Rieren wasn’t worried about the impending fight. She had seen Remis Sharan in action before, far too often. The woman’s tricks were derived entirely from her Baleful Bandit class, and she would be an idiot to not use a class that powerful. Sharan might be doggedly stupid about many things, but when it came to matters about the system, she was quite adept.

“You know you cannot win,” Rieren said. “You could never have won before, and now, well you must have seen my battles, I presume.”

Sharan scowled at her. “Monkey’s balls, no one cares, Vallorne. Your success in the tournament is all the more reason you’re going to die by hand right here.”

“As much as I am intent on getting this killing business over with, why are you so bent on killing me, Sharan?” Rieren raised a hand before Remis Sharan could reply before she had finished her whole question. “Yes, you think I am a monster who needs to be culled and whatnot. What I am actually interested in is how you came to align yourself with an Archnoble of all people.”

Sharan flushed. She tried to scowl even harder too, but she was apparently too embarrassed to do so. Apparently, she was well aware what her reputation entailed.

In the previous timeline, if Rieren had railed against the general hierarchy of society that rewarded only wealth and power, then Remis Sharan had raged against it with her very soul. By the time her life had come to an end, her entire existence had devolved to tearing apart the gods and anyone even remotely associated with their side.

This included all the monsters originally sent down by them, all the nobles and courtiers who kowtowed to their superiority and benefited from their system. Her hatred of them had become a thing of legend.

And here she was, clearly affiliated with a man she would have gutted with her bare hands in her last life.

“You have no idea what I have gone through, Vallorne,” Remis Sharan said.

Rieren resisted rolling her eyes. “Which is why I was asking.”

“My life has been a mess. When I returned, when I found out that I wasn’t dead anymore, you know the first thing of note that happened? I found that everyone in my family had a system. I was horrified at first, then excited, then very excited.” For a moment, her eyes were aglow with a burning fire. One that snuffed out the next second. “Then a cursed Avatar killed them all.”

Rieren might have difficulty processing emotions in her current state, but even her Arisen form’s spine turned cold and rigid. How would she have reacted if someone had found her father and killed him in cold blood?

There was a sudden hollowness in her head. It was as if she should have known what that meant. She ought to have…

Remembered.

Rieren did her best to keep her face blank, but she understood what was happening. The memories. The ones she had sacrificed to Batcat to raise the efficacy of its powers. That was where her recollection of the feelings that Remis Sharan was dealing with had gone.

“I would have been dead too,” Remis Sharan said. “I’d just been reborn. I had little to no power. Nowhere near enough to resist an Avatar. But I survived. I ran. I hid. I… I lost myself. And you know why that happened? You want to know why I survived?”

Her eyes were alight again, with manic kindling now, the flame of near-insanity burning bright as a sun gone mad.

Rieren’s mouth twisted as the reply emerged from between her lips. “Because your world died.”

“Yes. I’m glad you know that much, at least. My world was burning. Everything had already gone mad. There was no time for anyone to train, no room for anyone to control their new abilities and fight back. We were swept away like a shore house in a hurricane.”

“I understand.”

“Do you? Do you understand how it occurred, then? Do you know what caused it? What led to the destruction of my homeland and my family, worse than what had happened last time?”

Rieren did. Though the worse part was a bit of an exaggeration. The south had been annihilated in the last timeline too. Though she supposed it stung more in the present since they had the means of fighting back against such a fate and had still perished.

“If you truly understood, you’d surrender,” Remis Sharan said. “Otherwise, your comprehension is hollow.”

Rieren shook her head. “I can empathize with your pain while disagreeing with the decision you took as a result of it.”

“Enough.” Remis Sharan took a single step back, her hand pulling out a short javelin from under her cloak. “Seems like this little talk hasn’t changed your mind. You’ve left me no choice, Vallorne.”

Rieren still considered this entire altercation entirely too pointless, but at least she was going to get some exercise out of it. “You know, I was thinking we could meet up, right before we took the capital, like we did the last time. Do you remember?”

Sharan scowled at her harder. It made her angular face look positively like a spike trying to drive itself into Rieren. “On your guard, harridan.”

Rieren pulled out her sword as Sharan got ready to attack. Her skill was all too familiar. Six marron skulls materialized around her body, floating on threads of magenta power. Sharan’s short javelin was wreathed in the same light.

When she raised her javelin high, the light started spiralling around her whole form until it had created a funnel. A rippling, twisting drill of energy that was shredding the very air with a whining sound.

