Champion of Darkness

After sleeping soundly and not being dragged into the abyss without her consent, Leona managed to get a semi-decent rest. Thanks to the wound across her chest throbbing from time to time she would wake up in the middle of the night in pain.

Though she was certain such pain was better than witnessing the darkness of the abyss again, the despair of many could be felt so vividly now that she was more attuned to the darkness within herself so she wasn't eager to go back there.

She woke up to the crackle of the dying fire, the cold breeze whistling from the entrance as she sat up. Naturally, her eyes glanced over to her left, but the knight remained in the same position from the day before, his heavy breathing could still be heard from inside the helmet.

'Krieg…'

She closed her eyes and placed her left hand near her neck, where the star shaped pendant usually was.

"Huh?"

Looking down to her chest, the pendant was nowhere to be found. She frantically looked on the ground around her, but couldn't seem to find the precious keepsake no matter how hard she searched for it.

"Hmm? What's wrong Princess?"

Phoebe had just returned from outside, given how there were snow flakes sprinkled on top of her shoulders, she put her longbow down before feeding the fire.

"I lost my pedant. Have you seen it?"

"Pendant?"

"Yes, it is a prismatic star shaped pendant, I always carry it on my neck."

"Unfortunately no, but if you were carrying it around your neck, it probably got slashed away when you were attacked."

Upon hearing her words Leona felt an urgent need to go back outside to look for it, but the moment she stood up, the high elf blocked her way with the left arm.

"Leave it to me. I'm more suited to find things and besides, you need to rest."

The tactician hesitantly agreed with a nod, the wound in her chest wasn't debilitating but it wouldn't be good for her to exert herself more than she had to, lest she wanted to reopen the large wound.

She laid her back against the pile of gold before scratching her eyes to try to shake off the drowsiness, as much as she wanted to go deep down she knew Phoebe was right and the most logical thing was to sit down and rest as much as she could.

"Lost your pendant eh?"

A familiar male voice came from her right, she glanced sideways and noticed a spectral old man sitting diagonally across her with his back against a broken table. His hair reached his slender shoulders with his beard covering the neck down until the sternum.

Upon witnessing the ghostly figure, Leona squinted her eyes before scratching them both again and after that she was still seeing him there sitting on the opposite side of the campfire.

"Miyamoto?"

"I wish I could say in the flesh." He tried to grasp a dirty bowl that was left there from the meal of the previous day, but his hand simply passed right through it as if it didn't have any substance. "But as you can see, I'm nothing but a shade."

"I thought you forfeit your life back then."

"That is correct, but I didn't do so out of despair or pity. I did it because you are the only one who can save him and this world."

"You mean Krieg?"

She looked towards the knight immobile beside her.

"Leonard Louvre. That is his name, even if himself doesn't remember it." The skin of his forehead frowned bitterly. "Long have I waited for the day I could spar with him without all the care in the world. But alas, my kingdom, my people, even my body is gone."

"I still don't understand, why give me so much power? I'm sure you have never heard of me, there was no possible way you could have heard of my name."

"Ever since the attack at the mansion, after everything that was done to destroy your family you still stood strong. Amongst all those who fell to despair, you rose to the challenge yet again and even returned with allies in order to slay Alexander."

"-only to lose the selfsame allies who fought for my cause." She closed both hands into tight fists. "I still can't see the reasoning behind your grace."

He shook his head.

"In these times of conflict, conviction is what drives humanity forward towards a common goal." He looked towards the cave ceiling before stretching his open hand out. "I restored a lost empire from the ashes of war through my own strength, but in my moment of joy I grew complacent, not only was war invited to our shores, but also fermented within my kingdom. You however, are blessed with stout comrades, your ability to raise those around you is your greatest strength as well as your greatest weakness. That is the sole reason why I bestow you with my knowledge and power, so you may rise again and face those challenges even if no one else can."

"I see… I'm sorry for doubting your reasons."

"Though of course, this isn't only for your benefit." He glanced at Krieg with a faint smile on his face. "Take care of him for me, Leona. I had many regrets in life. I hope I can spare you the same fate."

She looked at the knight with a sense of responsibility and the moment she looked back to thank the swordmaster, he was no longer there.

