"This way, stay close together!" the lead Hellhound knight called as he led the forty knights through the thick forest. This was supposed to be a stealth mission so only half the Hellhound knights were being sent on this mission and no one was allowed to light a torch or lantern. Everyone was packed close together to not get lost since all they had to help them was Sailest's soft light peeking through the trees. Mountains towered to their northeast which was their only landmark in the otherwise featureless forest of crimson. The lead knight took out his map and stopped in a spot where Sailest's light could let him roughly see and said, "We should be twenty minutes out, so in about ten minutes we'll start spreading out into our groups."

"Are you sure we're close?" Peter asked as his group was closest to the front.

"That's what the map says," the lead knight replied while waving the map in the air. "Though, I'm only guessing since this damned forest makes it near impossible to know for sure." The red leaves rustled above them as a gust of wind swooped through the forest and sent a chill down the Hellhound knight's spines.

"Still…" Peter felt uneasy, for some reason. His gut was telling him to be careful and that something didn't feel right despite the forest being peaceful.

"Tell you what," the lead Hellhound said and halted the knights. "Leon, climb that tree to the top and see if you can spot the glow of the fort's torches; we'll know we're on the right track and adjust for that since it's on a hill." The wind stopped blowing and the rustling trees fell silent.

"On it," Leon replied and started climbing.

"Kid's like a monkey," another Hellhound commented which caused a few of the other knights to laugh. Their laughter echoed through the forest and a patch of snow fell off a tree branch. It didn't hit the ground.

"…" Peter tried scanning the forest but a cloud moved in front of Sailest and blocked the light. "Carl, wake up the kid."

"Aren't we still a few minutes out?" Carl wanted to give Lucina more time. "Shouldn't she get some mor-"

"Wake her up!" Peter hissed through his teeth. His eyes never left the dark forest that surrounded them.

"Lucina~?"

"…I'm already up," Lucina said from her place on Carl's back.

"Did I jostle you too much?" Carl asked as he let her down and she got off his back. Lucina's boots crunched into the snow as she got her bearings and stretched to wake up.

"No," she replied with a lie, "I just felt like I should wake up." Lucina also scanned the forest for any signs of the voice despite knowing it was pointless.

"Hey, Captain?" Leon finally reached the top of the tree and called down to the gathered knights.

"What do you see?" the captain called back.

"I don't see anything!"

"What?" The trees around them rustled without wind.

"…Call him down," Peter said with a hint of concern in his voice.

"There's nothing!" Leon called again. "I'm looking in every direction, but I don't see the glow of torchlight from the fort. I can't even tell where the fort is it's so dark. Did we go in the wrong direction?"

"Captain, call hi-" Peter's words caught in his throat as the cloud that blocked Sailest's light moved on and the forest was illuminated once more. Down the forest, in the direction of the fort, were footprints in the snow on ground they hadn't walked yet. "Leon, come down!"

"Wha-" Leon's words were cut short as something zipped through the air. The tree's branches shook and one cracked as Leon's body tumbled and fell to the ground where it crunched into the snow with an arrow pierced through his left eye. The massacre began.

"Ambush!" the captain cried as arrows shot out of the dark forest and pelted their position. The less armored Hellhounds were pelted and collapsed dead while those with armor, or with better reflexes, got down to the ground to avoid being hit. Nine of the forty Hellhounds were already dead. "Close ranks! Elise!?"

"On it!" Elise slammed both her hands onto the ground and the earth started to shake. A long wall of stone erupted out of the earth which blocked off their eastern side from attack. Trees groaned as they were hoisted into the air on top of the wall and their roots desperately tried to keep them tethered to the ground. The rest of the Hellhounds huddled around the wall with what shields they had raised as another volley of arrows pelted them through the trees. Fifteen of the forty Hellhounds were now dead.

"Keep a wall around Elise and Lucina!" the captain called while attempting to regain control of the situation. "Elise, focus on healing! Lucina, give us a light!"

