“Your Imperial Majesty, what are you doing?” Apollonia asked. She was standing at a doorway with a tray of food in her hands. Ahead of her was the guest room she had assigned the empress. And inside of that room, the empress was balancing on the crown of her head, the rest of her body as straight and stiff as a pole with her arms press to her sides.

“I’m training.”

Apollonia walked into the room and set the tray down on a nearby table. “What kind of training involves balancing on your head? Doesn’t your neck hurt?”

“This is image training,” the empress said, still upside down. “You copy an animal or object to take on its properties. Your understanding increases the more you do it.”

“Let me guess, Your Imperial Majesty is imitating a sword,” Apollonia said. “The tip of a sword is pointed down while sheathed. You’re as straight as a sword too.”

“No, you’re wrong. I’m not imagining myself as a sword,” the empress said. “I’ve already achieved the level of being one with my blade. Sword image training is nearly useless to me.”

Apollonia raised an eyebrow. “Then what are you imitating?”

“A carrot.”

“…Come again?”

“It’s like an orange radish.”

“I know what a carrot is, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“I see. Then I didn’t speak clearly enough. I’ll keep that in mind next time,” the empress said. She bent at her waist, her feet planting down onto the floor tile in front of her face. Then she stood up while cracking her neck before walking over to the table. “Breakfast?”

“I heard you liked mangoes, so I had my servants prepare some for Your Imperial Majesty,” Apollonia said. “The milk was freshly squeezed from one of my serfs’ cows. And the flour used to bake this bread was ground just the other day.”

The empress ignored the loaf of bread and grabbed onto a mango slice. She brought it up to her face and sniffed it a few times before popping it into her mouth, slurping it up like a noodle. In less than five seconds, three mangoesworth of slices disappeared from the plate into her stomach. The empress cleaned her hand on a hot, wet towel that was meant to be used before eating and nodded at Apollonia. “Thanks for the meal.”

As the empress was about to once again balance on her head, the door to the room swung open, and a servant stepped inside. “Grand Duchess,” he said, lowering his head. “The devil is here.”

“That was quick,” the empress said, before Apollonia could even open her mouth. “It hasn’t even been a day.” Without waiting for Apollonia or the servant to respond, the empress picked up her sword that was leaning against the wall and left the room.

“Hey!” Apollonia shouted as she scrambled after the empress. “If you’re going to confront it, you’re going the wrong way! That hall leads to the laundry room.”

The empress’ footsteps halted. She turned around and passed Apollonia without saying a word, walking as if she had always been moving in that direction.

“Not cute at all,” Apollonia muttered as she followed behind the empress.

It didn’t take long for the two of them to arrive in the foyer where they found Vur’s party sitting around on the tiger-skin couches, eating snacks from plates on a low table. Vur’s eyes lit up upon seeing Apollonia, and he poked Tafel’s ribs, causing her to flinch. “I told you we found the right house.”

“Don’t do that,” Tafel said with a scowl as she brushed away Vur’s finger.

“You’re the devil sent to kill me?” the empress asked, scanning Tafel from top to bottom. She frowned. “Why do you look so weak?” She sighed. “I’ll make this quick.”

Before Tafel could even say a word, the empress charged at her, reaching out to grab Tafel by the neck with her armored hand. Vur shot to his feet and placed his hand in the empress’ hand’s path, stopping her a few feet away from Tafel. His eyes widened as his arm buckled, and he leaned forward while digging his feet into the floor, straightening his elbow and pushing the empress back by a few inches.

The empress’ eyes flickered. “You’re strong.” She also corrected her posture and leaned forward, digging her heels into floor. Neither side budged an inch.

“How long do you intend on holding another woman’s hand, Vur?” Mr. Skelly asked with a laugh. “Push her back.”

Vur grunted in response, the muscles on his arm bulging. The empress snorted and took in a deep breath, locking eyes with Vur. “You should give up,” she said. “You might get hurt. I only want to slay the devil.”

“I’m not going to lose,” Vur said, gritting his teeth.

“Wait,” Tafel said. Her hand trembled as she put back the snack she was holding onto the table. “Is this woman really as strong as Vur?”

“That’s impossible,” Mr. Skelly said. “Vur still has his polymorph.”

Tafel bit her lower lip. “But I’ve never seen anyone able to compete with Vur even if he’s not polymorphed.”

“Who are you?” the empress asked, ignoring Alice, Mr. Skelly, Tafel, and Alora. Her green eyes were focused completely on Vur.

“I’m Vur.”

The empress waited for more, but there was no response. “I’m Mary.”

The two’s arms trembled as they pushed against each other, but their midpoint hadn’t changed despite the constant adjustments of their posture. The empress narrowed her eyes, and a rune in the shape of a shell appeared on her forehead. Black aura gushed out of the cracks in her armor, forming another protective layer that clung to her like tar.

Vur’s elbow bent, and his upper body leaned backwards, but a black aura rushed out of the golden rune that appeared on his forehead. The two black auras collided, and Vur pushed the empress back into her original position. He grunted. “I’m not going to lose.”

“Neither will I.”

At that moment, a crack appeared on the floor between the two. It widened and elongated, traveling through the tiles until it reached the walls. “Hey! You two, stop before you destroy my mansion!” Apollonia shouted, but it was too late. The mansion split in two as the crack ran up the walls and ceiling, Vur and Mary on opposite sides. As the floor was pushed apart, their legs went further and further away from each other’s, but their hands remained in the same position, slowly getting lower and lower, causing both of them to fall face first into the earth underneath the mansion as their bodies were completely stretched out. Without moving their hands, they jumped back onto their feet and braced themselves again, using the earth this time, ignoring the screams of the servants and the rubble falling around them.

“Hey!” Tafel shouted, “Are you two trying to split the world in half too!? Give it a rest!” and threw a blood-red fireball into Mary’s face.