Cinia Pacifica Posts

Aramus bumbled around the palace, wondering where Svetlana’s room was located. He asked around for directions earlier but due to being a guest and the sheer size of the palace, it took him some time to locate the room in question. When he finally did, the Magister found himself slightly lost at what to say to Svetlana. He planned to take her out to the Bazaar today to unwind and see a bit more of the city but truth be told, he hadn’t much experience when it came to matters like these, either.

Knocking on the door, he awaited a response. It would probably be Nancy and he swallowed, remembering her baleful gaze.

Opening the door, Nancy looked down at the Magister with an inquisitive gaze.

“Yes? Is there something I may help you with?” the maid asked.

“Good day, would your mistress be free to speak with me?” Aramus asked.

Nancy looked back to Svetlana, who was resting from all the dancing practices from dawn. In truth, it just seemed like she was bored when she finally got private time.

“No, she is busy at the moment. I shall convey if you have anything important you would want me to pass on.”

“Ah, I understand. She’s probably still resting, kindly inform her that Magister Linfield would like to extend an invitation to her. My apology to her, that is,” Aramus replied, huffing that his plans might have gone up in smoke.

Svetlana slowly woke up as she thought she heard voices and wondered what was going on.

“Nancy is someone there?” Svetlana said, stretching and having a loud yawn.

“I shall.” Nancy immediately closed the door and turned with a bright smile. “No, Mistress, just a flea dropped by. Nothing to worry about.”

“Ehh, really? But why would you close the door that fast?” Svetlana said as she got out of bed.

“No reason at all, you should rest some more, Mistress.”

Svetlana found Nancy’s behavior a bit odd. She decided to check why she closed the door that way. “Well I want to see who it was,” Svetlana said as she walked to the door.

Nancy kept vigilance before the door. “You should really be resting, Mistress.”

“You know, I’m getting more curious now, so Nancy, please let me open the door.”

Nancy’s head hung in despair as she moved aside. “As you wish, Mistress.”

“Thank you,” Svetlana said happily as she opened the door and looked at first seeing no one. She soon noticed someone up ahead. “Hey mister, did you need something?” she shouted wondering who it was.

“M-Mistress, your appearance!” Nancy hissed from the side, realizing her mistake of letting her Mistress open the door after all. What a disgrace. How would she answer Isabelle now?

Aramus turned as the voice carried down the hallway, didn’t Nancy tell Svetlana as she said she would? His face quickly turned red as she saw her state of dress after turning, indicating with his hand to go back into the room as he walked back. “Go back in, go back!” he said just loud enough to not raise a ruckus.

Svetlana completely forgot that she was still wearing her babydoll dress as she just got out of bed. Her face grew bright red, and she slammed the door shut out of embarrassment.

“Tell him to wait till I get dressed,” Svetlana told Nancy as she headed to get dressed.

Nancy just closed the door instead of speaking, scoffing at the plebeian as she did so. When Svetlana took out the dancing dress, Nancy took out the Victorian dress to completely overwhelm the hopeful lady. On her other hand was the dreadful corset. “There is only one way out of this, Mistress.”

“Svetlana?” Aramus’s muffled voice came through the door.

“Aaaaaaaaaah!” Svetlana shouted as Nancy had begun putting the corset on her. She hadn’t worn it over a month and her body became unaccustomed to it. “Why are you making me wear this?! It’s too hot here for that!” Svetlana complained.

“Wearing that shameless attire is anything but acceptable in public outside the palace!” Nancy replied, making it even tighter before tying the laces.

Outside the door, Aramus could only hear Svetlana’s shout and wondered what in tarnation was going on in the room.

“Aaaaaaah! Stop!” Svetlana let out another shout out as Nancy was tying the laces. Which was followed by Nancy grabbing a blue gothic Victorian sleeveless dress. Nancy finally opened the door for her after she was done preparing.

“Good Morning Aramus. What brings you here?” Svetlana greeted him with a curtsy, while Nancy palmed her forehead behind her. Her Mistress was completely out of the loop in the morning.

“G-Good Morning, Svetlana.” Aramus coughed into his hand. Try as he might, he couldn’t completely erase the image of what she had been wearing but just a moment ago. “I would like to make good on my offer to take you out.”

“That sounds wonderful. Where would you like us to go?” Svetlana asked as she thought this would be a good opportunity for a break.

“I was thinking of visiting the Medina Bazaar and going around. Does that appeal to you?” Aramus asked.

“That would be great I haven't had much time to explore around the town.”

“Well, neither have I. Shall we, Lady Svetlana?” Aramus said with a bow.

“Please lead the way.”

“I have this feeling that she will not remain chaste tonight with that attitude she developed recently…” Nancy thought out loud as she saw the two leave.







The pair made their way out of the palace into the streets with the sun shining harshly. Thankfully there was not much of a breeze so Aramus didn’t have to worry about dust and sand getting on the both of them. All they had to do was follow the huge crowd leading to the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, The Prophet’s Mosque and they would find it.

“It’s really big here. I wonder if I can find new clothes” Svetlana said, finding the prospect of exploration exciting. “We should totally take our time exploring around, Aramus.”

“Take as long as you’d like, I think this would be one of the few chances away from Nancy,” Aramus said with a laugh.

“Well, I don’t really want to get away from her. I really enjoy her company, but getting away from all the lessons feels nice.”

“I suppose. How does it feel to be waited on?” Aramus asked as they entered the Bazaar.

The Bazaar was huge, a cacophony of voices as peddlers shouted and displayed their wares. Shopkeepers were constantly bringing out new items, hanging them from floor to ceiling as they haggled with prospective buyers.

“It feels odd honestly, since I grew up poor I suppose I always had to take care of things on my own. Still have to get used to it,” Svetlana said as she looked at the items on the stall.

“Ah, I can relate to that. It feels odd when someone ends up serving oneself, yes?” Aramus said from beside her, the shopkeeper coming out and speaking in rapid Arabic to the pair. The Magister could only smile sheepishly at his lack of understanding of the language.

“We are just browsing,” Svetlana said as she grabbed Aramus’ hand. “Let's go check more stalls.”

The shopkeeper only stared at them and shrugged. It was a strange pair and everyone seemed to have their eyes on Svetlana, who was a beautiful blonde lady wearing a dress.

Aramus offered an apologetic smile as he was pulled away by Svetlana. “Do you have anything in particular you’d want?”

“Anything that catches my eye,” Svetlana said happily. “If you see anything yourself, let me know, okay?”

“I will need one of those to travel across the Sahara so maybe,” Aramus said, pointing to the thawbs people were wearing.

“Alright, let’s find a stand then.” Svetlana pulled Aramus again.

“No, you don’t have to worry about me!” He said, but Svetlana was having none of it and dragged him to one selling men’s clothing. The salesman eagerly started conversing with Svetlana, laughing and smiling all the while. It irked Aramus that Svetlana knew exactly what the man was saying but he was clueless. Who knew what she was telling the man to bring out for Aramus?

“I let him know what you wanted, he’ll be bringing it in a bit. Well I think I did from what you pointed at earlier.”

“Ok. This shouldn’t take too long, you could browse the other shops in the meantime.”

The salesman returned not a moment later with a white fabric in his hands, ushering Aramus into the changing room. He entered, and shortly after, the sound of fabric sliding off the body could be heard.

“This is a bit… small.” Aramus remarked as he tried to put on the outfit, unfamiliar with the method as a foreigner.

After fumbling around for it, he managed to get the thawb on and turned to leave the changing room only to find that there was a small opening. Tiny enough to be missed by a regular person but Aramus wasn’t such a plebeian. He pinched his nose and sighed as the curtain moved and the opening ceased to exist.

“So, how’s the size?” Svetlana asked as her face was slightly flushed, and her hands were placed on her face.

“Tight.” Aramus said in a drawl as he went up and whispered in her ear. “I need to change into another one.”

“I’ll go ask for a bigger one, give me a second.” After a minute, Svetlana came back with a bigger thawb, not even letting the shopkeeper bring it over due to the emergence of the situation, or something like that. “Here you go, hopefully it isn’t as tight.”

“I hope so.” Aramus exchanged the fabric with her and went back into the changing room.

Svetlana approached the changing room again and peeked inside from the corner of the curtain. Here sure does have an interesting body.

Aramus knew she was watching so he deliberately slid the clothes off and on with agonizing slowness. He noticed that the curtain was shaking after a certain point.

Why is he taking longer to undress?! Svetlana thought, waiting to see his body again.

“Why not just open the curtain a little wider, I’m sure that opening is not enough,” Aramus said with a chuckle, turning to look at the peeking Svetlana through the hole.

Svetlana’s face turned bright red and she released the curtain immediately, running away.

Aramus smiled and finished changing, leaving the changing room. The salesman gave him a strange look and he paid for the thawb. Happy with his purchase and his “prank,” he went back to Svetlana.

“It was a better fit, thanks. Did you enjoy yourself while I was busy?” he asked.

“Y-Yes, it was nice seeing all the different kinds of clothings at the store,” Svetlana said, looking away, her face bright red.

“Good, goooood. Shall we move on to what you want to buy?” Aramus offered, a little knowing smile on his face. “Shall we grab something to eat afterwards?”

“Alright.” Svetlana dragged him off before he could say anything else and they browsed through many different stores. Aramus gave his thoughts when Svetlana asked for them, carrying whatever she had bought from other stores. When they were done, Aramus was left with a ton of bags as Svetlana flaunted her new spending power.

Now they were headed to an ice cream parlor to cool off from the shipping and heat.

“It’s so much cooler in here,” Svetlana said as she took sit in one of the open tables. “I sure wish I could change clothes or loosen this up at least.”

“You can rest here then, I’ll order on your behalf. Any flavors? Sundae? Popsicles?” Aramus said as he set the bags down.

“Banana split with vanilla and strawberry please!”

“Ok, I’ll be right back.” He went off to order and returned with the ice cream, handing a spoon to Svetlana. The banana split as ordered for her and a mint chocolate chip cone for himself, Aramus began licking as soon he sat down.

“How does that taste?” Svetlana asked as she began eating her ice cream.

“Good. You want a taste?”

“Yeah, I never had that flavor before.”

“Go ahead,” Aramus said, hanging the cone over to Svetlana.

Svetlana began giving the ice cream some licks, purring as the flavor filled with her mouth.

“This is really tasty,” Svetlana said as she gave the ice cream another long lick. Aramus noted that she had a very flexible tongue as it slid smoothly over the green ice cream, rolling a small chocolate chip into her mouth and chewing on it. “Want a taste of mine?”

“Alright.” Aramus said harmlessly.

“You want me to feed to you or you want me to give you some with a kiss?” Svetlana said giggling.

“Which would you prefer?” Aramus said with a laugh.

Svetlana took a bite from her ice cream as she stood up and went up to Aramus, but he put two fingers on her lips to stop her.

The nearby Muslim mother covered her child's eyes with a hand as the girl pointed at the antics of the two of them.

Svetlana simply followed by licking Aramus] fingers before she headed to her seat. “Oh well guess that’s all you’ll get.”

“I suppose so,” Aramus replied, looking at his now wet fingers.

“I take it you’re interested in someone else?”

“No, nothing like that. Just that I think it’s something you should do with the one you love, that’s all.”

“Wouldn’t it be fine if you're curious about the person?”

“I suppose some would see it that way, but not me at least. I can’t say I’ve felt that way before due to the nature of my upbringing, though.”

“Oh well, maybe I’ll be lucky another time. By the way, thanks again for telling me about Hades. I was able to find out a lot after meeting granddad.”

”No problem. It looks like it turned out for the better all things considered.”

“Yeah though so many things have happened after that, but I suppose I can only look forward to the future now. How about you? I never heard how you avoided prison.”

“I was tried at the Crystal Summit but Master Christopher pulled me out of the fire. Now I’m his apprentice and am on assignment here together with him. Who knows where I’ll end up next?”

“I see. Well, just make sure you don’t forget stuff like last time. It wasn’t good that happened.”

Aramus looked down sadly at his ice cream. “It was a lesson well learnt.”

Svetlana reached to Aramus and patted his head. “There, there, no need to be sad, there’s nothing we can do about it now. Just hope things improve.”

“I’ve somewhat given up on that. Let’s see where the tide takes me,” Aramus said after a lick of his mint, the flavor strong in his mouth.

“Don’t give up, that’s never good. You just gotta hope you can find a way.”

“I guess.” The Magister shrugged. He hoped good things would come but realized that Svetlana had eaten most of his ice cream. What a bad way to start.

Nancy sighed, taking down her shades, watching them from outside had been a very suffering experience. I suppose I will try to exclude this part of the report from Lady Isabelle, or should I?

Aramus looked up to the burning sun and winced. Saudi Arabia’s heat was one that was truly unbearable. Considering that the country was in a desert, it felt like it could scald his skin. The table was full of fruits and some food that was brought to them by some servants. Aramus and his Master sat around it, covered in sweat. Aramus was only taking a break from his martial arts practice.

It wasn’t to say the Magister had been unfamiliar with the Eastern martial arts but they were fundamentally different from how he expected them to be. His fists repeatedly punched the air until Christopher had been satisfied and even then, it was considered the bare minimum. Still, it was doing Aramus some good, giving him some time to train his physique alongside martial skills. It also gave him time to think, something that tended to happen when repeating something without end.

“This training is… more useful than I thought it would be. I see why the Japanese conduct daily exercises as a group on rooftops even when they’re just white collar workers.”

“Well, seeing the month is almost ending, son, any word from the dragon? We sure fell behind the schedule now thanks to the witch hunts. Kung Fu and fist training doesn’t seem to be going as well as I thought they would…”

“None so far…” Aramus looked disheartened that his inner dragon hadn’t manifested. That coupled with the hectic days in and out with lackluster results from everything he engaged in pushed the Magister deeper into a hole.

“I think it’s time for more fist training, but maybe with the real friction,” Christopher said, getting off the chair, wiping some of the sweat with a tissue.

Aramus followed suit, towelling his body down of sweat before going back to the kata’s. He relaxed and allowed his body to feel the various Forms being channeled, that same furnace igniting in his chest.

“Once the Aetheric Manipulation comes and the winds and mana flows,” Christopher began, getting into a stance. “Come at me.”

Aramus waited until the heat hit its peak before lunging at Christopher, launching a flurry of blows at the Archmage.

Most of the fists were easily dodged and blocked by his Master. “If it’s one thing about you, you grow up too damn fast in a month. What the heck is done wrong?!”

“The Twilight I experienced during the visit to the Infernal Realm tweaked my head a bit. Now almost everything magic related tends to pop in instantaneously,” Aramus huffed even as he pressed his offense, not wanting to give up.

“The Magic Memory, right?” Christopher was still coping with the attacks relatively easily. “That’s one lucky thing. I hear it breaks your head in more ways than one though.”

“Yeah, now I have trouble remembering other mundane stuff instead. It just feels odd when diagrams and whatnot pop in, like the one you drew on the ground. It’s still clear as day.” At the last moment, one of his punches got through, Christopher turning it aside just in time.

“Bring more mana to the palms. They aren’t circulating enough now that I’m looking.”

More mana was forced throughout his arms but it wasn’t going as well as Aramus hoped, his balancing act with the mana circuit still far from perfect.

“Ma…na… se…nd…”

Christopher immediately moved away and something like a tornado was released Aramus’ palm. There was too much power out of the blue and he couldn’t control it until all of it was thrust out. He fell down from the recoil of such a powerful force.

Aramus looked down at his palm once it was all over, slowly clenching and unclenching his fist as he got back up.

“Master, I heard it. It’s awake.” Aramus looked at Christopher before repeating the words in excitement, “It’s awake!”

Christopher’s face was full of shock but it slowly turned into a smile. “Fuck yeah! We finally have it!”

“Woo!” Aramus cheered alongside Christopher. “Do we continue!?”

“I feel hungry now that the pressure is over, though.” His Master eagerly looked back at the table behind Aramus.

“Haha, ok, ok. Let’s take a rest, Master.” Aramus said cheerily. “Is there anything else you’d like me to train on?”

“Now that the Fist of the Dragon has confirmed the awakening… I guess it will keep speaking to you from time to time. I hope it talks about feeding soon. We’re gonna keep practicing the Dragon’s Fist to make it become more active.”

“What do you actually feed the dragon? Just raw mana and the mana from Ignem, Terram and Aurum?”

“Nothing so simple.” Chris waved his hand dismissively. “I have to feed mine the Solace Gems.”

“Solace Gems? What are those?”

“Some rare seeds found in the Faerie Realm.”

“Oh boy… Is that just your dragon’s preference or something that applies to all? †˜Cause it’s going to be mighty troublesome to keep travelling there for some food.”

“Just my dragon’s thing. It’s kinda difficult to figure out what they want, since they do not have prior knowledge of what they even want. Gotta think about the hints you get.”

“Oh, so it’s a lot of guesswork. I hope it likes cupcakes or something sweet then, something I could agree to. Just gotta watch that calorie intake.”

“My monk had it worse, having to feed it something that grows in a tree in hell.”

Aramus shivered, sincerely hoping that his dragon would not get so difficult. “How often does it need to be fed?”

“Depends. If it’s young then quite often. The thing needs to grow, †˜ya know?”







Svetlana stretched she was exhausted. It had been one month since she came to Saudi Arabia and her training started. She was still getting used to the heat, and felt relief that she did not have to train in her dresses, but instead with the traditional middle eastern dancer’s clothings, the bedlah which were much more comfortable to wear in the heat. She still found it embarrassing to wear.

Svetlana decided to sit out on the balcony, finding it to be the best spot to rest. She sat down on one of the tables that were laid out. She took a look around and still wondered how people lived here with nothing but sand outside the city. As she looked over the city, a familiar figure caught her eye close-by.

She peeked down at the balcony below the one she was in. It seemed to extend from a different section of the palace on the floor just below her. She couldn't believe Aramus was out here as well. Wasn’t he supposed to be stuck in prison somewhere in the world?

“I should say hello to him.” A sly smile crept up to Svetlana’s face as she ran down to where he was.

Aramus looked with dismay at his drenched towel, the fabric done by his latest round of towelling off. The sun here was too damn bloody hot for him to continue training and seeing that Christopher had somewhat decided to call off the lessons for a period of time, he would do a bit of self practice.

Might be a good time to try and practice channeling again, he thought to himself. He settled for sitting down and meditating in the God forsaken heat beside the tables.

When Svetlana finally came down a floor to meet Aramus, she found him meditating. Surprised, she wondered how people could do this under the scorching sun.

Did he hit his head or did the heat just finally got to him? Svetlana thought as she stared at Aramus for a bit, sitting there on the hot sun.

“Mister pervert, long time no see!” Svetlana said happily before hugging him from behind, pressing her chest against his back.

“Wha—WHA!” Aramus yelped and froze up, his eyelids bursting wide as he felt two soft pillows squish themselves against his back. Not at all a bad feeling after such a strenuous day but who did they belong to!? He wanted to turn around, but found himself unable to as the mysterious person clung to his back. So much for meditation.

“It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen mister pervert! How’ve you been?” Svetlana pressed her chest more against his back.

Now Aramus was just hard-pressed to remain seated with this woman pressing her body onto him, not to mention vocalizing what remained of his melted brain.

“Uh, miss. I believe it’s highly inappropriate to hug someone you’ve just met on top of calling them a pervert.”

“Sheesh. How can you forget me so easily? Even after you groped my breast before, and I even gave you a kiss on the cheek,” Svetlana said as she let go and proceeded to sit on his lap and pouted.

“Wha—huh?” Aramus said in disbelief, trying to piece together the Svetlana he knew and the person before him. No matter how he tried, it didn’t add up. He must’ve been going mad. At the very least, he knew Svetlana didn’t have those before.

The Magister saw his teacher behind Svetlana, who gave him a wink after raising his thumb at him before walking out. Aramus could only give him a look that said “please don’t leave.”

Svetlana moved around a bit on Aramus’ lap trying to make herself more comfortable.

“So you remember who I am now? After you groped me back then, my body began to change, you know.”

Her moving around only made his discomfort worse and he struggled to try and find a comfortable position to no avail. Now that he could get a proper look at what Svetlana was wearing or rather, what she wasn’t wearing, he gulped. He could feel his body betraying him already. Don’t do it! “Well, more than remember, how about explaining this great change of yours? I don’t believe I know that spell otherwise I would’ve sold it.”

“Well, it was your hands that guided me to Hades you know,” Svetlana said giggling.

“I see it turned out well and that you’re already putting it to good use,” Aramus replied, struggling to keep his eyes on her face. It was a monumental effort on his part not to let his gaze wander. The two were so close, he could feel her breath on his face.

“I suppose I am, somewhat, but I still got a long way to go, you know? So, how you been, mister pervert? Last I saw you, they were taking you to prison,” Svetlana said moving a bit closer, wondering if it would be more comfortable like that.

“Change of plans. I’m currently apprenticed to Master Christopher and we’re here on assignment.” Aramus’ breath hitched in his throat as she drew nearer, noting that Svetlana smelled good despite himself.

When Svetlana looked just behind Aramus, she saw her maid Nancy staring at her with her mouth agape. A second later, the fan she held fell to the floor; she was frozen.

“Nancy, what’s wrong?!” Svetlana asked.

“T-That man must have cast some magic on you, Mistress! I shall haul him to the prison myself!” Nancy blurted out, completely flustered.

“No, you’ve got the wrong idea!” Aramus said in a rush. Tied up as he was, there was no way for him to find out who “Nancy” was but from the way she referred to Svetlana, possibly her servant?

“He’s quite the charmer, isn’t he?” Svetlana said, laughing.

“T...That is, well… not exactly bad but more like a plebeian. No, that is not the point here, Mistress! This is shameful!” Nancy shouted.

“By the way, mister pervert, how come there’s a bulge between your legs?”

“Do you even need to ask?” Aramus said with a defeated sigh, lightly tapping Svetlana on the head with the back of his hand.

“Mistress, do not look down there!” Nancy said with her panicked voice.

“Sorry sorry, I took my little joke a bit too far.” Svetlana said laughing as she got up and left Aramus.

“I shall report this to Lady Isabelle. Your fate shall be judged by a more appropriate person… I am afraid your level of jests are beyond me…”

“Eeh! Isabelle is too young for things like these. Would you really reveal adult matters to her?!”

“How does that excuse the shamefulness—this depravity?! Even a child knows those words now!”

“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again just don’t tell Isabelle,” Svetlana said sulking.

“A little fun does not hurt,” Judgement Summoner said from behind them, snickering. “Right, Svetlana?”

Aramus had spent the time Nancy had been reprimanding Svetlana to make himself decent, wrapping the drenched towel around his waist. Seeing her got scolded brought a small smile to his face, though he felt she should have known better. Then the Summoner had showed up and his nerves had gone on edge as he remembered their last meeting.

“Well, I would hope not. I have been doing nothing but training and studies this month so I just thought having a little fun would be okay.”

“Good, good, having fun helps alleviate the stress. Use that man well,” Aisha casually responded with a “ohoho” laugh, while Nancy felt like crying from hearing this, even the Princess of the country was speaking such unbelievable words.

Aramus pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head in exasperation at the Representative’s casual comments. “Fun, she says.”

“Well, I just wanted to thank him, but i’m not sure what happened really, a strange feeling just came over me.”

“The Infernal nature in you is strong,” Judgement Summoner replied. “Or is that because of Ishtar…?” she whispered to herself.

Christopher was on his chair beside the table before Aramus knew it. When did he leave? Rather, when did he come back for the supposed show? The Magister was completely lost.

“Did you have fun Master?” Aramus said dryly before taking a seat himself.

“Good show, son,” Chris answered, raising his thumb again. “Slowly getting up to the task as a man, eh?”

“I’m getting there though I reckon it’ll be quite some time before I get to see any action of that sort,” Aramus said with a snort. “Incidentally, that’s Svetlana. You know, from the chopper? Talk about extreme makeover.”

“I noticed. The Infernal aura around her sorta gives it away,” Chris said, laughing.

As they spoke, the Princess sat down beside them. “So, how was she?” she asked the Archmage.

“Good, you have a knack for picking apprentices. I think our apprentices will get along well, if you catch the drift.” Chris showed a toothy grin.

“I think we get along pretty well already,” Svetlana said as she came to where they were and took a seat.

“At least care to explain why you’re being trained by Judgement Summoner? This I’d like to hear,” Aramus said, frowning at Svetlana.

“Well a lot of crazy stuff happened… when I went to Russia to pick up my mother…” Svetlana said as her tone went from happy to sad.

Aramus sighed, indicating that he had heard enough and could probably guess the rest. “I’m assuming she picked you up there?”

“I guess you can say that…” Svetlana said as tears began to form in her eyes.

“It will be up to her to release her mother’s trapped soul from the earth,” the Summoner added.

Chris gave Aramus a look that seemed to translate to “look what you have done.”

Aramus felt bad, thinking of how he had felt when the talk about Mary came up some time and that causing Svetlana to remember something like this was the least of his intentions with his inquiry. “I’m sorry to hear that, Svetlana,” he said, lowering his head.

Svetlana simply stood up and walked away towards Nancy who simply hugged and she cried.

