Better days

Standing alone, Machia watched the delicate morning sunrise. With grace, the sun peaked over the horizon, staring directly at the delighted Machia. With a gentle smile, he erased that sun's light.

A dark shadow fell across the sun. A chorus of murmurs resounded from behind Machia as they lay witness to the spectacle before them. To others, it may have looked like the very sun itself was being blocked out. But this was just how it appeared. In reality, it was nothing but a thin blanket that obfuscated the sun's gaze. The shadow itself acted only as an atmospheric deterrent to the light. The shadow's mass was not all that impressive. With this application of his power, Machia was able to cast his sight over an immense area. Allowing him to see all. 

Content with his work, Machia turned to survey his surroundings. He was not alone. The Empire's advance army, the one that had arrived the day prior, stood to his rear. The humans of the army numbered in the thousands. They had sheltered themselves inside the inner walls for the night and so remained occupied in preparing their formation. This was not true for the monstrosities. 

The giants had slept outside the kingdom, conveniently on the decided plains of the battlefield. Only the halflings that accompanied the Emperor personally were capable of fitting within the inner walls. Let alone the castle itself. 

Their huge, monstrous figures lay idly, indifferently and surprisingly quietly. Machia had heard much about the giants that roamed the most northern quadrant of the Empire, which made their attitude all the more shocking.

'How docile'

The giants were, for all intents and purposes, domesticated. Though the Emperor himself did not appear remarkable, this proved otherwise. It was humans that had subjugated these nightmarish creatures with numbers and their smarts alone. However, such a feat would have been impossible if not for those. 

The pillars of the Empire stood behind the humans, behind the giants. The Args, or Argonauts, were a true mystery. Their enormous, rigid red bodies dwarfed that of the giants. Resembling something of Scorpion's sculpted of rock. They were age-old foes of the giants, solitary beasts capable of opposing the giant's numbers through might alone. From what Machia had heard, a single one could resist roughly eight giants. The ensuing conflict between the two was likely what had led to their enslavement, which begged the question.

'To manipulate such things, clearly the Emperor is aware of things that we are not.'

Machia sent one last condescending look at the mighty assembled force before turning back. It was hard for Machia to imagine a larger army ever having roamed the continent. Yet still. 

'They will certainly fail to subjugate that thing. I will subdue her... Ensure her safety. I'm finally strong enough to do so. Together with all three parties, we can eliminate the fiend. 

It was at this moment that the approaching adversary halted. Leaping bounds across the kingdom's land with daunting, inhumane speed, she inexplicably paused. She glanced at the shadow-ridden sky with stoic indifference, straight at Machia. As she looked up, a brief, subtle expression coated her face. 

Machia flinched from her gaze as he looked downtrodden at his feet. Deranged, deluded eyes traced their way from his feet to the body he held in one hand. With a vindictive, miserable expression, he bit down on his lip, drawing blood.

Only now did he recognise where it was he was standing.

###################

Walking the kingdom's outskirts, an 8-year-old Machia traced the steps of two women. It had been a year since he first met the two. Dark, distorted shadows littered the tired Machia's face as he strained his vision on the pair despite the sun's blinding rays. Since the endearing entrance of the second Blessed, life had become much busier for Machia. 

It would not be long until the duty of fending off the fiends would be shared between the two of them. However, the addition of their training sessions to his schedule was overbearing to him. Alongside that, he had his prince's duties. Minor everyday tasks remained necessary for him to maintain relationships with the kingdom's people. Yet even these simple charades had become exhausting for him.

Worst of all, his nightly sessions, the most daunting of his duties, still filled him with ceaseless dread. But, no one recognised his turmoil.

'Tiring'

Indifferent to his laborious toil, he watched her small figure trudge across the green plains. Observing her, controlling her, was just another of his many duties. But, truthfully, compared to everything else, it wasn't so bad. 

With a casual stroll, she spoke eccentrically with the knight named Helena. Honestly, he felt somewhat apprehensive calling the frightening woman by name, yet that was all the more reason for him to yield to that wish of hers.

Both women were oddities not only in strength but also in their personal idiosyncrasies. Their relationship astounded Machia. Considering their meeting where Helena had taken both arms from her, he had learnt something else, something insidious that remained unspoken between the two.

Every so often, the woman, Helena, would sneak off to the kingdom, leaving the two alone. Of course, he knew what she was up to, even though she had eluded his observation for quite some time. 

