If the skies want to cry, then let them cry, Armei thought. As she approached the stairs leading to the upper deck, the winds howled, as if telling her to stay away. But it didn’t matter how hard it wailed. Armei was too far gone to turn back now.

She ascended the deck, and the cold of the rain permeated through her skin. The drizzle enveloped the entire ship with mist-like translucency.

In front of her, by the stern of the ship, stood the cleric clad in a white robe. Her figure was obscured by the rain, but she simply stood there, admiring the storm as if it wasn’t even there at all.

Nentonia Brava turned around and noticed Armei approaching.

“Armei!” she called out, raising her voice. “What are you doing here?”

Armei didn’t answer, and simply kept walking towards her. She could almost feel her own heartbeat pounding with each step she took. Her own breath reached her ears faster and clearer than any clap of thunder or crashing wave. Right now, Armei felt complete.

She stopped, just a few meters from Nentonia. Maybe Nentonia understood what Armei was there for, since she just stared back with that same expression she always wore; that sickeningly gentle smile.

The storm raged, but to them, it may as well not exist.

Armei clenched the handle of her staff. She glimpsed Nentonia’s eyes drifting downwards, noticing it, and returning to lock gazes with her. The cleric’s expression remained as it always was.

“If I recall correctly, you’re a sorceress, right?” Nentonia spoke with a jovial and friendly tone. “I still find it amazing that some people can use spells, even without a patron. It’s incredible!”

Armei did not respond.

“Are you not going to talk? You might as well, considering what you’re about to do to me, no?”

“So, you are the assassin.”

“No, no! I’m not, I swear,” Nentonia giggled. “But it wasn’t really hard to see how wary you were of me, and I’m not stupid enough to be blind to how suspicious I seem after everything that happened. This was going to happen sooner or later.” She sighed.

“You think you can bluff your way out of this?”

“No, I’m only saying what I believe to be true. I’m just presenting my case, and if that doesn’t work, then oh well...” She shrugged her shoulders. Then, as nonchalantly as she could, she said, “so then, what are you going to do to me?”

Armei could feel her blood boiling. “You’re pissing me off, cleric. Do you think I’m playing around here?” She pointed her staff towards Nentonia. Its handle felt warm in her palm as mana passed through it.

“Mei!”

Remina’s voice called out behind Armei in a panic. She ran and stood off to the side, in between the two women.

“Don’t try and stop me, Remina,” Armei said. “I’m ending this once and for all.”

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“This has to be some sort of mistake!” Remina pleaded. “Nen isn’t the sorta girl who’d—”

“Shut up!” Armei screamed louder than the storm and sharpened her glare towards the cleric. “Nentonia Brava, if you truly aren’t the assassin, then you can chastise me in hell. But I can’t risk it, not anymore. So long as you’re the most likely suspect, I’m going to do what needs to be done ... I’m going to remove all threats to this party!”

The orb at the end of Armei’s staff began to glow. In her head, she sifted through her collection of spells; innate knowledge that her body remembers better than her mind. Perhaps a less painful spell would be a generous enough mercy.

They need to taste the worst spells in my arsenal before I’m satisfied.

Her own words from before rose up in the back of her thoughts. She shook her head. There’s no need to go that far. She just needed to end this and be done with it.

“Remove all threats to the party, huh...?” Nentonia sighed in disappointment. “If you’re going to kill me, don’t use excuses.”

Armei froze for a moment. “...What?”

“I think that death should be honest. If you’re going to kill someone, you shouldn’t do it in shame. Life is sacred, and to take it, you need to respect it. As a cleric, this is my ideals on the matter at least.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Nentonia stared at her straight in the eyes. “Don’t say it’s for the sake of the party. We both know who you’re doing it for. Kill me properly.”

Armei didn’t know what to say. For what seemed like an eternity, she just stood there, motionless. Nentonia Brava was trying to destroy her and everything she stood for.

“What do you know...?” Armei’s voice was low and dangerous. Then, she screamed, “what do you know?! You don’t know anything about me! Stop pretending like you can see through me!”

“Mei, calm down!” Remina yelled at her, but Armei couldn’t hear her. No, she chose not to hear her.

“Don’t you dare look inside me like that, you goddamn outsider!” Armei continued. “You don’t know anything!”

“That’s true. There’s a lot I don’t know about you. But I know enough to understand. It’s fine, Armei. Even if you let me live now, I’m going to keep my distance from Kalaman. That’s what you want, right?”

“...”

The world around them became silent, and at the same time, something inside Armei broke.

Armei steadied her hand. The mana flowed through the staff at an incredible rate, amplifying her magic power to an enormous degree. It all pooled down to the tip of the staff, ready to be fired. The orb glowed brighter than ever before.

—the worst spells in my arsenal—

The air rumbled around Armei as mana began to gather. The droplets of rain danced in the space that surrounded her as she aimed her staff directly at Nentonia. The blood in her body excitedly boiled as she began the words of activation.

“Immolation—!”

Suddenly, Remina jumped in front of her staff and spread out her arms. The mana that had collected in her staff suddenly dispersed into the air as pure energy instead of a fully formed spell.

Armei knew that feeling well. It was a Counterspell, designed to disrupt other spells that were being cast.

Remina immediately clapped her hands as hard as she could, and yelled, “Calm Emotions!”

A wave of mana rushed through Armei’s body. She felt her ears ringing, and the air became nauseating as her body reeled from the sudden shift of mana. She could sense her own blood slowing down as Remina’s spell clawed its way deeper into her.

Despite her aloof nature, Remina was one of the most excellent users of support magic. She could tell from the sheer potency of her Calm Emotions spell. It felt as if something fundamental to Armei’s existence was being forcefully remolded. The world around her had become a twisted dream.

But Armei was a half-elf, a sorceress, the Dragonslayer’s comrade. It would take more than that to bring her to heel. With every ounce of defiance she could muster in her body, she forced out the disruptive mana that was clawing its way into her psyche.

One look at Remina’s expression was enough to see that she realized her spell failed. It was one of panic, mixed with fear.

But Armei couldn’t see that. Her eyes were piercing through her, and towards the cleric that stood there, watching calmly.

Stop getting in my way!

At once, the orb of Armei’s staff burst with light. Even more mana gathered this time, and much faster. Remina was too close. She couldn’t dodge. By the time Armei realized what she was about to do, it was already too late to stop it.

Before her mind could react, her body chanted:

“—Fireball!”