'A shade cursed to wander between life and death until I myself die.' She looked down as such thoughts started to fill her mind. 'Isn't that more punishing than death itself?'

She stared at her right palm, she could see her own mana circuits coursing through her hand as mana gathered in the very tips of her fingers where the circuits ended. By picturing a clear vision of a blade, she summoned forth a light blue longsword, though its edge was rough and lacking a proper guard and hilt, it was most certainly a mana blade formed by her.

Upon opening her hand, the magic weapon dissipated into mana particles and returned to her body through her fingertips.

"Hm?!" Her eyes went wide. "Wait a minute…"

She looked at her left hand.

'No it can't be…'

After extending her left arm out, she began to chant a familiar spell.

"Flames of destruction heed my call, bring upon my foes the fires of justice, Great Flame Sword!"

She could see clearly how the mana behaved once she visualized the spell, the myriad strings waved back and forth in an unbelievable speed as the light blue magic turned into a deep blue color, emitting heat and growing in size. The moment her fingers enveloped the handle the blade shot up like a geyser of flames, the heat was bearable, but she could definitely sense how the mana flowing around it made the spell much stronger than it usually is for most fire mages.

She took a deep breath and began to focus solely on the flaming sword on her hand, imagining the very core of the blade diminishing and returning to its original state.

Little by little, the flaming blade began to lose its radiance until she was left with nothing but a mana sword thoroughly lacking heat. She looked up once again and dispelled the blade, making most of her spent mana return to her body.

She closed her left hand in a tight fist. It was always speculated that a mage couldn't reabsorb the mana from a cast spell without seriously hurting or even permanently damaging their mana circuits, however it was never explained how spells came to be or how they could be perceived by the human eye.

"Interesting…" She flickered a small flame between her fingers before converting it back into raw mana and absorbing it. "Though is there any other use for this I wonder?"

"Ah bollocks." Before Leona could find a practical use to the skill she just learned, her attention was taken away by Athena's complaining. "Do they not carry extra ammunition anywhere in this hell hole?"

Glancing to her left, she noticed the inventor going through some of the clothing that was spread around the campfire.

"Can I help you Athena?"

She turned somewhat startled at Leona, half expecting her to be still asleep.

"Oh good morning Leo, I thought I'd find some ammunition for my gun but apparently none of these blokes kept spare ammo." She sighed. "Then again, I'm expecting too much from people whose only knowledge is plunder."

The tactician let out a short laugh.

"At least justice was served."

"Well it would've been thanks to both of you." She pushed the lever of her gun down and inserted one of the few bullets she had left from a satchel tied to her hip belt. "Without a firearm I'm but a scrawny lass, or so my father would say. Oh and speaking of which."

She reached for a vintage rucksack behind her, it was tailored with black leather adorned with gold trimmings just like her military uniform. Upon pulling her hand out, she held what seemed to be a flintlock pistol inside a holster, though it was much smaller in size.

"I used this to defend myself but two bullets were just too few to fend off a group of bandits by myself." Athena flipped the small handgun and handed it to Leona. "If I had magic on the other hand, it would've been different. But in your case, this shouldn't be a problem right?"

The tactician grasped the weapon's wooden handle and rotated it around on her hand, inspecting both sides of the antique looking silver pistol, it had two barrels with two letters engraved on the left side of each barrel.

"A.K." Leona spelled out before glancing at the inventor with a puzzled look. "Athena Kaiser?"

She nodded.

"I made the design when I was twelve. When my father saw the design he tried to submit it as a creation under my name but apparently it was too flawed for military use." She had a hint of reminiscence in her eyes, a bittersweet feeling swollen inside her chest. "Nevertheless, he used our family funds to craft a working model for my eighteenth birthday."

"Then… are you sure you want to give it to me? It seems like a very important memory to you of your father."

She slowly shook her head.

"It's just a weapon in the end. It's more of a waste if it goes unused, especially now that I know that it can be in good hands."

"You give me too much credit." Leona had a sad smile on her face, those words felt like what everyone who walked beside her path would say. Allies that were no longer in this world. "...but I appreciate your kind words, Athena."

