“Embla, come on. I know this food is garbage but you need to eat something,” Cal said, holding a spoon in front of her mouth.

Embla shied away from the food. She was sick of being spoon-fed mush. Embla attempted to raise her arm to grab the spoon. However, the pain in her arm was still there. Her arm fell as she winced in pain. She looked at the bandage wrapped around her shoulder. The healers were all confused as to the fact that her arm was suddenly healed. It was a miracle or the work of a miracle worker. However, no one knew who healed Embla’s arm.

But Embla had an inkling as to who could have done it. The power used to heal her arm felt familiar. The energy that healed her felt similar to Kaguya’s Setsuna and Cal’s Sol. Embla also didn’t forget what she saw in her sleepy state that night. The woman in her room had white hair and blue eyes.

“Come on. Don’t force yourself to move if you feel too much pain,” Pandora said.

“I’m not in pain,” Embla groaned. Her mind was elsewhere. The only thing that constantly brought her back down to reality was the fact that the food was disgusting. “This is worse than Val’s cooking.”

“Well, then you have some tolerance. Now open your mouth,” Cal said, prodding her cheek with the spoon.

“Okay, okay. Jeez,” she said. Embla opened her mouth and ate the food, grimacing at how horrible the texture and taste of the food were. “I can’t believe people get served this at a hospital. This shit’s disgusting.”

“Yeah, well, now you know how we felt when we were in here after our match,” Pandora said. She snatched the spoon from Cal’s hand and grabbed more carrot puree. “Open wide, Embla.”

“Oh gross,” Embla said. However, she opened her mouth anyway and ate the food. After thirty painful seconds of eating the sludge they called food, Embla wiped the edge of her mouth with her right hand. “Where are Yuki and Red?”

The twins gave each other a glance before turning to face her.

“They’re with Sage Eschamali. Yuki’s going there to get some training in before the semifinals,” Pandora said.

“There’s a high chance that she’ll fight Kaguya and… from the look on her face, I think Yuki’s going to stand up for herself and get back at her retainer for what she did to you,” Cal said.

Embla grimaced. There was a lot about that fight she didn’t remember and parts that she did. However, it was clear to her. Kaguya’s Arts. It wasn’t how she described it. She didn’t know how but the way Kaguya described her Arts wasn’t how it was. It was a vague statement that made people accept it for what it was.

“Kaguya’s Arts, Setsuna, isn’t what it seems. I fought against it and it’s different from how Kaguya describes it,” Embla said.

“Different?” Cal asked.

“I don’t know how to describe it. It’s just different from her slowing down time,” Embla insisted.

“And you know that how? It’s not like you’ve experienced a time fracture before,” Pandora said.

“I… have,” Embla admitted. “Look, I’m not supposed to say this but… the Grandmaster has an Arts called Eternity, or the Divine Right to Stagnation, that allows him to slow or completely stop time.”

“Wait, the Grandmaster has an-!” Before Pandora could finish her sentence, Embla rushed forward and clasped her right hand around her mouth. The half-elf let out a few indignant muffled protests that neither Cal nor Embla could understand due to how inarticulate they were.

“I’m going to remove my hand but can you promise me you won’t say anything?” Embla asked.

Pandora rolled her eyes and nodded. Embla sighed in relief and removed her hand.

“I didn’t know it was such a big secret,” Pandora said, huffing indignantly.

“It is. It’s a very big secret that could cause chaos if it got out,” Embla said. “Koji works very hard to conceal his Arts. Both he and my sister do.”

“Your sister has one too?” Pandora asked.

“Yeah, it’s not something we like to advertise to the public. We already have enough crap to deal with in our daily lives in the form of a mortgage and the next paycheck. At least, that’s how it was back then. I’m sure Saki doesn’t have to worry about that anymore, thanks to Koji and Azalea’s cushy salary,” Embla said, fondly remembering the smaller dragon-kin who was attached to her brother’s hip. “Anyway, we got off track. Yuki’s training with Lady Eschamali?”

