A spectral dragon was hurled toward the two who were still standing, making them collide in the alley alongside the first bandit who had been struck. The door of the establishment next to them opened, and a short, bald man said to her in a curious tone:

"Miss, you have a peculiar technique… What is your name?"

"Why would I tell you that?"

"I am the only blacksmith in this city, and I see that something—or someone—is in great need of me."

"Your name is Alfred?"

The man stared at her and asked in a more serious tone: "How do you know me?"

"Lord Hunter asked us to find a blacksmith in the city of Anvrós. He said there was only one. His name is Alfred Smith."

Alice and Yunna finally arrived, asking desperately: "Karin! My goodness… You defeated all of them by yourself?"

The priestess stared at the little old man and thought: *He seems like someone I did not want to meet…*

"You may come in, young ladies."

Opening the door to his shop, a huge store came into their view, filled with armaments of different sizes and shapes. Spears and firearms, some armor reinforcements, and more.

Walking across the wooden floor, Yunna caught a familiar scent from her homeland, so she asked: "Mr. Alfred, do you by any chance know Tsugaki?"

Alfred watched the priestess attentively with sharp eyes. As he continued toward the workbench, he said: "I have never heard of this place… Could you tell me what your purpose is?"

Karin stepped forward, facing him. The workbench between them was the only thing separating them. She asked: "My mother said I needed a sword made by a Tsugakian blacksmith to master my spirit…"

"Who do you think you are, young lady? What evidence do you have that I am a blacksmith from there?"

Karin froze. Then she closed her eyes, sighed, opened them, and looked down. The air around her grew heavier with each passing second. All the items in the display cases, Alice and Yunna—all faltered under the pressure, falling to their knees behind her.

"Karin! What's happening?!" shouted Alice.

"Daughter, no! It can't be! Impossible for this to be true!"

Karin stared at Mr. Alfred, her eyes now a reptilian purple, her smile malevolent, sharp teeth on display. Alfred Smith, while afraid, smiled with joy at seeing someone familiar.

"Lord… Sakugetsu Ryukuro?" Changing his posture, he quickly went to the front of the girl and knelt, proclaiming: "Forgive my actions! Master Ryu."

With a brief smile, she—now possessed by Ryukuro—laughed and then said: "You are forgiven, Blacksmith Tatsuo. My best subordinate, it was you! Who created my legendary weapon, Kuro Tamashi!"

"What is your request, my lord?"

"Make a sword for my heiress. Make a sword that can begin her journey—and mine! I will teach her the true value of the arts of the moon…"

"What?! You're going to teach her what?!" exclaimed Alice, shocked.

"I will strengthen her far more than that useless priestess over there!"

The lady struggled to her feet, gritting her teeth, and shouted with all her might: "You wretched god! Why did you choose my daughter to curse?! Do you have any idea what my husband and I went through because of your existence?!"

"Shingetsu Saito? Hmm… I think you are getting far too worked up over something relatively invented…"

"What do you mean?"

"I—and Whashiroi—were husband and wife! Just so you know, the destruction of the two of us was not caused by my ambition for the formation of the eclipse…"

"What are you implying with that?"

Turning to face her, he replied in a serious tone: "The story that I was the cause of the calamities that nearly destroyed Tsugaki was invented by the Shogun of the Sun Country, Tsunihina!"

"How… Tsunihina…" said the priestess, perplexed.

"I'll tell you about that later. I will speak with Tetsuo. Wait here."

Yunna stood with her head down, reflecting, feeling betrayed. The stories and rumors she had heard—everything everyone had told her… Alice placed her hand on her back and pulled her into a hug.

"Yunna, let me clear your mind."

"This time… I agree… you can hug me, but only this once!"

While the two stood there comforting each other, trying not to lose their minds, Ryukuro addressed his blacksmith.

"I need you to create a sword that reaches at least one third of Kuro Tamashi's power. Can you do it?"

"How much time do I have?"

"By tomorrow…"

"Tomorrow! Very well, my lord. I will make it happen!" said the blacksmith, now known as Tetsuo, surprised. But without arguing, he hurried and ran into his forge to fulfill the request.

Karin, still possessed by Ryukuro, walked over to them and touched both their shoulders, saying: "Yunna, you may hate me, but you are one of the few mothers I know who has dedicated herself to a desire of this magnitude for her daughter."

Not knowing how to react, she looked at the opposite corner of the room, without answering.

"Alice… You are one of the few I have met who doesn't abandon anyone and dedicates herself fully to her friend…"

"I am grateful," she said, smiling, while blushing at the sudden compliment.

"Very well. I will return control of her body to her. Train her, and rest assured—Robert James is also my target!"

Karin then fell forward, asleep. Her mother stroked her cheek with her index finger, then lifted her, holding her in her arms.

