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CHAPTER 6 

 

Come Dawn 

The Lou Erz mansion. 

In this estate that seemed to sprawl forever, even a fair amount of noise wasn’t going to reach the neighboring residents. 

Not even blasts nor gunshots. Even if they had heard, the people would have had a hard time determining where they had rung out from in the inky dark of night. 

No help would come until dawn. 

They had to defeat the assassination units that had invaded the estate, hide in the mansion until morning, or escape. 

“We’ve got three options.” 

They continued to race down the second-floor hall of the western wing. 

Holding Sisbell’s hand, Jhin yelled at the commander running up front. “Boss, stop for a sec. Behind that part of the wall that’s sticking out.” 

“O-okay!” 

Commander Mismis, Nene, Jhin, and Sisbell pressed themselves against the wall and held their breaths. 

There were two reasons why they had stopped: Sisbell was exhausted from running, and it was dangerous to continue forward without a solid plan. 

“Those guys climbed up the third-floor balcony right away. Which means there’s a high probability that the pursuers have already infiltrated the third floor. Where’s the most dangerous spot, little miss employer?” 

“…My room, I’m guessing.” 

“That’s right. The worst thing that could happen is if armed soldiers were waiting for you to run to your own room. So we’re not going anywhere near the floor above us.” 

They had the advantage in this regard. 

The unit could hide out in the bathrooms and changing rooms. If it came to guerrilla warfare, it was helpful to have Sisbell on their side, since she knew the mansion like the back of her hand. 

“Nene, how many bullets left in your gun?” 

“Twelve. I also swiped hand grenades from the soldiers earlier.” 

“And you, boss?” 

“Um, my Taser’s battery is about half-full…!” 

“Looks like we can’t have a war of attrition. If it was just the seven guys from the first floor, we would have been able to manage.” Jhin stared down the hall with bated breath. 

No one was there. They didn’t hear any footsteps or any signs of activity in the hushed hallway. The silence was unnatural, to the point of being eerie. 

“? ” 

Jhin glanced at the witch, who was squeezing his hand and showed no sign of letting go. 

“Quit gripping my hand so hard. It’ll make moving difficult when I need to.” 

“Uhhh?! Wh-what are you trying to say? I-I should have you know, I’m not scared!” 

“Fine. Tell me one thing.” He narrowed his eyes at a point down the hall as he talked. “How many people are in the House of Hydra? And don’t tell me you can’t divulge this information because we’re an Imperial unit. I need to know what we’re up against.” 

“…There are about thirty people from the Revered Founder’s direct line.” 

“That’s a whole lot less than I expected. Aren’t they part of a bloodline that’s continued for a century?” 

“That’s just the direct descendants. There are more than ten times that number of soldiers. And who knows if the House of Hydra have other hidden fighting forces?” 

“So a fight head-on is out of the question. We’re outnumbered.” 

The unit couldn’t tell how many people had been gathered to the mansion, but it couldn’t have been an insignificant number. After all, the head of household, Talisman, had made the trip himself. That cemented their theory that he intended to leave here with Sisbell. 

“…I’m worried for the servants. I know it’s not the time for this, but…,” Sisbell said. 

“You heard what that guy said. He needs witnesses to testify the Imperial forces attacked, so they’re not going to rough them up much. We’ve got to worry about ourselves right now.” 

Even during the entirety of their hushed conversation, they heard not a single footstep. 

The astral corps must have fallen back on their usual battle tactic of setting a trap and waiting for the prey to be captured. 

“So what should we do? Do you want to hide and wait it out until morning or escape from this manor? You know any good spots where we could conceal ourselves for the night?” 

“…A few places come to mind, but they’re all storehouses or corner spots. There are no means to escape from them, so we wouldn’t be able to run if we were found.” 

“Then we’ve got one option. We’ve got to make a getaway out of here.” 

Nene and Commander Mismis nodded firmly. 

They were on the second floor of the residence. Their choices were to either creep down the stairs or jump from one of the windows. 

“Th-there is a path out. I’ll show you!” Sisbell announced, pointing down the hall. 

She started to take a step forward. 

“We have escape routes connecting to the outside from the second, third, and fourth floors. We can get away through those.” 

“These better not be just normal emergency stairs,” Jhin grumbled. 

“They’re secret passages in case of disasters. Even the servants, much less the Hydra, don’t know that these fully concealed passageways are here.” 

