I immediately stiffen upon hearing Cain’s words; however strong I might be, I would for sure lose if they both came at me at once, considering how hard it was to take on even one of them.

“Yeah, you’re right, under ordinary circumstances, I wouldn’t hesitate to execute a traitor, but it’s personal for me, please understand.” Rainel turns towards Cain with a weary look in his eyes.

”Rainel, if you continue to negotiate with her I will consider both of you traitors, I can make sure none of us make it back alive.” Cain has a dark look on his face right now.

“Wait, wait, wait, I didn’t hurt your feelings that badly did I? Come on, let’s talk here.” I wave my hands in panic.

“Silence. The enemies you tried to save are dead. What’s possibly left for you to say? Unless you want to beg for your life?” Cain was being uncharacteristically provocative.

“No I’m just…” Wait, isn’t he right? What am I supposed to do now? I look down at my bloodied knuckles. Am I… scared? Again?

“Cain, Celestia, let’s all calm down please.” Rainel interjects, putting his arm between the two of us.

I was in my own space as the two of them argued in the background, thinking deeply about my next move.

My mouth slowly curves towards a smile as all of this goes on. “Rainel, I really appreciate you.” I touch his shoulder, causing Rainel to suddenly draw his sword and lunge out.

I sway left, away from both Cain and Rainel’s blade and make some space between all of us.

”What did you do?” Rainel looks down at his arms confused.

I am my mother’s child after all, if you’ve fought her I’m sure you know what I just did. It was something I’d been trying to imitate for years, but only now understood completely. Ponca was able to mislead the instincts of other people just by being near them, making them do or feel things they shouldn’t. In battle she could use it to make them swing in completely opposite directions to where she was facing, fail to block or parry her attacks, among other things.

Previously I could only copy it by cutting my hand and letting my blood dissolve into the open air. Something that was both difficult to pull off and ineffective in actual fights due to how spread out thin my Anku would get.

“I can’t believe you figured this out on your own.” I whisper to myself, I was once again in awe of her. Without coming in contact with Cain’s Tetsu. I would have lived my entire life without understanding it.

I point to Rainel and Cain. “Ready yourself, both of you.”

“Are you serious?” Rainel grimaces as he surrounds himself with his swords.

Cain simply takes a second to roll up his sleeves.

Then explodes forwards in a spiral of flames.

I spread out my hand, creating a shield of Anku to block his flames as our fists collide, paying close attention to Rainel along the process, reluctantly moving in.

Weak! I turn my attention to Cain, expecting a juke or fake out of some sort, but he hadn’t done anything at all, so I push forward and blast him into the ground.

I then turn my attention back to Rainel, moving in for a quick counterattack. For a instant I could see Rainel’s eyes flick towards Cain’s direction, which meant he was probably distracted in some capacity.

Nah, maybe not. I step back, avoiding a lightning fast pinwheel of blades, of course his concentration won’t break, opportunities aren’t going to just fall into my lap like that.

For a microscopic amount of time, Rainel gives me an opening to counter, but…

I jump back once more, a pillar of fire sprouts out of the ground, singing my foot. Close! I don’t know if I would have gotten away with counterattacking there.

All at once, Rainel’s blades come flying out the pillar, acting as sort of a smoke screen, giving me less time to dodge them, but I manage to do so anyways.

Already working together in perfect unison I see.

For the next minute, I position very passively, indulging myself in the tempos and rhythms of their attack, in a state of serene focus, but…

I’m strong enough right? Last time was just a fluke right?

Cain’s flames momentarily engulf my arm as I quickly pull it to the side.

Shit! I can’t get distracted like that! Come on, clear your mind.

I fight because it’s fun. Are you having fun right now? Is your key to winning battles having fun? What if I’m fighting worse than I usually am because I’m being so careful right now?

I slowly began to doubt whether the openings I saw previously even existed.

Should I speed up? Move more aggressively?

I parry a series of slashes from Rainel after grabbing his first sword out of midair; however, one gets through and nicks me on my back.

Damn it, I could have used my Anku to avoid that. Why aren’t you trying to use mom’s technique?

