“I have to thank you, Nay.”

“Mhh?”

“For showing me a dream.”

Nay gave her a puzzled look.

“Capri’s theatre.”

“Theatre?”

“It’s the name of the arena on the plateau.”

“Oh, yes. So…?”

“I was watching you.”

Nay gave out a sarcastic giggle, then answered teasingly:

“Not creepy at all.”

The smell of flowers and metal forged in flames came closer.

“You may laugh…but I am serious.”

Nay gulped.

A minute outside time.

  The man facing her was massive: seven feet tall, wide as a Yae and with the associated muscles. His claymore, a type of sword usually carried with both hands, looked almost small in his left hand. In his right, he wore a metal glove and nothing else.

Nay tried to recall if she knew what techniques were used with this kind of equipment. Her father had warned her about the Carradins. They were deadly. But Marke had little experience with their martial arts, and worse, Carradinoris had fundamentally different ways of fighting. To summarize, she had little idea what to expect. The only thing certain was that her opponent was a veteran.

Her blades were out of their sheathes already. She pointed her sword in front of her, hid her dagger behind her back and flexed her knees.

Instead of moving towards her and fight, her adversary kept a reasonable distance, taking his time to analyse her posture. He then taunted her: “You never killed. I can see in your eyes. You weak. You no chance of winning.”

His sentence felt like a thunderstrike. Not killing made her weak?

That was something Redrick would have said. Was he right? Even beyond the grave?

Was her father wrong to ask her not to kill? He had released her of that promise, he could not protect her anymore and she had to survive. But he had also asked for her to do her best. Did that not mean to kill as a last resort only?

If she had faced the six bandits at the same time, she would have had no other alternative.

But here, she only faced one.

Sure, he was more experienced, taller, stronger.

Nay changed her stance, she stood straight. The colossus looked at her, confused.

‘So what?’ She asked herself. ‘Am I not Marke’s daughter? Wasn’t I taught by the best? Without the Rreico, am I nothing? Not even able to beat one sole Carradin without having to kill him?’

She had decided.

She put her blades back in their scabbards.

“You are correct. I have never killed before. And I will not kill you. You will abandon the Kracht.” She announced.

The men began laughing loudly, all except the androgynous boy.

“You can’t do that! You must kill him! In one week! You’re doing everything wrong!”

He was knocked out with a handle strike of a bludgeon. The boy’s body went flaccid into the bandit’s arms who had shut him up.

Nay clenched her jaw. She forced it to relax.

The large man stopped laughing and spoke to Nay: “I kill you for your Hirre.”

Hirre meant disrespect. Despite his anger, he advanced slowly.

Thirteen feet. Ten feet. He raised his weapon and held out his metallic gauntlet in front of him.

The Rreico around Nay was in turmoil, but she, in its centre, was calm and serene.

She took a long breath.

Five feet. He stepped once more, then his blade went crashing down towards her.

It was going straight for her head. She shifted slightly, and the sword just brushed past her. He seemed surprised but nonetheless did not hesitate. He tried to catch her with his right hand. She simply moved forwards, and his metallic grip passed through strands of her hair without catching them.

“Frunt!” He had been taken aback by her speed, but he was not feeling anxious yet.

She had no weapons drawn after all.

He raised his sword back up as he tried to put some distance between him and her. Nay’s action was faster. Nimbly, she arched her back, her right hand took the place of her left foot, which went flying towards the colossus. At this distance, there was no escaping it.

He hesitated. The kick from a woman could not be dangerous to him, could it?

In this fraction of doubt, came certainty.

She was no normal woman. He had seen the rigorous training in her muscles. He seen the genius of a master in her dodges.

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Her eyes had told him of his defeat.

Nay’s aim was true. Her kick reached the man’s chin, which forced his head to rotate in a diagonal forty-five-degree angle, which was far from natural-looking.

He moved one step back, then held his chin with his metal hand.

“Was gebeurt. Das shmeckt nichts.” He said, relieved.

It doesn’t hurt, Nay understood.

