Around a month after Mira got kidnapped, the list of Transcendants who would go after the Sage King was finalized.

Just as Aizen had predicted, the Pontifex of the Orthodox Sormon Faith had ultimately refused to participate even after numerous negotiation attempts by Argonia. Additionally, Frey the Saintess wasn't even informed due to the sheer unlikelihood of her agreement. That meant Rolf the Sword Star and Leonel the War God, joined by the Gladiator King—who was apparently named Jerme and would be joining on account of the wealth both nations promised to pay upon the job’s completion.

The news that only three out of six Transcendents in Sentorale would team up against the Sage King was unfortunate, but then again, what else could they do? It was a lot better than just Sir Rolf going by himself.

Not everything was bad news, however, as Saintess Frey agreed to keep an eye out for anything in the Sword Star's absence. According to reliable sources, she was visibly alarmed by the existence of the portal to the Outlands and didn't hesitate to volunteer her aid in keeping whatever lurked beyond it in check. As expected, she was a kind soul who wouldn't participate in offensive endeavors but would be happy to aid in defending Aizen from evil.

The crown didn't want to reveal it to her, but present circumstances required adaptation. It was a good thing that all signs of the kingdom's damning endeavors around the portal were removed in time, so there was no risk of souring relations with the Saintess even after she came to know about the Outlands.

As for Reivan and all the other mortals, all they could do was wait for the fated day, too powerless to even think of interjecting themselves into the fight that would decide the continent's fate.

'All that waiting around and the empire fumbles the negotiations anyway. What a waste of time!'

Reivan sighed to himself as he enjoyed tea in the garden, basking in the scent of flowers and the whistling wind. Internally, however, he was just annoyed at the lack of agency. A very momentous event was about to happen and all he could do was wait for a result. No matter how powerful he had become, he was still, in the end, a mortal. The fight with the Sage King was something only Transcendents could step into and it mildly irked him.

Of course, he understood that there was nothing he could do. That was simply how it is. Even if he suddenly became an Ascendant tomorrow, he still couldn't do much.

"What a drag..." Reivan sighed once again, idly squishing the black blob on his lap. Was it his imagination that Dippy's fur seemed more lustrous than he remembered? It was softer too, and its body seemed a lot more malleable. "I wish I was as relaxed as you, Dips."

"Wee...?" It looked up at him with those adorable red eyes, wondering what he was talking about.

In response, he just shook his head with a chuckle and stuffed it with a snack to pull its attention away from his words.

'What should I do now, I wonder...? Training... has gotten boring, to be honest.'

Reivan had been extensively sparring with anyone he could get his hands on, even fighting against a heavily handicapped Valter when every mortal knight in the embassy had to get to work. Jiji would have had a lot of free time, but she'd recently returned to the capital because there was nothing left she could do here and her skills were better put to use domestically.

'That's nice... I wish I could go back for a bit.'

Sadly, Reivan was needed in the embassy for a number of reasons, so he couldn't leave even if he wanted to.

One of them was Mira, who only really responded to him—though she also cussed him out for no reason from time to time. She, in turn, was set to remain at the embassy as bait for the Sage King. Aizen wasn’t really counting on her drawing the oldest sorcerer in the world out, but they were adopting an “If it works, great! If it doesn’t, then it’s fine” approach to the plan. Sieging the Spirit Tower was still the most likely outcome, which was also why a lot of people were of the idea to feed Mira’s spirit beast to Reivan’s so she would stop being a variable at all.

Another reason was how the royal family obviously had to be represented in any major operation, especially one as major as this one. It wasn't very practical, but sometimes, pragmatism had to take a back seat. There were times when a statement had to be made through actions, after all.

If the royal family could not risk itself, what right did it have to ask others to burn their lives? That was the basic premise for such impracticality.

Reivan liked it though. It made him proud to be part of a bloodline that had such admirable views on leadership. Even in his past life, he had admired the knights in fantasy stories. And here was a royal family that ruled with such chivalrous and honorable ideals.

‘That’s probably how all the other royals got killed though. Otherwise, there’d be a lot more of us.’

Well, not all of them though. Some royals simply married out of the family, becoming commoners or businessmen when they couldn’t take the throne. In a way, Reivan would eventually follow in their footsteps, becoming a knight once he felt like he had enough of being a prince.

