Inpar hastened along the streets of the capital. He was unable to fly, so he had to make do with empowering himself to run as quickly as his legs would carry him. He leapt and ran all the while cursing his bad luck. Sweat was trickling down his back and legs, while his breath was heavy and raspy. A single bronze knife floated next to him, keeping pace with his steps. The bronze knife was beautifully carved with what appeared to be a stylized teardrop. Inpar's boots had bronze strips tied to the sides. They were inscribed with a circle and a zig-zag pattern that would wrap around the entire boot. Inpar was wearing gloves that had similar strips wrapped around his wrists. Whenever Inpar would take a step, or swing his arm, the patterns would briefly flash, giving Inpar a speed boost. Inpar soon arrived near the entrance of the city, where a lizard rider was waiting. The lizard rider had a wooden cart strapped to the back of his lizard. The contents of the cart were covered by a leather hide, shielding them from prying eyes.

Dolo looked up, as Inpar landed next to him. "Were you successful, sir?" Dolo greeted his master while turning to him. Inpar, tired and out of breath shook his head. "No, unfortunately, I failed. It is time for plan B. Did you bring everything here?" Dolo nodded his head, removing the leather hide and revealing a collection of bronze weapons, each of them beautifully carved with various inscriptions and patterns. "Yes, as instructed, everything from the workshop and storage has been brought." While listening to Dolo talk, Inpar directed the blade floating next to him, to cut his wrist, allowing his blood to drip onto the entire collection of enchanted weapons, that Inpar had created over the many years he had been working on them. His blood flowed and seeped into the grooves carved into the various blades and implements. The bronze greedily absorbed his blood, creating new connections with his mind. These connections weren't stable and wouldn't last, yet he had little choice in this situation.

While his blood poured on the bronze, Inpar turned to Dolo. "Go ahead to the agreed rendezvous and tell Mundus that the original plan failed. I will need help getting out." Dolo revealed a pleading expression. "But sir, a servant can't leave his master while the master stays to fight. We can escape together on my lizard." Inpar chuckled slightly while shaking his head. "They would catch up with us in no time. Go now. Make haste and get help." Inpar slapped the butt of the lizard, making it start running. The cart which had been disconnected stayed behind together with all the weapons left lying on top. They were all shining and started levitating around Inpar. He watched the lizard rider run into the distance while familiarizing himself with the new weapons. His boots and gloves had used a lot of energy running over here, so he needed to give them some time to recharge. Inpar started hurriedly marching south from the city.

Just when he reached the edge of the nearby forest, a voice rang out from behind him. "Halt! Inpar, where do you think you are going? Get back here and answer for your crimes." Feidi's voice reverberated outside the city walls, as three figures rose over the roofs of the houses. Each of them had several bronze weapons all beautifully inscribed floating next to them. Even so, Inpar had nearly double the amount of magical items in his possession. The three sisters landed before Inpar, Stella in front, with Feidi and Natusoror behind.

Without a single word being exchanged, several strikes were launched from Feidi and Natusoror. Their bronze blades all bore the same tear-shaped markings, glowing in the setting sun. Inpar used three bronze shields inscribed with a circular enchantment in the middle with many lines spreading out from the circle all radiating outwards. The shields blocked many of the strikes, yet a few managed to slip past his defenses. For these he used his other blades, letting them cross with the blades under the control of the sisters. Stella dashed forward, sword in hand, weaving between the blades under Inpar's control and using her own to clear a path for herself. She stabbed toward Inpar, yet he blocked her strike with his own sword. This sword had many tight oval-shaped spirals at the edge of the blade, all connected to a circle located at the hilt of the blade. Inpar's blade suddenly vibrated when the blades clashed, making Stella lose her grip. She lost her balance and almost fell forward. Inpar was about to strike down and slash her when out of his peripheral a spear emerged aimed at his head. He activated his gloves and boots, dashing backward out of the spear wielded by Natusoror. Inpar didn't have time to catch himself, as from his side Feidi appeared, stabbing towards his side with short daggers. Inpar summoned a shield to his side, barely managing to block the daggers. The inscriptions in the daggers flashed, and a large amount of kinetic energy was transferred into the shield. The inscriptions carved into the shield flashed, before absorbing the strike. Feidi's eyes widened, as she had expected the shield to explode, yet here it stood barely harmed. Feidi had to quickly jump back, as a spear under Inpar's control stabbed toward her. She wasn't given any rest, however, as a short sword slashed at her from above. She raised both her daggers above her while bracing into the ground. She crossed the daggers over her and blocked the strike from above. The inscriptions carved in the sword flashed and a kinetic strike shattered Feidi's two daggers, making her wrists sting with pain and leaving her disarmed. Meanwhile, Natusoror stabbed towards Inpar once more, not giving him any space.

Stella was pressuring him from in front, while Natusoror supported her from the back. Inpar was quite troubled, as he could only defend himself and only attack with his bonded weapons. He had his three shields wrapped around himself, blocking the strikes of Natusoror and Stella, while also protecting him from the stray bonded weapon trying to strike his blind spot. A fragile stalemate emerged, where Inpar would barely be able to defend himself, using his three shields, while pressuring the sisters using his greater number of magic items. There were many close calls, during which Inpar almost got skewered, and he was only able to escape in time, by using his boots and gloves to augment his movement. Even so, shallow wounds started accumulating, and it was obvious that the tide of the battle was in the sister's favor. Blood seeped from all the cuts across Inpar's body, and his breath was becoming ragged. He was relying more and more on his gloves and boots to escape danger, and the energy stored within the items was almost fully used up. His shields were also moving slower as if Inpar's mind and bond with them was becoming slower and weaker.

