Arthur, Sylvie, Regis, and Varay looked up as Nico descended down with a smile on his face.

"Awwww," Regis cooed. "Look at that face. Doesn't he look so punch-able?"

Arthur didn't reply as he remained completely calm with his eyes locked on his opponent. He didn't feel rage towards him anymore, seeing Regis rip him apart several times and Cecilia kill him was enough to put him at ease.

"Hey there old friend," Nico said with an evil smile as he landed.

"Look at that friendly smile. We should go and say hello."

"Good idea," Arthur replied.

He gave Nico his most friendly smile, then burst step right in front of him as he delivered a powerful right hook, sending him tumbling away along the ice. Eventually a metal spike shot up through the ice to catch him.

"What the hell?!" Nico groaned as he reeled from the unexpected punch.

A sudden pressure got his attention and his eyes shot open in time to see Arthur's boot smash into his face, breaking the spike in the process and sending him flying further back. This time he was ready enough that he clad himself more thickly in mana and was able catch himself mid air.

"WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM ART?! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE FRIENDS!" Nico shouted as a black fire burned around his broken nose.

"Sorry, but our friendship ended a long time ago Nico," Arthur replied flatly

Nico's eyes widened, unable to understand how Arthur knew it was him. However before he could even begin to comprehend how this happened, Arthur closed the distance in the blink of an eye, and smashed his fist into his stomach.

Nico gasped for air as Arthur held his fist in his stomach, before pulling it and bringing both fists down on his back and sending him back down to the ground. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as Arthur slowly descended while looking down upon him.

He thrust his hand forward, sending a cyclone of black fire at Arthur, laughing maniacally.

"What are you laughing at?" Arthur asked after god stepping to safety.

His head shot around to the left to see Arthur standing there smiling smugly.

"How?" Nico asked as he trembled.

"Cecilia will never be brought into this world," Arthur said, causing Nico to snap.

A forest of black spikes shot up from the ground as he quickly moved to his feet. Arthur just god stepped behind Nico, and thrust dawns ballad right below his right shoulder before pulling it up and severing his arm.

"Grwahh!" Nico yelled out in pain.

"How? How did you know I was here? You were supposed to think I was Elijah." He asked as the black fire worked to regenerate his arm.

Arthur didn't reply as he pulled a metal collar marked with runes from his storage rune, and burst step in front of him. He then grabbed him by his face and drilled him into the ground, then clamped the collar around his neck.

Arthur had expected to see some more resistance out of Nico, but was a little disappointed to see he had actually knocked him out.

"What a let down. He lasted so much longer in the future," Regis grumbled.

"Well he was stronger then. It makes sense that I overpowered him. I wasn't close to this strong back then," Arthur replied.

"Speaking of stronger, what happened to not using aether?"

"I know. I got a little cocky and needed it. I know I can heal myself using aether, even soul fire is nothing other than an ordinary flame to me now, but I can't let that out yet. Just in case If any reports make it back to Agrona hopefully they won't be able to tell much."

Arthur looked down to see the flames that were regenerating Nico's arm had died out. He then grabbed Nico's severed arm and placed it back, then used Vivum to quickly reattach it.

"Seriously?"

"You know my plan, I need him in one piece."

"No, you want him in one piece."

Arthur didn't reply and flung Nico over his shoulder and started walking back to Sylvie and Varay.

—————————————————————-

Varay just watched in disbelief as she watched Arthur completely toy with a scythe. She read a report several months ago about Arthur's encounter with the retainer Uto, and how he nearly killed him. But now this scythe, who she felt was more powerful than even herself, Arthur defeated as if it were child's play.

"Is the gap between the white and integration stage that great?" She asked no one in particular.

"Well it is the stage all adult Asura are at," Sylvie replied as she watched Arthur with anticipation. Anticipation for when she reaches that stage.

As Arthur arrived Varay noticed something out of place.

"Didn't you sever his arm?

"Ha, seems other people are taking notice of your aether usage!" Regis announced, sounding amused.

"Yeah, but he managed to reattach it before I got the mana suppression collar on him," Arthur replied casually.

