It's been a while, but this tale goes on. Hopefully I didn't make any grievous errors. If I did, please let me know.

Legacy of Arthias

Chapter 14 - Endless Cycle, Part 2: In Vain

When he was younger, Nazaka DeForest had dreamt of being a soldier.

Most of that desire came from another desire to get out of the rut he and his family had been in since he was a child. Broke, defenseless, and looked down upon by those with money and privilege, most of them living in Epistema, the Halteese capital, Nazaka desired a better life for him, and he knew that military duty would provide a relatively easy way to luxury. His family wasn't too pleased when he announced his intention to join Halteese's military academy, but he wasn't going to be deterred.

Throwing himself into his training and his studies, he looked to make a name for himself as the hardest working student in the academy. He gained both praise for his effort and scorn from some of the lazier students who felt inferior compared to his work ethic, but he didn't take much stock in either. Of course, he had his friends. Kanon, Alian and Leraje; all of them would join him as a bit of a unit even before they graduated. The bond between them gave him even more motivation to fight.

Before they knew it, Nazaka and his friends were out of the academy, thrust into the war with little warning and little chance to adjust to their new surroundings. He didn't think any of it at first. All he cared about was fighting as many people as he could, and going home a hero, beloved by the public. A selfish thought, yes, but ye

ars of living in poverty had left him more than a little miffed at quite a few people. With that, he eagerly marched toward his first battle.

It was all so terrifying. He hadn't seen anything like he saw that very first battle. Bloodstained fields, soldiers struggling for their last gasps of air, men that he knew from the academy only a short time before murdered in cold blood right in front of his eyes, the overall helplessness when you know that you couldn't do anything to stop it….

Despite that, with the help of the general that led his unit, he continued to fight; the sooner the war ended, the sooner he could be back home, hopefully with enough money or prestige to save his family from living in poverty.

And then his general died.

She died right in front of him, to be precise, struck down by a lone girl with a blade as bright as the moon in the midnight sky. As Nazaka stared at the fallen woman that had been his guide throughout his time in the unit, and his fellow soldiers stood around his corpse, holding back tears-or in Kanon's case, failing to entirely-only then did he realize how empty this whole thing really was.

"Please welcome Nazaka DeForest as your new commanding officer!" said the official decree days later.

Nazaka wanted to quit right then and there.

It has been only two and a half years since he left the academy, but now he was leading his own forces into battle, despite his inexperience. The military was in constant flux due to an increasingly evident lack of experienced soldiers-at that point, units were being plucked from the academy only months after they started, barely able to properly use their own weapons in armed combat-and neglect from the former royal family had left the chain of command in absolute shambles, leaving people barely capable of following commands on their own to lead entire forces, endeavors which often ended with them falling in their first few battles.

Nazaka was one of the lucky ones; the experience he gained was enough to lead his forces to victory most of the time, but the costs were still numerous. By time he reached the two-year mark in his tour of duty, he and his friends were the only mainstays of what was a steady stream of nameless recruits, fresh from the academy, who lasted about 2 months before they wound up being buried.

His sense of morality had slowly slipped away, his mind getting used to the violence and carnage that permeated his world now. He had long accepted the fact that he'd probably not live to see the end of this war. Still, there was still one thing that kept him going, even after all this time…

To have the privilege to wake up and see her smile, every single day.

Nazaka regained consciousness, finding himself looking up at that familiar bleak sky.

How long was I out? Slowly tiling his head, he found that he was lying right next to a dead Malettan soldier, the ragged slash on his neck a mark of Nazaka's own doing. By the way the blood still flowed, it had only been a few moments.

Now he remembered: he was so exhausted that he must have passed out for a bit. Nazaka assumed that any person that came across him assumed he was already dead. Lucky him.

The poignant scene reminded him that he was still in the middle of a life or death struggle. This was about his eighth group soldiers that he had encountered, and the eight one he had slain. He didn't even know why he bothered keeping count. As soon as one died, another two came popping up from out of his blind spot.

Maybe I'll lie here for an hour or so. A nice, long nap should be in order. Nazaka resisted his body's demands to close his eyes, however, and lifted himself up. No, no. Got to keep moving. If I'm still living, then the rest of them should be.

He really didn't even know where he was at anymore. Everything was snow and ashes now; most of the buildings where either destroyed or in the middle of being destroyed. With luck, most of the citizens had been able to escape with their lives, but there were still the unlucky few that stood their ground…ground that was now stained with their blood.

Any of these ghastly scenes would haunt a normal person, soldier or not, but Nazaka was long since numb to such things. His only thoughts were of his friends and their safety. He had made himself a promise, and in order to keep going, he had to head on to the stronghold. Nazaka went in that direction looking for the blood of whoever started this act.

