In the wake of the blind girl's declaration, only the growing pool of crimson beneath Harus' corpse betrayed time's quiet march.
Wordlessly, Gunlaug rose from his throne. He advanced in steady strides and knelt beside his fallen lieutenant.
He reached down and gently closed the corpse's eyes. For a breath, he lingered there. Faint, mournful whispers danced below the edge of hearing. When they faded, he stood.
Across his body, golden metal stirred. It rippled as it flowed to his hands, coalescing into a fearsome battleaxe.
Resting it upon his shoulder, Gunlaug addressed Cassie.
"How peculiar," he said, voice dripping with disgust. "A fight to the death, yet neither showed their Aspects."
He stepped back in silence, then slowly turned to face the seer.
"A coincidence too convenient… To be anything but intentional, that is."
He shrugged scornfully. "Perhaps you twisted his mind, or cloaked your battle with illusion. Not that it truly matters; your tricks will find no quarter against me."
Even without his soul arsenal, Gunlaug stood a foot taller than Cassie, at more than double her weight. Wielding a Transcendent Echo as both impenetrable armor and unstoppable blade, their difference in power was too vast for deception to close.
So, Cassie would rely on none.
"There were no tricks, tyrant. It is as I said. My victory today has always been assured. I have seen your defeat, and thus it shall pass."
Behind his helm of gold, Gunlaug smiled.
"Is that so? Then let us see what the future truly holds."
In an instant, his blade fell. Death clung to its arc, threatening to end more than the seer's sight.
Cassie remained calm in the face of instant annihilation. Shadow's Lineage coursed through her veins, muting fear and dread.
Her blade rose to intercept. Twisting with the blow, she moved to redirect the strike.
It did nothing.
Gunlaug's axe crashed through her guard like a falling star.
Practiced reflex narrowly saved her. Cassie spun at the last moment, as the axe tore past her shoulder and slammed into the ground.
The floor shattered. Stone shrieked as shards exploded outward, sending debris raining through the air.
The girl stumbled, breath stolen by the blast. Dust clung to her lips as she lowered her stance, already moving again.
Cassie abandoned any thought of matching force with force. If his blows could not be moved, then she would move instead.
She darted in and out of reach, drawing breath through clenched teeth.
Each encounter was a brush with early demise. Gunlaug's reach was longer, and he dwarfed her strength tenfold. Worse still, he was no slow brute. Without an advantage in speed, Cassie's superior technique afforded her narrow room in the face of overwhelming power.
A swing clipped her torso. The Starlight Legion Armor shattered on impact.
Blood trickled down her front.
Despite the pain, she endured, flowing between hammering arcs of golden steel.
Gunlaug's blows carved through the air with terrible weight, forcing her to twist to their whims.
She fought as if a ghost, circling a fire too bright to touch.
Then came the moment.
Cassie sensed it just before it began.
Not in his body, but in his armor.
The metal softened. It flowed from his heels, up his spine, and into his leading arm. A cascade of momentum, accelerating his impending horizontal swing.
A pattern she'd noticed while watching his shadow.
She stepped in at a diagonal, slipping past the arc just as it began to move.
Her momentum carried into her blade. The Midnight Shard snapped upward, angled for the base of his neck.
The blade struck with a sharp note—then recoiled, leaving not even a scratch.
Before the Bright Lord could punish the attack, she quickly jumped back.
Gunlaug touched a finger where she struck. The living metal warped, following his hand away. At arm's length, he examined it playfully.
She hadn't even left a scuff.
Cassie swayed on her feet, breath ragged.
For a moment, they remained still.
The blind girl lowered her sword.
"...Tch."
The Bright Lord's laugh bellowed through the hall as his armor snapped back into shape.
"All that talk, and for what? Was this truly the future you saw, little seer?"
A brief pause lingered in the air, before Cassie began to speak.
"…In truth, no. This, was but a moment of indulgence."
She glanced down towards her shadow.
"I wanted to see how I measured up to the one who should have stood here instead."
Cassie's grip tightened around the Midnight Shard, as she let out a dejected sigh.
"I still have far to go."
Cassie turned her back to the Bright Lord and began slowly walking away.
Her shadow stretched behind her, impossibly long beneath the throne room's pale morning light.
Darkness peeled upward from the floor and formed an immaculate marble statue. Ruby eyes flared to life in silent disdain as the figure reached down, drawing an odachi from the shadows below.
"If both sides are to cower behind Echoes, then the right of challenge is nothing but a lie." Cassie continued.
She took several steps away as her shadow separated from Sunny's.
The crowd need not know of their true master.
Turning back to face the Bright Lord, Cassie spoke as if enduring poisoned words.
"Still… I'll play my part, as farcical as it may be. What must be done, will be done."
The spectators grew fearful as the aura of two Ascended Demons pressed down upon the hall.
All who watched could tell:
They weren't ordinary Echoes. An unnatural sapience and lethality lingered behind the marble demon's eyes—and in the blade she carried.
These creatures were dangerous.
The Host grew uneasy.
Until now, this mysterious group had posed a credible, but manageable, threat. Five Sleepers, no matter how talented, could not hope to defeat their lieutenants and lord singlehandedly. The arrival of two powerful Ascended beings, however, made them much harder to contain.
The air in the throne room turned heavy. Many in the Castle Guard summoned Memories, while others loosened those within their sheaths.
Before the fragile moment could descend into chaos, Tessai began to speak. His voice cut through the rising tension like a blade.
"Well, fucking look at this. Two ghosts crawl out of their master's shadow, and half the room's pissing itself."
He sneered, gaze passing over the Guards. "I trained you lot better than this, did I not?"
One hand settled on the head of his mace as he barked:
"Guards—form rank! Kill them all."
As the guards readied themselves for confrontation, one of the rebel Sleepers spoke.
"Gods, you're pathetic."
Caster's words seethed, boiling beneath the surface.
"The right of challenge, until the moment you are fought on equal footing."
The boy let out a snarl before continuing.
"You lot are cowards—conviction collapsing at the first hint of resistance. When hiding behind an Echo isn't enough, you move to hide behind your men. Is this truly the leader you choose to follow, citizens of Bright Castle?"
Then, to Tessai directly:
"As for you, brute. You train dogs, not men. Though, credit where it's due—training your equals is never easy."
He gave a mocking bow.
Effie choked back a laugh, composure faltering.
"Still… bringing back an extinct species? That's one hell of a trick."
Across the row of rebels, Aiko's hand rose to her chin.
"You know, I think there used to be an old saying about dogs and tricks!.. How did it go again?"
Kai rolled his eyes, nudging the girl with his elbow.
She looked offended.
Tessai's face twisted. His mace scraped against the stone floor.
"You little shits," he growled. "Calling us cowards? I wonder if you bitches will bleed any braver after all those empty words."
A heavy thud consumed the hall.
"Enough!"
Gunlaug spoke a single word, yet its weight dropped like an executioner's axe.
He turned, placing the full brunt of his armor's mind attack on Tessai.
"Temper yourself, or be replaced by someone who can."
Then, to the Castle Guard:
"Stand down. Any who forget who gives the orders in this hall will be reminded. Personally."
A hush lingered in the hall.
Tessai's knuckles flexed around his mace, sending frost creeping up his body from his hands. His eyes locked onto Caster, and with a dark grin he jerked his head towards the grand doors of the throne room.
Caster didn't reply, though with a grim nod he walked towards the exit. Tessai followed closely behind.
In the center of the hall, the knight of marble slammed the pommel of her blade into her shield.
One fight had left the hall.
The other, had just begun.