Nahira returned to her palace like a dark storm, preceded by an aura of rage and arrogance that stifled the breath of everyone in the hall. Clarice stood by the grand window, watching with cold amusement the gathering of soldiers cheering the name of their mistress, who was returning from a war whose outcome had been decided before it even began. Yet, Clarice's sharp eyes saw past the illusions.
With a demeaning wave of her hand, Nahira cast the bodies of Gelius, Kane, and Smith onto the hard floor. She shrieked at the guards in a voice dripping with venom, "Take this rebel, Kane, to the deepest dungeons... and tend to these two wrecks, Smith and Gelius; they are still of use."
When her gaze fell upon Arius, the fury in her eyes reignited. She spoke in a voice that shook the palace pillars, "As for this one... treat his wounds until he awakens, then confine him to a Raizo-isolating cage and bind him in chains like a stray dog. I want no movement from him until I decide how I will break his spirit."
Nahira entered the main foyer with heavy steps that shook the marble tiles, her features betraying a volcano on the verge of eruption. Seeing Clarice waiting at the hall entrance, Clarice bowed with manufactured reverence to greet her. Nahira, however, did not grant her so much as a single glance, brushing past her violently toward the throne room and slamming the doors behind her with a resounding crash that echoed throughout the palace.
Clarice remained standing in her place amidst the prevailing silence. Suddenly, a malicious smile crept onto her lips, concealing eons of cunning. Not content with merely smiling, a soft laugh escaped her, growing louder and echoing through the corridors—a laugh filled with mockery directed at her great sister.
"Poor Nahira," Clarice whispered to herself, shaking her head. "You look exactly like a spoiled child whose favorite candy was stolen. Did Arius break your pride to this extent?"
Clarice turned toward the corridors leading to the dungeons, her eyes gleaming with lethal curiosity. She now possessed a new, broken "toy" in her hands, and she wanted to see for herself how Arius would look bound inside that isolating cage.
After some time, Clarice walked with confident strides into the depths of the lower dungeons, where the stench mingled with fear and rust. Guards bowed in terror and reverence, and the heavy gates opened with a dismal groan to welcome the "old sage" in the guise of a glamorous teenager.
She began descending through the levels. On the 99th floor, the scene was horrifying: millions of detainees from all corners of the realms—deformed creatures and energy entities whose wills had been crushed—roared and clawed at the bars whenever Clarice passed them. Yet, she walked with icy detachment, her ruby eyes viewing them as nothing more than insects unworthy of notice.
She finally reached the intended cage: a securely sealed glass cell reinforced with insulation that prevented the escape of a single speck of Raizo, surrounded by massive chains that weighed heavily upon the space. Discharging the guards with a single word, she stood alone, contemplating Arius.
Arius was unconscious, his chained body appearing minuscule inside that suffocating enclosure. Clarice stood for hours, completely silent, watching his breathing and examining the details of his face as if studying a rare artifact or reading a book whose pages she feared losing.
Suddenly, Arius jolted awake! He woke up startled, his hand trembling toward his neck as he felt it in panic, recalling Nahira's lethal touch. He breathed a sigh of relief upon finding himself alive, but soon realized the catastrophe. He attempted to gather Raizo and release an energy strike to break the chains, but his body was empty; his energy was shackled behind the isolating glass.
He raised his gaze to see Clarice standing behind the glass—calm, mysterious, and amused. She spoke in a soft tone, "Oh... you are finally awake. You looked beautiful while sleeping, returner of the soul."
"Where am I?" Arius shouted in a hoarse voice. "Why are you here? And what did your sister do to Kane?"
Clarice stepped closer to the glass until her breath nearly touched it, saying with uncanny calmness, "Calm down... Nahira is preoccupied with her arrogance right now. As for me, I came for one purpose alone... I am here to offer you my help."
Arius froze in place, looking at her with astonishment mixed with suspicion. "What? Your help? You are her sister... why would you help a traitor like me?"
Clarice looked at him with her customary vanity, tilting her head slightly as she smiled a cryptic smile. "And why shouldn't I, after all? I came to this world seeking answers from my sister, but she plays the fool as usual... and it seems you, the one who returned from death, possess the answers I seek."
