Voice 1: "Are you going to go through with this?"

Voice 2: "I must!" Unsheathing of a pure steel blade. "You have been disrespected, mother. This will be my chance to rise among the chaos. It will be foolproof, I promise!"

Voice 1: "And what if you are taken by a Beti-"

Voice 2: "Don't say their name mother!"

Voice 1: "I just believe it could be an untimely idea. We could finally have a joined kingdom in generations and from the effort of a human and elf working together no wonder."

Voice 2: "That human is an outsider, it isn't possible!"

Voice 1: "But-"

Voice 2: "'We mustn't associate with those pigs', right mother?"

Voice 1: "..."

Voice 2: "Well? Are you not right?"

Voice 1: (loss for words "...Please, do whatever you must as cleanly as possible, Lesi…"

Two sets of guards monitored the audience that filed into the colosseum that day. The Asseto and Betire guards created the line across the arena, making sure no rampant dark elves dared to stir any trouble, at least for the moment.

Headen was back at the castle, being dressed by a tailor. The Betire leader was beside her, having brought her own set of tailoring tools with her in case Headen had tried to pull any tricks. She stared blankly ahead as she got her hair washed, but she was still able to see Headen in the mirror in front of them and vice versa.

"This room rarely looks used," she said, being the first to break the Ice. Headen, nor the barbers responded, each staring at their respective spots in the room.

"There were fewer ceremonies," Headen said two minutes later.

"If this moon doesn't appear, there will be no ceremonies afterward."

"I know…" Headen moved her head downward, now looking at her lap. "Can you get the edges on the lower ends?"

"You know? What you certainly know that we think that this an obvious trap," The Betire said, suddenly turning her head. She tried to lock Headen in a stare-off, wanting to intimidate her with her wide and hostile eyes. "We brought enough power to topple this city-state many times over! It doesn't matter if we are in an unknown land, enemy territory, or the playground of a new-bred Alchemist! It doesn't matter if I am the first casualty! Coranassia will belong to us! So look me in the eye and tell me that this isn't all just a ruse."

Headen ignored her threat, keeping her eyes staring at the bottom. She was eerily still as the barber tended to her, finishing off by beginning to curl her hair. "It doesn't matter, what I say. Whether I tell the truth or a fib, that moon will be going up regardless."

"If it's a fib, it's impossible!"

"Even if it's a fib…" Headen began, taking a deep breath to keep her stoic posture. "...It's out of my hands. I don't want a war any longer. This was just the most convenient method."

The Betire's verbal advance was shut down, and minutes later, her stare finally faltered off as well. Not given the light of day, she awkwardly turned back in her seat, her barber sighing on the inside as they had an easier time making braids with her forward.

"Done," her barber said. The Betire queen got up in the flap of a bumblebee's wing, moving to the door and out of the room. "You put too much trust in your second hand," she remarked, waiting for her barber to open the door.

"Are you going to mess with her?" Headen immediately asked without turning. The blue and black hair continued, only stopping to answer right before her Barber closed the door.

"...I'll ask for co-queen when your human doesn't fuck this up."

The door closed firmly. Headen's hairdresser felt her shoulders, making a short gasp. "Your garments, they feel so sweaty, my Queen."

"I know," Headen said, standing up. She looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing an all-white dress, with sweat on her arms showing through the fabric. She already felt the cracks starting to slip, but she dared not to unveil it before her subordinate. "Take it off me and have this cleaned, then find out about Isuka's whereabouts. I need her here this instant."

"Of course," the barber said, removing Headen's dress and taking it out of the room. The headache in Headen's head only grew while she stared at herself in the white lingerie. "It's almost time…hurry you buffoon," she whispered, sinking back into her chair.

"My Queen!" The door flung back open, but it was a guard instead who was holding a periscope in hand. "The column of light has been spotted!"

Isuka thought she would be greeted like always, with a group of guards patrolling around the entrance, and one that constantly tried to irritate her to the point of violence. Today, however, there was only one guard there, with a higher level of awareness than usual today. She noticed Isuka the moment she stepped onto the path, reading her new spear as she shifted her eyes around.

"You are a lot less talkative today," Isuka said, surprised (and weirdly disappointed?) when the guard moved aside almost immediately. She recognized her face almost immediately but wondered where the raunchy comments had gone. "Is there something going on already? Noon is not for another period of time."

