As Avgi was being dragged away from the mosh pit of exactly 32, the duo laid eyes on the bartender, and only two empty round, spinning seats. Blassandra practically pushed them towards the seats, her and Avgi sitting and resting elbows on the desk.

The bartender had on large, stony, visor-esque, black-lens sunglasses, and even then did the orange and warbling rings of her irises prove somewhat visible. Her hair was akin to a wild molten mane running down her back, yet it still seemed like someone desperately attempted to brush it down to little avail. She greeted the pair light-heartedly, whilst dropping coal rocks into a rock glass and sliding it across the table. “Ah, the princess and the exclusion himself.”

“Yep. Can only imagine it’s better this way. I can still be me, she can still be her.”

“I take it Miss Blassandra would much enjoy literally anything at all to drink, judging by the way she’s pointing at her open mouth.” With that, the bartender bent down, completely obscured by the table.

It was at that point when the Volking, Cinderqueen, and Officiator finally descended. Avgi noticed first, due to him being less focused on any particular thing and glancing around. He tapped the princess’ shoulder to get her to look, as well.

When the king and queen broke off to approach, they already seemed far less imposing than any moment before, as far as Avgi surmised.

The Volking bowed his head to his daughter, deflated, mellow, and honest. “Blassandra. Avgi. It wasn’t right of me to attempt to deprive you of the opportunity to choose your lover. I’m sorry for lashing out back there.”

She replied with the same upkept enthusiasm. “Don’t worry about it. No harm. All we really have to worry about is having our military ready for the next big threat.”

Chiming in, Avgi had a specific part of that plan to pick away at. “That probably won’t be necessary. I mean, if I remember, Esca rolled up with most of her war party, and you were still able to scare ‘em all off! Your military’s gotta be doing great already.”

The king tilted his head.  "Your concern is… Appreciated?" 

"Indeed, Avgi Dawn! Surely the Blazer Kingdom can beat back the puny war party of Esca Dusk, and it wasn't simply out of pity that we eventually left them alone!" The voice came from behind the counter. Avgi immediately snapped to attention, swiveling around to the bartender. She was still lowered behind the bar.

Before anyone around him could react to his nervous shift, Avgi sprang from his seat to stand upon the counter, knocking aside rock glasses with his shoes as his right hand reflexively reached for his hip, gripping the razor of a sword he could rely on. His wide eyes, rippling with heat, stared down at what laid below.

Indeed, she was no longer bent, but laying on the ground. The formerly-worn modest suit of a bartender gave way to the outfit that invaded his memories every time he thought about that woman. He saw the gleam of banded steel armor, cascading down her torso like window shutters. Her feet were still flat, knees pointing up, huge legs under huge greaves still allowing for the observation that it might be easier for her to rise than one would first think.

Esca's elbows pressed into the ground in anticipation as well. Her right hand gripped that massive executioner's blade he vividly remembered. The tip was still as wide as the average neck.

Finally, before Avgi could make his own move, the powerful woman burst from the ground with her elbows and poorly-leveraged feet alone, boosting her enough to hit the ceiling of the bar in a flash, landing upside down on her soles as both hands tightly swung her greatsword. What was first smug then went feral, her expression going wild as her downwards chop became an upwards slice aimed at Avgi's chest.

Not missing a beat, he palmed the broad end of his blade with his left hand and held it out to shield himself from the impact. Their blades clashed, and Avgi nearly wobbled backwards, which would have sent him off the counter if he had lost balance.

"SO YOU'VE FINALLY NOTICED, AVGI DAWN!" Esca fell from the ceiling, holding her hands up and stabbing the ground with her blade, using it as leverage to swing and flip herself over. First, she swung her legs to spin 180 degrees around, and then fell forwards, feet first, landing perfectly to face Avgi with an evil, excited look.

The hero wasn't so happy. After regaining his footing, Avgi held his blade forwards, pointing it at Esca’s head as she pulled up her own sword. He wasn’t close enough to go for an attack easily, but he had a height advantage, for what it was worth.

Before she could say any more, Avgi finally spoke out, tense and full of concern, which manifested as anger. "Esca… What have you done to the real bartender!?"

