~~Present Day~~

Celeste stood still at the tallest ground watching all of Lukedonia. It was such a quiet place unlike the old era. The only thing that was out of Lukedonia's control was her. Even if they gathered all of the strongest Knights in this dimension, no one could dominate her. Not even the deities could come close to achieving that goal. It was the same as trying to manipulate her. The reality might be that she was still forced to act as a Commander, but that did not mean that she was under anyone's control. She was merely playing a part that she would abandon soon. Nothing was permanent. Alaric could enjoy his false victory for now, but Celeste Alathielle is never going down. Their only way is to kill her, but she could not be killed because she's eternal.

The original Order of the Holy Knights was very strict and powerful. Alaric did everything to win. The man was truly cold and heartless during those days. He had no trouble in sacrificing his subordinates as long as he could win. Perhaps he was still the same, but she could feel that the Grandmaster was no longer the same as he was back then. He had become soft due to his age, but his power remained. The only way for Alaric to feel fear is through her. Her powers was beyond anyone could ever imagine. After all, everything that they have been seeing were mere illusions.

One day, she would make sure that all of Lukedonia as well as the deities would see her true ominipotence. Only then would they realize why she's the true ruler of their dimension.

The little charade with Kayden was no problem to her recovery. In fact, it would prove to be beneficiary to her. The child, Kayden seemed to be full of tricks and wits. Perhaps she should visit the child and see him with her own eyes. That would certainly be a good plan, but she would have to finish some businesses first. It was still early. It had been two months since she was released. That was the reason why she had been able to see that Lukedonia was different from the past. It was of no consequences to her though. The more interesting things became, the more fun she had.

Her Sergeant was pretty much useless. He was weak minded and somewhat a lost child. She did not like to handle mundane affairs in her division. She had no time to deal with demons that she can kill with just a flick of her fingers. She had no time to do paperwork so she let those beneath her handle those matters. Over the time, she had drilled a strong attitude to the boy. It was a little better than when she first had him discharged from mental care. It had been quite a scuffle with Isabel as the woman was not pleased with her patients being released before they could completely recover. Isabel had no choice though. The woman knew her enough to know that out of all the worthless Knights, he was the only capable one. That was why she forced him to be released and return to work.

Celeste looked at the sky with unreadable expression on her face. "It is starting." As soon as she the words escaped her lips, a wall of black energy surrounded her. It came from the ground, not from her. The wall covered all of her body and sprouted above the grounds creating a huge black pillar. It would restrain any energy from leaving the execution grounds, but it was certain that all Commanders would be able to feel it. She had set it up so not to have her leaking power disrupt the activities in Lukedonia. The Elder of Councils had been restored again. They would surely ask her infuriating questions about it and she did not want to end up killing them all for it.

Because the pillar was huge and was at high grounds, it was quickly noticed by the Knights. Many rushed to the grounds to see what was happening. But then, the grounds began to tremble violently. The fact that they were shaking caused the low level Knights in fear.

A message was soon issued for everyone to stay away from the grounds, except for the Commanders.

"What is going on here?" Roseia questioned looking at her fellow Commanders. She was completely in the dark about what was going on inside the pillar of condensed power.  Whatever it was, it was nothing good. By the oppressing feeling coming off the pillar, she could tell that there was not a good thing happening in there. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before. She could feel the air becoming heavier each passing second.

"I have no idea." Claudius Lannister was the first to respond. His eyes were wide as he looked at the eldest Commanders.

"Ala- gramps." Mormont uttered without looking at the Grand Master who had not said a word since arriving. "Given that she is not here with us and that she is the only one who has given off this feeling even to Commanders, we can say that she is inside that thing."

Alaric nodded. "It is her. There is no doubt about that. I can never forget the scent of her energy. Even if I can barely feel it, I can never mistake it," he paused for a moment, "but that leaves a question: what is going on in there?"

"Where is Callus by the way? Shouldn't he be here to witness this?"

"Celeste might have something to do with it." Isabel finally spoke, bringing some insight. "If this was pre-planned, the she would have told Callus to stay at the house and ignore the whole mess."

"That still does not answer what is going on!" Roseia almost yelled as she released her own energy to battle with the oppressing atmosphere around her.

"I have noticed that our Eleventh Squad Commander had been leaking energy over the past weeks with my equipment." Kahedin smirked. He was the only one who seemed to have the idea of what was going on here. It always pleased him when things like this happened. It also brought him joy when everyone was clueless except for him.

"Care to explain? I thought her energy could not be sensed." Bordeaux gave out a disgusted look at the smirking Kahedin.

"I doubt your simple mind would be able to understand it even if I explain it to you." Keeping his cool, Kahedin grinned even more when he saw Bordeaux expressions. If looks could kill, then he would already be six feet under.