"There is no time to tease you today," she flatly admitted. "Although I hope you expect I will make up for it tenfold next time.~" She winked then patted Isuka's back, pulling her inside. She led her to the changing room, walking right beside her to make sure no one has a clear shot from behind or the front.

"I am sure I wasn't followed," Isuka assured. "I made sure to cut through some mud and mix my steps."

"We cannot take any chances either way. I will be escorting you to your attire, then to the colosseum," the guard said. "Besides, if I get you to the stage in one piece, I could get a reward I have been asking for quite a long time~"

"And what's that?" Isuka asked curiously. The guard couldn't help but smirk, her gaze going down towards Isuka's crotch. "Oh, just sole rights to protecting you, second in command. Nothing more, nothing less~"

"Great…" Isuka said hesitantly. "Maybe I will stall and be a bit late, just so I wouldn't let that happen."

"Oh, for all the time in the world with you? I am getting you there on time~" An arm wrapped around Isuka's waist in a mix of protectiveness and horniness. "I know what you want to do to me, and I'm going to be a stubborn little brat until I can bring it out~"

Not sure whether to turn back or go faster, Isuka did her best to ignore the calls on the way to the dressing room. There, two elves were putting the finishing touches on a Sapphire wizard robe, complete with white trim, and moon gray pads that protruded from the shoulders of the attire. "What is that thing?" Isuka asked. "Would I not just go out as I am now?"

"You're supposed to be a prophet of the moon, so you must look the part," the guard explained. "The slimming around the waist was my idea, I thought it would do wonders for your curves~"

The guard stood in front of the two tailors as they fitted Isuka, telling her to keep her arms raised while they tightened up the fabric on the robes to her form. "This is not "prophet-like" at all!" Isuka said as the matching hat was put on her head. "The robe parts on the sides at my hips. The sides of my legs are exposed!"

"Trust us, second-in-command," one of the tailors said. "You blend in perfectly as a dark mage variant."

"Yes!" the second continued, putting the needle back in her mouth as she checked the nape of the robe one last time. "No dark elf in their right mind would challenge the authority of a mage."

The ceiling creaked ominously. All four of them were disturbed from the movement, staring up at the spot where the wood nosily gave. The guard, now having a target, positioned herself under the spot, pointing her spear up in the air. "I knew it! Of course, a Betire would come and try to ruin it all!"

"But how! Queen Headen assured the guards were keeping track of every elf in the city-state…" one of the tailors went, starting to panic. "We are not equipped to fight off an insurgent!"

"I'm sure the four of us can handle it," Isuka said. "I just need to get my spells and-"

With no more waiting, the roof broke loose. A dark elf completely concealed in black landed on the guard, kicking off her and sending the armored elf falling onto her back. They then immediately went for Isuka, taking a blade out from a band on her leg. Isuka put up her hands in fear, but before she was reached, one of the tailors made a sloppy tackle on the attacker. It connected, and they went down in a mess of limbs, only a few feet away from reaching Isuka.

"Why you-" Isuka went, before being stopped by the second tailor. Isuka turned to the dark elf that stopped her, seeing a growing look of terror on her face. "S-s-s-saa…" she couldn't bare to say her co-tailor's name. Isuka turned back to see what had frozen her so much, noticing the growing pool of red bleeding through the back of the tailor's clothing. Her body twitched, unable to do anything but suffer the loss until her movement finally ceased over the infiltrator.

"S-sasha!" The tailor yelled as the concealed dark elf got herself from under the limp body. She emerged with her knife, now dripping with fresh blood onto the floor. "You monster!" the other tailor yelled enraged. She reached into her box of tools, throwing a handful of sewing needles at her. Isuka decided to run for her bag, ducking her head while tools started to fly through the air. The guard re-steeled herself and rushed the attacking elf, shrieking while lunging at the attacker with her spear. The spear barely nicked the attacker's hair as she bent backward, letting both attacks fly over her.

