As Sandalion embraced her from behind, Karin shivered, staring forward from the palace balcony at the sight of the city before them. Before, the fires had been limited to the residential district where the surprise attack had begun, but now, from the vantage point here near the peak of the manmade hill containing the royal residence, the whole of Tristania was covered in a layer of dark clouds, the inferno rapidly spreading as supporting water and wind mages struggled to contain the flames and citizens continually poured out of the hardest-hit areas.
A few hours ago, Guiteau's Hurricane had kept the air relatively filtered, pushing smoke and dust upwards and protecting people from breathing in the clouds, but whatever was happening on the ground had forced him to stop using it and focus on smaller, less easy to spot spells and allowing the acrid smell of burning wood and grass to descend as now, many of the soldiers within the palace had taken her example and distributed breathing masks to protect their lungs.
"What's happening out there?" Sandalion asked, frowning as he pulled her to lean on his chest. "The Queen left to meet with Marianne, but that was a while ago. And I wonder how those two jerks are holding up…"
"They're fine." Karin stated with a low voice, eyes unblinking as she stared forward. "But they don't have decent filters like we do, breathing in all this smoke is bad." She rolled her eyes upward as she tilted her head back to look up at his face. "You can still fight, and Downdraft won't destroy the city like my Heavy Wind would. You wouldn't need to hold back against that Enjya like me-"
She was cut off by his grip strengthening around her, the boy shaking his head and sighing. "We're partners, we stick together. If you can't fight, then neither can I. Until you think you can get back out there, I'm staying right here with you."
"There's bigger stakes on you for abandoning your duty to protect the commoners!" she shouted, before arching forward, eyes closing and fist raised to her mouth as she coughed. "I'm just a baronetess, nobody will mind if I can't help, but you'll be Duke de la Valliere eventually."
Sandalion's reassuring smile fell to a frown, and he moved a hand to block her vision from the sight of the world in front of them, shaking his head. "I may be higher in rank, but I'm a hundred years too early to match someone like you. You don't have the versatility I do, but I can't imagine anyone alive being able to do as much damage as you can."
"This wildfire was probably Enjya's doing." she replied. "My Heavy Wind doesn't even compare, it doesn't matter what any one person's power is versus that strength…"
She sighed, waving her hands to unravel his arms from around her stomach and allow her to pull herself to a standing position, crossing her arms over the balcony railing to look out over the city. "I don't understand, why would someone capable of doing this be following a rebellion that doesn't affect them? Enjya's barely a child, why would he care about their ideals?"
Sandalion stood up, leaning his back on the balcony beside her and crossing his arms, looking towards the door to the inside. "He probably was raised thinking Marteau was right, or is being controlled in some way. I'm more concerned about why a child has Square-class magic able to equal Hurricane, though…"
"He's not human." the girl said, and Sandalion raised his eyebrow, turning his head to look at her. Karin still looked forward, eyes narrowed and mouth in a frown. "His magic, it's equivalent to Square-class, but I just realized that he never actually used any runes, and only names his spells after they've already been cast. Silent casting can take decades to perfect, and it only works for those that the mage uses most often and is best familiar with. And elemental magic usually manifests itself above the age of six, so he hasn't had very long to actually use it, assuming he is human."
Sandalion blinked, before laughing. "I think you're reading too much into it. You said he looks human, and he has a familiar. Familiars can't be summoned by anyone who doesn't have elemental magic, how would that be possible?"
"He never called Ifrit his familiar, and there are other species able to transform into humans." Karin groaned, reaching to set a palm on her forehead. "I just...From what little I saw, I can't imagine that he would willingly bend to someone like Marteau. He really is strong, he has the ability to do anything he wants, so-"
As she went silent, Sandalion hummed, blinking and tilting his head before he noticed that her eyes had gone wide, staring forward through her fingers as she stepped back, leaning over and holding her stomach with her other hand.
"I should have thought of that before." she said, a hollow laugh coming from her throat as she stood up straight, moving her hands to her sides. "Enjya is strong, but he has no ambition. I'm weak, but I'm trying to prove myself to people I don't really care about. It's all backwards, isn't it, Sandalion?"
