powerful, does that mean…'
"I believe the coma you were in is a result of mana overload. Since you can't vent out mana like other people do, your body succumbed to the excess and shutted down."
"But I never felt anything prior to that."
"That is the bizarre part of mana overload, unless someone else examines you, there is no way to know it's happening in the body, it's a silent killer. You were fortunate enough to just be unconscious, not many survive having their circuits overloaded with mana."
"What I want to know is-" Leona voiced her question. "-even with everything we went through up until now, Krieg never had that problem. Is there any logical explanation as to why now?"
"Well… there were some studies regarding how mana overload could happen in normal circumstances." Lawrence began to scratch the side of his head. "Though nothing concrete came up, I remember reading about state of mind affecting circuit stability inside a person's body-"
"Point is-" Athena spoke up. "-we presume from the final notes he wrote that he made some sort of serum by mixing Krieg's blood and the death angel's. Though he didn't write it down how he managed to do it. Well, regardless of how he did it, we can safely assume he is just as susceptible to magic as dragons and death angels are."
"So our only options to kill them is magic or energy blade?" Phoebe asked. "What about poison?"
"While I'm sure poison of any kind would have some effect, I don't believe there is anything we can make that can take down a death angel- wait…" The scientist seemed to have reached an epiphany as he jumped off the chair and pulled out a small notepad and rudimentary graphite pencil which consisted in a chunk of sharpened carbon affixed to a wooden stick with string. "That's it! Poison!" Everyone in the room looked at him with surprise. "Remember how I explained in detail how the warm drinks worked? How instead of merely warming up the body it makes so mana circulates more easily throughout the body?"
"Wait, it does that?" Jill's surprised face made Hank chuckle over the other side of the room. "So that is why it felt strange at first…"
"Now let's assume since Jakob's outer appearance changed greatly, his inner anatomy must also have changed." Lawrence continued with his theory whilst frantically writing the idea down. "Which leads me to believe if I change the formula a bit, I could make something that promotes the body to absorb mana from the ambient instead-"
"In turn it could cause a mana overload!" Athena looked at him with widened eyes. "That is brilliant!"
"That is all assuming he indeed has closed his own mana circuits. If that's not the case and he is still able to use mana to strengthen himself that could spell the end for anyone fighting him, though what bothers me was his toughness, even if you coat yourself with mana it shouldn't protect you from a blade…"
"In any case-" Olivia had a tired expression on her face. "-I'll call in whoever you need to do this." She then turned to Leona's group. "You should all rest for today. I'll have some of the scouts to look for Jakob but in the meantime I'd like to have you all rested up and ready."
Phoebe stood up, looking directly at Olivia.
"If I may, I'd like to join the scouting, I may not be of use when it comes to slaying beasts but I'm confident in my tracking abilities."
"Phoebe, don't push yourself too hard."
Leona spoke up but the high elf simply turned to her with a half smile on her face.
"I'm thankful for worry but after hearing what Lawrence and Athena said about fighting against that… 'thing' I'm not sure I'll be of any help. But even if blades or arrows won't work against it, if I manage to find them faster it'll work to our advantage don't you think?"
The tactician frowned while looking downwards but then after a deep breath she looked at Phoebe with a weak smile on her face.
"Very well, you've made your point. Just stay safe out there."
She nodded before heading outside the inn. The trio of soldiers also stood up and saluted before also going outside.
"I also have a bit of work to get done so I'll be on my way." Lawrence bowed and stood up looking at Athena. "Need a hand?"
"I'd appreciate it."
They made their way back to the workshop. After everyone else was gone the only ones that remained in the inn was the innkeeper himself working in the kitchen, Olivia who stood with both arms folded whilst frowning, Krieg who seemed a bit tired and Leona who was still visibly shaken from the day's events.
With a sigh the captain unfolded her arms and headed to the door.
"I'll go talk to the two of them. Get some well deserved rest Princess, good night."
"Good night and thank you for everything."
Olivia nodded before closing the door behind her.
"Leona." Krieg called her, prompting the young woman to turn to him. "I… I must apologize for making you worry all this time."
She shook her head.
"It's not your fault Krieg. If anything it was mine for pushing myself beyond my limits." She hung her head low while clenching both hands into tight fists. "I… I was too focused on the end goal that I neglected to be careful."
"But you have changed." He took her hands between his, just by looking at them he could tell she had been training with the blade by the calluses on her palm. "I regret not being by your side in your time of need, but at least as a saving grace I've been allowed to see you once again, hale and whole."
"I should be the one saying that. I've depended on you for far too long."
"Hey, I know you'd prefer to not have interruptions but after hearing all of your talk I'd figure the lad needs some food." Jano came from the kitchen with an enormous platter of his signature meal, lamb stroganov. "Put up some weight, the young lady here needs you so make sure you won't be falling behind."
"Ah, thank you Jano."
Leona was about to reach for her pockets but the innkeeper raised his palm to stop her.
"It's on the house, for dealing with that angel beast and all that."
"That's… very kind of you, thank you."
"Don't worry about it young lady, we have been through hell and back to hell again, thanks to you we made it in one piece." He pulled a nearby chair and sat before pulling a rolled up cigar and lighting it up with a match. "You know young lady, that blade you're carrying on your hip was my wife's." Her eyes widened in surprise as he continued with his tale after puffing out a cloud of thick white smoke to the other direction. "We used to be adventurers, working together, exploring the kingdoms and despite the hardships from the war, we led a happy life."
"I never knew that…" She tightly grasped the scabbard with her left hand before turning to him. "Then I must ask why did you give me this blade?"
"I'm old, too old. I don't have any family left, it's just me and this old inn." He puffed another cloud of smoke. "But my wife's legacy, her belief for a brighter future still lives on that sword. It was with her until the very end when we were attacked by a death angel. It was that weapon that saved my life.
"That's more than enough reason to keep it!"
She pulled the sheathed blade from her belt and was about to give it back but he simply chuckled before sighing, seeming somewhat melancholic.
"A weapon is not something you keep as a memory. Just like another tool, it should be used for the purpose it was created for and the moment you fought not only for your knight, but all the people in Londria made me realize that you are more than worthy to carry on with my wife's legacy."
Leona was at loss for words.
"I… I don't know what to say…" She held the sheathed weapon with both hands. "I'm very grateful for your words and trust. I'll cherish it and hope to return it one day when I don't need it anymore."
"Hopefully you'll be able to abandon that path soon young lady." He stood up and returned the chair he had borrowed from another table. "Well then, if you need anything else just call, I'll be in the inn for the entire night."
"Thank you Jano."
She answered with a weak smile on her face. Upon seeing his liege like so he silently made a vow to never leave her side ever again.