It seemingly gave Isuka enough time to reach her satchel. Each step she took felt sedated, even though everything was happening in a split second. She quickly yanked her spellbook out of the satchel, scratching the first rune she flipped to in the book. She took a glance up while she was writing, seeing that the two on one wasn't fairing well without her. Whoever was concealed in all black seemed to perry the spear, ignoring the tailor more and more as she ran out of items to throw. Eventually, the tailor grabbed her largest pair of scissors and held it like a weapon, running into the fray as the guard batted away another stab attempt. "No, stay back!" The guard took the second to yell; just enough to catch an unsuspecting kick into a wall. The attacker leaped towards the tailor, jabbing the other just as the same as her partner.

"You bastard!" She said, jamming her scissors into the attacker's shoulder. The scissors could only barely go in through the attacker's clothing, while the knife sank into her guts like clay. She struggled against the attacker, feeling the strength leaving her as she got pushed against the wall. It only gave more leverage to push the knife against its hilt, the attacker looking her victim in the eye while her shoulder was being pushed and pushed into by the scissors. Finally, her skin gave and the scissors jabbed through, but by then, blood had already stained the bottom half of her upper attire. She could only watch as the consciousness drained from her eyes as well, seeing her partner's body still lying on the ground, and the guard getting up with a hand on her side.

"The Betires won't get away with this. The prophecy…will be confirmed!" She announced. She heard a small chuckle come from behind the attacker's mask, as if she found the statement hilarious to buy. "Who said anything about me being a Betire?" she said. Her voice was muffled under the mask, but, even to a dying elf, it was still very much recognizable.

"No…it couldn't be…" the tailor whispered under her breath. She watched as the attacker took off the mask. Well-done hair fell out to her shoulders, as the queen's daughter looked the tailor straight into her eyes. "W-what is your intention!?"

"Nothing that concerns you," she said matter-of-factly, pulling out the knife suddenly. She turned the tailor and rammed her head into the wall, knocking her unconscious while her wound slowly oozed out. She turned to Isuka and the guard, her grip on the blade tightening just by looking at her. Only the fall of the scissors broke the sudden silence, bouncing off of the tailor's body and onto the ground. "You however…with you out of the way, mother will be able to rule once more!"

"A duel is a duel, Lesi!" The guard shouted, standing herself up once more. It was hard rebounding in the armor, straightening herself as she picked up her spear. "You don't see your mother raising a hand in protest."

"She has no hand to raise." She pointed her blade at Isuka, walking up to her. "Soon, your partner in crime will be overwhelmed by the Betires, and she will be turned into livestock before you've had the chance to take your last breath." Isuka raised her hand to use her rune, but Lesi's swipe was faster, cutting a gash in Isuka's wrist. She pulled her hand back, screaming while trying to squeeze her hand back closed. Lesi raised her blade above Isuka with all the intent in the world, near shuttering as she prepared to bring it down. "It ends here!" She demanded, forcing the blade end down towards Isuka's skull. Isuka's mind was racing, trying to not scream seeing her rapidly reddening sleeve. She felt hopeless, the knife on a clear path towards her with no good way to dodge away.

Fortunately, the guard made it to Lesi in time, grabbing her by her armpits from behind. She wrestled to restrain her, backing into a wall for leverage while she started working the knife out of the daughter's hand. "Second, run!" the guard yelled to Isuka. Painfully, Isuka buried her fears and rushed out without a second thought, running out of the room, her bleeding wrist wrapped by part of her robes.

"So where is this prophet of yours?" The Betire queen asked Headen. She kept her eyes intently on the sky, only looking down to check the sundial she had made for the occasion. "The sun is almost above us, and I see no sign of your 'prophecy' unfolding."

"The prophecy cannot unfold if the prophet isn't here to confirm it," Headen said, nearly as impatient. She wondered if she had aimed too high for Isuka to solve. Maybe I should have just went with the moon turning gold at dusk, she thought to herself.

"A prophecy should be able to resolve itself regardless of confirmation or not, shouldn't it?" She questioned again, her eyes still on the sun. "If your prophecy relies that much on your human, then it might not be a prophecy…"

"You want your power as a second queen, right? Then quiet, before your subjects hear," Headen whispered quickly to the Betire leader. She looked back in the general direction of her castle, wondering what was taking so long to stuff her in the blue robes. "Now…doesn't she have a teleportation rune?"

