General Tybalt stared at the sky and at the orbs floating overhead. The battle ended at their appearance. All that remained was the question: could his army withdraw?

Minutes stretched. The general realized it wasn't his adrenaline-heightened sense of time. For whatever reason, the wizard did not deliver the killing blow. Did he want a surrender? Unfortunately, that's an option, but I should try to retreat first, or Prince Wilhelm can use it in negotiations. A shame, the dragon was only minutes away--

When General Tybalt brought his gaze down and looked over the battlefield, his excitement surged. A chance of victory yet glimmered.

The wizard concentrated, trembling under a magical burden, and he hunched from the strain. Something, or someone, interfered.

There was a time to turn the millstone and grind, and then there was a time to lift the entire stone up and smash someone with it.

Tybalt yanked his sword from its sheath and held it over his head, "All soldiers! Charge!"

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Clack!

Elin sensed Walter's struggle before she looked back. The tale-tell signs of his scale upended echoed in her inner-ear. It felt like rotten syrup dripping down her back.

What is this? The scales were dispelled during our fight with the Necropolis! Why are they back now?

"You have some gall turning away from our fight! You're good, but not that good!" Doge growled.

He spoke his complaint as he dived at her, so Elin tracked his position without looking. Irritated, borderline panicked about Walter, Elin blindly kicked behind her, connected with Doge's gut, and sent him flying.

Before she kicked him away, Doge managed to slash her thigh. She ignored the shallow slash, relying on her bonus HP to undo the injury, and sprinted.

Seconds later, she approached the Odinic Templars surrounding Walter. Valuable moments might be wasted going around them, or moving them, so she leaped over.

Holding Walter on his feet was Sir Eugene and Ragnar. She shoved them both aside and took Walter's face with both her hands. His muscles quivered from tension, and his eyes clenched shut.

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"What's going on?" she demanded, "What happened?"

"I don't know!" Sir Eugene said, "He suddenly seized up!"

"Someone cast 'Charm Person' upon him," Elin explained, tapping Walter's face, "Walter! Hang in there!"

"But nobody touched him," Ragnar shrugged. "Well, if it's 'Charm Person,' then all we need to do is stab him, and interrupt it."

Elin considered it, then realized the futility. The first time the 'Scales of Love and Lust' cursed Walter after his side upended, a carriage driver whipped him, and the spell continued. "It won't work! This isn't your usual spell, it's a curse!"

"Then what do we do?" Sir Eugene said.

"Find the caster!"

"How do you propose we do that? We're in the middle of a battlefield!"

"I know who it is." Elin turned and now realized Sister Lora waited nearby. Sister Lora pulled a sickly green dirk from her belt and said, "Give me one minute to find him." Without waiting for an answer, she ran to the backline, weaving through people like a fish in a river.

General Tybalt yelled his order to charge. Prince Wilhelm shouted for a counter-charge. The carefully ordered war would soon degrade into a deadly free-for-all, and Walter stood in the center.

"I'm getting Walter out of here," Elin declared and grabbed his wrist.

Walter's hand clamped down on her arm. His eyes remained locked shut, but he managed to speak, one word at a time, through clenched teeth, "No. We have to stay. I will lose control of the spell. I'm being ordered to scatter them."

"Walter!"

"Elin." Walter's grip tightened.

Her hand gradually loosened. She locked eyes with Sir Eugene, and then with Ragnar. Her voice stabbed out of her mouth like a knife, "With your lives."

Sir Eugene roared a laugh, before turning to face the charging enemy, "How else do you fight a war?!"

The Odinic Templar frenzied by beating on the chests and hollering.

Ragnar grinned and raised his dual-swords, pointing them, "I couldn't agree more!"

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"What is this?"

Lord Remont stood in a room, an extremely wealthy merchant's chamber, he concluded. The quality of the materials that constructed the walls and floor were of the highest grade. Even the blankets on the messy bed, and the curtains blocking the stream of sunlight, lacked visible knitting.

I made it. Unbelievable. The figurine I stole in Elin's mind truly connected to Walter's, and it let me sneak in!

"What manner apparatus is this?"

The machine before Lord Remont confounded him. Labeled buttons arranged before him, and a sheet of glass projected a lighted image. When he pressed one, a loud bell-like sound startled him, and he yanked his hand back.

What bizarre mind could possibly conjure such a thing?

The door exiting the room led to--

--The Necropolis?

Cautiously, before exiting the room, Lord Remont scanned above for the giant of the void he encountered in Lady Elin's mind. Only after confirming the only thing above him was the night sky did he step through.

Why the Necropolis? What connection does he have to it?

As if to answer his question, a soft silver light increased from the end of the street. From the glow, Elin's prayers murmured. The sight and sound led Lord Remont to a desecrated Temple of Gaia.

His instincts hinted that, once he found the manifestation of Lady Elin, not only could he stop Sir Walter, he could control him.

"The wheel of ages shall turn!"