“Elijah,” A woman in red sat at the center of the room, “would you mind expining how you got that bottle?”

  The kid knelt down in front of her, his hands were shaking and his beads of sweat trickled down the side of his head, “I’m sorry, Madam Maddison.” He managed to push out, “Miss Anderson granted me this special clue so I assumed it would be—”

  “Ahhh—Figures.” She didn't let him finish. “Hesser, how many times has Jamie visited us now?”

  “Three.” Hesser, who stood beside her as she sat cross-legged, answered quickly to appease the growing irritation in his master.

  “I suppose she is indeed helping us, however, she only furthers her own agenda,” The Red haired woman sighed, “so what did you give in return?” She gnced back towards the kneeling boy.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Don't py stupid with me, Eli.” She slumped down and pced her whole hand on the boy’s head, gently pying with his hair, “That conniving cat doesn't give out information for free.”

  Elijah felt dread as he felt her hand trace around the top of his skull, she was gentle, almost admitting she could crush it at any moment. “She asked about the seals, Madam!” He knelt lower, not only to avoid her hand but to showcase his submission

  “I see.” Maddison waved her hand and Eli's head was pulled upwards through his hair by an unknown force, “and what did you tell her?”

  “What the seals are and the fact that one is already broken—” He grit his teeth, the pain from the hairpull causing him to wince.

  Just like that, he was dropped back down to the floor, “Haah~ Next time, don't act on your own. This way you don't have to suffer the consequences of sharing confidential information.” Maddison stood from her seat and pranced around the room.

  “Leave and reflect on your actions.” She ordered and the boy knelt, lowering his head before melting into the floor as a shadow.

  Maddison kept her eyes out the window and her eyes gnced at the rge Azaroln Castle that almost reached the sky.

  “Madam?” Hesser asked as the girl found herself bnking out by the window. “Are you disappointed?”

  “Why would I be?”

  “You didn't catch a glimpse of the Lady back at the Castle.” Hesser assumed. He had immediately expected the Madam to get angry and punish him but she remained silent, perhaps because she couldn't deny his cim, or perhaps she didn't realize it herself. Maddison wasn't so sure about her own conviction when it came to the Lady of Ramirez. She had pyed with plenty of hearts before (men and women) but this—this was a twist in her chest that she dare not try to face.

  “I had heard she had left to join the Hunter's guild in preparation for her training.” Hesser walked forward until he stood beside her, “Would you like to know more, I am more than capable of finding out?”

  “No.” Maddison replied without much hesitance, her heart might waver but her will would remain as steadfast as stone. She pced her small hands on the windowsill and let her breathing match the pace of the wind, “it is as you said remember? I must not let mere feelings get in the way of my desire. Her life is now separate from mine—Do not bother yourself with her.”

  “I believe a little gentleness goes a long way, Madam.” Hesser seemingly gave in, he had known this girl since Hendrickson had first picked her up and until she had defeated him in a duel. “Maybe having another reason to fight for is not that much of a burden. You deserve another chance at happiness.”

  “Happiness, huh?” She thought back to a few years ago, back when she still lived as the apprentice to that old fart. The times when she still felt loved and cared for—when her hand was still held by another.

  It all disappeared so fast that perhaps Maddison is afraid of the same thing happening again. Having her family and happiness corrupted and destroyed for the third time is something she couldn't handle. A frail walled up heart like hers can never want so easily anymore.

  “Yes, Madam, Happiness.” Hesser shrugged, “We all deserve it—one way or another.”

  Maddison remained silent. She didn't have the confidence in her to respond to his query. She wasn't sure she would say something she would like or she would approve of. Maybe she has gotten too soft, maybe Hesser was right and that she could have some time for her own sake.

  Bah!

  Useless driveling will get her nowhere. She stepped away from the window leaving the old man gazing outside by himself. The woman had had enough of any more unnecessary thoughts that messed with her mission. Now that the Duchess has pyed themselves right into her hands, it wouldn't take long for the Underworld to seize complete control of the underground crime in the North.

  Then her pn would be one step closer to reality.

  …

  Skrish!!!

  A Tree had found itself cut into pieces as rge thin sheets of ice cut it apart like a razor to celery.

  “Patience.” Alejandra—well Hoarfloe in Alejandra’s body spoke with freezing spite. The word casted sharp thin bde-like sheets of ice that cut through the snowy trees and rocks. The man she was chasing had managed to avoid her attacks every single time.

  Arrows were shot toward her direction but they were all blocked effortlessly. “Peace.” A wall of ice was all it took to snap those arrows apart from the tip.

  “Thou will not escape without suffering at my hands.” The being's voice began to shift between voices. “I will not let you leave here alive, AFTER WHAT YOU'VE DONE!” This voice was without a question Alejandra Ramirez, yet her form was still of the same ice being that had possessed her.