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"We can get him!" So shouted Feidi, while stabbing towards him with a spear. A shield blocked the spear, and Feidi didn't even bother activating the kinetic thrust, as the shield would simply absorb it. Inpar wore a grim expression and suddenly narrowed his eyes. The shields surrounding him suddenly approached the three sisters at great speeds. On the back of the shields was a second enchantment. It featured a circle in the middle, with many fine cracks spreading outward. These cracks glowed, before shattering the shield into many small pieces of shrapnel and launching them at the three sisters. Feidi and Natusoror pulled up a shield from the surrounding foliage and dirt but were unable to block all incoming shrapnel. They got hit with a few pieces of bronze and collapsed in a heap.

Stella managed to escape, by quickly floating over the blast zone and was mid-air over Inpar. "Enough!" Stella sent out a directional kinetic force, pushing everything away from her. Inpar was launched backward, completing an awkward backward flip, before landing on his legs. He lost his balance however and fell backward, grunting as he impacted a tree behind him. Inpar fell to his knees and coughed trying to regain the air within his lungs. Stella landed before him. Inpar's eye was fixated at her, an expression of hatred etched deep into it, as he summoned his remaining weapons to him. The previous attack had sacrificed his three shields, but he still had a few bronze weapons with him. Even so, he could feel his connection with them becoming unstable. He didn't know how much longer he could control these weapons.

Suddenly, he heard Stella's voice call out to him. "Inpar, let's stop here. No one has to die. Come back with us to the city, we can still fix this." Stella wore a gentle expression, her brows furrowed yet uncertainty lay in her eyes. The weapons floating under her possession all dropped to the ground. She spread her arms slightly and closed her eyes while craning her head slightly. Her neck was exposed. Stella had her eyes tightly shut, but the expected blow never came. She opened her eyes to see Inpar wearing a hateful and spiteful growl, yet his blades didn't move.

Stella relaxed slightly and lowered her arms. "Drop your weapons, and come back with me to the city. We can still fix everything." A sad expression flashed over Inpar's face before his face hardened and he shook his head. "I'm afraid that is no longer possible. I have gone too far for me to turn back now. The others will not forgive me. Plus I hated it in there anyway." Stella's expression softened, concern marking her face. "What do you mean? Why did you hate it there? Didn't we treat you right? We provided you with a workshop and unlimited resources, to further your research." Inpar scoffed upon hearing her words, a condescending sneer marring his face. "As if. Whenever I achieved something, Feidi and Natusoror would always start talking about God's guidance and whatnot. My achievements were never my own, and they never stopped making it known, how much they disliked me for being a nonbeliever. Don't you get it? God has left! He took the last thing He cared about and flew off with it to God knows where." Inpar's face was deeply angry, yet one tear after another flowed out of his eyes and down his cheek.

Stella remained silent, yet showed concern and compassion in her gaze. Inpar continued. "So, if God doesn't care about us anymore, then that must mean, that we decide our own fates. I decided to decide my own fate. If you don't want me here, then I will simply go to someone who does. Feidi and Natusoror had always treated me as if I were a spy for Mundus, so if they were already going to treat me like one, why shouldn't I become one?" Stella shook her head when she heard Inpar's words. "Just because our fates are undecided, doesn't mean we have to kill each other. Neither you nor Mundus have to die. And when did I ever treat you unjustly? You keep talking about the other two, but what about me? Didn't I always look out for you? Wasn't I always there, when you needed something? The resources that we provided weren't given to you, so that we could profit from your work, but were given to you, because I know how much your research is important to you." Inpar had a stunned expression, with his mouth slightly ajar. Stella's gaze softened and she reached out a tentative hand to him. Inpar gazed at her hand. She currently had no weapons, and it would be very simple for him to stab her with the numerous weapons floating next to him. "We can still fix things. Take my hand."

Inpar hesitated. A memory flashed before his mind's eye. It was of when he was younger when Minsol was teaching them how to fly. Everyone was able to, yet he alone didn't have the power and control necessary to master that skill. All his siblings were doing loops in the air while laughing, while he alone remained on the ground. He sat next to a tree, his knees curled beneath himself with his gaze downcast. Suddenly, a figure stepped up to him and offered him a hand. Inpar had gazed up and seen Stella offer him assistance. She had said that if he couldn't fly, then she could carry him with her when she flew. She had flashed him an honest smile, inviting him to play with everyone else. The image of her outstretched hand then overlapped with the outstretched hand offered to him now. A tear rolled down his cheek and a weak smile escaped his lips. The weapons floating beside him all dropped, the bond he formed with them no longer present. He would be unable to use any powers for the next few hours, the cost of using more weapons than he could handle. He was about to grab Stella's hand when suddenly one of the weapons that used to be in Inpar's control floated up and stabbed him through the chest. Inpar wore a stunned expression and looked down, touching the shaft of the spear that had punctured his lung. Blood gurgled out of his mouth and Inpar collapsed dead. His corpse wore an anguished expression as if he couldn't believe what had happened.

Stella emitted a shriek while rushing to him. "No!" She whipped around, to see Feidi helping Natusoror to her feet. "Why did you do that?" Feidi regarded Stella with a weird expression. "You did a good job of stalling him, to make him lose control over his weapons. You didn't need to surrender your weapons for that though, that was too dangerous. He could've killed you there." Stella was about to say something when from above a voice came. "I see I've come too late. To think you would truly butcher your brother like that." Everyone looked up, to see Mundus floating above. He didn't bear any weapons, so he was most likely here to quickly grab Inpar and then escape. Feidi started shouting curses at him, yet Mundus ignored her. He gave Stella a meaningful glance, before turning and leaving. Deep down, Stella knew that there was no turning back now. Not for her and not for her siblings.