Author's Note: Zesshi Zetsumei's story continues.

Zesshi gulped, but the lump of unease that had formed in her throat remained.

There was no attack forthcoming from Havi. The clouds darkened overhead. Angry thunder shook the skies. Zesshi's right eye began twitching intermittently. She pushed down her nervousness and irritation with a feigned smile. "I see your game." And Certain Death advanced, slowly, scythe in hand.

Havi did not move.

I'll open as I usually would; sweep the legs out from underneath him, and point my spear blade at the throat or heart, whichever is more convenient to threaten. Then he'll forfeit. She picked up the pace, preparing herself for the first attack, and ready to receive any counterattacks of Havi's.

Havi remained still.

Zesshi swung her weapon low, as planned. There was only a skidding sound as its blade struck the ground, and nothing else. Havi had vanished completely.

She spun around, preparing to ward off a blow from behind. It never came. There Havi was, out of striking range, arms crossed. He had simply appeared there.

Gasps and cries of astonishment erupted from the spectator stands.

"How did he-"

"Teleportation, but no incantation?! A new form of metamagic?"

"Incredible!"

"Come on, Lady Zesshi!"

"Beat him down!"

"You can't magic your way out of this, old man!"

Havi sighed. "Don't really have time for this…" He waved his hand dismissively. "【Halda】."

A magic circle of dancing runes appeared around Zesshi's feet. In that instant, Zesshi felt like a marionette. She dropped her scythe and fell to one knee, using the opposite arm as support. What… is this? I can't move… I have to try and… ugh! I can't even cast a spell, not that any of them would help in this situation. It's like my brain's been disconnected from my body completely. But I've still got–

"[Einherjar!]"

A ball of white light appeared next to Zesshi, before morphing into a duplicate of herself, bleached white, unbound by Havi's magic. It moved quickly, taking up the fallen scythe in its hands and charging at Havi with it. The old man cocked an eyebrow at the unexpected move. A purple glow shone from his hands, leaving in its place an intricate wand of pale wood. He pulled both ends apart, and the wand expanded out to the size of a staff, which he then grasped with both hands, angling downward slightly to assume a defensive posture against the oncoming Einheri.

As the summon slashed forward with the scythe, Havi vanished in a flash of violet light, reappearing behind the Einheri. Energy of the same color shot forward from the head of his staff, materializing into a spearhead as Havi stabbed it into the back of Zesshi's Einheri. The sheer force of the attack pushed the specter to the ground.

"【Glettings bára】!" Havi plunged the blade of his weapon into the ground as he uttered the incantation. Purple energy exploded out in all directions from the spear.

Before the magic could strike the summoned construct, it rolled out of the way, regaining its footing. The Einheri barrelled forward to attack once again. Again, Havi teleported, stabbing his spear into the construct's back again. It collapsed, dissolving into shining particles of dust.

The old man sighed, collapsing his staff and stowing it away. He walked up to Zesshi quietly, stooping slightly to talk down to her.

"Listen. Make this easy for yourself. Just forfeit so we can get this over with, okay?"

"..."

"This'll be as difficult for you as you want it to be."

Zesshi glared back at Havi. She knew now that the innocent old man routine of his was just that. A routine.

"..."

"It's two words. Super easy. Come on."

I've got a choice of evils here. I either risk the wrath of this old man or the disappointment of the Council for surrendering. Well… better the devil you know.

"... I… forfeit."

"Good. Oh, and, uh, don't call me senile."

He heard that… Why would a monster wear such an unassuming form?

Havi stood back up, approaching the benches where the Council and the Black Scripture stared at him, slack-jawed.

"How did…"

"... Monster…"

"Gods…"

"Six save us…"

Havi dusted himself off. "You, uh, Pontiff or whatever they call you, I trust you're satisfied with this little test of yours? Any more parlor tricks that need doing?"

The Pontiff, himself an old man, stood up uneasily. "H-H-Havi… no, no, Lord Havi. I implore you to accept our most humble apologies for what must have been a grave affront to you. It is the nature of us mortals to have skepticism for the unknowns that we have not ourselves seen. We-"

"Don't sweat it."

"What of the girl, Lord Havi?"

"Her?" Havi gestured to Zesshi, still bound by his spell. "Oh, right…" He waved his hand, and the magic circle holding Zesshi down disappeared. "That brings me to what I need from you. I'll need to borrow both of your Godkin for a while."

The Pontiff bowed slightly. "We… must honor your request, but wish to inform you that they are a vital part of our national defense. Especially with such beings as the Sorcerer King at large, it will cause grave anxiety over whether our nation can survive. If there is any alternative, we ask that such an option be explored first."

"There isn't one. I'll send them back at the first sign of trouble, with some help. In fact, I'll handle two of your big problem areas right away, since I have the resources to spare." The old man turned away slightly as if to call for a pet. "Thor, where are you?!"