  Her skin paler than normal, her silvery white hair, and her irises remaining devoid of any color with the exemption of simply just the white sclera. Alejandra felt her consciousness slip into this form of her body for the first time. Her tan brown skin shifting to a lighter hue, her hair drooping longer than it normally would, and her blood felt like constant frostbite that burned her from the inside.

  It was painful, her Spirit was out of control and the magic of the fairy equally unstable. Magic swords were crafted to work alongside Spirit but even a high tier magic sword would shatter upon exposure to such an unbanced and out of control dispy of Spirit.

  Alejandra tightened her throat, she felt like she was being frozen on the inside, making it barely impossible to speak or do anything—yet she persisted in her chase. The words of her spells seemingly being told directly to her mind.

  “Repose!” She yelled and a rge piece of spiky ice formed from below, generating a rge icicle capable of tearing a hole right through a giant. “DON'T TRY TO RUN!” She screamed as she hurled the icicle towards the purple haired man.

  He didn't answer nor care for her words as he kept running, the gargantuan chunk of ice hurling his path seemingly did not faze him. His eyes seemed bored everytime he snuck a gnce backwards and shot an arrow towards her.

  Alejandra felt like a mad woman, she charged recklessly, feeling invincible. After all, for all she knew she was far more powerful at this form than he could ever be.

  Her skin burned from the inside every time she casted one of her spells, her lips turned chapped, and her blood felt like ice.

  The block of ice that came in his direction roared through the forest until it smmed on to the purple haired man who was directly struck on impact by the rge shard. Alejandra’s grin as it made contact was horrific, one a dy should not make and a face she never thought she could make. Her smile wasn't human-like, and Hoarfloe’s fairy features seemed to have overtaken her body for a split second.

  “Haha!” A small stifled ugh echoed from her mouth.

  “Do not think me defeated yet.” The man appeared from the tree above her, “I am not one to fall so easily.”

  “What.” Her eyes widened at the sight of his unharmed body, a few dozen meters away from where he was standing a moment ago.

  What was ability?

  She immediately processed and looked for any information regarding his attributes. He wasn't dispying any form of Adjudicator magic throughout their chase but his movement was far more agile than that of any normal assassin, which indicates he is of special nature. Alejandra assumed he would be a Spirit user but a Spirit user would block or strike back the ice shard sent his way but he merely dodged it, he dodged all of the previous ones too.

  Now he vanished from his location and reappeared something completely different. Alejandra thought he might’ve simir powers to the Captain she fought but—there was no way mere invisibility would make him that fast—was it illusions?

  No—the amount of Spirit bursting from her would dispel any rge illusions so he would not be able to hide should he have decided to cast any.

  Was he just really fast? No—that both feels right and not so right at the same time.

  As Alejandra was thinking a volley of arrows made its way down to her, she stepped only one step away from being hit for all of them.

  “Piety.” She muttered as small icicles formed beside her, they frolicked in circles around her, barraging into the air and flying towards him.

  The assassin merely moved from pce to pce, striking down some pieces with his own arrows. Alejandra decided to keep attacking, at some point he would run out of arrows to shoot. Keeping a close eye on his quiver, she counted how much more he had.

  Six.

  “Thou should be careful, Master,” Hoarfloe spoke in her head, “thou enemy doth naught seem a simple man.”

  “Any clues you could give me?” Alejandra spoke to the Fairy, “any help would be nice.”

  The fairy didn't reply.

  “Noted.”

  Alejandra coughed red, her body feeling slower and slower, the snow inside her body slowly freezing her insides. Her eyes twitched struggling to stay open, her body so cold her breath turned visible.

  She had little time left, her control on this enhanced body of hers is not stable enough for her to st long. She estimated around 10 or so more minutes before she passes out, whether or not she stays in her frost form until then is a debate she’d rather not think about.

  She was on a ticking clock.

  “You impress me, Miss Alejandra.” The man spoke, somehow he knew her name, “That hidden power of yours is as frightening as Hughie had spoken of.”

  “Hughie? The Captain of the Ambush?” Alejandra scowled, “that bastard who hurt Maddison?” The dy bared her fangs and her gaze tightened around his neck—imagining the different ways she could snap it.

  The purple haired man smirked, “Don't worry about him, he's disposed of now?” He shrugged, “meanwhile, our pns are progressing smoothly, so just turn your eyes to me.”

  Alejandra suddenly hesitated—she couldn't expin why, but the air around the man changed, becoming more hostile and dangerous.

  “What?”

  He revealed a small dagger in between his fingers, it was so small that it wasn't longer than a finger, yet it had a strange feeling to it that Alejandra didn't like. It was aquamarine in color and had isnd-like patterns all across its steel.

  “Do you know what this is?” He asked, and flipped the knife up and grabbed it tightly in the air with his hand.

  Alejandra looked closer, the color and pattern reminded her of something but she couldn't quite remember, it was such a foggy visual that it was more like a cat hunting a hare, difficult and meticulous but she figured she'd probably catch it at some point.

