Hanafin and I sprint through the castle together, trying to catch up to Celestia before she finds Yesenia.
"Do you have a plan?!" I ask him breathlessly, finding it very difficult to keep up with his pace.
"Not really, but I don't believe she'll be able to handle it. Please, just help me out a little. I don't see myself being able to stop Celestia."
Tetsu, wind. I spread my arms out like a bird, wind emanating from my hands. I then slap my arms together, sending my air everywhere. I stop running in focus, feeling every sensation my wind brushes against, every figure, every nook and cranny, controlling multiple gusts all heading in different direction at once.
Although I could only ascertain the silhouettes of the things I touch and nothing more. I was very certain that I would be able to distinguish that girl's silhouette very distinctly.
There! I feel it! I shiver as I could feel her gaze right on me as soon as I detect her, despite being in a room much further away. It's as she could recognize the slight shift in air that should be completely indistinguishable to those who wield Anku.
I shake my head. "Follow me." I beckon Hanafin to come and jet forward, slicing through the air resistance like a knife through butter, a strong tailwind behind my back to propel my body forward.
"OI!" We find Celestia relaxing, arms under her head, on a large statue in the courtyard. "What did you do to my sister!" Hanafin yells at her.
"It's kinda annoying how everyone always assumes the worst of me."
"What. Did you. Do. To my. Sister."
"I cut her up into multiple pieces and burned her at the stake." Celestia says sarcastically.
"Stop screwing around! You are this god damn close before we decide to kick you out."
"And you are this, god damn close to losing the war and your heads shortly after, feels weird having no control doesn't it? You spoiled prince."
Hanafin closes his eyes.
"Cain, as your superior, threaten her."
I puck my lips. "This might backfire." I murmur before I begin walking up to her.
"Oh don't threaten me with a good time! I've always wanted to fight a Tetsudo, you got some fire powers right?! Come on then, show me what you got!"
I hold my hand up at her, watching as she tries to secretly prick her finger, flicking her blood to the ground.
She notices my gaze and smiles. "Ah shucks, I guess you caught me." She holds her hands up, a tiny drop of blood running down her arm.
"No, no, you can do whatever you want. You can ignore me." I hold my position, both of my palms pointed towards her body.
I don't let out a fire, I don't let out any air, I simply stand there unwavering, and then, standing still, for a brief moment, I finally could see a moment of uncertainty in Celestia's face.
Fear of the unknown, it's a fear no human can ever erase, no matter how strong they are. To her, I was an enigma, she had never seen my fire, she had never seen me fight, she had never seen the extent of my abilities.
And unless I show it, she'll always have those suspicions in the back of her head, forever that tiny voice telling her that I may be too dangerous, no matter how confident she was in her strength.
Celestia nods. "He's quite good, the me from a couple weeks ago would have backed off but... Unlucky for you." She hops down from the statue.
I grimace at her words.
"I no longer give a shit about what I don't know."
Celestia anchors herself to the ground as I let out a roaring current of wind, with speeds rivaling my sister's. The grass and dirt uproot around her feet uproot immediately, making Celestia quickly realize that the ground wasn't going to hold her anchor very long. She quickly lunges straight into the wind, trying to completely brute-force her way through my attack.
Her long hair flies back like pin needles, her clothes flap relentlessly.
I fold in my hands towards my chest as she comes within arms reach, slowing down tremendously from her initial lunge. She tucks her head in as the ground behind her flies into the sky, dirt and grass slamming into the castle walls.
All, I have to do is aim the current a tiny bit up, and she'll be carried away into the sky.
She reaches out forward, grasping, edging closer and closer until her hand was centimeters away from my face.
"This has gone on long enough wouldn't you say?" I say before bending my fingers upwards.
Celestia drops to the ground with lightning-like speeds crouching directly underneath my hands where the wind was coming from. I instantaneously, switch the rhythm of my Tetsu from wind to fire, turning my entire body into fire in defense.
