Questions along with confusion start to grow in (Y/n)'s mind when she saw the face of the figure approaching them. "Nicholas?" she mumbled underneath her breath, unconsciously furrowing her brows together in incertitude as she repeated the words Nicholas has said just now in her head.

Just what exactly did he mean when he said a simple dagger or a sword wouldn't have done the trick?

(Y/n) didn't know why, but looking at Nicholas now, she suddenly had this very unsettling in the pit of her stomach and no matter what she did, she couldn't shake off the feeling that something really bad was about to happen. The sudden change in Nicholas's demeanor also didn't make her feel any better.

She felt a shudder went down her spine as she watched the way Nicholas looked at Edward with no warmth in his eyes and a strange look on his face. For someone who was meeting a friend who was still alive as a corpse, Nicholas was far too eerily calm.

In fact, she was starting to become well aware of the fact that the 'Nicholas' in front of her now and the 'Nicholas' she thought she knew...They were nothing alike.

"Brother?" she heard Raymond mumbling too with the same confusion she felt just now growing in his eyes.

Everyone else in the church was also just as confused as they were as they watched Nicholas come out of the shadows and head towards the alter.

Feeling uneasy, (Y/n) glanced around nervously, but stopped when she noticed her beloved's hands trembling slightly and she looked up to see that Edward's eyes were also on Nicholas, the horror struck look on his face taking her back by surprise.

Worried, she reached out towards him, gently calling his name, "Edward?"

But Edward didn't seem to have heard her call his name as his eyes remained fixed on Nicholas who was in front of him. For a minute, it was almost as if he was in some kind of a trance before he finally said something, "You...It was you!"

"What?"

"Been quite a long time since we last talked, isn't it?" Nicholas asked with a smile that didn't quite reached his eyes while Edward's gaze turned into a glare at his words. "Yes. The last time we did, you poisoned me...and then, you stabbed me to death," Edward said and everyone in the church gasped, shocked by the sudden revelation of the truth.

"What?!" The Duke, Raymond, (F/n) and Loen all exclaimed in disbelief, their eyes darting back and forth between Edward and Nicholas in shock and confusion though Nicolas took no notice of them and only continued to focus on Edward.

(Y/n) felt her blood ran ice cold at her beloved's words as her eyes widened with shock and her mouth fell open, her bouquet slipping out of her hands to the floor in her shocked state. Stunned, she slowly turned to look at Nicholas who only had a sinister smile on his face and her emotions started to become mixed.

Shock.

Disbelief.

Bitterness.

And anger.

"Now, now, it's not nice to accuse someone of something scandalous without evidence, you know?" Nicholas replied assertively, each word only making (Y/n)'s blood boil more and more.

And it wasn't just (Y/n) who was becoming furious.

The death were also becoming enraged as all the corpses in the church glared at Nicholas.

"Is it true? It was...it was you who killed him?" (Y/n) questioned weakly, drawing Nicholas's attention to her and his expression perked up as soon as his eyes have landed on her. There was a time (Y/n) used to think that Nicholas's smile was somewhat always warm when they when they met again at Loen and Lyra's wedding rehearsal, but now, the smile on Nicholas's face was almost nauseating as she watched him turn his attention towards her.

"Oh, (Y/n). There you are, my lady. Where have you been hiding these past few days?" Nicholas inquired sounding almost disturbingly playful with the current moment as he took one step towards (Y/n) who took a step back as well, keened to keep the distance between herself and Nicholas as much as possible.

"I asked you a question, Sir Nicholas," she said again firmly and Nicholas stopped trying to proceed closer towards her though his warm demeanor seems to have dropped along with his smile.

"Come now, (Y/n). You aren't actually going to believe what he's saying, are you? He's a walking corpse. Don't you think it is possible that he might be being delusional with what he is saying?" he drily asks, his gaze slowly shifting into something cold and unreadable as he took one more step towards (Y/n) and this time, Edward stepped forward, blocking (Y/n) from Nicholas's view as he gently pulled the (h/c) haired girl behind him and stood in front of her.

"Don't you dare take another step towards her, Nicholas," Edward warned, his eyes becoming frost like ice as they trained over Nicholas with a glare on his face.

At those words, Nicholas's lips twisted into a sardonic smile as he mockingly held up his hands and stopped taking another step. "Ah, right. Haven't heard those words in quite a while. Don't get so edgy now, Edward. I just want to hear an answer from her directly on my proposal for her because you see...I asked for her hand," he said, his smirk widening when he sees Edward's eyes flashing with anger though his posture continued to remain calm.

"But since you don't want me coming anywhere near her..." Nicholas continued to speak and paused for a second, his eyes spotting the sword sticking through a skeleton dwarf soldier sitting nearby. And in one blink of a moment, he snatched the sword out of General Bonesapart's chest, causing everyone in the church to become alarmed. "What do you say we settle this the old way?...Just like old times," Nicholas added, his lips curling up into a taunting smile as he pointed his sword at Edward and challenged him.

"I might not want to do that if I were you," Edward warned, narrowing his eyes at Nicholas as all the dead people in the church started to rise from their seats, their eyes fixed on Nicholas as they all glared at him while Wolfie also left (F/n)'s side and growled lowly at Nicholas who continued to remain eerily nonchalant about it.

"Really? What about a little motivation then?" he said and then, the next second, Nicholas roughly grabbed Lady Eliza by her arm and pulled her from out of her seat to in front of him, holding the blade tightly against her neck which stopped anyone from trying to approach him.

