THE THREE REMAINING MEMBERS OF THE KENSHI FAMILY WALKED OUT OF THEIR PALACE and began to defend the nobility of Akuni. They sized up the fleet of the Saisei Coalition and spotted its leader, who they learned was named Kasegi Shokin.

“It appears that there are eighty-four people here, excluding ourselves,” Musuko observed after a quick head-count. “About forty-seven of them are in the amethyst robes that belong to the Saisei Coalition. This gives us just under 16 people apiece to stop, including the head honcho.”

“Don’t worry the others,” Ite told him. “I’m going after Kasegi. He’s the one who started this mess and by God, I’m going to end it. All that I ask of you two is to cover me.” The children nodded and they charged into battle.

As she ran toward Kasegi, Ite grabbed an arrow from her quiver and shot it at him. Kasegi did not flinch as the arrow approached him. Just before the arrowhead would have made contact with Kasegi’s neck, the Kaesu Dagger emerged and snapped the arrow at the head, causing it to lose most of its forward momentum and shift sideways, missing him.

“And so the Queen has finally come out of hiding,” he remarked slyly. “How’s the family? It would seem that it’s a bit smaller than usual.”

At first, the intention of Ite fighting Kasegi was to protect the nobility that had survived thus far, but she had remembered another reason for this. Kasegi had made a choice of hers based on duty, turn personal, and she was going to show that. Ite fought even harder than before, harder than she’d done since the siege on Fort Yaoseyun against Mirikiteki. Every single blow that she dished out had as much force put behind it as possible, with some particular punches capable of breaking bones should they hit. One especially strong blow threw the Kaesu Dagger’s controlling headband off of Kasegi’s head. By this time, Lanya defeated roughly three members of the Saisei Coalition, with Musuko taking down about four.

Ite then switched her bare hands out for using the Nukenai as a melee weapon. This led to much better results and Kasegi started to struggle further in the fighting. She then pulled an arrow out of her quiver and launched it through Kasegi’s calf, sticking him in place. She slowly approached him preparing for a sadistic final blow. Ite was not going to just kill Kasegi; she was going to make him beg for death.

She slowly pulled the third arrow from her quiver, brandishing the arrowhead as she stared at her prey. After making sure that the arrow was sharp enough, she wrapped her arms around Kasegi in a vice grip and began slowly bearing the arrow into Kasegi’s skull. He let out a cry of pain so loud that one could easily be deceived into believing that it had been heard from Murasakino. By the time 1.2 millimeters of the arrow were in his skull after 3 seconds, Kasegi caught a glimpse of hope from the corner of his eye. He’d found himself a way out if he could get there fast enough. The arrow was now 3 millimeters into his skull and was now risking breaking through and puncturing his brain. It was now or never for Kasegi.

Risking death, he grabbed Ite’s arms and managed to budge them just enough to give him an escape route. This endeavor sped up the process, however, resulting in the hole bearing 5.8 mm in, leaving only half of a millimeter before certain death. Even so, he rushed toward the headband that controlled the Kaesu Dagger, tearing his leg out of the arrow with all of his force. He was hardly able to walk with his left leg, but he still managed to collapse toward the headband and put it on his head.

Lanya turned to her mother, prepared to announce their success in defeating a sizable number of people from the Saisei Coalition, only to see the Kaesu Dagger plunge through her right breast and emerge from the back, destroying her lung in the process. Lanya rushed over to the body of her mother as she collapsed to her knees and spat out blood. Kasegi simply lay on the ground, trying desperately to clear his mind of the haze within which he found himself.

“No, no, no, no, no!” she yelled out, growing distressed toward the events unfolding before her. “Hang on, Mom. Please, I can’t lose you too!” Ite weakly turned her head toward her daughter.

“I hope that I may tell your father,” Ite barely mustered, her voice sounding hoarse and airy, “that my death was not in vain.” Ite’s rapid breathing in an attempt to compensate for her punctured lung began to slow once more to a normal pace, and then slowed some more. After a few more seconds, her breathing stopped entirely.

A few seconds of complete silence passed. Only the crackle of the flames and the occasional clash of steel and wood could be heard. Suddenly, Lanya let out a visceral scream so harrowing that hearing it would make even the most courageous warrior’s blood run cold.

Once Lanya finally broke out of the shock from the death of her mother, compiled onto that of her father’s similar death, she shifted her gaze toward Kasegi Shokin, the mastermind behind the death of Yukan and the murderer of Ite. As she lifted the Fabled Swords back up from beside her on the ground, she decided to heed her mother’s cries and fulfill her wishes. This Tuesday was certain to wrap up as a bloody one.