I spread out my fingers, releasing Anku everywhere, Rainel immediately squints his eyes and clenches his teeth, resisting the effects. Fortunately, Cain wasn’t as used to this as Rainel was, as he surrounds himself in a defensive ball of fire, despite my being nowhere near him.

My eyes glisten. Ah, there it is. I’m back in control.

I curl down to the ground, pulling my hands through the dirt for a quick burst of momentum.

“Seriously, this is great! Dontcha think Cain?” I yell, laughing. I lift both of them into the air, ragdolls against my forearm. Cain attempts to dematerialize, but somehow I could understand the principles behind the technique now, allowing me to hold fast to his chest.

The two of them crash violently into the ground, rolling across branches and leaves, eventually smashing into and toppling over a tree. I land like a feather on the ground and skid to a stop next to Cain, slumped against the ground. I look at him with a grin on my face.

He slowly looks back up at me, his teeth showing through soot and blood as the sides of his face curl upwards, piercing through his bloody ragged appearance. The two of us simply beam at each other, each of us in our element.

Yea, this is how it ought to be, one of us controls our destiny, one of us follows the destiny of others. For a brief moment, both of our thoughts were in sync, and I knew Cain didn’t really want to kill me, instead he was giving me an out.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“I think this was treasonous enough, don't you think?” Cain groans and twists his neck. “Attacking the two of us out of the blue like that? We’re really important to the future success of Lyster you know? If you come back with us, you might have to be executed for your crimes.”

“Oi oi, you can’t just try to kill me and then play the victim.” I say exasperated.

Cain looks around, “I don’t see anyone else watching.”

I look at Rainel, notably being left out of the conversation, he still had his blades drawn, but they were currently being held loosely to the ground.

“Thoughts?” I ask simply.

“…” Rainel doesn’t say anything for a moment. “Maybe this is for the best.” He nods in confirmation.

“Alright, looks like we’re all in agreement!” I laugh and start walking away.

…

Rainel watches me for a couple seconds before he realizes I was actually leaving right there and then. “Wait, that's it? What about…” Rainel’s voice cuts off.

“Ponca? My mother?” I turn back and say with a neutral look.

”…Yea.”

I gaze into the distance. “I can’t blame you for choosing to live on. It’s what I would have done in any case. I’m sure mother knew as well that she would face consequences later down the line, once you made a reappearance.”

Yes, what she did was remarkably stupid in retrospect, but strong people are able to get away with a lot of stupid things because they are strong, that’s why I couldn’t blame Rainel for anything, she simply misjudged herself.

“I… I caused your mother’s death, you know? Broke a promise she asked me to keep; how could you just let this go?”

A promise? “What promise are you talking about?” I ask, slightly confused.

Rainel looks at me with his mouth agape, not speaking for a couple of seconds. ”I don’t… think I…remember.”

“Huh, must have all been in your head then.” I dismiss it and move on.

“I see.” Rainel looks downwards, absorbing what he just heard. “Before you go, can you tell me one thing?”

How did Ponca die?

It was something I never figured out the answer to myself, someone as genuinely unstoppable as her and unmatchable in every way. One day, her corpse, thrown into a jar, cremated into ashes. Without any fuss or news, life moved on. Something that my next goal was going to be towards finding out.

”Also…” I turn to Cain before leaving. There’s a feeling that’s been eeking me for a while.

“Don’t hold back on me the next time, got it?”

Cain

I trek through the burning forest, towards the inside of the ring, putting as much distance between me and Celestia as I could.

I rub my back gingerly, recognizing and preparing for the heavy bruising coming in the next hour.

Somehow, she figured out a way to negate Tetsu, not cancel it out like it’s normally done with Tetsu against Tetsu, but completely negate it.

Should I use living fire? I don’t see any way for me to defeat her without it right now. The sheer amount of Tetsu released should completely overpower any negation she uses.

Smoke and fire begin clouding my air the further in I go, until all I could see was an amalgamation of orange and black flickering around my vision, as even the ground itself was now on fire.

I trip against some black thing curled up on the ground, before realizing that I stumbled across a body, charred beyond recognition, like a lump of coal.

An image pops into my head of her blackened corpse, burning to ashes after usage of living fire.

I shake my head. No, I can get away without it right now.

