"I would like to request a duel with the current King of Mides. The ministers of both Mides and Smod shall be the witnesses to it." She looked down, her eyes glowing a bright red as she smirked mischievously.
The room dropped into a dead, breathless silence. The bound ministers froze mid-sob, their eyes wide with sheer, unadulterated shock, while the Smod guards outside the doorway stood at rigid attention, their fingers tightening instinctively over their halberds.
"A... a duel, Your Imperial Highness?" the lead Smod knight stammered, stepping into the threshold and bowing frantically. "With the usurper Kazimir? But the vanguard is already in position! We can breach his private chambers within twenty minutes—"
"I didn't ask for a siege," Aefia interrupted, her voice dropping into a low, smooth cadence that brooked no argument. She smoothed the front of her black suit coat. "I am requesting a formal royal duel. Right here, in the central courtyard, before the sun reaches its peak. Or whatever time he wants."
She turned her gaze back to the cowering councilmen on the floor.
"You lot want to claim Mides was forced into this? You want to pretend you were all just helpless puppets following the orders of a madman?" Aefia let out a faint, cruel smile, her fingers lightly tapping the hilt of Spectrum.
"Then you will sit in the witness gallery and watch your precious King answer for every single lie he crafted. Every minister from Smod, every remaining official of Mides, and every soldier stationed in this valley will stand witness."
"H-He won't accept!" One choked out, his face pale as death. "King Kazimir knows what you are! He will lock himself in the inner sanctum before he steps onto an open field with you!"
"Oh, he will accept," Aefia murmured, her lips curving into a sharp, venomous line.
She leaned in slightly, her voice dropping to a whisper meant only for the terrified men before her. "Because if he refuses, I won't just tear down his palace. I will drag him out by his collar, break his limbs in front of his own garrison, and expose that pathetic, parasitic soul hiding beneath his skin to the entire continent. He is too proud to let the world watch him hide like a cornered rat."
She straightened up, her purple cape swirling around her ankles as she turned toward the Smod guard.
"Draft the formal challenge," Aefia commanded flatly, stepping past the threshold into the corridor. "Deliver it directly to Kazimir's private doors. He knows that this is a once-in-a-while opportunity. He would rather scrub mud off boots then miss it."
"At once, Your Highness!" the knight barked, saluting smartly before turning to execute her orders.
The doors to the throne room behind her slammed shut. Her heels clicked against the tiled floors as she stormed towards the west wing of the castle.
The knights behind her looked at her, questioned.
"Your Highness? Where are you going? The exit is that way," one finally asked. Please don't say we are infiltrating this palace to provoke the King into accepting the fight! We all know the odds of Her Highness restraining herself throughout the battle to keep things fair and square.
Aefia paused for a moment. "I know where the exit is." She turned to face him. "But do you really think the dagger is being made right?"
He blinked at her. "I... I am not sure."
She let out a sigh, just in time for a set of metallic footsteps rushing towards her.
"Your Highness!" A Mides guard panted, coming to a stop and offering a polite bow in front of her. He held out a handkerchief with the three Astral stones resting on it.
"The Smith had tried to take the stones and run away. He was about to deliver it to King Kazimir, even if by sacrificing himself. We were only able to take it back when the magic reacted ominously at him."
A bead of sweat rolled down the Knight's forehead. What...?
Aefia looked down at the stones. "Thank you. I will reward you for your bravery and honesty." She replied while taking the three stones at her hand.
Her head them turned over her shoulder to look at the knight. He shuddered.
"Did I manage to prove my point?" She asked with a tilt of her head.
"Y-yes. Your Highness." He nodded.
Aefia turned on her heel and continued her deliberate walk toward the west wing. The three raw stones—the golden Sunstone, the void-black Quartz, and the ethereal Astral Core—rested snugly inside her inner coat pocket, their contrasting thermal energies humming faintly against her ribs.
"If you want something done right," she murmured, her voice carrying through the empty corridor, "you don't leave it in the hands of a kingdom built on counterfeit promises."
"Your Highness..." the lead knight hurried his steps to keep pace, his boots clattering against the marble floor. "If the Mides smiths were compromised from the beginning, where are we heading now? The royal forge is in the lower eastern quadrant."
