Rubble and bullets were all over the Asteram dock. Charlotte’s personal squad was thankfully alive albeit wounded by the blast of mana from earlier.

“Ugh… I’ll feel that tomorrow.” Charlotte stood up with Percival’s help. Somehow she wasn’t hit by anything outside of the blast itself, but her butler was wounded with blood trickling from his forearm. “You should get that treated, Percival.”

“At once my lady. I was more concerned with you but since you seem fine I’ll take my leave.”

She let out a short chuckle before turning to the others of her squad.

“How’s the rest of you feeling?”

“Alive, but not great.” Cecile had a terrible gash in her upper right thigh that she had temporarily stopped the bleeding with a makeshift tourniquet. “I’ll head inside to treat this…”

She was limping but since Percival was algo going along, he helped her by offering his shoulder which she gladly grabbed a hold of as they walked together.

“I’m feeling pretty good.” Luka stood up seemingly unharmed as well, only for a streak of blood to gush out of his lower abdomen as he stood up. “Oh.”

“Go get that treated.” Cecile ordered and after he boarded the ship she turned around to look at the state of the dock. “...well, it could've been worse.”

She walked around the ice wall that was slowly melting and looked around the battlefield. Corpses were hanging by the pier while blood trickled down into the ocean. Some of the soldiers that were lucky enough to not be killed were now treating their comrades or cleaning the place of their bodies in order to give them a proper burial.

“Lady Charlotte.” One masked soldier with a hard cap hat approached her with a limping leg. He saluted her before supporting his own weight with the rifle. “We apprehended one of the magic casters that came inside the city. He’s a member of the Grand Academy.”

“Arcadia huh…?” She sighed discreetly. “Where is he?”

“In custody with the city guards. Should I bring him here?”

She nodded.

“Take him to the ship and call the chirurgeons too, we have too many wounded here.”

“Yes ma’am!”

He saluted and used his rifle to aid him walk towards the central street. As he took his leave, Cecile continued to walk around, eventually bumping into Lucina who was shouldering a weakened Phoebe.

“Dammit… who would’ve thought that I’d have to rely on magic of all things.” The high elf seemed to be in a bad mood until she noticed Charlotte approaching them. “Oh, it’s you.”

“Get yourself together.”

She slapped her rear which made Phoebe straighten her back in reflex.

“Ow! What the hell?!” She tried to get back at her but doing so strained her right arm. “Ugh.”

“Where is Leona?”

“Up there.” She annoyingly replied. “She should be fine since she was able to shield herself from the explosion.”

“Right, thanks.” She was about to climb up the ruined wooden staircase before she turned around to Lucina. “Can you take her to the ship? I’ll have healers assemble there.”

“As you wish, Lady Charlotte.”

She nodded in response and continued on. After climbing the set of stairs she noticed a long haired soldier just finishing cleaning his axes.

“Yuriel, you’re late. Again.”

“Ah, Charl.” He stood up and put both of his weapons in the belt before saluting her. “It’s a rare opportunity to go all out so I couldn’t pass on the chance.”

Her eyes briefly glanced at the carcass of what was once a mage, only bits and pieces of clothing resembled anything a person would be wearing as the rest was chopped up to a bloody mess. She sighed.

“That’s fine and all, but go clean yourself before getting on the ship. You reek of blood.”

“Yes, yes.”

He seemed disinterested after having his fill and went over to the pier to wash off the blood. A bit ahead, Leona was sprawled on the concrete floor with her eyes closed. Charlotte approached her and asked.

“Did you win?”

The tactician opened her eyes and shifted to meet hers as she let out a short chuckle.

“I think so.” Charlotte offered a helping hand which she accepted and after getting up she looked around. “Did you see Krieg anywhere?”

She shook her head in response.

“Maybe he’s near the pier. I haven't checked everything yet.”

Leona broke in a jog towards where she fought Kaeli, the scorched concrete and burnt wooden railing showed just how destructive her spell was.

“Krieg!” She shouted. “Krieg! Where are you?!”

“Over there young lady.” A male voice came from her right side. Murakano was extending his finger towards the other side of the dock. “He took the brunt of the spell.”

She followed to where he was pointing and noticed her knight was buried under a few wooden planks, the support beam fell on top of him after he collided against it.

“Krieg!” She ran at full speed and when she reached him she started to attempt to lift the wooden supports to no avail. “Nngh! Dammit!”

She wasn’t able to use magic as she was on the brink of passing out from lacking mana, but she also couldn’t just leave him there and despite not being able to move the beams she kept trying to lift them with her slender arms.

“Here, young Miss.” A man wearing a bloodied Asteram military uniform approached her and lifted the wooden support that she was trying so hard to get off of him with one hand while he grabbed Krieg by the back of his clothing with the other before pulling him out of the rubble. “Careful to not exert yourself.”

“Ah! Thank you so much!” He nodded and headed off. Meanwhile Leona focused on the knight as she gave him light slaps to the side of his cheeks. “Krieg! Wake up! Krieg!”

