Inside the dining hall, Leona was sitting on the couch she was treated on with a somber look on her face. Memories of lives taken by her own hands and the failure to save lives with those same hands were gnawing at the back of her mind.
Now that she was given a choice to fight for her ideals, she found herself hesitating. Hesitating to take the life of the person who saved hers for the sake of her own path.
"I have to find another way…"
She muttered under her breath while her gaze was focused on the hilt of the longsword on the floor. Even if she was to duel Kaeli, it was unlikely that she could pull off an overwhelming victory without her left arm unless she sacrificed the other one.
"No… that wouldn't work…"
While Kaeli healed her damaged mana circuits, there were no guarantees that anyone else could the same; making it a one time trick that she could potentially use, but was understandably hesitant to.
Even if she won, were she to lose her only working arm for casting magic, the only way she could use mana was either through her ankles or complete vocal incantations which was a method not commonly used for the risk of injuring the vocal cords.
"Tsk…"
She grabbed the scabbard off the floor and laid on her back with both of her feet over the other edge of the couch. She held the weapon on her chest as she exhaled slowly to calm herself down.
"No matter what I think of I just can't come up with a proper plan against her…"
Her fingers tightened around the scabbard. Her mind and body were both spent as she found herself blinking slower and slower until her heavy eyelids guided her into slumber.
Footsteps approached the sleeping tactician as Krieg stopped beside the couch with a ceramic cup in his hand.
"Leona I brought you the-"
He stopped speaking once he noticed she was sleeping. Without saying another word he put away the cup of water on the table and sat with his back against the couch. Seeing her rest was a reward of its own for him.
However the guilt of not being beside her when she needed the most weighed heavy on his heart.
'It should have been me.' He held his left bicep and squeezed it tightly. 'What good is a knight who can't even protect his liege?'
He hung his head low while looking at the pommel of the sword tied to his hip. He never felt so helpless even when he was fighting against demons in the Great War, in fact, he had never lacked confidence in his strength or swordsmanship.
He was atop of the chain when it came down to individual skill, but to feel so inadequate as to be useless, now that was the first time.
'No… I can't continue like this…' He looked at his right palm before closing it into a fist so tight it was possible to see the muscles and veins around his wrist tense up. 'I will find a way to help her in this upcoming duel no matter what.'
He stood up and grabbed the cup of water from the table before glancing back at Leona who was still sleeping soundly.
"Hm?"
Upon closer inspection, he noticed the exposed frostburnt silver blade of her sword was awfully close to her face. He reached for the scabbard and tried to pull the weapon away from her but his hands slipped from the sheath.
At first he didn't think much of it, but when he tried to take the sword away from her the second time, her fingers suddenly tensed up around the scabbard, not letting go of the weapon.
"Leona…? Are you awake?"
He firmly grabbed on the scabbard right below her hand and tried one more time to pry off her but she wasn't letting it go. Despite the amount of force she seemed to be exerting there was barely any difference in her facial expression which only meant she wasn't doing it on purpose.
Beads of sweat began to form on his forehead.
'What is going on…?'
Inside Leona's mind was a turbulent sea of emotions as she found herself half aware that it was a dream.
'I can't move…'
She couldn't feel her body but she could see a myriad of memories not her own which passed by her mind in an almost incoherent speed. Happiness, joy, sorrow, pain, horror, dread—the waves of emotions were so intense that she felt her chest tighten despite lacking a physical body.
"Leona…" An unfamiliar voice rang in her mind. "You truly are a hero…"
It felt like someone was speaking in a language she couldn't understand, but at the same time she could comprehend the meaning of each word spoken. There was an intense bout of dizziness as she struggled to keep herself conscious.
'Ugh… what is going on…?'
"No matter the cost, I will save them all."
This time an unfamiliar female voice echoed in her mind. From the pitch and tone of her voice, Leona could guess it would be from a middle aged woman.
"They will fall by my hands!"
The same voice and yet another bout of dizziness, this time it felt like her head was being split in half. Each time that woman's voice came into her mind it was as if she was taking each emotion as her own.
'Whose are these memories…?'
"I can't fail now…! I won't!"
The same voice was filled with desperation which filled Leona with the same anxiety as she was struggling to grasp the meaning of each memory that bombarded her mind.