She drew even closer to the glass, her gaze shifting to a strange eagerness as she whispered, "You... since the very first day I saw you, I felt something peculiar regarding you, and now I am certain of it. Even so, your current situation is very dire, Arius; you might be executed for your treason against my sister, and I may never see you again... and that is something I do not like at all."
Arius looked at her with eyes filled with determination despite his weakness, saying in a firm voice, "It matters not what happens to me. What matters is getting out of here first, and then saving Uncle Kane... after that, we shall see. I will take my comrades, Kane and his family, and escape this cursed place."
Clarice chuckled softly and said, "Escape? You are on the 99th floor, in a cage that absorbs even your energetic breath, and Nahira monitors every speck of Raizo in this palace. Leaving this place is not as easy as you imagine, unless..."
She fell silent abruptly, staring at the chains binding him, then continued, "Unless you accept my terms. I can weaken the isolators for a brief moment, but the price will be steep... so, are you ready to trust a 'gentle lady' like me?"
Arius stared into her eyes with bewilderment tinged with confusion, asking in a highly skeptical voice, "Tell me... what is your stake in all of this anyway?"
Clarice approached the glass, her face adopting expressions that were soft and provocative at once, and said with a simplicity that sent a shiver down his spine, "Simply... I admire you, and I just want to have you."
Arius's expression instantly shifted from astonishment to intense disgust. In an involuntary movement, he gathered all his physical strength and punched the isolating glass toward her face with absolute fury, but his fist struck the solid barrier without leaving a single scratch. He screamed at her in a roaring voice, "You wretched woman! What nonsense are you talking about?!"
Clarice did not flinch; instead, she continued to view him with her usual coldness and said, "Do not think I will treat you as my sister does... quite the contrary. I will make you into something much greater and better than that."
Arius's face flushed with rage, and he shouted at her, "Get out of here right now! I don't want to see you here!"
Clarice pushed her purple hair back and said as she prepared to leave, "Very well... I will let you rest a little. But I shall return. I hate to have my requests rejected, but I will be patient... and upon my return, you will be shocked by certain things." She then turned and left the cell, letting out ringing laughs that echoed down the dark corridors—laughs carrying a threat that Arius did not yet understand.
Arius remained alone in the cage, frantically striking the glass and iron until his hands bled, but to no avail. He retreated to a corner of the cage and fell to his knees, tears nearly escaping his eyes from frustration and despair. He whispered to himself with burning bitterness, "Damn it... if only I hadn't gone there at that moment... the rebel army wouldn't have died, and none of this would have happened... Rouge, Kane, everyone... it's all because of me!"
He felt the heavy burden of the Raizo trapped inside his body, as if his soldiers—Dark, Rinos, and Gelen—were screaming deep within him, but the isolators were too powerful to allow them out. In this moment of absolute weakness, Arius began to realize that the game Nahira and Clarice were playing around him was far more dangerous than mere loyalty and betrayal.
Above, silence enveloped the throne room, broken only by the sound of the wind caressing the balconies of the capital. Nahira stood like a marble statue, her eyes piercing the horizon without blinking, as if watching the threads of fate weave around her kingdom.
Outside the hall, the assistant Smith stood with his exhausted body and wounds that had not fully healed, guarding the throne gate. Clarice approached with audible steps and asked him in a confident tone, "Is she still inside?"
Smith nodded and said in a low voice, "Yes, my lady, and she has not allowed anyone to enter since our return." Clarice said as she bypassed him, "Step aside... I am going in to see her." Smith attempted to warn her, "My lady, I do not advise it; her mood is..." Clarice cut him off with a cold look and a firm command, "I said step aside."
Compelled to comply, Smith moved sideways, and Clarice entered the spacious hall. Without turning around, Nahira said in a sharp, stern tone, "Did I not say no one is to enter, Smith?"
Nahira turned slowly, and upon seeing Clarice, anger flared in her eyes once more. "You! Who were you expecting then?" Clarice replied with a provocative smile, "I am not just 'anyone', my elder sister; remember that well."
Nahira's eyes narrowed, and she said sharply, "What do you want, Clarice? I have no time for your games right now." Clarice approached her with dignity and said, "Calm down... I am not here to quarrel with you, but all I want is a single request."