The tactician strapped the holster to her hip and took out two bullets from the strap located on the side of the black leather holster, it had room for a total of eight projectiles, leaving six left for her to use. Upon pressing a switch on the side of the gun, the two barrels broke downwards, revealing where the bullet should go in.

"Oh I almost forgot. For extra safety, leave the hammer uncocked."

"Safety first right?"

Leona held the small handgun with her index finger along the side of the barrel instead of on the trigger, this caught Athena's attention as it wasn't a common practice even amongst soldiers trained with firearms, which prompted her to ask.

"Say, did you happen to read a manual about firearms safety written by a man named Jean?"

"Huh?!" The tactician never expected to hear that name after so long. "That manual was written by my father, where did you read it? I thought he had only two copies of it."

"Wha-!" Her eyes went wide. "Lord Jean is your father?!"

Athena hurriedly reached again for the rucksack and pulled out a book adorned with a hard leather cover closed with a solid bronze latch. Upon opening it, it became clear the book was like an old artifact, if not for the sturdy cover, the pages would have been long gone.

The calligraphy was familiar to the tactician but she was too surprised to say anything.

"He left this copy of the manual with my family way before I was born. My father used to say that if not for Jean and his wife, we would never have reached the status of nobles in Akrapocalis." Athena had a glint of hope in her eyes. "Your father helped my family and now decades later, I have the chance to repay the favor. Truly, this world is full of surprises."

Leona held the frail book with both hands, reminiscing about the days back in the mansion where her father would often bring her along to the daily training sessions with the servants. She remained hugging the book close to her chest before taking a deep and slow breath before thanking her.

"Thank you Athena." She carefully handed the book back to her. "My father's memories still live on even in a faraway place like this."

"You make it sound like I'm the last person to know your father-" A sound of clanking metal caught both's attention as they turned towards the entrance at the same time. "Did you hear that?"

Leona nodded.

"Yeah. I don't think that was Phoebe."

She pulled the pistol out of the holster as she stood up and ran behind the nearest pile of gold. Athena motioned to her brother to hide while also rushing to Leona's side, she hugged the pile with her back while checking the lever on the rifle.

"Alright loaded and ready to fire." She peeked from the other side of the gold pile. "Wait… I know that man."

"Milady Athena! Are you here? If so, please say something!"

It was a blonde young elf man with emerald eyes wearing a light blue military uniform with the design resembling Athena's clothing, albeit seemingly much less stuffed in nature, his voice sounded younger than his appearance gave credit for.

"Ah… I see they came." With a sigh of relief, the inventor lowered her rifle, which prompted Leona to relax a little as she continued on with a short explanation. "That's Oliver Arc. A friend of mine so to speak."

Athena moved from behind the pile of gold whilst waving her left arm.

"I'm here and I have new friends too so don't shoot them."

The tactician was still behind the pile of gold with her hands shaking slightly.

'She said Arc, didn't she?' A cold chill went down her spine as the surname rang a bell. 'I should be careful from now on then.'

She took a deep breath before holstering her weapon and walking beside the inventor. At that time Oliver and other three soldiers armed with rifles came down the ramp entrance.

"Ah! Milady. I'm so very sorry, I tried to convince them to search earlier for you but the chain of command demanded me to-"

"Yes, yes, spare me the details." Athena shrugged it off. "So, how many of you are outside?"

"Fourteen counting with me milady."

"Great. Make room for five more then. My friend Leona here has other two comrades and I'll see that she gets fair treatment in return for her hasty intervention."

He looked Leona in the eyes before putting his arm in front of his stomach and bowing to her.

"For keeping Athena safe, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Lady Leona." He kept his head low while still speaking. "If there is anything I can do to help, do not hesitate to ask."

"Sir!" A female soldier showed up at the entrance of the cave armed with her rifle in hand yelled. "We have an enemy!"

Both soldiers behind Oliver looked at him for orders and he issued them without hesitation.

"Go and help them! I'll be there as soon as I can!"

"Yes sir!"

Both of them answered loud and clear before they started to dash towards the entrance. Leona shared a look of worry with Athena who also seemed to already have a rough idea of who the enemy could be and decided to take action.

"Leo let's move."

The tactician nodded as they ran right behind the two soldiers.