EDIT: This and the next chapter are re-uploads of an older chapter due to me not liking how the last chapter ended (writing at 4:00 a.m. will do that to you) so I apoligize on the lack of update but with high school almost done, I should be able to update much more frequently! Once again apologies!

God dammit… is this shit really happening…?

Winding up in the library of all places, Ragna sat secluded from the few other students who were catching up on their studies. Despite being late into the afternoon, with class being dismissed a while ago, Ragna couldn't find the heart to train. As he glanced up from the book he was reading, Ragna could see three or four others buried deep in their own works. He however was occupied with more personal matters.

It had been four days since the investigation of the Ruins. Ragna awoke the next morning only to find that he had slept through the night and more importantly, he had missed the duel. A small feeling of uneasiness crept over him as he prepared for the day but he quickly dismissed his anxiety as he felt confident in Krulcifer's skills in combat. He kept his confidence in the girl throughout the morning but it wasn't until class started did Ragna begin to have second thoughts.

Ragna's eyes shot towards Krulcifer's desk only to find that she was absent as soon as he walked in, something that he found was very odd. Staving off his curiosity for a later time, he convinced himself that Krulcifer was merely catching up on the sleep after the duel. Class proceeded as normal with Ragna nodding off during the middle of the lecture as usual. As soon as the bell rang for lunch break however, Ragna got up and walked to her dorm room. Upon arriving and knocking a few times without an answer, Ragna began to head back towards the classroom telling himself to check back once class was dismissed for the day. As he walked through the halls, he caught wind of a conversation between the headmaster and one of the students concerning Krulcifer's whereabouts. Sticking to the shadows, Ragna listened in carefully as his suspicions were confirmed. Ragna found out that not only did Krulcifer lose the duel, she also had withdrawn from the school and went back to Ymir to prepare for the wedding.

"God dammit!" subconsciously shouting, Ragna gave an embarrassed wave towards the librarian as he realized yelled in the library.

Nonetheless, his anger and confusion were still present even more so than when he first heard the news. Glancing down at his book, one detailing the history of the Old Empire, Ragna snorted and shoved it away from him as he got up.

This isn't helping my damn nerves. Might as well go train just to try and burn off steam.


"Alright, any questions?"

No one answered as the room remained quiet. It was apparent that every single person seated in the room wanted nothing more than to leave. The fact was made even more prominent as Lisesharte let out an unhampered yawn from the back and blew her hair, now down instead of it's usual pigtail, out of her face.

"I... guess that's a 'no'." Shalice said in an underwhelmed tone.

As if on cue, all of the students in the room bolted for the door. What resulted was a mob trying to fit through a door frame made for two mediums sized doors. Had everyone been civil about the matter, each of them could've been well on their way and left to their own devices within less than a minute but due the blockage, the process was much lengthier. Being the last to leave, Lisesharte caught up with some of the members as they made banter in their way out. After reaching the entrance of the facility, she waved farewell to her friends as they went their separate ways for the day.

"Was it really necessary to spend over an hour over something that simple?" she complained to herself as she made her way back to her room. "Oh well, it's still early. I have plenty of time to wrap-up homework, maybe get in some training today as well. I could ask Kru..."

Her voice trailed off as she felt a slight weight added to her heart. Shaking her head, she quickened her pace. It wasn't before long that her mind was drowning in thoughts as her body moved itself. It wasn't until the sound of multiple explosions coming from nearby did the princess return to reality.

Snapping her head towards the direction of the commotion, Lisesharte's gaze fell upon the colosseum where she had a sinking suspicion that a certain blonde-haired boy was raising hell out of sheer boredom.


"Well that was a bust… in every sense of the word." grumbling to himself, Ragna lay face-up amongst a sea of debris and charred metal in the middle of a small crater. Despite the damages, he himself wasn't injured at all but still lay staring up at a blue, cloudless sky. Growling to himself, Ragna's grip tightened on the empty scabbard that he held.

