“This is a competition between all of you. The exact nature of this competition will remain unknown to you until it nears its end. As for rules? With the exception of Liliara, Erel, and Elora, there aren’t any restrictions or guidelines you need to follow. You do not have to be allied with one another if you suspect someone may have a lead over you. Though, I need you all to remember that you should never attempt to fatally wound your siblings. If you do, you’ll be removed from the competition and punished... Now, I wish you all luck and hope to see something very interesting.”

Ira, moments before sending his children to different parts of the world.

…

The hollowed remains of a town smoldered, its soldiers lay on the ground in a similar state to their town. The charred corpses grasping weapons in their hands spoke of a futile and pointless resistance against an unknown aggressor.

“I find it fascinating…”

A woman’s voice, light yet also commanding, rang out through the flittering smoke that drifted through what was left of the town.

“...These foolhardy attempts to eke out an existence while under the assumption you can exercise control over things greater than you... It is truly an amazing thing to witness.”

Whoever the woman was, she held an obvious contempt for a certain type of people, that much was clear to the inhabitants of the town who were locked in cages. Their captors were an army of unknown beings whose faces were covered with helmets. The visors of the helmets were far too narrow for an ordinary human to see through which made one suspicious of their origins.

Each of the mysterious soldiers wore a set of dark reddish armor that held the same blemishless luster as their helmets. Even their weapons were odd as most held strange polearms, a mix between sword and spear, in one hand and large shields that appeared to almost be unwieldy.

“I offered you all a choice, an open hand or a clenched fist and you can witness the result firsthand for yourself.” Along with the voice, a young woman emerged from the smoke.

She was beautiful yet the cold aura around her was purely frightening. Her features were sharp as a blade but her soft lips were curled into a slight smile. Her skin was slightly pale, but not to the point where it seemed she lacked blood. And her eyes, they were a murky red, almost dark enough to seem black if seen from afar. Her hair fell like a curtain of midnight over her shoulders.

There was no doubt about her beauty, but no one had time to think of it. She approached the carts of humans, mostly women, and children. The braver men were all unfortunate casualties who were strewn about while the more cowardly ones were apart of those captured.

As she approached, the soldiers in red armor all knelt simultaneously, quietly making way for her arrival. It was clear she held authority over the small army occupying the town.

One would think that her beauty meant she shied away from bloodshed, but that simply wasn’t the case. She wore a black suit of armor adorned with silver engravings. One hand effortlessly held a silver bident that towered over her. Upon closer inspection, a few specks of blood were just barely visible on the sharp points of the bident indicating she had personally participated in slaughtering the defending soldiers.

“Monster!” A woman cried out from beyond the cage as she held her daughter. Her face smeared by ash and tears, but her eyes still maintained a near-tangible sense of grief.

“Quiet!” One of the soldiers stood up and brandished his weapon but was stopped by a simple wave of the woman who commanded him.

“What she thinks of me is of no concern.” The young woman said as she planted her bident into the soil. “It will be corrected very soon.”

“As you say, Sovereign.” The soldier bowed his head deeply and apologetically.

All of a sudden, a pile of rubble shifted and a girl in a tattered dress rushed out with a knife. She let out a loud cry as she attempted to assassinate the young woman referred to as a ruler.

“Give me back my sister!” She screamed hatefully as she rushed forward with her knife.

Her admirable display of courage was cut short as a soldier swept his spear underneath her legs and knocked her onto the ground before pinning her with no effort.

“Oh?” The young woman raised an eyebrow in interest as the young girl who was only sixteen or seventeen, stared up at her with pure rage.

“Release her."

“But, Sovereign Liliara…”

The name of the ruler was revealed by one of the soldiers who seemed very hesitant to let the would-be assassin go.

“Do as I say,” Liliara repeated with a slither of annoyance. The slight change in her tone demanded immediate action and anything less would only draw her ire.

“As you say.”

The soldier released the girl at once but made sure to pry the knife away from her hands.

“Step forward and tell me your name,” Liliara said to the girl, lightly beckoning her. “If you value the life of your sister you’ll do as I say,” she added.

“...Margo.” The young girl spat out as she approached Liliara, standing within arm's length of the young monarch.

“Ah, Margo,” Liliara repeated with a smile as she reached out to grab Margo’s face.

She held Margo’s chin delicately and evaluated her as one would do livestock. Even going so far as to lightly squeeze her jaw, forcing Margo’s mouth open in order to examine her teeth.

“You hold a certain quality about you that I like. I too have siblings, seven of them that I love dearly, so I can understand the bond you share with your sister.”

Liliara released her grip on Margo’s face and turned to look at the cages that held people within.

“What is your sister’s name?”

“...Mara.”

“You.” Liliara briefly glanced toward a soldier. “Find the girl named Mara.”

“Yes, Sovereign.” The soldier bowed before he began going through the cages full of people one by one.

Meanwhile, Liliara turned to address the young girl.

“I have an offer for you, Margo. One that will guarantee the safety of you and your sister.”

Margo immediately showed surprise but also wariness. The phrase “too good to be true,” rang in her head.

Eventually, a young girl, no older than five or six was pulled from the carts and made to stand in front of Liliara and Margo.

“Mara!” Margo grabbed her clearly dazed and frightened sister and embraced her, holding her tightly.

Although the soldiers around her seemed displeased with her behavior in front of their Sovereign, they wisely held their tongues.

“Now, will you listen to my offer?” Liliara’s voice interrupted the reunion between the sisters.

“...Yes,” Margo replied politely, but unsure of how to address the person standing in front of her.

“All you have to do is become one of my knights... As long as you agree, you and your sister will want for nothing and no harm will come to her.”

