"Ahh!" She screamed, her eyes widening as a burly slave brought down a machete upon her. She could not defend herself, so she closed her eyes, her body shrinking in fear.

"Clang!"

A collision, a sound she had not expected, filled her ears. Despite the stinging pain in her shoulder, she could feel someone holding her firmly by the waist.

It was then that a familiar, almost chillingly pleasant voice whispered in her ear. "You mustn't let this register on an emotional level."

That scent, it was the same one that had saved her in the Misty Marsh.

Sophia's eyes fluttered open at that familiar scent, but she could not see the man; all she could see was his right arm holding a sword that blocked the machete from striking her.

His other hand was pressed firmly against her waist, fingers splayed possessively over the curve of her hip, his grip warm even through the fabric of her robes.

For a heartbeat, time seemed to freeze with Sophia's breath hissing in relief.

The world, though, was not stationary.

The attacker (one of the infected slaves) twitched, its hollow eyes blank, but the man holding the blade didn't yield.

With a sharp twist of his wrist, he wrenched the weapon aside and struck the slave's throat, blood gushing out of the open wound as he slumped.

Seeing this, a sharp breath escaped Sophia, her face pale, her voice faint as she asked. "Mr. Valen, who are you?"

«It is evident she has never taken a life before. How... intriguing.»

"Is it truly necessary to know now, my Lady?" Mr. Valen responded, his voice a whisper in her ear.

Mr. Valen wasn't being seductive, they really were surrounded by mindless slaves, closing in on them quickly.

In an instant, the slaves were attacking, a slender woman with a hoe taking the lead, but Mr. Valen simply instructed: "To your left."

"Clang!"

To his words, Sophia barely raised her sword in time, but she succeeded in blocking, steel screaming as the attacker's hoe slid off hers.

At the same time, Mr. Valen's sword punched through the woman's throat from behind, hot blood spraying Sophia's wrist.

Sophia flinched, froze even, but Mr. Valen didn't; rather, he yanked his blade free and spun her around by her shoulder, his breath hot against her ear. "Stop hesitating, My Lady."

As he spoke, another servant lunged.

"Down." Mr. Valen spoke and Sophia dropped.

"Swoosh!"

In an instant, Mr. Valen's sword cleaved the air above her head, shearing through skin and bone, a headless corpse hitting the dirt beside her.

"Rise." He hauled her to her feet, fingers wet with the rain. "Please listen. You need not kill anyone. You need not block. You need not even fight. Tell me, do you trust me, My Lady?" He asked.

"I-I trust you, but I don't want to stain my hands, I don't want to kill anyone," Sophia responded.

"Then Act as you will; strike when you feel moved, and know that for every mistake I will compensate, as the High Scioness you must accustom yourself to the battlefield." Mr. Valen implored, his voice gentle, reassuring.

As he spoke, Sophia's hands shook; she'd trained, drills, stances, theory, but this wasn't practice. The stink of blood, the gurgling breaths of dying men-

"Now, My Lady!" Mr. Valen urged.

Sophia noted that more slaves were upon them and closed her eyes in fear, overwhelmed, yet when she opened them, the slaves were gone, cut down.

But that wasn't the end, another came and she thrust her sword at his arm, leaving herself completely open, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Clang!"

Mr. Valen blocked the slave machete from striking her, while watching as Sophia reeled from the feeling of hurting another man, the slave grunting as he stepped back but-

"Swoosh!" Mr. Valen cut through his neck.

'What is this unruly feeling?' Sophia's thought, her pupils dilating. It was like she had been given a new drug she couldn't get enough of.

With a rush of adrenaline, she danced across the battlefield, jabbing, poking, and slashing at enemies, but she never killed.

To do the killing was the grim reaper standing beside her, his form so close that he seemed like a shadow.

---

Meanwhile, a far distance away, the soldier who had left Sophia grunted, retrieving his blade from the torso of what had once been his companion, the soldier slumping to the ground.

The bodies of his four comrades lay sprawled around him, but he did not care; his eyes narrowed as he glanced towards the slave camp.

He could see Sophia dancing, (no), fighting with an unknown man, who slaughtered the slaves around her; the sight was as mesmerizing as it was strange.

"What the fuck is she doing?" He couldn't help but mutter not having seen anything like that before, so he resolved to rush down the slope and back towards the slave camp.

The soldier, however, was forced to stop his eyes narrowing, his grip tightening on his blade, which he had not sheathed.

North of the camp, high up the volcanic range, he spotted two men, speeding towards him one of them being a man he recognized.

'Knight-Arcanists Holdo?' he thought, his brows raised beneath his helmet, as he observed the man running beside him.

