All eyes returned to the two docks and the pair behind them.

Naofumi turned his gaze to the right and smiled at Raphtalia as she beamed back at him. He raised a brow when she met his eye though. They appeared red from what he could guess were tears, but before he could ask there was a brilliant flash of lightning followed by a loud peal of booming thunder.

Everyone jolted and glanced out the open windows to their right. The skies were clear and blue, yet there was no mistaking the arch of lightning bolts dancing across the sky. The deepening 'booms' of thunder left little room for doubt, but he still couldn't believe it.

"Mother?"

He turned to look at his mother's calm face as she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"He always did make a powerful entry."

She muttered too softly for any but he and Draak to hear.

So he was here, he followed mother through the power they shared.

"Master, what is it?"

Naofumi's grip slackened on his Keeper's hand as he shakily walked up to an open window. He had just arrived when a particularly powerful bolt of electricity landed just outside the window sill, shortly followed by a particularly powerful 'boom' that had his cape fluttering behind him slightly. Turning back he saw Draak hugging tightly to his mother's dress as she did her best to comfort him, Melty was moving closer to her own mother's throne. The Queen had sat forward and hugged her close while looking at him with fearful eyes. Raphtalia only brought her hands up to his Heart as she eyed him worriedly.

"Father is very angry."


Raphtalia blinked. Had Master Naofumi just said what she thought he did? There was a sudden sharp chill blown from the right, behind the throne. Curiosity overwhelming her caution, she walked forward to the darkness once again before a deep voice echoed out from it.

"Angry is the smallest word for what I am."

Raphtalia stopped as a blazing blue sapphire fixed squarely on her. One of Master Naofumi's eyes was as large as her head, this one eye was as tall as she was and as wide as she was tall.

She felt her heartbeat accelerate and nearly screamed, but she remembered something Lady Iwatani told her just before they returned from their impromptu discussion.

'You have a talent for the shadows, couple that with your newfound ability and you will become an unstoppable force to match the immovable will of my only son.'

Raphtalia focused on her shadow and concentrated her mana into what she wanted it to do.

"Rursus!"

She didn't even realize she had spoken another language, but it seemed to have done something. The eye blinked as though a puff of wind had blown at it. She froze, her breath coming out in soft, sharp pants as her hands remained raised. Then she heard a faint grinding sound that gradually grew louder.

It took her a moment for her ears to interpret the sound as laughter, which was shortly followed by a steady clapping. Out of the shadows where the sapphire eye had been a man walked towards her. She didn't even notice that the thunder and lightning had stopped, her attention focused on the older gentleman in front of her as he walked up.

He had sharp features that seemed to match his magnificent sapphire eyes. His coal-black hair hung behind him in a neatly done ponytail but there was also grey streaking his temples. He wore a mix between a kind of armor and a royal robe, but it left space for his tail to trail along behind him. She soon began putting two and two together. His appearance alone was enough of a clue for her.

She stepped back and curtsied to him.

"Emperor Iwatani."

She felt a gentle hand tip her chin up to look at him, she braced to see him angry for attacking him. But when she looked up he was smiling.

"I can tell I will like you very much. Thank you for your greeting Keeper. Please, may I see my son's Heart?"

Shyly, Raphtalia produced the pulsing ruby and eyed Lord Iwatani as he gently ran a finger over it.

"I spent so many centuries, praying for this day where he would find you."

Raphtalia blinked, was Lord Iwatani crying? The next thing she knew he was hugging her close. Raphtalia blinked a few times before she smiled and hugged him back. Releasing her with a soft pat, she turned back and blinked at seeing Master and Draak kneeling on the ground.

Both were on their right knee, their left hand resting just above their left knee, while their right fist remained planted in the ground. Lord Iwatani sighed tiredly, making her wonder if Master Naofumi ever acted outside of his usual stoic persona like Melty often did from time to time. She would ask Master later, once the trial ended. She looked on as Lord Iwatani walked up to his son.

"Father Emperor."

Naofumi spoke keeping his eyes down, his father seemed annoyed by his son's actions and pulled him up into a hug.

"My son."

Naofumi seemed stunned for a moment before hugging him back.

"Father."