"I FOUND ANOTHER ONE!" Nazaka heard the cries of soldiers in the distance. "Get him! Captain Hyle wants no survivors left here!"

He grabbed his sword, the only thing on his mind was the targets in front of him. Just more dogs that need to be put down.

And he did. It wasn't easy, but soldiers like these tended to get lax in their defenses whenever they had an advantage in numbers; believing that they would be covered in any attempt at an attack. Nazaka knew that, and he loved proving that line of thinking to be so very, very wrong.

In this case, though, three soldiers—two male, one female—looked to make this one their fight. They tried her best, but their best only meant that it took slightly longer for Nazaka to put his sword in their stomachs.

Nazaka stood before the newly dead bodies that lay bleeding at his feet, but his mind was far removed from his actions. Realizing that a stronghold was nearby, he slowly staggered off into that direction.

Captian Hyle, huh? So that's who's in charge…

Whoever that was, the only thought that was going on in his head was that man's slow dissection by his hand.

Eurydice and Aeneas had chosen to stick together while they fought off the Malettan soldiers, which they were quite a few of even from after a short time. None of them seemed to be taken by surprise by the unplanned appearance of Grandall soldiers.

Aeneas, for his part, had been more focused on finding Riese, who had sprinted off without warning, than anything else. A loose cannon like her being on the...well...loose would be nothing but problems if they didn't catch her quick.

"A-Aeneas?" She finally spoke up, shortly after dispatching a wide range of soldiers. "Are you okay? You've haven't said anything outside of fighting since we left camp."

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine." He scratched his cheek with a finger. He had more than forgotten about Eurydice in the whole scheme of things, which considering his usual charm with cute girls, was quite unusual, even for him. "My mind is just on finding Riese as soon as possible, that's all."

"Don't worry, I'm sure we will find her eventually…"

"But it probably would be best if that someone was us. In particular, I'm really the only one that has at least a chance of getting through to that girl. Something tells me that Sarieth would probably bungle his words up and make things worse."

"Yeah…" Eurydice stopped in her tracks. "She's always been close to you, hasn't she?"

Aeneas shrugged as he planted his lance on the ground. "You could say that. I had the 'privilege' of meeting her when she first appeared in the military academy, and while she wasn't too bad, she obviously had issues that she didn't want to talk about. It took a long time for her to open up. Once she did, though, she became a loyal, fierce fighter who chose to stick by us through thick and thin. But I guess coming back to Halteese has opened up some old wounds."

"Like what?" Eurydice was curious to know more about her comrade in arms, but Aeneas seemed a bit hesitant.

"I…I don't really know what I want to get too deep into things here."

"Please Aeneas? I just don't want to spend the entire time 'enjoying' the ambience of all this…" She motioned to the mess that surrounded the both of them. "Just give me something else to think about…"

Aeneas was no match for her whenever she started to beg. "Alright, but keep this between us, okay?" Eurydice nodded. "Her parents were executed by Halteese officials some time ago. Something about being branded as traitors…I'm not too sure, she didn't like going into detail about this." Aeneas sighed. "She kinda lived a life as a vagabond for a brief time before deciding to go Grandall when she got older and immediately declaring that she would be a part of our military."

"And General Girardot paired her with you two?"

"Riese always had a bit of a brash attitude. She had a hard time getting along with other people, but for some reason, she seemed to mesh well with us, so the general had little other choice. Surprisingly, the three of us turned out to be a great team."

"You three do seem to be quite a group." Eurydice commented, "I wish l was that close to my teammates during training."

"What about Abelia?"

"We studied together, I wasn't a part of her group initially. The people I was paired with all thought I was too nice and too sympathetic to be any type of serious warrior. They didn't take me seriously enough to want to help me, so I either had to jump in on Abelia's trainings, or just practice by myself."

Aeneas frowned at that statement. "How could they not take you seriously? I've seen you for long enough to know you could hold your own against anybody"

The sword wielder had a rather embarrassed look at Aeneas' praise. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm a average-looking girl wielding a massive sword. Even for a woman, I was considered strange for choosing such a weapon. Most of the other girls leaned more towards lighter, quicker swords and whips and such. Even when my training was going well, no one really took me seriously. I was accused of 'holding the team back' just by being there."

"I, for one, can certainly tell you that is not the case. I certainly know how it feels to have people unfairly criticize you, though. It sucks."

"Really? I always considered you one of the best lance users in the academy! Some say you'd probably be able to surpass General Girardot one day."

"…And I was also considered a bit of a teacher's pet because he was the one that taught me how to wield this weapon in the first place. As far as I know, the only other person to get such treatment is his own son."

"Wait, you were trained by Girardot himself? How?" Eurydice asked.

