She saw it all. Julia was on her way to attend to the injured after she was informed that the battle was over, but she froze once she saw what Ced had done. She could only stand there, unable to do anything. She was lucky that Ced didn't notice she was there, outside the castle. Her first instinct was to run inside the castle and hide.
But even so, Ced was going after her, she was absolutely sure of it. But what she didn't know was what would happen once he did, but it definitely was not going to be good. She needed to find a way to get to Velthomer safely and withdraw the Naga tome before Ced could do anything like that again.
Though how exactly would she leave Castle Friege? For all she knew, Ced was most likely roaming through said castle. She could hear footsteps in the distance which made her feel herself shaking even more. But she could tell Ced wasn't himself anymore, someone was using his body. She knew that she needed to do something with the Sety Scroll he gave her, but she wasn't sure what. Arthur was her only hope, but first she needed to get out of the castle without catching Ced's attention.
"Julia, come here. We need to head to Velthomer soon!" A somewhat familiar voice suddenly called out, making her freeze in place; the voice sounded very familiar, yet it felt so different too. "I know you're in here, please, come out and speak with me, will you?"
That voice...it was Ced's voice, but it sounded weird...it was scary. She stayed silent, frozen in place because of her fear. He was close, any noise would reveal her location.
"Ignoring me, are you? How rude, I'm only here to help you!"
She could hear his steps getting closer, she was getting more scared as time went on and as he got closer.
He was going to find her, wasn't he? She needed to leave. By Naga, she needed to go, if she moved too slowly he'd find her, but moving quickly would give her away easily. It was a lose-lose situation; she needed to think fast.
This felt like that night all those years ago, when she was running away from her brother who had been possessed; if it weren't for her mother she probably would've died...unfortunately this wasn't the case now. At least she knew Ced wasn't likely to kill her, but she didn't know what he would do with her either.
Just then, she heard another voice from around the corner. It was Arthur, apparently he was confronting Ced.
"Ced! I know what you're trying to do, and I don't like it!"
Hearing that, Julia took it upon herself to exit the castle, running in absolute fear. Once she made it out of the castle, she was met with Fee and Tinni, who looked to be waiting for her; they both looked worried.
"Julia, thank goodness you're okay! We must go, Arthur will reunite with us soon!" Tinni said upon noticing Julia. She took her hand and ran away alongside Fee.
Once they were far enough, they all stopped to take a breath; Julia looked around and noticed that they had reunited with the rest of the army in a forest, where they were getting ready for the final push of the war. Apparently all that was left was Belhalla, where her brother, Prince Julius, was waiting for them.
"I think this should be far enough!" Fee said between pants. "You are probably confused, Julia, but that is NOT Ced. We need to do something!"
"He said he needed to find you for some reason, I'm scared he wanted to harm you as well...Thank Naga we got there in time…" Tinni followed.
"I-I see...I did notice something different in his voice, also the way he talked...it certainly wasn't him…"
"Hopefully Arthur comes back safe as well...he said he had an idea and that we needed to save you for it to work. Do you recall the Sety Scroll? He said it's important to even attempt to stop Ced, we need to let Arthurhave it!" Tinni continued.
Julia nodded. "I still have it...I've treasured it ever since Ced gave it to me back when he came back from Manster."
"You do? Good. Now we just need to wait for Arthur."
"Um, I must go to head to Velthomer and retrieve the Naga tome," Julia said and handed the scroll to Fee, "Please take it, I trust you with it, please save Ced…"
"Of course you can trust me! If it's you who's asking, there's no way I'm gonna fail!" Fee cheered and grabbed Julia's hands. "I'll make sure Cedsy comes back to himself, I promise!"
"Thank you, so much. Please take care," Julia told them and made her way out of the small forest toward the road to Velthomer. But not too far into the forest, she ran into Lord Seliph and Lord Leif, who seemingly were planning to go to the same location as her.
Julia decided to take the initiative and say, "O-Oh! Lord Seliph...Lord Leif...sorry to burden you again like this, but I need to come with you to Velthomer. The Book of Naga is hidden away there and I must obtain it."
Leif nodded. "I understand Julia. If Seliph allows it, I'd be happy to escort you there." Then he turned to Seliph, to which the Knight Lord also nodded.
"The only way to take down Prince Julius is to obtain that holy tome. If it is locked away in Velthomer, then we must take her there as soon as possible!"
Looking back at Julia, Leif said, "Well, with that approval, let us take you there, Julia!" Then, he instructed her to get on top of his horse. As she did so, she felt herself shake with fear again, Manfroy would definitely be there, preventing the Book of Naga from being obtained.
It would be fine, she told herself. After her brother was defeated, the war would finally be over. But she was worried about Ced; she needed to find a way to save him. 'Looks like we'll never be able to take a break,' she thought. But why was she thinking about this now? She trusted Fee with the Sety Scroll, and she trusted both Tinni and Fee to figure out a way to save Ced, so why was she worried so much, then? Well there was an obvious answer, and that was because Ced had been there for her ever since she first landed in Silesse and she deeply cared about him.
