"We meet again"

He was in a familiar place. The dark colosseum that he seemingly encountered in Krester just days ago, the one that had the horrifying sight appear in front of him. Uli's body hanging from a rope. He didn't want to look, he knew what was coming. 

The journey this far, throughout the world they once believed they knew, had completely changed their view of what reality is. The imbalance in power that existed from things people could not control, the lack of humanity that the people above them had, and the sheer amount of mysteries in Choshire.

Enkita stood atop the colosseum, with only one option; he looked down. This time, however, it wasn't what he expected. The body of Eve hung from a rope, with the same words pointing at the body. 

"This is who you're looking for."

Enkita had enough, he rushed down and wanted to confirm if the body was real. He thought, maybe someone was playing tricks on him now. However, as he headed down, a mysterious tall figure walked out into the center of the colosseum, where the body was. "Hmm, this body could use some work?" A similar voice spoke.

The mysterious person spawned a rock formation that repeatedly hit the body. All in front of Enkita's eyes, he was harming the lifeless body of what appeared to be Eve. "You. You are the commander of Lyririe," Enkita spoke in a serious tone, ignoring the bait set up for him.

"Hahaha. Truly, that is I. Remember my goal? Yes! I'm here to kill you and your friends. They're asleep right now, I plan to kill them all after I am done with you. Sorry, my name is Meirius, thought you'd know," Meirius declared.

The fort, as expected; was a trap. But it was not the kind of trap they expected, sending Enkita to some unknown location to fight with him, while the rest were asleep. Enkita didn't have a lot of fighting experience, but he was determined. 

"Did you kill Uli? What about Kezdar's parents?" Enkita questioned.

A long blade appeared next to the commander, "I don't know. Did you see her dead in this exact place perhaps?" Meirius laughed as he portrayed a menacing expression on his face.

Enkita takes out his own Harpe blade, "I'll take that as a yes," he said as Meirius walked slowly toward him. 

"Enkita. You're a strong man, you're able to make quick decisions, and your attacks will do a lot of damage. But compared to me, you might as well surrender. I watched your journey through Choshire, it was indeed inspiring. All that to find a presumably dead woman who probably didn't even love you, and family members that may as well be dead..."

"You know, they always say curiosity kills the cat. Which one of us is the cat?" Meirius shrugged.

Enkita just stood in place with his sword in hand, trembling at the power right in front of him. He had no idea what kind of power the commander Meirius could possess, "Why do you kill people of Harpe? Why are they a threat to humanity?" Enkita questioned.

Meirius laughed loudly. 

"What an idiotic question. You're just like the others."

A huge block of sand hits Enkita from behind launching him across the colosseum. Meirius approached with his blade and stabbed Enkita's chest as he hit the floor. "You wanted to fight me? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha," Meirius laughed uncontrollably.

Enkita was bleeding, he was hurt a lot, but that didn't stop him. Water quickly flooded half of the colosseum, dragging Enkita away from Meirius' blade. 

"Underwater fight, huh," Meirius questioned.

Meirius swam through the water but he couldn't find Enkita. Not even a trace of his blood; however, Enkita jumped from behind aiming at Meirius' back with his blade. The blade slices some of Meirius' armor away from the side, it wasn't enough. 

Meirius looked at Enkita with a smile. A hole had been opened at the bottom of the colosseum, draining the water away. Enkita quickly took the opportunity to slash away at Meirius, but he was prepared. Meirius struck Enkita in the chest once again - he was too slow. 

"Are you ready to give up yet? You seem to be low on health there, my friend," Meirius laughed, knowing he stood stronger than Enkita ever would.

Enkita tried moving away but shards pinned him to a wall. Enkita stared at Meirius as he walked toward him, "Giving up already? Come on! You can't let my fun be over yet," Meirius laughed at Enkita. 

Enkita's face still looked determined despite all the damage he had sustained. Suddenly, water spikes popped out of the ground, impaling Meirius' body. He had fallen for one of the oldest tricks in the book, "Ho- how does.. it feel now?" Enkita let out some words despite being greatly hurt. 

"Hahahaha! That's exactly what I wanted. I wanted someone who could make me feel what fear is for once in my life," Meirius laughed. 

Despite being impaled, Meirius didn't bleed at all. The armor was completely in fine shape, he had covered the impact spots with sand before the water could go through his armor.

Enkita fell off from the wall and thought to himself, "He's really strong. I don't know if I can even do anything to him. But I can try. For Uli, for our group. For the future of many who depend on me to end Meirius at once."

A giant wave of water rushed down toward Meirius while Enkita had seemingly disappeared. "Hiding doesn't work in this place," he laughed. He stood still and the wave did nothing to him. 

A vortex of sand hit Enkita's way launching him into a wall at high speed. "You really don't learn, all you're doing is the same. Try something different for once, you're boring me out."

A giant shark-like creature spawned from the wave, biting off Meirius' right arm. Enkita coughed blood out as he watched his creation finally do something to his enemy. 