“Yeah, for the semis. She said something about getting back at Kaguya for you,” Cal said.

Embla nodded and leaned back against her pillow. “By the way,” she started.

“Huh?” the twins said at the same time.

“Did you see anyone come into this room the past couple of nights?” Embla asked.

“No. Not that I can remember. Why?” Cal asked.

“No reason,” Embla said, opening her mouth for her next spoonful.

Yuki waited patiently outside the door with Red. This had been her fourth visit to her mother’s place in Yggdrasil. She thanked the Gods that there was a grace period in between each round. The Semi-Finals were scheduled to take place in a week to allow fighters to properly recover. This meant that there were only three days left until the opening day of the Semis.

The door opened. Mizore looked at her daughter with slightly indifferent eyes. However, Red saw something flash across the Empress’s face before gesturing to them to come inside.

Despite Yuki saying that she would talk to her mom, Yuki never did. Instead, she asked her mom for help and Mizore agreed. He sighed. It appeared that Yuki wasn’t the only one who didn’t know what to do. However, it appeared that the two were making some progress. Yesterday, Yuki and Mizore were able to have a small conversation which was better than the previous days.

“Come on,” the older woman said. The two followed them to the back door, leading to a large open area. The area was littered with scattered ice crystals and wet spots. Burn marks, craters, and fissures scarred the area. What was once a beautiful yard prepared specifically for an esteemed guest now resembled a gladiator pit. It was as if a beast had rampaged through here and fought an adventurer in the process.

“Are you ready?” Mizore said. She summoned a fan from seemingly nowhere and unfurled it.

Yuki nodded. Red walked over to one of the benches and took a seat. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Gripping the hilt of her sword, Yuki spread her legs apart and eyed her mother carefully.

Mizore closed her fan and pointed it at her daughter.

In a flash, Yuki dashed towards her mother. She drew her sword quickly, attempting to slash her mother across the face.

Mizore parried her blade with her fan. She followed the parry up with a thrust. The tip of the closed fan hit Yuki in the chest, sending the girl sliding back across the yard.

Yuki coughed, having had the air knocked from her chest. Her hand gingerly touched her sternum, feeling the dull throbbing pain radiating across her torso. Frosty mist formed around her feet. She jumped into the air, propelled by a jet of ice.

She raised her hand and threw a circle of flames at Mizore.

Mizore waved her fan, dispersing the flames easily. Yuki appeared behind her, eyes wild with adrenaline. She swiped at her mother’s unprotected back.

Yuki clenched her jaw tightly. Her mother’s tails had caught the sword. She felt a pull and was suddenly thrown into the air.

Mizore quickly turned around and swung her fan. A blast of wind threw Yuki backward, sending her rolling across the field.

“Tch! Icicle Raid! Fox Fire Wheel!”

Mizore pointed her fan at the onslaught of elemental attacks. The attacks seemed to freeze in mid-air before her. However, Yuki noticed that the projectiles still had a trail, indicating that they were still moving. She bit her cheek.

Her mother’s Arts. The very power that made her one of the most feared and powerful beings on Yggdrasil. She had seen it once before whenever her father or aunt would spar with her mother. Now, Yuki bore witness to this power as well. The Central Master. Her mother had explained this power once before. The power to manipulate the fabric of space.

“You’re using your arts against me?” Yuki asked.

“Your opponent possesses an Arts. I’m using mine to make this situation far more realistic,” Mizore said. She held her hand up and closed her fist. The fabric of space warped. The world around Yuki’s attacks appeared as if it were being flushed down a toilet. In an instant, the attacks were crushed and crunched into a black sphere.

Yuki gritted her teeth. Reaching her mother was going to be difficult. No, it would be impossible. There are only a few people in this world capable of breaching my mother’s absolute defense, Yuki thought. Two of those people were here in this city.