"If I didn't reattach it I wouldn't have been able to. Honestly that soulfire almost made it impossible."

"Why are we even keeping him alive?" Sylvie asked. "He's a liability. He wants to take Tess away and replace her soul."

"He wasn't always like this. I think I can help him."

"Yeah well when he betrays you I'll just rip his throat out and say I told you so."

"We should fall back," Varay said, pointing to the ships only a few minutes away from colliding with the ice field.

"Yeah, we need to get him secured before he..." Arthur started before he felt a powerful mana heading their way down the coast. "New plan." Arthur handed Nico over to Varay. "Lock him up in the dungeon."

"What?"

"There's another Scythe coming," Sylvie stated darkly.

"How can you tell?" Varay asked as she threw Nico over her shoulder.

"Sylvie has sharper senses than we do, and I was able to feel it through our bond," Arthur lied, it was in fact due to his ability to use aether to feel mana, which had a greater range.

"Good luck," Varay said, then flew off.

"If memory serves me right, that should be Cadell," Sylvie commented as she started stretching.

"Yeah, but isn't it too soon for him to be showing up?"

"Well, I did kind of foil Agrona's plan to take over the floating castle," Arthur replied as he drew dawns ballad.

"So in other words he's bored and came to play," Regis chortled.

"Nico probably notified him you were here before he attacked," Sylvie added. "He did seem like Nico's keeper last time."

"Nico is unstable when it comes to me. He's dead set to make me suffer or kill me. It makes sense that Agrona would want someone to keep him on a leash."

They stood there waiting for Cadell's arrival. The Alacryan ships made ice fall, and ramps dropped from the front of each ship. Hundreds of Alacryan mage prisoners poured out, half starved from their long journey. They saw Arthur and Sylvie and tried to charge at him, but they released enough pressure from their cores to send them running in the other direction, towards the Dicathen forces heading their way.

Finally, before the two armies could collide, Cadell came into view. Even though they were prisoners, they showed the appropriate respect towards the scythe, mostly out of fear. Cadell descended in a fast but dignified manner, with his hands behind his back as he surveyed the area.

"Where is he?" Cadell asked Arthur just before his feet touched the ground.

"Who Nico? He's the least of your worries right now," Arthur replied as he stood tall, both hands on the pommel of his sword while the tip was touching the ice.

"You defeated him?"

"Very easily." Arthur then smirked. "Does that mean Agrona is going to punish you?"

Cadell drew his sword. "Not at all, especially if I kill you."

He then shot forward and swung his sword across, but Arthur changed his footing and raised his sword to parry the slash, as Sylvie took to the air. He then backed off before moving forward again and thrust his sword forward. This time Arthur jumped to the side and swung his sword, grazing Cadell's elbow. The two began going back and forth exchanging blows, but nothing was more than a nick or graze on Cadell's armor.

"Why are we going easy on him?" Regis asked, Sylvie listening closely with the same question.

"Waiting. I want as many Alacryan's to see us defeat him as possible to demoralize them."

Cadell swung his sword and Arthur blocked, but this time he held his sword there.

"You are much more powerful than I was led to believe. It is obvious how you were able to defeat your former friend."

Arthur pushed Cadell off and lunged forward, slashing at his head, only for Cadell to block, his eyes wide as the sudden increase in his strength and speed.

"Nico and I stopped being friends a long time ago. But he isn't the one to trigger any rage from me."

Arthur then stepped forward and pushed Cadell back, followed by swinging his sword and leaving a gash in his chest plate.

"You, you killed Sylvia back then."

Cadell shot forward and swung down with his sword. Arthur however deposited his sword in his storage rune, and caught Cadell's hand. He then swung his other fist, but Arthur caught that one as well, leaving his front wide open.

"I wasn't strong enough to save her back then, but I'm strong enough to avenge her now!"

Suddenly Regis erupted from Arthur's chest. His claws dug into Cadell armor as he pushed him back. Cadell dropped his sword as he grabbed Regis' jaw to keep him from clamping it down around his throat. His body erupted in soulfire, but it did nothing to the aetheric wolf. Tired of sitting on the side lines, Sylvie swooped in and swung her tail, smashing it into Cadell's side, causing Cadell to fly off.

