“...They are ready to sacrifice their candidate,” said Sabael. “Look at them, Nana. She’s bleeding a ton and not a single one of them looks sorry for her or worried. It’s their so-called clan pride speaking. The Yekara will never concede defeat against a foreigner.”

“Then... what do we do? I know that Ashra isn’t really on our side, but I don’t want Lady Cessilia to suffer because of her clan either. Isn’t there anything we can do?”

Tessandra glanced back at the King. Ashen’s expression was indecipherable, but all this time, he hadn’t said a word, his expression focused on Cessilia and Cessilia alone. Although she didn’t know this man well and didn’t like him much either, Tessa knew he was at least reliable in terms of strength. The White King wasn’t of dragon blood, but if he had been trained by the War God himself, he ought to be worth something decent, at the very least. Tessandra thought this highly of him because he was the only man the legendary War God had trained himself that wasn’t his own son.

“...She’s got us,” finally said Tessandra. “Cessilia wouldn’t have gone through with it if she didn’t know there wasn’t a chance she could be stopped.”

Naptunie confidently nodded. She was feeling even prouder knowing that Cessilia was relying on them, even if it wasn’t her in particular. Now, she could refocus on the fight with a bit of a lighter heart and felt even more determined to witness Lady Cessilia’s victory.

Despite what was at stake, this ought to be one of the most epic one-on-one fights they would ever witness. Even some of the Yekara people had forgotten to shout and support their candidate, focusing on the fight. The level of the two young women was among the very best, far above most men in this room that carried a sword. Cessilia’s movements were like a river, smooth, unpredictable, and wild. Her whole body was enhancing the beauty of each of her movements as if it was a dance centered around her weapon and its victim. She was unstoppable like the sea while Ashra moved like a furious flame trying to survive. The fight was both astonishingly beautiful, and yet so violent. More and more blood was starting to flow; Ashra now had cuts on all sides, her dress gradually turning into a darker red. No matter how much they loathed that woman and her family, even Tessandra had grown some respect for her as a fighter. However, the difference in strength was only growing more and more obvious with each wound. Cessilia’s blue dress was still pristine, while the ground beneath their feet had turned red.

Suddenly, though, something different happened. While she had just inflicted another wound on her opponent, Cessilia grimaced without visible reason. Tessandra jumped on her feet, feeling something was wrong. Ashra was faster to react. While the Princess was destabilized for a second, her sword dashed forward. A new red line appeared. However, this one was on Cessilia’s throat.

The Yekara Clan shouted like one man, but they missed the change in Cessilia’s eyes. Her irises narrowed, suddenly looking almost reptilian.

“Shit!” muttered Tessandra.

It was too late. Cessilia’s sword sliced the air with unprecedented violence, and this time, a large stream of blood flew upwards. Ashra stumbled backward, her shoulder mutilated by an extensive gash, blood pouring out of the wound. This time, she retreated, her survival instincts taking over everything else. Cessilia didn’t give her that opportunity. The Princess rushed forward, her blade ready to strike again. This time, the silver blade was dripping with blood. Ashra’s desperate attempt to flee was pointless; all of her previous injuries were slowing her down. Half of the audience was shocked by the sudden turn of the fight, yet mesmerized by the tragic scene. Some of the Yekara Clan were still shouting after their candidate for her not to flee, but Ashra had no way to win or escape this time. Cessilia was coming for her, covered in her blood, her eyes so calm and icy, it was scary. She looked like a goddess of war; come to earth to execute some ineluctable fate.

“Cessi!” Tessandra shouted, running down the stairs.

“If the other girl meddles, she will lose!” shouted the Yekara Clan leader, almost happy to see Tessandra rushing to his own niece’s help. “She is forfeiting!”

It was like half their clan was blind to Ashra’s inevitable end. All that mattered was seeing Cessilia lose, one way or another. The tragedy just had to turn in their favor, the sacrifice didn’t matter.