They tiptoed down the lit hallway in the western-wing on the second floor. It enclosed the courtyard, and it hadn’t been part of the tour when Sisbell had shown them around the place days prior. 

“…It’s my first time using it as well.” 

She pulled a picture off the wall and stuck her finger into a small crack underneath it. With a demure thunk , the adjacent wall started to sink in a little. The indentation was in the shape of a door. 

“Whoa. Look! That’s so amazing, Nene. It’s like a trapdoor.” 

“Wow. So this wall is hollow, and we can travel behind it by pushing in its thin door. I’ve never seen anything like it in the Empire.” 

“This isn’t a field trip. Quit admiring the thing and get in,” barked Jhin. 

They headed into the hidden passageway on the other side of the wall. 

There wasn’t a single speck of light in there. 

The secret corridor reeked of dust and mildew, presumably because no one had set foot in it for a long time. With each breath, the pollutants stung their lungs. 

“How’s this an escape route? It’s just a gap between the walls.” 

“It’s good enough. If you’re going to be in front, you need to be careful, Jhin. We’re about to hit the stairs. If you’re not careful, you’ll sprain your ankle.” 

“I think the fact that it’s pitch black in here is going to pose a bigger issue than some stairs.” He pulled out a communicator, leaving its light on to serve as an impromptu flashlight. “What’s that?” 

In the back of the hall, something winked in the darkness. 

It wasn’t being emitted from a device. It was a fainter, more whimsical kind of light. 

It could have come from a firefly, except it was more intense. 

Was that astral energy? 

“Retreat!” Jhin screamed at the three people behind him, finally piecing it together. “Those guys even knew about this escape route. They’ve been waiting for us!” 

“What?!” 

“Get low and run!” Jhin barked. “—Ouch?!” 

He felt a sharp pain shooting down his back and involuntarily let out a choked cry. Immediately, he could feel something frigid enveloping him. 

As astral energy flooded the corridor with light, they could see that icicles were inching over the walls of the escape route. 

“Astral power of ice? So they’ve abandoned these unwieldy guns to fight in the way they know best…,” Jhin observed. “Nene, hurry up. They’re planning on encasing this whole passage with ice!” 

“I-I know, Jhin!” 

They turned tail, tumbling back into the hallway they came from. Sisbell, panting, pounded on the switch on the wall, and the door closed again. 

“There’s no mechanism to open it from the other side,” she assured. “We should be able to give ourselves some time…” 

Creak… 

The door started to screech as Sisbell tried to catch her breath. Frost crept onto the metal door that was blasted by an arctic chill. 

Metal grew brittle in low temperatures…and it didn’t take much to pull it from its hinges. 

“Original winter, Valley of Blizzards.” 

The door went flying. 

Blasting into the hallway were violent gusts of sleet, not gunpowder. The hallway that they had escaped to iced over, frost settling on their bodies, snow piling high on the ground. It looked like a white winter inside the estate. 

“Do you know the different between snow and ice? If you don’t know, allow me to introduce you to the world of snow.” 

It was the hoarse voice of an old woman, not an armed soldier, who advanced down the snowy hallway. 

She was a slender witch in red clothes that looked like a nun’s habit. Against the pure white backdrop of the hallway, she was the only thing that jumped out. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Sisbell. I think this is the first time we’ve met.” 

“…Wh-who are you?!” Sisbell’s words were thorny as the witch bowed reverently in front of her. 

This woman had a different demeanor from the armed soldiers on the first floor. It was already strange that she stood confidently in front of three Imperial soldiers, showing no fear of being gunned down. 

“Grugell, the Witch of the Midnight Sun,” Jhin identified. 

“Hmm? So the Imperial soldier knows me.” 

“Only because you dress so gaudily. Those on the Witches’ List are the kind of people you never want to run into.” 

Grugell had often been compared to the Ice Calamity Witch. Until both witches had appeared simultaneously in different battlefields, it had been speculated that they were the same person. 

She posed that much of a threat. 

Even now. Whenever snow started to fall on the battlefield, the Imperial forces were told to retreat immediately, fearing a fight against this witch. 

“It’s been so long since I have fought Imperial soldiers.” 

“I know that well. They say you completely crushed a whole company from the Fifth Division and put about twenty armored cars out of commission by yourself.” 

“Indeed.” The witch laughed merrily. “The world of snow is my domain. You won’t be able to stop a descendant of the Revered Founder such as myself now.” 

The Lou Erz mansion. First-floor hall. 