"R-Right!" While she was flustered from the panic, Lucina got a hold of herself and shot a fireball into the air. The spell exploded above the tree line and bathed the forest in light as the fire lingered and hung in the air, revealing their attackers.

"W-What the!?!" Peter and the rest of the Hellhounds couldn't believe their eyes as they found themselves completely surrounded by Peltairan soldiers. No longer needing to hide, the enemy knights emerged from the trees and rose out of the snow banks with swords and spears drawn. It looked like the entire fort's army was waiting for them. "How did-"

"Urldrusk dogs!" From the sea of knights that surrounded them, a man who looked to be in his late forties stepped forward. His bald head glinted in the light of Lucina's flare and his long black beard flowed like a river in the wind. A tabard with a white crane adorned him and his knights. "I am Ming Fatecaller, Grand Master of the Heavenly Crane knight sect, and Lord of the lands you currently trespass." His voice burned with authority as he addressed the Hellhounds, "Lay down your arms. The night is still young and I do not wish to waste any more of it here. If you surrender, then I guarantee your deaths will be swift and painless."

"If our only option is death," the captain replied, "Then we'll gladly take down as many of you as we can!"

Ming gave a pitiful sigh and bargained, "Do not waste your efforts on a kingdom who betrayed you, Hellhound."

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"!?!" Even if he didn't elaborate, the meaning of Ming's words was instantly recognized by the Hellhounds. While they didn't know if they could trust Ming, Lucina had a sneaking suspicion that he spoke the truth and knew who it was that betrayed them which caused her fists to clench in anger.

"Once again, I offer you the chance to surrender and die peacefully."

"…" None of the Hellhounds stepped forward. Even if they were abandoned by their kingdom that only fueled their spite to survive. They readied their weapons against the Heavenly Cranes.

"I see," Ming gave an understanding nod and rubbed his beard. "Then with our Bloodied Sister as witness, I shall grant you all a warrior's death!" With a snap of his fingers, the Heavenly Crane knights charged forth in a tidal wave of sword and spear.

"Die well, Hellhounds!" the captain called as he readied his two-handed war hammer to strike.

"Urldrusk do-!" the lead Heavenly Crane knight charged but was impaled through his helmet's visor by a shard of ice the size of a shortsword. Lucina conjured orbs of water and formed them into long, thin 'blades' before the extreme cold around her froze them solid and she launched them at great speeds amplified by her gravity magic. She never got used to killing, it still left a disgusting taste in her mouth, but that didn't mean she would lie down and die.

"Lucina, focus on the left!" Peter called back to her as he stepped forward to meet the charging knights. "Carl, Jeremy, with me!" Peter's body erupted into heatless blue flames that helped light up the battlefield. Two Heavenly Crane knights charged the Aurister but were instantly cut in half with one swing of Peter's great sword that sliced through their armor like it was made of paper. A spear lunged at him, but Peter deflected it down the length of his blade into the snow and he backhanded the spearman whose head shot back into an unnatural position as Peter's aura-infused fist broke the spearman's neck. Dodging to his right, Peter spun his body into an overhead swing and vertically bisected another enemy knight while shattering the blade he used to try and deflect Peter's strike. The impact of Peter's sword sent a plume of snow into the air and forced the charging enemy to hesitate as they tried to see through the cloud. Movement in the snow cloud caught one of their eyes and the knight swung his sword.

"An arrogant swing!" Jeremy parried the sword with his rapier before retaliating with repeated stabs to the knight's armpit with his needlelike dagger that slipped through the chainmail. The knight shoved Jeremy away and stumbled back as pain coursed through his body and he lost the function of his left arm.

"Y-You…!" He tried to attack again but Jeremy's stabs had pierced into his lungs and heart, and the man fell over dead after drowning on his own blood.

"Bastard!" Another Heavenly Crane knight charged at Jeremy to avenge his fallen comrade. As he went to strike, Jeremy jumped out of the way and the knight's sword instead came into contact with Carl's heater shield. "Out of my way, Dog!"

