Hanafin and I sprint through the castle together, trying to catch up to Celestia before she finds Yesenia.

"Do you have a plan?!" I ask him breathlessly, finding it very difficult to keep up with his pace.

"Not really, but I don't believe she'll be able to handle it. Please, just help me out a little. I don't see myself being able to stop Celestia."

Tetsu, wind. I spread my arms out like a bird, wind emanating from my hands. I then slap my arms together, sending my air everywhere. I stop running in focus, feeling every sensation my wind brushes against, every figure, every nook and cranny, controlling multiple gusts all heading in different direction at once.

Although I could only ascertain the silhouettes of the things I touch and nothing more. I was very certain that I would be able to distinguish that girl's silhouette very distinctly.

There! I feel it! I shiver as I could feel her gaze right on me as soon as I detect her, despite being in a room much further away. It's as she could recognize the slight shift in air that should be completely indistinguishable to those who wield Anku.

I shake my head. "Follow me." I beckon Hanafin to come and jet forward, slicing through the air resistance like a knife through butter, a strong tailwind behind my back to propel my body forward.

"OI!" We find Celestia relaxing, arms under her head, on a large statue in the courtyard. "What did you do to my sister!" Hanafin yells at her.

"It's kinda annoying how everyone always assumes the worst of me."

"What. Did you. Do. To my. Sister."

"I chopped her into pieces and ate her." Celestia says sarcastically.

"Stop screwing around! You are this god damn close before we decide to kick you out."

"And you are on the very edge of losing the war and your heads shortly after, feels weird having no control doesn't it? You little spoiled person."

Hanafin closes his eyes.

"Cain, as your superior, threaten her."

I puck my lips. "This might backfire." I murmur before I begin walking up to her.

"Oh don't threaten me with a good time! I've always wanted to fight a Tetsudo, you got some fire powers right?! Come on then, show me what you got!" Celestia licks her lips.

I hold my hand up at her, watching as she tries to secretly prick her finger, flicking her blood to the ground.

She notices my gaze and smiles. "Ah shucks, I guess you caught me." She holds her hands up, a tiny drop of blood running down her arm.

"No, no, you can do whatever you want. Ignore me, please." I hold my position, both of my palms pointed towards her body.

I don't let out a fire, I don't let out any air, I simply stand there unwavering, and then, standing still, for a brief moment, I could finally see a moment of uncertainty on her face.

Fear of the unknown, it's a fear no human can ever erase, no matter how strong they are. To her, I was an enigma, she had never seen my fire, she had never seen me fight, she had never seen the extent of my abilities.

And unless I show it, she'll always have those suspicions in the back of her head, forever that tiny voice telling her that I may be too dangerous, no matter how confident she was in her strength.

Celestia stands tense for a moment before nodding, as if recognizing this subtle way of taking her slightly out of her comfort zone. She then lets out a focused quick breath before stepping forward.

Celestia anchors herself to the ground as I let out a roaring current of wind, by far the strongest current I’ve ever released. The grass and dirt around her feet uproot immediately, making Celestia quickly realize that the ground wasn't going to hold her anchor very long. She quickly lunges straight into the wind, trying to completely brute-force her way through my attack.

Her long hair flies back like pin needles, her clothes flap relentlessly.

I fold in my hands towards my chest as she comes within arms reach, slowing down tremendously from her initial lunge. She tucks her head in as the ground behind her flies into the sky, dirt and grass slamming into the castle walls.

All, I have to do is aim the current a tiny bit up, and she'll be carried away into the sky.

She reaches out forward, grasping, edging closer and closer until her hand was centimeters away from my face.

"This has gone on long enough wouldn't you say?" I say before bending my fingers upwards.

Celestia drops to the ground with lightning-like speeds crouching directly underneath my hands where the wind was coming from. I instantaneously switch the rhythm of my Tetsu from wind to fire, turning my entire body into fire in defense.

She throws out a vicious kick, her leg carrying the force of instant death as it passes right through my body, I stumble to my right as my body flames are blown to the side by the wind of her kick. Then, without looking, knowing I had absolutely no chance to visually react to whatever she does next, I begin the transition of my Tetsu back to wind, point my hand in Celestia's general direction, and let out a searing hot stream of air straight into her body

She's blasted back, tumbling and flipping through the ground before eventually catching her landing on the castle wall.

