Cylia and Sara arrived at Youra’s western area.

There, Yarjak was leading a small army against the enemies.

"Yarjak!" Sara yelled delighted, once she saw her brother.

"Sara...? And Mother...?!"

The three reunited at their temporary base camp. Just a little further away from that camp were the frontlines but Yarjak decided to take a small break after being there since the start of the invasion.

Furthermore, the mood in the camp was not exactly bright.

It was visible on his face as he had eye bags and suffered from a little dehydration after forgetting to take a small break during all the fights. But fortunately, he was not critically injured and had only light bruises and shallow cut wounds.

"What’s the current situation here?" Cylia demanded sternly.

Yarjak looked down.

"We’re at a stalemate. Neither are we pushing the enemies back nor are we getting pushed back." he explained bitterly.

"I see."

Cylia started to ponder about potential strategies as she looked at Yarjak’s map, however, Sara suddenly approached her.

"Mom...?"

"What is it, Sara?"

"Can we talk for a moment?"

"..."

Cylia stared her in the eyes.

That was one of the rare moments when even Sara was stern.

"I understand. I will wait outside." Yarjak sighed, noticing that the conversation was not meant for anyone to overhear.

Thus, Yarjak left the tent, where the three previously talked.

"So? What is it that you wanted to talk about?"

"It’s about your relic."

Cylia turned serious.

"Yes?"

"May I be given the ownership of the relic? I thin-"

"Fine."

"Huh?"

Sara did not expect her mother to agree so fast.

"Why do you act so surprised? Weren’t you the one asking?" she remarked with a faint smirk.

A circle, emitting dark particles, appeared on the ground and surrounded the two.

"It seems like you’ve already talked about it with that voice, huh?"

"So you knew...?"

"It’s just my intuition." she chuckled.

"..."

Sara was still nervous.

"Why did you agree with this? Wouldn’t this put you at a disadvantage in future fights?" Sara asked sheepishly.

"I’ve watched over you for such a long time. You may have not realized it yet but you have already surpassed my swordsmanship. I have already planned on handing you the relic over officially so this may be the perfect timing." Cylia explained, smiling warmly at her daughter.

With this handoff, not much would change but now, Sara could summon the sword anytime and anywhere, not needing to carry it around like a normal sword. In addition, her mother and Sara would not share the relic anymore as it would be purely Sara’s.

That meant that both mother and daughter could participate in a battle without fighting over whose turn it would be to wield the sword.

The dark particles formed something looking like black flames which rose even higher. Those flames encircled them and soon, foreign symbols appeared on the ground below them.

[The transfer will be now completed.]

The tent was filled with darkness.

"Hm? What’s going on there...?" Yarjak wondered, gazing at the tent which was leaking darkness.

But the darkness dispersed quickly.

"..."

Cylia apathetically looked at her hands and stretched one out.

"Nothing happens. Seems like the transfer is done." she stated.

Meanwhile, Sara successfully summoned the sword in her hand and let it disappear again.

Cylia smiled at that sight.

"Thank you, Mom. I will not disappoint you!" Sara said sternly.

Cylia came closer to Sara and took away her sword, which she always carried around if she did not borrow the relic from her mother.

"I will take this then. It’s a fair trade, right?"

Sara giggled shortly.

The two were about to leave the tent.

"Sara, could you take out your sword for a moment?"

"Sure, but why?"

She summoned her relic in her hand.

"..."

Cylia crouched down and stared at the blade which was reflecting her.

"Thank you for your service and for being by my side for such a long time. Please, take care of my daughter, partner." she whispered gratefully.

[I will, partner.]

"?"

Cylia did not hear it but Sara did.

"Let’s go now. The soldiers are waiting for us."

"Yes!"

But once they stepped out, they noticed a commotion with Yarjak in the center.

"What did you say?!"

Yarjak grabbed a soldier’s collar.

"Yarjak, what’s going on?"

Cylia walked over and pulled him away from the soldier.

"Tija..."

Yarjak appeared shocked and confused.

"Why is Tija attacking our people...?"

"..."