By the distinctive design of his armor, he recognized Cerberus, a soldier on the same level as Holdo himself.

"RUN YOU FOOL! YOU LEFT THE PRINCESS UNGUARDED?" Holdo yelled upon getting close enough shocking the guard to his heels, his direction: the slave camp.

------

Back at the battlefield, Mr. Valen slashed at the last batch of slaves, ending his slaughter, his form drawing close to Sophia's as he nodded.

But before he could say anything, Sophia's eyes widened as she spotted a slave striking his pickaxe down at Mr. Valen's head, they had missed one.

"Swoosh!" She lunged with a force, piercing the slave's head with surprising ease, one that marked her status as a Witch and the superior physical strength that came with it.

Blood flowed down her blade as the man she had pierced jerked unnaturally, muscles tensing, before his blood washed away, thinned by the continuous rain that threatened to flood the land.

Then, he slumped down, his eyes shaking at the woman who ended his life.

'I-I killed him,' Sophia thought, her pupils dilating, her lips curling in disgust, her every expression visible to Mr. Valen who had a still face.

But his mind was in ecstasy.

«Of course it would not be so simple, but it is a gratifying reaction, indeed (though merely a fleeting indulgence).»

«Let us not permit such trivial satisfactions to obscure the true objective. After all, what is strategy without trust? And what is trust... without careful cultivation.»

'There was no time, he could not react, he didn't-I saved his life,' Sophia thought heavily. 'He needed me; he was in a life-or-death situation.'

No, one could say that he had put himself in a position whereby he could weigh the value of his life to the High Scioness, his life against her values.

«And perhaps foster her growth... a little.»

"Forgive my brazenness, My Lady," Mr. Valen suddenly stepped away, his eyes narrowed, his tone sounding as though he had made a grave mistake.

As she watched Mr. Valen step away with a bow, Sophia took a breath.

'The rain is increasing,' she thought to herself brushing her soaked blonde hair to the side before saying to Mr. Valen, "You may rise."

As he rose, Mr. Valen felt the weight of the rain patterning against his back, it was cold, bitterly cold, but he stayed still at least until he heard the sound of footsteps.

"High Scioness!" A loud voice tore through the gloom, alarming Sophia and making her aware of Holdo, Cerberus, and the unknown soldier who was supposed to be guarding them.

Sophia frowned at this soldier, but her eyes softened as her gaze landed on Cerberus, who ran beside him. Holdo was also with them.

The trio reached Sophia moments later, their breaths heavy.

Holdo looked around cautiously while Cerberus strode towards Sophia with a growl. "High Scioness, we must leave at once."

As he spoke, he spared Mr. Valen only a glance before sweeping High Scioness Sophia off her feet.

Meanwhile, Holdo and the unknown guard looked towards the north, but there was nothing.

"Where is it?" Holdo muttered, his form tense as he turned to Cerberus. "Let's move-"

"So soon?" A new voice muttered, making everyone abruptly aware of the form of a familiar woman, one whose eyes were as black as night consumed by the mist creature.

"Olga?" Sophia muttered as she observed, her eyes widening slightly, her fist clenching. "Ohh no!"

In the midst of all this, Mr. Valen's instincts screamed at him to flee, yet he stood silently on the sidelines, his expression blank.

«Judging by the direction Cerberus and Holdo fled, she should have pursued them from the north (yet here she stands, blocking our path from the south).»

«If she were fast enough to slip past us undetected, why didn't she strike us down the moment we crossed her path? Unless her intent wasn't immediate slaughter but harm. But if that were the case, Cerberus and Holdo should have been injured on first contact (yet they escaped long enough to warn us, unharmed.)»

«That leaves only one plausible explanation: she traveled in a non-linear way; (Alternately, other stealth mechanisms could exist, but seem less likely given the evidence).»

«Her opening words, 'So soon?' hint at a mischievous persona, taking that into consideration, I fail to believe that I wouldn't notice her passing by. And if she could appear before us without a trace, without sound, and without disturbing the earth beneath her… then she must possess the ability to fly.»

As Mr. Valen stared blankly, so did the woman before them, her silence creating a tense situation.

Both Holdo and Cerberus had unsheathed their blades, their forms tense.

Sophia on the other hand, stood behind the unnamed guard, her eyes narrowed at Olga who was no longer herself.

Under the endless rain, Olga stood still, her short blonde hair plastered to her skull.

Her eyes once a glowing green were now voids of misty black, her armor once silver was now blackened as if scorched by hellfire, she looked demonic.

Slowly, she scanned the group, until her eyes locked on the youth who stared back with no visible emotion: no fear, no worry, no apprehension.

And then she spoke, "My my, just looking at your face is enough to flare my rage, she certainly didn't like you, Valen."

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