Aeneas shrugged slightly. "It's not actually all that impressive," he said, "I had a bit of trouble looking for a weapon that suited me when I first started training. It was him who suggested a lance. It turned out that I was a natural at it. He saw my skill and decided that he'd be the best person to help me get a handle on things. I owe all of my skill to him."

"Wow, it's no wonder that you're so skilled when you're using that thing." Eurydice seemed a bit more awestruck by his story than he was expecting. "I don't see why anyone would look down on you for that. You're incredible, Aeneas."

"Heh, I am, aren't I? It better than being seen only as Sarieth's sidekick, that's for sure." Aeneas tried his best to return to his usual confident self, but there were too many butterflies in his stomach from Eurydice's look for him to commit to that fully. "Though if someone said that to Riese, she'd probably disembowel them."

Eurydice laughed. "That certainly sounds like something that she would do." She looked towards the horizon, still too filled with smoke and snow to see much of anything. "For now, let's just keep going; I have a feeling that it's not a good idea for Riese to be on her own for so long."

Nazaka let out a relieved breath as he slowly sat down. He didn't have the luxury of having a lot of time to spend resting in this stronghold, but he needed a bit of down time while he tried to figure out his next plan of attack.

Thinking about his own status, he realized he was in pretty good shape at the moment. He was extremely sore from the constant fighting, but other than that he was still able to keep going. That was a good thing seeing that, from what little he could see out of the smoke, the garrison was up ahead, and Nazaka was convinced that the leader of this thing would be present.

That thought, however, left him with a completely different problem: What would he do once he got there? He was all but certain that there would be Malettan troops that will try and stage an ambush him, either before or as soon as he got there, and going in alone was basically suicide. And even if he wasn't alone, any small group he could scrounge up would be immediately outnumbered.

He had passed bodies upon bodies of innocent civilians, and if they weren't dead, they'd would have been soon enough. God only knows how many soldiers he'd killed so far, and nothing was really coming from that either. With no other options, he surrendered himself to the idea that the only thing he can do is find his friends and retreating to someplace safe.

As his mind continued to mull strategies, sleepiness tried to set in his mind yet again.

It was a bit of cruel irony; a restful sleep always seemed to escape his grasp at night most of the time. Kanon, who often bunked with him even if he didn't exactly need the company, had taken it upon herself to try and snuggle up whenever possible, believing that the company would ease him up a bit. And it did-not that he would tell her that, because she'd sure as hell make it known to everyone within earshot. But the feeling of having her warm body curled up next to his was something he internally savored every chance he got.

"Kanon…" Nazaka couldn't help but murmur. The idea that she might be in trouble was a though that struck him with fear more than any group of warriors ever could.

As much as the idea of retreating repulsed him, He needed to find Kanon and the others and get the hell out of Epistema. They could figure out a way forward from there…

The resolve seemingly gave him a bit of a second wind. Nazaka got back on his feet, ready to get to work, when…

"...Leaving so soon?"

Nazaka's hand was already at his sword's hilt the second those words hit his ear. "Who's there?!"

A soft laugh. "You know, had I not been up on the roof, it would have been really easy to just cut your throat the moment you stepped foot in here. But then again, that wouldn't be as fun, would it?"

A figure seemed to land in the very center of the room, though Nazaka couldn't tell exactly from where she jumped. The hood on her head concealed much of her face, but he could still tell that person was a female.

"Hm. I guess not." Nazaka said, "Honestly, it's much more fun for me when the person I'm killing thinks they're unbeatable. The shock on their face usually lasts a good while after death."

"How bold. Unfortunately, you're merely another fly that has fallen into thy web. It certainly doesn't seem to be a good day for you and your ilk, does it?"

"I'll probably be asking that same question when my sword is sticking out of your back." He said assuredly as he once again unsheathed his sword. "I'll do you a favor and make this quick. I'm in a bit of a hurry, after all."

The woman merely laughed again. "Certainly, a bit more gusto compared to the last few people who dared to come here. Do try and make it fun for me."

Speaking of Kanon, the young grieve edge user was indeed handling herself well. She managed to rescue one soldier, and in turn, that man informed her of a few others that were mulling about a bit up ahead. In a matter of moments, Kanon had amassed a few troops to form a small makeshift unit, all ready for her to lead them to battle.

However, even in small numbers, the Malettan forces were in tremendous shape, and it wasn't long before the girl's hopes withered and died Kanon herself, being a very high-energy girl with a rather unorthodox style of fighting, didn't have much problem disposing of them on her own, but it seemed for every unit they take down, some of her own fell along with them.

Kanon found herself sitting on the ground, as the young female lying in her lap slowly breathed her last. It was a position she had the misfortune of being in more than once, but it was the least she could do. If it was her in that position….