The embers crackled. Black smoke as thin as threads curled toward the ceiling from the two large holes that opened at the sides of the hall. The fire and smoke had been caused by the bombs set off earlier by Unit 907. 

On the other side…dust clouded the air, caused by an invisible force that was even more destructive than the bombs. 

“Call it a sixth sense. I felt like something was off.” 

There was an indomitable man in the prime of his life strolling through the thick cloud of dust, which would have induced a coughing fit from anyone. 

The head of the Hydra, Talisman. 

Not a single speck of debris clung to his white suit even among all the floating particulate matter and smoke. 

“Vichyssoise was one of our secret weapons. No one in the Lou or Zoa could stop her by themselves. I never would have expected her to make such a blunder.” 

“…Are you sure you should be telling me this?” 

“I’m asking you a question: Were you the one who overpowered her, former Saint Disciple of the eleventh seat?” 

“I don’t care to reply.” 

The Saint Disciple of the eleventh seat. 

Even as Talisman hinted at Iska’s background, Iska had no intention of humoring the man. 

…This is the second time now. I’m starting to get it. 

… Talking to this guy is dangerous. 

Drip, dribbled a red droplet. 

Wiping away the blood trailing from the small cut on his forehead, Iska vaulted off the ground. Behind him, a chandelier tumbled from the ceiling, smashing into tiny glass fragments and leaving behind a wreck. 

The ceiling had come crashing down . 

That had happened as Talisman had offered to introduce himself. 

“My name is Talisman.” As soon as Iska had lent an ear, the man used the opportunity to let hundreds of pounds of metal and wood collapse at once. 

…And it wasn’t a free fall. 

…He accelerated them as quick as artillery fire in silence. 

His astral power controlled invisible mechanical energy. 

In the past, Iska’s master had had a metaphor for what that meant: “Pretend your enemy has invisible robot arms shooting out of their shoulders.” 

Talisman had used his unseeable arms to pulverize the ceiling. 

“Hmm. I get it now, after seeing you do that.” Talisman put his finger on his chin after folding his arms. 

That was the strategy of this astral mage. He prepared for battle as he pretended to be lost in thought. 

“I won’t fault Vichyssoise’s power, but she sorely lacks experience in actual battle. I would find it easy to believe if an experienced Saint Disciple made sport of her, causing her to suffer a devastating blow.” 

“…” 

“That’s why I had a bad feeling about this whole thing. I sent an additional assassin just in case, to surveil little Sisbell. He, too, failed.” 

The sorcerer in the white suit jerked his chin behind him. 

The garden was visible from the door, left ajar. 

“You were the one who eliminated our intelligence commander Orneik, weren’t you?” 

“…Come again?” 

“The man with the brushed-up hair and sharp eyes. I ordered him to be on standby in the garden, but we lost communication with him last night. We found him nearly fatally wounded just earlier in the garden.” 

Was this conversation another trick to confuse him? 

Iska had never heard the name Orneik before or seen anyone of that description—much less an assassin hiding in the residence. 

“I don’t plan on saying anything.” 

“Well, then just listen. At first, I thought it was little Alice who apprehended him, but she would have interrogated him, instead of leaving him in the garden. It intrigued me that he had been left behind as if the perpetrator had no interest in him anymore.” 

“…” 

“But that’s water under the bridge. I’ll leave my subordinates to take care of little Sisbell, since I need to hurry back to the palace. On this most important day—” 

Talisman jumped back in the middle of his sentence. 

Three steps forward. Iska had silently closed in within sword-fighting distance. 

The head of the Hydra reacted immediately. “I was still in the middle of our conversation.” 

“I could say the same to you. ” 

The floor had split behind Iska. Like spears shooting up from below, sharp shards of the mansion’s bedrock had torn through the plush carpet like paper, ripping into the sky. 

They had tried to catch each other by surprise at the same time . 

Iska had stepped forward to counter, and Talisman had retreated in response. Below the surface of their idle conversation, they were one step ahead, already evading their enemy’s trap. 

…The head of the Hydra. This man leads one of the Founder’s bloodlines. 

…He’s stronger than I imagined. 

Talisman would drone on to distract Iska and strike as soon as his opponent’s guard was lowered. Picking up on this pattern, Iska had tried to hurt him when he got too close. 

The problem, however, was that this man was observant enough to read into Iska’s next move. 

…He’s trained well. 


…He’s not just head of the family, but a mage who’s built up experience in the battlefield. 

