Chapter One: Prelude to the Final Movement
I
The region known as the Turner Plains hosted a variety of geography, from a maze of hills and forests to wetlands and rivers. In the hills stood a man and a woman, both clad in blue armor. At first glance they looked just like soldiers of the Azure Knights, but it was clear from the incredible aura that emanated from them both that they were nothing of the sort. Two unknown corpses lay sprawled at their feet.
“It’s about to begin,” the man said, an ear to the rumble of battle drums that rose from both armies. He removed a dark mask adorned with an inverted gold cross. His name was Mirage Lebnan, a tall man with short-cropped hair. He addressed his companion, Krishna Siren. She removed her own mask, similar to his own but with a butterfly design instead, with a gauntleted hand, before taking a spyglass from the pouch at her waist and holding it to her eye.
“So it seems,” she said. “By the way, when were you planning on entering the fray?”
“We’ll wait until the fighting is at its most chaotic. I don’t want to leave any chance of failure.”
“If you want to be sure, wouldn’t it be better to strike while the target is asleep? You do know we’re the descendants of an ancient line of assassins, don’t you?” Krishna pointed out. As she did so, she raised a hand to a passing butterfly, allowing it to land on her finger.
“That would work well enough if our mark were an utter fool. But she’s Deep Folk, and skilled enough that she took down Madara single-handedly. Rather than attack while she’s asleep, when she’ll be on the alert, we’ll have a far easier job while she’s distracted in the heat of battle.”
Krishna didn’t agree or argue, only swept her spyglass from left to right before returning it smartly to its holster. She then leaned in as though to inspect Mirage’s face.
“It’s been some time since I saw you without your mask,” she remarked. “Did you always look like that?”
Mirage stroked the beard he had recently started to grow out as he replied. “Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for me?”
Krishna stared at him for a moment in silence. “After a great enough shock, one loses the ability to speak,” she said. “Are you in your right mind? I really am so very eager to know when it was that I fell for you.”
Mirage returned her knife-sharp glare with a look of puzzlement. “What? Was I mistaken? And here I was convinced after you were first in line to pair up with me...”
“That’s all it took to get you saying such things?! I am shocked beyond words. You are easy to work with; it’s no more than that. It quite fills me with dread to think your imagination runs so wild.” Krishna finished with a dramatic sigh, after which the pair settled into silence for a time.
Eventually Mirage, his mind already running on to other things, broke the silence. “By the way, about Felix—” But no sooner had the name passed his lips than Krishna’s full, alluring lips curved mysteriously. A moment later, a flock of wild birds resting in a nearby tree let out a raucous screeching and, as one, took to the wing.
Mirage glared at Krishna. “Showing off your bloodlust like that is unseemly.”
“Whatever do you have to say about Felix? According to our intelligence, he is to command the whole of the imperial army in this battle, is he not?” Krishna seemed like she might start whistling a tune, such was the enthusiasm with which she turned her gaze on the imperial camp. Mirage opened his mouth, then closed it again, letting out a small sigh instead.
“No, never mind,” he said.
“Oh? You really oughtn’t bottle things up like that. By the by, once we’ve finished off the Deep Folk girl, I plan on putting that arrogant boy in his place too.”
“You can’t have forgotten what the elder said,” Mirage said at length. The last time the subject of Felix’s execution came up, the elder had said in no uncertain terms that none of them were to strike at him.
“Naturally, I have not forgotten the words of our honored elder,” Krishna replied. “Having said that, however much talent the boy may possess, that doesn’t change that the elder is too soft on him. Surely you agree?”
“Felix is to be the next elder. It’s only natural our elder is a bit soft on him.”
The present elder had to decide upon their successor. So it was written in the Combined Covenants of the Asura, passed down in an unbroken line since the Asura’s founding. They could protest all they liked, but if the elder did not change his mind, there was nothing they could do. To the Asura, contracts and covenants were everything.
“Even as he makes no effort to hide that he is distancing himself from the Asura?” Krishna retorted, then laughed softly. “It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
“That’s how much talent the elder sees in Felix.”