"I'm…sorry, Kanon…" The dying girl choked out her last words before the warmth faded from her body.

Kanon just nodded, trying her best not to let her emotions get to her as She felt all the warm leave the girl's body, and once again, she was on her own.

Unfortunately, she didn't have the 'luxury' of being desensitized to this kind of stuff like Nazaka was. Seeing people-some she personally knew-dying around a pain worse than any blade could inflict on her. Some days she wished she never joined the army, but looking back, she really didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

In some ways, her story was similar to that of her friend, only her enlistment was done out of a need to belong rather than the desire to help her family. Even with the hazards of war looming, her only concern in the academy was being with Nazaka and making as many friends as she could to fill the void created by a childhood of isolation and pain. She had assumed that by time her unit graduated, the war would be close to over, and she could go home and reap the benefits. Of course, she was just a silly girl back then.

But now wasn't the time to reminisce on past mistakes. The unmistakable sound of boots crunching snow was getting louder, and Kanon knew what to expect. Three Maletta soldiers emerged from the smoke, heading straight towards her.

Despite her previous resignations about her lot in life, she got up and prepared herself, all her hesitation gone from her mind as she prepared for battle. As long as she could use her legs, then they had no chance.

She quickly dashed forward, using one of the soldiers as a push to launch herself into the air. With a twist of her body, one of her foot landed on the soldier's neck before he had a chance to even grip his sword. Spinning around, she struck another man in the stomach; not enough to do damage, but it would stun him for a bit while she dealt with the last person, who was still trying to comprehend what happened with the first man.

"What the hell? Do You think you have a chance of winning against me, you meaningless child?!" He roared.

Just as he was about to raise his weapon, Kanon struck him in the leg with the bladed end of her gauntlet, cutting into his thigh. He crumbled to the ground in pain.

"I'm not a child." She hissed.

With a simple motion, the razor-sharp blades on her grieve edge had left him in a pool of his own blood, his artery severed.

Sooner as she confirmed her kill, a sword shot out, barely giving her enough time to avoid getting skewered, but still left quite a deep cut on the side of her abdomen. As she got herself up, she could notice the blood soaking into her white part of her outfit. With an injury like that, it made it quite hard to fight, and the person in front of her knew that too, since he was slowly making his way towards her, as if the smell of her blood had reinvigorated his will to fight.

Kanon was no pushover, and while she wasn't the strategist that Nazaka was, she was more than capable of dealing with situations that were even worse than the one she was currently in (if that was possible). None of that would matter, however, as a red and blue figure leapt from out of nowhere and landed right between the two of them. She could only get a good view of her back, but even with that she could tell by the torn clothing that she was in rough shape.

"Another one?" The soldier's anger gave way to slight confusion, "No, you're one of those Grandall soldiers. Don't tell me that you're choosing to protect these ingrates?"

The girl said nothing, choosing to merely raise her odd-looking swords up, preparing for attack. "Die."

Seeing no point in going further, the Malettan fighter stepped forward to start his attack. Each sword swing was quick and precise, but so was the girl's own attacks. The fact that she seemed quite good with her kicks—not as good as her, obviously—also caught the man off guard. All the while, Kanon had kept busy, keeping one eye on the fight, and another on her attempts of trying to stop the bleeding on her abdomen.

Kanon slowly got to his feet, eyes scanning for any opening she could find, but the girl was too fast, and her opponent's frustration was growing evident. His swings got sloppier, culminating with one that left him with a wide opening, and that's when the woman came in for the kill with several slashes, followed by a last shot, sending the edge of one of her swords right into her stomach. He keeled over.

The girl stood there for a while, gasping for air, before turning towards Kanon. She tensed up, but there was no malice on the woman's face. In fact, it seemed to be a ghost of a smile on her face.

"You're the first one..." She started, still trying to catch her breath, "...who I managed to save."

"Save?" Kanon was still concerned. She remembered what the man said earlier when she first appeared. "Y-You're those troops from Grandall that got past our defensive wall! Were you here to attack us too?"

The girl shook her head. "I don't think that's important right now." She knelt down next to her. "You're hurt. Let me check out your wound."

Kanon was a bit hesitant, letting herself getting healed by what she had always been told was one of the enemies, but she was right. They needed as much help as they could get. She presented her wound to the girl, who immediately took out a small medical kit and went to work.

"Hmm. For someone who was brave enough to fight off all these men, you sure get fidgety when I'm trying to help you." The girl said. "You're squealing like a girl."

"I AM a girl!" She flinched as her injury was dressed up. "I'm just a little frazzled from the whole idea of having one of our enemies trying to patch me up!"

She paused for a bit. "There. That should do the trick."

"Thank you." Kanon said quietly as she looked at the work the girl did on her. "That's pretty good. Are you some kind of field nurse?"