Just when Julia was about to break out of her thoughts, the scene in front of her did it for her. It looked like it was time for battle, this time it was to fight dark mages they were against. She had fought a lot of those during the liberation of Thracia almost a year ago now, but these ones, in particular, looked more threatening than most. They had Sleep staves in hand, but luckily with her magical power, she was able to negate the effects. Getting off of Leif's horse, she and Lord Seliph began to fight the dark bishops outside of the castle.
She was fortunate enough to have a Nosferatu tome with her, so even if she got hit she had the power to heal her injuries again; it made the battle easier for her and added to her high magic resistance. Thanks to her and the two lords' efforts the area was cleared in no time. That meant that there was only one obstacle in their way, Manfroy, who was inside the castle.
"I will keep watch. You never know when there can be ambushes," Leif said as the two were preparing for the invasion of Castle Velthomer. "You two go inside and defeat Manfroy, you are way better at dealing with Magic than I am, so you will be fine."
"T-Thanks Lord Leif! We'll do our best, take care! We shouldn't take too long, but if anything goes wrong make sure to run to safety," Julia said and immediately immersed herself in her thoughts. It was finally time to confront the man who ruined her life and destroyed her family. She was ready to face him; she had been preparing ever since she learned the truth, yet she was still scared.
"Julia, are you okay?" Seliph said, snapping her out of her thoughts once again. "We must go now, Manfroy is right ahead."
"Oh, sorry...I was lost in thought again, I just...I can't believe we are already this far."
"Yeah...it is a bit surreal, I must say. But it is a good thing that the war is finally coming to an end, we just need to go through this final push and Jugdral will be at peace once and for all," Seliph replied, patting Julia's shoulder. "Now let's get out there and beat the hell out of Manfroy."
With that, Julia nodded, and then they went inside the castle of Velthomer. They noticed it was filled to the brim with dark mages, which was normal at this point as most castles were flooded with them. But Velthomer in particular was just absolutely crowded with them, to which Julia readied herself to fight once more.
Fortunately, the battle was no different than the previous battles on their way to Velthomer, and shortly after, they made it to the main hall, where Manfroy was, with ease. Before they entered the room, though, Julia's confidence fell completely. She hadn't felt this scared since the night when she last saw Manfroy; "terrified" would be an understatement at that point.
She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath to calm herself, telling herself that she could do this because she could, and she would. With that in mind, she looked at Seliph, who was next to her, to which Seliph gave her a look of confidence and both of them went inside the room to confront Manfroy.
"Hehehe so you finally made it through, not bad for a Scion of Light like you!" Manfroy cackled upon seeing Seliph, then he noticed Julia. "Oh, and Princess Julia came along for the ride too! Now that is a surprise!"
"It's over, Manfroy!" Seliph shouted, gripping the handle of Tyrfing tightly.
There he was, wearing the exact same robe as that night. Despite all of her preparations, the sight of that man terrified Julia, making her freeze in shock. She had prepared herself for this moment for so long, so why was she still terrified? She was not supposed to be frozen in fear; she needed to face her fear and destroy Manfroy.
However, when she finally paid attention to her surroundings the battle had already started. She wanted to join in and help but...she couldn't even move. "Scared are we?" Manfroy said upon noticing Julia's state.
Manfroy's attempt to catch Julia's attention was quickly interrupted by Seliph who attacked the archbishop, but clearly, Manfroy had the advantage over him as he didn't get hit, not even once. Seliph was having a hard time, and all she could do was just watch? She had to do something. She was the only one left who could avenge her family, and she was the only one who could save Seliph now; she wouldn't forgive herself if she let him die due to her weakness. She took a deep breath and reached for her tome. The fear she formerly had disappeared in an instant and immediately used her Nosferatu tome to then cast a ball of light at the archbishop. "Get away from him!" She shouted and shot the spell.
Then, as though time went at lightning speed, Julia began to cast a bunch of quick light magic spells and caught Manfroy off guard, dealing great damage to the Dark Bishop, who fell to the ground, heavily weakened. Now that he was vulnerable, Seliph took the chance and attacked him with all his might, thrusting his blade in Manfroy's chest.
"Ughhh… Prince Julius, the Loptyr Empire is yours…" Manfroy said in his dying breath.
Both Seliph and Julia sighed. It was finally over. The man who had made their lives horrible was gone and the war was one step closer to coming to an end. Now there was only one thing left to do, obtain the Book of Naga. It should be somewhere around this castle, that much she knew. Seliph said he had to go check on Leif and the others, so she was all by herself on this.