A swirling conspiracy of ravens appeared next to Havi, soon dissipating to reveal what could only be called a giant. A vast, hulking man with wild red hair. Holstered on his left side was a hammer that looked like it could crack the world like an egg if swung too hard. "Allfather?" He spoke in a husky, tired-sounding voice.

Havi's brows furrowed as he faced Thor, muttering to him in a low voice. "You skipping the mead again?"

"I promised the wife."

"Be that way, then." Havi returned his attention to the Council members, most of whom were slowly trying to make an exit. "Wait there, I'm not done with you yet. You, Pontiff, Cardinals, you other people. Gather around, I've got a plan."

In a few minutes, Havi's order had been obeyed. "Alright, alright, give me some space. I bought myself a map of the region, and I take it you have two major problem areas, three, counting the undead king, right?"

The Cardinals nodded sheepishly.

"Right. Oh, this is Thor, by the way. I'll have him deal with Problem Area 1: the… Argland Council State, yes?" Havi looked at his towering retainer. "You know the drill."

Thor nodded. "Right." The swarm of ravens appeared again, taking the mountainous man with them.

"Okay, next is Problem Area 2: the Elven Kingdom. I'll-"

"Havi." The old man turned to see who had called him by name. It was Zesshi. "How you deal with the other elves does not matter. I want to deal with the king myself, when the time comes."

In puzzlement, Havi scratched what little hair he had on his head."That… was the plan, actually. We'll have your Theocracy's forces wrap things up. Once that and Argland are taken care of, I'll borrow you and Sigevert for some of my own projects. Fair?"

"L-L-Lord Havi…" stammered the Pontiff. "We are grateful for your generosity."

"I said don't sweat it."

The Grand Marshall cleared his throat, politely. "Havi… er, Lord Havi. I serve as the military leader and strategist for this nation. In regards to the Elves, we've had a decisive offensive against their capital city in the works for some time now to end the war. We're practically ready to begin within the next few days."

"Are you? That's good… good. Proceed then. I'll join your forces at their camp then, and offer what help I can. Anything else? Oh, don't worry about putting me down for your Black Scripture or what have you. I've rather lost interest in joining. Now for real, anything else?" Havi looked around for questions, flattery, and so on. "Seeing that there isn't, I'll be heading out then. Until next time, Zesshi…" A swarm of black birds appeared around the old man, leaving nothing but silence behind.

The Pontiff flopped into one of the amphitheatre seats, clutching at his heart.

"GODS! Gods, what have we done?!" cried out Cardinal Guelphi.

The whole amphitheatre erupted into a chaotic sea of angry and frightened voices in response. Zesshi took the opportunity to slip away, unnoticed.

"QUIET!" roared Cardinal Lauransan, calming that sea. He breathed deeply. "I think we should consider ourselves lucky to be alive."

"Lucky? Lucky? What's so 'lucky' about a monster like that waltzing into our midst, thrashing our strongest champion like some schoolyard delinquent, and leaving like he owns this place?!" retorted Cardinal Partouche.

"We're still alive. Humanity endures. The Theocracy exists. We all read the Thousand-Leagues Astrologer's visions of the Sorcerer King at the Plains of Katze," answered the Pontiff, having recovered something of himself. "In light of a worse outcome, I'd say we got a bargain. Better a vanquished Godkin, than 180,000 people butchered."

"Did you not see, Your Holiness? The Bane of Jaldabaoth is his servant!"

"I saw, Grand Marshall."

"Your Holiness, I wish to ask, what do we do now? How do we proceed?"

"Always thinking of the future, as expected of the Research Director. I fear our future is fully in the hands of Havi."

{Two days later…}

The Elven Kingdom's tree-crowned capital, Crescent Lake, lay deep within the jungle forest of Evasha, far south of the Slane Theocracy, sitting at one end of a crescent-shaped body of water after which the city was named. A wide dirt highway cut a straight line through the forest, the road being a creation of the invading Theocracy forces. Many tall and ancient trees were chopped down, uprooted, and burned to make way for the invading army, which pitched camp at the opposite end of the lake from the city. Many more trees were felled to fortify the camp with a stockade, open up the area around it, and build siege engines.

A secluded but well-furnished tent was set out for Zesshi in the central stockade of the war camp. While a military cot was far less spacious than the bed in her usual quarters in Silxuntex, it was still rather comfortable. Not that that was on Zesshi's mind at all. Or much of anything else, for that matter. Two days was not long enough for her to process the defeat.

Defeat was not as painful as she thought it might have been. Infinite Magic, who visited her again soon afterwards to deliver another message, remained just as servile and deferential as ever towards her. Using her as the courier, the Council passed along another 'invitation' for Zesshi to join the attack on Crescent Lake, otherwise acting as if nothing had happened at all. There was an almost peaceful, blissful numbness inside her head since that day. Zesshi wanted to laugh at nothing for no reason.