"No." The girl seemed to be offended by that label. "I just know these things. My father taught me this when I was younger right…right before he..." All the energy she had seem to drain out of her. Before Kanon had a chance to press further, however…

"Riese!" So that was the girl's name? Some familiar memories crept into Kanon's mind, but there was no time to act on it.

Aeneas and Eurydice had tired themselves out trying to find Riese, so obviously they were glad to see that she was okay. Eurydice was about to express that fact, but Aeneas had to get his frustration off his chest.

"What the hell did you go running off for?" He approached his friend, who seemed to ignore him in favor of continuing to treat the other girl. "If it wasn't for the fact that Sarieth had decided to charge down here to begin with, you would have completely blown our position!"

Riese stopped at the mention of her captain. "...Sarieth? He's here?"

"As soon as we were spotted, they ordered an attack on us, so Captain ordered us to push back the Malettan forces in response and try and help these people." Eurydice added.

Riese smiled a bit at Sarieth's random act of kindness, but it quickly faded. It only reminded her of what caused all this in the first place. "If Sarieth chose to do so on his own, then what's the big deal about what I'm doing?"

"Because you're running too much on emotion! Ever since we ran into that guy back at the border wall, you've been acting out of sorts, and it's starting to concern everyone else."

"Aeneas…I've come back to a kingdom that betrayed my family, I find a place that used to be my home practically burned to the ground and people that I used to know dead!" Riese was trying (and failing) to keep her anger in check, "so, no, I'm not exactly in the greatest state of mind right now!"

Aeneas opened his mouth to retort, but Eurydice quickly stopped him. "Let me handle this..." She whispered, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Aeneas fought the urge to shoot that idea down. When Riese was in one of her moods, he was usually the best person to calm her down, but he allowed Eurydice to make her case. Eurydice walked forward and placed her hands on Riese's shoulders...

"Listen Riese, I understand you're upset and feeling a need to get retribution from all of this, but all we want is for you to..."

...and that was all that she managed to get out before the blue-haired assassin decked her in the face and sent her sprawling to the ground.

"Don't try to act like you care! You understand absolutely nothing about how I feel!" In a blur, Riese had vanished yet again, leaving her two teammates utterly confused.

"Riese!" Aeneas knew any attempts to reach her were futile, so he focused on helping Eurydice back to her feet. "Eurydice, are you alright?"

"I guess my calming tone doesn't work on her as it does on others…" Eurydice winched, hoping the cold weather would keep her face from bruising too badly. "Sorry…"

"You did fine. Like I said; Riese is just like that sometimes. If you don't believe me, just ask Sarieth…"

"I probably will, if only so I know how to avoid getting hit in the face again." She cringed, "I hope this doesn't leave a bruise..."

It was only then when the two of them finally noticed the girl that Riese had been tending to when they first arrived, who had borne witness to the whole debacle. "…Hello." She said meekly.

"Oh dear, I almost didn't see you…" Eurydice walked towards her. "I'm guessing you're Halteese since she wasn't trying to filet you like a fish as well." She placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you hurt badly?"

"I've been through worse." Kanon got up and brushed her clothes off, "I wouldn't be a solider if I couldn't handle something like this." She pulled herself to her feet. "Anyway, I'm fine, so I going to go find my friends now. If you excuse me…"

"H-hey! Just because you haven't been fighting as long as I am doesn't mean you get to leave me behind!" A voice coughed. Leraje, a bit worse for wear but still active, popped up from a snowbank that had formed between two worn down buildings. "K-Kanon! You're okay!"

Despite her injury, Kanon leapt up and rushed towards him with a nearly crushing hug. "I'm so happy you're alright! Everyone…everyone else is…"

"Yeah. The few people I managed to gather up are gone as well." Leraje sighed as he stroked her hair a bit. "I might have been next if it hadn't been for these two."

"We're just doing what our captain ordered, that's all." Aeneas replied. "Couldn't just stand there and let you get slaughtered, adversary or not."

"Captain...you mean Sarieth Spada, right?"

"You know him?"

"There's been stories of amazing feats by one Grandall soldier going around for a while, claims of him doing things that most people considered impossible. Some people are saying that he's like some kind of 'war god'".

"That's him alright, though I didn't realize he had such of a reputation to be called a 'war god'. He's just…. well, himself." Aeneas wondered what kind of reaction his captain would have if he heard such a thing.

"Even so, why did he decide to save us? We were always taught those who show mercy are considered weak." Kanon frowned. "If things were reversed, I'd sooner sit back and watch your entire country burn than risk my life for people we always considered to be our enemies."