“Margo, don’t!” Mara shouted, trembling as she peered at Liliara. “She’s bad!”

Margo’s expression reflected her inner struggle. It was unknown what being Liliara’s knight would entail but it was the price for her sister’s safety. She quickly made her decision when she considered the fate of townspeople was likely to be much worse.

“I’ll do it,” Margo agreed.

“... Sovereign,” she tacked on in an awkward manner.

The gentle smile on Liliara’s face showed she was pleased in spite of the lack of proper etiquette.

“You, Margo! You're the daughter of a whore and a miserable drunkard who died in the mud! ... I’m not surprised you’re betraying this town because you were born without the concept of loyalty you wretch! I took you and your little brat of a sister in and this is how you repay me?! This town was your home, you ungrateful bitch!” An old man raised a fuss within the cage. He seemed to be accustomed to a life of luxury if his clothes were to be taken into account.

Margo remained silent in the face of his provocation though her shoulders trembled under the intense feeling of guilt and shame. There was no hesitation in grabbing onto the rope that would save both her and her sister while the townspeople were set to face certain doom.

“Bring him to me,” Liliara’s voice turned cold and her gentle smile faded.

Without delay, two soldiers snatched the old man out of the cage and threw him onto the ground. His face was pressed into the dirt while the rest of his body was forced into a prostrating position.

“I’ll also need a dagger.” Liliara held her hand out and a soldier quickly moved to place a small dagger in her palm.

The sharp dagger was then placed in Margo’s hand as Liliara began speaking, “I am a firm believer that words mean very little if not followed by action. I need to see the strength of your conviction, Margo. So would you kill him for me?”

The words coming from Liliara’s mouth flowed as an enchanting whisper, both soft and comforting in contrast to the content found within them.

Margo gripped the dagger, feeling that its weight seemed to increase tenfold in that moment. Sweat trickled down her forehead as she became light-headed, feeling overwhelming anxiety take hold in her abdomen. The very thought of taking a life caused her body to shiver. She hadn't even thought about killing Liliara. She only wanted to take the Sovereign hostage and force the soldiers to give back her sister.

The former nobleman uttered a multitude of curses as he was dragged toward Margo. His anger and disgust mixed with the spittle pouring from his lips. He struggled as hard as he could but the red soldiers held him with a firm grasp.

“Go on.” Liliara slipped behind Margo with fairy-like steps before grabbing the young girl’s hands and guiding the dagger to the throat of the town lord. “Are you afraid of hurting this pitiful creature? Look at him closely, Margo. He is nothing more a sniveling coward who’d hide behind others. He is a leech who can do as he pleases because he happens to have more gold and silver than all of you. Without his small pittance of wealth, he is nothing, less than nothing, and he deserves a quick death.”

Liliara spoke sweetly, letting her voice draw out something buried deep inside of Margo who shook like a leaf in the wind. The dagger was pressed against the throat of the town lord under Liliara’s touch, but it was still Margo who held it.

“Do not disappoint me, Margo.” Liliara released her hand as the beads of blood began to emerge from the noble’s neck.

Liliara stepped away, leaving Margo to stand by herself with a blade pressed against the neck of a man who had much more power than her. She even worked for him, forced to clean his manor and attend to him, all while enduring his lustful gaze and constant harassment. She slept in terrible living quarters and curled up with her sister every night, fearing that one day he would do away with pretense and attack her. Her only solace was her sister, the only relative she had and the only thing left for her to protect. For the sake of her sister, she withstood everything. But what lay in front of her now was a chance. She felt that if she took the life of the noble, all of her efforts so far wouldn’t be for naught.

When she thought that far, her trembling stopped and her previously cloudy eyes became clear.

“Close your eyes, Mara,” Margo spoke decisively.

Her sister, as innocent as she was, knew something horrible was going to happen.

“Come now, you should do as your sister says,” Liliara spoke from Mara’s side before gently covering the child’s eyes.

“You ignorant girl! How dare you raise a weapon toward me!” The noble screamed as if he could control the situation.

As soon she confirmed Mara wouldn’t witness what was going to happen, a cold dagger drifted across the throat of the noble. A warm flood of red liquid came gushing out as he let out hoarse and garbled cries like a dying animal. He thrashed around wildly as if putting up one last stand but nothing could reverse the flow of time. The pouring blood slowed into a trickle within a few seconds as all life left the noble.

Silence followed the execution of the noble.

For a moment, Margo felt as if everything became silent. As the red soldiers released the town lord’s corpse, the impact of his cooling body seemed to echo in her head relentlessly.

That was until a warm voice filled her ears.

“Well done,” Liliara said as she stepped toward the body. She aimed her palm toward it and it immediately caught flame, burning to ashes in an instant.

Margo had no time to admire the strange feat as the shock from her previous actions finally hit her. She could only stare at the burning corpse in a trance until something dawned upon her. She wasn’t shocked that she took a life but by the fact that there was no guilt or sadness. The noble whom she hated with every fiber of her being was erased from the world and she played a part in it. There was a feeling of control that came with her understanding of what had taken place.

“Now, let us depart.” Liliara placed her hands on Margo’s shoulders, interrupting the girl’s thoughts.

“Y-Yes… Sovereign.” Margo belatedly dropped the dagger onto the ground, but it was quickly retrieved by a soldier.

Soon, a large black carriage pulled by four white horses stopped in front of Liliara. She climbed into it before gesturing for the two sisters to do the same. They immediately followed her as they feared to anger her in even the slightest.

As the carriage pulled away, a small army of soldiers departed along with their captives.

Flag bearers proudly raised a red banner that depicted the black silhouette of a wolf’s head as they set off. The only thing left behind was the remains of what used to be a town.