"We aren't going to the forge," Aefia replied without slowing down. "We are going to Kazimir's personal armory."
The knight blinked in confusion. "The armory? But the conduit needs to be forged from scratch—"
"A conduit needs a vessel, not a five-hour spectacle," Aefia cut him off smoothly, rounding a corner toward a pair of heavily reinforced brass doors guarded by two Smod vanguards who immediately bowed and stepped aside.
"The caretaker was right about the binding process being difficult, but he lied about needing a smith to start from raw metal. Kazimir is an obsessive collector. Do you really think a man so paranoid about his own mortality wouldn't keep an unaligned, high-grade relic housing empty socket slots?"
She pushed the heavy brass doors open.
The private armory was a sprawling, dimly lit vault lined with velvet-draped display cases, antique armor, and racks of masterwork steel. Centralized on an elevated stone pedestal sat an ornate, iron-bound chest adorned with intricate silver filigree.
Aefia walked straight to the pedestal. She pulled a safety pin from her sleeve, mending it using her fire element to make it more moldable. The lock fell away with a sharp clack, and she swung the lid open.
Resting inside a bed of faded black silk was an unpolished curved dagger. Its blade was forged from blank, dormant star-steel—a rare, non-elemental metal explicitly designed to hold magical stones without shattering. Along the flat of the blade ran three empty, perfectly carved circular sockets, connected by deep, hollow blood-grooves leading down to the hilt.
Ugh... I feel like Thanos right now... She thought to herself.
It was the exact blade she had stolen an impression of during her first escape through the upper galleries—a master vessel built by old artisans, kept as Kazimir's prized, unused trophy.
"It was here the entire time..." the knight whispered, staring at the blank weapon in realization.
"He kept it as a backup vessel in case his own host body failed," Aefia said, reaching down and lifting the dagger by its hilt. The weight was immaculate, resting seamlessly in her grip.
Without hesitation, she pulled the three raw stones from her pocket. Pressing her thumb firmly against each socket, she channeled a quick, intense pulse of fire directly into the blade's core.
The star-steel hissed violently. The Sunstone, Void-Quartz, and Astral Core snapped into the empty sockets one by one, their edges melting slightly under her fingers to fuse permanently into the frame.
The hollow grooves along the blade instantly flared with a brilliant, tricolored light before settling into a deep, steady pulse.
She clasped her fingers around the hilt of the dagger, watching as it disintegrated and dissolved into the air.
"Your Highness," the knight asked hesitantly, following her back out into the hall. "May I ask... why a formal duel? If we launch the vanguard now, with the secondary energy matrix corrupted, Mides will fall within hours. Why risk yourself in single combat when you have an entire army behind you?"
Aefia stopped by the high arched window overlooking the vast, snow-covered valley, her garnet eyes reflecting the cold morning sun.
"Because a siege is sloppy," she said flatly, her tone stripped of all playfulness. "Mides holds deep political ties with the surrounding northern territories—kingdoms that hate the Smod Empire and are looking for any excuse to form a coalition against us. If I crush this Kingdom with military force, Kazimir becomes a martyr, and Smod is branded an aggressive conqueror."
She looked down at her gloved hand, slowly clenching it into a fist.
"I didn't stake my title, my freedom, and the reputation of the Empire just to start an endless continental war. In a royal duel, the outcome is absolute. When I strip Kazimir of his crown and sever that parasitic soul from his body in front of his own court, there will be no room for political spin. If you want a result handled flawlessly without unnecessary casualties... you do it yourself."
She turned her head over her shoulder. "And if you ask me why I am taking this one step at the time when it seems much more ordeal to do it all at once... It would be that I need to plant my foundations and let the cement dry before I place the bricks."
Without another word, she turned away and headed for the exit.
"Let's head back for now. I will return when he sends a message that accepts that duel."
***
Everyone in the room stayed extremely silent, not even breathing too loud.
THUD!
"Damn it! Why does it always end this way?!" Kazimir shouted, slamming his fists onto the mahogany table. The vibration caused cracked to spider-webs from the point of collision.
"Please calm down, Your Majesty—" the chancellor tried to step forward.