"Kanon, the situation is a bit to dire to let personal grudges get in the way of our survival." Leraje interrupted, "At this moment, we need to focus on finding the others. I think I saw Ailian somewhere, but I've heard nothing about Nazaka since we split up."

"Naza…" Just hearing that name sent a wave of dread through Kanon's soul. "We have to find him!"

"Who?"

"Our Captain!" Kanon said with no lack of panic in her voice. "He's out on his own and I don't know if he'll be okay by himself!"

"I'm sure Nazaka is fine. But he's been on his own much longer than any of us, so I will agree that the sooner we meet up with him, the better." Leraje pointed towards a snowy road. "My intuition tells me that he went in that direction."

"Then that's where we shall go." Kanon was determined to help her friend no matter what. The two Grandall soldiers, of course, wasn't about to be left behind, though.

"Wait, we're coming with you!" Eurydice said, stopping the girl in her tracks. "There's no way you two can take that army on your own!"

"She's right. We came here with the expectation of having a massive battle. Needless to say, you guys weren't." Aeneas explained. "Besides, seeing as we have a common foe at his point, it's best that we team up. You know the old saying: The enemy of my enemy is my..."

"Yeah, whatever." Kanon cut him off. "Every instinct is telling me this could be a trap, but you've been so helpful, so I'll let you come along, but you follow MY lead, understand?"

"Your lead?" The two Grandall soldiers said at the same time.

"Exactly. I am second-in-command for a reason, that means I out-rank the both of you."

Aeneas and Eurydice looked at each other, one in disbelief and the other in confusion.

"A girl this young a second-in-command?" Aeneas whispered. "Are you kidding me? We're not taking orders from her!"

"Aeneas, just go with it for now." She said under her breath. "It's a miracle we were able to find these two alive, we're not about to let them potentially march right to their deaths."

Aeneas wanted to complain further, but the unusually hard look Eurydice gave him gave him no room for any counterargument.

"Hey, you maggots! Are you going to start moving your butts or not!" Kanon's voice rang out. With no lack of trepidation in their movements, the two followed her at a brisk pace.

Far away from the bloodshed and chaos that was going on in Epistema, Kalent was going through his own struggles.

"There's no way you'll be able to defeat me, kid, so don't even bother!" The giant in front of him said, wielding an ax that was bigger than his entire body. Kalent fought the urge to gulp in front of the girls.

This was yet another stop in their tour of Halteese military camps. In this case, their opponents were the usual grunts, but they'd apparently had heard of the chaos that they were reaping across the land, so they made the wise choice of toughening up their unit with as much people as possible. Luna had no problem with them, but Kalent…

"Go, Kalent! Take that punk down! We know you can do it!" The girl's cheers weren't helping his confidence at all; if anything, they were pissing of his opponent the more they did it. Luna was staring at him with a mix of amusement and disinterest that he thought was otherwise impossible.

"Alright then…" His voice was controlled, trying to hide the slight bit of intimidation he was feeling. The musclebound freak was strong, no doubt about it, and it was hard for Kalent keep the feelings of nervousness from showing on his face. He had to think of something, some way to beat him, and he had better try quickly because…

"LOOK OUT!" Lupi's voice knocked him out of his train of thought fast enough that Kalent was able to jump out of the way of his opponent's surprise attack. The ax slammed into the ground with enough force that it probably would have cleaved him if half if he was

"Hahaha, what's wrong, kid? Did the sight of my weapon scare you?" His opponent taunted, the self-assured attitude far from hidden in his voice, "Don't worry; I'll make sure you don't feel a thing when my axe slices you in two. Ha!"

Unfortunately, the man did not take into account the fact that the ground was soft and sticky enough for his axe to be wedged in the dirt. A man his strength, getting the weapon out wouldn't have been that much problem with that, but it only takes one moment….

The second the ax was free again and raised above the hulking brute's head, Kalent had sprinted in the direction of the hulking brute, and with a simple thrust of his sword, got a shot right in his sternum. As soon as he confirmed the hit, he twisted the sword, making sure to cause the most amount of damage he could in his position.

"Damn you! I will not allow Halteese to be destroyed by the likes of…" He choked the words out, but his words were interrupted by Kalent forcefully removing his sword, a particularly gruesome act.

"Such a bother." Kalent said simply, emotions nonexistent in his tone. "Have some dignity and die quietly, will you?" With another flick of the wrist, he stabbed the man again, this time right in the side of his throat. He was sure that his shot was a fatal one.

With the fight over, Kalent let his emotions back through as the rest of the Klessirpemdo decided to share in his triumph.

"You've won again! That's your third victory in a row, isn't it?" Lupi grabbed him from behind. "I was almost certain we would have to throw your body in a ditch somewhere, but you proved wrong."

"I'm happy you have such confidence in me, Lupi." Kalent flicked the remaining blood off his sword. "But this was no problem at all."