"This isn't the end…" The voice she couldn't understand before rang clear in her mind this time. "Leona! You must survive until the end!"
With a loud gasp, Leona shot up awake as she found herself inside an unfamiliar hall. The crystal blue floor felt cold to the touch, she stood up and looked around. The first thing that caught her attention was the pale blue torches that were affixed inside crystal pillars that served to support the ceiling—however when looking up, she couldn't see the actual ceiling as the columns would just vanish into the darkness.
"What is this place…?"
It was a spacious hall with four different pillars per five to six of her steps for width until each side of the wall. Behind her was an endless darkness that she would not dare walk towards as it felt like the heat was being sucked out from her chest just by merely looking at, so instead she walked forward—following the eerie illuminated path.
Each of her steps echoed through the hall, but it was strange. Despite the sounds of her own making, she could still hear her own heartbeats through her ears with each step forward.
She kept going for a while, but the hall didn't seem to change, in fact, it felt like she was walking in circles. She swallowed dry.
"Is anyone there?"
Her voice echoed endlessly. She could sense someone or something, staring at her. Upon glancing behind her one more time where there should have been lit torches from the path she walked, there was simply the gnawing blackness as if the darkness had been swallowing everything she left behind.
Beads of sweat formed on her forehead as she grabbed one of the nearby torches and chucked into the darkness. The beacon of light hit the floor once before skidding through the crystal floor, illuminating much less than she expected in darkness until it stopped by someone's pale bare feet.
"?!"
Leona instinctively reached for her longsword, but the weapon wasn't on her hip.
'Where did my weapon go?!'
"Why haven't you called me…?"
She looked at the darkness with widened eyes as the female voice came from within it. The torch she had thrown was picked up by an equally pale hand before it was brought up. A woman was standing amidst the blackness with the torch in the right hand while the left held Leona's sheathed frostburnt silver longsword. She wore nothing more than a tattered cloth that hung around her shoulders and covered most of her body except the legs and feet.
The darkness seemed to seep out from the darkened crystal floor and the torch was barely illuminating around the woman.
"Leona… why?"
The kind and caring voice asked in a way that made Leona feel relaxed. However, in the back of her mind she was still someone that could not be trusted which made her jump back to create some distance while putting her right arm in front of her before asking.
"Who are you…?"
The woman was about two palms taller than her. Her slender face was framed with two prominent straightened silver bangs coming around each cheek from the middle of her head while the back of her hair fanned around her knees. Her crimson red eyes were akin to Krieg's but as opposed to her knight's sharp gaze, the woman had a gentle and calming look.
"Leona… why haven't you called me…?"
The woman's eyes seemed to be staring through Leona as if she wasn't there.
"Who are you?!" Becoming impatient, Leona decided to shout. "How do you know me?!"
Without so much as a word, the woman turned around and let go of the torch and as soon as it hit the ground the pale blue flame was snuffed out by the crawling darkness.
"Wait!"
Leona shot up awake with her right hand extending out while holding the scabbard. She noticed Krieg was beside her with his hand also on the leather sheath as if trying to pry it off her grip.
"Are you alright?!"
He had a worried expression on his face which puzzled Leona at first, however after looking at her own right hand she noticed it was painfully red and no matter how hard she tried to open it, the muscles simply wouldn't comply to her command.
"What happened to me…?"
She asked while wincing from the tingling sensation spreading throughout her arm.
"I don't know." He answered while kneeling in front of her. "At first it seemed like you were sleeping but after I tried to get the sheath out of your hand you simply gripped it even harder."
Leona turned to her left and put the sword on top of her lap at which point he started to gently pry off each individual finger off the scabbard.
"I don't know what happened… I dreamed about a woman with silver hair, she was muttering my name but I didn't recognize her…"
That tale sounded familiar to Krieg's ears as he turned at her with a curious expression on his face.
"You dreamed about her? Did you find yourself somewhere that you have never been before?"
"Yes. How did you know?"
He shifted his focus back to helping her as he carefully opened her pinky finger, releasing her grip on the scabbard. Her entire hand was reddened from the poor flow of blood.
"Queen Eleonora once went through something like that when she became champion of the goddess." He explained while putting the frostburnt silver longsword on the table. "Though in her case, she had her holy sword with her."
"Laevateinn."
Leona uttered. The holy sword carried by the Knight Queen herself. She never personally laid eyes upon the weapon but she did read and hear about it extensively as one of her father's favorite tales.
