Ilia takes both her hands, forming two O-shaped loops with her thumb and index finger, and generate two pieces of glass within the loops. Separating her hands to enhance her vision, she scopes out the first camp she and Mia come across. Sure enough, just outside the fence of the camp is an orangish-black giant. She only got a glimpse of them during the war, so her knowledge of the large demihumans is based on stories from childhood and from Medina's days in the ACTF. She hadn't consulted Mia yet.

"Well, Illy?"

"There's the first tent...and looks like there's a giant here." She moves her hands to let Mia look through the glasses. "Well, do you know of these giants?"

"Kinda small for a giant, in my experience. Based on our intel, there was a colossal shadow, so a bigger one must be around here somewhere."

"Tch..."

"Did you just 'tch'? Wow, you are Medina's apprentice! Do it again!"

Ilia ignores Mia's commentary and casts off the glassware. "This is going to be a bother. Let's take down this giant first. From the front!"

Taking a serious, dark face, Mia reaches for the bow on her back. "I'll provide cover fire from here. You get close and slay it. Easy peasy... What?"

Ilia has a deep feeling Mia just doesn't want to be up close with a giant, and if anyone should know how to fight one, it should be the one who lives in the same place. She decides against arguing with the dark worlder and pushes herself off the sandy slope. As she slides down, Mia begins to shoot. Her shots miss, striking the sand around the giant-or alternatively, her shots hit their mark, kicking up the sand around the giant to surprise it.

The distraction proves worthwhile as the giant is distracted long enough for Ilia to complete her trip down the slope and dash on her feet. Ilia now in its sights, the Pebblestone Giant roars angrily at the advancing girl, just for more purple arrows to make their mark on it. Now close enough to attack, Ilia leaps in the air and swings, cleanly slicing off the giant's head. She almost feels bad for the poor humanoid. Almost.

She sees a fiery flare shoot up from Mia's position, alerting the Quicksanders that the first tent is secure. If all the giants were this easy, it would be nice, yet Ilia believes that's illogical.

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"That one went down easy."

Ilia nods as she lights the second signal for the desert dwellers. "And was hungry. He ate the Quicksanders' rations."

"Stupid giants."

Ilia feels there is more to the negativity of Mia's insult than it seems. "You have a problem with the giants? I mean, I see why demihumans hate both humans here and in Obsidia, but-"

"You may think all the humans in the dark territory live in Obsidia, but that's false. I wasn't born in the capital, so don't lump me in with them. If you believe the giants are victims of humans believing themselves superior, then you're wrong. The Dark Territory is defined by its strength, and it was humanity's strength that award us Obsidia. Yes, the giants, the orcs, and the goblins have a good reason to hate us, but what of us humans who suffer in the wastelands with them? Adults struggle to make ends meet. Children starving, orphaned, and enslaved. The little we have were taken by monsters. The little the Quicksanders have was robbed by them. It's not right for beings like us to take from those who struggle to survive."

"Mia..."

"So to say I shouldn't hate them kinda makes you hypocritical, right? You were in the army, ready to defend your home against my people, just like I had to. That's why I support Jaymes on whatever he plans to do if it stops making children suffer for the sins of monsters, both man and beast."

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The third one, despite its larger size, fell with slight difficulty. Mia continued to use her bow instead of her sword, which now Ilia appreciates as it allows her to attack without any other concerns. Well, there is one concern, and that's Mia's wellbeing. She's grown quiet and angry, and Ilia doesn't know how to approach it.

If Medina was here, what would she do? Let Mia's anger get her through the mission, or try to calm and clear her head before proceeding? If so, how? Ilia isn't close to the girl, despite spending a good amount of time with her. They've been running around the desert for almost two hours now, and around an entire day since they last saw Medina. If only there was training at the cathedral for handling people...

She thinks about what to do while fighting the fourth giant and after lighting the signal. They make their march to the southwest desert, her head occupied with scenarios and calculations to best approach Mia on a personal topic when Mia calls her name softly. "Ilia."

Ilia turns around, seeing Mia stand still and stare at the sand to her right. "What is it?"

"Look at this."

Ilia walks over to Mia, seeing what she's seeing. It's barely prominent, but the shape is unmistakable. A giant, oblong-shaped depression in the sand along with five smaller, round shapes in front of it. "A footprint?"