On the fourth step forward. 

“Hmm. Getting any closer would be dangerous,” warned Talisman, backing away. 

Iska dropped low to the ground. Just as he was about to pounce at the man and maul him, he sensed the presence of a “wall” and stopped in his tracks. 

The dust vanished. 

Something had blasted away the particles drifting in the air. An omen of what was to come. 

…An enormous tidal wave. 

Drawing nearer was an invisible wave. It was like a glass wall weighing dozens of tons was trying to crush the Imperial swordsman like a falling domino. 

“Gah?!” 

The wave grazed Iska’s shoulder, leaving him with shooting pain. He didn’t even have a chance to recover as his clothes were ripped off his right shoulder, which had suffered a direct blow. 

His clothes weren’t just torn—its fibers had disintegrated. 

This force was going to grip him. 

Iska whipped at the empty space with his black astral sword. He couldn’t see it, but he could feel the tip of his sword slicing through the wave that had tried to coil around him. 

“Hmm. So you got out before it could catch hold of you. You seem to know a fair amount about this type of astral power.” 

It seemed the head of the Hydra could not be shaken. His reaction seemed to indicate he wasn’t surprised by a Saint Disciple hacking through his attack. “You’ve got some experience under your belt despite your age. I have no doubt you have stood on many a battlefield of carnage.” 

“Your astral power just isn’t that special,” Iska spat, glancing at the floor that had been eroded away by the waves. 

Focus. He needed to be careful of the space around the man himself, not his mannerisms. 

…The astral power of Waves can manipulate surges of energy. 

…The most dangerous thing would be if I were directly caught in one of them. 

Any attack involving a collapsed ceiling or falling rocks, he could see. 

The scariest things were those “invisible robot arms,” as Iska’s master had called them. If he was grabbed by one, he would be flattened in its palms. 

“That doesn’t change the way I should deal with you.” 

“Hmm?” Talisman grunted. 

“I just need to close the distance to zero, as fast as possible.” 

Talisman’s eyes went slightly wide. 

As soon as the Imperial swordsman kicked off the floor, Talisman aimed a wave directly at the crown of Iska’s head. Before the blow could come down and leave a gaping hole in the floor, Iska leaped deftly to the side. 

Waves were slower than wind. 

The astral power of Wind controlled air, but both were invisible. 

Their speed was the differentiating factor. Compared to whirlwinds that approached at the speed of sound, the astral power of Waves was slow and required a close range, though it was strong. 

If these two things were triggered at the same time…Iska would be able to leap into range of his opponent sooner than the waves could touch him. 

“It’s unusual for an Imperial soldier to not use any guns, but that …” 

“You’ve got a barrier around you, right?” 

The space was empty, but Iska had felt something when he brought down his black astral sword. An eddying wall of waves was obliterated by Iska’s sword. 

He couldn’t physically see it, but the Imperial swordsman had managed to perfectly perceive the mass of waves in the air. 

“Hmm?” The head of the Hydra narrowed his eyes. 

He hadn’t shown any fear when he’d faced the former Saint Disciple, but there was a look of caution now in the sorcerer’s eyes for the first time. 

“How did you see them?” the man asked. 

“Just a hunch.” 

Iska had a feeling it was there. 

He knew Talisman would lay out a spider’s nest of invisible arms as soon as he determined he couldn’t capture Iska. That sounded easy in theory, but it was impossible for Iska to accurately pinpoint where the invisible waves would be. From that point, he had to rely on his experience, an intuition. 

Iska had encountered astral mages who manipulated waves on the battlefield, and the data he’d collected over the years elevated the quality of his guesses—which became his sixth sense. 

“Ha-ha. So you’re like a wild beast sniffing out prey.” Talisman put on a forced smile. “I can see why Vichyssoise was defeated. She expected a fight with an Imperial soldier and got a berserker instead. I’m sure she must not have known what to do.” 

“? ” 

“Saint Disciples are truly dreadful. Don’t you know how annoying it is to have an individual who outpaces a group? Especially in this day and age. After all, you can change the outcome of a battle all on your own.” 

There was no point in replying. Before Iska could even get a word in, they had already come to the decisive moment. 

“ I’ve been waiting for you.” 

Zwoosh. Something ripped through space. 

The floor holding up the head of the Hydra had started to sag. The waves he emitted were causing the floor to ripple. 

…And then he seemed to wink out of existence. 