“Leona don’t shake him like that, you could end up causing permanent damage to him.” Charlotte knelt beside her and inspected his body. There weren’t any visible fractures but there could be broken bones given how heavy the wooden support beams that fell on top of him were. “Stay calm and wait for the chirurgeons to come. There are a few among them that are able to use healing magic.”

Leona didn’t even reply and instead only held his right hand tightly.

‘I can’t waste time waiting for someone to help you…!’ She squeezed his hand between hers as her chest tightened. ‘I swear, you won’t die here!’

Suddenly, the wounded soldiers and curious people around them were drawn to a faint golden light being emitted by Leona’s hands. As they approached, one of the soldiers with a wounded arm started to touch said limb while claiming what seemed impossible.

“It’s- it’s healed! My arm is healed!”

“Huh? My wounds are also gone!”

Despite the myriad of voices and gasps of surprise around her, Leona was extremely focused on Krieg as if she knew instinctively how to use healing magic. The golden glow became stronger and warmer until the knight started to blink himself awake.

His vision was still blurry from the fatigue but he could barely make out the shape of a person beside him. A golden gentle aura was caressing his weary body and the unbearable pain he felt from the previous fight was quickly vanishing.

‘Eleonora…?’ His mind was still trying to process what he was feeling. ‘Did I… die?”

“..ieg…”

A faint voice echoed in his mind.

‘Huh…?’

“Kri… eg…”

The female voice became a bit more clearer as he tried to focus on it.

‘Is that… Leona…?’

“Krieg!”

Suddenly, he jolted awake by Leona’s shout. Looking beside him he saw his liege on the verge of tears as she held his hand tightly with a golden glow that looked like a spectral extension of her hair imitating someone he knew very well.

“Eleonora…? No… Leona? Is that you?”

He muttered as his vision started to focus. Seeing him open his eyes made Leona smile despite her eyes brimming with tears.

“Yes, it’s me, Krieg.” She squeezed his hand and lowered her head. “I’m glad you are alright.”

Looking at both of them made Charlotte smirk a bit before turning to the soldiers that were now healed and in top condition to carry out her orders.

“Disperse the crowd, prioritize making way for the chirurgeons.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

However tried as they might, the people’s curiosity was so intense that it was overwhelming them.

“Did you see that light?! Is that woman a priestess?”

“She must be! A faithful servant of Eleonora no doubt!”

“Such warm and gentle light…!”

“Please! Grant us your blessing!”

Despite Astera being a few weeks away from Arcadia, the church of light was still influential across the continent and the coastal city was no exception. When the crowd witnessed a miracle happening in front of their eyes it was like feeding crumbs to hungry pigeons. Everybody wanted to see who this religious figure was up close, but little did they know she was no priestess, but a noble woman who just yearned earnestly for the well-being of her knight.

“Hey back off!” One of the soldiers had to push the citizens back using his own rifle as a staff. He seemed younger but was still strong enough to fend off the fervent crowd. “I’ve said! Back. Off!”

He shoved them back with the help of the other soldier but it was a matter of time before they were overwhelmed by the sheer number of people. Charlotte was about to reach for her revolver when Leona held her hand while shaking her head.

“Let me handle this.” She stood up with Krieg towering behind her. She lifted her arms to the sky as she shouted. “Faithful followers of the light! Eleonora has heard your pleas! I have been chosen by the goddess as her champion and with our might combined, we shall end the death angels that plague this world!”

The faithful raised their hands as if witnessing a miracle. As if some sort of magic, they even stopped trying to shove the soldiers away and instead interlocked their fingers and bowed down in prayer.

Leona felt bad for deceiving them, she was no saint nor priestess, but she knew it was necessary to keep a facade should they need help from the citizens of Astera.

“Well done Leona.” Charlotte muttered as she relaxed her hand that was ready to draw her revolver. “Come on, let’s head to the ship before they decide to take you away.”

The tactician discreetly nodded as she, alongside Krieg, headed with Charlotte towards the vessel. However as a self proclaimed chosen of the goddess, Leona kept waving to the fervorous crowd that seemed more than content with how she addressed their concerns and slowly but surely began to disperse.

As they did, an arm emerged from the waters below the docks and grabbed the wooden ledge as a figure emerged from the depths, slumping on the very side of the dock and setting its back against the wooden support beam.

“Curse you Leona…” Kaeli managed to survive the blast, albeit with part of her overcoat scorched and the breastplate blown off with a terrible burn around the right side of her lower abdomen. “How did she even know how to craft spells…? I thought that was Master’s invention…”

She reached for the wound with her left hand, holding it offered a degree of relief from the pain. From the corner of her eye she noticed a soldier loosely holding a rifle approach her without much care for his own safety.

“Huh… are you okay? Who are you-”

With a flick of her hand she decapitated the man. The head fell in the water as she grabbed a hold of the body before stripping it down for the uniform she was after.

“I swear… this is far from over…”

A light blue glint emerged within her eyes as she was filled with determination to finish the job.