“Anyway…” Chris said, breaking the silence that was only full of sobs. “You’re gonna be going to the largest desert in the world,” he told Aramus. “You can guess its name.”

Aramus merely nodded in silence, not voicing his thoughts due to the atmosphere.

“DKD has a job for you basically, DAD.” Chris shrugged. “The distortion of the Sahara Desert. I’m just going to be there to laugh at you when I send you off.” Chris smiled.

Absolutely wilting from his Master’s smile, Aramus managed a disgruntled snort. “Job’s a job.”

“You could just skip and take a bath,” Chris said. “I might just grab the suit for myself that she is having tailored for you.”

“Hey! Wait, she’s getting one of those tailored!? Whoa!” Aramus said all in a flurry, his obsession with suits winning over his common sense.

“Will you be going, Princess?” Chris asked.

The Summoner shook her head. “I am only the Judge of Life, I have no role to play with the distortions.” The Princess got off the chair and walked up to Svetlana. “Back to practicing.”

“Y-Yes.” Svetlana simply wiped her tears.

Chris looked at the Princess as if she was strange. Judge of Life?

“Svetlana, I’m sorry. Maybe… when you’re feeling better, we could grab something?” Aramus asked, unsure of how to deal with a lady in tears.

“T-That’s fine, I suppose, whenever I get free time again…”

Even as Svetlana answered her consent, Nancy glared at Aramus furiously, but did not interrupt.

Way to go Magister. Aramus thought to himself as he slumped his shoulders, suddenly feeling more tired from this than the training prior.

In the balcony now, the two walked over to a table and sat down. Princess Aisha took up a bell and rang it, and a maidservant brought up to them some bowls containing fruits and some beverages. Nancy seemed to go back to the guest room to do other things, but Svetlana wasn’t sure what exactly she wanted to do.

“Tonight, I suppose we can start your astrological study,” Aisha said.

“Okay, so I take it I gotta learn the constellations?

“Yes. Having knowledge of the constellations will be invaluable for you.”

“It’d be nice to learn more of them considering I guess I only know what they taught at the Academy.”

“Now that I think about it… did I tell you about the lore of the Lost Form of Starlight?”

“In all honestly, nothing. Didn’t even tell me much about Ishtar when you send me there, Master Aisha.”

“Ahaha, I guess I didn’t.” Judgement Summoner rubbed the back of her head. “My Mistress always calls me the careless one. Anyway, the Lost Form of Starlight was granted a long time ago by the Goddess Ishtar, to fix some of the issues of the world. Now that most of the ancient priestesses of Ishtar are dead, it is nearly impossible to fix the balance of the world.”

“I see. How did the Priestesses end up dying? With how strong you are, it’s hard to believe their numbers would decline.”

“They were killed in the Ragnarok.”

“Ragnarok?” Svetlana said, confused never having heard of it before.

“You haven’t heard of it in the mythologies?”

“Well, from what I recall, not really. We might have covered it, but only a little bit.”

“Hmm, I guess in Japan by that time they stopped caring much about the mythologies. The Ragnarok was known as a catastrophe, basically. Natural disasters, great battles including the death of several heroes and villains… well, that’s what the myths say about it.”

“So I take you’re not sure either if it’s true or not since you’re saying myth?

“No, this is the general knowledge, but the truth was that the Ragnarok was quite real despite the myth, just that it wasn’t only taking place in the Universe of the Norse mythology, but it was quite the tragedy that broke apart the ancient civilizations. This is also the reason why the Magic World lacks the ancient records of the past. There is a small legend about it that I know of other than this regarding the Ragnarok, but I cannot say what exactly caused it or who caused it.”


“Well, want to share what you know?”

“A long time ago, it was said that the daughters of Odin had twelve children, each with differing symbols. They were known as the Valkyries—equipped with lances, horses that could soar across the limitless skies, and were blessed with the powers of the spirits. They were tasked with slaying the Infernal creatures coming from the Gates of Babylon. One day, however, one of his daughter did something she was not supposed to… she fell in love.”

“Falling in love is bad?”

“Apparently the Valkyries were supposed to remain chaste. I do not know the truth, though.” Aisha shrugged. “Odin was thus furious, and he chose to punish his daughter by putting her to sleep. She was aptly known as the Sleeping Beauty. The man she fell for eventually came to her rescue, awakening her with a kiss. She was freed and her father, Odin was defeated. When the Ragnarok finally came, the Sleeping Beauty was missing. The Valkyries were defeated, the humans fled instead of helping them battle, and the final Valkyrie who survived chose to leave behind her family and fled with her lover. The rest aside from her, of course, perished eventually.”

“That legend sure does leave out a lot of stuff doesn’t it? I would imagine there would be more.”

“After that, Odin cursed the world, the humans who betrayed him and his daughters, and so the spirits would choose individuals and have them become the new Valkyries. Instead of protecting the world, however, they would bring about the Ragnarok themselves this time, repeating the tragedy, and perishing for the mistakes of their forefathers.”

“Hard to blame him, I suppose, especially if the humans said they would help. But all we can do now is not let something like that happen again.”

“I don’t know how true it is to be honest, but it was a legend my Mistress told me.”

Svetlana simply stayed quiet as she took a sip from one the fresh juices as she looked away.

“Anyway, the story of the Starlight is a whole different matter altogether. Have you heard of Gilgamesh before?”

“Never heard of him.”

“That is so famous. You live under the rock, don’t you? The first ever Epic that was discovered was about the famous hero Gilgamesh. The legend spoke of the hero who rejected the love of the Goddess Ishtar. This was eventually the cause of his best friend’s fall.”

“I came from Russia, you know? Unless you were rich you might as well live under a rock there, and Japan only cared to teach about its own myths in general classes. Though, who would in their right mind reject Ishtar, especially considering how she could make you feel?” Svetlana said as her face turned red remembering the feeling.

“Who would indeed. Gilgamesh even killed the Boar of Heaven that Ishtar sent in anger… personally, the legend makes Ishtar appear as an immature woman with a lot of temper, but the one I met seemed nothing like it, except that she could get very argumentative if you do not look at the same page she is on.”

“Well, I can agree with what you said there. Though I take it this happened a long time ago. So, it could be that Ishtar changed over time.”

“Hmm… it could be. I think it was at least three millennia ago? So, in an attempt to take Gilgamesh’s friend by surprise, the priestesses plotted to attack. They were no match for him, so they prayed, and these powers were the answer.”

“The priestesses getting involved seems a little silly considering all he really did was reject her...”

“Well, he raised his blade against the Goddess, so…”

“But wasn’t she the one who sent the Boar on him?”

“Admittedly, yes. This wasn’t the first time that tragedies took place thanks to her love, either. She was always kind but at the same time even a little sense of betrayal would mean she’d punish them.”

“Though, the more you tell me the more it makes me think she was a bit immature before…”

“Well, I told you that, haha. These are just the legends from the mythologies even the mundanes know from the ancient texts. They could be false or fictional, just that someone with the same name exists.”

“Well that’s true, we could just ask her, I think, but I wouldn’t dare ask.”

“I wasn’t curious about her until I was done mastering the Starlight so… you’re our only hope!”

“I think I’d rather live than find out what she would do if asking this angers her.”

“Ahahaha! I would ask, it’s regrettable, but maybe some truths will remain a mystery. Anyway, the Starlight is a power that gathers the lights of the stars—you knew this much—but it does so by containing them directly in your own body. If you do that without the appropriate spell—you will explode and die.”

“That sounds rather terrifying…”

“Which is why for spells that gather lights in your bodies, you need what they call a †˜stance’ spell. It seems like every Lost Forms has a †˜stance’ spell one way or the other.”

“There are other Lost Forms?”

“Yes, interested? The Lost Forms were peculiar things of the past, and each of them seemed to get lost in differing situations, but apparently it is due to their problems mostly.”

“I am a mage so learning about magic is interesting.”

“Well, each Lost Forms are considered quite dangerous, so that was the main reason why they were lost, but it’s simply my assumption. The other Lost Forms include the Heavenly Sacraments, Undertaker, Ancient Dragon, Void, and whatnot. There’s the Crystal Paladin but they’re not quite close to extinct but is rather restricted to a small group, and is supposedly the only surviving Lost Form that isn’t… †˜lost,’ if that makes sense.”

“Wouldn't have imagined there be that many. You know what each are about?”

“Not much, I know my friend was using Heavenly Sacraments, the power that draws the strength of the angels. The Void seems to somehow harness the strength of the Void Realm, and the Crystal Paladins uses the mystical crystals to fight. I don’t really know about the rest.”

“It’s okay, I guess they're called Lost Form for a reason.”

“Hmm, I wonder what spells to teach you other than the Starlight Shroud…”

“Well, one normally starts with basic stuff.”

“Starlight Plasma, probably.” Aisha placed her head down on the table, expressing her laziness in the matter. “I’ll think about the rest some other month. Maybe.”

“You're the one that knows the spells, Master Aisha so you can’t have a lazy attitude about it.”

“Ehhhh? But I wanna sleep and eat, and forget my responsibilities…!”

Svetlana looked at Aisha in disbelief, wondering just how she even learned Starlight herself with that attitude. “Just how did you even learn this Master Aisha…?”

Judgement Summoner laughed and patted Svetlana’s head. “Unfortunately, responsibilities caught up to even the lazy me.”

“Well, that’s good at least. Though, don’t start getting lazy right now.”

“I want to sle—ahem. How’s the Starlight Cannon sound for starters?”

“You know you have to explain to me what these spells do since I know nothing about them.”

“Mnm… the Starlight spells tends to either gather the lights of the stars in your body, or around you. The effects differ depending on the spell. Starlight Cannon creates light in the sky that rains down on your opponent. This requires you to gather and spend mana to cast, and some time to gather too. This, in turn, allows you to gather some spiritual energies in the form of the starlights in the meantime, to use the other spells that requires you to use spiritual energies. There is a difference here in that starlights being stored in the body that are converted into spiritual energy. For some reason, it is easier to use a spell directly from your body with spiritual energy, whereas it is easier to use mana for the spells that do not gather lights in your own body, but outside it. Are you following so far or am I babbling?”

“So you can’t use all the spells with just mana? And Spiritual Energy?”

“Unless you want to explode.”

“Yeah, I rather avoid that, thank you.”

“Spiritual Energy that the Descendants use. The supernatural powers, you know?”

“Oh right, sorry it’s been a while. Can’t recall everything out of the blue all the time.”

“It’s fine. Anyway, I think it’s time to get back to work.”

Svetlana woke up in her room in the Royal residence of King Abdullah, where she was given a room to stay with her maid in. The room was lavish with decorations and furnitures, as would be expected of a guest room in such a house. She found Nancy pouring tea some distance away in the same room despite her foggy vision.

“Morning Nancy,” Svetlana said, wiping her eyes.

“Oh, you are awake, Mistress!” Nancy ran over to Svetlana. “You had been out for a week now!

“Really? It didn’t feel like I was out that long,” Svetlana said as she stretched. “Has it really been that long?”

“Would I lie to you, Mistress? I had been taking care of you for a while now,” Nancy answered. “It seemed like the Princess was coming to visit you everyday, shall I inform her of your awakening?”

“Yes, but can you come close for a bit.”

“Yes?” Nancy leaned closer curiously.

Svetlana kissed Nancy on her lips as seductively as she could.

Nancy stared at her Mistress after the ordeal was done.

“...Shall we get you to a psychologist?”

“Huh why? I feel totally fine.”

“I… I am a woman, Mistress! W-What has gotten into you?!”

Svetlana finally realized what she had done.

“I’m really sorry. I was still under a daze. I wasn’t thinking straight I’m sorry,” Svetlana said as her body was recalling the kiss given to her by Ishtar. “I’m really sorry. After what I went through was… well, it’s really hard to explain.”

“I… I see.” Nancy moved back, palming her lips in worry. “…I am going to go call the Princess now.”

“Yes please, and I’m sorry again.”







“How do you feel now?” Aisha asked, smiling. “Good enough for a dance?”

“Well, you sure are eager to teach instead of asking what happened,” Svetlana said with a sigh. “I suppose I feel better, but I have a strange craving now…”

“I know that you have the light of the star in your soul,” Judgement Summoner said. “I can feel it. I am going to guess that you cannot forget that feeling from making the contract with Ishtar?”


“Why didn’t you warn me I would feel pleasure like that? She even took my first time…”

“Would it be any different if I did?”she blinked at Svetlana. “Isn’t it fun that it came as a surprise?”

“I never thought I would lose it to a woman, or a Goddess at that…”

“Or a second time to me…” Nancy looked away as she spoke, making a rare pout, of sorts. Was she imitating her Mistress?

“Wasn’t it nice though?” Judgement Summoner asked.

“Yes… It’s why I kissed Nancy, because I looking for more when I woke up…” Svetlana said, embarrassed.

“Unfortunately, nothing in the world would satisfy that craving—I know because I searched for it. However, you would likely be visiting her again in the future.”


“Why? I thought after me making the contract, that would be it,” Svetlana said, even if she was curious of the feeling, she feared that she could become addicted. “I just plan to have it somewhat satisfied later. I’m not gonna be expecting the same feeling from a regular person compared to that of a Goddess.”

“You would likely not experience it again unless you request it. The Goddess would grant you more light of the in your soul so that you may accomodate your Starlight Lost form spells.”

“I think I’d rather not get addicted to it. Even if it felt that good I fear it might be the only thing I would enjoy if I ask for more…”

“Up to you. The Goddess does not care either way.”

“That’s fine. If I get addicted to her I won’t be able to have children like I hope to have one day,” Svetlana said with her face becoming bright red.

“Hahahaha!” Judgement Summoner held her stomach by the time she was done getting the giggles out, while Nancy blushed. “I do not think copulating would be so hard to get over.”

“M-Mistress… I-I feel like that could indeed cause many problems in your marital life…” Nancy said, still thinking about what she did thoughtlessly earlier.

“It probably would if I wouldn’t feel satisfied by my future husband. You still have to feel pleasure to want to do it.”

“What a greedy and lustful person,” Aisha said in jest.

“I agree.” Nancy nodded.

“It’s not my fault her kiss made me feel that way! We should have Nancy experience it as well!”

“M-Me?! I would rather take up a gentleman I like,” Nancy said, panicking and waving her hand repeatedly.

“Well, what was the objective you chose for yourself?”

“Saving the lands of taints and killing demonic worshippers.”

“Killing worshippers?” Nancy looked bewildered. “Taints?”

“It means saving the lands from the corruptions that some spirits spread,” Aisha explained.

“Some… spirits?” Nancy asked again.

“Yes, it’s not only about humans. The ideology takes on a more grand concept about the entire world,” Aisha elaborated.

“Yes, but I suppose I must first practice my dancing for this. Otherwise I won’t be able to attune to the stars, am I correct, Master Aisha?

“Yes, you must attune for an entire year, but first you must be able to dance before the rituals of attuning begins. I shall teach you other spells but I can only teach you the incantations and requirements until you are fully attuned with the stars.”

“Understood.”







“I have to say, this is a completely different form of entertainment—watching Mistress’ practice,” Nancy commented, holding a bottle of water in hand.

Svetlana was busy trying to dance, but it seemed like she lacked quite a lot of muscle controlling skills. Despite her natural developments to her acrobatic capabilities from battling and partaking in missions for two years in Russia, it was still nowhere close enough. The intricate workings of the body was indeed something she held no true mastery over, and it was showing. There was, however, also the factor that she gained a new body that was completely different, hence most of said experiences were useless to say the least, as they were no longer applicable.

“I hope you don’t mean that because I look silly doing this, Nancy.”

“I believe that is partially the reason,” Nancy held her cheek in adoration of the costume, which was ironic for a British woman.

“That’s mean. You wear this clothing and try doing this then,” Svetlana said as she pouted.

“Ah, but it is not me who needs to learn, ufufu.” Nancy smiled and laughed. “Keep working hard!”

“I should just have you do it for exercising since at least it’s good for that too.”

“Unfortunately, I had been busy making tests for you. We cannot have you ignore your English studying now, can we?”


“Please don’t remind me. You always drag me to study the instant the dance lessons are over. I can’t even have my own time anymore,” Svetlana said as she sighed.

“Own time? What is that?”

“Private time is for sleeping,” Aisha said, fixing Svetlana’s posture.

“Please don’t remind me of that either,” Svetlana said as she felt horrors she would go through for not having her own personal time anymore. “At least let me have some kind of breaks now and then, Master Aisha. Even if it’s for a hour.”

“I could, but then I suppose you stay longer!”

“If it’s like, what’s the point of the break?” Svetlana said as she sighed. “I really need to take a vacation for this one day.”

“I will let you take a break soon,” Aisha answered. “But I want to first see you be able to do the dance properly without falling on your back. Remember, if you master this you will technically raise your combat efficiency too!”

“Well, I’m trying, but it doesn't help that I’ve only had this body about a month. Still getting accustomed to it.”

“Having personal time to touch yourself wouldn’t make it any better I’d think.”

Svetlana’s face turned bright upon hearing this. “I wouldn’t do such thing! I’ve never done such a thing before!”

“Never? At this age? What are you, a child?” Aisha asked.

Nancy tilted her head and gave a confused expression. “Touching yourself? What does that mean?”

Svetlana looked at Nancy with her face beet red and was surprised that Nancy didn’t know what was being talked about. “B-Basically it means using your hand to pleasure yourself…”

“...” Nancy gave Svetlana a long stare before finally looking away. “I, uhh, ahem. I apologise for making such a private question, Mistress.” She whispered to herself, “What a shameful thing…”

“I don’t do stuff like that, so don’t get the wrong idea! This stuff was just easy to learn at Japan.”

“I can sense a lie when I hear one,” Aisha said with a playful smile.

“I had never done stuff like that, though. Really!”

“Mistress, it is alright, everyone have their own personal secrets. It really is alright. I understand,” Nancy said, nodding alongside Aisha.

“I was too busy working and taking care of mama for stuff like that, and you should know how much time studying took away from someone in the Academy, Nancy!

“By the by, we will go over your table manners for your dinner tonight,” Nancy stated.

“Fine.” Svetlana sighed.

“I’ll let you have a break now. Shall we go over to the balcony for some fresh air?” Aisha said.

“Okay.”

Svetlana jolted up, opening her eyes. She forgot that she had that “conversation” with her demon and wondered why she suddenly recalled that situation, but looking around this was the space or similar to where she had conversed with her demon.

“As if I’m gonna be wanting to eat souls like you,” Svetlana said, shaking her head. I need to never let her soul cravings affect me.

“How long will you daydream?”

Looking back, there seemed to be a white table and a pair of chairs. On one of them, a woman seemed to be sitting, her leg pulled up over the other. Her hair seemed blonde for an instant, but after she took a step forward, the color seemed to change to blue from her view. It seemed like her hair had different colors based on what direction one looked at her from. Her attire only consisted of a white, revealing outfit, which somehow made her think of her Master. Despite this, there was a regal feeling from her, accentuated by her crown that seemed to have arrow-like protrusions.

“Well I’m done now. I take it you’re the one in charge of this area? You give that feeling for some reason.”

“I do have control over this plane, yes.”

“Well, I suppose this might come off rude, but would you happen to be Ishtar or would she be somewhere else? I wasn’t really given a description.”

“I suppose my name is Ishtar, at least that is what they called me in the past. What would you want from me, fair maiden?”

“I’ve come to make a contract with you so that I might be able to learn the Starlight spells.”

“You seek out the set of spells I granted to my priestesses? Why? To defeat my host?”


“My main priority right now is to save my mother. I wish to free her soul.”

“Is her soul unable to move on?”

“Yes, something horrible was done to her and Master Aisha told me that I must learn to wield the power of the stars to set her free.”

“And? What would you do after that?”

Svetlana stayed silent for a second before responding.

“I suppose I cannot hide it from you at all as you are her host. I plan to defeat Virgo.”

“You would defeat my host using the powers I bestow?”


Ishtar didn’t even seem to look at Svetlana as she conversed with her. Svetlana could tell, especially after hearing from Judgement Summoner about her being a Goddess—Ishtar saw her as something less than an ant.

“If I’m not allowed to use this power to fight Virgo so be it. I would find a different way. But I wish to use to power to free my mother, which was the sole reason I agreed to this.”

“What do I gain from imparting my knowledge to someone as insignificant as your existence? You may have agreed to a practitioner of the Starlight spells, but it does not warrant my approval.”

“I cannot say as you’re a Goddess, and I’m just a simple being. All I can say is you gain from imparting knowledge from me is a worshipper as I don’t know what a Goddess would really want to gain from me.”

“What may you offer? Salvation to the souls of the dead? Saving the world of at least some of its sufferings? Judge its people? Worshipping… is something I do not quite care for no longer. I was betrayed. Human values… they are the ultimate form of hubris.”

“Salvation to the souls of the dead.”

“Do you truly understand the meaning of this? Tell me what you understand of it.”

“I’ll be honest. It’s my own interpretation, I believe it involves saving souls that are trapped, but I take it you have a different meaning for it.”

“You have to purge the sinners. Those that commit crimes against the world, for the earth itself is full of souls… after all, you humans bury bodies, implanting souls within the earth. Then you humans cremate bodies, sending souls into the air. It is indeed the Cycle of Rebirth that brings them back in material forms, but if they are desecrated before they are brought back, they may be lost forever by the harms done in blissful—and greedy—ignorance.”

“How exactly is one desecrated?”

“Want to see it?”

“Yes.”

Ishtar turned to Svetlana and their eyes met. The Goddess’ eyes seemed to glimmer for a moment with a navy-blue light.

Svetlana’s view changed. She saw the sky, and then she saw the ground, however, her view to the ground was extremely close.

Soon, she noticed that she was a skeleton.

A human being took it up, apparently to †˜clean’ it, and burnt the skeleton. She felt every sensations of her being touched and burned. The burning part was the most painful thing she experienced as her consciousness was allowed to feel it till the very end—it was nothing compared to the heat she felt some time ago in Saudi Arabia with her dress.

Soon after, her vision was floating in the air, which was a very odd experience—she was the soul that was sent away to the air as the Goddess had earlier mentioned. It didn’t take a minute for her to enter a cloud of polluted gas. It was an extremely unpleasant experience as she was forced to breathe the air. Being caught in this pollided air that was being carried by the gust, she was forced to go with its whims and travel with it for many months.

She found herself as a tree next, a man was chopping her down. It felt as though someone was cutting her stomach with a blade. She was later made into a table after her body was torn into many pieces. A child was banging against the table that was Svetlana now, asking his mother for food.

Svetlana was turned into the ground next, or rather, the asphalt. A man drilled her with a machine, a new experience of pain was gained. Soon, she was to be dumped, and then carted away before being burned again. This time, as trash.

The experiences continued like this, and she wasn’t sure how long it lasted.

She took a guess—she spent five years seeing these things. It may have been more, or it may have been shorter. She had more than enough of these painfully traumatic experiences and desperately wanted them to stop.

When she woke up from this nightmare, she fell to the white floor and started to puke repeatedly. Having nothing in her stomach in this plane, she found that the fluids she gave away from her mouth were black substances even she could not make sense of.

Svetlana stayed silent as she had no words to say after she barely stood up and wiped her mouth clean.

“How are we supposed to know this? As far as I know, this was never mentioned to us. Memories like this never comes to us.”

“A priestess is given the ability to attune with nature. Thus, feelings of pain and suffering may be felt around you. By the time you master it—you would realize ever more what the human beings are doing to the world around you. Races joining arms with them do all the same… a good example would be Faeries or the Infernals helping them. You, would be a good example—not that I accuse you, but you hold their principles and values. I shall now ask… do you find any of what you experience wrong? Or do you feel that all this suffering was warranted?”

“I will admit that all of which I experienced was wrong, there’s no deny that. But I also believe we can fix this. It takes time, that I can tell, but killing people who know nothing of this is wrong to me. It has to be something that takes time to fix, those who do it on purpose must be punished, but I have to say, construction would be almost impossible to stop, but we should be able to stop the pollution at least. We have to find different ways besides killing if no one has knowledge. I’ve never once heard a priestess try and convey this message if they won’t say anything what could we do.”

“How would you hear them? They were mostly killed by your ancestors. If you are to claim that this tragedy would continue while you take your sweet time, then continue it shall. Give up—and it ends there. Do you really think killing is not a solution? Pray tell, what do you think is the true death? Souls dying permanently, or people entering the Cycle of Rebirth?”

“I won’t give up. There has to be a way. If one works enough and understands it they will find a way. With no knowledge one cannot stop this. I do not wish for souls to disappear, but are you telling life doesn’t hold the same value? If so why did we even gain life? For wouldn’t a more ideal world for you be one where beings with intelligence not came to be? Why were we given the knowledge to learn then?”

“Do you think the mundanes believe? Those millions of people out there? What about those souls going extinct? Ways? What ways? How many years had passed since intelligence in beings were established? Do not ask me why you gained knowledge, that was not my gift. There are souls coming back into the world, but those abused are lost in a cycle of terror. You believe an ideal world would exist? That is an optimistic farce you speak of. There is no end to this cycle and the only respite is having people who may prolong the death of souls. Why gain life? Why, you ask? We formed the world and the universe, and life was formed as a result of natural phenomena. That is the world you had lived in. It was not my idea to promote violence at first, however evil exists side-by-side with the good.”

