Tribulation Strikes

Deep into the night, two weeks after he had returned in very bad health, Albert found himself in an awkward position. He had only just fully recovered two days ago, but he had already been sent notice that he was desperately needed in battle, and as soon as possible.

Taking a deep breath, he looked up from the letter in his hands and glanced at Aria, who was sitting on the opposite side of the table, her otherworldly charm reinforced by the warm glow of the candlelight.

"... you have to go, don't you?"

More pale than usual, even to the extent of it being noticeable under these subpar lighting conditions, Aria clenched her fists, suppressing her looming tears. She knew that she couldn't just ask her husband to stay, because that was simply the kind of man that he was. Not only were his friends and countless other people in danger, but their family of three would eventually be in the same position as well if nothing was done about it. So despite a part of her wanting to be a little selfish, she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Yeah. I think it's better if you read this too."

His expression solemn, Albert handed over the letter, deep in thought whilst he was waiting for her to finish perusing it.

"An extremely powerful monster is suspected to slowly be making its way to the surface?! Is this true?"

Concern and worry all over her face, Aria grabbed Albert's hand, shaking ever so slightly. The situation was even worse than she had imagined!

With a somewhat forced but reassuring smile on his lips, he grasped her hands tightly, attempting to give her a small bit of the stability that she currently needed.

"Most likely. We've all been suspecting as much because the waves of increasingly stronger monsters simply haven't stopped pouring out from the lower floors of the Abyss. Seeing that their numbers aren't getting any smaller either, that means that the monster that triggered their frenzied escape should be more powerful than any foe that we've ever fought before."

Despite his previous efforts to achieve the opposite, his words only served to make her more anxious than she already was. However, being well aware of just how much danger her husband was about to encounter, she steeled her heart and made a proposal.

"Do you need me to come with you and give you my blessing? I fear that relying on Fiore's blessing alone won't be enough. We can't leave Ais here, so we'll bring her with us and protect her with all that we have."

Even though he knew that this would be the choice that would keep him safest, Albert sternly shook his head.

"The battlefield is no place for a child. Witnessing those scenes of carnage would mentally scar her. Covering her eyes and ears is not a sufficient enough measure to prevent this. Also, no matter what we choose to do, if she's too close to the battlefield, she might get hurt during a fight."

Aria was very much aware that what he said was the truth, but her tears still couldn't help but trickle down her cheeks. Her melodious voice cracked.

"But if you go alone… you're very likely going to die!"

Standing up and walking over to his wife's side, Albert pulled her into a hug and heaved a deep sigh. Very gently, he stroked her back, feeling her tremble underneath his touch.

"I know. But I want both you and Ais to be safe. Even if something happens to me, you'll be far away. You can remotely sense it if our connection breaks and flee with Ais if that happens. Knowing that at least the two of you will be alive no matter what happens to me, I'll be able to truly give it my all."

Realizing that her weeping had only intensified, Albert took her chin and lifted it, looking directly into her watery, golden eyes. Mustering all of his positivity and hope for the future, a bright grin spread on his face.

"Don't underestimate me, I'm pretty damn strong! All of my training hasn't been for naught. That said, even if I can't win, I can still run away!"

Chuckling slightly, Aria rolled her eyes, then she leaned forward and gave her husband a long, gentle kiss, intending to shoo away the anxiety that threatened to overwhelm her. Both of them knew that he was lying when he said that he could escape. If those around Albert were in danger, then he could never bring himself to sacrifice them for his own survival. But right now, the two merely wanted to share a last moment of peace together, no matter how forced it might be.

Unbeknownst to them, young Ais had overheard their conversation. Caught in a state somewhere between being awake and being asleep, her barely conscious mind had instinctively made use of the air in her surroundings to amplify her senses, carrying these words into her ears. This was despite her parents quietly whispering to each other to avoid accidentally waking her up.