I could try to suppress it, but I probably shared Celestia’s sentiments. I just don’t really think about it that much. I gave up on that version of me a long time ago, so it’s pointless to go back. Pointless to think about things I shouldn’t think about.

…

I haven’t really thought about anything for a while huh? Here I was, alone in my own world that nobody could ever step into.

Well, except for you.

My surroundings warp as I move myself into my mental space, a black expanse full of falling soot and ashes, With my father, staring me down with a column of fire on his back, the trunk of a great burning tree.

You’re the one who gave me power right?

I get no response.

Back after the battle, after I fought against Fiao. You appeared. You… Who are you?

…

Ah, that’s right. I know who you are. It’s a shame I didn’t realize it sooner. Now it’s too late, once again. Once again, I will lose everything.

I reach out, hand open, blocking my vision of him, then hesitate, before curling my fingers together, closing my fist tightly.

A pop.

I go back.

The sunshine shines down through a gap in the clouds, a ray of light illuminates the black wasteland surrounding me, frail spires of black charcoal, the remains of trees once luscious and green.

I remain unmoving, there was a solemn vibration in the air, making the landscape feel lonely and still.

Once again, I am reminded; I will never leave my past behind.

Present

I look at Celestia’s back as she walks off into the distance, half slumped over defeated, half upright. I really could never tell what she was ever thinking.

Hell, I can’t tell what I’m thinking sometimes.

I have no idea whether anyone did or didn’t survive when I extinguished the fire, it could range from a couple stragglers to thousands of desperate soldiers wanting to survive, but Celestia seemed genuinely upset back there, so maybe nobody survived?

“Damn it.” I whisper to myself, if the worst case scenario comes true… I imagine hundreds—

”Cain.” Rainel then says with a weary voice.

“Yea?” Slightly flinching at his words.

”I’m absolutely parched.” He drops his hands and rubs his eyes.

The air was completely desiccated at this point, combined with how much sweat he must have lost fighting in the intense heat prior, he must be dangerously close to fainting from dehydration.

“Do you want some water then?” I offer, holding up a finger, squirting out a tiny stream of water.

Rainel looks at my hand with disdain before opening his mouth and pointing towards it.

“At a distance.” He makes sure to say.

“Just a warning, this water lasts only temporarily, so you’ll have to properly rehydrate later.” I say as I carefully spray some water into his mouth.

“What do you mean?”

”There’s a fundamental difference between things created by Tetsu and naturally occurring things.” I wave my hands. “If I have to use a lot of Tetsu again, that water inside your body might dissipate in order to fuel what I’m trying to do.”

Rainel looks at me for a couple seconds then shrugs. “Okay, thanks for the tip. I will drink some water when we’re back in the city.”

Oh right, I almost forgot.

“So… What’s our next step?” I ask, the city we were protecting was almost deserted because of that commander’s actions.

“We pack some damn food and water, and we’ll take our sweet time heading back to the capital. It’s not our job to clean up that bitch’s mess.”

“Are you sure?” I look off in the distance hesitantly. Frankly, I don’t even think the hard part was over with how much of a logistical nightmare it would be to deliver the news to everyone already gone.

“You and me, what are we good at?” Rainel then asks.

I click my tongue. “I know what you want me to say, but it’s our duty, we can’t just leave without saying a thing.”

Ah what am I saying, am I still trying to keep up appearances after what just happened?

“Okay then, let me ask you something else. Do you want to spend the next three months slaving away, running from place to place, for some dumbass loser reject who got cold feet and got scared to do the one thing she was fucking asked to do? I know you could be good at it! God knows it’ll probably be more useful than just lazing around in the castle all day!” Rainel goes on an extended rant, leaking a completely different personality from his usual attitude “You know what, Celestia would probably just murder her and leave if she was still here, and honestly?! I wouldn’t say shit if she did.” I nod as Rainel unintentionally reveals his true thoughts. “Unfortunately, you and I have to act more civilized than her, so let’s compromise and just disappear from here.”

…

I stare at my crushed hand, gingerly touching my bruised and battered face, pretty sure Celestia broke my nose, cause I can’t breath or really feel anything from there right now.

“Well, I’ll at least make a report while I’m being treated.” I finally respond.