Arthur was the first to exit the teleportation gate upon the floating castle, followed by Bairon, Mica, Sylvie, Regis, and Elijah. The five of them formed a sort of perimeter around the former Scythe, who's arms and legs were shackled together.

It had been five days since the Alacryan fleet arrived in Etistin, but the fighting really only ended after two days. What took so long was processing the vast number of prisoners, most of which surrendered from seeing Cadell running for his life. After that the mere sight of one of the lances, especially Arthur, caused many to run away from or surrender to them. This of course frustrated Mica, as she was a bit angry after being forced to retreat from Seris while on her mission in Darv so she could save her cousins.

Arthur actually didn't mind this, he was preoccupied with trying to help Elijah acclimate to his new reality. The fact that he was actually a scythe and reincarnation of Arthur's former best friend from another world was a pretty big pill to swallow, but Arthur spent hours of every day working with him. He was still having trouble accepting everything, but his biggest issue was one that Arthur didn't predict, nightmares.

Apparently despite turning back time for now Elijah's mind, Nico was still in there, making his presence felt as Elijah slept. There Nico terrorized Elijah relentlessly, showing him all the horrible things he had done while training, fighting and killing massive numbers of Dicathen POWs, as well as creating images of his plans for Dicathen and everyone in it.

He showed images of mass executions, thousands of people held in irons as slaves, public beatings, and to top it off, he made sure to show all of these things happening to his friends. All Nico demanded of Elijah was cooperation, to kill Arthur and kidnap Tess, and he would end the mental torture. After telling Arthur about this he tried to find a way to block Nico out with aether, sleeping aid artifacts, even having Regis inside Elijah's mind when he slept, but nothing helped. He tried giving him a pep talk, reminding him that it's also his mind, and that he can fight back as well, but Elijah couldn't manage to gain any control in his dreams. In the end Arthur came to the conclusion that there was nothing he could do, but considered that maybe someone else could.

"Generals," the Captain of the castle knights greeted with a salute, as did the eight knights behind him.

Arthur took a breath then stepped aside. He knew why they were there, Elijah. The problem was that he didn't trust them to not treat him like a prisoner. Throughout the war Arthur didn't think too much about the treatment of prisoners, who would be regularly beaten by the guards for any little reason. In his previous world however there were rules for the treatment of prisoners, and right now for Elijah's sake he wished there were here too. Thankfully with the help of Virion, via communication scroll, Arthur was able to convince the other Lances that Elijah was more of a victim than an enemy, but the vast number of guards would be much more difficult to convince.

Thankfully for Arthur, Aldir had discussed several Virita abilities, one being to manipulate a person's memories. Using this as a base, he spun a story about how Agrona kidnapped Elijah to be used as a counter to himself, thinking that Arthur would have difficulty fighting a friend. He said how Agrona altered Elijah's memories and experimented on him to turn him into a weapon he could use. In the end the Lances believed the story, but remained skeptical that Elijah could actually be trusted.

"Take the prisoner to the dungeon, and tell the dungeon master not to lay a finger on him." Arthur then placed a hand on Elijah's shoulder as he stepped forward. "He's been exceptionally cooperative, and I don't want that to be ruined, so also inform him that no one is to interrogate this prisoner but me."

"Yes sir," the Captain replied, then took custody of Elijah and they walked away.

The three Lances then continued to their meeting with the council while Regis and Sylvie returned to Ellie's room to rest.

—————————————————————-

As the three Lances approached the council chambers the knights opened the doors, and the council stood up and applauded.

"Welcome back our heros," Virion greeted.

"Thank you commander, council members," Arthur replied with a gracious smile.

"Please take a seat, and debrief us on everything that's happened," Blaine said with excitement.

"But before we begin," Merial said, and looked directly at Mica. "I'm sure you'll be happy to hear, master Gideon and the rest of your team, along with your cousins have safely evacuated Darv, and are currently en route to Carn."

"Thank you, Mica is happy to hear that," Mica replied with a relieved smile.

The Lances each took a seat, and Arthur started off by explaining how Varay stayed behind to oversee the remainder of the clean up from the battle. The remaining ships had become a valuable resource, and were being taken to another location to be studied, and eventually put into service for Dicathen. The battle as a whole was a complete success, not only because of the two hundred ships that were captured, but out of the ten thousand soldiers sent to defend against the fleet, only two thousand Dicathens died. Even though two thousand was a fairly high number, the fact that it was against roughly six thousand Alacryans made it feel more acceptable.
The debrief continued, going into details about the need to relocate many of the prisoners, followed by the council discussing possible options, then to the capture of Nico. Arthur alone wouldn't have been able to protect Elijah, with Virion knowing about Arthur's aether and him being able to go into actual details about things, he was able to gain his help.

The discussion on the battle concluded, and was moving on to the war in general going forward. They began discussing the relocation of the troops in Etistin, when a flash of pink light appeared in the council chamber. Everyone turned to face it and the Lances took up a defensive position between the light and the council. The light held for a few seconds before fading, leaving a middle aged woman on the ground with her arms up as a shield.

"Mom?" Arthur said in surprise of seeing her, as his mind put the situation together.