"No!"

"Granny!"

"Mother!"

"I apologize for this, your grace, but this really isn't anything personal. I just have a score to settle with your grandson, that's all," Nicholas mumbled to Lady Eliza, smirking at the alarmed look on Edward's face as he continued to hold her as a hostage.

"Scoundrel," Lady Eliza replied, shooting a glare at Nicholas who was only keeping his attention on the look on Edward's face.

"Take your hands off her, Nicholas," Edward's gaze turned into a seething glare as he stepped forward, Raymond also doing the same as he approached his brother, unable to understand what he was doing all of this for.

"Let the Dowager Duchess go, brother. Why in the world are you doing all of this?" Raymond asked, not willing to believe that his brother was the real reason why Edward was dead.

He just simply didn't want to believe it.

But Nicholas only sighed in annoyance at his words as he tightened his hold on Lady Eliza and removed the sword away from her neck. "Do I have to kill you too, brother?" He mockingly asked with no hint of hesitation in his voice, pressing the tip of the sword against his own brother instead which caused Raymond to freeze in his place with his eyes widened in disbelief.

Just then, Wolfie suddenly appeared from behind Nicholas and bit his leg hard with his bony teeth, causing Nicholas to yell as he accidentally let go of Lady Eliza, allowing her to escape. Almost instantly, Raymond also snapped out of his shocked state and wasted no time, pulling Lady Eliza away from his brother as fast as he could and then, letting (Y/n) take her away to a safer distance from Nicholas.

"Are you alright, Granny? Are you hurt?" (Y/n) worriedly asked, checking over Lady Eliza to make sure there was no injuries on her which makes the Dowager Duchess smiles as she put a hand over the girl's hand and calmed her down, "I am fine, dear. Don't worry about me."

Meanwhile, Nicholas tried to shake Wolfie off his leg, but Wolfie only bit his leg harder and continued to hold on which led Nicholas to kick him off and threw him out of the way when he couldn't shake him away.

"Edward, catch!" Mrs. Plum yelled as she quickly grabbed one of what seems to be knives sticking out from the back of a chef corpse who was sitting beside her and tossed it towards Edward who caught it with ease...But instead of a knife which Miss Plum originally intended to throw to help, what she threw turned out to be a giant fork.

"Sorry," Mrs. Plum sheepishly apologized with a shrug, making Edward breathlessly let out a small chuckle as he held the fork tight in his hand like how he would hold a sword, "Don't worry about it, Mrs. Plum. I still appreciate it," he said just before Nicholas charged at him with his sword and Edward blocked his attack with the fork in his hand. (Y/n) led Lady Eliza further to the side where Loen and Lyra were standing as she watched her beloved dodged out of the way when Nicholas swung his sword at him again, leading him to bump into the table where Elder Gutknetch was still standing behind.

Elder Gutknecht stabled the wine cup containing the wine of ages as the table shook violently and it threatened to spill.

Everyone moved out of the way as the fight started to move towards where the pews were located. Paul had to jump off of his plate to avoid getting sliced in half from one of Nicholas's swing at some point while the hat of the chef corpse's who was assisting him to move around fell off, sliced.

(Y/n) worriedly watch as Edward was backed against a pillar and he continued to narrowly dodge Nicholas's continuous blade attacks.

And she then, she noticed that there was something was off.

Edward was holding back.

Every attack Nicholas made, it was with an intent to harm him. But every move Edward made, it was only just to defend himself and never really to harm him. He maybe fighting Nicholas back with a fork now, but (Y/n) has seen him dueled with one of the skeleton soldiers before during her stay in the Land of the Dead and she knows Edward is much more stronger than this. He could win if he wanted to. So, why was it that he was holding back? She couldn't understand it.

Noticing how worried she was, Elder Gutknecht spoke up beside her, drawing the (h/c) haired girl's attention to him, "He's abiding by the rules."

"Rules?" (Y/n) questioned softly and Elder Gutknecht quietly hummed in response as he observed the fight going on between Edward and Nicholas and continued to speak, "Us, the dead cannot harm the living while we are among them in their world. We have to abide by their rules. There are consequences to be faced if one did so."

So, that's why...

The sound of Nicholas's sword clashing with Edward's fork dragged (Y/n)'s attention back towards the fight going on between Edward and Nicholas. Then, the pews started to fall down like a bunch of dominoes being knocked over due to Edward pushing them to block Nicholas's attacks which made Nicholas who was on one of the pews fall down along with the pews as well, unable to keep the balance on his feet.

And (Y/n) felt rage starting to slowly crawl its way back into her mind once again as she recalled everything Nicholas has done to all of them.

He killed Edward.

He killed Edward and not only has he succeeded in tricking them to believe that Edward was killed by one of the bandits with poison and not by his doing, he has also managed to get away with it once without getting any punishment.

Then, he gained her father's trust, pretended to sympathize with her and even dared have the audacity to ask for her hand. What was more revolting was that she almost accepted it without knowing the truth for one bit. Just the thought of what could have happened if Nicholas succeeded made a sickening feeling settle in (Y/n)'s stomach and intensified her anger.

So, the moment Nicholas has managed to disarm Edward and has him kicked down to the ground with his sword pointed at Edward, her body instinctively moved on its own.

In one swift moment, she grabbed the sword Raymond was carrying on his waist from its scabbard and before anyone could have realized what was about to happen or stop her, (Y/n) has stepped into the duel of the two men herself.