Grabbing the curtains with strength, Tomoe and Amelia finally are pulled back into the throne room.

Coming closer to Tomoe as she is standing up, Lorelei extends her hands and touches Tomoe’s ear, saying “So, this is the secret of Lady Aquamarine?”

Looking up, Tomoe replies “… Indeed… it is.”

Lorelei smiles faintly and hugs both Tomoe and Amelia, then she says “Think we can stab that monster with your ears?”

Tomoe chuckles then answer “If you throw me at him hard enough.”

“What are you talking about? Wait, what happened to your ears?” Bran says.

“She’s the last living female elf on Aeris” A strong voice answers from the side. Turning to her right, Tomoe sees Oscar “Hello there girls. Glad to see you in one piece.”

“Where did you come from?”

“What? Aren’t you happy to see me?”

“Nonsense,” Tomoe says, with a slight smile in her face “I’m glad, master.”

“Good…” Oscar says, then falls into silence for a moment before saying once more “And truly, those ears suit you the most. Those ruby pendants were like a collar on your neck.”

“Thank you.”

“So…” Bran says “Why is this exactly a secret? I mean, it is nice to see an elf, a female one at that, pleasing, yes, but why is it exactly important?”

“Because it should be impossible.” Lorelei says “All-female elves should have died a long time ago by a curse that the late King put on the elven race that hit every female member of it.” Putting a hand over Tomoe’s head, she adds “Our girl somehow managed to survive.”

“I even don’t get that part myself, how is it that I’m still alive. I feel that my Mother and Daisy know but last time I asked they didn’t tell me much…” Tomoe says “but nevertheless that, we have a more pressing matter at hand.”

“Indeed.” Amelia says “Alexander took Lady Aquamarine, right?”

“It was a chaotic battle after Alexander threw you both through the window.” Bran says, pointing towards the hole in the ground “Once the passage opened, one by one the enemy soldiers entered.”

“And it doesn’t help that, moments later, the self-defense system stopped working… somehow.” Lorelei says.

“Yes. I was surprised too. I was on my way here in order to help, but it was taking time since I had to evade the gargoyles. Then, suddenly, all the complete ones went back to their perches, and all the scrap was just left there. Probably it was Alexander's troops that he left behind, but no way to know and it truly doesn't matter now.” Oscar says.

“So, how are we going to deal with this? Can we even face off against a white Aura like him?” Bran asks.

Oscar ponders a bit, then says “Well, first, we need some perspective: how many enemy soldiers entered the hole?”

“About eighteen.” Lorelei says.

“And who are their hostages?”

“Lady Aquamarine and Daisy.” Bran says.

“Now, the important question: how can we handle the white Aura? Can you handle him, Amelia?”

Amelia casts down her sight. Giving a wry smile, she shakes her head “The curse of the Hydra already kicked in yesterday. It has advanced enough now that even if I go all out, I’ll not be able to match him… it has consumed me a lot by this point.”

Lorelei covers her mouth and proceeds to hug Amelia even tighter. Bran bits his lower lip, scowl, and while he doesn’t avert his sight, he shows signs of having trouble looking at Amelia.

“Then…” Tomoe says, putting a hand to her chin “Maybe we don’t need that.”

“What do you mean?”

“The curse affects you in how much you can take advantage of Aura right? Does affect the blinding light the white Aura still throws off when it is engaged?”

“Ehmm…” Amelia ponders “I… I don’t know.”

“Records about the curse state that it only affects the relation of the person with the Aura, and not the Aura itself.” Oscar says “Do you have something in mind, girl?”

“I do.” Tomoe says, and turning to Amelia, she adds “Let's do our combo attack.” As she takes out and puts her Aquamarine ring in the palm of her hand and infuses it with Aura, turning it a Switch Object.

“Eh?” Amelia raises her eyebrows, opening wide her eyes. She then chuckles “You know, it may actually work. Aura doesn’t interact with the eyes after all. I like it.”

“Can the combo attack handle Alexander?” Lorelei asks.

Amelia nods “It can, but we need to distract him. Seeing how experienced he seems to be, the moment he suspects something, it will be almost impossible to connect our attack.”

“Very well,” Oscar says “that works within our constraints.”

“I sure hope so.” Lorelei says.

“So, we have two objectives: save Lady Aquamarine and Daisy, and then kill Alexander.” Bran says.

“Pretty much, yeah.” Oscar says “Come on, we need to start moving right now. Every moment we pass it here is a moment that our Lady is closer to die.”

Everyone nods, and enters the stairs behind the throne, following the steps of the enemy army.

Moving into the dark, a strange feeling envelops Tomoe. She wondered what could it be? Something had changed inside her. She still had fear of losing her mother, the fear of not being strong enough to face Alexander and save her. But somehow, she felt peace inside her. Was it the steps of her friends and coworkers echoing in the passage that brought her comfort?

Then, she understood as the sound of the rain started to settle within her. For the first time in years, she wasn’t facing the anxiety that crippled her and robbed of her strength and determination. Everything inside her was focused on one thing and one thing only, and all the useless over thinking about her lack of strength wouldn’t help get her back.

Alexander cards are already over the table, and clearly out-strengths Tomoe’s hand alone, but with everyone’s cards together in one hand, playing them close to her heart, there’s a way forward.

As they keep moving in, only the light of their Auras lights the way. Moving through a large corridor underground, they keep a slight sprint to not lose momentum and close the distance, at the same time that they keep an eye for any possible trap left behind by Alexander’s personal guard.

“Wouldn’t it be bad if we went right and take on a trap head-on?” Lorelei says as they move through the underground passage.

“Can’t be worrying about that right now.” Bran says “If we want to reach them and save Lady Aquamarine and Daisy, we need to get there on time.”

