Intricately carved pillars lined the large, white marble space in all their grand splendor. It was a dazzling sight, akin to the temples one would often see in myths. The air within this ornate chamber was cold and tranquil—moreover, it was eerily quiet here.
From within the depths of this vast emptiness, the sounds of someone throwing a tantrum reverberated across the walls.
“Why?!” she cried. “Why am I losing so easily?! He lost to me once before!”
The owner of the voice beneath the Argent Armor was in the room. Her angry tone spilled her wrath out onto the room. The place was dimly lit, illuminated only by natural light, obscuring the owner of the voice.
“What did he mean by ‘Your fists have grown weaker than before’?! Argh!” the woman cried, practically in hysterics. “I don’t understand him at all!”
“Ha ha!” a man a short distance away replied mockingly. “Well, it’s true. Your inside is just a lump of flesh created by Liberal Materia. Since there’s no one inside controlling the armor, an empty suit packs a weaker punch, I bet.”
“Quit screwing around with me!” she shouted. “I’m not going along with your research so you can saddle me with a defective hunk of metal!”
“Oh dear, ‘defective,’ you say?” he asked. “I admit that I didn’t expect the Dark Lord to be so strong. I thought he’d lost himself to peace and become a total coward, but... Good grief. I really don’t have the time to be bothered with this nonsense.”
“I don’t think I caught that last part.”
“Oh, pay me no mind. I was just thinking to myself. Anyway, it seems the Aldian prince has reached Belletochka faster than we expected.”
“Huh? The prince? No, it was Mary who’s with her.”
“Mary? As I recall, that’s the name of Duke Regalia’s daughter, and she’s a member of the prince’s entourage.”
“Yes, the so-called Argent Holy Woman. She’s the one who destroyed the armor that you’re so proud of, by the way.”
“Oh? So, the Argent Knight is succeeded by an Argent Holy Woman, eh? That kingdom really loves their argent figures, don’t they? And a holy woman, no less... How grandiose.”
She scoffed, mocking the man for his ignorance, but he was completely unbothered by her tone and gave an exaggerated look of surprise. Not once did the man assume that she was being deceitful and feeding him lies. Despite her tantrums, he knew from his past research that she excelled at gathering information.
“I see...” the man replied. “No wonder the information we received had some vague details... Was the prince—no, was the entire royal family trying to keep her a secret? How terribly intriguing...”
The man suddenly became stone-faced and began to mutter to himself, but the woman failed to notice.
“They might come here, you know!” she continued. “Can’t you prepare something better for me?”
“Why don’t you stop using cheap imitations and go out to face them personally?” the man suggested.
“N-No! I’d awaken Agard!” she insisted softly. All of her anger had dissipated in a flash, and now she had the demeanor of a bashful maiden. “I want him to enjoy a peaceful slumber. I can’t make him push himself for my own selfish reasons.”
The man didn’t seem at all surprised by her sudden shift in attitude and instead sighed. “Then I suppose I’ll head out,” he said icily.
“Oh? Uh... Okay,” the woman replied, stumbling over her words for a moment. Perhaps his response was outside her expectations? “Let’s see what you’ve got,” she added, having quickly regained her cool.
A deafening silence settled in between them once more, and the man said not a word as he parted ways with the woman.
“The Argent Holy Woman, the only one aside from the Dark Lord who managed to destroy that armor...and she’s naught but a young girl,” the man muttered. “Perhaps she can become a sample that yields even greater results than Soul Materia.”
“Did you say something, Nike?” the woman called.
“No, nothing at all.”