Or not. Call it a hunch, but he didn’t think that he’d ever be allowed to shed the mantle of royalty in his lifetime.

It would have been one thing if he was a layabout or not all that talented in combat. But he wasn’t. As such, he wouldn’t be allowed to spit out the silver spoon in his mouth. The royal family needed a strong royal like him to stay royalty.

‘Wonder when the empire’s people will come…?’

The last and most important reason why he had to remain in the embassy was that Reivan had to use his [Supreme Insight] to examine the personnel Argonia would send over. Because apparently, said personnel was in Arkhan at the moment and had a special ability regarding oaths.

Naturally, the crown—in other words, his brother—wanted as much information about the ability as possible. Particularly, knowing if breaking sworn oaths was possible. How seriously the Treaty of Alexander would be treated depended on it.

The empire’s people could come at any time, so Reivan couldn’t move around too much. If he could, he would have wanted to make a not-so-quick stop over at Lageton so he could reunite with Elsamina—who was busy scratching her head at all the businesses affected by the Tower’s fight with the Pentagorian Spirit King that the Everpresent caught.

Apparently, the state offered compensation for all damages incurred by the fight, but while repairs were underway, a lot of businesses had halted their operations.

‘It’s been a couple of months since then. If she’s still reeling from it, the damages must be more severe than I thought.’

When Reivan and Mira were there, they hadn’t seen that much damage. But then again, they weren’t anywhere near the shorelines. Given the opportunity for a scenic view of the sea, Ouroboros must have had plenty of businesses near the beach—businesses that were undoubtedly more affected than the buildings deeper in.

‘Well, I’m sure she can handle it.’

Surely, she didn’t need his help for such things. At the very least, Reivan believed she could handle everything with ease. In fact, wouldn’t he just get in the way if he poked his nose in where it didn't belong? He had very little understanding of business and economics.

“Guess I’ll go bother her for a bit…” Reivan, having grown bored of his relative solitude, got up with Dippy hugged to his chest. With light steps, he headed for Mira’s room.

Gwen was, as usual, busy making life easier for him. Really, she brought out the worst in him because of how little he had to do when she was around. He wasn’t complaining in the slightest, however. Just like Jiji, she had also left the embassy to direct field personnel among other things. She had even mentioned joining Elsamina in Lageton eventually, to both protect and help her.

In any case, he couldn’t ask her to spar with him like he had this past month. And even if she was still around, he would truly reach new lows if he disturbed her work.

So instead, he would fool around with their resident hostage instead.

Lately, he’d been amusing himself by watching how she reacted to all the crap he spouted. Now that he was back in his real body, she was actually a year older than him. But that didn’t stop him from treating her like an amusing toy. Aside from Valter, she was also the only person he could comfortably talk to ever since most of the personnel got sent back to Aizen.

Every non-combat personnel and even the mortal knights returned around three days ago, so Valter was actually cooking for him now—like some sort of super combat butler. Besides Reivan and Mira, all who remained on the premises were Ascendants—who were all loyal and dutiful, but weren’t very fun conversation partners.

That’s why it was perfectly normal for him to bother her when he got bored.

‘The thing in her arm still hasn’t tried to kill her though.’

All battlemages had to take an oath at the start of their career, and by doing so they allowed a fragment of the entity called “The Watcher” into their body. Should they betray the Tower, that same fragment would take their life.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The very fact that Mira still wasn’t dead meant that she hadn’t fully betrayed the Tower. In her mind, she must still be searching for a way to return.

Reivan would have been lying if he said that didn’t sting at all. But in a positive light, that meant Mira was someone who could foster great loyalty. Perhaps one day, that loyalty would be toward him and the kingdom.

They had to watch out for her resistance, however. And naturally, they also had to be ready to help her out when the fragment of The Watcher tries to kill her. Unfortunately, they didn’t have knowledge of what to do for battlemages who’d had a fragment in them for more than a few months.

For all they knew, just cutting off their arm and killing what popped out wasn’t enough. Maybe she’d die in the process. Maybe she wouldn’t. They didn’t know, and that was exactly why Reivan didn’t quite know what to do.

‘Well… I’m sure we’ll figure something out eventually.’