Then she aimed it at her enemy before charging.

Sharan was fast, just as Rieren remembered. Thankfully, she was already prepared. Rieren had pulled her sword back, ready to attack as soon as Sharan committed fully to her attack. To her Spiraldrive Vortex skill. As she shot forward with incredible speed, Rieren stabbed her sword at her opponent too, activating Rippling Blade at the same time.

The extended length of the blade arrowed ahead with blinding speed.

That vortex was powerful. It wouldn’t even need to touch Rieren to begin tearing her apart. Just being within proximity would make the shredded air rip through any flesh close enough.

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Which was why Rieren had opted to use Rippling Blade to take out Sharan from a distance.

But the destructive power in Sharan’s vortex was balanced out by the fact that it provided nest to no defensive cover. Even in Rieren’s previous form, Rippling Blade would have been strong enough to pierce through Sharan’s vortex of energy. Now, with her monstrous, more powerful form, it tore through and struck Sharan dead centre on her chest.

She didn’t scream as she was thrown back. The hole in her chest was enormous, and all the blood that fallen to the ground was enough to take a bath in.

Rieren wasn’t fooled. She didn’t relax. Couldn’t.

Sharan wasn’t dead. In fact, moments later, one of the skulls disappeared. The wound on Sharan’s chest healed up and all the blood outside her body disappeared, presumably returning to their correct vessels within her. Like a corpse being reanimated, a puppet being pulled up by its strings, Sharan lifted back onto her feet.

She grinned. “That all you’ve got, Vallorne?”

Not at all. Rieren had a lot more to throw at her opponent. But superior power though she might possess, this fight was going to take annoyingly long.

“Must I waste my whole night with you in this manner?” Rieren asked. “You know you cannot kill me.”

“Oh, yes I can. At some point, your Essence will run out. At some point, you will grow tired. That’s when I’ll pounce and end you.” She pointed her hand at Rieren, palm forward. A tiny skull was slowly growing larger. “You won’t be able to last that long.”

Such an annoying fighting style. Rieren had always felt a smidge terrible for any opponents that Sharan had faced in their previous life. Now, she was feeling it herself.

Rieren hefted her sword closer, then froze. Remis Sharan had petrified as well. They both heard it.

Voices. Two of them. Rieren focused and realized that they sounded familiar. A few moments later, they became clear enough for her to tell exactly who they belonged to.

People that Remis Sharan did not want to meet.

“Curse upon those interlopers,” Sharan said.

“Oh.” Rieren glanced at the other woman. “You know them?”

Remis Sharan began stepping back. “Fortune is smiling upon you, Vallorne. Don’t squander the opportunity that you’ve been granted. Surrender. Do what’s right. Or you’ll suffer.”

She left before Rieren could reply. Even her presence faded. Remis Sharan was actually departing.

Well, that was a rude departure. For all Sharan knew, Rieren might actually have been moved enough to give up her spot in the tournament. But what was surrendering to thin air going to accomplish?

Rieren took her time putting her sword back into its sheath. The battle itself was over, but the fever grip of the fight hadn’t left her fully yet.

“We heard fighting,” Mercion said as he ran into the little clearing. “Are you alright, Rieren?”

She turned to him with a little nod. “How did you know where to find me, and…”

Her question faded as Mercion’s companion came into view. Kalvia had arrived. She was frowning off into the distance, though her face was pointed in the direction Remis Sharan had left.

Then Kalvia turned to Rieren. “No, I was not going to accept a predetermined loss, thank you very much.”

Rieren was a little nonplussed. “What?”

“Galorian! We’re not going to carry out a prefabricated fight. We haven’t already decided who’s going to win and who’s going to lose.” Kalvia scowled so fiercely, she almost reminded Rieren of the woman who had just departed. “That’s awful. We’re going to give it our all. I’ve confirmed with Galorian too. It’s going to be a real fight.”

Rieren took a second to nod. “I am glad to hear it.”

“And you aren’t…” Kalvia’s eyes flickered past her to where Remis Sharan had disappeared.

“Well, would we have been fighting if we had come to a favourable agreement?”

“For all I know, whoever it was wanted to fight because you had agreed to surrender in your battle. That’s what the Aryoventos Clanmaster wanted, right?”

“You truly think I would agree to such a deal?”

“I—” Kalvia bit her lip, then looked away. “No.”

“Well, there you have your answer then.”