"Perhaps it is not the case. You yourself might be unable to explain the phenomenon." Isabel gave out her warm smile that did nothing, but to infuriate the wierd Kahedin.

Before he could retort, a loud thunderous roar escaped from the pillar. The deafening sound had them shut their ears because of its loudness. It was glass shattering and every corner of Lukedonia heard it. Because of the orders, all of the lower Knights stayed put. Soon enough, it was followed by a large cracks on the ground. It stemmed from the pillar and outstretched hundreds of kilometers away. The ground had stopped trembling, but black, red and white flames suddenly appeared from all sides of the cracks. The oppressing atmosphere also continued to become even heavier, forcing all the Commanders to release their own energy to counter it.

It was then that a piercing scream filled the area. It was definitely the voice of Celeste Alathielle. It was certain that whatever she was going through was very painful. If one did not know her, they would pity the woman. It was that Isabel realized something very important. Celeste must have been losing her powers. The woman had already gave her a confirmation that her powere were indeed leaking out of her body, but it was faint so no one could feel it. Only Kahedin was able to tell with his equipments. Still, this atmosphere was not of a person who was loosing power, but one who was gaining power. Had Celeste lied to her? No, she would not. She had never heard her scream like that. She never even raised her voice loudly.

The painful scream continued for several minutes, before finally dying down. The oppressing atmosphere immediately disappeared into thin air. The flames that had been acting up in the cracks also dispersed. This caused the Commanders to sigh a breath of relief and stop releasing their own energy.

Just then, cracks begun to appear on the pillar, one by one. The sounds of shattering glass invaded their ears once more. After a few minutes, the unthinkable occured.

An extremely heavy energy exploded along with the pillar and crushed all of the younger Commanders, forcing them a few meters away. The older ones were also on their knees. Only the Grandmaster remained standing. Meanwhile, all of Lukedonia came to a standstill. Alaric had his eyes now fully opened. A furious wind then threatened to throw them further, but they all managed to hold their grounds. When all the debris died down, the energy became bearable for the younger Commanders.

Within a few moments, they saw a huge swirl of flames with different dolors. It swirled around in midair for a few moments before they disappeared in an instant, revealing a woman's figure. Suddenly, the flames re-appeared above them and seemed to compress before forming a black, thin sword. The blade descended until it stopped at her side. The figure had long blond hair reaching down her thighs. It is none other than, Celeste Alathielle. Her face was looking up in the sky. She was dressed in a simple white cloak and had nothing on her feet. Her body stood motionless for a few moments and none of the Commanders dared to speak. Her body then seemed to twitch as she held out her right hand. The blade fell on it as she grabbed its handle. Slowly, she moved to to face all of the Commanders.

When they saw her face, they noticed a notable change. She looked even younger and prettier; perhaps like a 19 year old in human years. Her eyes were also closed.

Celeste held out her right hand and looked at it with her eyes still closed as she did. "I have regressed to my youth," She said to no one in particular. Her tone was just dead, devoid of any life or emotion. It actually made a few Commanders uncomfortable.

She walked towards the bystanders without her feet touching the ground and her eyes still closed. She stopped in front of them as she looked at the younger ones. "How pathetic. A power of this level frightens you?Alaric, you have not trained these children well."

Alaric did not say anything while Roseia only settled for a glare at the blond.

"Are you blind?" Mormont asked sunddenly to ease the tension.

"No." Without looking at the man, Celeste continued. "I have temporarily lost my eyes. The ones I have now only see black and white. It makes using them useless, but it is only temporary."

"Can I see them?" Kahedin stepped forward. Everything about the woman piqued his interest.

Celeste looked at the man and open her left eye slightly.

The reaction was instantaneous. Kahedin backed away from the blond with cold sweat running over his face. Fear gripped his heart like the claws of a high ranking demon lord had found its way towards his heart. It felt like it was being pulled out of his body. He felt as though his soul was being crushed. The cold grip of fear had ploughed through his chest. The full weights of the blond's power was on him. Just by looking at her eyes, he could see the ocean of power the woman had and there was this roar inside his head that felt it was coming closer to him by the second. When Celeste closed her eyes, everything he felt disappeared.

The woman's eyes were pure black. They were just like an endless void of darkness. There was something else beneath them, but Kahedin could not quite place it.

"What did you do to him?" Roseia almost yelled at her after seeing the proud and prideful Kahedin wimping out in front of the other Commanders.

"How loud." Celeste did not even bother to look at her. She then searched for the energy of Isabel. "Looking into my eyes makes one see and experience the measure of my powers to some extent. You must know what happens when Alaric released half of his powers in front of anyone other than yourselves."

That was a lie. Well, not the Alaric part. What Kahedin had experienced was a mere illusion. It was a trick played by her mind because of the potency and density of her powers. It only happened because her energy was still moving in the atmosphere. Should the man gaze into her eyes again, nothing would happen and he would only see endless darkness.