Another possibility that Valter whispered into his ears a week ago floated in his head though.

‘Maybe the Tower removed her fragment.’

Reivan and all the knights didn’t know how quickly a fragment could kill its host. But he was sure that the Tower didn’t want Mira dead under any circumstances—at least, not until they had some other spirit king seed eat Fawks.

Now, what if Mira resisted having Fawks eaten? Wouldn’t that count as treason against the Tower? Surely, the Tower knew that her refusal was highly possible. Also, for the Tower, her loyalty wasn’t very important—all that mattered to them was her spirit beast. And so, Valter had hypothesized that the Tower removed Mira’s fragment at some point, just so they could remove the possibility of her dying by accident. Now, even if she did betray the Tower, they could simply track her down and retrieve her.

Of course, if she remained loyal, then they would let her continue what she was doing.

‘Honestly? It’s an extremely convincing theory.’

If Aizen had been in the Tower’s shoes, Reivan was pretty sure it would take that course of action too. In the end, however, it was all just a theory. The Spirit Tower wasn’t full of idiots though, so he thought it was highly plausible.

Another thing Reivan would have added if he were in the Tower’s shoes was something that enabled him to track Mira down no matter where she was. But given how the Tower hadn’t made any moves in the past month, he thought it was unlikely that they had such a method—at least, one that knights couldn’t see through.

‘So many to think about, not enough brain cells.’

Reivan hummed a random tune as he looked forward to turning his brain off when conversing with Mira. He didn’t need it all that much because teasing just came so naturally to him.

Just as he was about to knock on her door, he froze. And in a moment of pure instinct, he forced Dippy back into his soul before kicking down Mira’s door. She wasn’t inside, but he followed her presence to the bathroom, bursting into it too.

“Wha—!” Mira, who was soaking in the tub, exclaimed in shock as she covered herself. Surprise quickly turned into embarrassed anger though. “What the hell are you doing in here!?”

“Sorry.” Reivan hastily stepped toward her and grabbed her by the arm as he took out a silver bell shaped like a sphere. Somewhat forcefully, he pulled her out of the tub and threw a thick coat at her—which was probably too big for her, but now wasn’t the time to be picky. “I think we’re in danger.”

“Danger?” she seemed to come to terms with the fact that he wasn’t just here to suddenly force himself on her, quickly slipping into the long coat despite being soaking wet. “What do you mean?”

For a moment, he tried to think of the quickest way to explain that knights were given esoteric training that sharpened their intuition, but suddenly realized that he didn’t have to.

Valter jumped out of a dark puddle that suddenly appeared in the corner of the bathroom. “Your Highness. It’s good that you’re ready. You must leave with her. Now.”

Reivan didn’t bother asking too many questions. He assumed the embassy, which was stacked with powerful enchantments, wouldn’t be enough to protect them from whatever was coming. There were other Ascendants in the building too, but he assumed they could escape on their own.

Hopefully.

“Sorry about this, Mira.”

“What do you—”

Before she could finish her words, he poked her on the forehead. And in that moment, she lost consciousness similar to what happened when she got kidnapped. Zouros then appeared and snapped her up.

‘Thanks, Zee.’

Reivan gripped the small bell and almost rang it. Just before he did, however, his vision darkened and the world went silent. His acute nose was filled with the scent of soap earlier, but even that had disappeared.

He was standing in a void of nothingness. In it, there was only him—and a giant pair of purple eyes looming down on him from above.

Reivan felt his heart tighten at the sheer intensity of the gaze, feeling something similar to when he first met eyes with the Sword Star. Except this gaze was less friendly—and a lot more greedy.

“Found you.”

The voice was old but clear, yet seemingly carrying the vicissitude of time.

Like a deer in headlights, he could do nothing but stare into those eyes. But perhaps because the Sword Star put him through something similar before, Reivan managed to force at least his hand into moving.

Barely managing to do so, Reivan's hand shook just enough to cause the bell to ring.

Jingle!

A pleasant tinkling echo filled his ears and the next thing he knew, the void vanished and was replaced by the familiar scenery of cherry blossoms and verdant grass.

And standing right next to the only white cherry blossom tree he’d ever seen was the most reassuring back he’d ever known. Straight as a sword despite more than a thousand years of vigil.