The next morning, when Albert bid his farewell to the two of them, young Ais was even more clingy than usual. At the thought of her father leaving, this time, she couldn't help but start sobbing. The worst part about it all was that she didn't even understand why this was happening.

"Promise me that you'll stay safe and well behaved while I'm gone, alright?"

Reciprocating his daughter's desperate embrace, Albert calmly spoke into her ear.

"Y-Yes, I promise! Please don't leave for too long!"

He couldn't bring himself to lie to her, so in response to her plea, he kissed her forehead and spoke the words that he most urgently wanted to get off his chest.

"I love you, my little spring breeze."

Only after allowing young Ais to cry for a little longer did he manage to pry himself out of her clutches. He disappeared into the distance, leaving his beloved family behind.

-----

About three months later, Albert still hadn't returned.

Just like every morning ever since he had left, young Ais had practiced her swordsmanship for a few hours. She didn't even know why she had fully thrown herself into this pursuit herself, but in reality, it was because of two reasons.

First of all, there was her need to grow stronger so that she could stand by her father's side and support him even a day sooner. And secondly, swordsmanship was the - in her eyes - strongest connection between him and her. It made her feel closer to him whenever she held a sword, so she had even started to carry around her wooden practice sword nearly constantly.

Wiping off her daughter's sweat with a towel now that she was finished for the day, Aria felt helpless as well. If she hadn't stopped her from doing so, then her daughter would have snuggled up to her weapon in her sleep. But even though it was only made out of wood, it could still pose a danger to her!

"Mama, when is Daddy coming home?"

All of a sudden, Aria was snapped out of her thoughts by young Ais' dejected voice.

"I don't know, but I'm sure it won't take too much longer."

Mustering all of her remaining confidence, a reassuring smile spread on Aria's lips, only for the corners of her mouth to twitch soon after when she heard her daughter's response.

"You said the exact same thing two weeks ago…"

-----

In the following four months, young Ais grew increasingly downcast. While she still remained full of energy most of the time, her bouts of curiosity had all but faded. Instead, she had almost solely focused on spending time with her mother, listening to her stories and watching her cook, as well as on her swordsmanship. She made some significant improvements in that regard over this period of time, but because Aria wasn't an expert, she couldn't help her out much aside from giving her some basic advice mixed with encouragement.

One afternoon, as she was leaning against her mother's side, seated under a tree relatively close to their home, young Ais could no longer suppress a fear that she had had for a while already.

"Mama… is Daddy… still alive?"

Freezing up for a moment due to the severity of the sudden question, Aria hurriedly hugged her daughter to her chest, comfortingly patting her back.

"Yes, he is! Your father and I have an invisible connection, so I'll always be able to tell if he's still alive, regardless of the distance. I promise you this: He's still well!"

Shivering strongly as she buried her head into Aria's hair, young Ais squeezed out two more words before falling silent.

"... I'm glad."

-----

Just like that, another three months passed and young Ais' seventh birthday arrived. For the first time ever since she had first opened her eyes in this world, her father wasn't with her to celebrate it. Not even one of his friends had stopped by ever since he had left.

Still, despite this, due to her mother's continued reassurance that he was fine, young Ais slowly grew used to being alone with her mother, even for such an exceedingly long period of time. While she still trained just as much or even more than she did before, her mood had grown increasingly brighter for the past six weeks.

As she was eating her highly anticipated birthday cake, relishing in its delectable taste - primarily the red bean paste that she loved - a tear trickled down her cheek, but it was instantly wiped away before Aria could notice it.

She spent the rest of the day playing around in nature with her mother, reminding Aria of the days before her mood had been heavily impacted by her father's extremely long absence. Only late at night, when young Ais lay in bed and was certain that her mother had already fallen asleep, did she allow herself to silently sob into her pillow. For quite some time now did she realize that Aria had merely been keeping up a strong front when she was around her, so she wanted to do her best to not worry her any more than absolutely necessary. This bit of pain, she could bear with it.