“That is how he’s ended up ignoring the noble calling of the Asura to lose himself in idiotic war games. Is hunting the Deep Folk not our ultimate calling? It wouldn’t hurt for someone to teach him a bit of a lesson.”
“Teach him a lesson, eh...” Mirage chuckled under his breath. Krishna’s eyes took on a glint of suspicion.
“I certainly didn’t mean to amuse you,” she said.
“Well, confidence is a fine thing, but I’m not going to help you, at any rate.”
Krishna sighed. “So you share Nefer’s thoughts on the matter, in the end. Whatever’s turned you all craven, surely you don’t seriously think he could take all of us?” Her tone was mocking, and Mirage didn’t quite know how to respond to that. Eventually, he decided this was the time to tell her a story from long ago.
“It was only once,” he began, “but I have sparred with Felix before.”
“I never knew that.” Krishna said, surprised. Mirage went on, paying her no mind.
“No reason you would have. It happened more than a decade ago, after all.”
Mirage remembered that day as though it were only yesterday.
Krishna’s immaculately shaped eyebrows shot up. “More than a decade ago?”
“Felix was eleven years old. I would’ve been exactly the age he is now.”
Krishna’s eyes urged him to continue with his story. Without a word, Mirage removed the armor covering his upper right arm, then rolled up his sleeve to show her. He distinctly observed her eyebrows draw together in a frown.
“Felix gave me this scar not long after the bout began. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you the result.”
“And it wasn’t simply that you were weak?” Krishna replied teasingly. Mirage grinned.
“You seriously believe that, do you?”
“I mean, I don’t...” muttered Krishna, her face stiffening uncomfortably. Mirage rolled his sleeve down again, then reaffixed his armor.
“Well, that’s the long and short of it, anyway,” he said. Krishna was quiet for a moment.
“Just so we’re clear, I never intended to rely on your assistance,” she spat. She then started kicking the corpse at her feet. Mirage felt quite sorry for them, to be humiliated even in death.
This is going to be a headache, he thought. He had no interest whatsoever in standing up for Nefer. At the same time, he saw signs that Krishna and other comparatively younger Asura underestimated Felix. Even Mirage couldn’t stand Felix or the man’s disgust for the noble Asuran blood that ran in his veins, but he wasn’t about to raise a sword against the younger man now. Mirage had been helpless against Felix even when the other was only a boy—now that he was a grown man, Mirage did not stand even a ghost of a chance.
The conversation had gotten off track. Mirage returned to his original point. “It’s not that I don’t understand your anger, Krishna,” he said, “but forget about Felix for the time being. Nothing is more important right now than putting an end to the Deep Folk.”
The girl in question, the true last survivor of the Deep Folk, had killed Madara in self-defense before he could succeed in his mission. Even Krishna had to understand that she could not under any circumstances afford to take the threat she posed lightly.
Krishna clicked her tongue quietly, then said, “You don’t need to tell me to be careful. Isn’t that why we took pains to dress up like this?” She spread her arms out and did a graceful pirouette, her golden hair beautiful as it traced an arc through the air.
“You look better in it than I expected,” Mirage commented.
“Why, thank you,” Krishna replied, sounding as though she couldn’t care less. Don’t go showing off like that, then, Mirage thought, privately annoyed.
“I’ll go over it again to be sure,” he said. “We wait for chaos before we kill her. If her strength is spent, all the better.”
“Shall I observe from a safe distance for the early stages of the battle, then?”
“That’s right.”
“And if the battle is decided quickly?”
“We can think about our next move if it comes to that. Either way, observation will be crucial.”
Their likelihood of success would improve dramatically if they waited until they had grasped the extent of her abilities rather than engaging with the girl the moment they caught sight of her. She had killed Madara, after all. They could not be too careful.
Mirage turned away from Krishna as she indicated her agreement, looking back to where the armies spread out beneath them.
So they call you “Death God” on the battlefield, last of the Deep Folk. I hear from Nefer your mother was very skilled too. Let’s see what you’ve got.
The beating of the battle drums grew in intensity, and war cries began to ring out from the forces on both sides. Mirage and Krishna turned away. In moments, the two of them had vanished into the hills.
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