Two days earlier, in Noctelagia.

-

"Orion."

"Nylon?"

Right before leaving for Horizon, Nylon separated him from the others.

"I have something I would like to ask you."

Under his cloak, his hands were clenched, worried about his brother's answer.

"I would like to follow Elliott secretly, but I don't know if it is just a stupid idea. I would like your opinion on it."

With a frown on his face, Orion placed his hand on his chin. After a moment, he asked.

"What for? Do you have a reason for following him?"

"Yes. I'm thinking of learning more about him, while checking on him at the same time. I also believe it would be wrong to let him roam freely without any ways to know his whereabouts."

Orion nodded, understanding his points.

"Mmh~ Right. Well, why not? It's your choice in the end. But you have to be careful, you hear me? Don't even try to fight him if it comes to a battle."

"I wasn't planning on attacking him anyways. I saw in what state he had left you, which made me wonder why he spared you in the end. I heard that man was ruthless and evil, but he his far removed from those aspects."

"True. If what he said is the truth, then it was all Miasma's doing from the beginning. I don't want to believe him yet, but he hasn't showed any signs of bloodlust. I think you can safely go with him."

With that said, Orion gave his opinion. It was Nylon's choice or not to follow through with it.

"Then I'll go. He will probably notice me quickly, but if I don't stay in his way, he should ignore me? Like I said, probably..."

"Could you open a portal home for me? I would like to speak with dad before I go, as it might be a long journey."

"Sure."

A determined look on his face, he walked past Orion.

"Hey."

Just before he disappeared into the portal, Orion called him out.

"What?"

He turned around and noticed his brother's hand extended toward him.

"Be careful out there."

Nylon grabbed it in a hand hug fashion.

"I will. You two, be careful."

Like brothers, they stared at each other for a moment, before they both released their grip.

With a smile on his face, Nylon appeared in his village, the portal closing behind him.

-

Both Elliott and Nylon walked out of their shelter that they used for the night. The storm had cleared away, leaving behind it a clear blue sky, and a large amount of snow everywhere.

"We are lucky to have found a good place to stay, otherwise, the snow would have pilled on us."

Elliott crouched and picked up some of the cold snow with his hands. He made a snowball and smiled at it, before dropping in on the ground.

"You've missed the snow?"

Looking at his expression, Nylon couldn't help but ask. He wasn't expecting an answer, but Elliott didn't mind answering.

"Not only the snow. I haven't seen much these past two thousands years. Even before being sealed, I was controlled, so I never had the chance to freely touch things, enjoy their textures, you get the gist of it."

"I haven't felt snow since I was young, which was, well, way too long ago."

He stood up and walked forward, closely listening to the crunching snow under his every steps.

"Being with someone else like that is also new to me. So I'm planning to enjoy the journey as much as possible."

"I have no right to judge your actions. Do what pleases you."

Nylon followed behind from a short distance, walking in the shadows of the buildings. He looked inside each and every houses, in case something would jump out.

There had been no movement from the animals living in the city as they proceeded to a large crumbled mansion. Elliott quickly analyzed the area and walked closer.

"This is Orion's handiwork, isn't it?"

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

He looked at the frozen line of blood that puddled out of the wooden debris.

"It is probably the house of one of the Apostles. Since I feel no corruption at all in the vicinity, I suppose that Apostle was the one that father had to... how do I explain this."

Elliott turned around and looked at Nylon, with a surprisingly serious expression on his face.

"At one point, he tried to corrupt Orion, but he failed. Instead, his soul took damage thanks to that new element. To recover, he absorbed the corruption buildup inside that one Apostle, successfully curing him it."

"Though, the damages it had done to his mind were still present. It wouldn't have ended like this if he had a sane mind."

With a neutral expression, Nylon listened quietly.

"Alright, let's get out of here. There's still a few hours of running before arriving at the border."

"Lead the way."

With their guard up, they exited Ryghs through a broken part of the protective wall, and continued their journey south.

~

"Amelia, show me your elemental masteries."

"Yes, mom."

Henrietta and Amelia were standing in the area used to train, far from the buildings. Only these two decided to train at this moment.

"I only have two out of the five though."

"Doesn't matter. Show me."

'Vesta.'

With her fire dagger appearing in her hand, she felt a huge chunk of her magic getting eaten as her appearance changed.

Fire enveloped her before revealing flamboyant red and orange hair. Her body got covered by red flames, from legs to arms. Her pupils, which were usually light pink, turned completely red.

Maybe because of the second elemental mastery she unlocked, she now had a fire crown on her head, alongside a thin and transparent fire waist cape.

"Seeing it person is sure something else. But nonetheless, you've been working hard. Well done."

With a satisfied look on her face, Henrietta complimented her daughter, something she wanted to do since leaving her to her own devices.

"Now, the other one."

Happy to have her efforts approved by her mother, she smiled and nodded. Vesta vanished, letting its place to Dana.