A bit of an awkward silence fell upon them. Thankfully, Rieren was inured against such awkwardness now. She had been intent on asking questions to Kalvia and now that her chance had appeared, she wasn’t about to let it disappear.

“Has Lord Mercion confirmed everything we have found with you?” Rieren asked.

“I have,” Mercion said. “The Empress was of course aware of all of it.”

“And how does the Empress feel about it all?”

Kalvia raised an eyebrow at Rieren testily. “Oh, you care about my feelings about all that, do you?”

“Well, it is not so much care as curiosity.”

Kalvia looked a little shocked at that reply and even Mercion grimaced. Hmm. Perhaps Rieren had been a little too frank.

“Well, I’m not here to satisfy your curiosity, am I?” Kalvia said.

Rieren smiled. “You certainly satisfied my curiosity on whether you would agree to a scripted battle against your opponent.”

Kalvia spluttered for a moment, trying to find the right words, then just gave up. “Argh.”

Mercion’s head turned from one to the other of them with a strange look. “Never thought I would see the Empress lose her composure in such a manner. What strange powers you possess, Rieren.”

Kalvia shot a glare at Mercion that convinced him that if he didn’t shut up, he would probably be turned into a tree or something.

Rieren decided it had gone on long enough. She stepped forward, looking straight into Kalvia’s eyes. “Kalvia, if Lord Mercion has told you everything, then you must know what is going on with the rift between the court and your new Emperor. You must know about Starloper and the hunt for the other Banishedborn. And you must also know about the Dreadflood seeking the anchor.”

It made Rieren realize that she needed to plan things out better with Starloper. That she had to meet him again, as soon as possible.

“What’s your point?” Kalvia asked.

“These things are going to come to a head, sooner rather than later at this rate. We all need to be prepared to act when the time comes. We must be ready. I am not here to counsel you to act one way or another. Do as you see fit. But when the time comes, do not let the opportunity pass you by.”

Kalvia swallowed. “You really don’t care what I do so long as I do something?”

Rieren rubbed her temple. An affectation from her old life. Something she couldn’t discard just because she looked like a monster now. That, more than anything, seemed to make Kalvia loosen that frown of hers. “I do not want you to be caught in the middle of the conflict with no recourse and no resolution. Indecision of that kind will get you killed.”

“But fighting on the wrong side will not?”

“Perhaps. But better to die fighting for what you believe in than because no one knows what you believe in.”

Kalvia looked a little stricken, like Rieren had struck her just where she had been hoping she wouldn’t be hit. Fat chance of that. Rieren knew Kalvia well enough to know almost exactly what she was struggling with. To know what was bothering her so much about this whole mess.

“I wish I knew,” Kalvia said quietly.

Rieren almost wanted to reach out, but she stayed her hand. “I understand.”

Kalvia looked up with almost a pleading expression. “You truly do?”

Rieren nodded. “You believed in a certain order. You fought to restore the way of life as it used to be, fighting to give people back the world they enjoyed before the apocalypse. You wanted to return the Elderlands back to its former glory. But now, you have discovered that is impossible.”

It was. There would be no going back. Not if one wanted peace.

Having her entire internal turmoil spelled out so clearly seemed to make Kalvia turn even paler than she normally was. “How do you fight when everything you fought for is no longer accomplishable?”

“You find a new reason to fight.”

“Is it really that easy for you?”

Rieren took a moment to consider. “I realized that I am inherently in this for my reasons. The benefit of others is a great side effect, but I have come to understand that I want to be victorious, to defeat my enemies, to reclaim and even surpass my original powers, for myself. I fight because there remain those I want to fight, and so I will persevere.”

Kalvia slowly shook her head. “And if they are already defeated?” Just like what the old Forborne Emperor was aiming, taking the fight to the Divine Realm. “What happens if you cannot get to them, first?”

“You forget the other part. I seek to surpass my old power, because I want to ensure that those who caused this—” Rieren punctuated it with a decisive slash of her hand. “—never pose a threat again.”

Kalvia looked down for a long moment. “I will have to search for my new aim, won’t I?”

“I believe so.”

With a little noise of dissatisfaction, Kalvia turned away from Rieren. “It was good seeing you, Rieren. I wish you luck for the next round.” She paused, sparing one last look of fierce farewell. “And if you happen to face me after my victory, know that I will not be going easy on you. I want to win too, after all.”

Rieren smiled. “I would not have it any other way.”