“Mundanes don’t believe because the world of magic is hidden from them. Why it was done is something I wouldn’t know, my ancestors made that choice and there’s nothing I can do about that. All I can do is to try and fix their mistakes. The system cycle was created by you higher beings, was it not? If you cannot change it then who will? Change it to one where souls can stay along with the living beings without suffering. You call my ideal world a farce when nothing has been tried at all. It can only be called farce if I failed completely after giving it all.”

“Tried? Tried?” Svetlana felt a powerful wind pass but she wasn’t blown away, perhaps because she was allowed to stay. “We may have created it together… but there is no control over it. Do not make assumptions. I do not quite enjoy this cycle of conversation. Make your choice or leave.”

“If I may, I’d like to know about what you meant by †˜saving the world of at least some of its sufferings,’ before making my choice?”

“You would have to put an end to the tainted souls that roams the world. Those evil that inhabits certain parts of the lands and terrorizes it. A good example would be the souls that roams the world after death—the souls of great evil. Diabolical worshippers, villains, murderers, some that may have proactively hunted others… this may even include animals. In truth, the earth is full of tainted spirits, and you have to exterminate them from time to time. Based on our contract, the more you avoid fulfilling your objective—the more your soul is sold to me. After your death, you shall be welcomed to the Hall of Heroes.”

“I shall offer saving the world of some of of its suffering, then.”

“After you die, if the Commandment Siren’s Prayer is activated—you would be summoned as one of the priestesses. Do you find it acceptable?”

“Yes.”

“Come to me.”

Svetlana approached Ishtar as commanded. Ishtar got up from her chair and raised Svetlana’s head up by her chin. Their lips made contact as the Goddess pressed hers against Svetlana’s. The tongues collided and their salivas mixed before they seemed to mingle inside her mouth. For a moment, the Goddess retracted, Svetlana’s eyes already showing strong signs of lust, strands of glistening salivas bridged the two before she pressed into her mouth again.

This time, the prospective priestess that was Svetlana experienced a much more stronger, and a deeper kiss. She could feel Ishtar’s hand being placed on her crotch.

“Accept… the blessings.”

Once more she was kissed, and this time she swallowed even more saliva from Ishtar. These saliva, in reality, were the lights of the stars themselves—glistening with energy in them.

By the time they were done, Svetlana found herself on the floor, apparently having lost consciousness for some time. How could a soul lose consciousness? She had no idea, but apparently she did. She seemed to long for more of this treatment instinctively.

She later noticed that Ishtar was back to her seat by the time she could think normally again.

“What just happened…?” Svetlana could still feel feel the kiss that was given to her by Ishtar. Her body was still tingling with excitement and she couldn’t calm down. After a few minutes her body seemed to settle down just a bit, but she could still feel the lust for more. She felt another strange feeling within herself, as if the stars themselves were in her. Her body—or rather—her soul, started to shine with a faint blue light, just as she saw Judgement Starlight shine before. She could see stars on her very body. “What’s happening?”

“Your soul has taken on the lustre of mine—you have the soul that possesses a portion of the light of the stars now. With this you may connect and attune yourself with the stars. This light would also let you feel the tainted lands and souls, as per our agreement.”

“Understood. Thank you.”

Having been made to wait in an empty hall for some time, Svetlana was not sure what she was going to be doing to learn the Lost Form that Judgement Summoner was going to teach. It was quite literally empty save for some seats and sofas. Nancy was apparently gone to check the room they were to be staying in. The Princess generously offered to them to stay in the Royal Palace.

“She could have at least left a fan or something. It’s too hot here!” Svetlana voiced her complaint at no one in particular, considering there was no one here for her to speak with. “Wish Nancy would get back already.”

A noise of bells started to ring out from somewhere, and it seemed to faintly echo across the hall. Svetlana started to remember the scary stories that her seniors used to say about haunted houses in the foreigns lands.

Svetlana looked around, wondering if someone had come into the room without her knowing. She looked around and noticed that there was no one around. “Maybe the heat has finally gotten to me…”

The noise continued to ring, and it was getting closer and closer the more she heard it.

“If this is some kind of a joke, it’s not funny,” Svetlana said, her fear showing in her voice, as she stood and looked around, still not seeing anyone around. “It has to be the heat, right…?”

“Something the matter?” A finger poked her from behind her shoulder.

“Kyaaaa!” Svetlana shouted, quickly ran forward and turning around to see what was behind her. It turned out to be the Princess.

“Hm? Is that a new way to attract the attention of men? It is strangely cute.”

“No, but when did you get in here?! I had been looking around and there was no one in sight.”

“I just got here now. What a silly question, I walked up to you, who seemed to be doing her strange skit.”

“People don’t just appear out of nowhere with no warning playing bells, you know?” Svetlana said, pouting.

“Bells?” The Summoner looked down at herself. “Ah, must be the pearls at my feet.” She patted Svetlana’s hair. “What, you were really scared? Aw, I’m so sorry.”

“Sister always told me that ghosts enjoyed eating Faeries, so I’m not fond of them.” Svetlana remembered some of the stories that Mathilde used to tell her and shuddered.

“Ahaha, you had an amusing sister I see,” the Summoner said and walked up to Svetlana. “Here you go.” She handed Svetlana some clothes. “Change into them.”

“Are we going to the beach or something?” Svetlana asked her with a confused expression after examining the exotic clothes.

Judgement Summoner looked down at the clothes and back to Svetlana.

“Beach? Why?”

“Because this practically looks like a swimsuit to me.”

“It does? It is a dress to dance with, a bedlah. You know, belly dancing?”

“I see,” Svetlana simply said with a pause and continued, “Wait, what? Isn’t this too revealing to dance with?!”

“Silly girl.” the veteran dancer laughed and patted her back. She completely treated her like a little girl, as if she was still in her previous form. It wasn’t exactly gentle. “It has to be this way, otherwise no one likes it!”

“But there’s hardly anything covering you…”

“Well, look at me, I am wearing even less in comparison. It’ll be fine!”

“I thought that was just a fashion statement… I never thought I had to wear something similar.”

“We will dance for the stars. This is simply how it is.”

“I see… I suppose I must get used to this.”

Svetlana took another glance at the garments, her face turning bright red as she recalled the outfit Hades had first given her to wear when she first gained her new form.

“It’ll get better. We’ll dance to the public when you can dance better.”

“Okay—wait, why dance in front of the public?! That’s too embarrassing even for me! I’ve never shown so much skin before.”

“But it’s not fun if you don’t dance for the people.” The Summoner pouted. No one knew that Judgement Summoner was imitating Virgo, who was in fact imitating Weiss just to try it out.

“Just the thought of dancing in front of a crowd wearing this is embarrassing enough. I’ve performed in front of a public before, but I’ve always been fully clothed.”

“Being clothed is so boring though.” Judgement Summoner’s fingers were writhing excitedly as she approached Svetlana. “Now, now, don’t resist, this is all for the sake of the Lost Form.”

Svetlana was slowly walking backwards out of instinct, but she soon tripped and fell. The woman squealed as her clothes were sent flying soon enough.

The Princess sighed as she finally got up.

“You don’t look so bad now, do you?”

Svetlana’s face was bright red as she wanted to cover herself, feeling that she was revealing too much skin. It felt especially true now that the air was touching her skin directly like this, which was ironically pleasing since it was very hot. The bra was mostly white with yellow frills on it, with blue and yellow stripe embroidered onto it. As she was still on the ground, she could be seen wearing purple panties, wrapped with a purple skirt that was long from the sides and back, but the front was the most revealing area, and it was filled with frills as well with pearls embroidered to it as well. The skirt was mostly purple with some white spots in some areas around her waist. A white belt wrapped around, and it was decorated with yellow markings. She also noticed that the Summoner had added accessories to her, a pearl necklace, a pair of pearl bracelets on her wrist and ankles, a plain golden band on both her wrists and a yellow choker on her neck.

“Must I really show this much skin?”

“Just think that you’re on the beach. All day every day.”

“That’s easier said than done.”

“Imagination is key.”

Svetlana sighed and gave up in giving any further replies as it felt useless to say anything about it.

“Fine. So, what is going to be the first step of the lesson?”

Svetlana stood up and placed her hands right in front of her belly as if to cover herself.

“You will learn to dance!”

“Well, can you show me an example? I doubt it involves the kind of dancing they’ve been trying to teach me back in England.”

“Yes, from the old Arabians to the English and French ballroom practices—they are all very different dances.”

Judgement Summoner went up to the center of the stage where Svetlana was originally sitting and waiting for her on, and she showed an elegant posture.

Now that Svetlana closely examined her again, her attire did looked far more revealing. A thinner white bra with a small red strap that held it together between her breasts, a beige skirt fitted with a golden belt of beads with a transparent material flaunted with it was the first things she noted. There were two more thin belts just above the skirt adorning her navel. Her neck was decorated with a reversible gold necklace that reminded the part Faerie and part Infernal member of old Egyptian kings. Unlike her own choker, the Summoner’s one was made of what seemed like gold and steel, with a pattern of gold flame with a black background, she also wore armlets and bracelets that matched this same design and materials. From under said bracelets flowed extensions that were the transparent materials. Speaking of her arms, her fingers were adorned with gold rings, and Svetlana seemed to spot a ruby or two on them, and her nails were polished crimson. Her ankles were equipped with golden pearl beads, apparently the suspect for getting her scared in the first place. She wore red heart-shaped earrings, and finally, her forehead was adorned with a golden circlet.

“Aren’t you sporting a bit too much jewelry, and expensive at that?”

“Is that a problem?”


“Not really, it just seems a bit much to me I guess.”

“How much is too much?” The Summoner tilted her head quizzically.

“I guess it’s different from person to person so you can just let it go.”

She tilted her head on the other side. “I see.” She pointed at a music player device beside Svetlana on the floor. “Turn that up.”

“Okay,” Svetlana said as pressed the play button on the music player device.

Judgement Summoner made a radiant smile, standing on her toes. Displaying her grace and poise, she began to demonstrate the dance. She started with light steps. Gyrating her hips, accentuating with the music perfectly—the staccato movements—the twists and turns, and the following fluid steps all allowed her to display muscle control capabilities that she possessed as an able dancer.

It seemed like a very short amount of time passed when Judgement Summoner stopped and the music ended. It somewhat reminded her of her short time with a certain Prince back in Britain.

“Well, this is just about the kind of thing you’re getting into,” she said, apparently not out of breath in any way, she wasn’t sweating either, which was almost impossible to believe if not for Svetlana witnessing it with her own eyes.

“That looked really complicated, especially the stomach movements…” Svetlana said as she recalled the trouble she had just learning simple waltz.

“Did it looked nice or not?”

“It looked very nice, of course. It’s just that the idea of me actually moving like that is hard to fathom…”

“Yes or no?”

“Yes.”

“Good, then you’ll have a wonderful time—provided you have the right motivation.”

“I’ll do my best!”

“Oh, I can teach you that ballroom dancing if you want too,” the Princess said with a hushed tone, placing a finger against her lips. “Just in private.”

“That would be great! But why in private?”

“I do not think people will like it if we do this in public.”

“Okay.”

“By the way, what’s your name?”

“Oh right, we never introduced each other. I’m surprised Nancy wasn’t on my back for that. I’m Duchess Svetlana Astakhov Alicia. How about you? Unless it’s actually Judgement Summoner.”

“Silly girl.” The Summoner laughed while waving dismissively. “Do you think any Princess would be called Judgement Summoner?”

“Well, being raised in Japan I saw many with strange names, but I don’t think so…”

“My name is Aisha bint Abdulaziz. I suppose you can call me Master Aisha.”

“Would †˜Aisha’ be fine for now? I’m not sure I can call someone Master so soon…”

Aisha pouted. “I’m not teaching you anything.”

“Fine, M-master Aisha.”

“Master Aisha. Try again!”

“Master Aisha.”

“Good.” She nodded to herself, pleased. “This is just the time of June here in the modern side of the world so… you’re going to have to start attuning with the stars soon if you don’t want the first step to take too long.”

“Attuning? What do you mean, Master Aisha?”

“Every night has a different pattern of stars. Thus, you must attune each night with the stars. Otherwise, you may come across some days when you are unable to use the Starlight spells.”

“So that means I will have no opportunities to leave till a year passes, Master Aisha?”

“No, unfortunately. You must stay here for this step… be mindful that it is still your first step, well, after you are contracted to the Goddess.”

“Contracted to the Goddess? Which one?”

“Goddess Ishtar.”

“Wait, isn’t she associated to Virgo?!”

“She is her Celestial Spirit, yes. What about it?”

“It’s just how can I associate myself with a Goddess that practically seems to be part of Virgo?”

“I wonder about that…” Aisha gave a bright smile. “Well, by just doing it perhaps?”

“It must be an easy decision to you, isn’t it, Master Aisha?” Svetlana sighed.

“Hm… I do not know, is that a big deal for saving your mother?”

“For my mother I’ll do it, but making a contract with the Goddess that is associated with Virgo doesn’t fully sit well with me.”

The Summoner shrugged.

“No one’s forcing. Contracting Ishtar is not the same as serving as my Mistress, but I guess I soooooorta see why you’d think that way. Sorta.”

“I still have to wonder though, why would you would teach someone who wants to kill your Mistress?”

“Kill? My Mistress?” She blinked a few times.

“It’s nothing. You probably just see it as a joke anyway.”

“It does sound pretty stupid to me. How would you kill a Goddess?”

“She’s no Goddess.”

“Of course she is. Why would you say that?”

“What kind of a Goddess would go and kill someone’s mother in the most cruel way right in front of them?”

The Summoner chuckled. “Who says that the Goddess has to be an ideal, kind being?”

“Just drop this. I didn’t come here for this. I’ve come here to learn how to save my mother and that’s that—anything with Virgo I’ll deal with after all this is completed, and I saved my mother, Master Aisha.”

“You’re the one who brought it up. I am only saying the truth… well, you wouldn’t believe me but each Gods and Goddesses values different things in the world. You may only think about your loved ones but… what about the mothers of the chickens? What about the countless pigs murdered? What about the trees chopped? No one seems to feel anything about them, why should my Mistress feel guilty for your mother’s death? But this is gibberish to the humans who are too full of themselves—even if you’re one, you adopted their values and seem just like them now. I would not promote any more what you don’t want to accept, but know this… it takes quite a lot of devotion to gather the lights of the star. Your love for your mother will not be enough.”

“I will fight for my own values—your Goddess did the mistake of taking my second mother’s life, for that I shall never forgive her, I could care less what others think. The only true values of others that matter to me are that of my sister’s. But you did offered to teach me to free my mother, which I’m thankful for, and I just wish to peacefully work with you, at least till I accomplish that, Master Aisha.”

“That is fine, but I am only telling that you’re all selfish. To proceed you will have to make a contract with Ishtar—as I’ve mentioned before—to do this, we’ll need you to enter the phase of Twilight forcefully.”


“In the end everyone’s selfish even your Goddess. But whatever I’ll do this.”

“I do not agree, but let us proceed.” Judgement Summoner then tossed a crystal ball at Svetlana that was materialized atop her hand a moment ago. “Apply Vim-aspected mana into it.”

Svetlana began tapping into the Dominion Realm from where she gathered Vim mana she was told to, and poured them into the crystal ball. A smoke started to form around her and it eventually made it impossible to see Aisha or the walls or even the floor she was standing on.

“You can stop applying mana, but do not come out from the smoke.”

Svetlana listened as she stopped applying mana and now waited in the in smoke. It was suffocating with the smoke but she still didn’t go out as she was not certain what would happen if she left. Soon after her body began feeling woozy, it was as if she got drunk from the smoke, and started losing senses all over her body. Soon, her vision blanked out and she was lost to the aura of magic around her.

Having been made to wait in an empty hall for some time, Svetlana was not sure what she was going to be doing to learn the Lost Form that Judgement Summoner was going to teach. It was quite literally empty save for some seats and sofas. Nancy was apparently gone to check the room they were to be staying in. The Princess generously offered to them to stay in the Royal Palace.

“She could have at least left a fan or something. It’s too hot here!” Svetlana voiced her complaint at no one in particular, considering there was no one here for her to speak with. “Wish Nancy would get back already.”

A noise of bells started to ring out from somewhere, and it seemed to faintly echo across the hall. Svetlana started to remember the scary stories that her seniors used to say about haunted houses in the foreigns lands.

Svetlana looked around, wondering if someone had come into the room without her knowing. She looked around and noticed that there was no one around. “Maybe the heat has finally gotten to me…”

The noise continued to ring, and it was getting closer and closer the more she heard it.

“If this is some kind of a joke, it’s not funny,” Svetlana said, her fear showing in her voice, as she stood and looked around, still not seeing anyone around. “It has to be the heat, right…?”

“Something the matter?” A finger poked her from behind her shoulder.

“Kyaaaa!” Svetlana shouted, quickly ran forward and turning around to see what was behind her. It turned out to be the Princess.

“Hm? Is that a new way to attract the attention of men? It is strangely cute.”

“No, but when did you get in here?! I had been looking around and there was no one in sight.”

“I just got here now. What a silly question, I walked up to you, who seemed to be doing her strange skit.”

“People don’t just appear out of nowhere with no warning playing bells, you know?” Svetlana said, pouting.

“Bells?” the Summoner looked down at herself. “Ah, must be the pearls at my feet.” She patted Svetlana’s hair. “What, you were really scared? Aw, I’m so sorry.”

“Sister always told me that ghosts enjoyed eating Faeries, so I’m not fond of them.” Svetlana remembered some of the stories that Mathilde used to tell her and shuddered.

“Ahaha, you had an amusing sister I see,” the Summoner said and walked up to Svetlana. “Here you go.” She handed Svetlana some clothes. “Change into them.”

“Are we going to the beach or something?” Svetlana asked her with a confused expression after examining the exotic clothes.

Judgement Summoner looked down at the clothes and back to Svetlana.

“Beach? Why?”

“Because this practically looks like a swimsuit to me.”

“It does? It is a dress to dance with, a bedlah. You know, belly dancing?”

“I see,” Svetlana simply said with a pause and continued, “Wait, what? Isn’t this too revealing to dance with?!”

“Silly girl.” the veteran dancer laughed and patted her back. She completely treated her like a little girl, as if she was still in her previous form. It wasn’t exactly gentle. “It has to be this way, otherwise no one likes it!”

“But there’s hardly anything covering you…”

“Well, look at me, I am wearing even less in comparison. It’ll be fine!”

“I thought that was just a fashion statement… I never thought I had to wear something similar.”

“We will dance for the stars. This is simply how it is.”

“I see… I suppose I must get used to this.”

Svetlana took another glance at the garments, her face turning bright red as she recalled the outfit Hades had first given her to wear when she first gained her new form.

“It’ll get better. We’ll dance to the public when you can dance better.”

“Okay—wait, why dance in front of the public?! That’s too embarrassing even for me! I’ve never shown so much skin before.”

“But it’s not fun if you don’t dance for the people.” The Summoner pouted. No one knew that Judgement Summoner was imitating Virgo, who was in fact imitating Weiss just to try it out.

“Just the thought of dancing in front of a crowd wearing this is embarrassing enough. I’ve performed in front of a public before, but I’ve always been fully clothed.”

“Being clothed is so boring though.” Judgement Summoner’s fingers were writhing excitedly as she approached Svetlana. “Now, now, don’t resist, this is all for the sake of the Lost Form.”

Svetlana was slowly walking backwards out of instinct, but she soon tripped and fell. The woman squealed as her clothes were sent flying soon enough.

The Princess sighed as she finally got up.

“You don’t look so bad now, do you?”

Svetlana’s face was bright red as she wanted to cover herself, feeling that she was revealing too much skin. It felt especially true now that the air was touching her skin directly like this, which was ironically pleasing since it was very hot. The bra was mostly white with yellow frills on it, with blue and yellow stripe embroidered onto it. As she was still on the ground, she could be seen wearing purple panties, wrapped with a purple skirt that was long from the sides and back, but the front was the most revealing area, and it was filled with frills as well with pearls embroidered to it as well. The skirt was mostly purple with some white spots in some areas around her waist. A white belt wrapped around, and it was decorated with yellow markings. She also noticed that the Summoner had added accessories to her, a pearl necklace, a pair of pearl bracelets on her wrist and ankles, a plain golden band on both her wrists and a yellow choker on her neck.

“Must I really show this much skin?”

“Just think that you’re on the beach. All day every day.”

“That’s easier said than done.”

“Imagination is key.”

Svetlana sighed and gave up in giving any further replies as it felt useless to say anything about it.

“Fine. So, what is going to be the first step of the lesson?”

Svetlana stood up and placed her hands right in front of her belly as if to cover herself.

“You will learn to dance!”

“Well, can you show me an example? I doubt it involves the kind of dancing they’ve been trying to teach me back in England.”

“Yes, from the old Arabians to the English and French ballroom practices—they are all very different dances.”

Judgement Summoner went up to the center of the stage where Svetlana was originally sitting and waiting for her on, and she showed an elegant posture.

Now that Svetlana closely examined her again, her attire did looked far more revealing. A thinner white bra with a small red strap that held it together between her breasts, a beige skirt fitted with a golden belt of beads with a transparent material flaunted with it was the first things she noted. There were two more thin belts just above the skirt adorning her navel. Her neck was decorated with a reversible gold necklace that reminded the part Faerie and part Infernal member of old Egyptian kings. Unlike her own choker, Summoner’s one was made of what seemed like gold and steel, with a pattern of gold flame with a black background, she also wore armlets and bracelets that matched this same design and materials. From under said bracelets flowed extensions that were the transparent materials. Speaking of her arms, her fingers were adorned with gold rings, and Svetlana seemed to spot a ruby or two on them, and her nails were polished crimson. Her ankles were equipped with golden pearl beads, apparently the suspect for getting her scared in the first place. She wore red heart-shaped earrings, and finally, her forehead was adorned with a golden circlet.

“Aren’t you sporting a bit too much jewelry, and expensive at that?”

“Is that a problem?”


“Not really, it just seems a bit much to me I guess.”

“How much is too much?” The Summoner tilted her head quizzically.

“I guess it’s different from person to person so you can just let it go.”

She tilted her head on the other side. “I see.” She pointed at a music player device beside Svetlana on the floor. “Turn that up.”

“Okay,” Svetlana said as pressed the play button on the music player device.

Judgement Summoner made a radiant smile, standing on her toes. Displaying her grace and poise, she began to demonstrate the dance. She started with light steps. Gyrating her hips, accentuating with the music perfectly—the staccato movements—the twists and turns, and the following fluid steps all allowed her to display muscle control capabilities that she possessed as an able dancer.

It seemed like a very short amount of time passed when Judgement Summoner stopped and the music ended. It somewhat reminded her of her short time with a certain Prince back in Britain.

“Well, this is just about the kind of thing you’re getting into,” she said, apparently not out of breath in any way, she wasn’t sweating either, which was almost impossible to believe if not for Svetlana witnessing it with her own eyes.

“That looked really complicated, especially the stomach movements…” Svetlana said as she recalled the trouble she had just learning simple waltz.

“Did it looked nice or not?”

“It looked very nice, of course. It’s just that the idea of me actually moving like that is hard to fathom…”

“Yes or no?”

“Yes.”

“Good, then you’ll have a wonderful time—provided you have the right motivation.”

“I’ll do my best!”

“Oh, I can teach you that ballroom dancing if you want too,” the Princess said with a hushed tone, placing a finger against her lips. “Just in private.”

“That would be great! But why in private?”

“I do not think people will like it if we do this in public.”

“Okay.”

“By the way, what’s your name?”

“Oh right, we never introduced each other. I’m surprised Nancy wasn’t on my back for that. I’m Duchess Svetlana Astakhov Alicia. How about you? Unless it’s actually Judgement Summoner.”

“Silly girl.” The Summoner laughed while waving dismissively. “Do you think any Princess would be called Judgement Summoner?”

“Well, being raised in Japan I saw many with strange names, but I don’t think so…”

“My name is Aisha bint Abdulaziz. I suppose you can call me Master Aisha.”

“Would †˜Aisha’ be fine for now? I’m not sure I can call someone Master so soon…”

Aisha pouted. “I’m not teaching you anything.”

“Fine, M-master Aisha.”

“Master Aisha. Try again!”

“Master Aisha.”

“Good.” She nodded to herself, pleased. “This is just the time of June here in the modern side of the world so… you’re going to have to start attuning with the stars soon if you don’t want the first step to take too long.”

“Attuning? What do you mean, Master Aisha?”

“Every night has a different pattern of stars. Thus, you must attune each night with the stars. Otherwise, you may come across some days when you are unable to use the Starlight spells.”

“So that means I will have no opportunities to leave till a year passes, Master Aisha?”

“No, unfortunately. You must stay here for this step… be mindful that it is still your first step, well, after you are contracted to the Goddess.”

“Contracted to the Goddess? Which one?”

“Goddess Ishtar.”

“Wait, isn’t she associated to Virgo?!”

“She is her Celestial Spirit, yes. What about it?”

“It’s just how can I associate myself with a Goddess that practically seems to be part of Virgo?”

“I wonder about that…” Aisha gave a bright smile. “Well, by just doing it perhaps?”

