Aqua held Azure securely as they flew above the forest. Despite her newfound power, Azure kept her eyes shut. Aqua tightened her arms around Azure. "I won't drop you, Azure. Trust me," she reassured the elven champion.
Azure opened her eyes, her breathing shallow. "I know. I have just never been this far above the ground."
Aqua couldn't help but giggle. The way Azure behaved reminded her of her dear teacher. Her expression soured. She had lost her beloved teacher before she ever had the chance to truly understand her feelings.
She looked down at Azure again. Aqua, this is not the time to reminisce!
Her eyes scanned the encampment below them. The Golden Rose was dismantling the camp, packing everything into carriages that were barely a dozen minutes away from departure.
Unfortunately for the humans, once they were caught in Aqua's gaze, they would not escape.
Her eyes glowed faint blue, and she sighed. "Sheira isn't here, Azure."
The champion grumbled, gripping Aqua's wrist. "Aqua, what are we supposed to do? How am I supposed to find Sheira like this?"
Aqua hummed. I understand her worry.
If Aqua had met the princess before, she could have searched the entire world for her. But Sheira was still unknown to her, and the divinity clinging to her was too faint to distinguish from so far away.
"Azure, do not worry. We will interrogate these bandits and find exactly where we need to go," she said reassuringly.
Azure went silent for a solid minute. "Aqua, I will trust you. If you wanted to kill me, you would have already. I hope we can be friends when this is all over."
Aqua's eyes widened, her lips stretching into a wide smile. How adorable! The woman in her arms did not seem like a slave of divinity. If anything, she reminded Aqua of her younger self.
With each moment spent with Azure, Aqua wanted to believe her fears were misplaced. But wanting to believe something did not make it true.
"Let's go question their officer, shall we?" Aqua asked.
Azure saluted. "Let's ask them where they took my friend!"
Only one person in the camp wore no mask: a female officer crowned with a circlet of golden roses, marking her as an obvious target for Aqua.
The officer barked orders to others before heading out toward her tent.
It was a perfect opportunity for the elven duo to capture and ask her everything they needed.
Aqua teleported close to the ground and released Azure. Then she slipped behind the officer and seized her by the throat.
"Where do you think you are going, human?" Aqua asked. The woman's body shook out of fear, yet she did not run; instead, she simply froze in place.
"I have questions," Aqua said. "I am looking for someone important, and you look important enough to know where she went."
Aqua forced the woman to face her.
"You may yet live if you cooperate," Aqua said, smiling at her.
From Ivor's consumed memories, Aqua recognized her: Laura, a Golden Petal of the Golden Rose.
Laura thrashed, attempting to strike her. Even Azure seemed unimpressed by the attempt.
Aqua squeezed her tighter before letting go. Laura gasped for air, her eyes wide. After a moment, she looked up toward Aqua. "No matter what you do to me, I am not betraying Golden Fang."
Laura was afraid. No, not merely afraid. Horrified. She stared at Aqua as if she were an Argus.
She rose to her knees and discreetly reached for a small crystal. Before her fingers closed around it, Aqua teleported it into her own hand.
Her fingers searched the empty pocket, panic growing with every passing second.
Aqua tilted her head and twirled the gemstone between her fingers.
"Looking for this?" she said in a mocking tone before crushing the gem, leaving nothing but dust.
A teleportation gem. A single-use vessel for the spell [Teleport]. Laura's last chance at survival, crushed before she could use it.
Laura looked at the gem with a horrified expression as the dust of her lifeline scattered into the wind.
"You shouldn't be trying to run away now. Teleportation wouldn't work against me anyway," Aqua said with a slight chuckle.
Azure drew her sword and approached, waiting for Laura to make any sudden move.
"I will never betray my boss, you arrogant bitch!" Laura shouted, gathering what strength she had left before lunging at the monster in front of her, hoping to do even the smallest damage before death took her.
Yet, instead of damaging Aqua, her fist broke upon an impenetrable barrier of time.
She clutched her broken hand for a moment, suppressing her pain to the best of her ability. She tried to gather her bearings before Aqua picked her up by the throat again. Laura slipped in and out of consciousness, barely holding on to her life while Aqua's fingers dug into her throat.
Aqua turned her head toward Azure. "I will read her mind. Please watch my back, Azure!"
The champion nodded, taking a defensive stance, leaving Laura and the red-haired elf alone.
Aqua pushed against Laura's mind, aiming to crush her mental defenses. Laura resisted on instinct, throwing up every barrier she could, but each one cracked faster than the last.
Then she understood.
If she kept resisting, Aqua would not merely enter her mind. She would break it.
Laura's body trembled. Her pride screamed at her to fight, but she was not the one to throw her life away needlessly. Slowly and deliberately, she lowered her defenses.
Aqua entered Laura's mind like fire slipping through an unlocked door. Memories cracked open one by one: hunger, alleys, recruitment, loyalty, fear.
Laura's memories flooded into Aqua, leaving nothing hidden, from her earliest memories to the present moment. As Aqua absorbed everything, her eyes widened. Laura's life was pitiful from the beginning; she was an orphan who had clung to the Golden Rose because it was the first hand ever extended to her.
Aqua's hatred for the woman dissipated, despite what she and her band had done. It was easy to coerce children and groom them into becoming a useful tool, yet her devotion to the leader of the Golden Rose was real.
I pity her. Laura was still guilty. Pity did not erase that. But the true root of this crime was Golden Fang.
After taking what she needed, Aqua withdrew from Laura's mind and let her collapse onto the ground. Laura shook violently, exhausted less from pain than from the humiliation of having chosen survival over resistance.
Soon, the commotion brought the attention of the remaining Thorns. Laura's eyes widened, staring at her comrades as if they were walking into their death.
Few could survive a confrontation with every remaining Thorn of the Golden Rose. Anyone who could was not someone to underestimate.
Yet despite their foolishness, Laura couldn't help but smile at their display of loyalty.
Aqua sighed and approached Azure, tapping her on the shoulder. "Let me deal with them, you make sure Laura doesn't try anything stupid."
Aqua's form smoldered, and the air around her shimmered with rising heat.
Laura stared at Aqua. She tried to understand how the elf cast the spell, and yet it did not fit in any of the known methods of casting.
Laura studied Aqua carefully. She stood up slowly, making sure not to seem like a threat to Azure, who was watching over her.
She studied Aqua from behind. No wand. No jewelry. No staff. Perhaps she had a ring. Then, she noticed the ruby circlet on her head.
Laura discreetly pointed toward Aqua's ruby, marking it as the only possible way that the elf cast her spells. Azure noticed her, which forced Laura to sit still; she refused to die here.
The standoff between the Thorns and Aqua tightened. Laura felt as if the tension could be cut with a knife. At any second, the fighting would begin. If she could not warn them about Aqua's supposed weakness, they would die. Most of their casters were already dead or gone with Fang himself.
One of the Thorns noticed the gesture. Then another. And then, every eye fixed on the ruby. Every remaining Thorn launched their attack toward Aqua's circlet.