  “I don't follow,” Alejandra still wasn't confident in how his Adjudicator abilities work or why he was so sure that the knife he held would benefit him in this battle, Alejandra had to be cautious but she was also on a timer, “I don't suppose a small knife like that can help you much in this conflict between us.”

  “You py with yours too often, Miss Alejandra,” He tossed the knife to his other hand, “I grew up a peasant and climbed my way up the ranks, I have no merit in such fanciful conversations.”

  The tigress raised an eyebrow, he couldn't tell whether or not he was lying. Nevertheless, she had no time, she had to act or else she risked passing out in the middle of this duel.

  “Master, thou might find this exchange to be an interesting one.” Hoarfloe once more spoke from inside her head.

  “What do you mean?”

  The fairy once again refused to reply.

  Instead, a new word popped in her mind, one she has never used before. “Truth.” The air shifted and it suddenly began to snow. It wasn't a harsh blizzard like Reticence would make but a small, quiet, and calming snow.

  What was this for?

  Alejandra couldn't come up with a reason as to why this would be useful other than look pretty.

  The purple haired man smiled as soon as she casted her spell and hopped down the branch he was standing on to face her in close range.

  “What's your name?” Alejandra drew her bde and pointed it at him, “so I may take your tongue so you can never speak it again, take your fingers so you can never write it again, and take your eyes so you can never see it again.”

  The man ughed. “You nobles truly are brutish,” Then he suddenly gred at her, his face shifting to an angry hateful scorn, “Your Empire murdered my family!”

  “and you murdered MINE!” Alejandra shot back, “I had no direct involvement in your tragedy but your arms are stained in the blood of mine.” She shifted to her swordsmanship stance as she wielded Hoarfloe towards him, and her chest spoke her anger out, “Let me clean your bloodied hands for you—by removing them from your body!”

  She used the ice magic to lift herself up the ground and fly into him at a speed faster than one can blink. She sshed the air and cold waves of wind bsted out of her bde. “Reticence!” She yelled, a misty blizzard forming and pushing the man back towards the forest, giving her an opening to strike at.

  He managed to raise the dagger in time and somehow, with that small bde of his, take and block her entire downward ssh. The tension between their strike causes both of their arms to shake and the piled up snow from underneath them to get crushed.

  “Are you ready?” He asked one more time, an angry smile and an apathetic look in his eye.

  Alejandra didn't bother answering, there was no use for idle chit chat in a battle. “Piety!” She shouted and ice shards crystallized into being next to her and immediately dashed up and behind the purple haired man.

  At first it seemed like it was over, the icicles stabbed right at his back and made him groan in pain. Alejandra smiled in satisfaction until—

  He was gone.

  Alejandra’s arms suddenly swung down from the force she was using to hold his dagger back.

  What just happened?

  He was just here a second ago and then he suddenly vanished.

  Alejandra also noticed something, the snow he had been standing on had reverted back to normal as if he was never there.

  She turned behind him and her eyes widened in surprise.

  “Doth one see, Master?” Hoarfloe spoke another time inside her head, this time, Alejandra could feel it was smiling, “Thou told thee, this battle would be amusing.”

  There he was pying with his knife, the pce where he was before he was pushed back by the blizzard caused by the reticence. He smiled at her and shrugged leaving the Lady grasping the predicament she had nded herself in.

  “I said, are you ready?” He had a toothy menacing grin and an eyes full of bloodlust.

  Alejandra winced again, she felt her fingers freezing over and becoming harder to control. She was slowly running out of time.

  She needed to figure out what he did, how he did it, and if he could do it again and again.

  “Use thine snow, Master,” Hoarfloe reminded, “I taught it to thee for a reason.”

  “Then expin!” She compined, “I swear to god if you go mute again I will snap this sword in two!”

  The fairy didn't respond.

  Hey, if she got mad enough maybe the heat from her blood pressure rising would be enough to quell the freezing in her body.

  As, she didn't get as angry as she needed to be as she diverted all of her attention on the man before her.

  The assassin suddenly burst out ughing as he went insane from almost getting killed a few seconds ago.

  “Let's finish this Duel to the Death!” Alejandra challenged him once more.

  “Duel to the death? No, The Grey Commander will enjoy your company instead.” The purple haired man bowed and from around her dozens upon dozens of Kingdom soldiers appeared from behind the trees, “This was never a duel, My Lady. Our orders were to capture you!”

  “What!?”

  “Monroe’s report about you was truly special!” He ughed, “I knew I had to get my hands on your body!”

  Alejandra’s grip on the sword tightened. After that sentence, she was even more hell bent on not passing out here. “You disgust me.”

  “Don't misunderstand—I simply wonder if a powerful woman like yourself can be capable of conceiving a devil’s child.” He snickered, “Congrats, Lady Alejandra, you've fallen right into my trap!”

  “I wouldn't say that,” Alejandra grit her teeth and raised her other hand, “You’d have to defeat me first.”

  The man’s gre turned harsh once more, “and that is what I will do.”