Meirius' smile quickly turned into a neutral expression as he stared at the blood coming out of where his arm used to be. "No one has ever managed to do this much to my body, now. You're going to face my true power," Meirius said as he placed his hand on the ground.

The colosseum started shaking uncontrollably, "Every Harpe user has something beautiful assigned to them upon engaging for the first time. A signature ability. As you've noticed, I have the power to manipulate earth. But that's not what's impressive," he declared. 

Enkita had once again disappeared as if that plan was ever working for him. Meirius knew where he was hiding, but for this next attack - he didn't need to know where Enkita hid.

"Humanity is bound by limitations of the earth, those that I break," Meirius chanted.

Suddenly, Enkita fell to the ground, from the spot he was hiding in. Enkita looked pale, Meirius walked toward Enkita's body and started kicking it. "You'll start losing all the iron in your body until you die. And you can't do anything about it," Meirius continued kicking Enkita's body.

Enkita coughed in pain. Did he really expect to win against a commander of an entire royal town? He never did. Enkita's mind was always clouded with the thought of finding Uli and Eve, to the point where any logic flew out of his mind. But that was his advantage in battle, his determination level was beyond his enemies. He had quick thinking and he was strong.

Enkita was one step ahead of Meirius. Every time he fell, every time he hid - he filled an entire side of the colosseum with extremely hot water. Enkita would then, explode that part of the colosseum, which Meirius was standing right in front of. Despite knowing that could potentially kill him, he still went ahead and did it. All to kill the commander of Lyririe, who he now believed was responsible for the death of his most beloved person, and many others. He could not let his injustice rule anymore.

The colosseum's concrete burst out into pieces that pierced through Meirius' body. The colosseum started quickly collapsing. Meirius fell to the ground with hundreds of fragments of concrete covering his body, he served as a human shield for Enkita. 

Despite Meirius' body bleeding from every place that you could imagine. He managed to speak words, "I warned you back then and now. Harpe is a danger to our world," he said as he drew his last breath.

After all the build-up, after all the travel, after all the fighting. Enkita had somehow come out as the winner. Defeating one of the strongest individuals in Choshire. 

***

"The commander of Lyririe - Meirius, was found dead next to the Choshire Bridge. By one of our military officers. They had been running routine checks on the area and they found the body, covered with holes. How interesting! So far, they say he must've been impaled some way, and thrown there... but by who? Hmm, how interesting!" Edmund said with the biggest smile on his face.

Lady Shamhat simply stared at Edmund, "No orders had been sent to kill him yet. But that shall eliminate one of our biggest concerns," she said while staring into Edmund's eyes.

Lady Shamhat's fierce stare alone could kill anyone, but Edmund was different. He wanted to feel something different, he wanted the world to be different. Despite all that he shared the same ambitions as Lady Shamhat.

"Our military is already prepared. Luitol is already expecting a direct attack by Lyririe any time today. What they don't know, is what we have prepared for them," Iria laughed.

***

"Wake up! Hello?? Hello... world to Enkita!" Lilian yelled at him trying to wake him up.

Enkita woke up, his wounds were fine, and the fort was gone. Was it all a dream? Was he really that tired? That's what he thought as he woke up.

"Yo! Enkita did you have any nightmares or somethin'? Wait, what the hell? Why is there blood coming from your chest man?" Kezdar questioned. 

The wound wasn't there, but the blood was still there. Enkita was confused as to what was going on, "I was in a colosseum... I killed the commander in a fight, but then I woke up?" Enkita explained.

Lilian and Kezdar stared at him in confusion, "Man... if you found alcohol on the way, let me get some," Kezdar laughed awkwardly.

Someone was running toward them, calling out their names. "Enkita! Kezdar! Lilian! I have... n- news for you all!" Noora yelled as she caught her breath.

 "Noora!?" Enkita exclaimed. Noora had walked a long distance to make it to them, in reality, Noora didn't expect to even find them, but she tried either way.

"I received news from the imperial sector that the entirety of Choshire knows of the death of the commander of Lyririe. He was found dead just outside of the Choshire bridge leading out of the imperial sector," Noora stated.

The group stood in shock, they didn't expect to hear Noora or anything about the death of the commander. "Huh? All the way out there?" Enkita questioned.

"What the hell? So your dream... might be true? Or something?" Kezdar questioned.

Enkita looked at the blood on his clothing, "What is going on," he said. Enkita started vomiting, he believed he killed the commander, but he wasn't even sure what was going on anymore. Lilian held him while he vomited. After Noora was told the events that unfolded; they realized that Enkita had finally hit a breaking point.

The way the news spread to everyone so quickly, only meant one thing. Somehow, this was all either being planned or watched. But they didn't know who or what, so the group stood in place and took a rest.

***

The end of the Journey Arc.

In just a few days, the group had traversed through the majority of Choshire.

The start of the ??? Arc.

For every action, there are consequences.