"Fuck off!" Carl swung his shield arm to the side which threw the knight off balance and allowed Carl to gain the initiative. With a devastating horizontal swing, Carl's battleaxe chopped into the knight's neck but didn't manage to completely sever the man's head from his shoulders because of the chainmail hood. Blood gushed out of the knight's neck and Carl gave the half-decapitated knight a swift kick to send him to the ground and free his axe. Two more knights approached Carl with spears at the ready. "Just how many of them are there!?" he angrily shouted as he charged the two knights. Carl deflected the first knight's spear with his shield and used his axe to parry away the second spear before driving the spike at the tip of his axe into one of the knight's helmet.

"Plenty for all!" the Hellhound captain roared as he crushed a Heavenly Crane knight's helmet with his war hammer causing brain matter to shoot out of the helmet's visor. "Ahahaha!" Another knight charged him and subsequently had his breastplate caved in from the captain's war hammer. The corpse was hoisted into the air and thrown into the advancing enemies to disrupt their charge. "You're no better than sparrows, let alone cranes!"

"Hmm," Ming stood back and watched the Hellhounds desperately trying to repel his forces. Despite their valiant efforts, twenty-three of the forty Hellhounds were now dead as the Heavenly Cranes continued to pour into them. The information he received from Timothy Braxton turned out to be true, but that only put a bitter taste in his mouth as he watched another Hellhound be cut down. While he wasn't a fool who would turn away such a tactical opportunity to thwart an ambush and kill enemy troops, Ming believed that betraying one's nation was the greatest sin a warrior could commit. The fact that this opportunity came about because of a traitor disgusted the Grand Master. "Oh captain of my enemy," Ming silently recited to himself as he drew an arrow into his bow and aimed at the Hellhound captain. White crane feathers fluttered around Ming as his aura enhanced his arrow. "To you who did not buckle under the weight of betrayal, and whose weapon shines with the blood of your foe, let me offer you swiftly into our Bloodied Sister's embrace."

"Come on, Hellhounds! Push the-!" An arrow flew out of the forest and pierced the captain's great helm, silencing him.

"Captain!?" Elise cried out as she watched the captain's body fall lifeless into the snow. She finished healing the current Hellhound she was helping before ducking out of the way as a spear nearly missed her.

"Be careful, Elise!" Lucina called out as she shot a jet of fire into the attacking knight and cooked him inside his armor. The orange light of the fire danced across the snow to contrast Sailest's soft purple glow and the horrific scene as the man screamed and burned to death reflected itself in Lucina's eyes.

"…Oh child of my enemy," Ming silently recited to himself as he drew an arrow into his bow and aimed it at Lucina. "To you who fights a war that is not yours so desperately, and whose innocence was stolen by your foolish king, let me offer you swiftly into our Bloodied Sister's embrace."

"Let's go!" Lucina sent another ice blade into an enemy knight's helmet as she tried to cover Elise. "There's more wounded over-!" It was as if all the air in Lucina's lungs was punched out of her as she felt something impact her chest. Her legs were rapidly losing strength and she stumbled backwards through the snow. When she looked down, Lucina saw an arrow sticking into the right side of her chest. She could feel it piercing out of her back with not even the chainmail shirt she was wearing being able to stop it as the arrow seemed to rip cleanly through it.

"Lucina!?!" Elise cried and reached out to Lucina who tripped backwards and fell to the ground. Lucina's eyes helplessly stared up at Sailest. There was a massive 'spot' on Sailest that Olivia said was a superstorm raging in the planet's clouds; it made the gas giant look like a massive eye with the storm as its pupil. Lucina locked eyes with Sailest, the adrenaline was instantly drained from her body, and the pain hit.

***

"Agh!?" Julie cried out as the self-heating teapot she was using suddenly exploded in her hands.

"Are you okay, Julie!?" Olivia jumped out of her seat and rushed to the maid's side. She and her mother were enjoying some late-night tea together in Wortrest when the teapot suddenly exploded.