"Whoa! That's hot!" Celestia brushes off the hem of her shirt that had caught on fire. However, if she was affected by the heat it didn’t show on her face.

"Please stand back prince, I don't believe I'll be able to hold back." I say to Hanafin with 100% earnestness. I had a feeling that this girl wasn't about to be someone I could just accidentally kill.

Celestia looks at me with a massive grin on her face. "I take it you're ready to start using your fire then?" She says.

In response, my hands burst into flames. My adrenaline was running, my mind was focused, my concentration was stronger than it had ever been.

Celestia lets out a long drawn out breath before closing her eyes. "Alright, alright, I'll give up." Celestia backs away, not really sounding like she was giving up. "Let's save part two of this fight for a more convenient time." She gives me a sly look to the side. "That is... If you want to."

I quickly catch myself and try to calm down. "I will not fight you." I put out the flames on my hands, knowing that those words were likely not going to come true.

"Who knows, maybe you won't, I don't know the future." Celestia leans on the wall and tilts her head to the side, dropping her hair all over her face. "By the way, weren't you asking me about something? I forgot."

Hanafin purses his lips, an angry look on his face, then begins speaking very slowly. "I said—"

"Oh yea, Yesenia is down in the cellar talking to Crux right now. I surprisingly didn't even need to say anything. She sought him out herself."

"Alright, Cain, keep her here while I go check on them, make sure to not let her move, and Celestia, if you do anything stupid, I will personally make sure that you will stay here guarding the capital until the war is over." Hanafin says before running off, leaving Celestia and I completely alone.

"Well, I guess it's time to do something stupid then." Celestia immediately says before Hanafin is even out of earshot.

"Are you sure you want to stay in this city for the rest of the war? I heard that you were someone that sought out many many fights." I say in response, trying to deescalate without using any force.

"I don't believe that he'll be able to keep me down even if he wanted to. I've seen how you guys run this place, none of you can afford to keep me away from the frontlines, his idea will simply be voted down, no matter who he is." Celestia says in response, in an unusually reasonable tone.

"He's the prince. Only Yesenia has the same claim to power as he does." I say.

"Then why aren't they leading this crisis right now?" Celestia points out the obvious. "Why was I approached to pick the leader?"

"I can't let you move out of here. I'm sorry but those are my orders." I say in a rather shameless way of changing the topic.

"Will you use force?"

"No, I will simply never give you the fight that you've been wanting. You will kill me before I lift a finger back." I say with a neutral tone. "You will be sacrificing one of your interests for another."

"I see... Then how about you tell me what you think of this situation. Do you think Yesenia should be present for when I out the traitor?"

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"What I think isn't important."

"But you're always thinking anyway aren't you? I can tell; you're suppressing a lot of very strong opinions under that skull of yours despite being so reserved. So tell me, solely for the sake of my being interested, what is your opinion?"

"..." I don't speak for the next couple of seconds, before slowly opening my mouth. "I don't believe she should be trying to run away from reality." It'll only make the impact worse in the future; it was something I could say from personal experience, when I was disillusioned with my reputation among the people.

"I see, I see, then, back to what that prince said, he said to not let me move, but technically he didn't specify where I can't move from. So from all I know, he might be talking about not letting me move from the castle rather than this courtyard." Celestia says, I could immediately tell where she was going with this.

”I can’t agree to that.” My eyes drift away from hers.

”What are you talking about? You’ve already agreed to it, haven't you? At least that’s what you just told me?”

Something about her just makes me want to— I look down, suddenly realizing that her hand was bleeding.

Shit… I think to myself as the psychological influences of her Sananku take hold within my mind.

The air swooshes and swirls around the two of us, forming a shimmering bubble.

"What did you just do?!" Celestia looks around in awe, then looking down at her body and frame only to see a black shadow enveloping her.