Talisman kicked off the floor with enough force that it sounded like a bomb had gone off. The man in the white suit was gone. 

That was what it looked like to Iska. 

“Surges are wavelengths of mechanical energy on a vector, physical properties born from mass and acceleration. You must know that much.” 

Only his voice could be heard. 

It didn’t come from behind Iska or either side of him, booming from below. Talisman was close enough that he was in Iska’s blind spot. The sorcerer was coming after him with his head stooped low as though he were sliding across the ground. 

He was approaching at such an overwhelming speed that Iska doubted his eyes. 

“…Wha—?!” 

“You ought to be careful about making sweeping generalizations—even about astral mages that work with Waves.” 

The sorcerer’s fist shot up from the ground. 

Would Iska intercept this blow with the astral sword? No. He had no way of knowing if this was an ordinary punch. They were so close that their shoulders almost touched. 

Iska’s spine tinged from the terrifying power the sorcerer emanated and jumped off the ground as high as he could. 

He didn’t even think about ambushing the man. 

All he could do was escape Talisman’s range by vaulting away. Shwik . The fist grazed his torso, and in that moment, Iska’s ribs detonated . 

“Gah?! Gragh… Ah…?!” 

It felt like the side of his stomach had been gouged out. He was starting to lose consciousness. 

…Was that gunpowder? But there’s no traces of burn marks. 

…He caused this blow just by touching me with his fist…?! 

It hadn’t even been a direct hit. 

Grazing the hem of Iska’s clothes had been enough for blue bruises to bloom across his side. Talisman’s punch had the potential to pulverize Iska’s ribs and internal organs. 

“So you chose not to meet the blow to escape. You have good intuition, I’ll give you that. And I applaud you for dodging my blow under these conditions.” 

The head of the Hydra adjusted the hem of his white suit. 

“Talisman the Tyrant, they call me. I find that nickname to be a far cry from my true nature, however.” 

“…It suits you…perfectly…” Iska spat out the saliva that had pooled in his mouth. 

It was tinged red, either from his cut lip, internal injuries, or both. 

…Waves are mechanical energy created from the astral power on this planet. 

…Does that mean his explosive speed was activated by converting its energy into mass and acceleration? 

Could it be used in that way? Iska had never seen it before—not even on the battlefield. 

“So if that’s your astral power…” 

“Hmm?” Talisman said. “Don’t tell me you’ve mistakenly assumed that I’m unique or something.” 

“…What?” 

“So I converted Wave energy into acceleration. Any astral mage of the same type can pull that off. I guess the only difference is that I’m very powerful.” 

“Anyone can do it? Don’t lie to me—” 

“With a little training, that is.” Talisman’s form blurred. 

He launched himself from the floor, which echoed like a gunshot, and the sorcerer came crashing down, aiming for the top of Iska’s head. Before Talisman could land, Iska was able to catch sight of the man stooping over for a fraction of a second. 

Iska couldn’t perceive the man moving after that. 

…I knew it. His initial velocity isn’t that fast. 

…But then he accelerates like crazy. He’s using his astral power to induce surges and make himself go faster! 

Until the man jumped or started running, Talisman was as fast as a normal person. But then, he would pick up speed by the waves pushing him from behind. It was as if the man was running with a tailwind. 

“The physical conversion of the waves. It took me six years of fine-tuning to understand it. And eight more years to learn how to use it. Another thirteen years to reach this point. Nearly thirty years of hard work. I might be a little ham-handed.” 

The man’s fist brushed up against Iska’s bangs. 

Iska dove to the side. It felt like a hammer had been driven into his skull. 

“Anyone has the potential to do it, but you’d need to be mad to reach this level of perfection. Do you get it, young Saint Disciple? Do you see what I am trying to say?” 

Iska lunged toward the center of the hall to dodge the sorcerer’s attacks. The descendant of the Founder, however, tried to block his path. 

Iska’s first steps were faster…but the man moved at explosive speed, activating his converted astral energy. 

“No way!” 

Iska had been overtaken. 

Never in his life had he experienced such shock before, even though he’d gone up against every kind of astral mage there was. 

“You and I are one and the same. We’re demons at the peak of power ,” snarled the man. 

Talisman would not even let him dodge. 

As a fist drove into Iska’s ribs, his consciousness started to dim from the sheer force of the Wave. A second later, Iska’s body smashed into a stone pillar. 

It ended with a dull thud. 

“Unfortunately for you, I’ve been doing this for longer. See the difference for yourself.” 

