Jubilia knew what to call it, but it wasn’t supposed to happen to the Sovereign. Aging. Saya was rapidly aging. It was impossible. Jubilia stood dumbfounded as an entirely different voice answered her question.
“Lady Saya, you have been abandoned by the Sovereign’s Blood.”
“Lernaean...!”
Jubilia turned around at Saya’s voice. And there he was. Lernaean. Somehow, he had escaped the effects of the royal caliber. He looked different; his presence was even more overwhelming than usual. Jubilia’s body nearly fell to one knee before him, and she found she couldn’t force herself out of the pose. It was as if...
“Can you feel it?” he asked with a haughty smile. The air about him was the same as when Saya used her royal caliber.
It can’t be...
“Having used up all of her strength, Lady Saya has been abandoned by the Sovereign’s Blood. The power of the Sovereign has been inherited by the next worthy successor. You can feel it, can’t you? I am your new Sovereign.”
Jubilia’s brain told her it was impossible, but her mind was completely betrayed by her instincts. Her noble blood screamed at her that this man was the Sovereign.
“You look like you don’t understand. It’s a simple matter. The True Sovereign Saya had a twin brother, but the False Sovereign Kyou wasn’t the real thing. So, one might ask, where was the real brother all this time?”
Lernaean gazed off into the distance.
“Being granted a long life without purpose only brings suffering. Only when one acquires hope does their life become their own. I’m sure you don’t remember, but we were taught these words when we were young.”
“Lernaean...” Saya said in a trembling voice. “You’re... my little brother?”
“That’s right, sister. My little secret.”
“Why have you kept silent all this time?”
“If it came out that I was royalty, Gratos would have surely killed me. That man would do anything to protect the transient order he created using the False Sovereign Kyou. All this, even though he knew this isn’t how the world was meant to be. What a foolish man.”
Jubilia’s mind raced. Everything was falling into place. Everything Lernaean had done, the audacity and resolve he’d shown trying to push his plan for the world forward...
“That means... Everything... Absolutely everything up until now...” she muttered.
“Yes,” Lernaean picked up where she left off. “all so I could inherit the Sovereign’s Blood, so that I can return this world to its original state, as the Intelligence intended for us. Under my rule, there will be no commoners clinging feebly to life, no nobles living in constant flight from their own thirst; only a race of true immortals.”
He looked down at his right hand. It was lined with a red haze.
“How dreadful. Even now it feels like it will flood out. Sister, this is the first time I’ve felt respect for you. You’ve kept such a thing suppressed all these centuries?” Lernaean said, looking down at Saya. “But having lost your power, you’ve begun to age... How unsightly.”
His eyes were filled with kindness and pity.
“The least I can do is send you off while you’re still beautiful.”
A crest took shape on the back of Lernaean’s hand—the exact same as Saya’s. The moment she caught on to his imminent Excitation, Jubilia leapt up purely on instinct. In the next instant, her limbs were torn to shreds. Though she had no idea what happened, she still managed to shield Saya.
“Lady Saya! Please run away!”
“But Jubilia!”
“I forgot—I saw Nagi enter the palace. Run away with him. You’re not a Sovereign anymore. You’re free now.”
“Jubilia,” Lernaean interrupted. “I’ll forgive you if you serve me once more. Talented nobles like you are worthy of eternal life.”
Jubilia stood up. She groaned at the strain of carrying her weight on her shredded legs. For reasons she couldn’t understand, she found herself smiling.
“I decline,” she told him bluntly.
“Excitation.”
A shock ran through Jubilia’s left arm. After a short pause, a jolt of agony assaulted her body. Her arm was gone from the elbow down. Blood fountained from the stump.
My arm. I sank so many years of training into that...
“I’ll ask you once more. Serve me. If you act quickly, you might keep that arm.”
“I’m telling you... I decline... I swore to serve Lady Saya. She is my true liege.”
“Even if I let you go now, Saya will wither to nothing without her power.”
“Then I have all the more reason to turn you down. I cannot allow my liege to die before me.”
Saya remained unmoving.
“Lady Saya,” Jubilia said, her back still turned to her. “I’m a knight. If I were to betray you here, I would no longer be myself.”
She kept her gaze fixed on her enemy. Regardless, Jubilia knew the face her beloved Sovereign was making.
“Please. Run away. Live your own life, even if it’s short. I’ll be doing the same.”
Saya’s hand touched Jubilia’s back. Jubilia etched that feeling into her mind.
“Jubilia... thank you for everything.”
“Likewise. I’m truly happy I found a ruler worth serving.”
Jubilia focused on the sensation of Saya’s touch as she used her remaining hand to fish out her last bottle of Amrita.
“Excitation Overdrive.”
She was told that repeated use in a short period of time would have serious side effects. She didn’t care anymore. She didn’t need to think about what came after this. Blood poured from Jubilia’s entire body, pooling on the floor. A portion of it took on the shape of a slender sword. Jubilia’s fingers wrapped into a firm but gentle hold on its grip. She had never felt more like a knight.
“Are you prepared?” Lernaean asked, watching her steel herself.
“Thank you for waiting.”
“There is no need for thanks. There’s something I’d like to test here. Come at me.”
Jubilia readied her sword, despite her suspicions. If Lernaean was serious, there’d be nothing she could do. His last attack was totally inscrutable to her, and as such impossible to dodge. This brief moment of his condescension was the only opening she was going to get. If she could get just one strike in, she’d give Saya a fighting chance to escape.
Jubilia steadied her breathing. In this moment, she forgot everything about the burning pain in her body and her missing arm. Her greatest strength was her thrust; her sword embodied that strength.
She let out a wordless war cry and stepped in. In that single step, she thrust forth her blood caliber. Borrowing the power of Amrita, Jubilia unleashed the greatest thrust of her entire life, forged through hundreds of millions of repetitions. Lernaean casually held out his hand and accepted her blade. Jubilia didn’t flinch, pushing forward to skewer his heart. Her sword came to a halt the moment it pierced his palm. Jubilia realized that Lernaean’s regenerating flesh must have killed her momentum.
“Just as I thought!” Lernaean yelled, his eyes shining with a fiery blaze. “So the Sovereign really can’t be wounded by a blood caliber! Just as a noble can’t be injured by a commoner’s blade! Even Excitation Overdrive is meaningless before this power!”
Lernaean laughed, the sword still lodged in his right hand. His body tensed, and his regenerating flesh shattered Jubilia’s sword. She had nothing left but a stub of a blade gripped in her hand.
“Allow me to thank you. Farewell, Jubilia.”