"Arthur?!" Alice said in shock as she looked around to realize she was safe.

"Mom what happened?" Arthur asked as he realized her phoenix wyrm necklace had activated.

"We were attacked," she started in a panic.

"How many? Where?" Arthur asked, sounding more demanding than he intended.

"About a day outside of Kalberk." She shuttered. "There was only one of them."

"One?" Bairon questioned.

"He was huge, black armor, red eyes, horns..."

She described the attacker more, but everyone realized now it had to be a scythe or retainer.
Arthur was pretty sure he knew exactly who it was, but then a new fear washed over him.

"Oh no." He then spun around to face Bairon and Mica. "The scythe that escaped is targeting my family. I need you two to go to Lancer academy and bring my sister back here now!" He ordered.

"On it!" Mica said and ran out of the room.

"Wait a minute, since when..." Bairon started before being interrupted.

"General Wykes, go now!" Virion ordered.

Without any hesitation Bairon ran after Mica.

"Arthur what are you...." Virion started to question what he was going to do, when he saw Arthur pull a black crystal from his storage rune, where everyone could tell it wasn't from his ring.

"How did you.." Blane started to ask, before getting cut off.

"Shh!" Arthur said, as he channeled aether into the artifact he used to watch over his family while he was in Alacrya in the previous timeline, and thought hard about his father.

In seconds Arthur was no longer in the council chamber, but on a dirt road. He could see most of the caravan was running in random directions, and only a few bodies were lying on the ground. He could see all of the twin horns scattered about, most he could tell were still breathing. Then he saw his father laying face down on the ground in a pool of blood. His breathing was weak, only noticeable by the ripples every breath caused in the pool.

Suddenly Arthur was back, and gently pushed his mother aside as he stepped forward.

"Sylvie, Regis."

"We know, we're on our way," Sylvie replied.

"Arthur, what did you just do?" Virion asked.

"Nothing compared to this."

Arthur's runes glowed a bright gold, catching everyone off guard. Arthur stretched out his right hand and began moving it on a circle in front of him. Almost immediately purple sparks began to form and began growing to form a portal to the location of the attack.

"Arthur?" Alice called out in confusion.

"Don't worry mom. Ellie will be safe," Arthur said as Regis and Sylvie arrived, and the three entered the portal.

—————————————————————

Tess was walking down the hall towards the council chamber. She had heard Arthur had finally returned to debrief the council, and wanted to speak with him one last time before she had to return to the trailblazers operating in Elenoir tomorrow.

As she walked she saw Mica rush past her.

"What's going on? She was supposed to be in the meeting with Arthur. Did something happen?" Tess thought to herself and quickened her pace.

Then she saw Bairon running, but had no desire to speak even a word with him, and pressed herself against the wall to stay out of this way. Then as she saw the council chamber doors open, and out of nowhere she saw Regis and Sylvie bolt in from the opposite end of the hall. Knowing something had to be going on she ran to the council chamber, but once there saw everyone silently staring at an empty space with a look of disbelief. She looked around to see no sign of Arthur, but Alice was also there.

"Umm, what's going on?" She asked, breaking the silence.

Everyone quickly turned to face her, causing her to flinch from the sudden attention.

"Tessia," Merial said, trying to find words to say.

"Tessia, please take Alice to her room. We'll talk later," Viron said, being the first to recompose himself.

Alduin recovered next and escorted Alice to Tess.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine. We just need to have faith in Arthur right now," he said as Tess took Alice, who was pretty much catatonic, by the arm.

"Come with me Alice, I'll take you to your room," Tess said. She wanted to know what was going on, but knew she wasn't getting anything from Alice at this point.

"No," Alice said, breaking her silence. "Take me to the teleportation gate. I need to wait for them there."

"Ok," Tess replied, and led her away.

—————————————————————-

Arthur, Regis, and Sylvie exited the portal onto a dirt road as it closed behind them, and quickly sprang into action. Arthur of course ran straight to his father as Sylvie began healing Jasmine. Arthur immediately tried using vivum, but nothing happened. Quickly he checked for his father's pulse, and learned his heart stopped in the short period of time. Refusing to let him die again Arthur rolled him onto his back, and put his hands on his fathers side and chest, then began using lightning magic like a defibrillator. Arthur sent several quick jolts of electricity through his body, but nothing, he then tried CPR, still nothing. Panic was beginning to set in, and he tried to rewind time for him like he did for Elijah's mind. The aetheric pocket watch formed, but the hands wouldn't turn back. Arthur tried channeling even more aether into his rune, and still nothing.

"Why?" Arthur asked no one in particular as tears poured from his eyes, as he was once again unable to save his fathers life.

He then collapsed and cried into his fathers chest. Sylvie's healing began to waver from having to see this again, only barely continuing to heal Lilia since she was on death's door, and would die without her help. Not even Regis could say anything, and just came up and laid his head on Arthur's back.

"A-Arthur," Jasmine said weakly.

Arthur turned to face her, tears streaming down from both of their eyes.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. He was too strong for me," Jasmine apologized, placing all the blame on herself.