"Wheeeeere aaarreee you?" Lesi said, going back around forth around in the sun-draped room. She had followed the trail of blood drops to an observation deck, with ladders leading up to a second level where telescopes could be used to survey the land below. On the first floor, a bunch of extra armories lay about, semi stuffed into various cabinets and left in piles around the room. "The trail ends here Isuka!" She said. "Unless it "ends" here…but there's no way she could stamp the bleeding that well with magic…" Lesi decided to take a look in the other rooms nearby, still hovering around the entrance to the deck.

Little did she know, Isuka had managed to tighten her clothing long enough to scale the ladder. There was multiple spots of soaked blood in Isuka's robes now. It grossed her out, but now she had a bit of time to draw the rune.

"Why didn't I practice this teleportation rune?" Isuka asked herself in panic, scratching the spell into the floorboards of the level. She laid flat so that she couldn't be easily seen, stopping her drawing into the wood whenever she heard steps back into the room.

Her vision started to creep around the edges, but she ignored it. It wouldn't matter if she never made it to the ceremony. Maybe I could still power through it with the potion she thought, licking her lips clean as she continued to scratch away. She soon had most of it done, although her fading thoughts wondered if she was missing anything…

Creeeak.

A noise that was close. Way too close. She sluggishly turned her head, only to be pinned down from on top of her back. A hand covered her, her flailing limbs left useless if her torso was completely stuck like a beached whale. "You thought you were clever, didn't you?" She said, putting her lips next to Isuka's ear. "Face it, you were done for as soon as your wrist was cut."

"Mmmph!" She said, reaching out towards the floor of the observation deck. Her left wrist shook substantially, weakly grabbing out for anything while screaming.

"This is hilarious!" Lesi laughed, picking her knife up from beside her. "Not only are you about to fail prwetty lidwel Headen, now you're shamelessly crying out for your mother, aren't you!" She jabbed Isuka into her back, listening to Isuka's screams with total satisfaction. Isuka saw stars, botches of white as the pain seared from her back and organs. "Ahaha! I did it mother! I ended Queen Headen's hopes once and food all!" she shouted and laughed with excitement. Isuka's body slowly went limp, just as the ones that were knifed before her…

…

"M-mama? Where are we going?" Natsumi asked again, sitting beside Isuka while she transcribed the spell from the caravan into her book.

"Back home of course," She answered once more. "To where I'm going to find a nice family to take care of you."

"But, I want you to take care of me!" he said, hugging Isuka and knocking the pen out of her hand. "Oh, oops."

"Agh, I wouldn't be good…" she said back, picking the pen up. "I would just show you dangerous stuff like this." She began drawing the rest of the rune, making sure to draw additional stars around the circle. "Right now I'm telling the rune where I want to go with these stars. I'm going to draw coordinates in them so they teleport us right out of this deathtrap…"

"Can we draw more stars?"

"If we do that, we will blow up silly," she said, dotting Natsumi's nose with her ink. "Now, the first star goes here I believe…"

…

When Lesi looked back down, she noticed Isuka's left arm still sticking out, barely able to lift even to lift a finger towards the first floor below.

"Aww..is the human still gasping for help? This is not a foolish fairy tale, pig~" Lesi said, removing her hand from over her mouth. She could hear Isuka's now labored breaths, each one moving less air than the one before. "Well? No energy to scream out for your pathetic parents no longer?"

"..." Isuka mouthed something out, leaving it just quiet enough for Lesi to not hear. "What?" she said annoyed, moving her ear closer. "If you have any last words for me to not care about, say it with your chest!"

"Natsu…" Isuka started, turning her head a smidge. "I…do, think I am clever," she strained out, her voice sounding like grated bread.

"What?" Lesi said confused. Out of the corner of her eye, that arm that had been stretching out suddenly had a new spring of life. Her bleeding hand lifted up and reached towards a pile of shields.

If the sudden hand movement didn't alert the dark elf, the scrapping of the shields definitely alerted her. She turned just in time to see various armories flying towards her. With her being the only one sitting up, she was hit dead-on by the flying pile of metal, the force taking her through the weaker walls and opening the deck. She went careening down the castle, bouncing off of one last slanted roof before landing on the dirt ground. She looked up, taking her turn to scream as the shields and armor landed right on top of her.

"Compared to a chunk of the moon, that was child's play," Isuka said, hearing the messy clang from the top of the deck. She pulled herself a bit over the dropoff, seeing the mess laying at the bottom a few stories down. "The shields are probably going to do her in," She said, rolling on her side and reaching inside her robes. Out came a half-drunk bottle of the orange potion she was given before.