“It must be an easy decision to you, isn’t it, Master Aisha?” Svetlana sighed.

“Hm… I do not know, is that a big deal for saving your mother?”

“For my mother I’ll do it, but making a contract with the Goddess that is associated with Virgo doesn’t fully sit well with me.”

The Summoner shrugged.

“No one’s forcing. Contracting Ishtar is not the same as serving as my Mistress, but I guess I soooooorta see why you’d think that way. Sorta.”

“I still have to wonder though, why would you would teach someone who wants to kill your Mistress?”

“Kill? My Mistress?” She blinked a few times.

“It’s nothing. You probably just see it as a joke anyway.”

“It does sound pretty stupid to me. How would you kill a Goddess?”

“She’s no Goddess.”

“Of course she is. Why would you say that?”

“What kind of a Goddess would go and kill someone’s mother in the most cruel way right in front of them?”

The Summoner chuckled. “Who says that the Goddess has to be an ideal, kind being?”

“Just drop this. I didn’t come here for this. I’ve come here to learn how to save my mother and that’s that—anything with Virgo I’ll deal with after all this is completed, and I saved my mother, Master Aisha.”

“You’re the one who brought it up. I am only saying the truth… well, you wouldn’t believe me but each Gods and Goddesses values different things in the world. You may only think about your loved ones but… what about the mothers of the chickens? What about the countless pigs murdered? What about the trees chopped? No one seems to feel anything about them, why should my Mistress feel guilty for your mother’s death? But this is gibberish to the humans who are too full of themselves—even if you’re one, you adopted their values and seem just like them now. I would not promote any more what you don’t want to accept, but know this… it takes quite a lot of devotion to gather the lights of the star. Your love for your mother will not be enough.”

“I will fight for my own values—your Goddess did the mistake of taking my second mother’s life, for that I shall never forgive her, I could care less what others think. The only true values of others that matter to me are that of my sister’s. But you did offered to teach me to free my mother, which I’m thankful for, and I just wish to peacefully work with you, at least till I accomplish that, Master Aisha.”

“That is fine, but I am only telling that you’re all selfish. To proceed you will have to make a contract with Ishtar—as I’ve mentioned before—to do this, we’ll need you to enter the phase of Twilight forcefully.”


“In the end everyone’s selfish even your Goddess. But whatever I’ll do this.”

“I do not agree, but let us proceed.” Judgement Summoner then tossed a crystal ball at Svetlana that was materialized atop her hand a moment ago. “Apply Vim-aspected mana into it.”

Svetlana began tapping into the Dominion Realm from where she gathered Vim mana she was told to, and poured them into the crystal ball. A smoke started to form around her and it eventually made it impossible to see Aisha or the walls or even the floor she was standing on.

“You can stop applying mana, but do not come out from the smoke.”

Svetlana listened as she stopped applying mana and now waited in the in smoke. It was suffocating with the smoke but she still didn’t go out as she was not certain what would happen if she left. Soon after her body began feeling woozy, it was as if she got drunk from the smoke, and started losing senses all over her body. Soon, her vision blanked out and she was lost to the aura of magic around her.

Upon arriving to Saudi Arabia, Svetlana was surprised to experience the drastic changes in climate. It was another desert, but instead of one of snow, it was now one of sand and scorching heat. Svetlana’s dress was now uncomfortable to her and her body felt as though it was melting under the hot sun. As she walked, she saw people in clothing she had never seen before, but she wondering how could people stand such heat. Looking at the houses, she noticed that they were made differently as well compared to the rest of the areas she had been to before.

“Nancy, is it just me or is it really hot here? I feel all sticky under my corset already,” Svetlana said as she wiped off the sweat on her forehead.

“I believe it is indeed very hot. I can only pray that the coldness of the night is soothing enough. It is still too early to unpack, but I did brought a fan inside our bags…”

“If you can, please take it out. This heat is just going to murder me…”

“I placed a lock and all, and these streets are rather dusty. We are still in public too,” Nancy said with an apologetic smile. “Please bare with it, Mistress, I am sure that Ignem users are… slightly resistant to the heat!”

“Doesn’t help that it never got this hot in Russia, and in Japan we had air conditioners…” Svetlana complained. “But fine, I just need time to adjust…”

“Japan is quite hot I hear. I suppose the Academy was well-equipped,” Nancy replied.

They were now walking inside the halls of the Royal Palace. The weather wasn’t great inside or outside apparently, there were many guards around them, and they were approaching the big gate beyond which the throne room lied.

“I would have hoped it to be cooler inside… Just how do people stand this? Thinking about it now, how could she have access to the Royal Palace from this country? Does she know the Princess considering she told us to tell them the †˜Princess gave us permission?’”

“I would not know, but it sounds like she is privy to great amount of details at least. There is so much we do not know, frankly.”

“I suppose we’ll get answers once we meet her again.”

As the door opened before them, many servants were witnessed outside it but not inside. There were magical wards everywhere in the throne room from what the two visitors could see—small prisms keeping the place safe from possible danger of invasion. The floors were seemingly made of gold, similarly to the walls. Nancy was made to wait outside as she was but a lowly maid, while Svetlana was allowed inside.

The King’s hair was long and he was an exotic handsome man with dark skin and eyes that seemed to see more than just her outlook. He was dressed as any King of the country but something about the majesty and the solemnity made her nervous, a different kind of pressure from the time the newly appointed Duchess met her Queen.

“Good afternoon, Your Majesty.” Svetlana said as she knelt down.

“Good afternoon. I was told that you were sent by the Queen… I suppose that is the pretext?” King Abdullah said. “State your business, I shall listen.”

“Yes,” Svetlana said as confusion came over her. “I came to speak with the Princess.”

“What business do you have with my daughter, if I may know?” the Archmage asked.

“We have come to get information on someone she knows.”

“Is this true?” The King looked up and the doors of the throne room finally closed, a woman wearing a white exotic dress walked in and stood beside Svetlana.

Svetlana took a glance from the corner of her eyes and found Judgement Summoner in ornaments and an ethnic attire.

“Yes, father. I have invited her to become my apprentice.”

“Apprentice?” King Abdullah questioned, the floor shook as a tremendous amount of mana flowed, his anger boiling. “You would take an outsider for an apprentice?”

“As I said.” The Summoner smiled. “Yes. The woman has potential. I will teach her the ways of the Stars.”

Svetlana was shocked at the current development, having not expected Judgement Summoner herself to be the Princess of the country.

“It has been our tradition to teach the arts of war to the select individuals, this year we certainly had none with potential, but that does not hold true for the future.”


“There will be none in the entire generation, father.”

“You speak of the message of the stars?”

“That is correct.”


“You had been saying one thing and had been doing the other… I find no reason to trust you.”

“Aw, I thought you loved me more than that.”

“I do love you, daughter, but it only reinforces my thought forevermore.”

“You will have to accept this, father. My mind is set on teaching this magus—half Faerie and Infernal—the path of the stars.”

“Your reason for this decision is?”

“Her flowing anger and sorrow… they work towards the requirements.”


“I see that you will not back down on this…”

“If I must add, she was also a pupil of the late Archmage Alicia. She may be a potential Archmage of the future.”

“I cannot ignore that statement. Very well, I shall examine her myself.” King Abdullah looked down at Svetlana yet again. “Rise, I shall personally evaluate your potential.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Svetlana complied and stood up, wondering how the Summoner knew who she was, as she did not recall telling her about her identity under a new body.

The King’s eyes shined white as he peered intently into Svetlana’s soul.

“She has a high level of Warping if that is what you meant, daughter,” the King said in jest and the daughter chuckled.

“We will find a way to not raise it higher than necessary,” the Princess replied.

“Commission a Warping Potion for her.”

“Father…?”

“I shall allow her to remain and learn the Lost Form.”

“I see, good for you,” she told Svetlana.

“Thank you.”

Claudia sat in her room, and after a little while deprived, she indulged in one of her books. Killing and fucking aside, this was one of her most favorite things to do in her downtime—she had said it herself at some point in time.

But why didn’t she seemed too happy about it?

As the smoke rose from her lungs and was released through the room, a dim expression was plastered about the girl as she callously flipped through pages with the interest of a moth through the dark.

The bell rang and Claudia got up. Seeing as her Master was apparently sleeping, she had no choice but to check who was at the door herself. It was likely the room service. With a sigh, she opened the door.

“What is it,” she huffed, bags lush in her eyes.

“Room service here,” an employee of the hotel said politely.

Claudia wondered if her Master had ordered for it while she was busy. Shrugging it off, the crude woman blew smoke into the employee’s face and sighed. “Make it quick, then. I’m busy.”

Suddenly, the Master of Claudia got up from the bed and looked.

“Claudia… who did you let inside?”

“Some employee of the hotel? Did you not order for them to come?”

“No, I did not.”

“Fuck—”

The Master pulled her hand up and the employee was carried up from the floor instantly, he could feel his neck being strangled by a mysterious power.

“A…Allahu Ackbar!” the man shouted, revealing bombs under his suit.

The room of the hotel exploded with the bombs detonating, and Claudia’s Master threw her at the window and she was tossed all the way down from the tenth floor.

Crimson Rafflesia soon came down herself, but unlike Claudia who suffered the long fall, she landed comfortably with the help of the spirits.

“Fucking Christ! Another reason to hate this God damned country!” Claudia complained, rolling onto her back and writhing from the fall. Despite being a Representative, it still hurt like a lot when she would survive something like, say falling from a ten floor building.

“It is too soon to complain. We have company.”

The Archmage Christopher landed on the rooftop of the building they were located in now, and threw his fist in the air. The gust burst into Claudia’s face and she was blown away—straight to the trash below in the alleyway. Aramus laughed as she tore upon a plastic bag, getting covered head to toe in stinking garbage before following after her.

“Hmph, petty Archmage… I suppose that girl is useless beside me nonetheless,” Crimson Rafflesia huffed.

Claudia emerged from the garbage with a grimace. Her eyes burned with fury as the insult and the prying eyes burned at her spine. With gritted teeth, she summoned Lachesis Fang and leapt back to her Master’s position. “I hope you are prepared to eat those words– Master,” she said with a darkened tone to her voice. Another gust of air from the exotic man that was Chris and Claudia fell right back down. She felt like making a storm of swears but now was not the time. She got up from the trash again and found Aramus before her in the narrow alleyway.

“You’re missing some of that here,” Aramus said, pointing at a rotting piece of food stuck on her face. “Might want to get rid of that.”

Taking heed to his words, Claudia begrudgingly wiped the stray garbage from her face, and with narrowed eyes, stared him in the face.

“...Brother,” she said plainly, for some reason making that a pathetic excuse for a greeting.

It was indeed a pathetic excuse for a greeting, Aramus looking at her with contempt.

“Claudia. I see you don’t have your tiara with you. I wonder where it went?” he said with sarcasm.

“And I don’t see your mother cheering you on from the side.” A cold look emitted from Claudia once she said that.

“Could say the same for your parents, am I right?” Aramus stated with a scoff.

“Fuck you,” Claudia spat.

“Someone’s got to take out the trash right?” Aramus said, brandishing his relic.

“I was thinking the exact same thing.” Claudia gave her scythe a twirl before it landed onto her palm.

“Alright to proceed with trash disposal?” Aramus said to Christopher and DKD, still glaring at Claudia.

“What the heck are you waiting for?!” Christopher shouted from above the building.

A huge gust of wind blew all the trash in the alleyway at Claudia, forcing the Representative to cover her eyes as she was caked with more garbage. Aramus took off into the air on a mini dust tornado, laughing as Claudia unsuccessfully tried to wipe it away.

“…Oh, that’s fucking mature,” Claudia said sarcastically, swearing that she hated this country with all her might. How much trash can one spot have!?

Lunging at her so-called sibling, Claudia brandished her scythe and straight off missed once she closed the difference between the two. Right then and there, she activated her Commandement, coaxing a black puddle to form under her feet, summoning her favorite ephemeral beasts to rise.

“Kill.”

The beasts dashed towards Aramus in a collective fashion, Aramus swung his blade at them and two were sliced up. The black demons disappeared as the wind cut them open but one avoided the attack, striking Aramus with a glancing blow.

“Foolish.” Aramus streaked towards her from above, using momentum and gravity to enhance his blow as sword clashed with scythe in a shower of sparks.

“Weak,” Claudia retorted. She pushed the man back and attempted a slash of her own, which, unsurprisingly, missed.

Aramus hit back with a slash of his own, Claudia’s scythe barely coming back in time to prevent her head from being sliced off. The feathers on his sword quivered, tiny lacerations appearing on her face as they worked their magic.

Claudia gave a twirl and snapped back, colliding with Aramus’ relic like before. Sparks flew as iron and platinum encountered each other.

“Tch… you look like you’re having fun.”

“Would’ve been more fun if I didn’t have to smell your stench,” Aramus said, his relic pushing hers back with a burst from its feathers. He wrinkled his nose as more of the foul smell was blown around, using his free hand to cover his nose.

Claudia retaliated with an attack of her own, getting only the broad of Aramus’ weapon. “Kind of your fault, really. Funny how you’re the same jokey little orphan I’ve met so long ago.”

“My fault? How is any of this my fault? You ruined your future by your own hand,” Aramus said with a scowl.

“Do you want me to say it? Do you really want me to?”

Aramus shrugged, lowering his sword for a brief moment. “Not that it matters now. There’s no turning back on the road you’re going down.”

Claudia made a sound of both disbelief and resignation.

“That’s fine, then. To be frank; I’m loving the road I’m taking.”

“Then there shan’t be more words.” Aramus got into a stance. “We’ll settle this once and for all.”

Claudia hung her scythe over her shoulder, her baggy eyes blinking a couple of times.

“Come then, brother. End me.”

“Do not call me that!” Aramus said, anger fuelling his sword as it swung towards her. The blade streaked towards her faster than Claudia could react and it cut into her side.

“Why? Did that strike a nerve, brother?” Claudia held the new wound in her side and smirked madly. “DID THAT PISS YOU OFF?”

“Not as much as seeing what you have fallen to,” Aramus said with disdain.

“And how I have fallen. You aren’t in the best shape yourself, murderer. You’re no better than I am.”

“SHUT UP!” Aramus yelled as his temper flared, swinging at her repeatedly with his relic.

“You claim to be just, a plaything for your Queen… I wonder how you felt when she came along and put you in cuffs? You momentarily saved the world from Virgo, but your beloved Queen didn’t care; she just threw you away,” Claudia said coldly.

“My sins are my own to bear, Her Majesty has no part in my mistakes,” Aramus growled.

“I’d love to see you say that to her face, then.” Claudia dashed towards Aramus and pushed his forehead back with her index and middle fingers. “Why fight me? Why not go your own path and let bygones be bygones? The Queen, and the rest of the world only believes that you’re just a murderer. Killing me won’t change it.”

“Running away from my mistakes makes even less of a person and I don’t want to hear about that from you of all people. The Queen still yet believes in me and I will not betray her trust,” Aramus said as he staggered back, rubbing his forehead.

“My ass, she still believes in you. A woman like that? She just callously casts off her minions like they are nothing. When they fail, she casts them away. When they die, she doesn’t even give half a fuck. That’s the way things go when you’re a higher-up. What makes you think she cares about you?”

“What would you know, ignorant wench? Do not lump me in the same category as you and your owner.”

“Owner. That’s funny. That’s fucking hilarious. No, really,” Claudia said, truly chuckling. “Aren’t we all in the same category when serving under a Descendant anyway?”

“You’re a fool to think that. Not everyone is the same as you.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t take advantage of her blabbering.”

Aramus heard his senior’s voice.

DKD pulled out her blade from Claudia’s back that thrust out from her chest. The blood from her suit literally washed down, instead of sticking to it and being soaked. For some reason, the blood even washed itself off her skin, perhaps it was a spell.

Claudia fell onto the floor, starstruck.

“W-What? When did you…?” She turned her arms behind her and swung the scythe at the new face without fully turning to face her, but she disappeared into a portal behind her.

Coming out from above a blade wounded Claudia’s shoulder and it closed. “You seem like a newbie to life itself, kid,” the newcomer’s voice echoed as the rift closed.

“Tch… fuck you,” Claudia growled.

“Try if you can.” With this, Claudia’s eyeball was taken out mercilessly after the Witness appeared fully again. “I hear it’s a challenge with heart problems and a lack of eyesight.” Her smile was as sadistic as ever, yet not truly insane; cool and collected.

“Bravo, bravo.” Aramus clapped lazily from where he stood at the side.

Writhing and rolling madly about the ground, Claudia cursed whoever the hell this was with all her might.

“YOU BITCH. I’LL KILL YOU. I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU.”

“Useless as ever.” Claudia’s Master said as Claudia’s body was picked up from the ground, but Christopher’s fist struck at Crimson Rafflesia who was at the edge of the building. When she fell, she stood up and gave her hand a wave, Aramus fell to his knees immediately while DKD somehow stood her ground. Finally taking Claudia under her arm, the vampire jumped off and escaped.

Christopher followed and the powerful force finally stopped.

“You alright there, DAD?” DKD asked.

“I’m fine. Thanks for the assistance,” Aramus said. Some of the trash had gotten on him but he blew it off with a mixture of Aurum and Aquam, leaving him clean again. Too bad for Claudia and her eye.

“Let Master Christopher pursue, it is too late for us considering this is Crimson Rafflesia.”

“Alright. What will we do now?”

DKD shrugged. “Up for some cakes?”

“We’re not going to help him!?”

“Why? One is useless and the other is fleeing.”

“So one person would be enough to finish the job now. If we’re going to go for cake then I think we’d better get one for him as well. Just in case.”

“Either he deals with it or he gets distracted by women, or Indian food? Who can blame that? Let us be off.” DKD opened the portal, not to pursue, but to eat, already somewhat breaking the law.

“I’ll snag him a slice for good measure,” Aramus said.







“Master—put me down. Put me down!” Claudia yelled at the top of her lungs. “I don’t need to be carried.”

Crimson Rafflesia did not stop at these words.

“We are being chased still.”

“All the more reason to let me off. I’ll only just slow you down with all this extra weight!” The Representative squirmed and kicked, all just to be released. “I’m sick of being carried off whenever I get hurt. I’ll haul my own ass to safety.”

As Crimson Rafflesia hopped onto another building, she dropped Claudia, who fell on a pile of trash yet again.

Fucking really? Claudia stood up and dusted herself off with the arm that worked at the moment before occupying it with her bleeding eye socket.

“Alright, I gotta keep going… ignore the pain and keep going…” As her Master continued through the buildings, Claudia looked away in shame. Just when she was showing so much promise, this had to happen. Her conviction remained strong, however. She wouldn’t dare break any more of her remaining composure. “Let’s go.”

With a dash, Claudia leapt up to a building and looked around before ascertaining her path. She jumped from building to building in a similar manner to her Master. She almost found herself straying off her escape path with her lack of depth perception, for sure. She decided to do as she announced before and find her Master later. Part of Claudia hoped that she wouldn’t run into Aramus or anyone else while in this state.

Her shoulder, felt as if someone took a two-by-four with nails glued to it. She rubbed it all over her wound, Claudia was swearing up a storm as she traveled through the town, already having lost track of Rafflesia along the way.

She couldn’t even tell with only one eye.

“That bitch… I swear, I’ll kill her.” Claudia grunted into the sky. It was too damned early for this. Her hate for this ratsack country could not be expressed any harder. “Russia and the inbreds are better than all this…”

As she jumped another building, nearly tripping herself up, the oft crazed woman finally calmed down enough to sniff into the air, gathering for the woman that was her master.

“Why is she headed for the border? Doesn’t that lead to—” Her breath hitched in her throat for a second, and she swore under her breath. “Iraq? Master, what are you doing?”

Claudia landed on one last building and knelt down, letting the pain crumble her. Even so much as blinking made her feel like someone stabbed a lit torch into her socket. She didn’t know why, but apart from every other time lost a limb or was blown up, or something, it hurt a lot more than usual.

“Graaahhh!” Trembling hands searched for the cigarettes in her pocket, hesitating to light the individual one. Claudia would bleed out before getting the cancer stick into her mouth. The pain was too great that she could not stop shaking.

“Who was she? Why can’t I stop shaking… was she the cause of it?” Claudia uneasily thought, “This is fear, isn’t it…?”

She tried to laugh it off and at the same time, ignore the pain. To be so afraid of someone other than the Countess, Virgo or Rafflesia for that matter…

“Without Master there… I would’ve died. Oh God, I would’ve been killed by her… why am I just realizing this now?” Claudia asked herself. With all her strength, she stood up and continued to walk. “I can’t think about it now… I need to keep moving.”

They approached a burning car on the streets. Aramus’ senior hummed at the sight.

“Just as planned indeed.”

Witness DKD was indeed pleased, handing a sum of money to the man she spoke to earlier beside an alley.

“This clears the first obstacle,” she stated, calming watching the car burn. “Now, we track the rats on the alleys.”

“Now they scurry.” Aramus said, reaching into his jacket for a handkerchief or something to cover his nose. Even with all the dust and sand blowing around them, DKD’s suit somehow continued to look immaculate. It baffled him.

As they walked into the alley, there was an intersection of thin roads and DKD walked straight it, while she gestured for Aramus to take a separate route.

“Anyone wearing a mask—kill. I shall have procure an informant for us shortly.”

“Understood. I wonder if they bleed the same color as us,” Aramus absently asked as an afterthought, separating from DKD. “I’ll see you later then, DKD.”

There was no answer. Aramus walked forth after taking a turn. From the winds passing with the sands, he could hear many footsteps across the alleyways. It was like a labyrinth. Scurrying around him like rodents, Aramus was reminded of his old days back as an Enforcer. Ah, the good old days. The smell of freshly burnt bodies and ozone always made him excited. Hunting at dusk always had a certain charm to it. Just like the sun set on the day, so did it on the life of his marks.

A flurry of movement alerted him of danger and the Magic Magister dived out of the way just as a claw passed through the space his head had been not a moment earlier. Breaking his tumble, the Magister noted his opponent was also crouched down. The masked vampire dodged the first Lightning Bolt sent its way by deftly hopping to the side before another caught it in its chest just as it was about to land, frying some of the cloak and skin.

It growled at him through the mask before leaping forward and Aramus kicked himself forward with Flashstep, catching the monster in the chest with his Galeforce, a spell he was still working on. Blood and bones sprayed everywhere as the spell drilled into it, but still it refused to die, clawing at him through the pain. Pissed as a claw scratched his cheek, Aramus grabbed onto the mask and casted a Lightning Bolt straight through into its skull, the vampire spasming as its brain was fried by countless amounts of electricity.

Turning his head to look down the passageway, Aramus spotted the glint of a barrel and he instinctively raised the corpse in his hand just as bullets flew, peppering the vampire. The Galeforce still spun and he shot it along with the corpse at the gunmen, spell shredding through wall, cover and flesh alike as it burnt itself out. The vampire exploded in a shower of gore midair as well, two halves of the body flying in opposite directions.

Now that the gunfire had stopped, Aramus walked over to inspect his handiwork. There were three bodies, two which had been ruined by the spinning orb. They were missing a limb and otherwise looked dead but he had to make sure, frying them until smoke rose from their bodies. The last was still crawling away, hissing at Aramus as the Magister stepped onto its hand.

It looked up and was promptly greeted by a blow to the face, head snapping back. Aramus tossed the bloody limb that he had used away once the vampire’s pupils had focused on him, loving the sound of it squishing wetly on the ground. A thin stream of electricity crackled from his index finger akin to a blow torch and he brought it close to the vampire’s fearful eyes until it was mere centimeters away.

“Now, you’re going to tell me where the rest of you rats are hiding and I’ll let you die painlessly.”

The vampire glared at him defiantly and spat, the spittle disintegrating halfway as lightning got to it before it sullied him. Aramus sighed before lowering his finger into the eye socket, the bolt of energy searing away and melting the inside of the vampire’s eye and skull. It flailed under his magical grip, limbs flapping wildly as the shock sent it haywire and a keening sound echoed down the walkway as it died.

Aramus patted himself dry, looking dismayed that his suit was now shabbier than ever. There was nothing he could do about it now so he continued down the hallway before coming across another vampire. He didn’t notice until it had jumped onto him, hiding in the shadows of the alleyway and he batted it away with a blast of wind. It tore some of his sleeve away and the Magister’s mood plummeted further, calling upon the new relic.

It appeared just before him with a gust of ominous wind and he grasped its hilt, thorned vines latching onto his arm as he swung it in an arc at the vampire. With a malicious melodic tune, the razor sharp thorns of the winds generated by the blade sliced the vampire into myriad pieces, blood showering down where the vampire was before him.

“Going to need a long shower after this…” Aramus grumbled as some of the thick, dark blood splattered onto his pants. He lifted the sword up, feathers lightly flowing in some invisible breeze and gave an approving nod. Aramus gave one last look at the vampire cubes before moving on, wondering how vampire meat would taste if it was properly seasoned and cooked.

Aramus walked up to the next intersection and stopped, finding his senior leaning on the wall. Under her shoes were a round-like group of corpses slugged against the wall. The girl twisted one leg against the other casually and was whistling while tapping away at what seemed like a cellphone.