She throws out a vicious kick, her leg carrying the force of instant death as it passes right through my body, I stumble to my right as my body flames are blown to the side by the wind of her kick. Then, without looking, as I knew I had absolutely no chance to react to anything she does, I begin the transition of my Tetsu back to wind, point my hand in Celestia's general direction, and let out a searing hot stream of air straight into her body
She's blasted back, tumbling and flipping through the ground before eventually catching her landing on the castle wall.
"Whoa! That's hot!" Celestia brushes off the hem of her shirt that had caught on fire. However, seemingly completely unaffected by my heat.
"Please stand back prince, I don't believe I'll be able to hold back." I say to Hanafin with 100% earnest. I had a feeling that this girl wasn't about to be someone I could just accidentally kill.
Celestia looks at me with a massive grin on her face. "I take it you're ready to start using your fire then?" She says.
In response, my hands burst into flames. My adrenaline was running, my mind was focused, my concentration was stronger that it had ever been.
Celestia lets out a long drawn out breath. "Alright, alright, I'll give up." Celestia backs away, not really sounding like she was giving up. "Let's save part two of this fight for a more convenient time." She gives me a sly look to the side. "That is... If you want to."
I quickly catch myself and close my eyes. "I will not fight you." I put out the flames on my hands, knowing that those words were likely not going to come true.
"Who knows, maybe you won't, I don't know the future." Celestia leans on the wall and tilts her head to the side, dropping her hair all over her face. "By the way, weren't you asking me about something? I forgot."
Hanafin purses his lips, an annoyed look on his face, then begins speaking very slowly. "I said—"
"Oh yea, Yesenia is down in the cellar talking to Crux right now. I surprisingly didn't even need to say anything. She sought him out herself."
"Alright, Cain, keep her here while I go check on them, make sure to not let her move, and Celestia, if you do anything stupid, I will personally make sure that you will stay here guarding the capital until the war is over." Hanafin says before running off, leaving Celestia and I completely alone.
"Well, I guess it's time to do something stupid then." Celestia immediately says before Hanafin is even out of earshot.
"Are you sure you want to stay in this city for the rest of the war? I heard that you someone that sought out as many fights as you could." I say in response, trying to deescalate without using any force.
"I don't believe that he'll be able to keep me down even if he wanted to. I've seen how you guys run this place, none of you can afford to keep me away from the frontlines, his idea will simply be voted down, no matter who he is." Celestia says in response, in a unusually reasonable tone.
"He's the prince. Only Yesenia has the same claim to power as he does." I say.
"Then why aren't they leading this crisis right now?" Celestia points out the obvious. "Why was I approached to pick the leader?"
"I can't let you move out of here. I'm sorry but those are my orders."
"Will you use force?"
"No, I will simply never give you the fight that you've been wanting. You will kill me before I lift a finger back." I say with a neutral tone. "You will be sacrificing one of your interests for another."
"I see... Then how about you tell me what you think of this situation. Do you think Yesenia should be present for when I out the traitor?"
"What I think isn't important."
"But you're always thinking anyways aren't you? I can tell; you're suppressing a lot of very strong opinions under that skull of yours despite being so reserved. So tell me, solely for the sake of my being interested, what is your opinion?"
"..." I don't speak for the next couple of seconds, before slowly opening my mouth. "I don't believe she should be trying to run away from reality." It'll only make the impact worse in the future; it was something I could say from personal experience, when I was disillusioned with my reputation among the people.
"I see, I see, then, back to what that prince said, he said to not let me move, but technically he didn't specify where I can't move from. So from all I know, he might be talking about not letting me move from the castle rather than this courtyard." Celestia says, I could immediately tell where she was going with this.
"You can fight with more than just your fists can't you." I lower my head and softly grin, before hold my fingers out.
The air wooshes and swirls around the two of us, forming a shimmering bubble.
"What did you just do?!" Celestia looks around in awe.
"As long as you stay in the bubble, the two of us cannot be seen from the outside in, nor can we be heard from the inside out. So, I have a single condition." I stare at Celestia dead in the eyes.
"Do not leave this bubble."
