The two Master Knights, as if they had been waiting for such orders, jerked into motion immediately. Their drakes let out a screeching roar as they swooped on the ship, mighty wings blowing hurricanes of wind.

They fell on the ship like arrows made of storms.

Slya gritted her teeth and stepped back. She would have liked to stay with her men to fight the biggest threat they would be facing since their creation, but they had made plans on their way, and everyone was clear on their objectives, somewhat.

"Let’s do this, Tong."

As the Master Knights came, Tong wrapped his hands around Slya and then jumped out of the ship.

The enemies were stunned by this, but they had already committed their attack on the ship and were getting engaged by the warriors as bolts of silver lightning arced through the air.

Eirikr ran after Slya and Tong. "You....! Why are you running now? There’s no place that you can hide in this...."

As they were falling, Tong used his power to stabilize them so their fall was now as slow as a feather falling from a mountaintop as the roof of the palace got closer to them.

"....you think you can easily destroy my.... !!"

Slya was tired of hearing Eirikr yap in her ears, so she did something about it.

With her sword still in her hand, she amplified her powers and forged. Darkness boiled around Eirikr, forming two giant hands that clapped him as if he were a mosquito, crushing him out of existence, the illusion collapsing.

Tong smiled wearily as they touched down on the roof of the palace. "He’s not dead though. He’ll rebuild the illusion again. What little power remains here should be protecting the throne."

Slya was starting to nod when she suddenly whipped her sword upward, creating formations and techniques from her mind. From the edge of her sword, a dark line of darkness sliced the space above them, directly on the path of the wind blades sent by one of the Master Knights. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

But even then, she didn’t cut through all the power, and the force of the weakened wind blasted them. She grunted as she looked at the fighting above.

"They won’t last like this, even with the weapons, we’re not Master Knights." Her eyes were filled with worry. Although they were on a strict time, the thought of leaving her warriors to their deaths just like that left her with deep unease and sadness. Even though they hadn’t spent a long time together, she was already starting to see them as people to protect.

She hesitated. Already, her warriors were getting killed by the combined power of the two, and soon, if something was not done, they would be wiped out. Her face hardened. "Tong....is there something you can do? If we don’t help now, then the two Master Knights will just disturb our work in the palace."

Tong looked at her and frowned briefly. "My power in this world is greatly restrained by the laws of the world. It’s binding, and only a few can break such laws...."

As he was speaking, though, Slya noticed the way his hand was subtly gathering red strings of light in his hands. "....luckily, my Master, the one whose grace summoned me here, had unknowingly granted me some measure of protection. I might not be at complete power, not even near my power at all, but one Master Knight is easily taken care of!"

With the red strings gathered into a rough small ball in his hand, he tapped one of the rings on his hands. The ring shimmered with light; red light spilled through and formed into a spinning opening.

Without hesitation, Tong reached his hand into it and took out a spear.

Slya took a step back when she saw it, her eyes widening. "That...."

The spear was smooth and deep black, and it was pulsing as if it had a life of its own, as if there were a heart beating in there.

Tong smiled. "Yes. This is a Shadowforge Creation. It was made by one of my...allies. You should know that the Shadowforge Creation’s power is an ancient power that some demon....ahh...well, another time."

Tong raised the spear and flung it.

The spear shot through, howling like a mad monster as it went. It was so fast that even though the Master Knight knew something was coming, she did not have the time to avoid it before it caught her below the ribs and simply blasted her upper body apart.

Slya opened her mouth in shock. ’...did...he just kill a Master Knight in one move? Vale....what have you brought to this world!...’

Tong gestured, and the now bloodied spear returned to him. "Captain Slya, we can focus on our work now. Much later, if there’s time, I’ll teach you some tricks relating to your powers. Now, how do we get to the throne room?"

Right.

Slya took a deep breath and pulled herself together. Now she could rest a little easier.

She looked down at the palace. "Let’s just blast our way through!"

With a tap of her sword, she created a pillar below them that pushed them upward, throwing the two of them into the air. And then, in the air, Slya forged.

Still midair, a black chain fell from the sky, the end deep within the clouds. She wrapped her hands around the chain, pulled, and then swung.

Whoosh!

Something incredibly big and round-shaped came out of the sky. A big ball of deep black connected with the chain in Slya’s hand. The ball rushed down with incredible speed, now covered in black fire.

Bam!

It collided with the palace with such force that the ground shook. Stone collapsed and metal screeched as it twisted. Almost half of the palace was gone with a single swing.

The ball disappeared, and the two fell into the ruins of the palace.

Tong grinned. "What you lack in refined techniques, you make up for in raw strength."

Slya was breathing a little hard from the strength she exerted, and it took her a while to speak again. "Thank you?"

Tong snorted and pointed. "I can feel the throne this way."

They walked through the wreckage of the palace, picking their way through the smoke and crumbled stones, past some smashed bodies that didn’t make it out in time.

Slya’s eyes darkened as she saw the bodies. There were many of them, and not all of them were combat types. She gritted her teeth.

’...if Eirikr had taken us seriously, then he would have evacuated all the normal, non-fighting people out of the place. He would have put strong enchantments on his palace, but the arrogant bastard doesn’t put us in his eyes at all...’

She firmed her heart. ’....if I don’t act, then it would be the Athrimir’s people in the same situation...’

And even though Slya didn’t have a particular love or loyalty to the people living in Athrimir’s territory, they were Vale’s, and as such, she would help him look after them.

"We are here."

They had stepped through a ruined hallway to stand in the mostly destroyed room that was the throne room. Most of it had been lost to her attack, but nothing touched the dais and the throne.

The throne radiated power. It was a big, ugly thing of grey and washed red, made of some strange stone and engraved with blocky enchantment words.

Sitting on it and glaring at them was Eirikr.

Slya ignored him and turned to Tong. "You can destroy it?"

"Yes. But like all things like this, it’s going to take time."

Slya raised her sword. "Do it."

All this time, Eirikr had done nothing but glare at them, but at that moment, he stirred and smiled. "Fools. You think you can walk in here and just destroy my throne?"

Slya looked at him flatly. "If you could stop us, then you would have done so already. Enough of this. You declared war, Eirikr Akatsuki. All we did was answer your call."

Tong gritted his teeth, and his eyes flashed. "You.....Very well."

Suddenly, a voice—an amused voice—answered. "Do you want to use your contract now, Clan Leader?"

Slya stiffened. She didn’t know there were other people right in the room with them. Worse, even as the male voice sounded, she still couldn’t tell from where!

Eirikr’s face darkened. "Make it quick."

A chuckle. "You should have listened to my advice and split your powers equally between here and there."

And then he appeared.

One moment, he wasn’t there, and then the next, a man was standing in front of the throne.

Slya blinked in shock and surprise. The man was....strange. His skin was dark, dark brown like polished wood, and with a gleam. It made his skin look like a shell of flesh. He wore a long robe, but his neck upward to his bald head was exposed.

And his eyes....he had four of them. Two in the middle of the forehead, black holes that looked at Slya coldly.