The hooded figure removed their cloak to reveal Illya grinning up at Li mischievously. The crowd erupted into gasps and whispers. They stumbled away from Illya as though she were ill with a contagious disease.
"You all made such a fuss about what the old hag said but did it ever occur to you that there may actually be proof?"
Li scowled. "How dare you show your face here! Have you no shame!" She was confident that there was no way Illya could possibly have proof. If anything, she was almost grateful to Illya for sparing her the trouble of going hunting for her. "What are you standing there for? Arrest her!"
The soldiers moved to capture her but were halted by a bright flash of light. When the light subsided they found themselves chained to the ground by chains that broke through the ground. Li recognized them as chains from Illya's domain in the underworld.
"Oh—you started without us?" The flash of light turned out to be Red stepping through a portal with the Solarian resistance and Hecate in tow.
•~•~•~•~•~•~•
|One day ago|
Members of Sin's court suspected something was happening due to his uncharacteristic silence after the incident in the library. Although some held out hope that it was because he was coming to his senses and had chosen to listen to them. Unfortunately, that couldn't have been farther from the truth. Sin was relieved to hear his mother was alive and well. He couldn't celebrate for too long however because he had specific instructions to mobilize the resistance. Sure enough, Red appeared through a portal crafted by a teleportation scroll, ready to pick them up. Egan and the others were skeptical of him at first but when Albus recognized him as the stranger that helped him all those years ago, their suspicions subsided somewhat.
Sin gave them their orders and they departed with Red using another scroll. Red had escorted them to a small house nestled near the docks. He had managed to get a family who did not believe in Li's claim to the throne, to agree to hide them there until the next day. The trip was...awkward, to say the least. Isabelle hadn't spoken to Egan since their argument and because there wasn't much time between the beginning of Yukimi's experiment and their call to action, she had to bring Gabriel with her.
"Did you discover anything new?" asked Isabelle as they settled in the basement of the family's home.
"There was a slight fluctuation when we injected him with Avarice's blood but it returned to his normal baseline now. It looks like his dark shi overwhelmed and corrupted Avarice's."
"So there's no way to purify it?"
"Theoretically yes but the only known people able to manage such a feat are Illya and Li. We don't have their affinity for the shi so it's less likely we'd be able to pull it off. I'll have to keep looking for a way."
When the family's young daughter brought down dinner for them, Isabelle couldn't help but ask the question she had been harbouring ever since their arrival. "Why are you helping us?"
The girl's expression turned bitter. "...My big brother was one of the soldiers with Li on the day of Solaria's attack. He was supposedly killed by Empress Illya but my father thought otherwise."
The girl went on to explain that they were far from the only family who had lost their sons and daughters that day and that none of them were able to recover their loved one's bodies. The reason given was that they were badly burned and thus unable to be recovered but suspicions that they were gotten rid of by Li began to circulate when all those that doubted her claim to the throne began to disappear. It wasn't long before everyone who knew of what happened that day either died or conveniently vanished.
"When my brother's wife heard the news of his death...she miscarried...things just haven't been the same here. Li promised us justice but all we've gotten is more uncertainty. People are scared to fight back because everyone who did is gone. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened to them. Now soldiers are forced to obey for fear of what happens to them and their families if they don't. If Solaria really wanted to hurt us, they wouldn't have waited 11 years. They would have wiped us out when they still had the chance...but here you guys are. You're not trying to hurt us...you're trying to defend your families too aren't you?"
Isabelle listened quietly to the girl speak. For someone so young, she seemed to have had to mature very quickly due to their circumstances. Part of her was ashamed of her assumption that they'd be met with hostility from everyone here. She got up and went to find Egan who was preparing his weapons for tomorrow.
"Hey..."
He glanced at her from over his shoulder, nodding briefly at her.
Isabelle nervously played with the hem of her tunic as she shifted awkwardly on her feet. "I...well...I thought a lot about what you said...I'm really sorry."
Egan paused, his back still turned towards her. "For what?"
"I was too narrow-minded. Everyone's scared...not just us...I guess...vilifying them made it easier to cope...but I didn't see that it was doing more harm than good. I'm sorry."
