• Celice charged ahead, knowing Yuria must be near, she was either in Bahara, where Prince Yurius is, or hopefully Velthomer. And she was alright, he knew that for sure, despite the worry that set heavily on his mind—she was fine, despite being held by the enemy. Or he hoped—Alvis, her father, the man who murdered Celice’s father, Lord Sigurd, wouldn’t have harmed her, he could tell from the look in the Emperor’s eyes, and the words that man said as he died by Celice’s hand, but there was no telling what her corrupted brother Yurius would do to her. He tried to push the worries from his mind, but he couldn’t, she was in danger, and she was important; not only was she the only one in the whole world, who could wield the Divine Tome of Naga, but it was more than that, she was important to him. He blushed as he thought it- but she was indeed very close to him.

    He snapped the reins of his steed, and rode faster towards the north, but as he did, he felt a presence, one that made the hairs on his body stand on edge. It was then he caught a figure, standing in a white dress, on the road ahead. Seeing her brought a smile to Celice’s face—he instantly recognized her- it could be no other, he had found who he was looking for, yet something seemed off—there was something wrong with Princess Yuria. As he approached, she didn’t respond, and that terrified him. He had heard what Manfroy had done to his mother, Empress Diadora, and feared that he had done something similar to Yuria.

    His fears were realized all too soon as Yuria stared at him, with her tome of Resire in hand. She uttered an archaic phrase that he had heard many times before, but this time, he realized she was aiming the spell at him. Thinking quickly, Celice dove off his horse and narrowly evaded the spell. As the light faded from behind him, Celice ran to Yuria, leaving his Holy Sword, Tyrfing, behind—she was not an enemy. He called out to her, “Yuria! What’s wrong with you?!” she didn’t respond. “Come on! Snap out of it!” He exclaimed, tears in his eyes, hoping to break through to the entranced princess, to no avail.

    “Eeeeahh… Must… Kill… Any… Who… Oppose… Us…” Yuria responded, in a strange voice- dark magic had possessed her. She staggered towards Celice, her movements unnatural and puppet-like, as though some force was manipulating her every action.
    At that moment, Levin, along with a majority of the Liberation Army caught up to Celice. ”It’s no use! Dark Magic has got her card! Manfroy did this to her. Let’s deal with him first, and then try again.” He said.

    “Yeah. But… she seems to be following me. I’m going to keep her occupied— and leave the killing of Manfroy to the rest of our army. It’ll be safest that way. We can’t lose her, and…” Celice said, “Look out!”

    The arcane light of Resire fired off again, this time aimed at the approaching Master Knight, Leaf, who was caught by the full brunt of the attack, engulfed entirely by it. He uttered a sharp cringe at the pain, unable to discern what had happened to him initially. He opened his eyes after the light had faded, but she had hidden herself amongst the trees. “That was Princess Yuria, wasn’t it?” he asked Celice.

    “Yes… it was. She’s being controlled by the enemy- I’m going to keep her occupied, but…”
    “Someone’s got to die.” Aless, the Black Knight, who had rode up behind Leaf said. “And we’ll make sure he does, Celice.”

    Celice nodded at the arrival of his allies. “It’s Manfroy, Archbishop of the Lopt Sect who caused this... I know I can trust you all, so go, I’ve got this!”

    “Right. Good Luck Celice!” Leaf said, preparing to charge off with Aless and Levin as well, and the other members of the Liberation Army following suit, leaving Celice alone to deal with the Princess.

    Celice turned around to face her. “Yuria. I’m sorry, for everything that I’ve done to you. I feel so bad about what has happened, but I promise, we’ll get through this, together.” He knew his words fell on deaf ears, but spoke anyways, evading another one of her attacks. “You’ve always been at my side. Thank you for that.” He held the shield he carried in front of him; ready to deflect her powerful spells. He was fighting, but it wasn’t exactly like anything he had done before- in his training at Tilnanogue, he didn’t ever have a chance to practice against casters- he learned on the battlefield how to deal with users of the magic arts, and he killed them with deft, lethal precision - every caster to face him in battle had died a swift and painful death on his sword, but this was different, he wasn’t fighting to kill, rather it was like his practices with Skasaher, Lakche, Shanan or Oifey, of course, given Yuria’s present condition, she didn’t see it that way- all she saw was an enemy, in stark contrast to her normal self- a self that had adored the man she now was locked in battle against.

