The words from Uncle Mario, the man who instructed Verano on the basics of Firebending, echoed in the boy's mind:

"A Fire Knight never expects to live forever." Lectured Mario. "In the words of the deceased Emperor Lettow, the Fire Knight must fight even if the battle is already lost. The Knight's commitment is not to victory, but to doing what is right. Saint Theresa taught us this when she gave her life to free a village from an evil Spirit when all hope seemed lost. She sacrificed herself without expecting anything, yet her sacrifice filled the warriors with courage. They decided to follow her and because of that, they somehow scared the Spirit away. That was the day when a couple stupid rags who knew Firebending became true Fire Knights. They learned that their blade does not serve themselves and their own glory. The Fire Knights are but a tool of righteousness."

Verano bit his lips as Uncle Mario’s words echoed in his mind. Hagen held him by the neck and chocked him. The boy was helpless as the Northman manhandled his thin body, as if he held a chicken.

"A-Attack us, Arnaud!" Begged Verano. He saw the reflection of Marzia's unconscious face on Hagen's axe. Her death was a certainty unless Arnaud Jr attacked both Verano and Hagen foe with a fire blast. "You know it's the only way," insisted the boy with despair on his face, "do it now!"

"I-I'm sorry..." Mumbled Arnaud Jr as he shoved the tears off his face. "We love you, big bro!"

Arnaud closed his eyes and expelled all the breath in his lungs. His breath took the shape of a wolf's jaw. 

"Marzia." Verano mumbled the girl's name as he closed his eyes. The attack blinded him. The boy felt as if he drifted into the warm unknown, like the last speck of sand falling down the hourglass of life and death. He could not tell how much time had passed or where he was. Both time and distance lost meaning. However, he embraced the confusion with a welcoming smirk as he realized that a part of him was dead already; the dead could not tell time, and neither could he.

"W-What?" Verano recoiled as Hagen's cold blood refreshed the boy's face.

Verano opened his eyes and saw his reflection on Thyra's axe as the weapon cut Hagen's arm in half. Verano fell at the rocky beach alongside the maimed hand that carried the Ring of Nibel.

"Argh--" Hagen howled as he fell on his knees. He felt all the unhealed wounds on his body burning as if he laid on a bed of spears. The Ring of Nibel was not there anymore to soothe his pain and mend his wounds.

The rocky beach reflected the light of Arnaud's incoming flame. Hagen looked back and the flames opened their jaw to consume him. "Förbannar!" (Curses!) Shouted the man as he gritted his teeth and formed a water cocoon around him to block the attack.

[https://i.imgur.com/kzxIiWj.jpg]

“Is that—” Verano glanced at the axe and saw the inscription from Thyra’s ancestors. “Thyra!” He turned to the left and saw the girl running across the beach to help him:

"Get away, you dumb fire scum--"

Hagen's water cocoon dismantled itself into a massive wave. The waters were so powerful that they flung Marzia and Verano like feathers. They both collapsed into the waters adjacent to the beach, and the powerful tides of the North Sea pulled them undersea.

“Argh—” Wailed the boy. The cold waters consumed him. Yet he only had eyes for Marzia. He stretched his arm to catch her as she sunk deeper. He knew that she was unconscious and that her armor was too heavy for her to float. If he could not disassemble her equipment, she'd surely die.

Hagen stood on the beach and gasped. He could not attack again. He remained fallen on his knees with a hand on his maimed limb. He agonized without the Ring of Nibel to heal him.

"T-The ring--" He stretched his left arm to grab the Ring of Nibel. “Where was it—”

Arnaud Jr cast a shadow upon him.

"Stop right there," warned the boy with a flame on his hand, "Almost-King."

"Hu-hu-hu..." Hagen giggled at the threat.

"Yeah, laugh so you don't cry, thug!"

"Hu-hu-hu..." The Northman glanced at the blood that escaped his maimed limb. There was no Ring of Nibel, so his burn wounds bled free. His blood crawled down the beach like spiders and reached the waters. 