Talisman tore his gaze away from the bowed soldier. He adjusted the hem of his white suit—still pristine—and checked for wrinkles before turning around in satisfaction. 

“…Wait…ugh…” 

“What?” Talisman stopped. 

The tyrant scowled and looked down to find Iska, panting and balancing his weight on his sword to prop himself up on his feet. 

“That Wave could pulverize steel. I thought I landed a direct hit.” 

“You did.” 

“Thought so. So how are you able to get back up?” 

It should have reduced Iska’s insides to a pulp. 

Talisman had assumed the soldier’s abdominal muscles had been shredded, ribs and spine grinded into dust, internal organs pierced… 

…And that almost became reality. 

…If I hadn’t released my astral attack then, I would have been done for. 

The white sword could release an astral attack just once. Iska had unleashed the waves that the black astral sword had broken earlier to serve as his shield. 

“Beautiful,” gasped the head of the Hydra, praising Iska in a way that was both snooty and honest. “You’ve really worked on your skills—your perception, movements, grit. Just facing you makes shivers creep up my spine. You’re starting to scare me.” 

“…” 

The pot calling the kettle black, Iska snapped in his mind. He wiped his lips, tasting blood. 

…Talisman, the head of the Hydra. 

…So this is one of the purebreds who leads one of the Nebulis bloodlines…! 

Iska could sense that this purebred was a force to be reckoned with, even if he didn’t want to. 

Vichyssoise might have inflicted more widespread damage, but the man in front of him had an intensity that no other astral mage had. 

This man was the natural enemy of Iska—the Successor of the Black Steel. 

Iska’s method of battling astral power of overwhelming strength was to engage in super-close combat at the risk of his life. He would slip past the attack and sneak within reach of his opponent before they could see what was going on. 

This was all feasible because Iska had fast legs and always worked on his fighting techniques. 

…I’m annoyed. I’ve never been so frustrated before. 

…I can’t believe someone can shake off my maneuvers. 

They were equal in speed. 

Iska’s fangs had ripped through many a formidable foe: the Founder, the Ice Calamity Witch, the Witch of Thorns, the transcendental sorcerer. This was his first time encountering an enemy that was untouchable. 

“Now, what could you possibly be thinking? Perhaps a way to turn things around on me? An escape route? Or little Sisbell’s status after she ran deeper into the estate?” 

“I’ll answer the last question. You’re completely off base with that one.” 

He sliced through the empty space with his sword. 

All the visible dust went flying in all directions. “She’s with my buddies,” Iska spat. 

“My hand-selected subordinates have the mansion surrounded, you know?” 

“They’ll escape right away. You’ll see.” 

“Ha-ha,” the leader of a bloodline burst out. “Sorry for laughing. You just seemed so serious. Escape to where? You can’t go beyond the estate.” 

“…And why is that?” 

“There’s no place in the Sovereignty for her to run away to anymore. The administration is on its way to collapse right this very moment. Via the Imperial raid, that is.” 

“Like I care. We’re going to bring her to the capital.” 

Then that would be the end of it. Mayhem breaking out in the Sovereignty did not concern Iska. Even if Queen Nebulis IIX were to fall, even if Sisbell cried and begged for his help, he didn’t intend on lending her a hand. 

That said…he would get her to the palace—no matter what obstacles stood in his path. 

“This is an excellent stage. This residence is on high ground, so I’m certain we’ll be able to see a beautiful sunrise.” 

Talisman looked in the direction where the sun would rise, though the sky was jet black. It was one o’clock in the morning. It would be a while until it was dawn. 

“Don’t you think you’re jumping ahead?” Iska asked. “It’s still the middle of the night.” 

“That’s why we’ll see it through. Tonight will be the last day that the Lou—the Stars—will twinkle in the sky. And the long night will finally come to an end.” 

The stars were a symbol of the Lou. 

Just as the stars, moon, and sun took turns illuminating the surface of the world, the Lou, Zoa, and Hydra rotated in and out of prosperity. 

Iska remembered hearing something similar from the youngest princess. 

“So you’re saying the current queen will fall?” 

“Ha-ha. As the head of a family, I cannot say, but you’re a perceptive one.” 

“Then what will happen?” 

“That’s obvious. Morning comes once the stars stop twinkling in the night sky,” stated the leader of the Hydra. 

He looked up into the deep black of the night. 

“Dawn comes with the Hydra Sun. A new era is about to begin.” 



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