'So Daddy couldn't make it back after all…'

Until just minutes before midnight, she couldn't help but hold out a vain hope that her father would miraculously make it back in time to be with her. However, no matter how much she begged the gods for their help, her wish didn't come true.

-----

Two weeks later, early in the morning when the mother and daughter duo had only just begun to welcome the new day and ate their breakfast, Aria suddenly shot up from her seat. She stared out of the window, her expression clouded by a mixture of excitement and panic. Before young Ais could inquire about what was going on, Aria had already walked towards the door and opened it the moment that the visitor wanted to knock on it.

What greeted the two was Celdia, whose arm had awkwardly frozen in midair. But this silly stance wasn't what grabbed their attention - rather, it was the fact that she seemed to have lost at least ten kilograms of weight and looked as if even the most gentle gust of wind could knock her over. Her robe was tattered in many places, which had been patched up very unprofessionally. It still held out somehow, but at this point, it was probably just a matter of time until the entire piece of clothing would be nothing more than a dirty rag.

"Let me get you something to eat. Please come in and get some rest!"

Alarmed by her current state, Aria's expression instantly turned serious as she suppressed what she had been about to ask, intending to rush to the kitchen to whip something up really quickly. But before she could do so, Celdia had already grabbed her arm and hurriedly shook her head.

"There is no need, we've got bigger fish to fry. Hear me out, every minute counts!"

Intending to avoid getting interrupted by Aria or young Ais, Celdia rattled off the words that she had prepared on her way here.

"A massive black dragon has emerged from the Abyss' entrance. It seems very likely that it is the one that caused all of the monster waves that preceded it. It's extremely strong, and we've taken heavy casualties. For whatever reason, it has decided to rush here, even though we've tried our best to divert its course. Albert is barely able to fend off its attacks. Judging from its speed, the time that Albert's efforts should buy and the time that it took me to get here, it should arrive in at most two hours."

Right when Celdia was taking a short breath before continuing her rapid-fire information dump, Aria interjected.

"You said that it's coming here? Do you mean this general direction, or our home!?"

Powerlessness written all over her features, Celdia heaved a heavy sigh.

"It's the latter. We initially thought that it merely chose this direction at random, but after trying to change its course to anywhere else, the closer that the battlefield shifted to your home, the more clear it got that it is aiming specifically for it. We suspect that it is hunting Spirits and sensed the two of you, so escaping won't do any good - you can't outrun it."

This time, Celdia wasn't cut off when she paused for a very brief moment to take another breath.

"Albert and I did the best that we could under the circumstances and discussed a plan. I'll be casting 'Kairos' Deliverance' on little Ais here to protect her from danger. After that, we'll all give our very best to vanquish the black dragon once and for all."

Hearing this, Aria couldn't help but furrow her brows.

"What exactly will 'Kairos' Deliverance' do to my daughter? Is it safe?"

Quite antsy because she knew that she didn't have any time to waste, Celdia put it into the most simple words that she could think of.

"It'll freeze her in time and disconnect her from this world, introducing her back into it at the most opportune moment. It's the greatest Magic that we High Elves have ever developed. While it usually requires dozens of casters to work together in perfect harmony, I should be able to perform it on my own as well, I'll just need time. Two hours on the dot, to be exact. And yes, it should be safe. A few other High Elves have been sent into the future this way before as a test and there never have been any problems. I can't promise that it'll work, but it's extremely likely. On the other hand, if we don't do anything, your daughter will likely die!"

By the end of her words, Celdia was almost shouting, but she consciously kept herself from expending too much energy, which was why she was merely talking quite loudly instead.

"Mama…?"

Not having entirely understood Celdia's explanation, young Ais turned towards her mother for further clarification, only to find Aria to have a more serious look on her face than ever before. She reminded her a bit of her father back when he had explained to her how to safely handle a sword, so young Ais swallowed down what she was about to ask. She knew that now wasn't the time to be willful.

"Alright, fine. You'll get started while I go and reinforce Albert. We should be able to buy some more time if I give him my blessing."