Clarice paused for a few seconds, then whispered her request into Nahira's ear. Nahira's expression shifted from anger to astonishment, then to suspicion, and she said aloud, "Is this what you truly want?" Clarice replied steadfastly, "Yes."
Nahira looked at her skeptically and asked, "And why do you want that? What are you planning?" Clarice replied as she turned to leave, "The reasons are none of your concern... what matters is that I will do it, and that is all."
Clarice left the hall, leaving Nahira in a state of confusion and suppressed anger, mystery shrouding that secret request which might alter the course of many events and matters in the future.
Heavy days passed inside that glass cage. Arius lay watching the transparent ceiling with eyes filled with exhaustion and anticipation, until the silence of the vault was pierced by the sound of rhythmic, familiar footsteps. He sat up as he saw shadows approaching, revealing Nahira in her dominant majesty, followed by a procession of servants and heavily armed soldiers.
Arius looked at her, and despite his chains and weakness, a cold, mocking laugh formed on his face. He said in a sarcastic tone, "Look who came here on her own two feet! What is the matter, Nahira? Did you miss your favorite servant? Or did you come to gloat and boast of your grand achievement in defeating someone thousands of times weaker than you? Hahaha."
Nahira did not flinch, nor did she grant him even the satisfaction of anger. Instead, she continued to view him with utter coldness, as if looking at a stone on the path, and said in a deep voice, "In fact... I am only here to send you where you belong, you little vagrant."
At a curt gesture from her, the doors of the glass cell opened, and the guards rushed to drag Arius violently by the thick chains binding his hands and feet. Nahira began walking vanity, saying, "Now... this is a familiar scene, isn't it?"
As Arius was dragged behind her, his head bowed toward the ground, he said in a voice full of bitter mockery, "Ha... clearly I made the right choice by standing against you. Had I not done so, I would still be oblivious to your true view of me."
He raised his head slightly, his eyes gleaming with wounded defiance. "Now I realize the full truth... though I always knew how you saw me. All that refined talk about trust, and that constant praise... it was just nonsense and trivialities! You thought your praise would make me feel alive, or that I would dissolve in my loyalty to you... but I am no fool, Nahira. I have known you for a long time... you were never someone to whom I would surrender myself or my trust... never!"
Nahira suddenly stopped walking, and a heavy silence befell the dark corridor. The walls seemed to feel the pressure of her energy as she turned to him slowly. Had his words touched a sensitive nerve behind that mask of coldness, or was she preparing to end his life right here before they reached the execution grounds?
With unmatched coldness, Nahira pulled out a silk handkerchief and stuffed it forcefully into Arius's mouth to muffle his voice, then whispered as she drew close to his face, "Shhh... your barking is beautiful, but your silence is my favorite music." She then turned to the guards and said in a commanding tone, "Come, let us continue walking."
They began ascending through the dark levels of the prison, and the sight was both grand and repulsive. Millions of prisoners—monsters and entities from forgotten worlds—pressed against the bars of their cells, roaring terrifying insults. Their voices filled the space: "Leave the boy, tyrant!" "How many more souls will you take? Curse you and your rule!" They mocked her frantically, but Nahira walked through the din as if traversing a garden of flowers, unconcerned by the thousands of eyes wishing to tear her flesh apart.
The procession emerged from the lower prison gate, entering the luxurious corridors of the royal palace. Servants and guards lined both sides, their eyes fixed on Arius. The "second-in-command," the "supreme authority" whose gaze everyone used to fear, was now being dragged like a humiliated sacrifice in rusty chains.
After a long march, they reached the "Grand Arena," a legendary combat pit whose ceiling consisted of a steel mesh extending like a giant cage to prevent any attempt at flight or escape. Arius was bound in the center of the arena with heavy energy chains, and then the soldiers brought Kane, who appeared broken and emaciated, binding him by his side.
The crowds were immense; thousands of officials, commanders, and residents of the capital stood behind the barriers to witness the fall of legends. Nahira ascended her elevated throne overlooking the arena, crossing one leg over the other as she surveyed the crowds with cold narcissism, enjoying the looks of terror and anticipation that pervaded the place.
Kane turned his head toward the gagged Arius and said in a faint, exhausted voice, "I apologize, Arius... we ended up in this cage because of my stubbornness. I did not want you to see this end.