“Done already? Sorry I took so long, it’s been some time and I needed to unload some stress,” Aramus said as he walked up to her.

“Good work, we’re done.” There was another explosion as she spoke. “Ah, that should do it for the secret route. I think…” Witness DKD jumped down from the pile of corpses, a hand tried to catch her leg but she pressed it hard with her heel, putting it to rest without looking down. She then gestured at the vampire that was leaning against the wall and breathing heavily, still alive but barely, Aramus could only see half his torso sliced off. God knew how he even lived.

“Gotcha.” Aramus spun his hand around lazily and the vampire was picked up by streams of wind. It was too injured to resist, so he could easily carry it around.

Witness DKD chanted silently and opened a portal with her finger as she slid it into the air, the two entering it and disappearing from the province.







There were screams in the cell. Aramus was using his lightning to torture the defiant vampire that was brought into the room that was inside the dungeon of the Royal Palace in Saudi Arabia. Witness DKD brought them here and Christopher seemed to be waiting for them.

“I… don’t—know anything!” the vampire hissed. Despite all the torture, it still kept saying the same words.

“This will continue until I hear something other than that,” Aramus said, lazily sending shocks into its body.

“Hm, it had been thirty minutes now. I’m surprised this one is so persistent,” Christopher said, apparently getting hungry as usual.

“Let’s try a different approach,” Aramus said as he crouched down to be eye level with the vampire. He grasped the pinky and sent a pulse of electricity into it, intending to trigger the pain receptors beyond a certain point. Apparently, it was a bit too much and the finger turned charcoal black as it was flooded with lightning. The burnt finger proceeded to turn into fine powder whilst the vampire watched the entire proceeding with tears in his eyes. A trail of blood was now leaking from where teeth had punctured his lips from biting down. “My bad, it wasn’t supposed to do that.”

“Alright, let me have a look at him, DAD,” Witness DKD said after looking down at her watch.

“Too bad I don’t have much to make them squawk,” Aramus said, relinquishing his position to DKD.

“Pfft, DAD she says.” Christopher snickered.

“Master, please…” Aramus said with a sigh. “It’s bad enough that it’s partially true.”

“The joke of the house now,” DKD said, placing an index finger on the forehead of the vampire.

Aramus watched as all the injuries of the vampire started to heal. It looked miraculous, every part of it cutted skin broken limbs, and even the lower torso coming back to life as perfectly healthy. There was one thing that was not recovering, and that was his heart, but no one could see it.

Aramus whistled from where he crouched as the limbs started to grow back, even the one he had turned into powder. DKD really had a ton of tricks up her sleeve.

“So what’re we going to do with the perp now? Maybe disintegrate a limb centimeter by centimeter? That might work.”

“Nothing so simple like that, lad,” Christopher said, a bead of sweat going down his skin. “This will really hurt.”

“You’ve got my attention,” Aramus said, keeping his eyes peeled now.

The vampire started to scream abruptly, DKD’s finger still on his head. After three seconds, the vampire begged them to stop and that he’d speak.

“There we go.” Witness DKD took her finger off. “I am as persuasive as ever.” She nodded to herself.

“Well, that was interesting,” Aramus said, totally baffled as to how it was over in three seconds.

“That dude suffered all the damage that was healed at the same time—literally, all of it into his brain, the feeling was transmitted. You wanna imagine that crap?” Christopher said, shaking his head. He wanted no part in that spell’s application, ever.

“Now that’s nasty.”

Even Aramus made a face at the explanation, he thought it would be something along the lines of Mentem or Imaginem but not something like this. He still wanted to learn it, but without the ability to heal, it wouldn’t be as effective.

After this, the information from the near-dead—or rather, healed—vampire revealed that there was indeed one route they took for their dirty work—a path to Iraq.

“So they take the kidnapped people to Iraq and then distribute them,” DKD concluded. “This means that the scope widens yet again. From Iraq there are multiple places to go to as well, such as Turkey, Kuwait, Jordan, or Syria… either that, or they also take one way out in that country as well… now that sounds a little too simple for the people of Blood Countess.”

“They’ve probably got a lot more escape routes than that, but I’ll bet this guy doesn’t know †˜em… or do you?” the Magister said, narrowing his eyes at the vampire.

The vampire murmured, but he could no longer speak, his brain numbed completely from the three seconds of pain.

“Whatever, he’s of no use to us like that. So do we head to Iraq next?”

“There is something else in this country…” DKD said.

“What are you talking about?” Chris asked. “It’s clearly done deal here right?”

“The S rank rogue that we were commissioned to take out some months ago… I can tell when I smell a stench of that monster,” DKD answered.

“Then we neutralize it and move on? Master, what do you think?” Aramus looked to Christopher for instructions.

“Which one are we talking about?” Christopher asked.

“Crimson Rafflesia.”

“Ack. This is the kinda bad news you keep outside the steamy pot. I suppose we’ll go get her then.”

“Crimson Rafflesia? Another vampire?” Aramus asked after the exchange of words.

“The Crimson Rafflesia is the Lost Form user of Undertaker. A class of banished Arts from the Church. Crimson is indeed a vampire, though. And tough as hell,” his Master answered.

“Between the three of us, you think we can take her down?”

“If DKD is with us, it more than just tips the scale to our favor,” Chris replied with a smirk.

“I guess that settles things. You can both go on ahead, I’ll finish up here.” Aramus said, sparks dancing across his palm again.

“We’ll be waiting outside the palace.”

Chris exited the torture room with Witness DKD. Noises of thunder soon rang out from the cell and a loud cry of the vampire was heard as Christopher and DKD walked side by side.

“So, we hit up Iraq after all?” Chris asked.

“I would hope not. The mission was to get them off of Saudi Arabia, and no that note we have to check some other routes. I have some other missions to tend to after this too,” DKD answered.

“Is that so? I’d really want to get my lad into some training, though.”

“I’ll look into them while you train him. Anyway, the fact that Crimson Rafflesia is here speaks volumes.”

“Yeah, and a good excuse as any to claim that we did our part and the subordinates of the King can handle the rest?”

“Perhaps. There are other strong people in their Organization than Rafflesia.”

“True, but I hope those people didn’t come over too.”







Aramus got around to the desk on the planning room with Witness DKD and his Master, Christopher Bradley. They all looked down at a computer display showing the map of the city. Aramus’ senior zoomed it and showed an area.

“So this is where Crimson Rafflesia is located?” Aramus asked.

“Seeing that it’s the King Fahd Road… it will take time?” Christopher asked.

“To reach them? Yes, I suppose so,” DKD said.

“For the Mind’s Eye, I mean,” Chris stated.

“You want me to use that for Crimson Rafflesia?”

“Well, duh. It’s an S rank Rogue, right?”


“It’s just an S rank Rogue, though…”

“Is there a higher ranking than that…?” Aramus was a little confused by the way they referred to their target.

“You really think there is?” Christopher said, showing that face as if he ate something very, very sour.

“From the look on your face, I’m guessing it’s a no.”

“Most of them makes for boring opponents.” DKD shrugged.

“I might as well be boring too now,” Christopher said with an incredulous look.

“At least feeding you makes it not so bad.”

“I… I cry at those times. By no way through sadness, but joy.”

Aramus chuckled a little at their exchange.

“Let me use the Mind’s Eye then. Excuse me for a while.” Aramus’ senior sat down on a chair and closed her eyes, not moving an inch any more after doing so.

“You wanna fetch us some coffee, lad?” Christopher requested.

“Of course. Milk, sugar?” Aramus asked just before he left.

“Just some milk for me. The lass would have both, at an alarming amount too…”

“Noted.” Aramus went off to fulfill their requests, wondering how much did Christopher mean by “an alarming amount.” Soon, he returned and handed out the coffee, his Master's containing a small amount of milk. As for DKD’s—it almost looked like milk tea.

“She almost detected it,” DKD suddenly spoke, opening her eyes. “I saw her, though. She is in a hotel.”


“Do we move out?” Aramus said, handing DKD her cup.

“We should get into position,” DKD replied, sitting the coffee with a pleasant hum. “We don’t wanna break their hotel room though. Well, maybe.”


“Alright. I’ll try my best.”

“Are you sure they will go out at all though?” Christopher asked.

“Oh, they will love my invitation.”

“Don’t go too wild now…”

“I won’t kill another hundred for it, no worries.”

“I worry about the fate of a lot of things now.”

“I’m not sure I really want to find out either but… let’s go?” Aramus said, motioning to the door.

“DAD, let Master Christopher use it. We have a better door to use.” DKD pointed at her portal with her thumb behind her.

Aramus turned to give his Master a sad look, wondering why they couldn’t all just go together.

As Aramus and DKD entered, Chris jumped into their portal with a yell, “Oh no you don’t!”

The town of Diriyah was on the outskirts of the capital city of Saudi Arabia. Its Turaif district was declared a World Heritage Site as listed in UNESCO about fifteen years ago and it was a seat of the Diriyah Governorate. A once-seat of the Royal Family now, it was not as prominent as before, but according to information, there was a Magic Organization running, but it was apparently corrupt to an extent according to the rumors.

“Well, this is a very old town,” Witness DKD remarked as they traversed through the city.

There were many ruins in the distance from centuries past. The town itself seemed to have very old structures, while some were slightly newer, but still old. The streets seemed to be made out of stones and the air was very dry with sands here and there. The area was very dusty, just like the capital, but it was far more dustier here.

Aramus coughed repeatedly as they walked, the sand and dust wreaking havoc on his nose and lungs. “Whatever it is, they chose the right place for all their dirty work. I mean, who’d want to come here unless they loved the dust and sand?”

“The Aurum users love the sand, I hear,” DKD casually replied. “The wind helps, or something. Especially in the deserts.”

“I don’t know about that,” Aramus grumbled. “At the moment, this isn’t helping me as an Aurum user. Maybe later when we fight the vampires, I’ll toss some sand at them.”

“No, I meant the Area Element. You know, the latest theory of magic speaking about certain types of area augmenting certain aspects of magic? The last month’s gazette discussed it.”

“Ah, that’s what you meant. Still, I don’t think I could see myself staying here for too long even with all the bonuses… I’ll miss the food and candy, not to mention the heat…”

“Shall we enter a local restaurant? The smell of spices must be getting you raring to go like your Master? It will be my treat.”

Aramus nodded so fast, it felt like his head would snap off. He was getting hungry from all the walking, plus a place that didn’t have sand sounded like heaven.







The two entered a local restaurant, and the scent of frying oil and the spices invaded Aramus’ nose much more than before. The ethnic food had a very impactful impression in him as the two sat down on a bench in the corner of the shop.

“Feel free to order whatever you wish. I’ll probably just get something simple.”

Aramus enthusiastically went over the menu as it would be his second time trying out the Arabic cuisine. The whole menu was unfamiliar to him but thankfully, there were pictures. Two items in particular caught his interest, one looking like pulled meat in what seemed like sandwich and the other, fried meatballs.

Witness DKD placed an order for simply some kind of biscuits called the kleejas, and an orange juice after calling the waiter. Aramus merely pointed at the pictures on the menu, the waiter smiling at him due to Aramus’ inability to speak Arabic. Soon, the sounds of cooking could be heard and it only made Aramus more eager to try the food as the scent wafted into the dining room, the Magister taking a deep breath of the fragrance.

Unsurprisingly, the waiter returned with DKD’s order first, placing the orange juice on the table followed by the kleejas. They looked like cookies more than biscuits, very robust little things with criss cross patterns on the top. They smelled faintly of spices and looked absolutely delicious. The orange juice was also freshly squeezed, evidenced by the smell and of fresh pulp floating in the glass.

Like any other restaurants around the area, the tables and the seats were all placed fairly close to each other. With Witness DKD sitting on the far right that was just beside the other bench of the table, Witness DKD smiled. She fed Aramus one of the kleejas while he waited eagerly, while she was speaking with a local in the Arabian language beside her.

Although Aramus was a little perplexed by DKD’s action, he nonetheless accepted her offering happily with a word of gratitude. The cookie was indeed as he expected, a light flavoring of spices filled his mouth as he bit into it but apart from that, he could detect traces of honey. It was a funny combination of flavors but otherwise tasted great. The cookie itself wasn’t hard despite its looks, his teeth breaking through the crust with minimal effort.

While he savored the taste, Witness DKD was done conversing, Aramus could see her showing the man a sum of Arabian cashmoney. The man only gave a nod and stood up, walking away. DKD placed the cash back to her pocket.

“What’s that all about?” Aramus asked as he finished the cookie, dabbing his mouth with a napkin. It was a good appetizer for his meal to be.

“The fun begins soon. Watch, young one.” DKD herself ate one of the kleejas, before feeding another to Aramus.

Aramus absently bit into the next cookie as he watched the other man leave. What would happen next? And more importantly, would it affect when his order would arrive?

He soon watched the man she spoke to beginning to speak with a cloaked figure on the very corner of the restaurant. The cloaked figure seemed to panic after a moment and left the restaurant.

Pleased, Witness DKD drank from her orange juice.

“Just as planned.”

“That’s it?” Aramus said, having expected more.

The waiter came back and placed Aramus’ food. It look similar enough to the pictures except for the fact that the pictures were extremely grainy and of poor resolution. The dishes that were now laid down on the table looked nothing like the pictures. Breaded balls of meat with a saucer filled with some strange dip, and the pulled meat placed inside a hot, pressed bun. The waiter looked at Aramus and pointed at each, starting with the breaded balls. “Falafel. Shawarma.” Although it was spoken in barely accented English, Aramus could understand it but just barely.

Taking a knife, Aramus cut open the meatball first or rather what he thought was a meatball. The crust split open and inside, it showed ground meat mixed in with a variety of other things. Steam wafted out, showing how hot it was and after taking a small bite, Aramus decided it tasted very much like a croquette. He barely needed to put any strength into the knife as it sliced into the croquette, parting the breading easily as he ate.

Next, he moved onto the pulled meat bun. The meat was placed snugly inside, covered by all kinds of other greens and drenched in white and red sauces. It looked to be heartier meal and he quickly took a bite, his mouth immediately filling with flavor. The meat was lightly grilled, just enough to feel the skin cracking once bitten. The white sauce was of a yoghurt base and red tomato—combined, they made it taste very tangy. He could also feel juice beginning to trickle down his chin, bad enough that he had to reach for a napkin. Aramus decided this would probably be his favorite Arab food until he found something else.

“You seem happy,” Witness DKD stated, munching on her last kleeja now.

“Food is one of the greatest joys of life. I did mention I love eating, right?” Aramus said as he polished off the shawarma and went back to working on the falafels.

“Yes, I suppose you did.” The Witness smiled and watched him eat. It wasn’t a surprise to her that he and Christopher got along.

“Your cookies were really good too.” He piped in before setting the plate now empty of falafels aside. “Thanks for the treat.”

“You’re welcome. We should get some desserts now.”


“There was one that caught my attention earlier… It’s big enough for two so we could share it.” Aramus signalled for the waiter and this time ordered something that looked like a pancake. He smiled and left, not before giving the two a look. Barely a few lines of conversation later and the waiter returned, setting the dish before them.

“Kanafeh.”

The pastry that came glistened under the light of the restaurant, covered in sugar syrup. Aramus cut portions for DKD and himself, seeing that it was whole and found that the inside had some cream cheese inside. He set one on a plate for DKD and passed it to her.

“Here you go, eat up!”

In the end, that side of the pastry was also fed to Aramus as DKD gave a rather intoxicating smile.

“Is it good?”

“Yes it is, but why do you keep feeding me?” Aramus asked with a tilt of his head. It wasn’t a bad thing, in fact, it felt good to be pampered after all that had happened, but it still left him confused.

“Do you hate it?”

“…No.”

“Good, then savor it. It is I who is feeding after all, it has to be special.”

That answer only left Aramus more confused than before but he decided not to bother. Who would complain when one was being fed by a beautiful girl in a suit? Not him, that’s for sure.

“I already am. The food is delicious.”

She smiled and drank her juice again, finishing it. Witness DKD gave her wristwatch a peek. It was a silver expensive watch it seemed.

“It is time.”

As soon as DKD got off her bench, there was an explosion some distance away.

Aramus got up, looking back at the unfinished pastry with regret before following her.

“Do not waste food now. Just pop that one in your mouth, DAD. Doesn’t take long for a hungry man to eat, yes?” DKD said from the exit of the restaurant.

In a flash, the plate was empty and Aramus had followed his senior outside onto the streets.

“How on earth do the men here find the women attractive with something that covers so much?” Claudia complained as she looked on at the citizens of the country that was completely new to her. “They literally look like someone put a blanket overtop a coat hanger and it grew eyes or some shit.”

“I do not think they show themselves till they marry,” Rafflesia said, who was walking just before her. “They are very religious.”

“There are a few things I hate. Women who are so chaste, religion, and the heat. I fucking love how all three of those things are rolled up into one country,” Claudia said, taking a drag of her cigarette with a grimace.

“You should learn some sense of restraint from them. They are good examples of well-behaved people, with a better tongue if anything.”

“Right– restraint, restraint,” Claudia repeated to herself. “Well-behaved I cannot be, but restraint is something I can practice, Master.”

“I suppose being a good girl for the Countess is too much to ask for a spoiled person. Say, how much cigarettes did you bring?”

“Enough to keep me calmed down—which is a lot if you wanna actually count.”

“You do know that they would arrest you for having over six-hundred cigarettes, yes? We cannot have alcohol or drugs with us, either.”

“...And just like that, I fucking hate this country.”

“Play along with the laws you must. For if you are truly accused of a fault, the truth will protect you.”

With a sigh, Claudia dropped the death stick from her mouth and promptly stomped it out. “Just to be safe, I’ll humor this for now. Can’t risk getting arrested, especially at high stakes.”

“How’s your training progressing with the Hearing sessions?” Rafflesia asked.

In truth, being busy preparing for the trip back in Russia, and doing other things without telling Claudia and leaving her back in the attic room for practicing, Claudia hadn’t seen her Master for some time till it was the moment to go off for them to board the Magic Train.

“Better than before, I’m happy to say.” Claudia wished she had said that a bit more enthused, but her sudden dislike for this country had just stopped her straight off. “Other than the souls insulting me half the time, I’m enjoying it so far.”

“Hmm… how often do you hear their voices now?”

“More frequently, now that I’ve gotten the jist of it.”

“Then perhaps we shall move to the next phase soon.”

Claudia would have given a whimsical response, but instead she gave a wordless head nod.

“Yes, Master.”







The two entered a hotel and it seemed like her Master had already booked a room and they were already going up through an elevator with a staff member carrying the luggage. Rafflesia spoke no word while they were accompanied by the bell boy. They were then escorted to their room before they settled into their next temporary living place.

“We shall have you learn the first spell. This will be essential for casting the other spells you learn in time.”

“Gladly.” Claudia took a seat and sat up straight. “What spell is this, Master?”

“I had shown you this before.” Weaving the index finger in the air, Rafflesia drew a word of an unknown language in the air, leaving a deep blue blazing trail. “This is the Undertaker’s Vodun. When cast, however, you will not be able to cast your other spells. This is what they call the †˜stance’ spell.”

“I see. So working as a †˜stance’ spell, which you called it, I am able to switch back to my ordinary stance, in which, to use my other spells, right?”

“Unfortunately, that is not how a †˜stance’ spell works. When you take on a stance with such a spell, it lasts for an entire day, until the next sunrise. All other spells will be inaccessible during this time. Thus, you must carefully decide when you want to use your Undertaker spells. Note that the †˜stance’ spells only exists in the Lost Forms.”

“Right. That may or may not trouble me in the future, but I’ll manage.” Claudia put a hand to her chin and thought to herself on a few scenarios where using such a Lost Form could help, albeit, strategically.

“Unlike most, however, I am almost always in this stance. I am an Undertaker through and through now… having forgotten most of the old spells I used to wield.”

Claudia hummed. “Do you sometimes wish to go back and learn those spells over again? Or do you prefer being primarily an Undertaker?”

“I am more comfortable being an Undertaker, yes. In your case, however, perhaps being versatile will help.”


“I thought that myself… alright, so I really have to be careful then.”

“I would advise using the power of Undertaker as a last resort, especially after you master all of its spells.”

“Will do. I can’t imagine being stuck using only one spell, especially at my level.”

“Vodun will take some time to commit to memory, considering that you need to learn to write scripts of a new language. Did you know where this word †˜Vodun’ originated from?”

“Can’t say I have, really,” Claudia said.

“Have you heard of voodoo?

“Somewhat. I hear that they are similar to hexes, or something along those lines.”

“Vodun is the same word from the African side. The word means †˜spirit’ and it is a unique language for communicating with the spirits. Much of the spiritual words are lost to the users of the modern day. However, the Undertakers understand the ancients’ words even now.”

“Ah, I understand. So, modern users aside, do you know these words?”

“Yes, I am versed in the ancient dialect. To start, you will have to read the books.” Rafflesia took out some books from a bag the escort placed inside the room, and handed her a bunch of these textbooks for her to learn the language with.

Claudia nodded. “Bien noté.” I guess I will have to take a break from all those doujins tonight, then.

After the hour finally passed, Witness DKD finally beckoned the Magister inside the house. When he walked in, he still saw the Queen drinking beside his Master as he followed DKD to the upper floor.

The room had many people he didn’t know, and he didn’t see any of them enter the house when he was just outside of it. Perhaps he was too out of it, or they simply came here through the portals. Regardless, Aramus surveyed the room again despite his mood.

Witness DKD spoke first, “So this is our latest recruit. An apprentice Space Police who was placed under our care by Master Christopher Bradley, our Administrator had already accepted him and formalized his entry into our Organization.”

“I am Magic Magister Aramus Linfield. Although I am inexperienced, I will try my best to catch up to everyone. I look forward to working with you,” Aramus introduced himself, lowering his head in respect as the newest member of the group.

The members gave him a nod, more or less. These people all seemed eccentric from their looks.

“I am Witness DDD,” a masked man said, his body was completely locked in armory and his voice was rather intimidating.

“I am Witness DDK,” the Chinese man in white clothes said, his voice sounded faint. Aramus felt as though he could disappear into the air any time.

“Witness DDS here,” another girl as young as DKD said with a wave of her hand and a cheerful smile. Her hair was notably sky-blue tied in a twintail and she wore a sailor uniform, but it was bold and revealed her shoulders completely.

“I am called Witness DBD,” another faint voice of a man, but he was very handsome, yet melancholic. He wore a jet black suit and had long, silky black hair.

“Witness DND,” a tall woman who wore a pink masquerade mask said, her voice seductive enough to poison the Magister’s imaginations. Her attire was not modest at all to say the least.

“And I’m DTD,” the last one said, having a shade of yellow hair that seemed almost lemon color. One of her eye was red while the other was blue. Her attire was very revealing as she fancied shorts and what seemed like a coat barely covering her upper torso with nothing seemingly underneath.

“So, DKD, you’re saying he wants to join us, but are you sure he is eligible? He looks scrawny,” DTD commented.

Witness DKD smiled wryly, gesturing at Aramus.

Tilting his head at her, Aramus nonetheless complied and stepped forward.

“Let them know why I said you’re qualified earlier,” DKD whispered to him.

Aramus took a deep breath, feeling very much like he was preaching to the wrong crowd. “Graduate of the Royal Academy, former Enforcer of the Royal Council and currently Magic Magister. I was a teacher up until recently at the Eastern Academy but since then, have been battling Descendants left, right and center. My… claim to fame is wiping New York and South America off the face of the earth. Unintentionally at that…” Aramus added with a sigh.

“You’ll fit right in,” DDD said.

“That is a little… too much,” DBD remarked.

“Sounds normal to me.” DDS laughed, but it sounded like mockery.

DND shrugged. “Business as every day would have it.”

“Let’s not talk about us ruining the world more than we should be now,” DKD said. They all found themselves bursting out and laughing.

Aramus fidgeted a little as they treated ruining the earth like it was a normal thing but Christopher had mentioned it so it made sense. “Pardon me for asking but has everyone here… caused something similar?” Aramus asked, wanting very much to know more about them or more specifically, their crimes.

“We’re mostly blacklisted people,” DND answered.

“For good reason, I guess,” DDS added.

“Truth be told, you’re not so bad since you didn’t commit the supposed †˜crimes’ things intentionally,” DDD said in a very serious tone. “We’re the true savages here, even if we don’t look like it.”

“No, you do, DDD, you really are one. Mostly just you,” DBD corrected. DDD seemed to scoff but he wore a helm, thus no one could truly tell.

“I see. Thanks for answering my question.” Aramus said, stealing a quick glance at the one called DDD. His armor did indeed make him look savage and Aramus couldn’t help but wonder what the man looked like under all that.

“Have you heard of the project in America that involved taking the people outside the world?” DBD asked. “Not for visiting, but for occupying in the moon.”

“Or the incident where an entire forest was buried under the grounds?” DDS contributed.

“Or maybe the one incident the… Mage’s War was started for?” DKD also asked.

“We’re responsible for some of those horrible problems, definitely,” DDD said.

“Suddenly, I don’t feel so bad anymore.” Aramus chuckled. “Doesn’t change anything that’s happened but at least, I have seniors in the business.”