As everyone sitting and surrounding the bar began to back away, including the cautious royals, Esca rested her blade on one shoulder whilst bragging away. "Oh, I only… Left her tied up! You need only find out where…”

The Volking piped up, both outraged that the processions he planned would be threatened in this way, and confident that the woman before him was a fool. He stepped forwards, his left hand beginning to swirl with arcs of flares. “Don’t give us that, you monster! In case you failed to notice, you’re grossly outnumbered!”

However, Avgi’s lungs burst stronger, not looking away from Esca for even a moment whilst addressing the king. “DON’T UNDERESTIMATE HER! GET BACK NOW!”

His choice of words brought Esca to mention, taking on a tone with more unnecessary verbal theatrics yet. “I would be flattered, if that weren’t solid advice… And besides, your little entourage of the Blazer’s finest guards…”

The four suits of igneous armor, standing tall beside the stairs, began to reach for their helmets. Their faceplates were pulled up, revealing faces lacking the signature yellow-to-scarlet skin, hair, or even eyes the people of fire had attributed to them. Instead, the royalty paid witness to sapphire blue, white, electric blue, and stone grey gazes. They were not the hardened men and women the Blazers knew well.

“... WERE ALSO KICKED OUT OF THE PARTY!”

They were posers, freely revealed by Esca’s spiel. Her free hand swayed in their direction. The king snarled, the queen silently clenched her fists, and Blassandra sighed out a plume of sparking smoke.

Avgi shook his head, not even needing to look at the guards to discern what was going on. “You three, make sure everyone’s able to get outta here, safe! Esca’s dangerous, and I’m dangerous when we’re both giving it our all!”

Thankfully, all attendants of the reception were already hot-footing across the plains of dirt and stone at varying speeds, between the main city of the kingdom and Mount Ashe. Absent from said crowd was the Officiator, who had scaled Mount Ashe once more, after the king and queen first left his side.

“So don’t get near us, especially if you’re gonna engage with her Duskfallen! They’re also gonna avoid us, ‘cause we’re like bom-” Before Avgi could finish explaining, Esca finally made a move. When she threw her free hand forwards and braced her legs, Avgi brought his own free hand to his sword’s handle. In a flash, half of the bar’s structure burst into a gargantuan ball of flames.

The three royals crouched, bringing their arms out in front of them as a heat wave expanded from the bar. Before they could focus on the clashing duo, they all whipped around after hearing their guard’s impostors approach, striding all too confidently in formation.

Avgi was physically launched away, exiting the fireball with grace in spite of the force, flipping backwards and landing several meters away. His stance was steady, even while his shoes dug in and skidded across the dry ground.

Esca followed at her own pace, diving out from the last vestiges of their fiery first strikes, careening through the air like a swan about to dive, before swiftly flipping forwards and landing down harshly before Avgi. 

She stepped closer, holding her great executioner’s sword in front of her in a standard stance. Despite how competent her slow movements were, lacking any large openings, she still spoke with a nigh-sadistic snark. “Come now, haven’t you learned anything about teaching others from the Academy!?”

As his foe approached, he backed away, holding his own sword at the ready all the same. It did not seem as if his backwards strides were nervous due to Esca, though. His defense was at the ready, yet he was also ready to strike. Yet, the duo continued away from the reception, and away from their allies. 

In fact, Esca’s grin was matched by Avgi. After the safety of others became less and less of a worry, a confident tone began to show, slipping out from under the sternness of yesterminute. “What, you don’t think they’ll take my word on what to do?”

“Oh, they might, but it’s always better to give ‘em a prime example, so they know what they’re dealing with!”

Avgi suddenly stopped, and Esca followed suit a moment after, so as not to get within a dangerous distance. Okay, I think we’re far enough away, now. They both took a quick glance around, making sure that there were no stray signs of life within a 30-meter radius.

Only then did Avgi bellow out with a confident roar. “ALRIGHT, FINE BY ME!” The steel of his sword burst to life, glowing red hot, and even burning.

Esca took her offhand from her sword to hit her chestplate, bellowing out as well. “THAT’S MORE LIKE IT!” Her own sword also glowed and lit ablaze.

Their arms quickly wound to their sides as they planted their feet, swinging their flaming metal edges together, causing them to nigh-explode.

Through a dense burst of sparks, the scarlet eyes of a great hero and feared villainess were almost indistinguishable. They were all burning with fighting spirit, and ecstatic catharsis.