"As long as you stay in the bubble, the two of us cannot be seen from the outside in, nor can we be heard from the inside out. So, I have a single condition." I stare at Celestia dead in the eyes.

"Do not leave this bubble."

"Deal." Celestia says without hesitation, I nod and the two of us begin walking together silently.

A couple seconds later I glance to the right as two figures emerge from a corridor.

"So you think Crux is the traitor?" An old, but extremely powerful man with an immense physique, whom I recognized as Grandy, walks out side by side with Hanafin.

"I don't know, Celestia may be talking out of her ass. However, we need to find him and talk to him before Celestia does."

"Speaking of which, where is she right now?"

"I left Cain to guard her in the courtyard. She should be stuck there right now."

"Oh, I'm taking you've placed your trust in that Tetsudo now? You were pretty suspicious of him before."

"Yes. If Stronl can vouch for him then so can I. '' Hanafin says without hesitation.

… We continue to walk just meters away from them.

I am so sorry.

"What are you going to do once we get there?" I turn to Celestia and ask.

"I'll just watch. You have my word. I won't break our promise no matter what." Celestia says.

I don't believe you for a second.

Grandy flicks his head in our direction and frowns as soon as she says this and frowns.

"Is something the matter?" Hanafin notices and asks.

"You said Celestia is in the courtyard correct?"

"Right... What's going on?"

"I... Don't know. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, but it's just a strange feeling." He glances back at us, this time looking directly at Celestia. "Never-mind, I shouldn't let that girl play with my mind like this." Grandy says, almost certainly directing it towards Celestia before looking away.

I furrow my eyebrows, there's no way he should be able to tell, unless I screwed up the refraction which I'm almost certain that I haven't.

"It's not your fault... I think. " Celestia says as if reading my mind. "There's more to people than just Anku and Tetsu, and for someone like Grandy, just call it... Instinct."

"You two know each other?"

"He's a strong one, so of course we're going to know each other. There's not many people out there whom I can enjoy a fight with."

"... How old are you?" I then ask a seemingly random question.

"Twenty-Two, why?"

"It's nothing." I was a year younger than her, but looking at her, it felt like I was looking back into my family, when I was still a prince. As if she was someone I had grown out of.

"Are you making fun of me?" Celestia immediately asks suspiciously.

I genuinely chuckle a bit. "Your senses must be getting dull if you just now figured that out."

She smiles back. "Didn't think you had an actual mouth on ya mister 'my opinion isn't important.'"

While the two of us were all smiles, the pair next to us grimly approach the doors to the cellar with voices that could be heard coming from within.

Hanafin holds the door open for Grandy, allowing us to sneak in before he closes the door.

"I wonder what happens if I grab something while inside this bubble. Would it just disappear into thin air? Would people from the outside see it floating?" Celestia says, still talking off topic despite being in the cellar.

I give her a strange look, "If we're moving, then screwing with some gravel or something like that could give away our location, but if I keep the bubble in place, then nothing you do can give away our position, unless someone bumps into us."

"Ah, good to know, good to know..." Then Celestia stops talking and starts watching.

"Celestia claims that you are the traitor." Grandy approaches the two.

"I didn't say anything yet though..." Celestia murmurs.

"I can assure you that I'm not. She's being a child and trying to show off." Crux says calmly. "Trying to pin the blame on me through her intuition alone."

Yesenia nods vigorously. "Celestia has only proven herself as a fighter, not as a thinker." She says. “Trusting her is a stupid move.”

Hanafin closes his eyes. "I trust you more than Celestia, I agree." He glances at Yesenia. "But you need to leave and calm down right now. You are too emotional to deal with this."

"Don't tell me that you're actually acknowledging her! Out of all the people here, Crux is the last damn person who would betray us!" Yesenia says viciously.

"That's not what I'm saying, I just—"

"Calm down, both of you." Grandy places a hand on both of their heads before looking at Crux.

"Crux, I will now begin monitoring your heart-rate, tell me the truth and the truth only." Grandy says biting his finger and placing his it against Crux's wrist.

"You too Grandy?!"

"Princess. If Crux is not the traitor then you have nothing to be wary of. We've known each other for almost thirty years by now, there is noone else that I know better."