"You said the eyes you have now, does this mean you don't have the eyes you had before?" A curious Bordeaux questioned the blond. He was not the only one to have picked up on that, but he had been the first to question.

"No," the blond responded, "I have not lost my eyes. As I have said, it is only temporary." She was not going to explain anything else. It was a bothersome task and it would do her no good to tell them. It was best to keep it to herself.

The Commanders already knew her enough to know that she was not going to give any information to them so they just shut their mouths.

Alaric closed his eyes before opening them again. His stuff hit the ground to silence everyone so he could speak. He did not want anyone interrupting him while he spoke. He had already given them enough time. "You cannot actually see, can you?"

Celeste's expression remained impassive as her face moved to the figure of Alaric. "What makes you say that?"

"It was just a conclusion I came up since I have observed you so far." It was a bit unnerving to have the blond looked at him with her eyes closed. The eyes of a person always communicated. But with them being closed, he could never get any message.

"I can see. As I have said, my current vision is black and white. These eyes can only see that which soul is. Anything that is not a soul can be felt by my other senses. So you can say, I can see more than you can of the world around you." What she said is the truth. Even if she could not see, her senses took over which made her see everything.

Alaric was silent for a few moments before looking sternly at Celeste. "Are you going to explain what had just happened now?"

Instead of answering, celeste flicked her blade. It had five small holes on its black hilt. One on her finger found its way into the middle hole before the sword was spun around the finger like a fan. When it stopped spinning, the blond flicked it again and held it correctly. It then became engulfed in flames. When it disappeared, her sword was just a normal katana. But its hilt was dark red and white. The blond then snapped her left fingers, but nothing happened. She did this while the Commanders waited patiently for her to answer Alaric's question.

"That was unexpected." It was not a response that neither of the commanders had been expecting.

"What do you mean?" Isabel was the first to question.

"You recognized this appearance, don't you, Alaric?"

The Grand Master nodded. He would never forgot those looks.

"It is the appearance I had when we frst met over ten thousand years ago. You always told me that I was a mere shell of my former self. In truth, I was, literally. So what happened just now, was the shell shattering, and this resulted in what you are seeing."

"The fact tht this happened while you were here means that you knew it was going to happen. But when you say unexpected, are you saying that you were expecting a different ending?" Alaric was curious. He wanted to know what the woman was hiding. "If you have regressed to this appearance, does this mean that your power had also regressed to that state?"

"Ah, still sharp as ever." Celeste chuckled shortly after Alaric had spoken.

"What?" Roseia interfered. "Are you saying that all that power she released was the power before she evolved?" If she remembered correctly, the woman evolved after she left the Order. By the time Alaric invited her, she had yet to make progress, which means not as powerful. But the power she released was more than anything they had ever experienced before.

"She said she was just a shell, literally." Kahedin intervaned. "It could mean that she was a shell that was containing her former powers. And when the energy exploded, it broke through the shell. The energy that was released in her shell state. It was not in this form."

"So it could mean that she no longer have that power we felt a few moments ago." Claudius nodded, adding to Kahedin's theory.

All the Commanders looked at the blond to see what she would say about their theories.

"Despite being weak, you children have sharp minds." Looking back at Alaric, she let her feet touched the ground. "That is true. I have lost my evolution. But you must not forget, Alaric, no one knew the true extent of my power even at this form."

"But even so, you are no longer as powerful as you were when I fought you," he paused for a moment trying to see if Celeste would object, "your blade, it is similar to Ragnarok, but in its sealed state so it is different."

"That is because this is not Ragnarok. But you knew that already, didn't you? That flames that engulfed it were not in fact flames. What you don't understand is what it was. Let me enlighten you then, it was pure power," Celeste paused for a moment, "well, that is enough questions, I will take my leave." With that, she was gone without a trace of her left.

"That woman infuriates me to no end. I don't even know why she is allowed to leave. She caused all this commotion and has the decency to leave us whenever she likes. The Elder of Council won't be happy about this." Roseia clenched her fist. How dare that woman! One of these days, she would make sure to put her in her place.

"I will handle the Council. You just make sure that you keep everyone calm and there is no trouble." With that, the Grand Master disappeared to the Council's place before they could summon Celeste without informing him. Celeste might not be as strong as she was, but she was still the same. Given how stubborn those Elders tended to be, Celeste would surely do something. He did not want another massacre.

"That woman is just trouble!" Again, Roseia was first to speak. She clearly held no love for the blond, it was certain. "She should be apologizing for making this ruckus!"

"Lady Roseia, yelling like that will not solve anything." Isabel stated in a calm tone before disappearing to her squad. Just like that, the Commanders left the grounds.