"And not just one." Mia points behind the print, where several others, more than a couple of feet apart, are present. "That must be the chief of the Pebblestone Giants."

"It'd have to be...thirty, forty mels high, maybe more. The largest part of the print is as big as us alone."

"You're pretty calm for a noble girl whose only knowledge of giants were bedtime stories."

"I... I am either so afraid I don't know how to react, or so emotionless I don't know how else to react." Ilia bites her lip and follows the trail of the footsteps, heading in the direction in which they came. "Just to ask, if that thing hit us..."

Mia shrugs. "I don't know if I want to say it, even jokingly. It is not a pleasant thought."

"...I see. Maybe... No, we have to take it down. It's foolishness to think we can do it ourselves, but...we're already getting scolded by Lady Medina. And Sir Deusolbert, Commander Fanatio... Ronie and Tiese won't believe how I've been acting."

Mia giggles, and for once, Ilia's happy to hear something normal from her companion. "I'll sing your praises if we live so you won't in that much trouble. But yeah, you're screwed."

"Heh...thanks."

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After executing the last of the giants and freeing the last outpost, the girls returned to the Quicksanders' camp and informed their chief of the good news. Though they were doing their best to deny a reward, they were coerced into it. In the meantime, Mia decided to get some rest as the foreign environment wore her out. Ilia understood and decided to examine the camp before heading outside.

She still hadn't talked to Mia, but it doesn't matter now. Right now, she thinks of where Medina could be, what she's thinking. Is she searching for the younger girls, or is there another development? Did she encounter a First Child? Eydis? So many questions...no one to answer them.

Thinking of her two friends back home, she bets Tiese is getting Ronie into some trouble to make up for Ilia's absence. It makes her smile thinking that...and her legs shake. Wait a moment, that doesn't make sense. She turns her head to the desert. "I hear something..." She believes it to be thunder at first, but that's impossible given the blue skies. It sounds like...an earthquake? No. Footsteps.

Footsteps!

Ilia turns back to the camp, about to call Mia's name, but the dark worlder is already out the gate. "Those are footsteps, aren't they?"

"Yeah."

"Thought so. I recognize that sound anywhere."

"Brave swordswomen!" A man around their age runs up to them from the desert, dropping to his knees. "Help! The departing merchants are under attack!"

"Giants? What of the others?"

"Eight of them fell behind and the giants are destroying the mouth of the cave."

Mia grits her teeth. "If we don't hurry, they'll be buried alive!" Ilia nods and runs from the gate, Mia and the boy hot on her heels. She doesn't think she's ever run this fast in her life, but if she goes any slower, those merchants will die. It takes them a few minutes, but once they arrive, they're met with a reddish-orange and black horned giant, the largest of its kind. Its club was large enough to splatter their bodies across the sands.

"Mia, no time to make a plan. The cave is still intact-we can save them!"

"Got it!" Mia raises her bow and conjures four arrows from thin air. Releasing them at once, they make small explosive impacts on the giant's body. It roars in fury as it spots the blonde girl drawing her sword on her approach, and raises its foot, stomping the ground. The shockwave causes Ilia to stumble but manages to maintain her footing and continues to run.

The club is slammed down on the ground, kicking up a veil of sand that gets all over Ilia, She ignores it while dodging the club and spins her body, using the momentum for a slicing attack on the right wrist of the giant. It's not deep, but it causes some pain to the monster. It counters with a slight swing of its club, but for Ilia, it felt like a full-force attack. She blocks most of that force, but she's still knocked off her feet. Even worse, there was a metallic snap. In her hand is the standard-issue steel sword of the army, and just a few feet away is half of the broken blade.

"Ilia!" Mia rapidly fires a flurry of shots, gaining the giant's attention. It slams its club on the ground again, creating a ripple that launches Mia off her feet. The giant, with its thundering footsteps, slowly makes its way toward Mia, leaving Ilia unsure of what to do. Mia has an ace up her sleeve, but that means she'll need time to charge it up. Time she won't have if she cannot concentrate on her Perfect Weapon Control. Ilia has to do something...