Zesshi pinched herself occasionally ever since leaving the Black Scripture's training arena in the capital, wondering if she might wake up and find this all to be a dream. Or was it a nightmare? The thought that this was all some sort of dream was the only one to break through the numbing haze that lay heavily upon her in the darkness of her tent.

Soon the sun would rise, and with it, the final offensive against the tree-dwelling Elves and their King would begin.

{The Great Palace of Crescent Lake…}

A flurry of dark feathers and the gentle croaking of ravens brought Zesshi and Havi into some unknown chamber of the palace, which could more accurately be described as a gigantic tree, with chambers carved out inside the trunk and the massive branches. The floor seemed to be covered in simple dirt.

"You sure you didn't want to bring Sigevert along for this?" asked Havi with uncertainty in his voice.

"He insisted on leading the main assault on the city with the troops. They will need a leader for their battle today."

"Got it. Oh, and uh, you're not mad about the whole duel thing, right?"

"No. This is the seventh apology for that just from today. Please drop the matter, Havi."

"Really? That's good to hear."

"Hm."

"Right… So this Elf King's reputation precedes him, it seems like, so I know a few things, but, what do you know about this that I should know? I want to hear your perspective. Maybe just the history between you two, for a start." The two of them began to make their way out of the initial chamber, and into the palace corridors, hewn from the branches of that great tree.

"His name is Decem Hougan. The history between us starts and ends today. With his death."

"Can I ask why? I doubt you woke up one day thinking someone living so far away has to die, did you?"

"..."

"Ah, so it's personal. I get it. Just to throw that out there, I'm pretty good at keeping confidence and such. Feel free to talk to me, if there's anything on your mind. Having confided in a few people here and there myself, I can confirm it's therapeutic. Helps clear the mind of things."

"..."

Nothing was said for some time.

"He imprisoned her. Raped her."

"He what?"

"Hougan. My father. He raped Ma– my mother, Faine."

It was Havi's turn to be speechless. After some moments, he nodded in understanding. "So it's her you're fighting for today. That's very noble."

"She told me to kill him. Before she died."

"Forgive me. She's in a better place now, I'm sure."

"I hope not."

"What?"

"You see my face? My eyes? My complexion? All of this I got from Father. I cannot imagine how Ma– my mother felt. How it felt seeing a reminder of what Father did to her. Every single day. She hated me for it."

Havi processed this information for a moment. "And she took that hatred out on you, didn't she?"

"..."

"As a child?"

"..."

"That… that's a lot. Way more than anyone should have to endure. It's… it's just monstrous." Zesshi noted a growing anger in Havi's voice as he spoke on. "You didn't ask for any of that to happen. What happened to her, what happened to you. In the end, despite being the only innocent one out of the three, you're the one who suffered the most… what a despicable world this is!"

"It would have been fine if I was not so sensitive. If I had–"

"Bullshit. That woman must have told you lies like that to justify doing whatever she wanted to you, and being her child under her control, you believed it. I don't blame you for that, and that's the worst thing about this! You were just a child then, a convenient and defenseless target. What could you have even done in that situation?"

Zesshi paused in partial shock at her past words to the old man. Why am I telling him all this, so suddenly? I must be nervous, being so close to dealing with Father… It's weakening the filter between brain and mouth. Or is it Havi's presence that's making me forget myself? "Forgive me, Havi. I… spoke too much."

"No, no, not at all! I appreciate the trust, really! Hearing about your past has given me something serious to think about."

"Oh?"

"I can hear your confusion, so I'll explain. What if we made your story the last of its kind in this world?

"Explain, Havi."

"We can fix this world. Make sure there are no people who experienced the things you did."

"You think I care what happens to the world?"

"Few people really do, despite what they say. I'm not asking you to care. What were you thinking of doing after this, huh? Going back home to rot in that Treasury of yours? Hiding away somewhere else, waiting to die? Killing yourself, even? You can do better than that. You can be better than that. You're talented, intelligent, strong. We should be on the same team, using our power to make the world better. Wouldn't you want to make sure nobody goes through what you did? At least mull it over, okay?"

If Havi was speaking to my younger self, I might have been won over. But it's been too long. I'm too old to believe in him… and yet…

"You can just make me do whatever you tell me to."

"Well, yes, but I don't want to just tell you what to do. I want you onboard with what I'm doing here, not just mindlessly following orders. Couldn't you give it a think-over at some point?"

"... I will… consider it."

"Great! I truly appreciate it."

"But promise me you will reveal how you learned about my existence. It was a highly-guarded secret."

"I will. I promise. But only after you're done here."

Author's Note: Short chapter this week, I noticed. They'll vary in length, so there will be longer ones later on.