Arthur shook his head. "This wasn't your fault, it was mine."

Arthur wiped the tears from his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. He looked down at his father's arms, his left arm was broken, crushed in fact along with his gauntlet. The right gauntlet though was still intact, so he began to remove it.

"Arthur?" Sylvie asked, questioning his actions.

"My fathers gauntlet should at least get one good hit in don't you think?" He replied as he started to secure the gauntlet on his arm. It was a little big, but he was able to tighten it enough that it didn't feel like it was going to fall off.

"Sylvie, can you handle everything here?" Arthur asked coldly with his back to her.

Despite seeing the Twin Horns as family, even if she needed help it probably wouldn't make much difference right now.

"Don't worry about them, I can heal everyone. You just kill that monster," she replied with a shaky voice.

Without a word, Regis jumped up and into Arthur's body. With a running start Arthur took to the air and flew towards Kalberk as fast as he could.

—————————————————————-

Upon exiting the Kalberk teleportation gate Bairon and Mica skipped formalities with the guards, and took to running until they were outside and flew instead.

"Do you know where the school is?" Mica asked.

"Yes, I've been there before the war," Bairon replied as he pointed to a collection of buildings near the edge of the city.

As they flew over the city the people below took notice. Some cheered, while others became scared that something was about to happen. This continued as they entered the school grounds, and Mica started to descend in front of the main building.

"No, the headmaster's office is in that building," he said, pointing to the building beside the main one. "We'll go straight to him to save time."

They flew to a balcony on the top floor, and pushed the glass doors open.

"Forgive our intrusion headmaster," Bairon said as they walked in.

"Generals," headmaster McGrath said as he stood up from behind his desk and bowed. "Welcome to Lancer Academy. For what reason do you honor our humble school with your presence?"

"We need Eleanor Leywin now," Mica replied sternly.

"We have reason to believe a scythe is on his way here right now for her. We need to take her back to the floating castle immediately," Bairon explained.

"Oh dear," the headmaster said as he was suddenly struck with fear. He then walked towards the Lances then passed them onto the balcony. "That way," he said, pointing to the pond. "She's part of the beast rider class, and they should be training on the field by that pond right now."

"Thank you," Mica said quickly as she jumped off the balcony and flew towards the pond.

"I recommend evacuating the school," Bairon added as he did the same.

—————————————————————

"Come on," Curtis yelled out at his students from atop Grawder. "This is just embarrassing. How is it that only Eleanor is out shooting you conjurers? That bond of hers can't even run steady!"

They were currently having mounted target practice, for the conjurers and archers. All they had to do was hit a stationary target while riding on their bond. Unfortunately for them, no one could seem to hit their target except for Ellie.

Ellie beamed from the praise as she hit her target. It wasn't a bullseye, but considering how much she moves around while riding on Boo this was a great accomplishment for her.

"Attention all students," the headmaster's voice came over a series of voice emitting artifacts throughout the campus. "This is not a drill, there is an impending attack on the school. All students and faculty are to evacuate the campus immediately. I repeat, there is an
impending attack on the school. All students and faculty are to evacuate the campus immediately. This is not a drill."

Curtis immediately looked up and waved down his assistant.

"All right everyone form up, you heard the announcement! We leave as a group, no one is left behind!" Curtis yelled, then looked to his assistant as she landed. "Did you see anything up there?"

"Nothing. We should evacuate west towards the forest. If there is an attack we can hide the students there until we come up with a better plan," she suggested.

"Considering all the fighting has been to the east, that's probably the best idea. You take point with your students and scout ahead. Report back if you see anything we should worry about. I'll lead the students down here, and guide anyone else we come across." He then looked over at the students getting into formation. "Eleanor, where are you?"

"Here professor," she called out while raising her hand.

"Stay by me, your brother will have my head if anything happens to you," Curtis stated.

Ellie groaned at the special treatment, as she rode Boo over to him. As she did she saw Mica and Bairon coming up from behind Curtis and pointed.

Curtis saw them and turned around as they were coming in for a landing beside him.

"Generals?"

"We need to take Eleanor back to the castle now," Mica said sternly.

"What's happening?" She asked as she got to them.

"No time to explain, let's get..." Bairon stopped as he felt a powerful pressure closing in.

"Shit," Mica cursed, knowing it had to be the scythe.

"New plan," Bairon said as he pulled a spear from his dimensional ring, and Mica formed two large stone spiked maces. "Prince Curtis, take Eleanor and run. The castle is the only safe place for her," said as he and Mica faced the direction of the scythe.

"We'll buy you as much time as we can," Mica added.

"Alright," Curtis said, then turned back to his students. "Michelson, lead the students to the forest and follow professor Kira's instructions. Ellie, with me." Curtis concluded and Grawder took off running with Boo and Ellie right behind them.

"So, you think we can hold him till Arthur shows up?" Mica asked.

"I hope so," Bairon replied as he suppressed his fear.

"How about a bet? First one who's attack connects first wins, loser buys the winner dinner," Mica suggested.

Bairon gave an uncharacteristic smirk.

"You're on. Just so you know, I'm no cheap date."

"Good, neither is Mica!"