Cylia forgot.

Because she did not find the right timing yet, she could not explain to him what Tija did.

"Sara! Where are you going?!" Cylia shouted as Sara was already running away.

"..."

However, Sara did not look back and determinedly, she headed towards the frontlines.

"That fool-"

"Y-your Highness! Is it true?!"

"Did she switch sides?!"

Soon, Cylia found herself surrounded by confused soldiers. Even her son was looking at her flabbergasted.

In that situation, she had to clarify things before she could go after Sara.

[Are you able to do it? Can you cut down your own sister?]

"..."

Sara did not reply and kept running.

The sound of battles turned louder and louder until Sara finally saw the battlefield.

As her brother said, it was a stalemate, however, that stalemate was nowhere to be seen as Youra’s army was getting completely pushed back.

That, however, was the result of one person joining the enemy’s side.

"Tija..."

Leading the northern tribe, Tija mercilessly cut down one soldier after another.

Sara gripped her sword tightly.

[You can’t win against her if your resolve isn’t there.]

"Be quiet..."

Back then, Sara and Tija sparred often against each other. If it was only pure swordsmanship, then Sara was the winner but if it was a battle, where everything was allowed, then Tija would win most of the time due to her experience and her magic being superior to Sara’s.

"Tija!" Sara shouted from the depths of her lungs.

"..."

Tija turned to her direction with an indifferent expression.

Between the two of them were people from both the North and Youra. And each side turned towards Sara and Tija.

Both girls readied their swords.

"Out of the way!"

With a vigorous scream, Sara cut through her enemies.

Her enemies launched ice magic and engaged in close-quarter combat with weapons made out of ice, however, Sara was already focused and dealt with the incoming enemies and attacks without any troubles.

She left small cut wounds on each of them before she stepped closer to Tija, who also dealt with her opponents with ease.

But compared to Sara, she instantly slashed her enemies, giving them a quick death.

Nothing hindered the two siblings anymore.

Behind Sara, her opponents were about to ambush her but soon, they sensed a weird feeling as their initial wounds widened.

Sara raised her sword.

Tija retracted her arm.

"Tija!"

Blood splattered behind Sara and body parts fell bluntly to the ground. But Sara did not pay any attention to that.

It came to a sword clash between Sara and Tija.

"Are you coming to kill me, Sara?" Tija asked without a change in her expression.

Sara gritted her teeth.

"Why...? Why did you betray us...?"

Tija sighed. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Ugh!"

She kicked Sara away and shook her head.

"Didn’t Mother told you?"

"I-I refuse to believe that these were your genuine words!"

"..."

Tija’s eyes sharpened.

"I should have known that you would throw a tantrum."

She pointed her sword at Sara.

"Will you believe me when I kill you?"

Sara tensed up on those words.

"T-this isn’t like you..."

"Face the truth. I’m your enemy."

"..."

Water was gathered on Sara’s hand. The water mass grew more and more.

"What are you doing?"

Sara pointed her hand to the sky and shot the water mass up.

It exploded in the sky, making it rain for a short moment.

"A signal maybe...?" Tija muttered.

Then, Sara readied her sword once more.

"I will beat the real truth out of you...!" she said with a firm and yet nervous expression.

In the meantime, Harik and Rachel encountered a dangerous enemy in the east.

"W-what is she doing here...?" Harik stuttered.

"..."

Tensed up, Rachel cautiously took a few steps back.

In front of them was a small and frail old woman, who was in her seventies. Her tied hair was grey and her kind-looking eyes dark blue.

She wore a warm smile that did not match her actions.

"It pains me to hurt children like you but I can’t go against her orders." the old woman stated.

Harik and Rachel were originally searching for civilians, who needed help. On their way to the east, a few soldiers joined them and helped search.

However, said soldiers were currently drowning as their heads were trapped inside big water balls.

Only after their bodies stopped resisting, the water balls disappeared and the bodies fell to the ground.

"This could be problematic..." Rachel remarked nervously and sternly.

After all, those two were facing Dura Waret, the water mage of the Grand Order.