“However, I’ll give myself a handicap. I’ll only use my Arts to block any projectiles,” Mizore said.

Yuki nodded. She used Super Acceleration to bridge the gap between her mother and herself. She swung the sword, using Prana to enhance the speed and strength of the swing.

Mizore blocked the sword and pushed her back.

Yuki landed on her feet. She flooded her body with Prana and activated Silent Slash. She drew her sword quickly, unleashing a flurry of slashes at her mother.

Mizore gripped her fan and parried every slashing attack that came at her. Left, right, front. Each attack was methodically and effortlessly parried by Mizore. However, in that storm of cuts, Yuki had taken advantage and appeared above her mother. She swung her sword down atop her mother’s head, expecting to make contact.

However, her awaited triumph was never meant to be. One of Mizore’s nine tails shot towards Yuki and slammed into her side, sending her sprawling out on the lawn. She then raised her hand and pointed it at her daughter.

“Death Light,” Mizore muttered. A condensed ball of flames appeared in front of her and rocketed towards Yuki.

Yuki’s eyes widened as she reacted quickly and slammed her palm into the ground. A dome of ice appeared around Yuki and slammed into the barrier. The fireball ground against the ice, melting it. She could feel the intense heat through her frigid wall. The ice cracked under the pressure and in a few seconds, shattered to pieces.

Yuki’s eyes widened in surprise as the fireball hit her, exploding violently.

At that moment, Mizore forgot about the spar and ran towards her daughter. She had an extremely worried look on her face as she used her fan to blow the smoke away.

Yuki stood in the center of a small scorched crater, burns scattered on her arms and legs. Her clothes were scorched and burned in some areas.

“Yuki!” Mizore held her hand out, grabbing her daughter gently. The girl relented, allowing her mother’s tender hands to touch her body.

“I’m okay, Mom,” Yuki said.

“No, you’re not. Let’s take a break so I can heal you,” Mizore said.

“Mom, I can keep going,” Yuki said.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Yuki said.

Mizore bit the bottom of her lip and sighed. “Very well then.” She stood up and walked a few steps away from Yuki. “You may continue.”

As soon as Mizore finished her sentence, several duplicates of Yuki appeared around Mizore. “Virtual Body Doubles,” Mizore muttered. Her daughter had improved since her exile. She wondered if she broke the barrier and reached the first stage of Zero Null. She was snapped out of her reverie when eyes detected movement around her. Yuki and her clones had begun closing in on her, circling as if she was prey.

Suddenly, the Yukis all fired a blue ball of energy at her.

Mizore held her hand out and stopped the orbs in mid-air before crushing them. The Yukis all rushed her, attacking her on all sides.

Mizore blocked and countered each one of their attacks, using a combination of her fan and her tails to dispatch each clone. In a matter of seconds, only a single Yuki remained. The girl was quickly thrown back by Mizore’s tail, slamming into her with the force of a charging bull.

Yuki felt the air forcefully exit her body. A sickening crunch was heard through the yard as a few of Yuki’s ribs broke. She flew across the yard and crashed unceremoniously several dozen meters away from her.

She groaned in pain as she struggled to get to her feet.

“When I said continue, I didn’t think Mom would use that as the go-ahead to hit harder,” Yuki said, spitting out a small glob of blood. “Mom! I think we can take that break now!”

She stumbled forward, falling to one knee. The terrifying thing she realized about that hit was that it was not her mother’s full strength. If her mother had hit her with her actual strength, Yuki would be in multiple fleshy pieces and the force of the blow would have leveled the house alongside most of the block.

Mizore appeared in front of her. She knelt before her daughter and brushed some hair out of the way. “Can you walk?” she asked.

“I think I broke a few ribs but that’s nothing a Sage can heal right?” Yuki asked. She tried to get up, only to fall back down. The pain was too much for her. It was then Yuki realized that she probably broke more than just a few ribs.