Cessilia finally reached her opponent and raised her sword, ready to strike again. Her gaze was full of something deep and painful. She looked fierce, but if one could see past that, there were actual tears in her eyes. She was trapped in the agony of a memory she couldn’t escape. Her throat was in pain, her heart was bleeding, and it was hard to breathe. Blood everywhere, and the agony of something, someone she had lost long ago. The sensation of that hot liquid running down her neck was just too familiar. She needed to get out of there. Eliminate those who wanted to kill her. She wouldn’t succumb a second time to weakness. She had to get out, at any cost. She had to kill them.

She lifted her sword, ready to strike. This time, she’d get out of there in time. She wouldn’t lose her voice or her dragon. She was stronger than those who hurt her. She could kill them. She’d killed before, she could do it again. She was strong, strong like a dragon. She could kill. This was nothing...

She swung her sword. A perfect move for a kill.

“Cessilia.”

The sound of two metals clashing woke her up. She raised her head to face Ashen standing before her. He was like a wall, his broad torso blocking all of her sight.

“Cessilia,” he called her again.

She blinked twice as if she had just woken up. Cessilia was out of breath, and two strands of her curls were falling on her face, but as she looked up at him, he could tell his Princess was back. She was just realizing where she was, what had happened. There was a deafening silence in the cave. All they could hear was the faraway sounds of water, the erratic breathing of the fighters, and Ashra’s grunts of pain.

“W-wha-... What did I d-do...”

Tears appeared in Cessi’s eyes, and she let go of the blade, letting it fall loudly on the ground. She was in shock, remembering everything that had just happened as if she hadn’t been in control until now. And in a way, she hadn’t. She looked at her trembling hands. The sword’s handle had left deep marks in her hands, her calluses showing along with dark scales. There was blood on all of her fingers, even under her nails. Her sobbing got more intense, her eyes looking at those hands and the sword at her feet in disgust.

“A-Ashen...” she cried, unable to utter anything else.

“It’s alright.”

He moved to hug Cessi, wrapping her in his arms as tightly as he could. She sobbed against his shoulder, her whole body shaking in distress. She wasn’t shocked by how she had harmed and injured her opponent; Ashra had begun this fight and fought back just as hard. No, Cessilia was shocked by how much she had lost control of herself. She had lost all restraint, and gotten completely immersed in the fight, to the point where she wouldn’t have thought twice about killing her opponent. It wasn’t her, though; Cessilia’s trauma caused her self-preservation instincts to take over when she could have won this fight easily without them. She thought she could control herself, but her memories had made her react in a much too extreme way.

Her shaking hand went to her throat. The cut wasn’t even that deep, it had already stopped bleeding even without her scales being able to protect that part of her body. However, the injury was much more to her mind than physical. She’d lost control, completely. If it wasn’t for Ashen, she would have killed that candidate, and she had no intention to in the beginning. She could hear Ashra breathing like an injured animal behind Ashen, making things worse. Cessilia’s tears wouldn’t stop, she was crying silently, unable to calm down. She hated herself for what had just happened. She was scared of the monster she had felt herself disappearing into just seconds ago.

“I c-can’t,” she cried. “Ashen, I c-can’t. P-please... P-please, d-don’t let me d-do this again. I... I d-don’t want to have t-to fight ever again. I c-can’t. I’m s-so sorry... I c-can’t...”

There was an intense fear in her voice, but what she feared was inside. Cessilia was terrified by what had just happened, so much so that she never wanted to touch a sword ever again. She kept shaking her head, her trembling hands grabbing the ends of Ashen’s cloak to hold on to. He sighed and hugged her closer to his heart, comforting her gently. One of his hands was patting her back, the other holding her head against him, as if to give her a safe place inside his arms. No one could see her face, and the audience could barely see a glimpse of her thin silhouette, hidden in the King’s large embrace.

“It’s alright,” he whispered against her ear, such that only Cessi could hear. “Don’t worry. I’m here.”

“Your Majesty!” shouted the Yekara Clan Leader. “This fight isn’t over!”

“It is,” groaned Ashen.

“Your candidate lost,” added Tessa. “She should be glad she didn’t lose her life too.”