Cadell quickly stood up to see he was surrounded by the three of them, and chose to abandon his sword and create a soulfire one instead.

"So I'm calling dibs on his mana core," Regis taunted.

"That's fine, I just want his head," Arthur added. "Sylvie, do you want anything?"

"He killed my mother, I just want his life," she said, playing along, as she couldn't feel any rage towards him for killing someone she couldn't even remember.

Cadell displayed an uncharacteristic anger as the three of them belittled his existence as they claimed parts of him. In a rage he sent black flames in every direction. Regis of course was unaffected and just took it, while Arthur and Sylvie backed off. Cadell raised his sword and charged at Sylvie as he covered it in black flames. Sylvie quickly changed back into her human form and dodged under his attack, then fired a bolt of pure mana at his back. The bolt connected, sending him face first into the ice.

He quickly got back to his feet and glared as his three opponents slowly closed the distance between them. Since as far back as he could remember, this was the first time Cadell felt as though he were prey. His attention was so focused on them that he didn't notice Varay had returned, and threw two ice swords at his back.

"Gah," Cadell grunted as the two swords collided and shattered against his armor.

He changed his position with his back to the ocean, to also see Varay as she formed two more ice swords. A sudden pressure bore down on him as the gravity increased.

"Welcome to Mica's world!" She yelled as she flew in with twin stone maces as big as she was.

She swung her maces down, but Cadell was able to overcome the gravity with not too much effort, and blocked the maces with his sword. As he pushed her back he was able to break one as she flew back, taking up a position in surrounding the scythe.

Cadell glared at his five opponents as he assessed his position. He knew he could handle Varay and Mica even if they did fight together, but Arthur was there too. All the intel he had about Arthur had led him to believe that even though he was the most powerful Lance, he wasn't anything he couldn't handle. However from his recent clash with the young Lance he came to realize that his intel was inaccurate. Even though Arthur was diligently concealing his core, he was stepping up his strength as Cadell did, showing only minor fluctuations that said there was a considerable difference between them. Then there was Sylvie and Regis. Sylvie was showing she was at least as powerful as him, while he knew nothing about Regis even existing. Coming to terms with the fact that this was not a battle that he could win, Cadell shot up into the air and flew away. Alacryan's from all of the ships saw this in disbelief, as it shook them to their cores.

"Come on, we can't let him get away!" Mica shouted as she started to get a running start to fly off.

"No, let him go for now," Arthur stated as he shook his head.

"What?!" Mica questioned in disbelief.

"Arthur that scythe is a high profile target, and we have the advantage," Varay argued.

"I know, but we have another battle to worry about too," Arthur said as he gestured to the ships. "We'll have another chance to kill him. But for now we can't leave our troops in the middle of a battle. The Alacryan's morale may have taken a big blow, and that will spread through their ranks like a disease. But they are still powerful and shouldn't be underestimated."

The others nodded in understanding and accepted this. Arthur then focused his attention on Varay.

"Now Varay, how about you explain how you got back so fast. There's no way you could have made it back from the floating castle that fast."

"I didn't go to the floating castle. You just said to deliver the prisoner to the dungeon, so I brought him to the Etistin castle dungeon," Varay said matter of factly.

"Ha, she got you there," Regis laughed.

"It's fine. It works out since I can start his interrogation while we're here."

Hearing Regis talk got Varay and Mica's attention. They thought he was some kind of mana beast, but now they realized he was something more.

"Arthur? What is this wolf?" Varay asked as she and Mica walked closer.

"I'm not a what, I'm a badass wolf Ice Queen," Regis replied sounding offended.

"My sentient Asura weapon awakened. Say hello to Regis."

"Good boy," Mica said as she petted him.

"Thanks Jail bait," Regis replied with a smile.

"Jail bait?"

"Ice Queen?"

"He has a tendency to give people nicknames."

"Arthur is Warrior Princess," Regis chuckled, earning a giggle from Mica, and Varay to raise an eyebrow.