After having thought it over for a few seconds, Aria agreed. She turned around, knelt down and gently grabbed her daughter by the shoulders.

"Ais, my dear. Promise me that you'll cooperate with Celdia, okay? She'll use a very complicated spell to send you to a safe place, while I'll be supporting your father. We'll see each other again once you come back from the place that you're being sent to, alright? It should feel just like a dream. Be good, okay? I love you so, soo much!"

Once she had planted a kiss on her daughter's cheek and had hugged her tightly without giving her any opportunity to respond, Aria rose to her feet. She waved and rushed into the distance, her body turning more and more translucent as well as slightly green as she went, slowly transforming her into her most powerful form - the Spirit in control of the wind.

"Mama!"

Raising her hand in an attempt to touch her mother, who had already disappeared from view by the time that her gesture had been completed, young Ais finally felt the seriousness of the situation fully settle in. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she wiped them away and looked at Celdia, who gave her a warm, soothing smile.

"We don't have much time, so forgive me for this."

While she was speaking, Caldia had already grabbed Ais. She carried her in her arms as she was rushing outside and behind the cabin, towards the training grounds that Albert and Ais usually made use of. She needed quite a bit of space for her Magic, so it was best to find a relatively flat area with no objects that would get in the way.

There were many things that she didn't tell Aria - such as the fact that she had never even dared to dream of attempting this spell on her own. The time that they could stall the black dragon also already took into account Aria joining the battle to give Albert a much-needed power-up. But there simply wasn't enough time as it was. Additionally, she didn't want Aria to become any more anxious than she already was.

"Sovereign of time, lord of opportunity. Moments pass by unabated whilst you watch from your eternal throne. In your eyes, mortal lives are fleeting. They reincarnate in perpetuity, unchanging. And yet, we beseech you."

A language that young Ais had never heard before flowed out of Celdia's mouth - the ancient tongue of the High Elves. Even though she was very scared, the initial confusion that had clouded her mind soon faded.

Understanding the situation which she found herself in ever so slightly, primarily thanks to the stories that her mother had read to her, she sat down on the spot that Celdia had dropped her off at. Seeing that the mage was giving her a short nod amidst casting her spell, before refocusing entirely on her chant, young Ais stayed silent and observed her - because she had nothing better to do.

Recalling what both of her parents had told her, she behaved like a good girl and didn't disturb Celdia in any way. Even boredom wouldn't be able to shake her from this spot - but there was none of it bothering her anyway as she was listening to the fascinating words that resounded all around her.

A minute or two after the chanting had started, a magic circle glowing with white light had appeared on the ground around her, with a diameter of at least five meters. Every couple of seconds, an incredibly small symbol found itself engraved in the blank ring around the edges of the circle. While she couldn't read what they said, they were interesting to look at nonetheless.

Before she knew it, an hour and fifty minutes had already passed. All of a sudden, she was snapped out of her state of intrigue by loud noises akin to explosions echoing in the distance, as well as some slight tremors shaking the ground.

Soon, a relatively quiet roar more terrifying than any sound that she had ever heard before also arrived at her ears, causing her to clench her fists tightly. Her body was telling her to run as far away as she could, but she knew very well that she had to stay here. Her parents were currently giving their best over there, protecting her until she could be sent to safety!

In a display of remarkable focus, Celdia didn't let the sounds of battle disturb her, continuing with her chant just like before. She was already doing everything as fast as possible, so there was no way to speed up any more than this, even though she wanted to! Now, she could only put her faith in the others.

The fighting drew closer and closer to the extent that it became a little difficult for Celdia to keep standing stably. The volume of the dragon's roars had forced Ais to cover her ears so that her eardrums wouldn't burst.

Agonizingly slowly, the minutes passed, the terror in her heart growing greater and greater.

All of a sudden, just dozens of meters away, something crashed into the ground, resulting in a five meter deep crater as well as a lot of dirt shooting out in all directions in the process. Luckily, young Ais was already seated, so she didn't get impacted by this too much. Celdia, however, had to make use of her staff to stay upright while casting.