The man narrowed his eyes, stepping forward and holding his arms out. "Karin, you should sit down. Your mind's still mixed up from what happened, you should rest and trust that things will be alright."
He was about to wrap his arms around her before she shouted, pushing him away as she stumbled back, doubling over as a hand moved behind her back, where the bandages covering her injury were. "No, I just realized what Enjya was doing. These physical injuries will heal quickly, but he still had an effect on me that won't go away. I've always been a poor fighter, but I've never lost so quickly and so easily before. It took a random kid I'd never met to turn everything upside-down…"
"Karin. Calm down, you shouldn't-" His tone was worried now, stressing her name, but she interrupted him, her voice cracking as she choked back tears and made eye contact with him.
"Weak people should just stay in the background and not step out of line." she said, moving the hand off her bandages to shake in the air in front of her, balled into a tight fist as she grinned. "People like Isabelle, Denis, and me, we don't have the talent to fight on an even stage with real experts. My parents are right, if you don't have the power to change the system, then don't fight against it. Then there's people like Enjya and Yuya, the strong who don't have ambition. What's the point in having power if you use it idly or just let yourself be controlled? Someone like you, who's strong and actually wants to benefit this kingdom, that's the best kind of person…"
She froze where she stood as Sandalion swept her off her feet, lifting her in the air in a bearhug that pinned her arms to her sides as he turned around, making it so that she couldn't face the fires raging below. "I don't want to hear you talking about who's strong or weak. The Primogenitor has no concern either way, so arguing about things like that is pointless. You do what you can, and if you end up failing because of weakness, then that's that. Stop talking like you can categorize people that way!"
He noted how much she was trembling in his grip, but said nothing about it, keeping her steady as he lowered her, leaning forward to maintain his embrace. "You're right, you are someone who isn't looked at as a threat right now. You're short, you're cute, and you can barely cast anything without destroying everything around you. But, you're already skilled with Chevalier Style, and you have more willpower reserves than anyone else alive. It's like your ancestors gave all their potential to you."
Karin was silent for several moments, before her body relaxed, and she chuckled sadly. "My ancestors...Maybe Enjya was sent to punish me for being so different from them. Maybe it's Gunther's way of telling me to do what he couldn't."
"You always talk about that Gunther, but I don't understand who that is. If you want me to relate to him, you have to tell me everything."
She smiled, closing her eyes. "If it weren't for him, my family wouldn't exist. You're the Vallieres' heir, you should have been told already...But, I get it now. I'm not saying people should be put in one category or another, I'm just saying that we should act as we deserve. That Enjya, he must have instinctively not put me into as strong a Purgatory Flames as Yuya because of that...He wasn't trying to kill me, he was just forging my Iron into Steel."
Sandalion sighed, but finally let go, allowing her to stand on her own again as he frowned. "Be careful talking like that, it's as easily misunderstood as the concept of 'selfish heroism'. I said I'd stick by you, so I'll support this Rule of Steel of yours, but make sure you never regret it." He smirked, moving a finger to lift her chin. "Honestly, you're a handful. But, that's part of who you are. I will never regret choosing you."
She smiled, pushing her heels up to stand on her toes and reach up to his level, before her eyes widened at the sight of something flying through the sky above the castle, stepping back and pointing to tell him to look back.
He whirled around, his eyes going wide at the sight of what seemed to be a meteor, covered in green rock and billowing dark red smoke from one end, falling from the sky, smashing into the roof of the palace and sending shocks through the ground that knocked the two off their feet.
They were unharmed for the most part, but the center of the palace had been decimated, and as they rushed through the halls to where the impact site had been, they were just in time to spot Enjya standing up from the rubble, chunks of the Gabbro Shield falling to the ground around him as he looked around,whistling as the air around him swirling with the dark body of Ifrit.
"So, Philippe is here somewhere. Come out and fight me, I'm tired of playing with those Square-classes outside!"