Raphtalia smiled as father and son embraced for what was probably the first time in months for them, while Draak scrambled up her back to his perch on her shoulders again. Lord Iwatani stepped back and patted Naofumi's head, making her realize that his father was a head taller than he was.

Naofumi huffed and shot his father an annoyed look as he rubbed his head, there was more than one snicker in the room. Despite the dark atmosphere before, brought about due to all the revelations of the royals and their crimes against their kingdom, everyone chuckled in nostalgia. Either doing the same to their children or being on the receiving end of such.

Naofumi walked up to the throne again, stepping off to the side as he held out a hand to his father.

"Queen Mirellia Q. Melromarc, Future Queen Melty Q. Melromarc, Raphtalia, Draak. Let me present Lord father, Dragon Emperor Takeshi Iwatani. The Thunder's Roar."

Takeshi calmly walked up to the throne and held out his left hand to Mirellia. Unsure what to do next, the Queen looked to Naofumi who gave a subtle nod. She placed her left hand in his and blinked in surprise as the Emperor bowed and placed a chaste kiss on the backside of her hand.

"Hail to you Young Queen and Young Queen to come."

He spoke evenly as he turned and bowed to Melty in respect.

The former King of course chose then to open his mouth.

"You filthy animal! How dare you lay hands on my -"

The rest of his sentence cut off as a powerful bolt of lightning crashed just in front of his dock. Aultcry fell back and lost control over his bladder at the smoldering crater just in front of the wooden dock.

Raphtalia suddenly found Lord Iwatani's title of 'The Thunder's Roar,' very proper.

"That is your only warning from me, honor-thief. Whatever power or protection you thought you had is gone now, speak out of turn in front of me again and not even your ashes will be found in Hell."

His hiss was so cold that Raphtalia felt herself reaching up to rub her arms. No one had that effect on her since her meeting with Glass. Draak seemed similarly affected as he hunkered down behind her.

"They're gonna get it now Big Sis."

She turned her head as best she could and gave Draak a confused look.

"When those meanies accused Da of something he didn't do, they stole his honor. Dragons take that kind of crime personally. You don't just steal that Dragon's honor, you steal that of his entire clan."

Raphtalia's eyes widened as her mind raced again.

'So when the King stole Master's honor by disgracing and publicly humiliating him, he stole...Lord Iwatani's.'

Raphtalia suddenly felt the tiniest hint of sympathy for the two beings most responsible for ruining Master's life. Now they had his irate father to pacify.


"I take that I have arrived at the end of their trial Young Queen?"

Mirellia could only nod, as her mind raced. Naofumi she held a pact with, but the Emperor was a wildcard and held no qualms over enacting the death of two members of her family.

"What is the verdict you have passed?"

Mirellia mustered up all of her willpower to keep her voice steady.

"Death, Emperor Iwatani."

His warm eyes became cold and calculating. When she and Lord Naofumi had made their pact, he had warned her of both his parents. When it came time to expose the inner decay of her kingdom, her best chance was to plead for those she wished to save to his mother. Trying to persuade his father was like trying to talk back a flood or a storm. He was a force of nature and could not be swayed from his course once he had it set.

"If their lives are truly given up."

Mirellia looked up as Emperor Iwatani spoke up, his eyes becoming sharper than the Holy Sword.

"Then if you so wish Young Queen, I demand the right of our kind, Tentatio honorem."

Mirellia turned to Lord Naofumi for a translation.

"Father is demanding an Honor Trial. Both I and my accusers stand before him, our crimes spoke aloud for the winds to hear, the Emperor then calls down Heaven's Light on both sides. Those who live are innocent, those who die are guilty."

Mirellia looked down while her court erupted into chaos at the prospect. For no reason, her eyes shifted to Lady Iwatani and blinked again in surprise when she saw her staring back. Lady Iwatani gave the tiniest of nods to her and walked over to her husband's side.

Mirellia closed her eyes and summoned up her will once more. Lord Naofumi had not gone back on his word to her, and for all that happened to him, he had every right to. Would it harm her so much to extend that trust back to him in kind?

Opening her eyes and giving a sharp glare to her two former family members, she spoke in a sharp clear voice over the din of the court.

"I accept the terms of the Honor Trial. May the former King Consort and First Princess be judged so."