It was only a matter of time.

It had only been, what? A few days? And Seliph's Army was nearing Connaught. Which had sent Blume in a panic. Demanding Arthur to be on the ready.

Huh, never thought he would see his uncle in such a panicked state. It was so...laughable, if he was honest. He even called for Ishtar, who would be set to appear in due time as well.

Arthur couldn't believe it, but he had never felt so happy when Blume told him to go out and defend.

But first he needed to make sure he would make it out alive. He took all of his tomes and prepared himself for battle. Once he went outside his room to the main hall of the castle he saw someone unfamiliar to him, he was a strong looking young man, his hair was blond and he wielded an interesting looking bow.

"What're you lookin at?" The bowman said when he noticed Arthur staring at him.

Arthur only glared. "Nothing, I simply have not seen you around before."

"Huh, what a surprise, I haven't either. Though I remember Blume had mentioned a mage I should keep my eye on, I assume that is you."

That only made Arthur more frustrated as he grunted. "He did? Ghh why am I not surprised? Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"Running out of gold. Simple as that."

Wow, subtle much, well no matter. He could just play nice, he supposed. "Well uhhh pray you don't die...I guess?"

But it seemed his good will didn't pay off, as the archer scoffed, "Oh, I'll live, luck is on my side. But you? Yeah I dunno, you might end up dying."

"Ah, alrigh-wait a minute did you just say I can't handle my own?" Arthur raised his voice, shooting the other a death stare.

"With that attitude, a hundred percent."

Arthur grumbled, reaching to him in an attempt to punch him. "Oh, you little-"

Just then, Blume entered the room and immediately yelled at them. "Arthur! Faval! Why are you still standing there! Get out to the battlefield!"

Arthur jumped and let go of...Faval…? Huh, interesting name. He didn't say a word after that and only did as his Uncle told him. Damnit, the fact they had the same mission meant he was going to stick around with him. As speedy as Arthur was, he didn't want to rush into battle; his plan was merely stalling until someone recognized him.

They both went through the field. Surprisingly the battle hadn't started yet, which in theory was the perfect opportunity to head there as soon as possible. However, that was not the best course of action. After some silence between both of them, Arthur suddenly hit Faval on his arm.

"The fuck was that for?" The bowman asked.

"THAT was for saying I'm not reliable," Arthur growled, not making eye contact with him.

Faval shook his head. "Listen, I am merely just stating what I think will happen. I ain't a prophet. I'm just relying on luck."

"Wow, I barely even met you, and I already don't like you."

"Then why are you talking to me?" Faval argued.

"Because you asked," Arthur quipped back.

"No, I didn't! You're the one who started this in the first place."

"Hush…" The mage shut him up and finally looked at him. "I am currently planning an escape."

"Huh? What are you planning, boy?" Faval gave the other an awfully bewildered look.

"You see, I dunno if you know. But that Blume person, he's a bitch."

"Uh, yeah, no kidding. But we both should know he's all-powerful."

"Yes, however, this Seliph person, he may not be as good as I am, but he is definitely somewhat of a strategic leader. This is my perfect escape plan."

"Okay, you got somewhat of a point, but I gotta get the gold somehow."

"Yeahhh, I've no clue how I'm gonna get that, but what I do know is that we both hate Blume. How about we go in and murder him!" Arthur said, balling his hands into fists. A wicked grin showed upon his face.

"You know, you got a point, ain't bad for someone like you," Faval said and looked at his bow. "This...with my unshakable luck. Oh, I could actually kill him!"

"What, oh no no no, not you." The mage frowned again, crossing his arms.

"The hell are you on about?"

"What I mean to say is...don't, don't kill him. Not you."

"Then what the fuck is the point-"

"I'M going to kill him, no one else, only me! You hear?"

Faval pushed him out of the way. "Like hell, I'd listen to you. You're CRAZY. You stand no chance against him!"

That set Arthur off, and he began to cast one of his thunder spells. He was not attacking, though, just to taunt. With his speed, he went back in front of Faval in no time. "I'm sorry, do you have a problem?"