Julia began to scan around the room. It was pretty much empty with little to no places to keep something hidden, as the throne was the only piece of furniture there. Plus, it would be too easy to find if it was hidden there. She remembered what her father had told her; it was hidden away underneath the castle of Velthomer. Well of course, why didn't she figure that out sooner? So with that in mind, she took the circlet from her head and analyzed it; now she just needed to figure out how to get to the castle's underground levels.
As she looked around enough, she found a room that looked like the right place and she finally went down to the ground floor of the castle. She kept looking for a chest or a highly secured place and with enough searching she found a purple case, which was decorated with golden borders and a dragon-like figure. On top of it there was a keyhole of some sort. She analysed it,looked at her circlet, and noticed the shape was similar to that of the keyhole; she carefully placed the circlet in the hole, where it fit perfectly! Then, the case opened revealing the Holy Tome of Naga.
The book itself looked a lot like the case, with the same color, a similar design, and the same dragon figure in the center of it, surrounded by what looked like a star of some sorts. She took a deep breath and slowly picked up the tome. As soon as she laid her fingers on it, a bright light shone from the book and she could feel a massive flow of energy flowing through her body, 'So this is the power of my blood…' Julia thought once the power of the book had calmed down. She could pick up the book fully now and she held it close to her.
"Oh, Mother...I promise I will use this power to save my brother…" Julia whispered. Now she needed to reunite with everyone, there was no time to lose.
But as she was making her way outside the castle, she felt a weird sensation. Like she was...remembering something. Suddenly, a much brighter light than before came from the book, and she squinted her eyes shut as the blinding light consumed her.
It was cold…much colder than any winter she had ever experienced. She was out in the open; everything within her sight was snow. Was she really going to die here? She was alone, in the middle of nowhere, no one would ever find her at this point. She didn't know how long she had left before she died due to the cold. How long had she been out in the snow-covered field anyway?
She was terrified, she remembered exactly what just happened with her brother from what seemed like seconds ago. Not only that, she couldn't move at all, it felt as though she were frozen in time; she was helpless at that point.
It wasn't long until she fell unconscious, but, somehow, she was still alive. Everything was dark, but at least she could get up now, though there was nothing to see.
Suddenly, a blinding light surrounded her; it was much stronger than anything she had ever seen. She rubbed her eyes, trying to get used to the light. Her vision was blurry, but she could tell there was someone in front of her.
"You, Princess Julia, descendant of Saint Heim, bearer of the blood of the Divine Dragon Naga."
"H-Huh? Wh-Who are you? Where are we?" Julia asked, confused, her mind going in circles wondering about what was happening.
"I am Naga, the Divine Dragon. You must be very confused, little one, but fear not, I will not harm you."
"O-Okay!" Julia simply responded and looked around, but when she was about to ask her next question, she was interrupted by the goddess in front of her.
"Allow me to explain the current situation. It is rather complicated, but it is necessary in order to avoid chaos. You are currently in the middle of the inhabited areas of the Kingdom of Silesse, and it won't be long before you die...but be assured, thanks to my power that won't be the case."
Julia tilted her head. She was confused about this whole situation, but at least she knew she wouldn't be dead anytime soon. It was reassuring.
"But who knows how long it would take for someone to run into you out here, if it even happens. I know I shouldn't interfere with humans but...I shall allow it just this once," The divine dragon continued. "I will use my power to keep you alive for as long as it is necessary, but I will ask for something in exchange."
"Wh-What is it? I-I have no idea what to even do to repay such a favor as this…" Julia said, looking down.
"I'm sure you are familiar with what happened before you ended up here. The Dark Dragon, Loptyr, has been resurrected and the vessel is your very own brother, Julius. You are the only one who can stop him from bringing darkness to the world...that is why, in exchange, I ask of you to stop Loptyr when the time comes."
"I-I...I don't know if I could kill my brother...but if it is what must be done, I'll do my best. I promise."
"I know this is a heavy weight I'm putting on your shoulders, but you have my thanks, little one. I admire your courage and valor to put up with such a task; you are truly worthy of my blessing."
"I-I'm honored to receive such praise from you!" Julia exclaimed nervously. "B-But what will happen to me after I come back to reality? How am I going to defeat my brother…?"
"You will fall into a deep slumber until the time is right. Unfortunately, you will forget all about our encounter and your memories from your past will be foggy, so it would be useless to grant you the solution now; that is something you must figure out yourself. But I'm confident you will succeed. I have faith in you, young crusader of light."
"I-I understand…" Julia simply replied, unsure of what to say next.
"Our time is running out, but I will tell you one more thing...I shall allow you to recover your memories gradually as time continues. You must be prepared, though, as some of your memories will be difficult to handle. Yet, they will be useful to you in order to grow," The Divine Dragon said. "But I am afraid that is all you need to be aware of. Now, Julia, you must be ready for what is to come, I entrust you with the fate of humanity." Naga let out a small giggle, which felt weird after seeing her acting all serious. "Take utmost care, Julia. May the light guide you."
And with that, everything went dark once again.