"How do I stay calm when I am sick, that crazy bitch is asking for a duel, and I am being pressurized from all directions! At this rate, Mides is going to fall!" He lifted his head at the middle-aged man. "What have I told you all this morning?! Where are the ministers?!"
"They are currently tied up in the throne room under observation of the Smod Empire's knights assigned by the Crown Princess."
"Right! What was I even expecting from them?!" He sat back down on his chair, his hand coming up to support his forehead on his elbows.
Why did I even savor for her powers?! I didn't even know I had bet my whole title and nation for this thing... What benefit have I even gotten?! He thought bitterly to seeherself.
Should I just forfeit? The thought crossed his mind like a bitter poison. If he surrendered now and handed over the border territories, maybe—just maybe—the Empress would step in to restrain her daughter before Aefia tore his soul out of his ribcage.
BANG!
The heavy doors flew open as a Mides knight came running into the study, out of breath and nearly tripping over his own boots.
"Your Majesty! Emergency dispatch!" the knight panted, sliding onto one knee and holding up a sealed leather pouch.
Kazimir didn't even lift his head, his voice muffled by his hand. "If it's another threat from the Smod vanguard, tell them to get in line."
"No, Sire! It's about the Crown Princess's sweep of the energy reserves!" the knight gasped, catching his breath. "The secondary grid was corrupted, yes... but she missed one! A Healing Crystal was left entirely untouched during her corruption. It sits locked in the lower infirmary array, completely out of her reach!"
Kazimir's head snapped up. The heavy exhaustion on his face vanished, replaced by a sudden, sharp glint of madness.
"A Healing Crystal...?" he repeated, his voice dropping. "She missed the white sanctum...?"
"Yes, Sire! It's even pure, high-grade energy!"
A grotesque, manic smirk slowly stretched across Kazimir's pale face. He pushed himself up from his desk, his fingers digging into the cracked mahogany.
"She missed one," he breathed, a raspy chuckle escaping his throat. "The arrogant little monster actually missed one! She thinks she has me cornered, but with that crystal... I can absorb its vitality directly into my blood before I even step onto the cobblestones!"
He let out a booming, hysterical laugh that cracked mid-breath, echoing through the grand room. All thoughts of forfeiting evaporated instantly.
"Bring me that crystal immediately!" Kazimir barked, pointing at the chancellor. "Drain its core into a concentrated potion vial and bring it to my private chambers! We are going to turn her little public spectacle into her execution!"
"With all due respect, Your Majesty..." A knight who had been standing by at the corner suddenly chimed in.
Kazimir's laughter died instantly. He turned his bloodshot eyes toward the guard. "What did you say?"
"I said, with all due respect, sire," the knight said, shaking his head slightly. "You were the one who chose to mess with her in the first place. You lured her across the border, locked her in the deep cells, and tried to harvest her blood. So why are you calling such a respectable, Imperial figure a 'crazy bitch' when you are the one who backed her into a corner first?"
A suffocating, deadly silence fell over the room.
In a terrifying burst of speed, Kazimir crossed the floor. Black, necrotic veins flared along his arms as his hand shot out, locking tightly around the knight's neck and slamming him violently against the stone wall.
"Who do you think you are talking to?!" Kazimir roared, his face contorting into a terrifying look of rage. "Are you the King of Mides?! Or am I the King?!"
The knight gasped for air, his fingers clawing at Kazimir's grip as the color drained rapidly from his face. The insolence bled out of his eyes, replaced by pure, instinctual horror as he stared into the parasitic monster staring back at him beneath the crown.
Kazimir held him there for three agonizing seconds before shoving him dismissively to the floor. The guard collapsed in a heap, coughing violently and clutching his bruised throat.
"Useless trash," Kazimir spat. He turned back toward the trembling chancellor. "You. Go fetch the crystal personally. If a single drop of its essence is spilled, I will flay you alive."
"Y-Yes, Your Majesty! At once!" the chancellor squeaked, scrambling backward out the door.
"And send a message to the Crown Princess," Kazimir added, his voice dropping into a venomous register. "Tell her I accept her ridiculous duel. Four in the evening. At the high stone amphitheater in the outer courtyard. Tell her to prepare herself."
He turned away, staring out the window. His smirk growing bigger.
It was time to bring the curtain down.