Lord Sigmund sighed as the last soldier in the stairwell fell dead. He wiped the sweat off his brow and looked over at Capell, the poor boy was certainly strong with a sword but not strong enough. Sigmund sighed again and took care of the soldier in one swing, the soldier let out a scream and crumbled to the floor; dead like his brethren. Capell blinked and laughed awkwardly.

"Um...thank you, Lord Sigmund..." He mumbled with embarrassment, putting his sword away. Sigmund put his own away.

"Don't worry," He said simply, "Don't you remember? I'll always protect you,"

Capell looked at him with confusion, "Hey, you never answered my question. Why do you want to protect me?"

Sigmund looked away for a second and looked back with a stern glance.

"After this war is over, I shall tell you why. Does that suit you?" He offered, and nodded once Capell nodded with a confirmation of his satisfaction.

Sigmund motioned for the boy to follow him up the stairs of Vesplume Tower. This was the big moment; once this chain was cut the country of Fayel would no longer have to live in constant fear of the Order on their land. The Order would be forced to flee, and the Liberation Force would follow. Sigmund took out his golden pocket watch, curious as to how long they had been there.

The day was the 15th of August and it was 12:30 noon. They arrived at the tower soon before 11in the morning. Sigmund noted with pride that this would be their fastest mission ever completed.

The Liberator and boy ascended the tower in silence, both wary of any ambushes. Soon, they reached the roof and got a front row look at the chain.

"Wow..." Capell whispered in awe. He had every right to, chains were dangerous but oddly beautiful. This was no exception, in fact, this had to be the finest chain yet. It's golden arches glistened in the sunlight as the hot, summer rays hit it. The red ball that held the chain to the ground glowed like it was the most magnificent ruby in the world and merchants would be doing anything to get their greedy hands on it and sell it.

Yes, chains were a bitter-sweet sight to behold.

Sigmund heard Capell cough quietly behind him.

"Hey but I...should go ahead and get that chain, right?" He asked, scratching the back of his head. This came as very off-character for Capell, normally, the wimpy flute player would rather cut off his own legs than do anything remotely dangerous. And yet, here he was, offering to go ahead and cut the chain. Because of this, Sigmund nodded slowly.

"Yes, I'll be right behind you and will watch your back. Cut the chain quickly and we will both make our way back down," He instructed

Capell nodded at those instructions and walked past the Liberator, sword at the ready. Sigmund followed behind, walking at a slightly slower pace than Capell; his eyes darting this way and that.

But nothing could prepare him for what was about to happen.

There was a flash of a white light, and Capell let out an ear-piercing scream. Maniacal laughter soon followed. Sigmund's neck snapped over to where he saw Capell last and-

"CAPELL!"

Capell's lifeless body was laying on the ground, in a puddle of his own blood. His face was frozen into an expression that was a mix of pain and fear, his eyes were wide and his ruby red pupils were small. His limbs were twisted into unnatural angles. Tears fell from Sigmund's eyes as he dropped to his knees, sobbing.

Feet. There were a pair of feet in front of him. He looked up and gasped at the sight of him in front of him, except he had the ring of an Aristo behind his back and he was dressed in noble's clothing.

King Volsung.

The apparition appeared to have a black and red color scheme to it with black as the main color. "Volsung" smirked evilly.

"What you see is exactly what you're gonna get~!"

Slowly, Sigmund's vision started to fade to black, his eyes closed as the sight of Capell's dead boy and the strange apparition faded away to nothingness. He was soon surrounded in black.

"Welcome to the Heat Haze!"

Those words and mocking laughter were the last things he heard before the Liberator entered a deep sleep.

…

Author's note:

Sorry this is so bad UnU, I'm writing this at 4 in the morning but I really tried my best with this. Future chapters will be better, I promise!

Also, I don't know if this would count as a crossover between IU and Kagerou Project, since the only thing relating to Kagerou Project is the Heat Haze. If it does: PLEASE LET ME KNOW! Thank you!

~ Mollie