“Good, the last thing we want is for you to not feel too down; you wouldn’t be able to do things straight,” DDD stated.

“Bury your feelings, junior.” DKD took out some papers, and handed one of them to Aramus. “You’re officially a part of the group now.”

On the paper, Aramus looked for his name but he couldn’t find it anywhere. He found a new name, in fact: Witness DAD.

“Really? DAD?” Aramus said in dismay, pronouncing it with proper English. “I know I’ve got some foster kids but…”

“Well, we don’t say †˜DAD’ but instead we say †˜D-A-D.’ I guess it’s a good joke as any, though,” DKD replied with a grin.

“D-A-D.” Aramus said, somewhat lost for words. “Well, it doesn’t get any better than this.”

“You’re not exactly the †˜Witness’ yet, but we’ll get to that eventually.” DKD looked down at the script on her hand. “We’ll be having you as one of the member’s apprentice here. I suppose that makes you an apprentice of two person, including Master Christopher. Your senior will be teaching you about the work and show you the ropes until he or she thinks you are ready to work on your own and become a proper member. You will be taught the Astral Venture Supreme Spell for the sake of traveling for business. You will also be taught the Boundary Diminisher Supreme Spell in time. Any questions?”

“When can I start?” Aramus asked.

“When do you want to start?” DDD asked. “You’d have a bit of a turbulent schedule from what I see, going out with the senior and then returning to Master Christopher sounds like a chore.”

“Master Christopher and I are currently on assignment so yes, that might prove a bit difficult. Will there be a point of contact I can use without having to travel to the Void?”

“Actually, when I spoke to Master Christopher earlier, we decided that I’ll be paying a helping hand,” Witness DKD revealed. “How about you join me for it? It could be good experience.”

“I’m fine with it,” Chris said from just behind Aramus, and he found himself started. Since when did his Master enter the room at all?

“Master!” Aramus said, giving the MVA Director a look that said he didn’t enjoy being startled before sighing. There was no helping the man. “Kill two birds with one stone as the saying goes. I think it’s a good idea.”

“That said, DKD, this means he is your apprentice, riiiight?” DND asked.

“Uh, no, I…”

“That settles it then.” DBD nodded.

“Good luck!” DDS exclaimed.

“You two wearing suits would make a fine pair,” DDD too, agreed.

“Allow me to begin how wrong that sounds from my perspective—” DKD began, but was interrupted.

“I don’t want another lecture about the materials and the work that a suit requires, thank you,” DDD said, Aramus couldn’t see it but the smirk under the helm was apparent.

“Oh, fine. We’ll have it your way,” DKD conceded. “We’re working together officially it seems,” she said, shaking hands with Aramus. It wasn’t the best handshake, for either of them.

Aramus looked at DKD apologetically, feeling bad that he was the cause of her troubles. “I’ll try to make it up to you one way or another.”

“I don’t need any of that. You better make the experience count since I’m on your case now,” DKD said with a rare savage smile. “I suppose you can start going back and forth from your Master and our little headquarters here after you learn the Astral Venture spell—which lets you travel across the Realms.”

“The faster I learn that, the less trouble I’ll cause for everyone, I suppose.”

“So, what are the missions about this time?” DDS asked.

DKD placed some papers on the big table and everyone leaned forward to take a look.

“We have some cases here. One in Saudi Arabia that DAD was talking about, then there’s one in the USA about the distortions forming due excessive summons of Hell’s Fires.” Chris clapped his hand at the members apologetically as DKD read that part out.

“Sorry! The MVA would appreciate the help,” the Archmage said.

“Then there is the mysterious situation in England where random people are disappearing. The Queen herself requested this and it will be my next case after Saudi Arabia’s one. Oh, DND, the Witch wants you to keep going with the French Artist Murderer case.”

“Eeeeh? I wanted to stop working on that, it’s so boring.” Witness DND sighed.

“I’ll be dealing with America’s problem,” DDD claimed.

“I’ll be continuing on my case in Italy and aid the Witch. I think this is a really big problem,” DBD stated.

“What about you, DDS?” DKD asked.

“I’m actually done with my work, here’s the report,” DDS said. The girl handed a piece of paper which DKD read. DKD only seemed to give it a glance before giving a nod.

“I think you’ll like this one here…” DKD then handed DDS a paper. Aramus could only see the letter †˜NORTH’ in red text as if it was extremely dangerous.

“What about me?” DDK finally spoke again.

“I forgot about you,” DKD frankly stated.

“Not again.”

“Don’t blame me.”

“Well?”

“Your next assignment is… well, don’t be surprised, at China. None of us want to deal with that.”

“It’s fine.”

“Alright, with that decided… meeting adjourned!”

Everyone except Witness DDD and DKD were gone in an instant, entering portals and taking leave. DKD then showed Aramus one of the documents she held. It was a report on Saudi Arabia’s problems with the vampires.

The report dated back ten years and potentially even longer. Who knew how long the vampires had been operating before being discovered? Aramus shook his head, wondering why anyone had let this problem go on for as long as it did. “This is has been going on for far too long.”

“Well, the vampires are as elusive as ever,” Christopher commented. “The King has been dealing with them for so long, but they’re still persistent.”

“We’ll be going to Diriya, under the Ar Riyad Province,” DKD announced to the Archmage. “There we will pursue the vampires, according to the reports they have a trade route of sorts there. One that has abnormally less amount of vampires.”

“And turn them into paste. Intending to capture any †˜alive’ for information?” Aramus asked.

“We need to capture at least one of them alive. The rest may be fried on some electric conductor or something.”

“Sounds like a job perfectly suited for me. Hopefully, we’ll get some good intel on the rest of their operation.” Aramus turned to face Christopher. “It’ll be a good time to test everything out.”

“I have this feeling that you’re gonna get a toootally different lesson. It’ll be worth it if I think I know how she’ll handle things.”

“We never change, if that’s what you wanted to know.” DKD gave a wink to the Archmage. It looked similar to how Chris would give winks when joking around.

“Uh, okay. So long as the job gets done at the end of the day.” Aramus said, not knowing what to expect but from the way his Master spoke, it might be a good learning experience.

Back in the ground floor now, DKD was holding a glass of whiskey while Christopher was already busy drinking champagne. The bartender was as silent as ever and the quaint feeling of the place made Aramus feel more relaxed now.

Leaving the two to chat and catch up, Aramus made his way away from the counter to a sofa by the side, setting his drink down on the table. He had ordered the same drink as DKD upon her suggestion, not really having a chance to drink liquor often meant that he knew little about the finer beverages. Aramus swirled the liquid in his glass, ice clinking softly against each other before he took a small sip of the golden liquid. Unlike the cheap swill he had at taverns in England or the dry beers the Japanese preferred, this one was smooth yet smoky, going down his throat with nary a burn.

Laughter from the counter proved that at least someone was enjoying himself and a bitter smile unwittingly made itself known on Aramus’ face despite himself. It had been a rollercoaster ride the past few days, being tossed out from his homeland and Japan within a day. Heck, he hadn’t even been able to visit either before coming here. Even if he didn’t show it, it had worn down the Magister mentally.

Now that he was given the time to think and brood, all the thoughts flooded out unbidden. It was easy to go over some of the minor ones but others that concerned people like Elizabeth, Almond and Takeru—they were the ones that mattered. His teeth lightly touched against ice and Aramus noticed that he had unknowingly finished his whisky while he thought of all this, signalling to the bartender to prepare another with a raise of his glass.

Here again on another rollercoaster ride, and it somehow felt that he wasn’t securely strapped in. Granted, the blame was his to bear and it was precisely because of it that he was bitter. A strong sense of self-loathing lingered in him ever since the misstep. DKD said everyone in the Space Police was a little off-kilter, him included. Perhaps she may have been too right with that assessment.

Soon, a second round was delivered and he thanked the bartender for going out of his way, the gentleman taking a hint from the way Aramus had been slouched over.

It had been alright to think he had been doing fine in the Eastern Academy, but that had probably dulled his senses, made him complacent when he was required to take up arms once more. It had proven true with the many occasions others had to pull him out of the fire despite his best efforts. Could he really call that his best then if he required saving so often?

Aramus shook his head clear of these thoughts. The Space Police would do good for him, teach him to stand on his two legs again or face the consequences. Since they operated alone, there wouldn’t be a time when others would face danger trying to help him out. He could help the world from the shadows and no one would be wiser. Yet no matter how many times he told himself it was for the best, why did his own words feel so hollow?

“You sure know when to drop us a bomb, Master Christopher. Bringing that Magister here at a time like this. Were you calculating all this?” DKD asked.

Christopher laughed, shaking his head.

“I can’t be that good. I’m only good for the ladies, and the food.”


“You don’t change, do you?”


“Do I need to?”

“Of course not.”

“So, how are things going around here?”

“The usual. Just once did some newcomer rile up some Void Monster, but Bjornaer was nice enough to save him. He ranted all day about Princess Louise and even insulted her, I hear.”

“That’s one uncouth person. I would be too busy praising the Princess if I were there.”

“Oh, you sure would be. I myself think she is strange, however.

“Strange, you say? How so?”

“Nothing, you could just chalk it up to intuition. We former criminals can tell these sort of things.”

“I’ll take that as the next global warming warning news or something.”

“Now, now, if I said that the world is ending tomorrow, surely you wouldn’t believe me?”


“I would. You and your gang had the craziest world enders and messiahs. No jokes there, lass.”

“Surely you jest.”

DKD was already in the fifth drink, but she didn’t seem to waver so much from the intake. Aramus couldn’t even tell how much Chris had drank by now. Perhaps they were used to drinking. Whatever the case, the Magister gave a dull look at the door on the corner that opened and someone was walking up to the counter.

He looked down at her sparkling blonde hair and the majestic, deep rose-colored dress. Something was very familiar about it. The crown she wore was also something he knew, but he couldn’t quite string it all together in his mind.

The Royal Queen of Britain sat down beside his Master, and by this time it finally dawned to him after he remembered what his Master was telling him about †˜his Queen’ occasionally visiting this Realm.

Aramus made a sour face, making to move away. He couldn’t bear to let the Queen see him in this state, not after what had happened. She had vouched for him at the Crystal Summit and it was her faith in him that helped the Magister cope but right now, this was a side of him that he didn’t want her to see. Hopefully, the bartender wouldn’t mind if he took the glass outside, maybe there might even be a breeze in the Void. It was strange that way. Those at the counter could catch up on things whilst Aramus made himself scarce, he had bothered enough people already.

The Queen only gave Aramus a glance from the corner of her eye as he left.

“Will he be fine like that?” DKD inquired. “Unlike most of our members, he is feeling very guilty about this.”

“I’m sure that will prompt him to work harder,” Chris said. “Give him time. The man needs it.”

“I feel as though I am responsible for all of this somehow,” the Queen stated, a melancholic smile as she was holding a glass of a strong alcohol. “I will have to make it up to him one day.”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t agree with that, Your Majesty.” Chris finished another glass of his drink. “You both love to blame yourselves for everything.”

“Mister Christopher.”

“Yes?”

“Please look after him.”

“You know I will, Your Majesty.”

Inside the room, Aramus looked around and found one big table and a set of chairs, on the wall was a large green board with a lot of writing from most likely a chalk stick. He couldn’t make the heads or tails of it, but it simply seemed long and incomprehensible. There was a desk on the very left and someone turned from the chair—which was surprisingly not wooden, but made with steel that could help one turn with ease—and looked up.

“Welcome, what brings you to the Space Police?” a young girl—just about the age of Aozora Linfield or Elizabeth Cavendish Bentinck—said. Her hair was silver, similar to Aramus’, but of a more darker shade. She seemed to wear earrings consisting of dices, and even tied some of her long flowing hair with accessories consisting of dices, the same was for the bow tie across her neck too. It was strange. Her golden eyes were piercing to say the least.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Magic Magister Aramus Linfield, here with my Master Christopher. I think I’m the newest recruit here,” Aramus said with a smile, unsure of how to answer. Space Police had been mentioned before but Christopher had never really elaborated much on it.

“He sorta had his name changed, was Valmark instead of Linfield…” Christopher made a gesture implying that it was a long story.

“Ah, Master Christopher, I almost missed you,” the girl said, getting off the chair, her tone was very calm and casual. “I have not heard of a new recruit with a long story. Anyway, I am called the Witness DKD. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Aramus noted her shiny swallowtail tuxedo with golden shawl lapels, and a matching golden skirt.

Who was this person?!

The suit was raising his jealousy levels to the maximum.

“Pleasure is all mine, Witness DKD.” Aramus found the name a little strange, perhaps a codename of sorts? “I haven’t actually been told much either,” he muttered, in between looking at Christopher and admiring Witness’s suit.

Christopher shrugged at Aramus’ gaze.

“I can tell you why, it’s against their rules for me to blabber. Anyway, DKD, I promised Aramus here—my disciple—and the Archmages in the Crystal Summit to let him pay for his uhh… crimes? By working here.”

“Work here, you say? You of all people know what kind of a place this is, Master Christopher.” The girl raised her brows.

“C’mon, remember the times we had those good Indian food?” Christopher plead to DKD. “Think of all the good times I gave you those treats. Please help a man out, eh?”

“Alright, alright,” the girl said, conceding, trying to stop Christopher from requesting desperately like this. It looked odd to her that an adult was begging a young girl to help. “Take a seat,” she told Aramus.

“I’ll be going off to drink, then!” Chris immediately said, becoming jolly again from DKD’s acceptance before walking out of the room.

Aramus watched his Master go before complying with DKD’s request. He felt like a lamb left out to be slaughtered.

“So you want to join the Space Police… how much did the Master say?” DKD leaned against her desk and crossed her legs.

“He only mentioned that the Space Police consisted of criminals. I haven’t heard much else of what the organization actually does besides that,” Aramus replied.

“Well, what did you do? What are you going to atone for?” she fetched a paper before handing it to Aramus.

It was a recruitment form of sorts and he’d have to fill it out apparently. When the Magister accepted the form, she handed him a golden plated pen from her suit’s breast pocket.

“I failed in my duty. Vital information was not passed on but worse than that, I—” Aramus took the pen and wrote as he spoke but wavered at this point. Calming himself, he continued writing. “New York is gone because of me. Nothing I do will ever be enough to atone for that act but I must try.”

“Oh, so you were partially involved with the destruction of South America as well I am guessing?”

Aramus’s slumped shoulders were all the answer DKD needed.

“And what of your skills? I am aware that Master Christopher took you up, but perhaps you had past achievements? Ranks?”

“Graduated from Royal Academy and was a former Enforcer of the Royal Council. I was granted the title of Magic Magister and assigned to the Eastern Academy after that. More recently, I’ve been fighting Descendants left and right and… Asteria, a denizen of the Infernal Realm.”

“I see, so you have half the achievements required,” DKD said, sounding a little disappointed. “We cannot accept you as a full-fledged member, unfortunately. Tick the apprentice bubble when you see it in the form.”

“Alright. May I ask what are the requirements for full membership?” Aramus ticked the bubble when it appeared.

“A good amount of sin and the skills required to be on par with a Duke or a Duchess.”

“Sin…” Aramus mumbled, the only thing coming to mind was his penchant for pigging out. “I tend to lose myself when eating but that aside, my skills come short when compared to Dukes and Duchesses. There is yet much I have to learn.”

“You got people killed. A lot of them, apparently, one way or the other. Good enough for us.”

“Committing mass homicide without intending to do so… No two ways around it. Millions died due to one stupid mistake, it had better be good enough,” Aramus said with a pained expression.

“I hope you don’t mind me saying, but you really need a better suit, my good junior. Even if I think a woman needs one from time to time, it’s not quite excusable for a man—who should be wearing them more than the likes of me—to have one so badly treated a suit as this one here.”

Aramus looked appalled at her statement, looking at DKD in horror. Yes, he knew that he looked bad in his suit. All too well in fact but to have a woman point that out to him reminded the Magister of his inability to buy anything but the most basic of clothing. It is and always has been a sore point for the Magic Magister.

“I… I can’t afford it. It’s embarrassing but even with the Magister title, I barely earn enough to get by.”

“A pity. Tell you what, if we make you my apprentice Space Police after the meeting, I might just gift you one,” DKD stated, looking up to Aramus’ silver hair. “I feel like we’ll get along.”


“That would be great,” Aramus admitted, silently feeling ashamed that he couldn’t even take care of himself. “I just hope to join the Space Police one way or another. It would help if someone was there to show me the ropes. Thank you, DKD.”

“We always pick someone to show things to a newcomer, no worries. We have to wait for the meeting for you to be officially granted a senior who’d help you, however.”

“Ah, I understand. Until then, is there anything for me to do? Stuff I can help with or what not?” Aramus inquired.

“If anything comes up I suppose I could take you. Tell me, what type of a sense of justice do you have? We have to ask a potential member every time because people have differing views and opinions.”

“My sense of justice? I’ve never really thought much on the subject to be honest. I run into trouble often enough to not have to think about it actually… If it’s something that harms the greater whole then I’m all for subjugating it, but there should definitely be ways to go about it than just force. Virgo would be a good example. However, there are two things I cannot stand. One would be deliberately harming innocents. The other would be an act of aggression against Her Majesty, my Liege. As a Magister, it is a given with regard to my students and the Crown.”

“I see. You are so loyal.” DKD shrugged. “You feel that there are ways to go about Virgo other than force, though?”

“Her Majesty has saved my life on more than one occasion,” Aramus replied with the same shrug but frowned regarding Virgo. “There might not be. It is more difficult to restrain rather than kill someone of her power. Even without that, her threat to life is enough for me to not consider keeping her alive.”

“Virgo is kind of whimsical, after all. Once she decides to break some mountains, she just will.”

“Of course, there will be repercussions to that. You can’t just expect to get away scot free when you do as you like. If it was someone lesser, I think we might have more options.”

“The Space Police was trying to stop her before the operation by Queen Victoria began. Alas, we didn’t wanted to risk our already small club to be completely diminished. One of her Commandment is problematic for us, as it causes disturbances in the flow of mana in the nature.”

“Ah… Yeah, that was nasty. It cancelled a number of our spells in the fight.”

“Oh yes it does. That thing breaks connections to a specified Realm. What a nasty thing indeed.”

“There’s one more called Chaos Utopia, that thing is almost if not potentially worse. Basically, nothing will happen as it stops anything that might damage her. She can stop anything, no matter how absurd that sounds.”

“And I am guessing you forgot to deliver that essential information to your Queen?”


Another sigh was the only answer she got before Aramus opened his mouth again.

“That was just one of them. I’m an idiot.”

“Well, are you sure about joining us? Everyone have their own style of getting things done, but there are some rules and etiquettes. As a proper member you’d be tasked with solving the assigned cases all by yourself when you’re a full-fledged member.”

“That is fine with me. I’m a magnet for trouble so it’s probably the best for everyone if I did work alone.”

“We all are like that over here. You should’ve seen me when I was having a strawberry shortcake and the whole neighborhood ended up getting a government’s emergency warning.”

“S-Strawberry shortcake,” Aramus muttered, momentarily wondering how DKD could have managed to procure one in the Void before focusing. “What was the warning for?”

“Bomb of a terrorist or something. It was a mundane matter in Italy. I still went and kicked some criminal butts that day. Indirectly, of course,” she said with a playful smirk.

Aramus couldn’t resist chuckling to himself, imagining her running around in that suit eating shortcake and blasting baddies. It was surreal.

“I liked Italy, I wonder if I’ll be able to go back sometime.”

“It’s my good old homeland, even if I am not Italian. They have good food, but perhaps they’re not too good on the sweets.”

“Italians? Not good with sweets? Are you referring to pastry or actual candy?” Aramus said as he once again gave DKD an appalled look.

“Well, after I tried the sweets of Japan…”

“Japan is special. They’ve got this… way of making things that is so unique,” Aramus said as he made weird gestures and shapes with his hands. “Like this kind of gummy or that kind of traditional sweet. I admit that our Western confectionaries are hard pressed to keep up but it could be due to their technology.”

“All hail technology then. I would happily ignore the ancients in preference to the new overlords of sweets. Damn the world—I feel like visiting again.”

“With all their tech though, Japan’s cakes aren’t as good as making it the old way. There’s a special flavor when made by hand rather than machine.”

“I do not agree with this statement. Have you seen the patissiers making cakes with the latest devices? They are out of the world. Seeing as you didn’t from the answer, I believe you have a lot to learn.”

“It comes to the point whether it’s truly the man or the machine making the cake. The world is vast, there is always something to learn. I have yet to taste the flavors of many other countries, even the one we’re currently residing in.”

“At the end of the day the man is still doing all the work, even if they use machine to do it the easier way. Skills would still matter. Better technology only augments the effects. Thus, I find that I should simply judge based on tastes rather than methods. Not everyone wants to go to the kitchen for the cake, do they?”

“Well, if you only want to eat then I guess that is fine too. I’ll admit I’m an old-fashioned person, given the chance I’d probably bake by hand for those that I love. It’s that same love, the one that brings a smile to a person’s face that makes it so fulfilling.

“I am sure chefs are doing their job as long as you like what you eat, right?”

“Precisely the point. It’s just that in recent years, most of it has become mechanized. Not many chefs are able to demonstrate individual flair anymore.”

DKD shrugged. “Anyway, while we wait for the other members to pop by, shall we talk a bit more about your profession-to-be? For starters… I think we told you some of the basic parts. If you have questions, now is the time to ask them.”

“Of course. You mentioned there are rules and regulations to follow, are there sanctions on anything we can do or not do in the †˜pursuit of justice’ so to speak?”

“Yes, there are many restrictions that you’d have to keep in mind, actually,” DKD said, sitting down back on her chair. “The rules state that you cannot take any actions unless the Space Time Laws are broken. This is the first big rule you must follow. There are many actions that may break this law, and I will show you that list after some time. We get requests to track down criminals from time to time by the Royal Council, if this happens, we assign the case to a member and they are free to use any means to capture, or kill the criminal—based on the given request. Note that as the Space Police, our priorities are to protect the world from distortions and side-effects that the use of magic and other abnormal forces brings.”

“It’s a bit different from regular law enforcement then… most times, we’re more concerned with danger to lives. Still, if anyone is willing to break those Space Time Laws, they have to be prepared to get screwed one way or another.”

“We have enough people for the general law enforcement. It is a shame that we still receive requests to capture †˜dangerous’ criminals, albeit we cannot turn them down as we require the funds.”

“Does the Space Police not have any supporters amongst the countries?”

“No, we are on our own, and our Founder Calamity Witch is usually supplying us… some funds.”

“I see. That in itself is good since the organization is not affiliated with any particular nation. The Calamity Witch is the founder?”

“Yes, Calamity Witch has made it for the sake of nature… and to find an excuse to say that she does not slack—when she still does.”

“Just like my Master then, maybe he runs the MVA for that same reason and makes Nicholas do all the work. Who knows.”

“That is the rumor I believe everyone knows.”

“Yeah. How long more until the meeting? Do I wait here till then or am I allowed downstairs?”

“Feel free to drink downstairs. I was, however, hoping to show some documents that describes the laws.”

“That takes precedence, the drink can wait,” Aramus said with a smile.

“I was hoping that you would say that.” DKD handed Aramus some papers from the desk. “Give them a read.”

Taking the sheet, Aramus ran over the major points and committed them to memory. Any lapses here would also be very grave. There were many important points to note, some of them even hinting at things that were way beyond his control.

The Space Time Act Laws basically said that Aramus had to be very discreet with his job. He couldn’t let anyone know that he is a member of the Space Police unless an emergency would take place when people require his instructions or warnings. Usually, Space Police members would only allowed to take official actions when spatial issues would be noted, normally to do with the Void Realm, or the other Realms, aside from their given missions. Personal life and profession life matters were asked to be kept separate to the members.

Next was the Boundary Space Act. The rules here stated that no one was allowed to create a Boundary on their own without official approval of the Royal Council and the Space Police Organizations. In the human world, only the Royal Council would receive the request to create a Boundary—the mini-Realms like the one that kept the Eastern Magic Academy within. The Council would forward the documents and other related information about the applicant to the Space Police.

Both Organizations would carefully make the decision after reviewing the documents. If either one Organization would deny, the Boundary’s creation would be rejected. Apparently, it didn’t seemed like the applicant would be aware of the Space Police checking for approval, unless privy to the matter in great detail. Normally, both Organizations would discuss it, but ultimately it seemed like the weight of the Space Police Organization’s words would be greater than that of the Council according to the boasts in the papers the Magister held.

If a Space Police member detects an illegal Boundary, their job would be to warn the residents before destroying it, especially if said residents were deemed innocent. Otherwise, the police member may need to terminate the protesters. The papers seemed to mention that a full-fledged member would be taught how to break a Boundary.

Lastly, there was the Void Space Act. Those without the full membership to the Space Police Organization were basically not allowed to use the Astral Venture spell to frequently travel across the world. Albeit the members would be taught to use it apparently. The members would have the approval to travel for work-related purposes usually. Traveling for convenience was allowed but the papers made a note to not make it frequent, otherwise some paperwork punishments would be in order.

Aramus assumed that it would be a few hundreds of papers if anything. Little did he know that there would be mountains and mountains of work to cover.

