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!"

Yunna and Alice watched the knight point his sword at Karin, while she stared back at him with disdain, saying:

"I will remove it. Let's go to the location at three o'clock… Wait for me!"

"Karin!" said the priestess and the princess at the same time.

The knight then smiled upon hearing her answer, placed the sword over his shoulder, and responded with enthusiasm: "Very well! Find us at 374 Avalon Rising Street. We'll be waiting!"

The man turned and exited through the door he had entered, followed by the other three knights who accompanied him. Alice and Yunna grabbed Karin's shoulders and shook her, incredulous at her response.

"Why did you accept?! Do you have shit for brains?!"

"Miss, why? Do you have any idea what those guys could do?"

"I know, but… Alice, Mother, I need both of your help. This will spark a revolution for us. Have you stopped to think about that?" said Karin, confident.

Alice squeezed her shoulders even tighter and exclaimed over her, agitated: "That's not how it works! Even if we don't fail, we need Hunter's authorization to take any action!"

"What are you going to do now? Either we go, or they'll do something stupid to us, or something worse…"

The priestess crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and said irritably: "Now that the screw-up is done, do we have another option?"

Pulling Karin by the arm, she continued: "Now your training will be doubled and much worse than before! Understood?!"

"Yes… Mother…"

She was dragged by her mother, while Alice walked behind, sulking about Karin's attitude. Being thrown into the "backyard" of the shop, Yunna drew her sword again and pointed it forward with one hand. In a firm tone, nearly spitting as she spoke, she shouted, staring nervously: "Come at me! You're going to regret making that choice!"

Karin held her own sword near her waist, crouched slightly, keeping her hand close to the hilt, staring back seriously—because she wasn't going to go easy either.

An unknown memory was then bombarded into her mind—of a very ancient fight. A voice echoed in her mind: *Ryukuro! It's over for you! Fusako ryu—"

With that memory, Karin moved in sync with the visions, grabbing the sword by the hilt and leaning forward, shouting as she rushed forward: "Shunrai Ranpo!"

A thunderous sound echoed before her. A hand counterattacked with a brilliant, radiant draw. "Senkan!"

The quick flash of a glow caused by the collision of the two attacks was seen. The exchange of blows ended in a clash of swords. The more she pushed against her mother's sword, the more memories of battles she had never fought surfaced.

*Aguina, this won't stay like this! You'll regret not believing in me! Dokai ryu—*

"Tetsuzan!" She let herself lose the struggle, and the sword struck her arm—but instead of cutting her, the sword remained stuck there. Karin grabbed her mother's blade, disarming her, and continued with another technique.

"Tsushin ryu!" She shot forward toward Yunna, stopping in front of her with her sword aligning with the sheath, finishing the incantation.

"Ryusoku…" Karin whispered, holding her mother's sword in her hands and her own sword now sheathed, leaving the priestess on her knees.

Yunna then, out of nowhere, began to laugh at the situation. Alice stared at them, trying to understand what had really happened there. Karin had barely received her first sword and had already defeated the master who was teaching her. Karin walked over to her mother, stuck the sword into the ground, and extended her hand to her.

Her gaze was not one of fear or tears—it was of determined confidence. Yunna stared back, startled, trying to remember a similar situation that had occurred in her past.

*I remember something like this… when I was in my twenties…*

…

"Yunna! Can you get up?"

She stared at that individual with disdain, but with a genuine desire to accept his hand.

"Saito, how can you know so much in so little time?"

"Unfortunately, it's about something from my origins… If you get up, I'll tell you more!"

*Why did my mother have to let him become shogun?* she thought.

She took his hand and stood up, then followed him, almost running through the plains of pale light green. The breeze lightly touched her face—it seemed like paradise.

They walked across the field until they arrived under a tree. There the two sat, watching the sunset as if it were the beginning of everything.

"Yunna, about me learning too fast… It's a matter of my birth spirit. It allows me to learn techniques I've never seen before, as if they were natural to my body."

"Isn't that bad?"

He looked at her, surprised by the question, gave a small smile, and then said: "Of course not! It will facilitate the creation of a new Tsugaki… one where there will be no darkness!"

…

"Mother?!" shouted her daughter.

"Sorry… you're right. It's all for a better future, regardless of the circumstances."

She then took the hand her daughter was offering and stood up. She was willing and rejuvenated by those memories, saying immediately afterward: "Alice! Karin! Let's go! Toward the Umbras base!"

"Yunna, are you sure? What if the king or Hunter doesn't agree with this?"

"Even if he doesn't accept it right away, he will see our actions for what they are—necessary for the good of the world."

Alice huffed, bored, saying while leaning on her shoulders: "Fine! We didn't really have a choice anyway…"

Karin then positioned herself in front, with a fearless posture: "Princess and Mother! Let's go! It's our duty to believe in whatever comes! Forward!"

And so they ran toward the Umbras base. The sun was beginning to set. The roads were initially very busy, but when they found themselves wandering through less crowded streets, the three began to slow their pace.

In the plan they made during that brief moment of running, Karin would be the one to approach the sword as a distraction. There was a roundabout surrounded by flowers and rocks. And there it was—the sword in the stone, Excalibur.

The four men were quite irritated, waiting there for so long. Then, the plan was set in motion.

Crouching down, Karin used a technique in a whisper: "Angetsu ryu, kagenoku…"

While she approached the four stealthily, Yunna and Alice watched from afar. They noticed movement near her. The priestess thought:

*There's no other way… We'll have to go on the extreme offensive!*

She placed two seals on Alice's back—one of strength and one of speed—gave two pats, and whispered in her ear: "Go! You'll have to protect the bait."

Nodding in agreement, Alice ran stumbling, then leaped over the four knights. She executed a flying kick technique: "Effondrement du mortier!"

She sent them flying away. Karin emerged in a technique over the four: "Tsushin ryu!"

She delivered a shadow-imbued cut: "Kage giri!"

Which pierced them, killing them simultaneously.

Then, several figures surrounded them. The Princess and Karin stood back to back, one in a sword-drawing stance and the other in a martial stance.

Yunna was behind the wall behind the roundabout, thinking: *Will they be able to handle this alone?*

Suddenly, the ground trembled. She quickly looked up at the rooftop, staring in fear and perplexity at a tall woman who blotted out the sunset. She was barefoot, with one arm and both legs completely metallic. Raising a massive sword with both hands, the woman roared from above.

"Kongbu zhijian!"

She leaped down and descended in a downward slash upon the ground: "Shān Bēng!"

The ground cracked, and the entire surrounding neighborhood trembled. She stood up, her foot on Karin's face, a rock pinning her there. The princess was sitting, stretched out on the rock.

"Karin! Are you all right?!"

The young lady, groaning in pain from the weight on her, asked the girl in red garments: "Who are you?"

"Me? Hmm, call me the Empress of the Sword! You don't deserve to know my real name."

In a quick spin of her foot on Karin's face, she shouted a spell: "Shuizhijian!"

Trails of water emanated from the blade of the sword, aiming at the rock, cutting it: "Pò hǎi zhǎn!"

She tore apart the rock above Karin and kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying away, and shouted loudly, staring at her: "Heiress to the throne of Tsugaki! Show me who you really are!"