"System Call! Generate Crystalline Element! Javelin Shape! Discharge!" Six crystal javelins shoot out from the ground, penetrating the giant's feet. Angry wails come from the giant as it repeatedly shakes the desert with slams from the club. Ilia covers her face from the airborne debris and gets to her feet. The giant tries to break its imprisonment from the javelins, so it gives Ilia some time to search for Mia. The archer is supine on the desert ground, scooting back from the fierce enemy.

"Mia! Use your bow's power! I'll give you as much time as you need." Not waiting on a reply, Ilia holds her hands up again. "System Call! Generate Aerial Element! Curve Shape! Discharge!" Fine, curved blades made of air are launched at the giant's back. It yelps as its back is cut and growls as it turns in Ilia's direction. She instinctively reaches for her sword, forgetting that it's broken, and feels the other weapon at her waist, the dagger from Illfang the Kobold Lord. She unsheathes it and holds it in front of her, unsure of what it can do against a being like the giant. She might as well use a kitchen knife.

"If only this was a sword..." Ilia repeats that phrase in her head as she once again dodges the swinging club. If this was a sword, there's a chance she could immobilize the giant long enough for Mia to shoot. "I need a sword, I need a sword... Why can't you change into a sword right now!"

Light flashes in front of Ilia, causing her to look away and her right arm to drop from a weight heavier than the dagger. She looks at her hand, gasping at the extravagant broadsword in place of it. The hilt is shaped like a yellow flower with a white stem, and the center of the flower extends into a blue blade. She doesn't understand what happened to the dagger that it changed into a sword...was her willpower so strong at this moment that it happened on that alone?

She sees a shadow over her and leaps back, narrowly dodging the giant's wounded foot. Holding her shoulder up, it bursts with a dark blue aura. As if the sword is guiding her, Ilia leaps toward the giant, swinging her sword down and then back up in the air. Along the ground, several spikes of ice shoot up, rupturing through the sand and feet of the giant, causing greater damage than before. The giant painfully cries out as it drops to its knees. Unsure of what just happened, she looks in Mia's direction. "Now!"

"Enhance Armament!" Mia runs towards the bowing giant and slides along the sand, stopping herself just as the tip of the charging arrow is aligned inches from the middle of the giant's eyes. "Resonance!" Blood and energy erupt from Mia's attack, dropping Ilia back on her romp. She's sure this fight alone will have her searching for sand around her body for weeks, but... it's better than being soaked in blood.

Which almost brings a laughing smile to Ilia's face as Mia comes from under the giant as if she dove into a river of blood. Mia looks disgusted, then washes some of that blood off her head with an Aqueous art. She gets a look at Ilia, and that breaks the Norlangathian. "...Heh...hehe...hahaha!"

"What's so funny?"

"Ahem. Nothing." She stands up, grabbing her new sword, and sticking it in her scabbard. It fits perfectly, so she's happy she won't have to hold the weapon until she gets a new one. "Anyway-"

"GRRRAAAHHH! Bested by...minuscule humans..."

Ilia's eyes dart towards the giant, who manages to push itself up to a bowing position while blood pours from the wound in its head. But furthermore, "It-It can talk?"

"GAH...HAGH..." Now it collapses, and the pair of girls for a solid minute to make sure it stays dead.

"As hard as that battle was... We won, Mia."

"That's not the giant, though. The one that made the footprints."

"You're right... Dammit. We have to find it... Or not." More footsteps echoed across the desert, and their heads turn immediately in the same direction.

The Quicksanders' campsite.

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This giant is definitely the one who made those footprints. Ilia and Mia are halfway to the camp when they catch up to the giant...giant. "Okay, I've never seen a giant this b-b-big!"

"Mia, I don't think we should take this one lightly. We may need a strategy."

"Oh yeah? What you got?"

"We can start by chasing after it."

Mia looks at Ilia's feet, glued in place to the sand. "Yo-You wanna go first?"

Ilia shakes her head and gestures for Mia to take the lead. "After you."

"So a ghost, a headless horseman, and the First Children didn't scare you, but this giant does? I thought highly of you, Illy."

"They weren't a walking mountain! Urgh, come on! Jaymes and Medina wouldn't freeze up here, so we can't fail them as their students. We got to...do something! If anything, we save the Quicksanders!" Ilia forces her legs to move, and that's when the mountainous giant takes notice of her and Mia. With a mighty roar, wind and sand are expelled against them, and a mighty crack of thunder sends them flying.