She also took a step back. The whole action had taken the time of a single breath.

The fight was over.

The one called Suermi put one more step between them, looking a bit confused now, and raised his sword again. It slipped from his fingers. He looked at it fall in a daze.

Then he himself collapsed.

His gigantic body made an enormous “boom” when hitting the ground, projecting a large dust and sand cloud.

No one was laughing anymore.

“Let the kid go.” Vriicht commanded. The bandit still holding the unconscious boy immediately did as he was asked. The Carradin continued talking, this time speaking to Nay. “As witness of the Kracht, I shall give up in stead of my friend. You have won, the monk is free to go.”

At this instant, Nay felt the Rreico anew. Not as it was before, everything was still so much more, so chaotic. But she had finally managed to go past it. She could finally see beyond the surface, deeper inside.

She smiled. She knew he was not lying. The man talking to her was a murderer, a man driven by impulses and desires, but he would keep his word. She had just saved a young teenager.

But unfortunately, it was not over yet.

The four other bandits were encircling her. The Carradin still standing was facing her with a menacing air.

“Let me guess. You only promised to let him go.” She deduced.

He did not say anything back to her but nocked an arrow on his bowstring.

Nay was not worried anymore. She was like Marke. It was through the art of the Legios that they grew. Haunted for weeks, it had only taken one fight to rid her of the weight in her legs and the darkness in her mind.

“This family is a bunch of idiots.” Ra’fa would have said.

Nay smiled.

“You don’t seem to understand the situation you are currently in, monster.”

Vriicht had said this with fear in his voice, but this time, the emotion was rampant and uncontrolled.

“You are the ones not understanding. I will probably not win one against five. But I will fight. I will pull out my blades.”

None of the men dared to come closer to her, circling around like a pack of Byrns. At the first sign of weakness, they would pounce.

She had never been afraid of Byrns.

“So?” The bravado of the Carradin was not very impressive, as he himself was not coming closer either.

“You’ll be the first one to die. Then two more. The fourth will never walk again, and the fifth will probably get me from behind.” She explained calmly.

A rush of air howled as silence overtook the men for a short moment.

“Vriicht? We’re not going to believe her, are we? She’s bluffing.” Said one the underlings.

“You saw how fast she put Suermi down? You really think she’s bluffing?” Another answered.

Vriicht was hesitating, his bow still aimed at her.

“I don’t have the whole year, Decide.” A freezing cold wind accompanied the words of the girl with cloudy eyes.

He lowered his bow.

“Jiorgio, you and Kef take Suermi. We’re getting out of here.”

The bandits pulled back their weapons, and two of them went towards the giant on the ground. The lean Carradin also started to leave, showing his back to the young Legio as he spat on the ground.

“Stop.” Nay decided.

They stopped. At last, Nay had taken the initiative. She was not carried by the raging Rreico anymore, she was its heart.

“You and your band really think you can get away with all this so easily? What will you do next? Stop your banditry lifestyle? No. You still haven’t understood yet. I ask a Kracht. You against me. You can ask for whatever you want, it does not matter.”

The Carradin turned around, slowly. Anger was beginning to take hold of him. Nay ended that with one look.

“Y…yo…what do you want in exchange?” He finally asked.

“You and your friend go back to Carradinoris, the rests goes its merry way. Your group is disbanded.”

“You are no Carradin warrior, you have no right to…” He began.

A deep voice interrupted him. Suermi, sitting on the ground, was already awake. “Sie hasst ein Kracht gewont. Sie kannt anoder vragen.”

He was saying that as she had won one Kracht, she had the right to ask for another.

“Frunt.” Swore the other Carradin. “This may be true, but why would I accept? I have no chance of w…”

“Woman be Mather. Und warum sind wie hihr?” His comrade cut him off.

Nay had a hard time understanding the last sentence: Why are we here? She did not really understand the meaning of it, and she had no idea what Mather meant.

Vriicht stopped talking for a while, pensive, then asked: “Escht?”