It was rumored to be a longsword made of golden mana in the likeness of the goddess Eleonora. A weapon capable of effortlessly cutting down foes whose hearts are burdened with sin.
"But well…" Krieg continued while kneeling in front of her. "It was a holy sword bestowed by the goddess herself. Unless this blade that was gifted to you was from another god or someone equivalent to one, I don't think it could have been the weapon."
Leona chuckled.
"Unless Jano was a god in disguise while running an inn. Though I must admit, everything that happened in Londria was far from ordinary."
Meeting the goddess, be hunted down by a former comrade, discovering Krieg's heritage, witnessing Phoebe lose two legs. It was a far cry from what she had experienced up to that point.
"Though I must admit, holding this weapon made me a bit uneasy." Krieg explained as he glanced at the sheathed blade. "It feels like it has been used to cut down the lives of many."
Leona was shaking her right hand back and forth to alleviate the numbness while following Krieg's gaze at the frostburnt silver longsword.
"Jano said it was his wife's weapon. Maybe she did use it to defeat demons while they were adventurers?"
"I hardly believe an adventurer would have the need to kill as many as this weapon has." He frowned his eyebrows. "There is definitely something off with it."
"There is little point dwelling about it." After managing to shake off most of the numbness, she grabbed the scabbard again. "I would like to try again, if you don't mind Krieg."
He wore a worried expression on his face as he witnessed her take the weapon to her lap.
"Must you really?"
"Honestly, it's simply to satisfy my own curiosity." She smiled wryly. "If my weapon truly has a soul, I'd like to understand it. Who knows, maybe I can become stronger with it as well."
He scratched the side of his head as he tried to recall a few bits of information from the time he traveled with Queen.
"Eleonora was able to somewhat communicate with her holy sword through a ritual called communion."
She held her chin between the index and thumb while raising one eyebrow.
"I never heard of it."
"There were probably records of it, but it would be inside the royal library."
"Can you describe how she did it?"
He closed his eyes and tilted his head slightly up.
"What I could remember was that she would sit on the ground with the sword on her lap while pouring mana into the blade."
"Hmm… that sounds something like runic magic." She placed the scabbard on her lap and took a deep breath. "Very well… just gently pour mana into it…"
Her body began to glow ever so slightly. Although Krieg could barely see it, he was able to sense her flow of mana by being in close proximity to her aura. At first nothing seemed to happen other than the blade start to shine a faint light blue glow as reaction from her mana, but as time went on, Leona's focused expression became lighter and lighter until she tilted her head to the back side of the couch.
'Did she sleep?'
Krieg thought for himself before extending his hand towards her scabbard. Her finger tensed around the sheath the moment he tried to pull the weapon away.
"Leona?"
A few seconds passed and no response. He tried once again to pull the sword away but her fingers didn't budge.
'She did it then.'
He placed his hand on top of hers which covered it entirely as he lowered his head in a silent prayer.
"Please, don't push yourself too hard again, Leona."
Upon opening her eyes, Leona found herself in the familiar crystal hall, however this time as opposed to the gnawing blackness, she could look as far as her eyes could see. Just like the ceiling, the hallway itself seemed to expand endlessly on both sides.
"Leona…? Is that you?!"
The oddly familiar voice came from her left and as Leona turned, she noticed the long silver haired woman sitting against the crystal wall with a sheathed sword on the floor beside her. The tattered cloth seemed to flutter ever so slightly against the seemingly denser air close to the ground.
Upon standing up, the woman was considerably taller than Leona—almost as tall as Krieg. Her long stride carried her in a hurry with the scabbard in her right hand as she approached Leona with seemingly worry in her eyes, however the tactician instinctively took half a step back.
The woman raised her left hand with a half open mouth as she asked.
"Leona? What's wrong?"
"You speak as if we have known each other for a long time." She tilted her head slightly up. "Who are you?"
Leona questioned while staring intently at the silver haired woman's crimson eyes. There was a hint of sadness and despair from hearing those words.
"That is right… you… you wouldn't know…" Her eyes gently frowned towards the ground. Nevertheless, the woman who towered above the tactician knelt down—leaving her head at the height of Leona's chest. "My name is Avalon. The silver maiden. I'm glad to see you again, my empress."