"Hey, what's going on here?!" a voice came from above. Not bothering to sit up, Ragna merely glanced to see a pouting Lisesharte standing high above him in the spectator's seats with her arms crossed. "How did I guess it was you?"

"Cut it with the rhetorical crap." Ragna groaned as he rolled over and dragged himself to his feet. As he made his way over the girl, she jumped down to meet him.

"I'm guessing Orochi's going to need a full body repair?" Lisesharte said as her eyes narrowed, shifting from the wreckage then to Ragna and then back to the wreckage. Much to her surprise, Ragna unclipped his Sword Device from his lower back and brandished the other hilt.

"I saved you the trouble this time around." with a snarky smile, Ragna showed her that he actually was using a separate Sword Device. It was only seconds later that he remembered the scraps of metal behind him as he gave an much more penitent smile. "Well, sort of."

"I'm almost afraid to ask," the princess sighed as the Reaper stood shoulder to shoulder with her as they both the studied the cluttered field, "but what did you do this time?"

"I know you're not gonna like the sound of this but hell with it." Ragna looked away from the girl as he let out a sigh, knowing full well that what he was about to say was not going to sit well with his friend. "I was experimenting with ways to exploit a Drag-Ride's berserk state."

"Are you insane?!"

Yep. There it is…

"Let me explain: the berserk state is a bitch. Ever since that incident at the Ruins with Fafnir…" Ragna's voice trailed off a bit as he was reminded of a certain silver-haired troublemaker but he dismissed the thought with a shake of the head and cleared his throat. "Ever since that incident at the Ruins, I've been thinking of a way of to use that state to your advantage."

"And how did you manage to make the Drag-Ride go berserk?" Lisesharte said as she put her hands on her hips. "Judging by the bits and pieces strewn around us, you were using a general purpose variant. Since it's relatively simple in terms of functionality it would've been hard to force it into a berserk state."

"Um… about that." scratching his forehead, Ragna tried to avoid eye contact with the girl as she stared daggers into him. "I kinda just tinkered with some of the internal hardware. Other than that, I got nothing."

Lisesharte stared at the boy, mouth hanging open. She tried to think of a response but only a series of short, obscure syllables dribbled off of her lips.

"Alright," finally able to form full sentences again, Lisesharte grabbed Ragna by the hand and dragged him towards one of the gates of the arena, "I've decided that you need to take a break from training."

"Like hell!" Ragna shouted as he tried to resist against the girl's tugging. "Also, since when were you in charge of me?"

"Ever since you decided to destroy school property." the girl said flatly as she gave Ragna a smirk only for the latter to roll his eyes.

"It's not like it's anything new to me." he grumbled to himself.

"You say something?" with an eyebrow cocked, Liseshart looked back at Ragna.

"Uh, no. Nothing at all."


"Is dragging me into town your guys' default to prevent me doing whatever I damn well please?" Ragna said flatly as he found himself being pulled once more through the increasingly familiar town square.

Being late in the afternoon, the city was at it's busiest hour. The late afternoon air was warm and slightly humid, ideal for those selling frozen products. The flow of individuals entering and leaving the various shops lining either side was like that of water. The shouting of street vendors were drowned out only by the noise in the streets. The plethora of civilians on foot only caused trouble for the numerous manually drawn carriages as the horses usual gallop had to be slowed to creep to avoid trampling anyone in the surrounding area.

"Quiet you." Lisesharte snapped as she guided him, much against his will. "Besides, it's not like we're here for completely no reason. I needed to run a few errands anyways."

"Okay, then let me ask at least this much," ennui and unamusement stung at the boy's tone as the words rolled lazily off of his tongue, "was it really necessary to drag me along?"

"Indirectly, yes." the princess' response caused Ragna to raise an eyebrow at first before she provided some clarification. "In a few weeks, the Knight Squadron is undergoing a training camp on an island. Being surrounded by water, it's only natural to bring a swimsuit. That means you too."

"Of course..." Ragna mumbled as his forehead connected with his palm as he let out a deep sigh. "Why am I not surprised?"