Shaking his head with a puzzled sigh, Machia continued to recount what he had learnt. Helena, had been visiting her husband, Machia, was uninformed as to why she did so secretly, but he knew that for a fact. 

'An agreement with the Emperor? Possibly. But that doesn't explain how those two are getting on so well... After all.'

The lowly lieutenant she regularly waltzed off to meet had a son. Her son. Recently, the lieutenant had lost his sister to a tragic, brutal... accident. It didn't take long for Machia to discover the truth. After all, he had borne witness to the incident itself. That lieutenant's sister, Helena's sister-in-law, had been killed by the Blessed girl. 

Yet here they were. Machia gazed intently at their amicable silhouettes as they traversed the grassy plains. In truth, Machia had been particularly on edge since this discovery. He half expected Helena to lunge for the blessed at the nearest opportunity. He couldn't allow that. This was just another burden Machia was forced to bear as they walked across the grassy plains.

"Amelia, I don't mean to upset you or anything, but do you remember when you awoke? One of those people you killed, she was my sister-in-law."

'Huh'

Knocked out of his thoughtful daze, Machia stared at the two, horrified. He raised a hand as sweat dripped down his head and strength circulated in his legs. 

'If I strike first then maybe I can stall-.'

As a tense Machia stopped and gazed irrationally at the two figures, they continued to walk. Indifferently, the blessed turned to Helena and tilted her head.

"Oh, I did that. Sorry, teacher, I had no idea."

"It's fine, Amelia. You didn't know better. Besides, there's no telling if I ever would have met him, my husband, and had our child together. That's just how life is, you see."

The two continued to walk side by side without hesitating or even reacting. Divulging each and every secret he had worked so hard to uncover like it was meaningless. The blessed turned towards Helena, surprised. 

"Wait, did you say you had a son! Wow, no wonder you disappeared for 9 months. I didn't even notice. 

"Haha, sorry I didn't say anything. I bet you didn't notice at all either, did you, Machia? You should really pay more attention."

With a mocking, easy-going tone, she turned to smile at Machia through her helmet, ignorant to the shock that still adorned his figure. Machia couldn't help but furrow his brow at her demeaning words. Sweat still rested on his forehead as he stared, stunned by the callous nature of the two. 

"What are you just standing there for, slowpoke, you'll get left behind."

The two turned to face him with relaxed stances. Patiently waited for him to catch up. But Machia stubbornly refused to move.

"How do you two do it? Every day, you're like this, both of you. Ha, I get it. You don't have a single care in the world, do you? So you slaughter you're teacher's sister-in-law and it's over just like that? I see even now, you don't have a shred of responsibility. Do you blessed?"

Machia fixed a resentful gaze on the two. The expressionless girl watched him. Then suddenly, she rolled her eyes at him. It was the most expressive thing she'd done all day. Helena instead responded by shaking her head. 

"Quit being such a buzzkill Machia. Honestly, you should really learn from Amelia. Also, remember... her name, it's Amelia? We decided on this together a year ago. Quit calling her 'blessed' already. Is that some kinda insult? You know you're a Blessed too, don't you, dumbass?"

"Tchh", Machia looked away and clicked his tongue, insulted by Helena's outburst.

'How is this my fault? No matter how you look at it, the weird ones are those two, besides..."

"The Emperor himself named her Amaterasu not Ame-"

Machia hesitated as he clenched his jaw, distracted by Helena's embellished reaction as she resignedly placed her palm towards her head. Mocking him. 

"Don't be so lame. Just call her what she wants to be called already. Also, hurry up, or we'll really leave you behind.

Helena snorted as she began walking again. Amelia remained fixed to the ground. Her expression was pure nonchalance as she captured Machia within her idle stare. There wasn't a single trace of annoyance or frustration adorning her face, only curiosity. Suddenly, she grinned at Machia and stuck out her tongue in a goofy manner.

She quickly caught up with Helena, leaving Machia standing alone. Since he had first awakened, Machia had been trained to craft his expression and to mask it whenever the moment called. Yet strangely, just this once, he found himself smiling. It wasn't the most authentic smile, and it was stifled with agitation, but it was a smile.

"Haaah". 

But even though there was no one there to observe him and no one for him to deceive. He smiled all the same. Slowly, he followed behind the backs of the two women.

"Stupid brat"