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“To roll with the punches eh?” Lorelei.

“Pretty much.” Amelia says.

“Do you think we left the Grand Castle by now?”

“Surely we have. This… cave? Looks of normal size to me.” Bran says.

While the group keeps moving forward, Tomoe, who is at the head moving fast, trips with a shadow that was out of her sight.

Fearing a trap, Tomoe rolls with the fall, as the group slows down and takes a position to the sides of the passages. Standing back up and lighting up the shadow in the floor, Tomoe reveals that said shadow is the body of an enemy soldier, without an arm nor a leg.

“Cotton, look forward.” Amelia says, pointing further down the passage.

Turning, Tomoe casts light forward, only to see more bodies.

“Let's go slow and follow the trail.” Tomoe says.

“Wonder what just happened right here.” Bran says.

“Let's keep moving forward.” Oscar says.

From further down the passage, a playful, weak voice can be heard saying “Good to hear from you again.” As a weak blue Aura engages deeper down the passage.

“Daisy!” Tomoe says as she starts going down the passage with a bit of a hurry.

“Careful now, the terrain is uneven.” Daisy says.

And uneven it was. As Tomoe went closer, more and more bodies started to come to light. Tomoe was a bit overwhelmed by this, to the point that she slows a bit just to not fall again.

Finally getting closer, Tomoe was about to ask how was she, but her heart jumped from the sight that she was beholding: Without her right hand, a hole in her stomach, half of her face gone, and legs twisted in unnatural ways, Tomoe couldn’t get words out of her mouth.

“You look horrible.” Lorelei says.

“I’m sure that is the last thing a woman wants to hear from another person.” Daisy says, making a wry smile.

Lorelei lets out a chuckle that mixes with her expression of horror. Crouching, she extends her right arm, only to be stopped by Daisy, saying “Don’t. There’s no much time left, you will need every ounce of Aura you have in yourself.”

“Will you live?” Tomoe asks.

“It will take a while for me to walk again, but don’t underestimate me, I will.”

“How is it that you are alive?” Bran says “Please, I’m glad that you are, but this is…”

“Let's say… that this is one of the perks that come with being the high priest serving Lord Hazuki. And let's leave it like that.” Daisy says “I tried to save Tomoyo when we were here, but I… I failed. Managed to kill some soldiers in the process though.”

“Any idea on how many soldiers Alexander has left?” Oscar says.

“Ten. Completely sure.”

Then, raising her sights, Daisy says to Tomoe “Those ears…”

“Yes.” Tomoe says “I lost one ruby pendant up there.” Then, she adds “I’m glad you are ok, but we need to save my mother and bring down Alexander.”

“Wait.” Daisy says “You need to understand something before going in.”

“Can’t it wait?” Lorelei asks.

“No, because it will play for your advantage.”

“Let's hear it then, I want all the advantages that we can get.” Oscar says.

“Everyone, Tomoe, do you know why did Alexander come to invade the Aquamarine Port City?”

“If you are asking to have pity for the bastard-” Bran starts.

“No, no! Nothing of the sort.” Daisy cuts him “hear me out: You all know that all female elves should be dead by now, right?”

“We do.” Amelia replies.

“Yet, Tomoe is here, completely healthy. The curse that affected all female elves hasn’t affected her, at all.”

“Correct.” Tomoe says “I feel… healthy.”

“Well. It happens that, while Alexander is a conqueror nut, he is also here to save the last cursed female elf, his wife Gwynevere.”

“Wait…” Lorelei says.

“I don’t get it. If such a thing existed, wouldn’t he be able to save a lot of the female elves of his race before the situation getting this dire for him?” Bran says.

“The thing is, he came for nothing. As you said, if the cure could be easily had, the female elves that died along the years could’ve been saved instead, but this isn’t the case. First, he didn’t know until recently about the cure, but second, the cure to the curse of Lionheart is special, you see… and it has been already used.” Daisy says, pointing towards Tomoe.

“Uh?” Tomoe says “I was given the cure? Since when?”

“Elves live for a long time. Some centuries ago, you were given the cure, but the details about that don’t matter right now. Hear me: down there, there is a Diamond Lord Tree.”

“The Lord Tree of the late King Lionheart.” Lorelei says.

“Yes. But this Lord Tree doesn’t have any fruit. Do you understand?”

Biting her lips, Tomoe answers “I perfectly do… the reason I’m alive and well is that I was given that fruit… probably why too I have this gravity taming ability too.”

Daisy gives a soft smile, then says “When Alexander gets there and sees that there is no fruit any longer… Tomoyo is going to be killed.”

“I won’t let that happen.” Tomoe says “I’ll act as bait to bring him after me.”

“I see. Show him the ears, and he will understand everything.” Oscar says.

“Exactly. Once he sees another female elf alive, he will come after you in order to save his wife. Use this to your advantage.”

“But, will he take the bait?” Lorelei asks.

“You see, I have known him for a while now. He is usually really collected, but if the stakes are a bit high for him, his ability to keep calm is really hindered. At heart, he is a warrior through and through.”

“Let's make use of this then.” Oscar says.

“I will cover your back, Cotton.” Amelia says.

“Sure, Lia. I will need all the help if I’m going to face off in close hand to hand combat.” Tomoe says.

“Take this.” Daisy says as she handles Tomoe a full spice of Burst.

“You sure?” Bran asks.

Daisy gives a smug smile “I’ll live, but you will need to be at full Aura in order to face a monster like him in close combat.” She gives a faint chuckle, then adds “Go, bring our Lady back to us, and kill that warmonger.”

Tomoe nods, and says “Consider it done.”

Then, the whole group continues forward. Being left all alone once again, Daisy chuckles again and says to herself “With that kind of confidence, I’m sure you will succeed. All of you…”