Before the dirt projectiles could envelop them, a barrier of wind surrounded the training ground, with Aria's translucent form very faintly visible within. She could only allow Albert to use her blessing when she was in very close proximity to him. Now that the battlefield had shifted all the way here, less than a kilometer from their home, she could focus her own power on protecting young Ais and Celdia until the spell was successfully completed. Unfortunately, she had been utterly powerless in the battle against the black dragon - but this had allowed her to come here without negatively affecting the confrontation in any way.

Moments after the dust had settled, while young Ais was still rejoicing over seeing her mother again, a figure rose from the crater in the distance. It was Evelda, who the young girl had grown quite fond of in the past. To her horror, the Amazoness was now missing her left arm, as well as a part of her shoulder. Shattered bones stuck out of the still fresh wound, while many other scratches and gashes covered the majority of her body. Although most of her clothing had been destroyed in the process of the battle, leaving her chest bare, there wasn't anyone around who had the heart to appreciate her beauty at this juncture.

Her eyes exuding both bloodlust and overwhelming fury, Evelda glanced in young Ais' direction before shooting her a small smile as well as a thumbs up with her remaining hand. Right after she had done so, she shot off into the distance again, rejoining the battle that was demolishing the forest that the young girl had treated as her backyard for the past seven years.

"Miss Evelda…"

Young Ais was fated to not have the opportunity to properly process the horrendous sight that she had just borne witness to, because barely half a minute later, her childhood home got blasted into smithereens by Selwyn, who had been flung into it. Thankfully, Aria's barrier kept all the debris away, but it didn't make it any less of an impactful event.

This time, after the smoke had cleared, she noticed that nearly all of the trees around them had been blasted apart, enabling her to finally gaze upon the perpetrator behind all of this wanton destruction.

A mere 200 meters away, an enormous black dragon was perched on the nearest hill, dwarfing it in the process. Even when standing on all four legs, it was still more than 70 meters tall, whilst its length when including its long tail was more than 140 meters. Its wingspan was similarly gigantic. All in all, considering its size, she was a mere few steps away from this behemoth.

Its scales glistened with a dangerous beauty under the sunlight, showcasing that it was nearly entirely unscathed, despite the fact that it had been fighting for hours on end. It seemed to inflict every being that laid its eyes upon it with an instinctive fear - that of a prey in front of a predator. Young Ais wasn't an exception to this, as she instantly found her eyes darting away from the terrifying creature that was observing their group of three silently.

"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?! OUR BATTLE ISN'T OVER!!"

All of a sudden, an extremely loud shout that she could hear even through her hands brought her back to her senses. It was the voice of her father, who she had missed so dearly!

Surrounded by countless gusts of wind that enabled him to - amongst many other feats - walk in midair as well as a plethora of thorny vines that sprouted from a massive rose-like flower hovering behind him, Albert pointed his sword directly at the black dragon in front of him, attempting to attract its attention.

Glancing at him for a moment, the dragon soon turned away and refocused its gaze on the training ground where Ais, Aria and Celdia were. As if to spit in Albert's face, it very slowly opened its mouth and began to accumulate energy within its throat - a telltale sign of an incoming breath attack.

"Shit! Attack it with all you've got! Don't let it fire it off!"

Knowing full well that it was only a matter of less than a minute until Celdia's spell should be complete, Albert threw caution to the wind and charged at the monster's head, striking out with his sword that was enveloped by a terrifying gale at a speed so fast that his words hadn't even reached young Ais' ears by the time that his attack had been executed.

From the surroundings, the one-armed Evelda and the injured Selwyn shot forwards, but were unceremoniously slapped aside into the far-off distance by the dragon's tail. It was unknown where Oren and Alden had gone, or if they were even still alive. Aria retracted her barrier for now and concentrated all of her available power into the strongest blade of wind that she could produce, but it helplessly shattered when it made contact with the dragon's scales. Albert's blade also failed to penetrate its closed eyelid, while the thorny vines that enveloped its body failed to influence its movements in any way. As for the thorns, they proved to be utterly useless.