"A-Ah, please d-don't worry, my Lady." Luckily none of the shards cut Julie's skin, but the palm of her left hand was burned from the hot tea.

"Becky, get Nancy!" Alice ordered once she saw the burn. "Penny, get a broom and clean up the pieces."

"At once, Duchess!"

"…What happened?" Alice asked as she looked down at the broken shards of the teapot.

"I…don't know," Olivia admitted as she followed her mother's gaze to the shards. Picking up one of the pieces, Olivia saw that the magic runes on it were fluctuating wildly before falling dormant and she activated one of her skills. A pink semi-transparent square appeared over the shard in her hand.

(Examine Item: Broken Shard)

(A shard from a broken teapot. The magic runes fluctuate as they struggle to retain their threatened existence despite not needing to rely on their original caster for such things. An ill omen to some, while an inevitable fate to others.)

Olivia wasn't able to glean anything from the skill's odd output so she closed the skill window and asked, "Is the other one broken, too?"

"No, my Lady," another maid responded as she looked over at their second self-heating teapot which was sitting silently on a tea cart. Cautiously, she activated it and poured some tea but nothing unexpected happened. "This one still works."

"Was that one faulty?" Alice asked as she eyed the shard in Olivia's hand.

"It shouldn't have been," Olivia said while putting the shard she held into the trash with the others that Penny cleaned up. "That was one of the later ones Lucina made, so it shouldn't have any defects. Also, that one was the one made directly before this one," Olivia said and motioned to the second teapot. "I don't think we overused it…"

"Well, perhaps it's a sign for us to stop delaying and head to bed," Alice said to try and lift her daughter's mood. "While I also don't want to send you back to the capital tomorrow, you can't delay any longer since you said you have some business with Margaret Trent in the capital that you've been putting off."

"Yes, Mother," Olivia gave a bittersweet chuckle at the thought of leaving, but her excuse for staying had passed and it was time to return.

"Now, off to bed!" Alice bid Olivia goodnight once Nancy arrived to take care of Julie's hand and Olivia left the room. The halls of Wortrest were silent on this winter night and Olivia found her mind wandering back to try and figure out why the teapot suddenly exploded. It had been working without issue ever since Lucina had made it years ago so what went wrong? She gave an annoyed sigh as she softly smacked the side of her head to bat away such busy thoughts when she should be winding down and preparing to go to bed.

"I'm back," Olivia whispered as she entered her old room. Despite its owner being away for so long, when she first arrived she found her room completely free of dust and with everything freshly washed. It was like nothing had changed during her years away in the capital. Leisurely, Olivia walked into her room and over to the windows that overlooked the town of Wortrest just down the hill. Her window was just above the surrounding wall so she was able to enjoy the view. Even though it was late at night, the street lights Olivia and Lucina had installed bathed the city in a soft orange glow that contrasted against the rich purple of Sailest hanging in the sky beyond. The orange and purple lights mixed and danced across the snow-filled plains that surrounded them and created a beautiful scene that reflected itself in Olivia's eyes. "I wish you were here to see this." Olivia turned away from the window and crawled into her bed. After pulling the covers over herself, she reached over and grabbed the doll Lucina made of her and the doll she made of Lucina. She didn't want to be seen with dolls while in the palace to show how 'mature' she was, so Olivia left the doll Lucina made of her at home, and Lucina said she wanted Olivia to have the other doll so 'they could be together'. She chuckled as she remembered how desperate and adorable Lucina looked when wanting the dolls to be together as if separating them was the end of the world for her. Truly, Olivia's childhood in this world was much brighter because of Lucina. But just as quickly as she remembered Lucina's young innocence, she remembered the day she saw Lucina off to war. Lucina had done her best to hide it for the sake of her parents, but Olivia easily saw through her friend's façade and how scared she was. "…Please, come home soon, Lucina." Olivia hugged both dolls to her chest as she fell asleep not knowing the letter that would eventually arrive for her at the royal palace, and the implications it would bring.