"So how does it look?" Lisesharte's upper half peered out of a curtain, revealing that the girl was wearing a red bikini. "W-well don't just sit there… say something you idiot!"

"Huh? Oh… right." a very deflated Ragna gave an awkward thumbs up as he struggled to stay awake as he lazily sat back against a wooden bench inside the shop. "Looks great. Honest."

Judging by by Lisesharte's less than pleased expression, Ragna knew that he'd misspoken. Despite this, he merely shrugged it off.

"Geez!" disappearing quickly behind the curtain, the girl continued talking much to his general annoyance. "Act a little bit more enthused, even if you have to fake it! And besides that, I had a feeling that bringing you here was a bad idea."

"Is that so?" Ragna chuckled with an amused smirk as his friend walked out of the changing booth, back in her school uniform. "Then I have a tip for the next time: don't."

Lisesharte said nothing but shook her head as she walked passed him. In her hand was the swimsuit that she had just tried on. Glad that their little outing was seemingly finished, Ragna followed the princess towards the checkout area only for his stomach to sink when he saw that she was heading towards the men's section.

"Oi." Ragna interjected, catching the girl's attention as she glanced towards him with a rather annoyed expression as he stuck his thumb over his shoulder. "If you want to buy that thing, the cashier's on the other side of the store."

"You really are hopeless aren't you?" with a sigh, Lisesharte motioned towards the of swim wear. "We're here for you too, you know. You don't have a swim suit from my knowledge."

"Your knowledge, huh?" with a skeptical look, Ragna raised an eyebrow as his gaze shifted from her to the collection of garments. After a few seconds of searching, his gaze fell upon a pair of plain red swim trunks and hurriedly selected them. "There, can we go now?"

"I would ask if you wanted to try it on," Lisesharte sighed, "but even a fool would know the answer to that question."

"Damn straight." Ragna said flatly as he pulled the girl in the opposite direction.

"And there goes two weeks of pay." Ragma said glumly as he and Lisesharte walked through the brightly lamp-lit streets, a paper bag at both of their sides.

"That's really your fault you know." she said as they ducked and weaved between groups of civilians. "Over the past few weeks, all you've done is train. You aren't going to be paid for the jobs you haven't done you know."

Ragna merely snorted as he continued walking, doing his best not to fall behind and be swept along with the current of oncoming people. With night beginning to set in, the two them decided it would be best to head back to campus. That was the initial plan at least but the city's nightlife seemed even more active than usual.

Unfortunately for them, considering how deep within the shop was it was beginning to be a challenge when it came to finding a way back. On top of a lack of directions, the large numbers of people didn't improve on their situation. Eventually reaching the ever so familiar town square after twenty minutes of walking, Ragna finally found hope that they would get back at a decent time.

With the large groups, Ragna and Lisesharte had to take the long way around the square to get to the street that led back to the academy. As they continued, Ragna caught sight of the restaurant that he and Lisesharte ate at the first time they went out together. From the doorway, an employee glared at him as Ragna gave a nervous smile and a small wave before picking up his pace. Noticing her friend's strange behaviour, Lisesharte didn't even both to scold him and sighed instead as she shook her head.

"You still need to repay them don't you?" the princess said as she glanced over her shoulder with eyes narrowed.

"Don't remind me." he groaned. "I'll get to it eventually."

"Eventually, huh?" giving her friend a mischievous grin, she wheeled around and pointed at him. "Alright! As princess of the New Empire, I'm charging you an interest rate until you've paid it back in full!"

"Oh bullshit!" an exasperated Ragna shouted, catching the attention of many bystanders. "And you chose now of all times to pull that card?"

Ragna was about to bite his tongue but instead of his dry humor being met with the usual downcast expression, she was smiling, laughing even. Not able to contain himself anymore, Ragna felt a small chuckle tickling the base of his throat and let it out. Even still, Ragna couldn't help but be mesmerized, even if ever so slightly, by the the girl's radiant features under the light of the street lamps.

"Hey?" Lisesharte said as she leaned in close and pried Ragna from his thoughts. "You alright? Your face is red. Catch a fever or something?"

