From atop his gilded throne, the Bright Lord gazed down with dispassionate splendor.
"Harus, dispose of the girl," he said. "Let it be known she died chasing a dream, and let this serve as a lesson to any foolish enough to follow in her footsteps."
Harus shook himself out of boredom, and moved toward the hall below. He lightly hopped from the dais, and landed on the ground with a thud. His weapon—two enchanted chains wrapped over his forearms—rattled softly.
The girl exhaled softly.
"What a shame," she said coldly. "Let it be known my victory was assured before our fight even began."
Her words echoed through the frozen stone hall.
'Dramatic little freak,' thought Harus, stretching an arm.
Annoyance set into his jaw as he took a few slow steps forward. The room held its breath as he passed. Giving the girl his first proper look, he was struck by how delicate she appeared.
She wore a flawless white armor, gleaming as if untouched by ash or blood. Her hair was a soft blonde, seemingly neatly brushed. Her skin was unblemished, lacking the roughness of a brawler or duelist.
Most of all, she lacked bloodlust. No tension clung to her shoulders, nor did rage simmer in her heart. Her posture was perfectly neutral, with both hands resting lightly on her katana's grip. She stood calmly, weight balanced on the balls of her feet and knees slightly bent.
She awaited him as if they were merely sparring.
It was obvious what she wanted to accomplish.
She wished to craft an image that would capture attention. The pristine armor, the delicate build, the saintly calm—the blindfold most of all.
Harus narrowed his eyes.
He knew blindness intimately, and he knew the girl could see. She had put effort into her act, but not enough to fool him. The girl had been keeping her forward foot angled at him, even as he made his footfalls silent. She lowered her sword past her body's neutral resting position, even though she shouldn't have known how much length of chain he had released.
'Is the blindfold a Memory?' he wondered. 'Or maybe she uses some kind of trick with her Aspect…'
Either way, it didn't matter.
The key takeaway from her performance was that the girl evidently knew of his Dormant Ability. Whether through one of her supposed prophetic visions or not, she had learned what it did. She knew that his power would blind her —and so, she leaned into the myth. Claimed it first, controlling the narrative.
It was cute, he'd give her that. Give the crowd a show, beating him using sight she wasn't supposed to have.
But more likely, it was for a different reason.
In pretending to be blind—she could have him believe using his power would be pointless. If she could convince him there were no eyes to steal, then maybe he'd leave his greatest advantage on the table.
Clever. Almost too clever.
But that was where she'd been mistaken.
Because faking blindness?
That was the only reason he'd ever consider using his Aspect here.
He never showed it in public. Not once. He had never used it unless the target wouldn't live to tell another soul. He left no witnesses, as a matter of policy. The moment his aspect was revealed, he would have lost his weapon of surprise.
But now? He could use it freely. No one would question it. Not if they already thought the girl was blind.
His lips twitched into a dry smile.
If she wanted to pretend, then she could live with the consequences.
He reached for his power, and gave her the dark.
His Dormant Ability, insidious and invisible, unraveled sight from Cassie's mind.
Harus stepped forward, throwing his chains into motion. One swept high in a decapitating line. The other curled low, aimed to bind her ankle and slam her to the stone floor.
Cassie moved calmly.
Cleanly stepping back, the lower chain missed her ankle, while a downward push on the top of the upper chain deflected it away.
Harus blinked once, his chains scraping against the floor, coming to a stop.
'What the hell…?'
Those defensive moves made it undoubtedly clear that she could still fight without vision.
'I'll be damned… She wasn't pretending.'
The thought came uninvited.
But then—how?
He circled her, striking again.
She still tracked him. Not crudely though, like someone following a noise. Her body shifted subtly each time he adjusted his stance. Her foot pivoted. Her weight shifted. Her blade realigned.
Each set of strikes was met by a precise defense.
His hands tightened around his chains.
'What kind of bullshit is this?'
Fine.
If she wanted to play at being untouchable, let her try it without a blade to hide behind.
Harus shifted his stance and snapped both chains repeatedly into wide arcs, attempting to force a block. If she took it head on, the chain would coil around her blade, bind it, and leave her exposed.
Cassie didn't falter.
Leaning away to dodge one chain, she raised her sword to defend from the second.
But instead of blocking flush, she angled her katana—tilting it just off parallel, the flat of the blade facing the incoming arc like a slanted ramp.
The chain struck the surface and skidded off at an angle with a dry hiss, its momentum deflected cleanly by the oblique contact.
As the next flurry of blows came, she adjusted again—flowing in a stable pattern. The pursuit followed her through the hall, her retreat guiding the two of them in a lazy orbit.
Harus narrowed his eyes as another of his swings passed harmlessly by.
She even nimbly countered the few strikes he tried to make with his arms and hands.
While it was true he had yet to land a hit, the girl seemed incapable of making progress herself. She seemed to be barely keeping up. Still though, it was odd.
'Well, what is she waiting for? Blind or not, she has technique. She hasn't even tried to strike back. Does she truly expect to win a battle of attrition?'
But then, annoyance flared.
True, she wouldn't beat him in stamina, but if he didn't adapt to end their fight quickly, he'd walk away looking like a fool.
It was time to end her little performance.
He materialized a Memory into his palm: a bead that released numbing mist.
It was a valuable tool against Nightmare Creatures who relied on senses other than sight, though it had been counterproductive to use while fighting humans.
Until today, anyway.
The bead cracked with a brittle snap, and returned to his Soul Sea to be repaired. A cloud of silver mist burst forth in a wave across the floor, swallowing scent, and deadening touch.
Harus made his footfalls silent, and darted into the haze, striking not with chains, but with fists.
One solid blow would end her.
Cassie shifted back, seemingly unperturbed. The fist sailed past her, and she retaliated with a retreating slash.
'What—'
Before the thought finished forming, Harus moved again. He stepped in, motioning to grab her sword arm.
The girl pivoted on her opposite foot, before driving her shoulder into his chest.
'Impossible!'
Despite his physical dominance, the numbing haze, and the crushing pressure of close quarters, Cassie moved unaffected—in fact, his own Memory seemed to have done more harm to him than her.
Exchanges continued, as unfelt wounds piled upon Harus' skin.
He couldn't lay a hand on her, and the balance of the fight slowly shifted.
Members of the Host grew unsettled.
The girl remained as flawless as ever, despite the blindness, despite the numbness.
Meanwhile, Harus could no longer feel the cold on his fingers, nor the air circulating through his lungs.
Finally, when a strike pierced his heart, he found himself unable to even feel his thoughts.
In the center of the hall, the mist turned bloody near Cassie and Harus' entangled bodies.
The throne room was silent.
Then—
Effie stepped forward, cloth rustling. With a frown, she dug into her pouch and retrieved a small, nondescript lump of earth—the Ordinary Rock.
Confusion rippled across the chamber.
Effie looked to Cassie.
Cassie gave the faintest nod back.
With an exaggerated shrug, Effie held the rock aloft.
It vibrated, then spoke.
Cassie's voice—clear, cool, and echoing—rang out across the throne room:
"I pre-recorded this message, knowing your hideous slave would leave my speech impaired with that useless Memory of his."
A pause long enough to make the crowd uncomfortable followed.
"If I may, venerable and honored lord of Bright Castle, might I suggest you avoid wasting the lives of your valued subjects you so fervently desired to preserve just minutes ago?"
Another pause. Just slightly too long.
"If you wish to defend your throne, do so yourself."
The message ended. The room held its breath.
Cassie retracted her blade from Harus' corpse with a flourish.
Then, through numb lips she whispered:
'I invoke the right of challenge.'
Though slurred and deformed, none could mishear the words.