The colossus nodded.

The lean man faced Nay, then sighed.

“Ich seer by Kra.” He said.

“Lest the devil finds me if I lie.” Nay answered.

Not waiting one second, the Carradin nocked an arrow and shot without even taking time to aim.

He did not need to; he was good, and only twenty feet or so away from her.

The arrow flew straight towards her nose. She just tilted her head. She heard the projectile hit the sandy road far behind her.

“Frunt. Vershtammte Niesse.” He swore again, his hand reaching for another arrow.

The young Legio stood there, unmoving.

“Why are you not attacking?” He shouted.

“You’re tiring yourself, I have no reason to stop you.”

He looked at her, mouth wide open. Instead of nocking another arrow, he took a strange wooden accessory that he hooked on his bow.

She gave him a puzzled look.

“Your arrogance will be your demise.” He said before pulling the string of his bow. He released it, and immediately an arrow exited the accessory, bolting straight towards her.

As she started dodging it, his adversary pulled the bowstring again. Another arrow shot.

This accessory let him shoot multiple arrows in rapid succession? Nay was astonished. She knew that Carradinoris was further ahead than the Empire in military technology, but even then, she had never heard anything about such a contraption before.

She dodged the first arrow and plucked the second mid air with her right hand.

Three more arrows flew, they all met the same fate. Their speed was akin to that of a throwing knife; the contraption was making the arrows slower, enough to not pose any real danger to her.

Her opponent stared at her with a look she knew all too well.

Monster.

The colossus still sitting on the ground laughed. “Sie ist besser dann Mather Chain. Wunderbar.”

“Is the limit five arrows?” Nay asked as she plunged the arrows she had gathered in the ground.

The Carradin was terrified. He was on the verge of losing control over his emotions.

“Vriicht.” Said Suermi.

In response to that, Nay’s opponent breathed out. He was still scared, but his Rreico was calm again. He had not given up.

“It depends on the automator size. This one holds five. More than seven is not possible. Of course, the more arrows it holds, the longer it takes to reload. Useful in a skirmish, not in a drawn-out battle.” As he explained, he threw his bow on the ground. “I thank you, Mather, fighting you is a rare opportunity. I cannot lose this fight though. We have our orders.”

He pulled out a strange object, it had a metal tube stuck to a sort of wooden handle. He pointed the new weapon towards her.

The Rreico stopped.

Nay could not feel it anymore, she could only feel one thing now. She had sensed something inside his weapon. Something she knew. Something she had seen recently. But it had been too far away that time, not destined to her.

“You know what it is?” The Carradin seemed surprised. “It doesn’t matter either way, you cannot stop it. It is forbidden here, for good reasons. No human being, as fast or monstrous he may be, can do a thing against it.

But Nay was not listening to him. The smell was so…hypnotising.

The odour of gunpowder.

“It uses gunpowder.” She said. It was not really a question, it just reminded her of a lesson of the Sage-brother.

“Why is gunpowder forbidden in the empire of the Imperatrix, and why was it removed from military usage?”

What was the answer to this question? She had forgotten.

“Don’t move. Give up Mather, please, don’t force me to shoot.” The Carradin was aiming the weapon towards Nay’s torso.

She raised her right arm, extending it towards what was pulling her.

“I won’t warn you a second…” He continued.

She snapped her fingers.

The powder inside the rudimentary gun exploded. A satchel that dangled on his belt did the same. He was launched sideways for half a dozen feet, his body rolling on the ground for a while, before finally stopping, not moving anymore.

“Frunt. Ein Mage.” After those words, the seven-feet giant made a gesture to a bandit next to him. The man came closer to Vriicht, checking his vitals.

“Not dead, just unconscious. Still burnt pretty bad, and bleeding. Not deep. Needs to be bandaged though.

“Jarr.” Said the large man before addressing Nay: “Bei die Krach sie winnt.”

She had won, but Nay did not care. She was catching her breath. She had not been in control. Her power had. The fog over her mind was receding. A memory came back.