“She was about to overpower your so-called Princess when His Majesty intervened! I request this fight to resume immediately!”

“No,” Ashen retorted, glaring at the Yekara Leader.

In his arms, Cessilia hadn’t moved an inch, but she was clearly still in shock. She wouldn’t pick up that sword again, that was for certain. Right now, the situation was tense. With the fight halted, perhaps temporarily, all eyes had gone to the Yekara Leader or the King to see who would have the last word on this. Most people in the audience were confused by Cessilia suddenly dropping her sword and hiding in the King’s embrace. The fight had been so intense just before, they couldn’t understand why she’d given up on an almost certain victory.

Things also didn’t make much sense for people who weren’t part of the Yekara Clan. Did they really believe their candidate had a chance against the Princess? The difference in strength had been made astonishingly obvious in the past few minutes. They couldn’t understand how Ashra had managed to slice open the Princess’ throat just before, but so far, it felt like she should have been the gladdest of all that the fight was stopped. Even now, she was covered in blood, exhausted, and barely able to stand. It felt like her demise had been postponed. Her Clan Leader looked like a madman to all, to force his own blood to finish a fight they couldn’t win. Even more shocking was that the Princess herself wasn’t ready to finish the fight either. It was clearly not mercy that had stopped her, but something more complicated that made the King act like she needed protection. Either way, most people were completely confused, and looking forward to what was going to happen next. It looked like neither the King nor Lord Yebekh would give up, which made the situation look like a dead end.

“It’s Cessilia’s victory,” said the King. “There’s no more reason to fight.”

“Except that she threw her weapon! Our candidate is still standing and able to fight! There’s no victory yet, Your Majesty! She has to finish what she started, or that means she gives up!”

“You’re the one who started this!” Tessandra shouted back, furious. “You should be begging mercy for your candidate, you crazy piece of shit!”

“Watch your mouth! I am Lord Yebekh of the Yekara Clan! And our candidate knows her duty! Unlike your Princess, we don’t give up on a fight, no matter what! This fight needs a clear winner!”

“...I won’t f-fight again,” muttered Cessilia.

Ashen sighed. Truthfully, he didn’t want her to have to. Although he was incredibly proud of her at the beginning of the fight, he also couldn’t recognize the Cessilia of the past few minutes. Seeing her in such distress once she had come back to her senses had been quite shocking for him as well. Whatever she was going through, he wouldn’t push her to risk it again. It was one of the rare times she did really need him.

Tessandra was just as frustrated. She knew Cessilia had almost killed her opponent already, and she couldn’t understand what was going on. What were the Yekara after? They couldn’t possibly think their candidate had a real chance? Or was it that they were looking for a flaw in the Princess?

“Oh, my gods!”

All eyes went to Ashra’s body which had just collapsed. The young woman that was still standing seconds before had now collapsed to the ground, her eyes wide open, blood leaking out of her half-open mouth. As Ashen had stepped back to see what had just happened, the body was right in Cessilia’s line of sight.

The Princess gasped, covering her mouth with her hand, shocked. She didn’t even need to check the body; Ashra was definitely dead. Her body had fallen back in a strange position, in her own blood. Her fall had been so strange and slow, everyone was still stunned.

“Murder!” shouted a voice.

Tessandra reacted first. She ran down the stairs to the body, furious. She knew Ashra wouldn’t have died like this. There was no way. Her injuries weren’t such that she could have simply died so easily. She had lost blood, and received multiple cuts, but none should have been life-threatening, or able to simply kill her in a second. Tessandra had watched the whole fight without losing a second of it; she was knowledgeable enough both in combat and medicine that she could tell when someone would die from their injuries or not. Ashra’s sudden death made absolutely no sense.

She reached the body and turned her around, quickly trying to find a clue. Something had definitely happened that was not Cessilia’s fault. Her cousin was standing there, shocked, probably too stunned to realize. This was probably the worst outcome for Cessilia, who had already been filled with immense guilt.

“Your Majesty!” shouted the Yekara Clan Leader. “The Princess killed our candidate! This is against the rules! Don’t allow her relative to touch our candidate!”