"What're you trying to achieve by doing that?"

The thunder began to glow brighter in his hand. "I KNOW what I'm doing...you have no idea how long I've been training myself for this day. The thing is, I need you or someone like you to whittle him down a bit. The rest I can do myself. I need to do this; otherwise, everything I've planned would be for naught."

"The fuck? No, get away from me. You're getting too much."

"Oh, THAT'S IT!" Arthur shouted, releasing the thunder magic from his hands. He didn't fully intend to hit Faval. And luckily, it only hit the ground; perhaps this bowman really was the luckiest man alive, but still. Nothing was going in his favor. He had to think of a plan and fast, but suddenly he heard someone shout.

"ARTHURRR!"

Wait a minute, that was Tinni.

Oh shit, oh fuck, she saw, didn't she? How close was he to Castle Leonster? He couldn't be sure when his mind was immediately going to fight or flight. But shortly after, his sister held him in place, angrily glaring at him.

"What in the WORLD do you think you're doing?" Well, that definitely gave it away; she must've seen him, or at least the magic. Naga fucking damnit, what was he going to do now? She was furious. He could see it from her eyes.

It was hard to say anything, not when he felt himself sweating and his stomach tighten up. "I-I…"

"You know what, I'm not going to bother to ask. I saw what happened, and I can't believe you would do that."

"W-Wait? You know him?" Arthur asked, eyes darting around the landscaping as he tried to find that archer with the yellow spikey bow.

"No, but I am sure she does." She said, eyeing where Faval was. He looked to be talking with a blonde-haired girl, presumably his sister? Or someone like that? Arthur didn't know, and he didn't even care. He really fucked up what little spark he had between that guy; it wasn't like he really cared. But damn, part of him wished for something like that.

Turning back to the silent mage, Tinni glared at him. "Why Arthur? Why are you doing this? Going so far as to attack other people? And for what?"

"I-I just...I wanted to-"

"I know exactly what you wanted to do, but you're not fixing anything trying to threaten people! You are going practically INSANE! Just stop for once!"

"B-But Blume he-"

"Let me kill him." Tinni interrupted him and dropped him onto the ground. Arthur stood back up.

"No, what if you-" Naga, his mind was going in circles, he wasn't going to be the one to kill Blume? But his sister wished to do so instead? No! Absolutely not! That thought terrified him. He didn't want her to die; she was the only person he could rely on. But he could not convince her otherwise, not with his current mindset.

Another cut-off from her. "I'll kill him, plus I have a few friends that are going with me as well. I've suffered just as much as you have. You need to calm the heck down. The others are heading toward there anyway, so I advise you to stay with them."

"I...fine, whatever…" Arthur sighed, unable to convince her otherwise.

What was he to do now? He could hardly feel anything by that point, just standing there in the middle of an empty field near Leonster. He couldn't move. His hands were shaking. Was everything he had anticipated just worthless? What would be his purpose now? If he couldn't even fight his uncle, how would he kill his father as he had planned for years? It was all just worthless, wasn't it? Nothing made sense, nothing at all.

In his thoughts, he heard a voice from the outside; it was Cousin Amid. "Arthur! You are safe again...wait...Arthur?" He tried to wave a hand in front of him. "You okay there?"

Once Arthur forced himself to break out of his thoughts, he felt himself fall again. Luckily Amid caught him and forced him to stand up. "Arthur! By Naga, you are pale. What the hell did you do?"

He shook his head. He didn't want to make more of his family hate him. "I...don't want to talk about it…."

With a huff, Amid turned toward the troubadour who had just ridden up toward them. "Nanna, you're here! Can you help Arthur here? He's not feeling the best, and he should stay away from this battle."

The girl-Nanna, nodded. "I-I'll do what I can. He might need to ride with me. He really does look terrible."

And with that, Amid and Nanna helped Arthur get on Nanna's mount. Once she got onto her horse, she looked at Arthur and said. "We will reunite with the others in Connaught when it is safe to go. For now, you can rest." Then turned to Amid. "We will be going now. We have to get there quickly."

Then they left, with Arthur still shaken up from what had just happened just moments ago.