"Yeah, you are dying!" Insisted Arnaud. "Isn't that funny, you idiot?"

"Hu-hu-hahahaha!" Hagen laughed as the waters rose from North Sea like the wind. He pointed his maimed limb at Arnaud. The waters formed a red fist where the arm of the Ring of Niebel once was.

"Bene," (Okay,) faltered Arnaud as he stepped back, "now this was not supposed to happen..."

Hagen rose his water arm at the boy. His eerie water hand stretched like a snake’s body and snatched Arnaud's jaw. The Northam thrusted the boy high into the sky as if he drew a rainbow with his arm.

"Die!" Shouted the Northman as his water arm dove like an arrow into the beach. Arnaud was the projectile's head.

The boy dove into the ground, yet he did not die. 

What? Recoiled Arnaud as he noticed that a water couch amortized his fall. He rose his head and saw Thyra rushing at Hagen.

"This is for Joël!" She shouted with tears springing off her eyes. Hagen had murdered her teacher and second-in-command without any mercy. Thyra rose a line of ice spikes from in the space between her and Hagen. The spikes sprouted from the ground, as if they were flames consuming a tree.

Yet Hagen stood nonchalant as the ice spikes approached and threatened to impale him. His blood tainted the water in them, and they broke apart into a cloud of ice shards. Hagen glanced at the water inside Thyra’s ice spikes and saw that his blood had reddened them. He smirked and rose both his arms. A hundred ice pillars rose from the ocean.

"This is absurd--" Faltered Arnaud as the man's ice wall blossomed. "You cut his arm off!" He said as he faced Thyra. “How come he’s gotten stronger?”

"His blood..." She clenched her fists. "The more there is, the stronger seems to be his grasp of the Water. But he was reckless earlier..." She noticed that Hagen coughed and faltered. "He was too confident that the Ring would heal him and became reckless. Now he's losing too much blood. He'll eventually pass out..."

"And while that does not happen, he'll crush us like flies?" Asked Arnaud as Hagen's ice rose from the waters and darkened the Sun. “Those things will just rain from the sky!”

"You can run if you want..." Replied Thyra as she gritted her teeth. "I'm here for my revenge--"

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"Yeah..." Arnaud rose from the ground and shoved the dirt off his clothes. "My siblings were thrown in the water, so..." He turned around. "Good luck with that revenge, Queen!"

An ice pillar descended from the skies to crush the boy.

"Save me!" Begged Arnaud as he hurled himself at the sand with arms arched over his head.

The ice mauled the land like a spear only ten steps away from them. The impact was so intense that rocks and sand sprung off the beach and became like the wind. Yet Thyra did not react. She had her sights firmly aimed at Hagen.

"T-T-That was too close!" Faltered Arnaud as he faced the girl. Yet she had no reaction. Her mind worked on a strategy to crush her enemy. "Damn it,” the boy rose his voice, “you're so cold that you make my father look neurotic!"

"We need to get close to him." Said Thyra as she moved her arms and created a thick mist around her. She intended to obscure Hagen's sight of her movement. “Follow me.”

"What? Why the hell would we get closer to him?"

"Can't you just stay silent and listen to me?"

Although Thyra remained fearless, the crashed ice pillar shook the Black Hills and the waters. Marzia, who sunk unconscious, opened her eyes with the shockwaves. She saw Verano hopelessly stretching his arm to reach her.

Thyra! Arnaud! Wait for us! Thought the boy as he stretched his arm to reach his sister. We are coming back to help you!

V-Verano? Marzia thought to herself as she saw him yet again fighting to be together with her. The sight of him was still unusual after a year without him. She thought that she was dreaming as her body sunk deeper.  His image often came for her when she slept.

