[Time rolls a little backward]

I shut my eyes before the soul-reaping thing and waited, quiet as a stone waiting for rain. Bang!

Huh? Why…

A crash boomed in front of me, a bell rung inside my skull, but it wasn’t death’s chill. I opened my eyes to see—

A war goddess’s back, a cliff that cut the wind. Her green hair danced like willow catkins. Leaf-green armor hugged her frame, a short skirt bloomed like a spring flower, and armored boots sheathed her knees like silver bark.

On her back, a broad green leaf bore the emblem of a Scepter, a crest I knew like a prayer. It was the summit I dreamed of night and day—the Queen’s Royal Guard.

Her aura was familiar as the scent of rain. Her weapons were unmistakable: two Dark Blades, black light threaded into the forearm plates, forged by the Queen herself—hair-splitting keen, a graze drew blood, a tap meant death.

“Sais… sister?” Lina stared at the storm-treading goddess. Clang— Sais flicked Red Tiger’s meteor hammer aside with a brush of her arm. Then one long, rosy leg tapped Yellow Tiger like a pebble to a lake, sending both men skidding ten paces.

“Lina, you did great. Leave the rest to me,” Sais’s height, a mountain at five foot nine, filled Lina’s sky. “Take the survivors and support the Elder. I’ll finish these two rats and come find you.”

“But… the Royal Guard is supposed to—”

“The field changed. The Queen judged the Mountain Bandits won’t breach the main hall, so she sent me out. Medith— the commander— her edge cuts beyond anything we guessed. With her there, those two rats can’t touch her. Don’t worry about her. Pour everything into the Elder. I’ll be right behind you.” Sais swept both hands. The Dark Blades flared two scythes of silver and shaved the shattered iron gate into ribbons.

“Yes!” Lina dragged her weary body and led the squad, wind at their backs, toward Euticles.

Yellow Tiger lowered his bruised fists and looked at Sais—long legs like lances, a face carved from moonlight, a devil’s silhouette even in armor. “You’re the target?!”

Sais’s face frosted over. “Primary target? Oh— so you even ranked your prey? You damn vermin. Scum. I’ll kill you. I’ll carve a thousand cuts into your filth. I’ll tear you into ten thousand shreds.” Her killing intent spilled like a tide, and the walls around her bloomed with a forest of blade marks.

“How is this woman this strong?!” Red Tiger flinched before the wildfire in her eyes. Bang! Sais sprang like an arrow and whirled in with twin blades. Red Tiger swung his meteor hammer to crush her. Boom! Her left Dark Blade caught the blow like a thunderstruck tree, while her right blade flashed down like a lightning fork.

Red Tiger jolted and rolled low, barely slipping the strike. Shing— The Dark Blade sang a vacuum note. A black crescent tore forward and met the dais, slicing it clean in half like calm water parted.

“What a cut!” Yellow Tiger’s brows jumped. They’d battered that dais with the Wind-Cleaving Arrow, and their stray shots had chipped it before, but never this clean, never this glass-smooth.

“Red Tiger!” Yellow Tiger roared. Red Tiger understood. Sais stood far above them, a cliff above a creek. The plan had been to use the strategist’s Silence Bomb to shackle the Royal Guard and the Queen. Medith’s arrival broke the chessboard. With the Guard’s real weight shown, only their strongest strike might land a killing blow.

Roar—

Roar—

They howled together. A Cyclone kicked up around them. Their weapons bled harsh white light like winter suns. Sais raised both Dark Blades and braced into the gale. She watched red light spark in their eyes and felt tendons stand in their gripping hands. She glanced toward the far fight where Medith and Red Tiger tangled, and a small smile curved like a leaf.

“Then come,” she said, voice soft as cold steel. “I’ll show you how foolish your thrashing is.” She opened her arms. Her hair flew under the moon like streamers. The howling wind halted. Leaves stilled. The earth held its breath. Even the clouds forgot to flow.

Two green sparks lit in her black pupils. Her Dark Blades thrummed. Humm— From each blade’s spine, countless fine wind razors unfolded like concealed feathers. Humm, humm— The blades quivered so hard they threatened to shatter themselves.

“Smash her hands!” Red Tiger bellowed, vaulted skyward, and fell like a meteor, hammer first, to crater her.

Aoo— Yellow Tiger roared with him. Ten claw-plates shot out to six centimeters, cold as night. He crossed his arms and pulled at the air. The air caught like cloth clenched in fists, twisting with his drag. A heartbeat later—crack— The air detonated. Ten claws snapped shut into two immense black slashes and screamed toward Sais’s Dark Blades.

Sais crossed her legs in a dancer’s pose. She listened to the meteor’s whistle above. She watched the twin black blades of force ahead. No panic rippled her calm lake. She lifted her slender hands and brought her arms together in a tight guard.

The Dark Blades still trembled, their shiver a swarm of bees. Then she pulled her arms wide. Her eyes fired two green lances. Humm—humm— The Dark Blades hauled the air like nets, singing with edge and vacuum. Woo—woo—thumm!

Wind surged up into a wall that roofed her like a glass dome. Inside, wind razors spun and keened, a hive of invisible knives. Not enough— She flicked an unseen wind blade ahead. Humm—ting! The invisible edge caught both black slashes and chopped them in half. Their power died and they veered, gouging twin canyons into the city walls.

Those cracks nearly split the walls like a river cleaving rock. But Sais’s wind blade didn’t stop; it ghosted to Yellow Tiger’s side. He had no time to blink. His body went light, lifted like thistledown. Agony flared everywhere—cuts upon cuts, ten thousand ants eating the heart. Each second dragged a year.

“No—” Red Tiger slammed into the wind wall. The hammer shattered in the blast at its eye, and he had time for one “No—” before the gale tore him to rags.

“No—this—” Yellow Tiger screamed as his body unraveled. In moments, he was a rattling skeleton under the moon.

“Wind Princess Waltz: Curtain Call. The dance was rough, gentlemen. Do forgive me.” Sais rolled the Dark Blades, slid them into hidden slots in her forearm armor, and walked for the main gate without a backward glance.

The sight of two tigers shredded in the sky pulled every gaze like a tide. The Mountain Bandits froze for two heartbeats. Then panic burst like dry tinder. “Yellow Tiger and Red Tiger are dead!”

“Ah—”

“Don’t panic— the boss is still here! These Sprites can’t hold much longer—” They looked at the bleeding ranks of the Sprite Guard, and their eyes went red again. Then—

Hoo-hoo-hoo—hooo—hooo—

“It’s the signal—the retreat signal—”

“Run! Run!”

The Mountain Bandits broke like a receding tide and streamed for the gate.

Medith stood on the wall and watched, wind in her hair. “Sais! It’s got to be Sais! Thank the stars… Lina’s alive… she made it…” Joy hit like warm rain, and Medith wept. Melia and Milia heard and wept with her.

Medith gently set them aside, raised her longsword to the open sky. “The four squad leaders of the Mountain Bandits are dead! The Mountain Bandits no longer have the strength to storm our walls. Now raise your weapons, stoke the fire in your chests, and drive these invaders from our home! Our will endures for all ages. May the world know no killing—”

“Whoa—whoa—ahhh—!”