    “Your warm smiles make me happy- you know that? I want you to smile for me again- I won’t let this be the end of you.” He told her, as he ducked beneath his shield to avoid the incoming Resire, but it was not enough, the attack hit hard, engulfing him in a burning light that tore at him, causing him to instinctively scream due to the extreme pain it caused- he wasn’t like Leaf, he couldn’t shrug off magic without his Holy Weapon. Magic was the death of his father and it may very well be the death of him as well, but he wasn’t dead. He rose to his feet, coughing due to the attack winding him, but even as his eyes filled with tears of pain, he steeled himself. “Don’t… worry… You can’t kill me. I know you don’t really want to do this. I know this isn’t really you—and I’ll make sure you’re back to the way you should be. Our friends are out there, right now, fighting to save you—we’ll put an end to this.” But he couldn’t fool himself, she could kill him, her magic was incredibly powerful, if inaccurate, and if too many more spells hit home, he’d surely succumb, but he realized he needed to focus on dodging the incoming attacks. He took a quick glance down the road to the east, and saw a column of smoke rising high into the air. “The siege has begun. It won’t be long… Yuria.”

    He cringed from the burns he sustained due to her attack, but suddenly felt himself engulfed in a soothing light. “Reblow… Sharlow…. Thank you.” He turned back to Yuria, as she moved closer to him. “Come! Yuria! Stay at my side, like you always have! I know you can keep up with me!” he shouted, and turned to run. His azure hair blew in a sharp wind caused by the release of energy from a missed Resire, its holy energy igniting the tree it had struck. He looked back at the Princess and blushed slightly, sure he had recently learned she was his sister, but to him she had always been more, he had lied to Levin, and he knew it, but that wasn’t his concern now, now all he knew was to keep her from getting caught up in the fighting at Velthomer and he knew he could do it—she’d be back to normal soon.

    “Darkness… arise.” The old man’s words trembled, he was already badly injured. He quickly read the words from his black book, as his blood stained the pages. He was quite resilient for an old man- he had already sustained blows from his foes—and made his move to counterattack- which came in the form of darkness taking the form of wicked snakes which launched at the black armored man standing before him.

    “Manfroy. You think your little tricks are going to save you?” Aless said. “They won’t, and my Sword hungers—the demon sword seeks to drink the blood of the wicked, and you’re quite the candidate… Leaf! Let’s finish this!” He shouted, charging forward towards the man, his Holy weapon in hand. He stabbed Manfroy’s chest as a blast of holy light struck deep at the same time. Aless tore his sword out of Manfroy—ripping through the Archbishop’s flesh diagonally, spilling his blood upon the castle floor.

    Manfroy coughed, blood pouring from his wounds, and uttered his final words, “Yurius… the Loputo Empire… is… in your hands now.”

    Leaf looked up, sheathing his sword. He turned to see Nanna approaching him, and Laylea coming to join Aless. “Celice. We’ve won. Yuria should be…”

    Celice noticed that the attacks had ceased and turned around to find Yuria standing inert- something had happened. “They must have succeeded.” He said to himself. He dropped his shield and ran straight towards her. “YURIA! It’s me… Celice! Come on! Snap out of it!” he yelled.

    She shook her head and blinked her eyes. “Huh…? Celice!” she smiled. “What… what’s going on?” she looked around, confused as to what had happened.

    Celice wrapped his arms around her, a relieved smile coming to his face. She had been saved. “Manfroy cast a spell on you… he was manipulating you…” he explained, as tears ran down his face.

    “Oh… I remember now… He forced me to go with him.” She said, her eyes full of tears as well.

    “I’m just so glad you’re safe now, Yuria.” He said, confident that she really was safe- the Crusade was not yet over, but he knew they’d see it through to the end.

    “Celice…. I have something I…” Yuria softly said, as something important came to her mind.

    “Don’t worry about it, Yuria. Levin told me everything… I… I feel… as if… I really let you down.” He choked out his words. He had gotten her back, but he knew in his heart that it was partly his fault that she had gotten taken away in the first place. They backed away from one another, but Celice kept his hands on her shoulders.

    “Not really… for the first time in my life I know what I’m here for… and that’s to fight. I’m not scared anymore, Celice.” She said, her expression seemingly becoming happier.

    “You’re really brave, you know that? Yuria, we’re all behind you on this. I wish things could be different, but we have to face this… we must persevere.” He said confidently, knowing that she, the inheritor of Saint Heim, the one destined to wield the Divine tome of Naga, could bring an end to this Crusade—an end to this long and bloody war. He now knew that they had the same mother, but his feelings could not be contained, he suddenly pulled her close, “One last thing, Yuria…” he said before closing his eyes and kissing her. Their kiss broke and both blushed, “I love you.”

    Oifaye, the man who had watched over Celice in place of his father, rode up to the scene to inform Celice that Manfroy was dead, realized that Celice had already succeeded. “Well there’s a sight for sore eyes. It’s good to see…” he said to himself, deciding to leave the two to themselves, at least until the rest of the army had arrived.