Egan finally turned around. Isabelle had her head down and fists clenched, nervously awaiting his answer when she felt his fingers lace through her hair. He patted her on the head, brushing some hair out of her face.
"I know you're scared Izzy. We all are. Tomorrow, let's put an end to this all so that nobody has to feel scared like that again. Yeah?"
Isabelle couldn't help herself and flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. He hugged her back reassuringly.
"That's real heartwarming and all but if you're done why don't you come here so I can go over the plan with you all."
The two pulled apart, startled at Red's sudden presence. They went back into the room with the others to find Hecate now sitting politely on a chair.
"Gabriel will stay here with Avarice making sure he doesn't run off when we leave. I've got two more teleportation scrolls, we'll use one to open a portal near Illya tomorrow." Red turned to Hecate. "That's where you come in..."
•~•~•~•~•~•~•
|Present day|
"My daughter here is our proof," said Illya, gesturing to Hecate.
Li shook her head, voicing the concerns of the crowd. "How can she have proof? She's your daughter, of course, she'd want things to go in your favour."
Hecate's robotic voice glitched out of her speaking device. "You forget that the Ashen Eyes are a neutral party. We only take action when things directly threaten the balance of shi, which you have proven to do with those statues in Solaria. You resigned to the c-c-c-c-c-onsequences of your actions when you wage th-this war."
Hecate gave her device a smack before continuing. "Observe," she stated simply.
A plume of smoke consumed everyone. When it cleared, Hecate was no longer in sight and a different crowd stood before them, one that didn't register their existence.
"My daughter is a necromancer. Thanks to her contacting the spirit of a soldier that passed the day King Sana was killed, she was able to see the events leading up to his death."
Li panicked and lunged at Illya with a dagger. The dagger went straight through her and Illya laughed. "I'm afraid you won't be able to hurt anyone Li. This is a realm of the soldier's memory. We don't have physical forms, we're as good as ghosts here. Just sit back and enjoy the show."
"IMBECILE! ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS RESTRAIN HER FOR ME! YOU COULDN'T EVEN CARRY OUT SUCH A SIMPLE TASK?"
Li clutched her broken nose, fighting the pull of darkness as her consciousness wavered. "Your...Majesty I-I helped you return I—"
"You think I have use for a servant that can't see her task to the end? You let the brat steal your core, you've lost your worth witch. Face your death with grace or continue to whine about it, I no longer care."
Those watching the memory were unaffected by the violent gust of shi that burst forth from Illya that had caused everyone in the moment to shield themselves. As such, they were able to see when Li pushed herself up off of the ground and ripped out the King's root shi before consuming it.
"...Soldiers of Sindaria!" Li heaved the words from her throat, her lungs on fire as she began regaining her strength. "Oh, this is so pitiful! Our mighty King has fallen!"
The crowd watched in horror as Li went on to frame Illya and had the high council take her away. The memory continued after the council had taken her away and chants of "down with the Eclipse Empress" had faded into quiet suspicion as they examined the late King's corpse. If Illya had already stolen Li's root shi, why would she need to take King Sana's as well...unless...
"Kneel," Li said coldly.
The soldiers did as they were told and knelt before her.
"I'm sure you all have questions...speak."
The soldier to whom the memory belonged, opened his mouth to speak. "It's just...how are you still alive if you've had your root shi ripped out?"
The young man's fellow soldiers agreed, curiously awaiting her response.
"I imagined you would all be suspicious of this. Looks like I won't be able to simply brush things under the rug."
Li immediately picked up her weapon and brought it down on the neck of the soldier beside the young man. It took a moment for the others to process what had just happened. When they realized what was happening, the young man began to plead with her.
"P-PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! My wife is pregnant! My parents are elderly, I'm the one that looks after them and my little sister! I promise not to say anything!"
"My condolences to your family, but I'm sure you understand that I can't take any chances." Without waiting for his response, she sliced his head off.
For the brief moment where he was still somewhat conscious, he could see her go on to slaughter the other soldiers that were present before everything turned black.
Another plume of smoke consumed the horrified crowd, clearing once more they were back in the town square.
Illya had her hand on Hecate's shoulder, whispering "good job" before shooting another cocky glare at Li.
"Was that proof enough for you?"'80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx8iUF9RQ8o