Mizore sighed and walked around to get in front of her daughter. She squatted and gestured with her tails to Yuki.

“Mom, I’m 19! I can walk by myself,” Yuki said.

“You can’t. Now, get on. No one’s here to see it anyway,” Mizore said.

A red blush erupted on Yuki’s face as she crawled over to her mother and climbed onto her back. Mizore stood up, effortlessly carrying her injured daughter on her back towards the house.

“How long has it been since I’ve done this?” Mizore reminisced.

Yuki glanced at her mother. She had vague memories of her mother doing this back when she was a child. She smiled softly at the memories she couldn’t see clearly. “Maybe fourteen or so years,” she whispered.

Mizore’s ears flicked.

“Hey Mom, can we… Can we talk about what happened three years ago?” Yuki asked.

“We can talk about it later,” Mizore said, approaching the house.

“But Mom, we can’t run from this. We need to talk about what happened eventually,” Yuki said.

“And we can. But for now,” Mizore said. She dropped Yuki gently on the chair and turned to face her.

Yuki’s eyes widened upon seeing such a soft expression on her mother’s face. Her tender gaze reassured her that everything was going to be okay. It made her feel safe. It was as if that rift between her and her parents had never formed at all.

“For now, I want you to focus on your fight against my student, okay? There are still some things we need to go over that you never got to finish in Alfheim due to the internal crisis we faced three years ago,” Mizore said.

“You promise?” Yuki said.

Mizore’s eyes softened upon hearing her daughter’s vulnerable tone. She closed her eyes and felt the pain inside her chest grow.

“I promise.” She reached out and petted her daughter’s ears.

Yuki closed her eyes and leaned into her mother’s touch. She opened her eyes and saw Red smiling at the two of them. Her face turned a bright red and she pulled away from Mizore. The woman gave her a surprised look before chuckling at her daughter’s expression.

“A- Anyway! I have something I need help with that I think will help me against Kaguya,” Yuki said.

“Oh? What is it?” Mizore asked.

“The Zero Null. I’ve been learning it for three years but I can’t get it to work for me,” Yuki said, clenching her fist.

“And you think the Zero Null can help you against Kaguya?” Mizore asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t think. I know. Just reaching Level One can help me,” Yuki said.

Mizore sighed and straightened herself. She towered over her daughter and crossed her arms. “The Zero Null is a fighting style my sister and I developed during the Great War to better manipulate and control our Prana and use it in ways that other people can’t. Or couldn’t at the time. Now, people can use Prana in similar ways but it’s less potent,” she said. “Do you remember how many levels of Zero Null there are?”

“There are four. They’re Extinguishment, Blankness, Zero, and Null,” she answered.

“And when I began training you in my fighting style, what I taught you was the key to breaking the first level into Extinguishment,” Mizore said.

“Extinguishment is a state of calm. The quenching of the flames of anxiety and other unnecessary emotions which become the warrior’s downfall in combat,” Yuki said. “If I can achieve this state, my senses will be heightened beyond what I can do.”

“Yes, your Hyper Sensory is proof that you’re close but something’s holding you back,” Mizore said.

Yuki looked down and gripped the hem of her skirt. “Wh-”

“I can’t answer that for you. That question is something you have to answer for yourself,” Mizore said, smiling sadly.

Yuki sighed and gripped her robes tighter. “Okay, so let’s put that aside. Mom, what’s going to happen to Kaguya?”

“Kaguya?” Mizore tilted her head slightly in confusion.

“Embla is Lord Samuel’s student. Isn’t there like some rule preventing Apprentices from killing each other?” Yuki asked.

“No, but I will be bringing her back to Alfheim after this to discipline her. Her actions were unwarranted. She better be grateful that neither Samuel nor the Valkyria wants her head on a pike,” Mizore said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“What about me?” she asked.

“Huh?” Mizore faced her daughter once more.

“What happens to me after the tournament?” Shirayuki asked.