"Before he says anything stupid or offensive," Sylvie said getting attention to her. "Just to let you know, Arthur absorbed a ton of mana from a retainer horn. So that mana affected Regis' personality."

"Screw you Geko!" Regis shot back, then looked up to Varay with a smile. "Would you like to ride back, on my back? I bet I can thaw that icy heart of yours."

"Regis, focus," Arthur said. "Let's all head back to the back line. Mica, you feel like getting your mace a little bloody?"

"Definitely!" She replied excitedly as she swung her mace onto her shoulder.

"Great. Since we're all here let's work out a rotation of taking turns going out with the troops. Varay let Bairon know, he can figure it out for all I care," Arthur said then started to lift off the ground.

"Wait, where is Arthur going?" Mica asked.

"I have a prisoner to interrogate. Regis, stay with Sylvie," he said, then flew off to the castle.

—————————————————————-

Arthur walked down the hall through the dungeon, being led by one of the guards. At the end of the hall was a room with a solid metal door. The guard opened the door and stepped back. There before Arthur was Nico, still unconscious, and chained to the wall while in a seated position.

"Leave us, and don't come back down here for any reason until my return," Arthur told the guard.

"Yes General, and don't forget, all mana is suppressed here," the guard replied with a salute, then turned around and left.

Arthur waited until he heard the dungeon door close before he began. He entered the cell and pulled a bucket of ice water from his storage rune, then splashed it on Nico's face.

"Waaa?!" Nico said in a shocked confusion, then scowled as his eyes landed on Arthur. "Grey," he said with his voice seething with anger.

"Actually, I'm Arthur now. Unlike you I chose to evolve and reinvent myself."

"Names change but people don't," Nico said darkly.

"People can change if they want to badly enough. I wasn't happy with who I became, so I chose to be a better person in this life. I have people who love and care for me, and I love them too."

"LIES! You are incapable of love! You just follow one selfish desire after another on your road to power."

"I'm not chasing power here."

"You're engaged to a princess."

Arthur shrugged. "Coincidence. Anyway, I didn't come here to have a conversation with you. I came to bring Elijah back."

"Back?" Nico scoffed. "He was never really there, he was always me."

"You're half right. Looking back he was a lot like you when we were growing up, but he also wasn't you. He grew up a different life, he was his own person," Arthur smirked. " And definitely wasn't psychotic."

"It doesn't matter, you can't have him without me. He'll always become me. He desired Tessia just as much as I did Cecilia, he'll just turn into me in the end."

"But here I fell in love with Tess, and just like you did back then, he respects boundaries." Arthur then cleared his throat. "But who knows, maybe I'm wrong and he'll turn evil just like you. I guess there's only one way to find out if Elijah was fated to be you."

Arthur extended his right hand as he sent aether into his Aevum rune. The rune glowed a bright golden color as an aetheric pocket watch formed in his hand.

"What the hell! What are you doing?" Nico asked frantically as he began to panic.

"Bringing back Elijah the only way I can."

The watch glowed brighter as a purple light covered Nico. He then began moving wildly as Arthur turned back time for Nico's mind. The hands of the watch continued to move backwards as months flew by in reverse for Nico. Blood started to pour from his nose, but Arthur continued, determined to bring his friend back. After a few more seconds the glow stopped and the watch dissipated as the runes faded. Arthur pulled another bucket of ice water from his storage rune, and dumped it on his head.

"Waaaa!" He cried out as he woke up and frantically looked around.

"Hey there," Arthur greeted.

"Arthur?" He asked as he squinted, trying to make out Arthur's appearance without his glasses.

"Elijah?"

"Oh my gods, it is you! What are you doing here! Welcome back!" Elijah exclaimed as he stood back up and tried to give his friend a hug. "Umm, what's going on?" Elijah asked as he noticed the chains.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"I volunteered for the war effort. I was given a team to help clear dungeons. Why am I in chains?"

"Elijah, that was nearly four years ago."

"What?!"

"Just relax and take a seat. I'll do my best to bring you up to speed."