"Deal." Celestia says without hesitation, I nod and the two of us begin walking together silently.
I glance to the right as two figures emerge from a corridor.
"So you think Crux is the a traitor?" An old, but extremely physically fit man, whom I recognize as Grandy, walks out side by side with Hanafin.
"I don't know, Celestia may be talking out of her ass. However, we need to find him and talk to him before Celestia does."
"Speaking of which, where is she right now?"
"I left Cain to guard her in the courtyard. She should be stuck there right now."
"Oh, I'm taking it you've placed your trust in that Tetsudo now? You were pretty suspicious of him before."
"Yes. If Stronl can vouch for him then so can I.
...
As the four of us walk side by side I sarcastically grin at the irony of the situation.
"What are you going to do once we get there?" I turn to Celestia and ask.
"I'll simply observe, you have my word that I won't break our promise no matter what." Celestia says.
I don't believe you for a second.
Grandy flicks his head in our direction and frowns as soon as she says this and frowns.
"Is something the matter?" Hanafin notices and asks.
"You said Celestia is in the courtyard correct?"
"Right... What's going on?"
"I... Don't know. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, but it's just a strange feeling." He glances back at us, this time looking directly at Celestia. "Never-mind, I shouldn't let that girl play with my mind like this." Grandy says, almost certainly directing it towards Celestia before looking away.
I furrow my eyebrows, there's no way he should be able to tell, unless I screwed up the refraction which I'm almost certain that I haven't.
"It's not your fault... I think. " Celestia says as if reading my mind. "There's more to humans than just Ankudo and Tetsudo, and for someone like Grandy, just call it... Instinct."
"You two know each other?"
"He's a strong one, so of course we're going to know each other. There's not many people out there whom I can enjoy a fight with."
"... How old are you?" I then ask a seemingly random question.
"Twenty-Two, why?"
"It's nothing." I was a couple years younger than her, but looking at her, it felt like I was looking back into my family, when I was still a prince. As if she was someone I had grown out of.
"Are you making fun of me inside that head of yours?" Celestia immediately asks suspiciously.
I genuinely chuckle a bit. "Your senses must be getting dull if you just now figured that out."
She smiles back. "Didn't think you had an actual mouth on ya mister 'my opinion isn't important.'"
While the two of us were all smiles, the pair next to us grimly approach the doors to the cellar with voices that could be heard coming from within.
Hanafin holds the door open for Grandy, allowing us to sneak in before he closes the door.
"I wonder, what happens if I grab something while inside this bubble. Would it just disappear into thin air? Would people from the outside see it floating?" Celestia says, still talking off topic despite being in the cellar.
I give her a strange look, "If we're moving, then screwing with some gravel or something like that could give away our location, but if I keep the bubble in place, then nothing you do can give away our position, unless someone bumps into us."
"Ah, good to know, good to know..." Then Celestia stops talking and starts watching.
"Celestia claims that you are the traitor." Grandy approaches the two.
"I didn't say anything yet though..." Celestia murmurs.
"I can assure you that I'm not. She's being a child and trying to show off." Crux says calmly. "Trying to pin the blame on me through her intuition alone."
Yesenia nods vigorously. "Celestia is a great fighter, not a great thinker, we cannot trust her." She says, extremely uncharacteristic of her attitude towards me.
Hanafin closes his eyes. "I trust you more than Celestia, I agree." He glances at Yesenia. "But you need to leave and calm down right now. You are too emotional to deal with this."
"Don't tell me that you're actually acknowledging her! Out of all the people here, Crux is the last damn person who would betray us!" Yesenia says viciously.
"That's not what I'm saying, I just—"
"Calm down, both of you." Grandy places a hand on both of their heads before looking at Crux.
"Crux, I will now begin monitoring your heart-rate, tell me the truth and the truth only." Grandy says biting his finger and placing his it against Crux's wrist.
"You too Grandy?!"
"Princess. If Crux is not the traitor then you have nothing to be wary of. We've known each other for almost thirty years by now, there is noone else that I know better."
"But..." Yesenia's voice fades away as she realizes that her protests were futile.