Moving on, the laws described that some “special sponsors” who were allowed to travel with the Astral Venture spell across the world as exceptions. Others were allowed to use the spells but there was a catch, if the creators of the portals were overusing it, the Space Police would be required to take action and execute them. How the Organization would identity these overusage was unknown to him. The paper seemed to describe that the easiest methods to creating portals with spells were the worst, while the spiritually-made portals appeared to be safest to utilize.

The reason to terminate people for these frequent uses was apparently noted to be distortions which comes from most magical portals as a side-effect, something that the Space Police were supposed to keep to a minimum in the human world, as they’d create problems to the nature of the world.

“So, what do you think?”

“Easy enough to understand. Adhering to it might be a bit more difficult, given the nature of our job and targets,” Aramus said, lowering the stack of papers once he was done reading.

“Yes. In reality, having a bad sense of justice is better than having a sound one for this job.”

“We’re all warped enough for this, huh?” Aramus said sardonically. “At least we’re still doing good.”

“As a bonus, we do provide these occasionally,” DKD took out a potion bottle from the desk. “You would never find this anywhere else. Except maybe some folks in High Places.” She handed it to Aramus.

A bottle for taking down the Warping in a person to avoid the Twilight phase. What a gift of the Lord indeed.

“That is… an extremely valuable item,” Aramus said, covering his mouth with a hand. “Are all agents provided with one?”

“See that little disc on the floor over there?” DKD said, pointing over to something that appeared akin to a sci-fi portal from the fictitious works of Japan. “If you stand on it, it shall measure your Warped level. If it is too high then we lease you a potion. They are very valuable so we do not give them out often.”

Aramus stood over it as she instructed, the little portal fluctuating around him as it worked. He hoped it wouldn’t be too high but there was that one time in the Infernal Realm...

On the counter beside him, a number popped up. Aramus peered with fear, it said eight.

“Well, aren’t you adventurous?”

“It can be fixed right…?” Aramus looked at DKD, his eyes searching for comfort.

“Let’s see now… they say that the truly dangerous stages are the fourth or fifth. You are staring at the third stage in the face I believe.”

“Cutting it close then…” Aramus said, pulling on his collar to loosen it a tad. “Doesn’t staying here too long corrupt as well?”

“Not inside this house.” DKD then pointed at the potion. “Feel free to use it.”

“Phew… So this is the only safe zone in the Void I take it?” Aramus said as he popped the potion open and drank it, the concoction going down his throat. It had a strange artificial flavor, probably the result of how it was made or rather, with what it was made of. “Thank you.”

“Yes, you should not traverse in the uncharted territory of the Void Realm. The Void Monsters might make a meal of you.”

“Master Christopher mentioned those. Said that it is possible to test one's strength against those creatures. Though, there was a chance you’d end up… dead.”

“Well, at your level I wouldn’t recommend it just yet. By the way, your magic should feel very weak and drawing mana should feel like very much a chore for the duration of a day due to this potion as a side-effect. It’s how it works to reduce the Warping levels.”

Aramus silently thanked Christopher for doing the Ancient Dragon Ritual before he drank it. No doubt it would’ve been nigh impossible with those aftereffects.

“I’ll bear that in mind. In time it should be alright, but I don’t think disturbing them is… wise. I mean no one likes being disturbed in the middle of their nap.”

“Yes. I personally like to respect their space and be on my way. I have once made the mistake of fighting one though. I was such a naive girl.”

“In our line of work, I believe there are plenty of other poor saps to test our new toys on. How did it go with the monster though?”

“My spells were not working at all with that damn thing. Only my sword was a thing that worked. It was a frustrating battle. That thing was good at blocking my exits too.”

“Well, you’re here now so I guess it turned out alright in the end?” Aramus noted what she said, it might come in handy for fighting in the Void if it came down to it.

“I tore through the mouth of that overgrown worm so I found a chance to escape.”

Aramus cringed, not expecting the bloodthirsty answer.

“One hell of an ending.”

There was a noise and DKD took out what seemed like a laptop. “Oh, the meeting is planned to start in an hour.”

“Alright. Is there anything for me to do until then?”

“Some things could be been done, but we can’t, not until you are formally accepted anyway. Want to go for a drink?”

“Sure. Any recommendations for what’s good in the Void?” Aramus laughed as he asked.

“I particularly enjoy whiskey here. They have all kinds of drinks, fruity ones, wine, cider, beer, tequila, vodka, and whatnot. They are trying to get the Japanese labels here but with how the world is it is rather hard and may need smuggling… something no one wants to try.”

“I’ll see what tickles my fancy then. Shall we, Witness DKD?” Aramus said, opening the door leading downstairs for her.

“Just don’t try moonshine or everclear like Queen Victoria. That would put you off commission for a while,” DKD said, passing by the door.

In the Void Realm, everything was indeed darkness itself. Aramus could hardly survey at first, but he finally noted a blue mysterious hue coming from somewhere. He couldn’t identify the source of the light but it was there, just barely illuminating the Realm. The portal closed behind him and Christopher seemed to be taking big breaths.

“Feels like I just returned home after a long time.”

“Home? Master, do you actively travel like this?” Aramus asked.

“Yeah, I used to. There are some stupid laws now but man those were the good days.” Chris took in the air of the Realm again, simply taking in the atmosphere in bliss. “It’s so unfortunate that you’ll have to deal with those rules from the get-go.”

“Quite alright. If there’s nothing here that’s suffocating like Japan was, I’ll manage. Those Japanese had endless rules and regulations,” Aramus said, looking around the Void.

“Yeah, it’s not that free here either… even if it looks like it is. This here is a cool place and you can come to test your mettle in the future one day. Albeit you might get killed and no one would ever see your corpse again. All fun, though.”


Aramus cringed but remembered what his Master had said about the Dragon inside and its growth. “Maybe… see how far we can push the bar with the Lost Form and that new Relic.”

“Now, now, that could be a little too early. Anyway, w’re here on an important business. Let’s go.”

Chris led the way as Aramus followed. The floor was invisible with the exception of showing a blue crystal-like passage here and there. Sometimes he’d notice some shadows that the Archmage would ignore and avoid on their passage. They spent some hours walking like this.







“Say, you like to drink, right?” the Magister’s Master asked.

“I prefer to eat but I wouldn’t turn away liquor. Some food tastes better with it too,” Aramus answered.

“Then I think you’ll like it.”

They came up to a signpost, and it pointed at two directions. One faced left and the other faced right. The one on the left seemed to simply say “the bar” while the other was unreadable as far as the Magister could see.

“We’re going drinking now?” Aramus said, confused by this turn of events.

“Drinking comes later,” Chris said as he walked down the left path. Aramus hurried after as he knew not what was going on, better to let his Master do the talking.

They soon reached a house. Aramus looked up and down, it was literally a house floating in the middle of nowhere, which made no sense. Not that magic ever truly made sense, but this was quite the bizarre spectacle as he witnessed the wooden two-storey house where his Master was going to.

“The Void has all kinds of weird things eh…”

Inside, there was a very old-fashioned image that Aramus had certainly missed from his days in London. Old wooden walls, chairs, tables, and more importantly, the expected bar on the very right with a silent bartender wiping a glass clean.

“Feels just like home, I swear it,” his Master said.

“Aye, you and me both Master. I wonder what they have?” Aramus said as he tried to look behind the bartender at the spirits on display.

“They have almost everything. Your Queen drinks some of the strongest stuff here sometimes. A scary sight.”

“Her Majesty comes here!?” Aramus said, inadvertently raising his voice.

“In her off times she sneaks into this place. I met her on several occasions here, trust me. Hell, even her daughter raids the place—more often than her own mother. The Void quite literally flows through that young Princess Louise.”

“Runs in the blood?” Never would have thought that they would visit a bar in the Void of all places to unwind, especially Royal Princess Louise. Still, with positions such as theirs, one needed time alone.

“Well, just the two of them. I haven’t heard of the other Royal members coming here. Louise is the user of the Lost Form that is, unsurprisingly, called the Void. You can kind of think this Realm as the home ground of that Lost Form, I guess.”


“Ah, so that’s what she was using in the conflict against Virgo. I see,” Aramus said, placing his right fist in the cup of his left palm.

“If you get lucky, you might just see the Bjornaer magus here. He is the user of the famous Lost Form Heartbeast. He is, unfortunately, wanted officially in the Magic World, but no one cares about those things here.”

“Now these Lost Forms are crawling out from the woodwork… Basically, what happens in the Void stays in the Void?”

“This was an escape from the world for the criminals at first. The Bjornaers were exiled long ago for their magic going out of control. Currently, the Bjornaer I spoke of is the final survivor, but his ancestors actions still haunts him. He is strong, but no one can escape from the past forever.”

“Curse of the forefathers… does he ever leave this place?”

“Nope. As a result he doesn’t age either. He is looking for something here, but I don’t know what… the guy has been here over a hundred years now.”

“Damn. I hope he finds it sometime soon, but the Void feels… endless. One man can only do so much.”

“It’s a large place and no one really knows its limits, either.”

Chris was walking up to a staircase on the corner of the house, signalling for Aramus to come with him with a gesture.

Aramus quickly followed, climbing the staircase. Christopher simply opened a door and gestured for Aramus to go in first. The Magister tilted his head in confusion but followed before the Archmage entered and closed the door behind them.

After eight hours were spent and the ritual was finished, Aramus was almost literally cooked. His body was aching and steam was oozing out of him. Having finally contained the Dragon in him, he could feel a small orb just behind his bellybutton. It was quite the hassle that surprisingly involved his life as he fought tooth and nail with the Dragon that was first forming inside him. Relieved that it was finally over, he fell down to the floor, not caring about the magic circle under him anymore.

Christopher, on the other hand, was still in his meditation form like a statue, simply staring down at the exhausted Magister.

“It seems like it’ll take some time for the Dragon inside you to come alive,” the Archmage said. “You probably will not hear from it any time soon.”

“S-So… the thing stays dormant? Phew… that was… one hell of a ritual… Give me… some time to catch my breath.”

Aramus panted as the effects of the exhausting ritual hit him in full force. It was a fascinating experience to say the least. He had never attempted to merge three different Forms of mana with raw mana into a mass of roiling energy before.

“Stays dormant? Yes. Its growth? You’ll have to figure something out,” Chris answered.

“Alright. I suppose I’ll try feeding it mana daily or something,” Aramus decided, wiping away some of the sweat. His sleeve came away drenched and there was nary a part of him that stick to his body.

“No, don’t do anything. Let the Dragon inform you what it wants in due time.”

“Wait, what? It just wakes up on its own?”

“Yep. You gave her enough mana to last for a month at least. If the Dragon don’t try to communicate by then… I guess that’s a big failure.”

“Huh? Her? Wait, wait, wait, how do you even know…?” Aramus said, pulling himself up to look at Christopher. “If it doesn’t, will we be able to try again?”

“Hm? Dunno, just taking a wild guess. It’s always nice to have a cute little daughter that might tear you to pieces, right?” Christopher joked and thought hard for a moment. “Maybe? It took me a lot of trouble to find that seed.”


“Hope for the best then. I don’t think we have the luxury of going to look for another seed with the assignment given to us. Wait, will I be able to learn the Ancient Dragon’s Fist now?”

“Yes, as long as the Dragon is in you… in fact, nothing will probably happen if you don’t start working on that technique.”

“So it could act as a stimulant for it to wake up then? I think I might have to write all these down, form up a research paper for it. How the techniques directly affect the growth of the Dragon...”

“Yeah, channeling mana and the frictions are good stimulants for it. Not exactly the food it’ll need, but it might cause a reaction. I got a reaction from mine in five days.”

“Meditation… did you actually fight during that time period? I’m not sure if conflict with the vampires is the first thing I want it to see as it wakes…” Aramus said with a frown.

“I was fighting vampires then too. My dragon loves to see them going down for a reason.”

“Blimey. My dragon is going to grow up be violent.” Aramus shook his head as he thought about the implications considering it was going inside him after all.

“My old master monk warned that dragons are best violent than kind. Kindness never gets work done, ever.”

“That is… true. I don’t think I’d want a pacifistic dragon either. What would be the point of having a dragon then?”

“Indeed. The point is to have a battle partner, you want it to grow watching battles, however gory they are. Can’t let yourself slide into a kind arse father, that will make the entire point moot. Now…” Chris got up and hoisted a box over to Aramus and opened it. “These are yours to keep.” Inside the box were a pair of gauntlets that seemed to be particularly hard around the knuckles.

Aramus received the box, looking at the silver gauntlets with appreciation. To think that Christopher had these already prepared, he must’ve taken the disciple thing very seriously despite his demeanour.

“These are beautiful, thank you Master. I will put them to good use.”

“You better, lad. These things costed a—anyway, these are gonna be your lifelong punching buddies,” Chris showed his fists and a pair of shinier silver gauntlets materialized. Relic weapons with star symbols on the back of the gauntlets. “Just like mine.”

“Wow, these last for that long?” Aramus admired both his and his master's pair of gauntlets, imagining how much blood would be shed between the two. “On that topic, it’s going to be difficult using the gauntlets effectively considering I already have these...”

Aramus called upon the two Relic weapons bound to him, Paimon’s Fan coming in a burst of wind and the jet black sword Achtstraum hovering silently. He grasped both, showing them to his Master.

“I’m sure you recognize these.”

“I do?”

Aramus blinked, lifting the Fan. “Just thought you would have heard of them. This one is Paimon’s Fan, I… stole it as a child without knowing any better, but the recent trip to the Infernal Realm was to redeem myself for that. King Solomon tasked me with retrieving another Relic as penance. Turns out Paimon herself resided within it, it wasn’t just a name.”

“Relics aren’t always popular, son. Unlike Gungnir or something, then you hear about them. I guess I remember you explaining about the task a bit, so that’s what it was. My pair of gauntlets was also from King Solomon. I had to hit up the Magical Forests for my trial.” Christopher scratched his hair. “Some relics happen to have a conscious spirit, while others are dormant spirits. King Solomon created the relics by entrapping spirits into the weapons, compared to how that black sword of yours was crafted, this was a more straightforward method. Hence you got to know Paimon.”

“It just seemed to me that everyone at this level had a Relic or another, I apologize for assuming. Yeah, Asteria was none too happy that I made off with her sword…” Thinking back, the Magister felt she had paid him back with interest with her literal earth-shattering punch. “Paimon has been protecting me since I became a mage and with King Solomon’s approval, she is now formally my partner.”

“I know the Archmages wield relics, as well as the Descendants. Dunno about the rest. Relics are rare and there are only a few like King Solomon or King Hades that may lend some out.”

“King Hades offered me some of Thor’s items too… but anyway, this black sword belongs to my mother. Achtstraum, her one and only inheritance to me.” Aramus gave it a couple of swings, still loving the way it cut through the air so easily. “The edge on it is second to none. Just that using all these at the same time is going to be another matter entirely.”

“That… really does sound crazy.” Christopher thumbed the black sword for a second and it cut his skin. “This sword is too sharp for its own good. I wonder where she even got it from. Pretty sweet for an inheritance if you ask me, son.”

“I’ll get her back… I will never forget so long as I wield this sword as her son,” Aramus said before trying to take his mind off things by dual wielding the relics. It was messy.

“Wielding a fan and a sword and a pair of gauntlets… no matter how I look at it you can’t use the Lost Form with those, so maybe you’ll have to desummon them and use the ancient art if you need it.”

“Ugh… This is going to be harder than I thought,” Aramus said. “This is a clash of styles all around. Does the Lost Form require the use of both fists or will one suffice?”

“You could try with one hand, but I’m not sure if it will work.”

“Do you have any other suggestions? It’d be a waste to have two Relics and not use them. Perhaps there’s a way to incorporate them into the Lost Form, channel the heat through the Relic…?”

“Pretty sure your relics will tell you to disown them if you do that. Maaaaaybe fuse them both? So, let’s say your fan-sword in one hand and fists in another? Sounds like a crazy idea, though. Get a new limb eh?”

Aramus flinched slightly at hearing the word “disown,” enough to make him abandon the thought. “Fan-sword and fists sounds… reasonable. Both gauntlets on but only channel through one, might be something worth experimenting. But wait, how does one go about fusing Relics? I thought each one was a unique existence?”

“It’s a bit of an experimental thing across the Magic World, but apparently, you can fuse relics. Chances are it works or it doesn’t. You never know what’s the result of doing so but one thing for sure, more power.”

“Sounds interesting. So considering Paimon’s Fan hosts her Spirit, maybe it’d just involve her being transferred? Won’t know till we try anyway.”

“I hear that’s not exactly how it goes, so probably not. Paimon could change based on whatever that’s inside Achtstraum.”

“I suppose. Maybe if I can find someone able to do the fusion then we could attempt it and see the results. After that, it’s practising it together with the Lost Form if the fusion goes well.”

“If you need someone to try the fusion ritual, you got one of those mad men right here, son,” Christopher said with a big smile.

“Is there anything you can’t do!?” Aramus said as he threw his hands up in the air before looking at the two Relics. “I just hope it goes well, losing them both would be devastating.”

“It’s just another magic circle. Nothing too great.” Chris was already busy drawing a circle on the floor next to the one they performed the Dragon’s ritual earlier. “We need to call the clean-up service after this, huh?”

”The King won’t be too happy if we ruin much more of his floor.” Aramus chuckled before going to aid his Master.

“Okay, there.” Christopher looked down at a magic circle drawn by himself that depicted some strange letters Aramus wasn’t familiar with. “Burn this thing into your mind. On that note, burn that other circle into your mind too.”

“Understood.” Aramus said, memorizing the ritual circles. Both would come in handy in the future. They immediately registered in his mind, something he noted seemed to be happening extremely often ever since that bout of Twilight.

“Because we have the annoying tradition of having to get an apprentice to teach the Lost Form to, and pass it on. So you’d need it for your future disciple.”

“Ah, something like that is definitely one of the East’s traditions. They have that in Japan as well.”

“And for every Lost Forms too. Can’t a man die in peace lazily?”

“Hahaha, the longer you live, the more Indian food you can eat,” Aramus added with a snicker. “I think I’d want to make use of my life as long as I have it, regardless of how much trouble it is.”

“Alright, alright. Jokes aside, place the two relics atop this magic circle. It’s time to do this.” Chris pointed at the circle he drew impatiently.

Aramus did as his Master instructed, stepping back once he had placed them beside each other. He was worried now that he could look down at them properly. What if the ritual turned out badly? He could gain a powerful fused relic but at the same time, have a chance of losing both. The pair basically represented his sense of self, a memento of his mother in the form of Achtstraum, the familial bond. Paimon’s Fan, the embodiment of his duty as an arm of the Crown. All he could do now was trust Christopher and it set him on edge. Not being able to do anything was one of the worst feelings a person could feel.

“Here goes nothing.” Christopher channeled some mana into the magic circle and it lit up.

The relics flew up into the air and they were flowing side by side. Aramus saw some electric-like pulsing from Paimon’s Fan and a dark aura escape the sword. These auras minged, and there was an explosion with a resounding noise and smoke before they knew it.

The two were coughing and Chris hurriedly told Aramus to open the windows.

Aramus rushed there as he coughed, pushing open the windows with a bang. Using Aurum, he began to funnel the smoke out of the room so that the both of them could breath.

“What… happened to them?” the Magister asked, his fear rising.

Chris looked down and started laughing.

“You lucky dog, we did it!”

Aramus also looked down. He found an unfamiliar sword on the floor.

Achtstraum and Paimon’s Fan were successfully fused.

Aramus crouched down, running a hand over his new Relic.

The sword was still black, but one side of it was adorned with what seemed like feathers, just like his old fan, but they were smaller, and of a darker shade. The guard of the sword was completely unlike any sword he ever saw. He saw one round hole—a mouthpiece—that reminded him of a flute. Looking up to the blade, there were small dot-like holes similarly all the way to the tip on the other side of the steel not covered by feathers—which meant that he could play the music from the entire sword. How he’d play and swing was another mystery of its own. The best aspects of both had been combined lending elements of each to its aesthetics.

The Magic Magister gave it a swing thoughtlessly, and the bed was cut in two. Chris just looked at the bisected bed and looked back to Aramus, expecting him to make an excuse at least.

“It’s beautiful.”

“It’s horrible! Can’t a man sleep in peace now?”

“You can take my bed. I’ll find some hay,” Aramus said giddily. “Thank you Master.”

“No, dude. We’re just gonna tell the many servant’s of His Majesty to prepare another bed while… we go out. This room still stinks.”

“That sounds like an even better idea. Lead the way, Master!”

“You go call up a servant and tell them what to do first. We don’t want to come back to find this place the same.”

Aramus sped off after a quick “Yes!”, almost leaving burn marks behind with his speed.

“Kids these days… never old enough to stop having Indian foods.”

After a few minutes, Aramus ran back all giddy and excited still, even holding the sword and not calling it away to his soul.

“I told them! Some of them looked at me funny, I wonder why!?” Aramus said as he flicked the sword around. “They’ll be coming to clear up the mess in a moment.”

“Boy, calm down!” Chris said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “That sword’s gonna scare the mommy’s delicious food memories out of people, put it away!”

“O-Oh!” Aramus said as he realized that he still hadn’t put it away. Power corrupts indeed. The Magister hurriedly put it away, the Relic dissolving into motes of energy as it vanished. “Sorry Master!”

Chris palmed the back of his head as he watched Aramus. He faced the broken bed and took up his finger. He ran it down in the air slowly, a trail of black ran down and soon a portal flicked open. It was reminiscent of all those times Aramus saw Virgo escape, even in the recent battle Princess Louise opened a portal to summon a puppet, of sorts.

“Does this lead to the Void?” Aramus asked, walking over beside his Master.

“This is the Void Realm, yes. Come, we have a lot to do.” Chris stepped in fearlessly into the darkness.

Aramus followed a moment later, the portal swallowing him whole.

Aramus and Christopher got off the plane and were well on their way to the King’s Palace in Riyadh. Contrary to what he expected, Aramus found that Saudi Arabia was modern. There were high-rise buildings interspersed amongst the smaller traditional buildings and certain plots of land were dedicated towards their mosques.

The attires were varied as well, certain youngsters wore clothings he witnessed back in the USA, slightly more fashionable clothing whereas others were dressed extremely modestly or for the weather. Even the men had flowing garments to deal with the hot desert climate with a special headdress that seemed to block sand. What surprised him the most were the women, dressed entirely in body covering black garment. The only part revealed to Aramus was the face and other times, just a slit for the eyes.

But if there was one thing that made him feel right at home, it was the smell of food. The fragrance of spices could be smelt every time he passed a restaurant, the ethnic cuisine making his mouth water. It was close enough to Indian food and therefore would be something close to a favorite in his books.

When the two entered the King’s Royal Palace, Christopher skipped all kinds of formalities and pleasantries to save time, rushing all the way to the throne room.

“The mundanes are so good at using that †˜busy’ excuse but we all know that the King has patrons doing his work,” Chris said in irritation. “Only to kill the time that could be spent eating.”

“We could eat here. I believe their cuisine could be just as good,” Aramus suggested, though he snickered a little at the way Chris spoke.

“Yeah but even a great man understands when’s the time for that, and whatnot. I damn well expect the King to treat us to a banquet. Good stuff to have after a talk, always.”

“The faster we get this over with, the more time we have for a banquet then?” Aramus quipped.

“That, and you have to spend a considerable time on that ritual, lad. I want to get to that part and be done with it.”

“I’ll try to make the wait less excruciating, Master.” The Magister laughed as he followed behind his Master.

Soon, the doors opened as the King gave consent. The Archmage and the Magister entered the throne room. When they looked around, aside from the intricate designs and the exquisite carpet, the attendants of the King were dismissed for whatever discussion they’d have.

Before Chris even thought to show some more pleasantries, the King simply raised his hand to stop him.

“We share the same rank, no need to kneel,” the King said, but only looking at Christopher. “I am glad to see that you came far after so long, however.”

“What can I say? Gotta do what I must,” Chris said with a wry smile, kneeling down for show anyway.

The King had dark skin and was surprisingly young, contrary to what Aramus heard. Perhaps this was a result of tampering with magic. Whatever the case, the King was an exotic and charming man that even Aramus could appreciate from sight alone. His air itself seemingly majestic, slightly reminding him of how one could feel just gazing up to Queen Victoria.

“I have already prepared some of my subjects for the apprehension of the vampires. There are some routes we believe are used by them for the illegal trades. The Space Police seems to have a want for involving themselves with the case so I believe you would very much be interested.”

“...Now that is indeed interesting,” Chris said, having not expected the Space Police involved. “How do we get on this case exactly?”

“I shall have my men pass on the documented information,” King Abdullah stated. “How about you two join us for the banquet? We have prepared a fine one to sate your tongue, Christopher.”

“Now we’re talking.”

“It would be an honor, King Abdullah.” Aramus said but otherwise didn’t say anything.







After the banquet, Chris almost suggested going to sleep but that was the worst idea he had, for they were handed the documents about the mission. The two were offered a room in the palace and were now resting there.

“They literally have these routes all across the country. Just great. Seems like we have to pick where to raid.”


“The King mentioned that he had some subordinates ready to be used, perhaps we could use them to minimize the area we ourselves need to search?”