"That should be the last of the men here." Luna looked at her surroundings. The place didn't have much in the way of men this time around, so the whole dead body issue wouldn't be as bad as usual. Still, she figured now was a good time to make camp. "Looks like we're staying here for the night."

The other girls gave appreciative sighs of relief at the news; the weather was still quite cold for any nighttime traveling, and they would need as much rest as they can if they wanted to finish their trek by the end of tomorrow.

"So, whose turn is it to gather firewood?" Eula asked later, shortly after the group was finished disposing of the last of the bodies.

"Technically, it's Kalent, but since he won his battle, I suppose I'll help him out." Luna said, "ONLY because you won, of course."

Kalent nodded inattentively; his internal thoughts weren't too keen on being alone with Luna. What if she tried to start a conversation? The rest the girls had no problem chatting it up with her, and he had no issue talking to the other girls, but when it came to Luna, he had a hard time thinking of stuff she would be interested in. Granted, Luna wouldn't care too much about him being quiet the whole time, but there was still that air of awkwardness that came with walking around someone in complete silence.

Luna started walking toward the forest, Kalent following behind closely, sword in his sheath just to be safe. The sky was starting to turn into a cascade of colors as the sun set, but it would be dark in about a few hours, just ripe for animals and who knows what else to come popping out of the woods. Eventually, they found an area with an ample number of usable branches.

"Hey, Kalent…" Luna finally spoke after about what seemed to be an eternity of uncomfortable silence.

"Y-yeah?"

"I've wanted to ask you this for a while: what was it like being at the academy?"

It was a simple, but rather random question coming from Luna. "Why do you want to know that?"

"Don't be silly. Roin has basically put you on a pedestal. You must have been some sort of prodigy."

"If by 'prodigy' you mean 'I got thrown into advance courses way ahead of most of the other recruits", then that would be correct." Kalent answered. "I was lucky enough that I have some knowledge of military tactics and fighting techniques since I was younger, so I had that benefit going for me from the very beginning."

"You've must have garnered a lot of attention then." Luna voice echoed from down where she was looking for more firewood.

"Trust me, I kinda wish I didn't."

"Why?"

"When you got the head of the military vouching for you at every turn, people tend to get wary of you." He grumbled. "I had to deal with a lot of angry people, But mostly I just stayed out of trouble, so it wasn't too difficult."

"Glad to see academy life went well for you…" Luna kicked the trunk of a tree. "I wish I could say the same."

"What do you mean? Someone as skilled as you are had to be the top of your class, right?" Kalent was a bit baffled by her statement Aggressive and somewhat anti-social behavior aside; he'd always was amazed by how fluid and effortless she was wielding a sword.

"You'd think so, but you have no idea." Luna threw her bundle of wood on the ground in front of her. "When they first started to train me, I was little more than a weak little girl. Everything I am was a result of my teachings being beaten into me. 'Forged by fire' is what they liked to say, but I personally believed they just liked the idea of putting me through hell." Despite the rather casual tone she spoke of, there were still tinges of sourness evident in that statement. "I do have a natural talent, but just being talented with a weapon won't help you out on the battlefield."

Something I know from experience, I can tell you that. Kalent would rather not recall the fate of the first unit he was paired with, full of enthusiastic but ill-prepared upstarts. "What about you? How long had you been training?" He continued.

"Since I was ten." She answered. "Or at least, that's what they tell me."

The young swordsman, who'd only had about a few years' experience was unsure if that was something to be envious of or pitied over. When he was ten, the only things on his mind were sleeping and horsing around with his brother, but while all of that was happening, Luna was honing her skills on the battlefield, getting stronger with every fight.

"I can't say I really envy you. I never was one for fighting up until a short time ago. Everything I learned before the academy was taught to me by my family." Kalent made sure to choose what he said very carefully, lest he let something slip about his family ties. "Military school helped to iron out some of the rougher parts, but I was told that I had to perfect my own technique over time."

"If you had so little experience in the battlefield, how did you manage to survive for so long?" Luna was somewhat skeptical about Kalent's statement. "There's no way you can do that without crumbling from the pressure of seeing such chaos for the first time."

"It's…It's a bit strange, but I guess it won't hurt to tell you…" Kalent said. "I taught myself to suppress my emotions." Luna actually seemed surprised to hear that. "Once you stop concerning yourself over the fates of others, your mind can focus on other things it needs to do in order to stay alive. It was the only way I could think of to stay alive."

"Wait, wait. You know how to control emotions? At your age?" Luna was a bit impressed at his fortitude, "I'll give you credit, that's tough to do. How did you learn that?"

