Just as Pippy was about to lay her hand upon Emilie, she too went limp, slumping over to one side and ending up nearly head-to-toe with the hierophant, seemingly incapacitated by the same phenomenon. Krey and Livia gave each other a silent, wide-eyed look, and then they got to their feet, drawing their swords. “See anything?” Krey grunted.

“No,” Livia finally reported. “Nothing. There’s nothing here.”

“Well there’s got to be something,” the knight insisted. “Can’t you sense anything? Anything that we may be unable to see?”

“That’s not how my magic works,” Livia grumbled.

“Don’t you have some kind of extra petramantic sense? Can’t you… I don’t know… feel through the earth?”

“A better petramancer than I probably could,” Livia admitted, “but… no. I can’t.”

“Damn…” Krey spat. “I guess, when it comes down to it, we’re both dependent on our more magical companions.”

“My talents have always been in other directions… as much as I’ve tried to deny it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“If we make it through this, I’ll tell you ab—”

Gone. In the blink of an instant, the world around Krey was different, and he was alone. “Shit…” he thought aloud. “I guess that’s me down for the count too, then. Not what I was expecting…”

“Would you have preferred the training halls of Castoban’s Keep, Sir Knight?”

Krey turned toward the sound of the voice, and recognised its owner’s face. “There you are. I was wondering where you’d disappeared to amid the fighting.”

“I was never far, don’t you worry.” Lu Sen smiled. “Well well… a shrineblade and a knight Berodyl… I hope this will be a more entertaining battle than the last two.”

Krey’s mouth tightened downward. “What did you do to them?”

“Oh, please, Sir Zoubor,” Lu Sen nearly laughed, “you don’t have to feign care in front of me. I know you’re really glad that I’ve taken care of that pesky battlecaster.”

“Don’t presume to dictate how I feel; answer the damn question.”

“Aren’t you far more concerned with Her Holiness specifically?”

Krey’s back straightened.

“Yes… I see much more through the eyes of Her than I ever did on my own. The insights of Her domain are perplexing yet fascinating. I see deep into you, Krey… right to your core. For She hath granted me the divination of the madness divine!”

In a flash of pink, she vanished again, and Krey began spinning on the spot in search of her. “What are you blathering on about?! Answer me! What did you do to My Lady?!”

Lu Sen’s voice echoed throughout the abstract chamber. “Nothing worse than what you were going to do to her.”

Krey felt as if he might crush the hilt of his sword in his fist. He lashed out with a frantic swing in no particular direction, and his blade was met with one he could barely see… save for a faint orange tinge. “You know nothing of me, heretic.”

“You have the nerve to call me heretic?!” Lu Sen did laugh this time.

He hopped back and found his composure, taking a deep breath and raising his shield this time in addition to his sword.

Lu Sen darted at him again, sheathing and re-drawing her blade at near-imperceivable speeds, but the vertical cut rang hollow against his shield. A second, horizontal swing followed, and bounced off his armour… though it left a considerable dent that made his right kidney ache. “That katana of yours isn’t as brittle as it looks…” Krey sputtered.

“You can barely see it,” Lu Sen growled. “Trick of The Light is no mere mundane katana. I’m surprised you know the proper name for this kind of blade.”

“Why? We Knights Berodyl are a well-travelled bunch.”

“That is true.” Lu Sen smiled again. “I suppose it was what let you avoid Hector’s relentless pursuit for so long, hmm?”

“Oh please,” Krey sighed, “I’d rather you just kill me and get it over with than talk about him.”

“The man might’ve been stupid, but he had every right to be angry at you, didn’t he?”

“I had every right to be angry at him. He should’ve been glad I wasn’t hunting him instead; the whole bloody Garnet Inquisition should be glad, in fact.”

“And that is why you survived, Sir Zoubor; you harnessed that rage and shame, made the best of it you could.” She sheathed her blade once more, leaning into her side, ready to draw it vigorously again. “Sadly, that devotion you cling to will be your undoing as well, for it still controls you rather than the other way around.”

The shrineblade let loose another attack, and Krey only just managed to hold it back. Locked in that clash, with gritted teeth, Lu Sen said: “look at us… a perfect pair of runaways, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know about you,” Krey hissed, “but I’m tired of running.” He felt the wind go out of him, and the afterimage he thought was Lu Sen faded into a pale pink mist. She had been behind him all that time, he now realised, feeling the blade in his abdomen, stabbing clean through his armour.

“As am I,” she whispered.

A pink fog put his mind out of its misery.