As if it was mocking their efforts, the monster didn't speed up its attack in the slightest, but it also didn't change its target whatsoever.

Finally, Celdia's chanting came to a stop. The last symbol had been engraved on the edges of the white magic circle. In an instant, an unfathomable amount of mana gathered from the surroundings and infused itself into the circle, activating the spell that had just been completed.

Immediately, many things happened at once.

Celdia, who had been busy casting until just now, finally had her hands free, because the activation of the spell from here on out would be automatic. She started to chant another spell, one that intended to fool the black dragon's senses by wrapping them in an illusion.

Aria created another wind barrier to attempt to withstand the dragon's breath, while Evelda and Selwyn were nowhere to be seen. Albert was also rushing to position himself in between the dragon's head and his daughter.

As for the black dragon, it clearly noticed something amiss and - thinking that this spell might actually pose some sort of threat to it due to the sheer amount of mana amassed within - decided to stop the charade. It instantly spewed out its fiery breath.

When he saw the destructive flames start to leave its maw, suddenly, Albert felt as if the world around him had crawled to a halt. Everything was proceeding in extremely slow motion, as if his senses had - out of nowhere - become many times more sensitive than ever before. In this moment that felt like an eternity, he realized something and made a decision. Glancing at his daughter out of the corner of his eyes, a smile began to steal itself on his lips.

From deep within not just his body, but his very soul, fathomless power burst forth instantaneously, accompanied by a burning sensation that felt all-encompassing. His swordsmanship expertise, which had been stuck at a certain bottleneck, suddenly improved by countless leaps and bounds, as if a new world was opening in front of him. All that energy and understanding was channeled into an extremely simple stab that transcended the nigh-frozen eternity and intercepted the dragon's breath.

As if a snowstorm had met a raging inferno, the black dragon's attack melted away until it had disappeared completely, leaving not only the gigantic monster but all observers shocked beyond belief. But the stab's energy still hadn't completely faded, even after such a feat.

With a slight twist of the wrist, Albert redirected it towards the dragon's right eye, intending to penetrate through it and into its brain, ending it once and for all. Too flabbergasted to react properly, as it had never expected its pathetic prey to suddenly put up such a strong fight out of nowhere, the dragon was too late to move and failed to do anything but close its eyelids ever so slightly.

However, that already proved enough resistance to cripple the lethality of the blow. While the eyelids got cut apart, there was merely enough power left behind to completely obliterate the dragon's eyeball as well as the majority of the connected optic nerve. However, the miraculous counterattack dissipated right after.

Although he wanted to comment on how much of a pity it was that he couldn't eradicate this foe in the end, Albert used the last of his strength to turn to face his wife and daughter back at the training ground, a loving smile on his lips.

As if triggered by this action, within seconds, his entire body crumbled to dust, scattering all over the ground. Invisible to the naked eye, even his soul, the fuel for this last stand, shattered. Before he had chosen this drastic action, he hadn't known of this method. But just like any hero of legend, when the situation had been most dire, he had had a breakthrough. He had found a way to protect his family, at all costs. Unfortunately, he had to pay the ultimate price. He would never get to reincarnate.

"ALBERT! NOOOO!!! PLEASE NO!"

"DADDY!!!"

Almost simultaneously, two cries broke the stunned silence. A third one soon followed from far away, but the exact words couldn't be made out. However, young Ais could feel a very faint gaze fall upon her. At this point in time, though, she couldn't care any less about something as inconsequential as that.

Before she could instinctively jump up and dash out of the activated magic circle, towards the hateful black dragon that was responsible for her father's death, a black void swallowed her into its bowels. The last thing that she witnessed was her mother rushing to her father's ashen remains while an incomparably pained and enraged roar escaped the dragon's throat.

Then, everything went black.