The water dagger, who had changed to a water and ice dagger during the fight against Kelvin, began to emit snowflakes around its hilt, which instantly melted into droplets of water who joined the blade, which was made of pure water.

Amelia herself began to feel the cold invade her body. Her skin became whiter, while her hair became like crystal blue, glistening here and there. Her pupils switched to an icy blue color, different to the cerulean blue Karteira displayed.

Similar to her fire form, a transparent watery and icy cape appeared around her waist, followed by the icy crown she previously had.

"If you're not a fighting princess, I don't know what you are."

"I'm your daughter."

"But I can't fight. And I'm no queen either. Compared to me, you've found your prince, isn't it?"

They both looked at each other with a rather sad smile.

"So, what do I do now that I showed you these forms?"

"You're going to work on unlocking the others. And since you like it so much, give that transformation a name."

"Battle Maiden?"

"Pfft!"

"Ah- Hey! Why are you laughing?!"

Henrietta looked away with a grin on her face, her arm hiding her mouth. She felt embarrassed just listening to her daughter.

"I'm... not laughing."

She walked to her mother while stomping her feet on the ground, but not before removing her transformation.

"Stop laughing! Was it that funny?! Am I not a maiden?!"

"You sure are old enough to be called a maiden, but are you sure? 'Battle Maiden: Fire Form!'"

Imitating Amelia's movements, she made a very, very, very cringe-worthy pose, which made Amelia wince a little.

"I-I get it. You don't have to tease me about it anymore."

Her mother was determined to make her understand that giving names to abilities wasn't necessarily 'cool'.

"It's already difficult to come up with names, so if you start judging me every time I have an idea, I'll die of embarrassment."

"Then find a better name. You don't want Orion calling you a 'Battle Maiden' now, do you?"

"I don't."

Satisfied, Henrietta let it go.

"..."

Falling into deep thoughts, Amelia came up with a name, but she knew her mother wouldn't approve of it.

"I know that face, you've thought about something bothersome again."

"There's only one name I could think of, but it will probably be problematic, isn't it?"

...

*sigh*

"I get what you're saying. If it wasn't for the implications behind it though..."

"I really want to use it. I have that feeling inside me, it won't let go. The elements want this name, and no other one too."

Grabbing her chest tightly, she pleaded to Henrietta.

"I really don't like it. But do what you want. It's better than 'Battle Maiden' anyways."

Giving up, Henrietta sighed again.

'Why is my daughter following this path, I wonder?'

She watched as Amelia made some distance, drawing out her lightning element out.

"That's the element I'm currently the closest to master."

"Lightning. This might be troublesome."

With a stoic expression, Henrietta began to think.

"Because it is supposed to break me before I'm able to unlock its full potential. I heard it from Florian."

"You might not need to have your body completely shattered to master it, but you probably will have to strengthen those muscles. You will have to rip them continuously, slowly building resistance toward it. That's how most people managed to improve it."

"That's too long! Gh!"

Without caring in the slightest, she stabbed Leima in her right thigh. Henrietta only watched in horror as her daughter chose the most stupid and cutting-corner solution.

She tried to stop her, but she was too far away.

"Amelia?! Stop that!"

Only a grown escaped her mouth, as she tried to be as tough as Orion, who never let out a cry of pain.

She remembered how ashamed she was to have let Kelvin lend a hit on her. She even remembered herself shouting in pain afterward.

"Leima, first phase, full power."

But the dagger refused to listened.

"I said, full power!"

As if it had no choice, the dagger released so much electricity that Amelia's consciousness slowly stopped working for a moment.

But she held on. As bolts of lightning erupted from the dagger around her, burning the white ground, and light blinked in and out of focus from the sheer amount of electricity, she kept her mind strong.

'I have to get stronger! I don't have time to idly stand around! I need to help Orion!'

Amelia gritted her teeth. The pain was unbearable, yet she continued. Until she was unable to breathe anymore.

Leima stopped emitting lightning completely, and vanished, leaving behind a smell of burned flesh, and a very ugly wound.

"You moron! Orion! Come here!"

A portal appeared next to her. Orion walked out of it, and immediately noticed something was wrong with Amelia.

She had fell unconscious.

"What did she do?"

"She electrocuted herself in hope of improving her power."

He quickly went to heal her, ignoring the smell. Not long after, she was healed up completely.

"Sorry..."

"Hurting yourself is not the solution. Why do you think I avoid it, if not for that reason alone?"

"I felt rushed. I shouldn't have done that."

After doing it, she realized how dumb it was. One wrong move and she would have died. Luckily for her, Leima only released a small amount of electricity, as a warning not to do it again.

A warning she was going to listen to.

"But... I think I understood how to proceed with her."

Amelia took out Leima and stabbed herself in the chest.

"What the-! Amelia?!"

As Henrietta once again fell in shock, Orion only squinted slightly.

She opened her eyes, which were now purple colored, coursing with lightning.

"Yes, just like that."