She popped the cork and messily pouring the rest into her mouth. It stopped her body from fading, but every one of her limbs still felt like marble she had to move with her shoulders and thighs. With labored breath, gripped the knife and started pulling, gritting her teeth as the knife slowly slide out of her back. The last few inches finally popped out, Isuka feeling a shock go through her as her arm fell back down against her body.

"Nngh…" she groaned, moving her knife-holding hand to the incomplete rune. Her red life leaked into the grooves she made as she completed the rune, drawing the three stars and final details around the circular spell. "I'm…getting that moon turned gold…" She told herself, slamming her hand into the run. It started to glow, slowly engulfing her body until she disappeared in thin air.

The day was as bright as ever in the Colosseum. Hundreds of unsatisfied elves started to moan and groan, a few yelling unpleasantries at the center for having to wait so long in this heat. "Your people are growing restless," the Betire queen pointed out. "We won't be able to stay civil for much longer…"

"Rich coming from someone whose people are also growing restless," Headen responded. "You can't even control yourselves to the point where starting a battle is the only conclusion."

"Was it the only conclusion when we were exiled from Coranassia?" She whispered back, dismissive of Headen's retort. "Was it the only conclusion when your ancestors decided that we weren't fit to rule ourselves and waged war?"

"I am not saying that we have not made any mistakes-"

"Then you must understand that for us, it is the only outcome," she said, her brow squeezed down with bubbling anger. Her voice started rise with her accusation. The announcer motioned for her to tone down the volume, but the attention was already spreading to both of the crowds. Eyes zeroed onto the Betire queen. "You, the queen of the Asseto, have no right, no moral right to say that anything we did was pure violence. You expect us to follow along with you sudden prophecy, to believe you when your lineage has done nothing but pillage and harm!"

"I, know that!" She suddenly said back, stopping the Betire's rant. "I know that, and I hate it! I know what we have done and that I can't atone for the past, so I am going to change the present."

"And that goes for all of you!" she said, stepping out to the audience, now a Coluseeum wide. "We are better than this! We are supposed to have been proud sadists, but we act like savages! Instead of commandeering knights as husbands, we take prisoners and turn them into trophies! We should be submitting partners, but instead, we are fighting ourselves into submission! Believe the prophecy is a lie, I do not care! As the Queen of the Asseto, I wish to, for the first time in a long time, stop this god-forbidden fight."

Having silenced everyone else to questionable whisperers, she started walking towards the center, pointing her finger towards the center. "And it doesn't matter if my 'weak human' appears in the center of the stage right now-"

As if on cue with her speech, the center was suddenly enveloped in a rising pillar of moon-grey light. Everyone shielded their eyes and ears to the wind- whipping 'ee' and flashing lights until the event was over. When the eyes were uncovered, they all saw Isuka, panting heavily while clutching her aching torso. Her robes - intended to seem whimsical and star-like - were covered in red blotches of blood, with the biggest one still growing on her back. The alertness of her state didn't register with Headen first, seeing a thumbs up from Isuka that all-too-obviously required her to push the heavens just to bring her fist up.

Maybe the queen didn't want it to register before her eyes.

"This is part of your act right," the Betire Queen said with growing concern, coming up to Headen beside her. Her immediate worry transferred to Headen, who screamed Isuka's name as she ran for her before she fell. From Isuka's point of view, Headen looked like a brown blob in her rapidly fading vision. The mighty orange elixr had finished it's run with the teleportation spell, and she was left fading much faster than before. She heard something, something undesernable coming from the blob as it got bigger. It sounds urgent, Isuka woozily thought, not noticing that she had fell onto one knee. She sluggishly looked up at the sun, raising her arm towards it. She focused with the last bit of energy she had left, wanting so much for the sun to poof into a perfectly golden moon. Her vision left her before she could see it through though, now in total darkness.

"I hope…Headen is alright…" Isuka uttered, before finally collapsing onto her side. Headen caught her at the last moment, looking into Isuka's colorless eyes for any sign of life. "Isuka, Isuka stay with me!" Headen yelled, shaking the corpse of the one true partner she had. "Isuka!"