The vast Academy was deathly quiet. If one listened closely, only the faint, rhythmic scuttling of Small Living Jars could be heard moving across the rooftops.
Many buildings in Raya Lucaria appeared to have no doors or accessible paths, but the Tarnished knew better. Paths were not things meant to be followed—they were things meant to be made. He leapt against a buttress, kicked off a stone gargoyle, and vaulted onto the high balcony overlooking the debate parlor where he had slain the Red Wolf.
A few combative little jars lunged at him, but the Tarnished kicked them off the ledge like pebbles, watching them tumble to the courtyard below like struggling turtles. Entering the upper loft, he found a chest and a corpse dressed in noble attire clutching a strange, blue-crystallized sprout.
"What's this? A Glintstone Woodling?" He pocketed the crafting material and turned his attention to the ornate chest.
Inside was a small, finely carved bust of a man. The figure had a sharp, resolute jawline, powerful musculature, and a mane of flowing crimson hair.
"So this is the 'Red-Haired Hero,' Radagon? I swear I've seen this face before... but where?" He studied the bust for a moment before a commotion outside drew his attention.
"Carian dog! Who gave you leave to enter? This Academy is not for your kind!"
In the courtyard below, a group of sorcerers had surrounded a lone knight. The knight was clad in gleaming, lacquered Carian armor, his posture elegant and utterly composed despite being outnumbered.
"The Academy... a den of mediocre pedants," the knight replied, his voice calm but biting. "I am here to rescue the Queen. None shall stand in my path."
"You think we're a soft target just because that Tarnished barged through? Everyone thinks they can walk over Raya Lucaria today!"
"Hmph. If the Cuckoo Knights were here, I might exert some effort. But against mere apprentices who can't even qualify as teachers? Do not make me laugh." The knight raised his straight sword—a masterpiece of Carian craftsmanship, its blade inlaid with blue glintstone.
"Behold... the greatness of Caria!"
The knight stood tall, his sword erupting with a colossal, shimmering blue energy blade that dwarfed the building. With a single, graceful sweep, the Carian Grandeur slammed down, obliterating the front line of sorcerers and smashing the stone floor.
"Kill him! Send the Marionettes! Summon everyone!" the surviving mages shrieked. They were humiliated. They couldn't stop the Tarnished, and now a single Carian Knight was treating them like garden weeds.
"Gather as much stagnant water as you like," the knight said, walking forward. "It will never reach the clarity of the lake."
The Tarnished watched from above as the knight carved a path toward the Grand Library. "An old grudge, it seems. Not my circus, not my monkeys."
He followed the trail of bodies. Every sorcerer had been dispatched with a single, precise strike—clean, efficient, and lethal. The wounds hummed with a faint residual magic.
At the entrance to the Grand Library's lift, the knight was cornered again.
"You backstabbed the Queen when she was at her most vulnerable, mourning the loss of her husband," the knight spat, parrying a glintstone bolt with a blue-crested shield. "If you had faced her in open battle and won, we Carian Knights would have accepted the defeat. But a betrayal under the guise of 'neutrality'? Your sins cannot be washed away."
"Caria interfered with Academy business! We are the scholars of the stars!" a mage yelled.
"The stars belong to everyone, not just those who hide behind stone walls. There are Stars... and there is the Moon." The knight unleashed a crescent wave of light, clearing the room.
He boarded the lift, leaving the "rabble" behind. He pushed open the massive doors to the Grand Library.
Inside, the room was dim and smelled of old parchment. Suddenly, the knight stumbled. Something had grabbed his ankle. He looked down to see a pale, young girl with amber eyes staring up at him, a wide, vacant smile on her face. Candles flickered to life, revealing dozens of identical girls crawling among the bookshelves.
"What is this madness...?"
"Ah... you have come," a gentle, melodic voice drifted from above.
A woman of ethereal beauty and towering stature drifted down. She wore robes of deep midnight blue and held a large, glowing amber egg in her arms as if it were a child. This was Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon, the last head of the Carian Royal family.
"I shall birthed thee anew... a sweetings, fresh and good," Rennala whispered, her eyes filled with a hollow, obsessive maternal love.
"My Queen! Please, regain your senses!" the knight, Moongrum, cried out. But Rennala was lost in her egg, ignoring the world.
Moongrum gritted his teeth. "Radagon... look what you have done to her."
He raised his sword. "I am Moongrum, Carian Knight. I will save you from this prison, my Queen... forgive my insolence."
Moongrum knew the secret to the barrier protecting her. He sprinted through the library, slashing at the "sweetings" who glowed with a faint light. As the third one fell, the amber shield around Rennala shattered. She tumbled to the floor, her egg rolling away.
"My babe! Do not fear, Mama is coming!" she cried, crawling toward the egg.
"Queen Rennala!" Moongrum reached out, but the shadows in the room suddenly coalesced into a thick, chilling black mist. A cold, regal voice echoed from the void:
"Upon my name as Ranni the Witch—"
Moongrum froze. "Princess Ranni...?"
"Touch not my mother's rich, slumbering sleep."
"O, sinners. Let the tale be told... of the last Queen of Caria, Rennala of the Full Moon. And the majesty of the night she conjureth."
The library dissolved. The floor became a dark, mirrored lake reflecting a boundless starry sky. A giant, silver full moon hung low in the horizon. Rennala rose, but she was no longer the broken woman on the floor. This was a spectral illusion created by Ranni—Rennala in her prime.
"Beautiful..." Moongrum whispered. He raised his shield, but the spectral Rennala pointed her staff. A beam of pure lunar energy struck him, sent him flying, and cracked his shield in a single hit.
"My mission... I cannot fail here!" Moongrum coughed blood, forcing his broken body to stand. The Queen was too strong, but a Carian Knight did not flee from the Moon. "Forgive me, my Queen! GREATZEE... CARIA!!"
He raised his sword for a final, desperate strike.
"Whoa—looks like I walked into a party," a voice interrupted.
The Tarnished stepped onto the mirrored water, casually twirling his transformed "Gravity Hammer" blade.