The smell of hot metal arrived first. Then the aroma of the wooden floor beneath their feet, followed by the orange light of the forge. Alice, on her knees behind her, wore an expression that oscillated between relief and total panic.

"She's back!" exclaimed the princess, standing up abruptly. "Karin! Are you all right?! Do you know who you are?!"

"I…?" Karin looked at her own hands. "What happened?"

"What happened?" Alice repeated, louder, almost shouting. "You got reptilian purple eyes, made everyone drop to their knees just by existing, and some crazy god used your body to lecture your mother!"

Yunna stood still, leaning against the counter, with the expression of someone who had received too much information in too short a time and needed to process it slowly. She wasn't crying, just perplexed. She stared fixedly at a point in nothingness, silent, lost in thought.

"Mother." Karin walked over to her. "Mother, are you all right?"

"I'm calculating," Yunna said finally. "Give me a moment."

Alice approached Karin and whispered in her ear: "She's been like this ever since that 'Ryukuro' said that the story she knew was invented. I think she's rethinking her life."

"Mother…"

"Give me a moment, Karin," said Yunna, restless.

Karin was silent for a second. Then she remembered the question that had been stuck on her tongue before everything fell apart.

"Mother, what is cursed blood?"

Closing her eyes, Yunna took a deep breath.

"Tsugaki did not have only one founder," she began slowly, as someone reciting something from a book memorized many years ago.

"The goddess Whashiroi is the one everyone venerates, the sole existing founder—the one in the temples and the books. But she was not the only one who created the country." She paused, giving herself time to organize her thoughts, then continued.

"There was another. Someone everyone fears and whose name was banned from political records."

The silence that followed was heavy.

"Ryukuro," Karin said quietly.

"Ryukuro," Yunna confirmed. "Cursed blood is the lineage that is related to him. Those who carry it are considered…" She stopped, choosing the right words.

"Dangerous. Impure. A threat to the balance that Whashiroi built."

Alice was listening attentively, her mouth slightly open.

"So Karin is…"

"My daughter," Yunna said, with a firmness that brooked no argument. "Before anything else."

Karin sat with that in her mind.

She said nothing. But there was something different now. When you learn the name of something that has always existed, but you never had words to describe it.

"Ryukuro?" Karin asked into the air, not quite sure if it worked that way.

"What do you wish?" The voice resonated from within, familiar in a strange way—like remembering a song you never consciously heard.

"You spoke to me. At UMBRAS. In the modification tank."

"Yes."

"Why?" The question came out more directly than she intended. "You could have remained silent. You could have said nothing. Why did you motivate me to live?"

"Because… if you died, I would die too."

"Understandable…"

Yunna had approached without Karin noticing. She was listening, with the expression of someone still in conflict but who had decided to process things in motion rather than standing still.

"He didn't hurt you." It wasn't a question, but it needed to be said.

"No. He told me I was near the end and that there was a reason I wasn't there yet."

Tetsuo returned from the forge, with the expression of someone who had witnessed more than he expected for an afternoon's work.

"I… made the sword," he said, in a satisfied tone.

He placed a long dark wooden box on the table.

Karin approached and opened the box slowly.

The sword was lighter than it looked. The blade had a specific quality of light—not shining, but holding the luminosity around it in ways ordinary luminosity did not hold.

"Shingetsu Karin," Tetsuo said, with the formality of someone delivering something that carried weight and value far beyond the object itself.

"The name I will give it is Tsuikiba (Moon's Fang)."

Karin stared at the sword for a moment.

"Why that name?"

"Because the moon traps the tide," he said simply. "And you have trapped what should not be able to be trapped."

Alice looked at the sword, then at Karin, then at Tetsuo.

"There's armor too, right?" said Alice, with the tone of someone trying to be helpful and practical because the emotional side was already full.

"Light armor, yes," said Tetsuo. "Ryukuro told me it will need to be tested."

"It's at the nearby UMBRAS base."

The silence that followed was expected, with the group simultaneously arriving at the same conclusion about what lay ahead.

Yunna looked at the sword in her daughter's hand for a long moment.

Then, directing her gaze to Tetsuo, she thanked him.

"Thank you," she said, direct, with the weight of the word.

"It was Ryukuro who asked. It's a pleasure to work with him again," said the blacksmith, animated.

"He always chose well—those who mattered to him," he continued, and looked at Karin. "This time was no different."

Karin didn't know what to do with that.

Then Alice put her arm around her and said:

"Let's go train before we leave, then!"

"That's not normal motivation," Karin replied, sarcastic.

"It works anyway."

Abruptly, entering through the forge door, four men appeared. They were all wearing plate armor—something not seen since the Casterian Era. One of the men walked with a somewhat awkward posture, then drew a sword, showing it to Miss Karin. The knight said, seeming to try to intimidate her:

"What do you say about becoming the new king of this country?! Come! Remove the sword from the stone—Excalibur!"