"But..." Yesenia's voice fades away as she realizes that her protests were futile.

"Alright, are you ready old friend?" Grandy says.

Crux nods in response. "Let's get this over with."

"How long have you been serving this kingdom?"

"Thirty years."

"Why did you decide to join the guard rather than keep your status as a noble?"

… The air becomes awkwardly quiet.

"Out of loyalty for Mallefard, I wanted to stay close to him rather than rule over a remote corner of Lyster." Crux says after a slight pause.

Grandy looks up. "So you could say your loyalty was more for the king rather than the kingdom."

"Yes… That was true."

"That's enough." Yesenia angrily butts in as soon as she realizes where the line of questioning was going.

"If you hate that I'm even doing this then Hanafin is right; you are being too emotional. Please sit back and quiet down or else I will take more drastic action. I will gladly suffer the consequences of laying my hands on you if that's what it takes.” Grandy says with an unyielding tone at Yesenia, making her shrivel away immediately.

"I'll be fine, don't worry, as he says, we're old friends." Crux nods at Yesenia.

"Alright, here comes the actual questions."

"Do your worst."

"Did you write those envelopes out to Oliviand?"

"No."

"Have you been in contact with any of the Oliviand spies?"

"No."

"Are you the traitor?"

"No."

So far, every single question had gone smoothly and without hesitation, Crux looks calm and relaxed.

"And... Have you struck a deal with Oliviand to spare the life of the heirs?" Grandy pierces through with an oddly specific question.

“No." Crux says without hesitation.

“There you go! Innocent!” Yesenia quickly says after Grandy’s extended period of silence indicating that he was done with the questions.

”Grandy, did he lie? Speak the truth.” Hanafin directly addresses Grandy.

…

”His heart rate stayed perfectly normal, all other vital signs showed no signs of disruption either.” Grandy says after a while. “I don’t think he lied.”

I look back up at Celestia, her gaze still intensely trained on Crux.

I couldn’t tell what she was thinking at all.

”Looks like you were wrong.” I then tell her.

“Hmm, is that what you think?” The smile on her face seemed wider than usual. “I still think I’m right.”

“Oi, don’t be a hardass, just admit that you were wrong, the reason that Crux was being so irritable was solely because of you and nothing else.” A glare slowly forming on my face.

”Yes, that’s true.” Celestia nods. “It’s natural to be annoyed at being accused of something you didn’t do.”

”Right... So please don’t do things like this.” I say, somewhat confused at the contradiction.

“I’ve done nothing wrong yet.”

“Huh? Didn’t you just—“

“The explanation for his behavior is simple. He just forgot.” Celestia shamelessly declares.

The glare turns into a full blown scowl as I continue staring at her. “Delusional. Why did I waste any of my time with you? Come on, we’re going back.” I grab her shoulder only for her to shrug me off, barely even paying attention to me.

“Just watch.” She says.

”Watch what? They’re already… leaving…?”

”I just don’t get it.” Grandy says, his head buried to the floor. ”You aren’t a liar, you shouldn’t be lying. So when I found something during your investigation I hid it from everyone else. It didn’t make sense. I wanted answers from you directly before revealing it to everyone else… Celestia! Come out!” Grandy looks directly at us.

I immediately back away instinctively. How did he?? When he first glanced at us, did he sense us?

”Ok!” Celestia steps through the bubble, appearing from thin air, spooking everyone in the room except Grandy and me.

They were working together?

“A year ago during the spring, you had a series of documented leaves from the castle.” Celestia brings out a page from the stack of classified information that the merchant cart was carrying out. “Citing reasons as leisure related. Lining up with the end of your trips was the disappearance of a relatively niche calligrapher who to this day has never been found. The writing on these documents is indistinct enough that it would be impossible to make conclusions solely off the style. However, the ink on these documents is a rarer, matte black that colleagues of that calligrapher said that he used.”

She cruelly hands the page with the distinct ink over to a shocked Yesenia.

“The information in these pages were slightly outdated to that time frame as well.” Grandy says.

”So I’m making my formal accusation now.” Celestia says. “Crux, you are the traitor.”