Damn it, Marzia. Verano opened his mouth to call her the water blocked his voice. She had to hold my hand, I can't hold much longer! He scowled in frustration. Yet he felt as if his thoughts went beyond himself, as if his angst overflowed his heart and enticed another creature. Verano opened his eyes as he saw Ness's eyes shining beyond Marzia's shoulders. This is it! Verano grinned in excitement. It's as if my emotions are bonding me to Ness. Come, girl; he smiled at the Sea Serpent, help us!

Ness flung itself to the surface and carried Marzia and Verano with it. The boy touched the creature's scales, and his hand recoiled at the heat.

"So you were preparing all along?" He smiled as he massaged the joyful creature. "I knew you'd not let me down." Said Verano as he recalled the teachings about how animals that go through the Verbündnis, the alliance with a Fire Knight, often amuse themselves with the comfortable heat that fast movement creates inside them.

The creature reached the surface and Marzia opened her eyes. She felt Verano's warmth contrasting with the cold water dripping off her clothes.

“Where are we?” She asked as she held him tight.

“Look up, Ness!” The boy shouted.

“What did you just call me?” Asked Marzia as her eyes widened open. “What’s that thing coming to kill us?”

Hagen hurled an ice pillar at Ness. He had turned his attention away from Thyra and Arnaud.

“Make a left, Ness!” Shouted Verano. The Sea Serpent growled and drifted to the right to escape the diving ice pillar.

The object mauled the water like a hammer and rose a tsunami that flooded the coast. Yet Ness remained untouched.

Marzia sighed, relieved:

“That was close!”

“We are not done yet,” remarked Verano as he rose his sights and faced the hundred ice pillars that floated above Hagen’s head, “he will throw them all at us!” The boy felt the heat in the man’s heart and bended a water collar around Ness’s neck. “Dive, girl!”

“Die…” Grumbled Hagen as he breathed through his mouth like a mad dog. “Die, Avatar!” The man clasped both hands together. His ice pillars dove from the skies like rain.

Yet Ness was a step ahead of every attack. The creature swam underwater. The projectiles slowed down as they entered the waters and the Sea Serpent dodged every falling ice pillar. The shockwaves of every pillar entering the water only propelled Ness forward.

Almost there… Verano tightened his grasp of the Sea Serpent water collar. He could see Hagen’s red hair shining from the surface. A fiery aura formed around Ness as the creature neared its target. Its movement ignited the flames. Three seconds and we are there! Verano pondered. He had stored his stamina to Firebend one last time.

“Argh—” Hagen gritted his teeth. The surface turned into a shallow barrier of ice to block Ness from springing out of the water.

Yet Verano smirked at the desperate blockade.

Sorry, Hagen, his heart and Ness’s beat like one, we are hardheaded!

“Kyu!” Roared the Sea Serpent as it tore through the ice surface and drifted to the side as to heave Verano as fast as it could.

“You pest!” Groaned Hagen.

“Stai giù!” (And stay down!) Said Verano as he dove like an arrow against the man. A large flame that combined his strength with Ness’s busted off his elbow and thrusted his fist forward.

Yet the boy saw the rosary that Flavius, his deceased priest friend, had given to him; and that Verano had wrapped around his right arm. Verano’s promise echoed in his head:

“Avatar or not, I just know one thing: I won’t ever kill again. Death has inspired many things in the Wild Lands and peace is not one of them.”

The boy opened his fist as his arm neared Hagen’s chest so that a fist would not cut through the Northman’s body and kill him. Verano’s open palm pushed his foe’s chest and hurled him like an arrow instead.

“A-Argh--” Hagen puked blood as he was sent flying. His consciousness left him . “M-My Kingdom…” He closed his eyes as his body landed on the ground, finally defeated.

Verano fell on his knees, gasping. He smiled as if he were in a good dream. He could not believe that the battle was finally over. Yet his act of mercy came at a great cost.

“I-I can’t feel my arm, argh—” He kneaded his right arm.

“You did it, you did it!” Cheered Marzia as she ran to embrace her brother.