His face seemed to turn rather dark at the though. "It's a rather personal thing that I rather not expound at the moment. All I'll say right now that it took some time to learn and it doesn't work all of the time, as you probably saw back there, but most of the time I feel nothing when I fight."

Luna seemed a bit miffed at the secrecy, but seemed to brush it off, to the relief of Kalent. It wasn't the right time to be retreading the darker parts of his past.

"What about you, Luna?" Kalent continued, "You said it was tough to control your emotions at my age, but aren't you…"

"…The same age? That's correct. However, I can't say that such a technique is necessary for me. I don't need to control my emotions because I don't feel anything at all to begin with."

"That's hard to believe. All we see from you most of the time is you being emotional." Luna glared at him. "Er…that is to say…you're…well…"

"That is only because the Klessirpemdo are the only exception. I trust them enough that they get to see that side of me." Her voice gained a slight bit of softness to it, but instantly regained its normal edge as she continued, "In the battlefield, however, I will everyone in my path without so much as a second of hesitation. No matter how young, how determined or how much they plead, my blade will always be the end of them. That is the only way to truly survive in this world."

Kalent had heard that line of thinking being preached before by many a grizzled veteran as far back as Grandall. Someone so young having such a mindset, however, was quite unheard of. People his age usually saw their first real battle and become overwhelmed with the horror of it wall, but Luna was above such petty emotional quandary. He couldn't help but envy her-just slightly.

"But still, pretty impressive for someone like you. I initially thought you were going to be one of those dsiojhfj0ibjakosjfdlkasd overly-empathetic, bleeding-heart type soldiers who went on about 'honor' and 'virtue', trying to dictate to me how to fight a war that I've participated in for years. But it seems that you're just as ruthless as the rest of us, and that's just fine with me." She paused a bit as she took a glance at him. "Your 'technique', as you say, still needs a lot of work, though, but that's why I'm training you."

"Thanks for the encouragement, Luna." The young swordsman took no effort to hide the sarcasm from his voice. "I'm sure all those sessions where you beat the hell out of me for three hours are going to turn me into an unstoppable force of nature. That is, if you don't end up killing me."

Luna gave him a rather disapproving look beofre clicking her tongue as she shook her head. "Don't be stupid. Like I said during our training; 'If you can still pick up your sword, you can still get stronger'".

"But certainly, they respect you now, right? You're Dalikia's most decorated soldier."

"Not respect, Kalent. It's fear. Fear of me and fear of Queen Aurelia. Since most people are aware that I'm her little 'pet' that she loves to praise all the time, no one would dare risk incurring her wrath by undercutting me." Leaning next to the tree, she crossed her arms and stared off into the forest. "I'm nothing more than a tool. The moment I outlive my usefulness, or they find someone they'd think could do what I do better, then I'd be tossed aside faster than you can imagine."

"It's a mere fact of life. Everything they told you about 'honor' and 'loyalty' at the academy is all a farce. Dalkia only cares about who can win their battles for them, otherwise, you're worthless. I'm not fighting in hopes of gaining their respect; I'm fighting to verify my superiority over everyone I face." Luna smiled confidently. "And I'm doing a damn good job of it, if the fact I beat someone that even Roin himself was unable to defeat means anything."

The second time around, at least. Kalent was smart enough to keep that remark to himself. "And what about Roin?"

"In all honesty, she probably cares as much about him as she does with me. Roin may be the head of the army, but Aurelia knows of our 'differences'. She has made off-hand comments teasing the potential of me taking his spot in the army because she wants to make sure he doesn't try to overstep his boundaries. It's her way of controlling him."

Kalent held back a laugh at the idea of Roin being forced to take orders from Luna. If there's anything that would give him pause, then the mere idea of that happening would be it.

"The Klessirpemdo are the only ones who I can truly respect." Luna continued. "All I need is your five: Lupi, Eula, Heal-Do, Aege and Kalent. Your lives have a lot more worth to me than anything winning this war will give me."

This was probably the first time Kalent got anything close to actual human warmth from Luna. Or at least, her usual confidence was missing from that statement. "Who'd would have thought you'd be capable of such affection?" Kalent decided it was worth a light tease after that display. Such an act was promptly rewarded with a rather hard whack upside the head with the flat end of Dystopia.

"If you keep that up, you won't see much more of it." The confident smile appearing on her face as Kalent tried to rub his head and pick up the wood that had scattered all over the ground at the same time. "I think we've enjoyed this break long enough." Luna gathered up all the wood she collected into her arms. "Let's get this over with; I'm getting hungry and that food doesn't taste very good frozen solid."

"Yes ma'am." Kalent said with a hint of sarcasm, but Luna didn't seem to notice. Without another word between the two of them, they them trudged back to camp. Kalent didn't get much more cordiality from Luna that day, but that little bit he got was a victory in of itself.

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2!