"Peh... Yuck... Okay, I've had enough of these giants." Mia shakes her head and grabs the Loveblight Bow, aiming up at the giant. She looks back at Ilia, who holds her new blade out. "Oh, nice blade, where you get it?"

"Not the time."

"Wait, is that where the ice came from. Can you do it again?"

"...Maybe."

Mia nods. "Good. Do whatever comes to your mind. We'll make it up as we go." Ilia gets up and draws her sword. Seeing the order in Mia's eyes to advance, she runs towards the giant, using her free hand to conjure up more arts. "Generate Luminous Element! Arrow Shape! Discharge!" Arrows of light pop in the giant's face, blinding it. As it roars and tries to get its sight back, Mia takes aim.

"Resonance!" The charged purple arrow darts across the air, making an impact on the giant's chest. It doesn't fully penetrate, but the wound does plenty of damage that the giant cries out and stumbles backward. Ilia holds her sword up again and tries to do what Mia and the other knights do with their Divine Weapons.

"Enhance Armament!" Her sword responds, and the dark blue aura returns. She swings in a straight line, and more ice crystals rise from the sands under the giant's feet, causing the giant to lose its footing and topple down on its back. Seemingly defeated, Ilia gathers her breath while Mia leaps on the chest of the titan, her bow charging another arrow with great power.

"Why are you attacking humans! Speak, giant!"

"...A powerful...human woman in silver armor slew our king, and ordered us to destroy all humans."

Ilia frowns. "A human woman in silver armor... You don't mean a First Child?"

"You may...have best me, but she will...Nghhh..." The giant breathes its last, and Mia leaps off as it dissolves into resources. As her feet make contact with sand, Mia turns on her heels, her fists tight.

"They didn't deserve this."

"Mia?"

"You probably wonder what I have against the giants. Truthfully, it's nothing personal. I wasn't born in Obsidia, but my family didn't live in remote regions either. We were well off. It's just... When Lipia became a knight, she sought to change things in our realm. We were born after a peace treaty outlawed slavery, but in the remote areas, slavery was a way of life. And even though humans might have been seen as the highest power, there were places where demihumans overruled that. To protect children from that fate, she managed an orphanage for a few years. And Commander Shasta, I heard he was a...friend of the former Knight Commander Bercouli, even heard Eydis met both the ex-commander and my sister once. They wanted peace and had they known Administrator fell earlier, maybe it could have happened earlier. Maybe Lipia would be alive to take care of those kids. But to change all of that would have required them to eliminate the opposition. The orc chief, the two goblin chiefs, and the chancellor of the dark mages. Possibly even more."

She sighs and looks towards the east, her sight far beyond the canyon. "Even now, there are those who oppose Jaymes, and if they find out he's incapacitated, chaos could ensue. Iskhan's doing all he can, but... If the First Children continue to interfere in the peace we're still trying to build, I have to honor the wish of my sister and the commander and take them out!"

Ilia walks over to her companion and takes hold of her shoulder. "We will protect the peace, Mia. The first step is bringing back your emperor. But I think we've exceeded our limit on what we can and can't handle by ourselves. Let's head back to town and report everything to Medina."

"Let's go!"

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"Seems the runts have gotten stronger. No matter. Use them as you see fit, Eydis."

Eydis looks up from the canyon floor outside the nomad's camp to Eva, who has spent the entire day observing Medina and Jaymes' apprentices running around the desert, Eydis had grown bored of the entire ordeal, but the First Child seemed to be enjoying herself until now. "What now?"

"You kill the Orthinanos girl, and the brats are up to you. I have business with Primus and Stella. Seems some...rats had come and snuck around. Maybe now we can get the Swordsman Delegate and his lady to come to us." Eva snaps her fiinger, and a swirling hole of darkness appears in front of her. She turns her head to Eydis, a wicked smile underneath her dark hair. "Do well, Knight of the Abyss, and revenge is yours." Eydis has no response as Eva vanishes, then turns her gaze back to the desert floor, where the two girls bid farewell to the nomads and make their way back east to town. She pivots on her heel and walks to the grey and black dragon behind her.

Medina did not come and search for the girls, so if the Lycoris Knight won't come to Eydis, Eydis will bait her former friend out. "Kirimai, let's go."