'Soon, the deed will be done.'

Those words echoed in Tinni's mind as she finally reached the entrance of Connaught Castle. Cousin Linda, along with a few others for support, was with her. She had the plan all in her mind, she may not have been as magically skilled as her brother, but she knew how much power her tomes could do; and unlike her brother, she took things calmly, thinking through every move. Linda was also just as magically skilled as Arthur was, at least with her thunder magic. Chances of winning were very high, but they should still be careful.

They both would be alright, hopefully.

Yet, even so, she was still hesitant, yet also excited. Linda noticed this and decided to ask, "Do you still want to do this, Tinni? We don't have to do it."

Tinni shook her head, looking at the wind tome in her hands. "N-No, it's not that. It's just...scary."

"Mm, I understand. I am feeling the same way. But, I'm not sure why, but I have confidence, we can do this, Tinni! And I know your brother wants this too. It will be alright."

"Y-Yeah! It will!" And so they went inside the castle of Connaught, many guards were waiting for them, more so than they had all anticipated. But they managed to take them down with ease. They continued venturing through the castle, being as quiet as they could. It would be optimal not to alarm as many guards and save their energies for the planned surprise attack on Blume to work effectively. Soon enough, they found the throne room.

Everyone was ready to execute the attack; everything had gone smoothly. This was the final push; they couldn't mess up now. Linda was the first to go inside the room, and she didn't waste any time and quickly launched an attack of her Thoron tome as soon as she entered. Blume looked surprised by the sudden attack, as expected. Thankfully for him, it wasn't a powerful enough blow to kill him.

"Ah! Wha-Linda!?" Blume said when he noticed the brunette mage at the ready to strike again, "Why are you here?! Damn those useless guards! Nothing is going right. I'll have to do everything myself, then!"

"It's over, Blume!" Linda shouted and then shot another Thoron blast.

As soon as the blast was shot, everyone went inside the room at once, just as planned. Not even the last line of defense could defend the attack, and in no time Blume was outnumbered.

Tinni took the opportunity and attacked Blume with her wind tome. She had gotten said tome from one of the shops, it was a perfect match with her minor Forseti blood, causing the hit to deal substantial damage to Blume's armor. Right after Tinni's attack, Linda followed with yet another attack from her thoron tome, causing Blume to fall into the ground. Both Tinni and Linda were unstoppable. Soon enough, vengeance would be served.

"You will pay for everything you and Hilda have done!" Tinni shouted as she cast another spell on her tome. "Not just for Arthur and I. But for Mother, Auntie, and Linda as well!"

"Gah, I'm surrounded by buffoons," Blume grunted irritably and got up off the ground. He quickly grabbed his Thoron tome from the ground and tried to defend himself with a powerful blow. Linda and Tinni managed to dodge just fine and prepared for their counter attack; surprisingly Blume wasn't using his Mjolnir tome, what happened to it? He was the only one capable of using it and Ishtar wasn't in this battle. Maybe he was confident enough to not use it now? Or he was just dumb. But it didn't matter, without Mjolnir things were a lot easier.

Magic surrounded the room and swords could be heard as well, it went for a while but Blume was easily at the disadvantage. Then eventually Blume fell to the ground again, thanks to the multiple attacks; his thoron tome dropped and Tinni then took that from him.

Then, she activated said tome and said, "Good riddance." And dealt the final blow on Blume, finally putting an end to his tyranny.

"Ugh...how regrettable." Blume said under his dying breath.

It was over.

It was finally over. Blume was finally dead.

Soon afterwards, Seliph called everyone's attention and exclaimed. "Well done everyone! Connaught is now free from the empire!"

Everyone cheered and gathered around Seliph. Finally they could all celebrate, this was an exciting event for the Friege children in particular. Hopefully Arthur and Amid would come back soon, that way the celebration would feel complete.

Speaking of Arthur, Tinni hoped he was okay. Or at least...sort of, she was scared to see his reaction to Blume's death, especially knowing it obviously it wasn't him who did it.

She could only wait in anticipation for when he felt better.