"In the middle of spring?" Ragna said as he turned his head in an effort to hide his blush. "I highly dou-"

The Reaper's heart skipped a beat, his bashful expression morphing into one of pure malice as he spotted a tall blonde-haired noble from across the plaza. At his side, a beautiful silver-haired young woman.

"Ragna?" Lisesharte said timidly as she saw Ragna's face darken. His teeth bared like that of a wild animal. Without another word, he advanced towards the couple and drew his Sword Device.

"BASTARD!"

Charging the man, Ragna was about to bring his blade across the man's chest but a flash of sparks intercepted him. Eyes widened in shock, it wasn't Balzeride's blade that collided with his. Instead, it was Krulcifer who gave him a dangerous glare. Not wanting to hurt his former classmate, Ragna hopped backwards, blade still at the ready.

"It has been quite some time since our last encounter, hasn't it Mr. Reaper?" the noble sneered, completely unshaken by Ragna's sudden appearance.

"Shove it asshole!" the teen growled as his grip tightened on the hilt of his sword. "What the hell did you do to Krulcifer?!"

"Aren't you jumping to assumptions a bit too quickly?" Krulcifer intervened as she flicked her blade gracefully and returned it to it's sheath. ""I am simply following through the the deal that you had arranged."

The girl's words cut deeper than any wound that he had received. Unable to think of a rebuttal, Ragna gritted his teeth as a low sound came from the depths of his throat. From the behind the silver-haired girl, Ragna could feel Balzeride giving him an amused sneer.

"Hey!" finally catching up to him, Lisesharte's breath caught as she recognized the all too familiar faces. "Krulcifer…"

"And even the princess has graced us with her presence." Balzeride gave a deep bow but all of them could feel the spite in the feigned gesture. "So what brings you here on this fine evening, especially with someone like him?"

"I will not allow you to speak of my friend in such a manner, even if you are a member of a noble house." the princess retorted. "And I do not believe I am inclined to answer such a question."

"My, such a tongue on you." Balzeride snorted as he turned a full one hundered and eighty degrees. "If that's all you wanted to say, I suppose we shall be taking our leave. Come along, my wife."

Obeying the noble's command without reluctance, Krulcifer turned away from her friends and followed the man. At a loss for words, Ragna could only run after the girl, holding out his hand as if to pull her back to him as she retreated into the crowds.

"Krulcifer! I swear I'll -"

"Stay away from me." Krulcifer snapped as she shot him an icy glare.

Ragna couldn't move. His body became completely unresponsive. No matter how hard he wanted it to move, he seemed paralyzed as the evening crowds swallowed whatever view he had left of the girl.

At Balzeride's side, Krulcifer could feel the noble giving her a satisfied smirk but she didn't look at him.

She couldn't bear to.

Instead, as the girl walked, she kept her head down to hide the tears brimming her eyes.


"GOD DAMMIT!"

A massive wave of shadows rushed forward and slammed into the far side of the arena. Far from running out of energy, Ragna subconsciously swung his blade a few more times with each motion releasing an increasing amount of energy.

Finally exhausting himself, Ragna dug the giant copy of his original greatsword into the soft ground of the colosseum and leaned against it. It had been long past dusk and was completely dark outside save for the stadium lights but he couldn't care less. He originally thought that going into town would temporarily relieve him of the frustration that he'd been held down with due to recent events with only for it to worsen.

"Just what the hell were you thinking…" his hushed voice trailed off in between heavy panting.

The grip on the hilt of his weapon tightened subconsciously as the events played through his mind for what seemed like the hundredth time. Ragna could feel his temper rising once more but he suppressed it as he let out an exhausted sigh. Regaining his posture, Ragna pulled the giant sword out of the ground and waved his hand, opening up multiple holographic screens. As he scrolled, he eventually reached a screen that read "System Overload" as well as an option to confirm the action or to decline it. As he was about to select the option to engage the override, a voice stopped him.