“Marzia, my arm—” He moaned.

“Kyu!” Ness joined the celebration and roared as loud as it could. Its voice muted Verano’s agony.

“Finally,” said the girl as she held him tighter, “you’ve done it! You got a bond with a Sea Serpent and you defeated that scoundrel, you—”

Verano collapsed, unconscious. He felt as if he had broken a tendon.

“B-Big bro?” She asked as she shook his body. “Oh no,” she covered her mouth. Her arms shook. “Did love kill him? I always knew this would happen!” She shook his shoulders. “Please come back, I just found you, I can’t lose you again!” Tears filled her eyes. “This is not right—”

“Stand aside!” Ordered Thyra as she bended water out of her canteen and formed a curative veil on his wound.

“U-Ugh…” Moaned Verano he felt the curative water’s warm touch.

“He’s reacting.” Announced Thyra.

“But that’s just some water,” Marzia looked away, “it’s not going to save him. The fish die all the time.” She crossed her arms. “I say he needs remedies.”

“It’s not any healing water, you dimwitted self-absorbed fire princess.”

“What did you call me—”

“This water is a tea enriched with healing herbs that you only find in the Western Tribe of the Sea. It has special healing properties that reduces the pain,” she explained as Verano’s scowl relaxed, “It’s what—” She hesitated. “It’s what my brother used when he was alive.”

Verano mumbled:

“T-Thyra?” He faltered. “Is that your voice?”

“Yes!” Marzia replied as she crouched by the boy’s side. “How many fingers do you see?” She asked as her hand hovered over his head.

Yet the first thing that Verano saw was neither Marzia, nor Ness, nor Thyra; he saw Arnaud walking at Hagen’s unconscious body with one of his sister’s swords in hand.

“You tried to kill my family,” began Arnaud as he faced his unconscious enemy, “you tried to kill me! But now…” He rose the blade over his shoulders. “I’ll make sure you won’t ever kill anyone again!”

Verano shouted:

“Stop!”

“I will,” replied Arnaud as he calculated the attack, “just gimme one second!”

“D-Don’t kill him!” Begged Verano. “We don’t know who this guy is! We may not like him, and he might be dangerous; but if you kill him now…” The boy faltered. “There’s no telling how many might have to die because we were impulsive. He needs a fair judgement!”

Thyra smirked:

“Any fair judgement would give him death in these lands…” She explained. “At least.”

“Hasn’t this place seen enough death already?” Verano confronted her. The ghost of her brother still haunted him. “

“Uhn, Verano…” Marzia cupped her mouth whispered words in his ear. “I’ve lost count how many times this Hagen scoundrel has died already. He just keeps standing up. I never thought I’d say this, but I think Arnaud and the blonde psycho are right.”

Even Ness roared with anger at Hagen:

“Kyu!”

“See?” Concluded Arnaud. “The case is made. Everyone agrees this guy needs a good metal soup—”

Hagen’s eyes widened open.

“Ah!” Arnaud recoiled and fell on his backs.

The Northman stretched his arm at Verano. A water spear flung at the defenseless boy.

“V-Verano!” Cried Marzia as she saw the incoming attack. Her heart urged her to sacrifice herself to protect him, yet her brain weighed and shackled her. Her body shook with terror.

Verano closed his eyes as he saw his reflection in the water that was about to kill him. He had defended Hagen’s life and feared that dying would serve as nothing but evidence that he, Verano, was wrong for opposing violence. The words from his adopted father, Duke Arnaud de Sforza, echoed in his head:

Don’t ever sacrifice yourself for anyone who would not, in a million, do the same for you.

Verano closed his eyes as shrunk as if he made himself fit in Death’s nearing embrace. His body felt colder than ice.

“Wait,” his eyes widened as blood wetted his face, “I don’t feel anything…”

He rose his head and saw that Thyra had stepped forward to save his life. Hagen’s water spear pierced through her body.