"Alright, are you ready old friend?" Grandy says.
Crux nods in response. "Let's get this over with."
"How long have you been serving this kingdom?"
"Thirty years."
"Why did you decide to join the guard rather than keep your status as a noble?"
"Out of loyalty for Mallefard, I wanted to stay close to him rather than rule over a remote corner of Lyster."
"So you could say your loyalty was more for the king rather than the kingdom."
"Yes, that is correct."
"That's enough." Yesenia angrily butts in as soon as she realizes where the line of questioning was going.
"If you hate that I'm even doing this then Hanafin is right, you are being too emotional. Now sit back and quiet down before I forcefully drag you out. I will gladly suffer the consequences of laying my hands on you if that's what it takes." Grandy barks at Yesenia, making her shrivel away immediately.
"I'll be fine, don't worry, as he says, we're old friends." Crux nods at Yesenia.
"Alright, here comes the actual questions."
"Do your worst."
"Did you write those envelopes out to Oliviand."
"No."
"Have you been in contact with any of the Oliviand spies."
"No."
"Are you the traitor."
"No."
So far, every single question has gone smoothly and without hesitation, Crux looked relaxed and not nervous at all.
"And... Have you struck a deal with Oliviand to spare the life of Mallefard's daughter and son?"
"..No"
I wince at that tiny bit of hesitation coming from Crux; it looks like everyone except Yesenia noticed it as well.
"See! Nothing right?!" Yesenia looks at Grandy with a forced smile and a look of expectation.
Grandy smiles in response. "Right, I'm sorry I doubted you, he's most likely innocent, but uhh... I need to talk to him in private about something for a moment alright?"
Yesenia, who normally would be able to figure out the subtext underneath those words, happily nods and tugs at Hanafin's shoulder.
"Come on, you heard the man, let's go find Celestia and punch her in the face."
"Huh? Oh... Alright." Hanafin hesitates before following along Yesenia.
Celestia clicks her tongue immediately after hearing this interaction, it was not long before I could smell the metallic scent of blood fill the bubble.
"What are you doing?" I glance at her from the side, she was digging into her wrists and letting blood drip down to the floor.
"Since you let me on one of your abilities, I'm going to let you in on one of mine. It's a little technique I like to call suggestion."
Grandy and Crux both sniff the air at the same time, perplexed by the smell.
"All they need is a single whiff..."
She then looks at me with a small grin. "What, did you really think I wasn't going to pull anything here?" Before closing her eyes, concentrating deeply, and letting out a long, drawn out breath.
"May guilt befall our souls." She rasps out, in an possessed-like manner.
Crux seizes up as soon as Celestia says this. Celestia then falls to her knees gasping, clearly having exerted herself heavily.
"You pull a muscle or something?" I couldn't resist saying.
"Just shut up and watch." She pulls herself up and grunts.
"Sorry Grandy." Crux quietly murmurs an apology, just loud enough for Grandy to hear."Hey, can you two wait just a minute." Crux calls out to the duo who were leaving the room. "I have something to tell you two."
Hanafin turns around slowly. "Can't you... Wait a little bit?" He says hesitantly tilting his head toward Yesenia, who was looking behind curiously.
"Unfortunately, I think I've had enough, you two must know about something I've been doing for the past couple months."
I close my eyes as I realize what was about to transpire. "We're leaving." I immediately say.
"Huh? But we've just gotten to the good—"
"We're leaving." I leave no room for debate as I begin walking out, bringing the bubble along with me. Celestia looks back and forth in a panic, only to stumble away as she nearly crosses the wind wall.
If Yesenia sees you appear out of thin air then you know what conclusion she'll come to. She'll definitely blame you rather than Crux for what he's about to say.
"Tsk. I thought you were a more interesting person." Celestia reluctantly follows me back. "Well, I got what I wanted anyways, it'll be interesting to see the after-result.
As I crossed the door, I could hear shouts and wails from behind me, echoing all across the hall as I walk away, until finally, the voice trails off in a whimper.
I caused this.