"Alright, I've seen enough." turning his head, Ragna saw Lisesharte hop down from the stands and approach him. "It's too painful for me to watch you beat yourself up like this."

"And just how long were you watching me?" Ragna growled as she approached.

"If you had been paying attention," the princess wagged a finger and gave him a half-hearted smirk, "you would've noticed that I've been here almost the entire time."

"... so you saw all of that, huh?" Ragna gave a hollow chuckle as he turned away from Lisesharte in embarrassment, cheeks a light shade of red. "Against my better judgement, I'm pretty sure you're here for other reasons to berate me. Let's hear it."

"I know what you're planning Ragna." Lisesharte said flatly as she stared Ragna directly in the eyes as if trying to give him a warning. "I-"

"You're what?" Ragna snapped. "You came here to stop me? Tough shit, I'm shutting down this stupid wedding no matter what."

Lisesharte gave a slight laugh as she looked at the boy's expression, in his eyes were the ever familiar flame that she had become accustomed to.

"Of course I'm not going to stop you, idiot." she said as Ragna gave her a confused expression. In turn, Lisesharte gave him a playful wink and a thumbs up. "Rather, I'm going to give you a hand with your little vendetta."

"Don't." with a stern tone, Ragna leaned back into his Drag-Ride. "It's my fault that all of this happened. If I hadn't fallen asleep that night, Krulcifer would still be here with us. I need to settle this by myself, on my own terms."

"And that's where I need to remind you that Krulcifer isn't important to just you." Lisesharte retaliated as she crossed her arms. 'She's our friend too, you know. Besides, you don't even know where the wedding is taking place, right?"

A moment of awkward silence and Ragna's expression confirmed the girl's suspicions. With a sigh, Ragna deactivated Orochi and dropped down to be able to speak with Lisesharte normally.

"Alright, you got me." Ragna admitted with as he walked up to Lisesharte. "So what are you thinking?"

"Well for starters, I like this situation as much as the next person." the princess said disdainfully with a shake of her head, "And from what I remember, the Kreutzer family isn't the prestigious and honorable family that everyone thinks that they are."

"Care to elaborate?" Ragna said, growing increasingly annoyed as his friend was seemingly beating around the subject.

"In truth, the Kreutzer bloodline was around during the time of the Old Empire." signals immediately went off in Ragna's mind at the news as Lisesharte continued. "They were infamous for using their wealth to raise private armies and exploit the Ruins and according to some rumors, they also took part in the coup."

Exploiting the Ruins? And for that bastard to also be targeting Krulcifer… sonuvabitch!

"Okay, so then where does Balzeride fit into the equation?" Ragna asked.

"That's just the thing." Lisharte gave a troubled expression as she seemed to be deep in thought. "He seems to fit all too well. He's overly ambitious, almost as if he's trying to reach a goal but I'm not sure what."

"I couldn't give a damn less." Ragna growled. "I'm taking that bastard down."

Lisesharte, slightly off-put by Ragna's spike in aggression, couldn't help but smile a little bit at the boy's demeanor.

There's the Ragna I know.

"So what's the plan?" Ragna asked as he glanced towards Lisesharte.

"I can't really do much for you in terms of assisting you in terms of fighting Balzeride." she admitted although she had a feeling that Ragna would want to handle the noble on his own. "But I can give you the location of the wedding however. It's going to be held this Sunday at one in the afternoon at the church in the middle of town. You know, the big white one near the plaza."

"Seriously?" Ragna, in a slightly better mood, gave a light-hearted chuckle. "Even I could've guessed that."

"True enough." the blonde-haired girl shrugged before giving him a playful smirk. "But how long would it have taken you to figure it out?"

"Oh, piss off!" Ragna laughed to himself. After a few moments he let his expression soften to a small smile, feeling happy for the first time ever since he had heard the news of the engagement. "Lisha… thanks. I owe you again."

"Of course not." shaking her head, the princess smiled at Ragna and gave him a thumbs up. "Just make sure you get Krulcifer back for us, okay?"

"Consider it done." he said with a confident smirk.