The Sword Star — Rolf Suprana.

“Old man…” Reivan gasped out, his knees moments away from buckling. But he didn’t let it, using the tree's trunk as support. “Old man, something’s gone wrong. Valter stayed behind too...”

Turning around the Sword Star regarded him with a serene gaze. With a wave of his hand, a chair appeared behind Reivan, its legs digging into the grass. “Why not sit first? Explain.”

Nodding, Reivan let himself collapse on the chair before hastily recounting what happened. “I don’t know what prompted it exactly, but I suddenly felt like we were about to get attacked. Valter confirmed it too, though we didn’t have time to exchange information. So I took Mira and got the bell ready, but then… everything went dark.”

“Hrm.” Rolf walked over to the white cherry blossom tree and placed a palm on its trunk. “And then? Did you see anything? Meet anyone?”

“Eyes… Massive ones. Purple, I think. My head's a bit foggy...”

“Then?”

“Then… a voice.” Reivan reclined on his chair, realizing that his forehead was riddled with beads of sweat. He wiped it off with his hand before continuing. “It said it… found me.”

Rolf silently closed his eyes for a few moments before nodding. “Just tell me your impressions. Do you think that was the Sage King?”

His mind still somewhat reeling from his brush with a less-than-friendly Transcendent, Reivan tried to calm his breathing and his heart while trying to remember. But he’d never even met the Sage King, so how would he know?

Still, now that he was somewhat recalling it in safety, he started to remember some things.

The big round eyes emanated a purplish glow. The shape, however, somehow gave him a familiar feeling. It was of an animal he was familiar with.

‘An owl.’

With only that, he couldn't be sure if it was really the Sage King. But the Sword Star didn’t need him to be sure.

“I think it’s the Sage King…” Reivan nodded. “I think. I can’t be entirely sure as we’ve never met in person or anything.”

“I see.” Rolf hummed, seemingly accepting his answer. He then reached into the tree trunk, his hand going through as if it were made of water. When he retracted his hand, it now held a sword.

Old and worn, the longsword looked nondescript and undecorated. Yet the very fact that the Sword Star held it so reverently made it obvious that it was anything but the piece of junk it looked like.

Holding the sword with one hand as he closed his eyes, almost as if in prayer. “Today, I do battle once again.”

Reivan almost instinctively used [Supreme Insight] on the sword, and was shocked at the simplicity of its effect.

[Yoru no Kaikou - The Night Splitter]

Soul-bound Empyrean Item

One of three sibling blades. Extra effects are made available when near its siblings.

Can be fused together with siblings to unleash its true potential.

Effects: This sword can attack all types of creatures beneath the Archon-realm, unhindered by Planar Laws. Additionally, the stronger its owner’s conviction is, the more durable this sword becomes, increasing its resistance to all types of damage.

Current Durability: Unbreakable

Currently bound to [Rolf Suprana].

“Ah…” Reivan just stared at it, more focused on the part that finally revealed the realm below Archon and above Transcendence.

Rolf noticed his look and most likely knew he was curious too. “Your ancestor gave me this sword.”

“Really…? Where the heck did he even get such a thing…”

“I asked him that too, but he didn’t answer.” Rolf chuckled, taking it out of the ground and seemingly musing on how it perfectly fit in his hand. “All he said was that this sword would never break as long as I wielded it.”

Reivan looked at the sword's effects and then back to the sword. “My ancestor must have thought very highly of you, then.”

“I can only hope so.” Rolf chuckled, looking toward the white cherry blossom tree for a moment before steeling his expression. “Can you get down the mountain on your own? Or should I...?”

With a frown, Reivan shook his head. He didn't want the Sword Star to waste a single drop of power before heading to battle. “I think I'll manage.”

“Then wish me luck.”

Reivan bowed. “May the fortunes of battle be with you.”

Aizen’s oldest guardian patted him on the shoulder before vanishing from sight. A gentle wind blew past, pleasantly caressing his skin and ruffling his hair.

Despite having been left alone, Reivan did not straighten his back for a long while. He etched that feeling into his heart, the very sight of the first knight as he left for a fight that he may not return from.

And if he did die. Then...

'You will not go unremembered.'

At the very least, Reivan would never forget.