“Yeah. The problem is finding where we’re needed. The most dangerous is what they’re wanting us to cover, but there’s not enough information to determine that.”

“I can provide another pair of eyes using a Shadow Partner. It’s not much but at least anything it sees will be transmitted back to me. Otherwise, should we send in a smaller number of men and act based on the vampires’ response?”

“Can you send that clone all the way to the borders? Rather, can you do such a thing with the ritual we start soon?”

“It is possible with concentration, but combined with the ritual, I doubt it,” Aramus said with a sigh. “I suppose we will have to rely on the King’s men.”

“Let’s do that. Might as well start the ritual… this room is good as any. Don’t blame me if you die. I’m gonna hope for the best.” Chris drew a magic circle on the floor with a paint brush. He used a very special kind of paint for it. “This is currently the best magic ink. I’ll give you some for the future later.” When he was done drawing it, he then blew with his mouth on it, and a great gale was generated. That was apparently enough to make the painted floor dry. “Alright, get in the middle of it.”

The Archmage then handed Aramus something like a berry. “That’s the Dragon’s seed. Consume it, it’s got a nice herbal flavor. After that, start meditating.” Chris sat next to Aramus just outside the circle on a meditation form. “You have to gather Aurum, Terram, and Ignem aspected mana simultaneously. Can you handle it?”

“I can handle the first two, but I don’t know Ignem. Is it possible to supplant it with another form?” Aramus asked as he popped the seed into his mouth.

“The Dragon uses these Forms. Supplementing will kill the it before it’s even born.”

“Well shit. I can’t channel Ignem so this is going to be a problem.”

Chris took out the paint brush, dipped the pastel and drew a symbol of Ignem on one side before blowing on it to make it dry. He then took out something like a piece of ornament and placed it atop the symbol.

“I’ll just supplement the Ignem for †˜ya. Was planning to provide some raw mana as part of the ritual anyway. Just make sure you absorb the mana into yourself when I channel it.”

“Thank you.”

Aramus closed his eyes and began to gather the required mana. Aurum, his core; the one that he was linked to since young. Terram, the opposite of his specialty; nary a single spell in his repertoire used it and thus he felt unused to gathering it. Finally, Ignem; the fiery mana could be felt like an ethereal cord as it poured into him from outside and Aramus drew it into himself, letting the three aspects of mana flow in a circle.

As the mana converged together in his core, tt started to make sense what Chris mentioned about feeling a burning fruit stuck in the stomach. He was in the meditation pose and was sweating profusely, feeling like vomiting all that he ate in the banquet. He almost let out his breath while Christopher started to chant in Chinese.

Each of the marks on the magic circle glowed in turn. The symbol to the east of the Magister signified rest, the symbol to the west signified aggression, the symbol to the south meant something that could be interpreted as the flowing of energy, while the north signified the will to press forward, at least this was what Christopher was telling him earlier. Each of these symbols shined in turn as the ritual progressed. This was because Aramus was had to channel the mana back and forth between these symbols, as instructed by his Master.

Pure and raw mana were given to him for the symbol of flowing energy. Terram mana were channeled to the symbol of rest. The Aurum mana were channeled to the northern symbol. Lastly, the Ignem mana was the hardest as the transfer involved moving the mana from the vis to the aggression symbol to his own body at last.

Aramus was feeling as though his internal organs were being scalded and ruptured as something round inside him was slowly stabilizing through this process. He had to keep supplying mana from the two Realms simultaneously along with the Infernal mana and the raw mana from the few vis that Christopher provided. It was extremely taxing but little did he knew that he’d be doing this for the next eight hours.

(Note that some of Aramus’ scenes here happened a little earlier between the other scenes posted above. I just decided to keep Aramus parts together that took place in Saudi Arabia, more or less, until Claudia comes along.)

“This better be worth it,” Chris mumbled.

Aramus was in yet another private room in an airplane. This time, traveling to a country he hadn’t been to before. The journey had started some time ago, but it seemed like they weren’t reaching their destination anytime soon.

Christopher, one of the nine remaining Archmages in the world seemed to have went great lengths to ensure they’d have privacy here.

“So anyway, food aside, I wanted to tell you more about the Lost Form you were interested in,” Chris started, taking out a completely blank piece of paper. “I’m going to make it simple for you. Just place your palm here.” He handed Aramus the paper.

Aramus held his hand over the paper as instructed, wondering what was going to happen.

“See? Nothing happens, right?”

“Uh, yeah. Was something supposed to?” Aramus asked, tilting his head in confusion.

“Watch.” Chris smiled, taking the paper from Aramus’ hand. The Archmage then placed his own palm over it. There was a very strange mark over the paper as soon as he took his palm off. He handed the paper back to the Magister.

Aramus peered down at the page. There was a pattern of round lines that seemed to penetrate the paper. It was an elaborate spiral symbol, to be specific.

“Neat. Is that your Mage’s Sigil?” Aramus asked, running a thumb along the spiral.

“No, this is the Dragon’s Sigil.”

”Wow. Each Dragon’s Sigil is different?” Aramus said with a smile, looking at Christopher expectantly.

“Apparently,” Chris answered, returning the smile. “The Fist of the Dragon lets you cultivate the Dragon’s Sigil. I guess that’s the second—never mind, third step.”

“So, what’s the first step of this Lost Form?” Aramus inquired, eager to start. “You said something about growing a dragon within you?”

“Yes, that one. It’s tough, though.” Unlike Aramus, Chris didn’t seemed to be looking forward to this step. “Feels like a boiling fruit put inside your gut, that thing.”

Aramus made a face at how he described it, or rather, how strange that description sounded.

“So how does this thing begin growing anyway? Like, do we channel mana into a certain portion of ourselves?”

“Actually, it’s a bit of a pain, but you have to go through an entire Ritual of the Dragon. Lots of mana to channel, yes.”

“Will we be able to get that started once we touchdown?”

“Yeah. It won’t be pretty, though.”

“I’m prepared for it. I don’t think it could beat what Sagittarius did to me back when I fought her, that was terrible…” Aramus blanched, making a face at the memory.

“That’s a Descendant for †˜ya. Anyway, I want to tell you about the legend. When I met the old monk he seemed to think that learning the concept from the legend helps. Something like that. Not that I know if it did, but I guess I’m doing it for the tradition.”

“This can all be learned from a legend?” Aramus said, raising an eyebrow questioningly. “You learnt it the same way master?”

“Yes, I had to even make diagrams to illustrate the happenings to solve the puzzle.”

“So they’re like pictograms?” Aramus pursed his lips.

“I just made it that way, really.” Chris cleared his throat after he paused. “Anyway, it all started when a woman travelled to the Eastern continents from somewhere in Europe. They called her the Mother of the Dragons later in the story. In other words, she was the Goddess who was revered in the legend. She seemed to come in the form of a young girl who held infinitely great talents.”

“Alright…” Aramus was not quite sure where Christopher was going.

“She was planning to simply pass by, but one day… she saw a sailor. You might be thinking †˜what does a sailor got to do with some crazy dragon arts?’ I know I did. The sailor was being beaten up by a bunch of men. Basically, they were all doing things now considered illegal, smuggling and stuff. The legend doesn’t specify, but even at that age the thing was likely banned too.

“Contrary to most stories, the Goddess didn’t save the boy, and watched him suffer from afar. Bored, the Goddess decided to see how he lived everyday. The sailor barely had any money with him, ever. He had no family or friends. He had nothing, and he didn’t have love in his life. He was alive for the sake of it. So, how do you think this sailor became the man who cut the sea in two?”

“Did he become a Representative of the Goddess?” Aramus guessed. The legend had him stumped, how did one man managed to divide the sea?

“I wonder about that myself, son. The Goddess watched him suffer left and right. The smugglers he worked with betrayed him. Even if they didn’t get him imprisoned, everyone simply hated his face in the neighborhood, cursing at him in public sometimes. One day, some kids just went to his little hut to ransack his sparse belongings, and that was when he was truly left with nothing to spare.

“Eventually, he decided to leave his homeland. Just as he was about begin his venture, the Goddess approached him, asking if he wanted to become †˜what he was not.’ It was there that his long journey began. The sailor at first was skeptical, but the Goddess showed arts that were out of the world, with a kick she cracked the earth—swallowing the town whole—with a thrusting palm she leveled the mountains… sounds crazy, right?”

“So she removed everybody that was hurting the sailor, nifty. I guess there’s something to be said about having too much power… like the World Buster.”

“I think she was only trying to prove herself as †˜not normal’, but who knows when to hold themselves back? I doubt the Goddess did. Anyway, after all was said and done, the sailor was taken to a place called the Dragon’s Temple, where he learned to create and tame his inner dragon. At the time the temple was abandoned and unclean, but the sailor worked on it alone. The Goddess would only ever watch, never doing anything, or helping him in time of need. It seemed like the Mother was the paragon of observers. The first skill that he learned was the Fist of the Dragon. After we go through your ritual, that’s what I’ll be teaching you.”

“Maybe that Goddess is still alive somewhere, who knows. She might even be a Descendant, but that was a pretty interesting story. I’m not sure how that translates to us now considering there isn’t really a temple to clean but I’d imagine it was referring to something more spiritual…” Aramus said with a frown.

“The legend mentioned that the Fist could wipe out a legion, but that’s bullshit, because I sure as heck can’t do that, but the legend teaches us about how the whole thing works. I’ll just break it down for you. The first part is getting the dragon in you. It grows as you train, there is a spell that lets your dragon activate. At least I think it does; it is a rumored †˜stance’ spell.’ After that, it starts building up your temperature. The mana basically starts fluctuating inside you and your inner cycle where it circulates, building frictions with said mana—generating heat and power. So, it’s up to your fists to discharge them, otherwise you cook yourself over.”

“So we’re kind of like biological reactors? This is a lot more dangerous than many of the other Forms if not controlled properly…”

“Yeah, that might be why it’s a Lost Form. The thing got me into many fevers and I don’t think it’ll be any different for you. Anyway, this is what you’re getting into in a nutshell. You’re gonna be fine proceeding or try some other stuff?”

“I’ll do it or die trying. Now that you’ve presented it before me, there’s no way I can walk away. Might be able to work some of my own magic into the Lost Form and it’s good considering I lack close combat options,” Aramus said enthusiastically.

“Careful about trying your own thing with the Lost Form. Each of the existing spells actually considers factors even I don’t understand to this day. Let’s just say that I almost tore a city off by experimenting.”

“I-I’ll be careful.”

With their hands linked, Aleksander and Lady Violet entered the ballroom inside his mansion. Despite all the invitations were sent, the Duke got about seventy guests. Some left early, however, so by the time he entered fashionably late with his date, it was just about down to sixty guests.

He immediately found Constance, who simply gave a wave and smiled at him. He was surrounded with some male friends from the Royal Academy, alongside two beauties: Xenia and Gracie.

Xenia wore a red dress which did not seemed to completely fit her, while Gracie wore a long flowing purple dress that gleamed against the Engine lights. Constance’s attire was very simple but it seemed to draw attention to him regardless. David was apparently there too, but he seemed to be not noticed as much as Constance.

Lady Violet wore a purple dress. It was of a lighter shade compared to that of Gracie’s, glistening due to the materials used. It seemed like Violet donned a dress of a superior quality. Her hairdo for the night seemed to be specially prepared, with many braids adorned with accessories that attracted quite the attention from the guests.

In comparison to the lady on his arm, Alek was less radiant, and instead exuded a refined air of elegance, dressed in a simple dark blue tuxedo, with a puffy white shirt that made the vibrant sapphire-colored necktie pop all the more. He did his best to present a strong, confident aura to all the assembled attendees, despite his inner disappointment at the lack of people that showed up.

(GM Comment: I don’t exactly understand but I kind of gave it a benefit of the doubt and thus gave up. I mean, how could you imply that Violet wasn’t elegant enough due to having a dress with shiny materials? I cannot tell where to draw the line here.)

“There are fewer than I’d hoped, but perhaps a more relaxed atmosphere will be good. The food will be good, I’m sure, and we have excellent people in attendance. I know that we’ll have a good time. Would you care for some refreshment, and perhaps relax, chat with Constance a bit before we begin to socialize with the others?”

“I believe a drink should do. Simply chatting with the guests would be nice also,” Violet answered, apparently enjoying the atmosphere, perhaps it was because she hadn’t been to a social event for a long time. For some reason, she wasn’t looking much at her own escort. Normally, one wouldn’t, but even at the faintest of times would one, she seemed to ignore for some reason, yet her countenance seemed the usual.

It did not come to his attention that Aleksander’s dress code missed one important aspect of it. People actually tried to ignore looking at him. Letting his shirt out for everyone to view so openly—perhaps like an American—made others think he was practically naked.

(GM Comment: Here’s a hint: Alek forgot his bow tie and vest. Cravat done wrong basically.)

“You’re right, I suppose it would be rude to simply focus our attentions on our friends…” He agreed, “I’ll get you something right away.” He flagged down one of the servants who was walking around with a tray of drinks, taking one from the tray before asking Violet, “What would you like?”

“Anything is fine,” Violet said in a polite tone.

Alek nodded, getting her a glass of the same wine he was drinking. “You don’t mind wine, do you? It’s an excellent vintage I found in the cellar from when my father was a boy… “

“It is fine, I have wine here and there myself. Just not too much. I would end up tasting wine for my father here and there in fact.”


“Ahh, but of course. I’ve no intent of overdoing it either,” Alek admitted, “Now, who would you like to speak with first? If you’ve no preference, I know Griswold is about somewhere. Does that sound agreeable?”

“I feel like ignoring the others just around us is rude, as we just came down. Shall we simply speak to your close friends?”

“That sounds like a great idea. I’m sure you’ll enjoy talking to them well enough. Xenia can be a bit… exuberant, but she is a good person.” Alek explained in advance, so she wouldn’t be caught too off-guard by the energetic, sometimes-brash scholar.

“I… see,” Lady Violet said, noting the unnecessary comment. Violet and Xenia were actually good friends.

Alek approached his friends and begins to introduce everybody for politeness’ sake, before engaging Constance in a conversation.

“Thanks for holding down the fort for me until I got here. How are you doing tonight?” he asked in a friendly manner.

“Doing fine, why did it take you this long, though?” Constance asked. “It seemed like some people left as you were missing… I think.”

“Sorry sorry, I got a little bit wrapped up with some business documents I needed to deal with that came out of nowhere…” Alek smiled slightly in embarrassment, eyes crinkling in sincere regret as he covered for Violet.

While Alek made his excuse, Xenia and Violet already seemed to be engaged in their own conversation.

“It felt like it is still an acceptable result,” Constance said, noting Alek’s lack of a vest. He always had a screw loose or two, this old friend of mine. “Assuming the rest do not leave before dinner time actually makes it here.”


“Indeed, it could be much worse… I tried to invite Louise, but I don’t see her here, so I guess she must not have decided to come.”

“I tried my hand with Princess Beatrice too but I do not see her, either…”

“That’s a shame, you two seemed to be having a lovely time last week. I thought for sure there was at least some chemistry there…” Alek shrugged. “So, who did you bring tonight?”

“Lady Gracie,” Constance answered. “We are old friends who simply invite each other whenever we are in need of a partner.”

“Not a bad arrangement, in all honesty. I find it hard to imagine that she lacks for men vying for her attention, though,” Alek added. “I do like the brass band that Katya hired, they’re doing an excellent job on the music…” he said for lack of anything more substantial.

Let us avoid bringing Miss Katya up… we would not want anyone learning of her working here, he thought about the best interests of both Aleksander and Katya of the Aberdeen household. “I suppose we are comfortable doing it this way.” Constance leaned closer and whispered to his ear, carrying on the topic of Gracie for a suitable distraction, “She is sort of like us, just with men, if you catch my drift?”

“Really? I never noticed…” Alek seemed to actually be surprised. “Do you know if there’s anyone she actually likes?”

“No one I know of, otherwise she would likely have stopped doing so a long time ago. I suppose it is a long adventure.”

“Hmm… it must be tough. Then again, I suppose we’ve got the rest of our lives to settle down with someone, so why not live a little before we do?”

“I am sensing an arranged marriage that would finally let her settle down. I hope she does not—”

Gracie pulled Constance’s ear, albeit in a more joking manner with a smile, which seemed to scare Constance.

“I would not have a scandal, I had assured you of this before.”

“So it’s true then? You would have an arranged marriage…?” Alek asked. “Not surprising I suppose. You’re interesting to talk to, and quite easy on the eyes.”

Now, is he not fast to judge? “Nothing set to stone yet,” Gracie answered in a gentle tone. “I happen to be a very open person at the moment, but I do hope to show some loyalty in my married life.”

“That’s worthy of respect, it’s important to have a strong connection with one’s significant other. I myself grow tired of flirting with everyone I meet. It’s still fun, it just… now that I have actual responsibilities I find that it gets in the way at times.”

You seemed to be doing it quite a lot, however… “I suppose that is true for those who are the heads of their houses. I would have to be very careful if I were in your shoes, so I am thankful that I am still a Viscountess.”

Alek felt an intense guilt at that statement, remembering the very morning of the day with a slight blush. He had committed an act with his maid that could very much result in a scandal.

“You’re absolutely right. With no parents to arrange it for me, I’m in the uniquely precarious position of being able to choose who I marry, and I’m not sure who I want to live with, but it’s expected that I’ll choose somebody or the other… it’d be quite scandalous in itself if I didn’t, I feel.”

“You are probably very lucky, to the eyes of many around your age,” Constance commented. “I know I would feel that way.”

“A fair point. I know of one person in particular who I’m sure is envious. I’m not sure how to feel, though. If I already had someone I was sweet on, I suppose it’d be all too easy to enter negotiations with their house, and come to an arrangement, but I suppose I just don’t feel that way yet.” Alek simply shrugged. “There are a few I am interested in, but I do not know them well enough yet to say for sure…”

“Being in the position of choosing, wealth and standings are normally considered better factors to touch upon first, be it a noble or not,” Gracie stated.

“That is a good point. With that in mind, of the three I was thinking, one clearly pulls ahead of the others. At the same time, I’ve still got a whole year before I have to come to any kind of decision so I kind of want to take my time, and be sure of my choice before I do anything rash.”

“You would want to make sure the business is booming too, just in case,” Constance advised. “Other daughters of Dukes are always mindful of these things. Well, forget daughters, the parents themselves are very cautious of these factors.”

“Thankfully I’ve already been working to make up for lost time, we’re still not anywhere near our former glory, but I’m confident that with the right stud, our next group of foals will have some good, strong runners. Maybe even a few horses built properly for jousting. I just have to network, and try to secure access to the stud I had in mind…” He nodded. “Thank you for your counsel, Constance. I suppose I’ve got a long way to go towards making myself an attractive potential husband when you put it that way. What do you think Gracie?” Alek asks for her counsel, trying to get a woman’s perspective.

“I think flirting less might save you more considering you are the head of the house now. Well, not with me if you are discreet,” Gracie joked with a laugh. “By the by, I would want a horse soon to ride with if you do not mind discussing the matters.”


“Well, if you’re volunteering, I might be able to find just the right stud for you…” he said innocently. “He might need a little breaking in though, you don’t mind terribly, do you?”

“I do not mind. It is refreshing to have a challenge like that.”

“Were you looking to borrow his use for a short time only, or for the foreseeable future?” Alek asked, not entirely oblivious to the subtext, but he might just be reading into it too much.

“I would pay the appropriate amount and simply buy her.”


“Understandable, If you’d like to stop by the stable sometime soon, I can show you the one I had in mind, and I’ll let you give me a decision then, if it pleases you. With the matter of the horse settled for the moment, I agree that flirting less is high on the agenda, since I’ve found myself attempting to complement her and being ignored under the assumption it was false flattery.” Alek merely shrugged.

“We shall do that, then. I look forward to visiting your stable,” Gracie replied, ignoring the remark about his failures of flirting.

“Well, good luck making the right choice,” Constance said with a laugh. “Let us hope your future wife does not dismiss every compliments for the rest of your life.”

Alek laughed with him. “I was going to go speak with Griswold, if you don’t mind excusing me for a second. Would you like to come with, Violet?”

“We’re in the topic of the century!” Xenia interrupted before Violet spoke, making her giggle.

“I suppose I am too engaged in the conversation to come now,” Violet replied.

“No problem, I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself!” Alek’s smile continued, as he strolled off through the crowd, looking for Griswold.

Griswold seemed to be on the very corner of the ballroom, dressed with a simple black set of suit like any Victorian gentleman, simply enjoying a drink of wine when Alek found him, he simply seemed to be content with watching everyone else.

Alek approached him with a jovial swagger to his step. “Good evening, Mister Griswold! How are you doing, old chap?”

The teach gave one quick glance across Aleksander’s attire and smiled. “I do well, lad. What about you? Should you be coming all the way to this side to speak with the old me?”

“Tsk tsk tsk, I don’t see any gray hairs coming in yet…” Alek teased. “But seriously though, It’s good to see you again, Griswold. How have you been enjoying the party so far?”

“The same as usual for me, I am not simply very sociable, as you may see. Good food and drinks, though.”


“I think this is the first time I’ve seen you outside of the Academy in a while… what do you do outside of lessons and stuff, if you don’t mind me asking…?”

“Mostly research,” Griswold curtly answered. “I am almost always experimenting on things.”

“Umm…” Alek hummed for a moment. “You should ask someone if they want to dance, plenty of cute women here…” Alek tried to help someone he considered a friend out of his comfort zone.

(GM Comment: Teacher? Friend?)

“I am going to be alright here for now, no worries. I would do the men injustice if I dance now, anyway.” The teacher laughed. It wasn’t exactly the best idea to be one of those “wall-flowers” to wait and be willing to dance but not openly seek a dance partner. Thus Griswold understood why Aleksander was trying to help. However, it seemed like he was simply not interested in dancing for the moment.

“Alright, well I’m glad you’re enjoying the atmosphere.” Alek grinned. “I need to go mingle some more though, I’ll catch up with you again in a bit.”

Griswold simply waved lightly, but when Alek got up and turned to the ground, he found a black dressed lady staring down at him—no, his teacher. The woman with red eyes and silver hair smiled. Her ornaments were few but expensive, glimmering like the sparkles one would find in sands.

Princess Beatrice seemed to have come to his ball after all, and Alek could see Constance beside her. A crestfallen face was worn by Alek’s old friend, as if the world had ended for him—his mouth agape—breathless from the scene before him.

“Princess…” Alek bowed his head in recognition. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

The Princess gave a smile and a nod, noting his presence, but spoke no more. She simply showed the back of her hand and Griswold knelt down and kissed it.

“I did not expect you to be here, Princess,” Griswold said, a wry smile plastered on his face, something Alek never saw before. “May I have the honour to dance, Your Highness?”

“Yes,” Beatrice consented. “Let us dance.”

Constance’s face grew grimmer as he heard these words. He had failed this evening.

“Griswold?” Alek asked, confused. Realising it was too late to get his attention, Alek turned to Constance with a sigh. “What… what just happened?”

“Like I would know?!” Constance snapped, but with a hushed tone, coming up to the corner where Alek was after Griswold headed off to the dance floor. “What in the name of bloody hell is this? Did she really just seek out a much older man as a partner as soon as she entered with her attendants after ignoring me?” Constance sat down where Griswold sat previously and sighed, while Gracie patted his back silently.

Alek sat down next to Constance and let the other young man lean on him if he wanted to. “It’s okay, man. I mean, it’s not, but it’ll get better…” He tried to comfort his friend. “That’s about as bad as things got with Louise, and I mean… I sorta moved on. Princesses are just… more than men like us are supposed to have, I guess.” he patted Constance’s back as well.

Constance didn’t even care enough to note how Alek addressed the high profile people of the country so casually due to his mood. “I knew somewhere in my head… I knew it, but it just got onto me,” Constance replied in pure disdain, feeling deep contempt for Griswold, who wooed the people with his dancing, even better than himself apparently. He looked away in frustration. “I guess I know how you had felt now, Alek.”

“Come on man… it’s not the end of the world. I doubt that she’ll dance with him for the whole night…” Alek tried to reassure Constance. “Just relax, and hang out with Gracie for a bit, and I’m sure you’ll get your chance later…” Alek nudged Gracie to remind her to help.

“It is because you were going for someone like her!” Gracie said, unexpectedly harsh. “You did not needed to go for her, I warned you before, Constance, I warned you.”

“I know… I am sorry,” Constance said, palming his face as he looked down.

“Look, Constance. I could’ve lived my whole life in Louise’s shadow, always doing what she wanted with the hope that some day she’d wake up and magically like me back. Now that I’m not so focused on just that, I see how many great women I know, that I might’ve never noticed since I was blinded by my infatuation. I’m sure the right woman for you is still out there, just… don’t give up hope. I’ll help you work through it if you want me to, since I still have a few things I need to work out of my system from being so obsessed…”

“I need to be alone, you two. I am sorry, but please excuse me,” Constance got up and walked away. It was bad enough that he almost raised a commotion in the ball. He didn’t wanted to make it worse for his friend who was hosting a ball in his abode for the first time.

“With today’s contribution the preparations are done, Princess,” Griswold said as he danced with Princess Beatrice.

“I see. That is indeed good news. Let us finally begin… Project Mordred.”