A few minutes ago.

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

Her sword was pointed at her own sister Tija, the commander of the enemy.

Previously, she shot up a large water ball in the air and let it explode in order to let the others know that Tija was found.

"..."

Tija looked unfazed by her little sister’s words.

"Are you sure, Sara? Can you really fight me?"

"I..."

"This is not some sparring session like back then. We’re on the battlefield and I’m the enemy’s commander. Do you understand?"

Sara gritted her teeth and dashed towards Tija.

She swung her sword at her, however, unlike usual Sara’s attack was unrefined and appeared rather desperate.

"There’s no strength behind your attacks. You’re really not taking this seriously, do you?"

Tija blocked each swing with ease.

[How disappointing. I thought that you’d made up your mind after declaring your ownership over me. But it seems like you’re contradicting yourself.]

Sara continued to swing her sword wildly while screaming and ignoring the words of both her sister and the voice inside her head.

"Weren’t you also looking for revenge, Sara? Like me, you know what happened on that day and what the cause was. Why don’t you take my side then?"

[If you keep this up, you will die instead.]

Tija looked at the sorry state of her younger sister.

"Maybe it was just me who wanted revenge for Father the most..." she muttered disappointed.

[Come to your senses if you want to win.]

"Shut uppp!" Sara yelled enraged as she swung her sword from above.

Tija sighed.

"?!"

A loud clang echoed across the field as Sara’s sword flipped away from her hands after clashing with Tija’s sword.

"Argh!"

Tija followed with a stab into Sara’s stomach before kicking her away once more.

"You and Mother... Both of you always say that you want to kill Leviathan, however, in the end, you won’t take the necessary steps to do that. You lured those Loogam students to Grat knowing that they could play a huge factor in taking down Leviathan, right? Then, why are you backing away now? Just because they refused to help?" Tija said coldly, pointing the tip of her sword at the defenseless Sara who was about to get up.

"W-we can’t force them...! A-and considering that this is a personal matter, w-we can’t let other people get involved!"

"This is exactly why I revoked my right to the throne." Tija scoffed with disgusted eyes

"H-huh?"

"I don’t care how the people will see me or how many have to suffer because of me as long as I can achieve my goal. A selfish person like me could never become the leader of a nation." Tija elaborated.

She put her palm on her face.

"How unfortunate... It seems like you took after Mother more than I thought."

Saddened, Tija raised her sword.

Sara was her younger sister. Someone with whom she shared many beautiful and fun memories. She remembered the days they sparred when Sara was younger. And even outside of sparring and their royal duties, their time together was filled with laughter and smiles.

However, she also swore to herself that she would get revenge for her father who had to suffer even after his death due to Leviathan.

She could still recall her father’s face as his body, which did not listen to him, was about to strike her down.

"Even if it’s you, Mother or anyone else, I will remove any obstacles in my way. I, Tija Tiam, will put an end to Leviathan." she declared firmly.

Sara pressed her eyes shut when the sword was coming down.

"Tija!"

Before the sword could hit Sara, Cylia and Yarjak came to her rescue.

"Mom... Yarjak..."

Dumbfounded, Sara looked at them blocking Tija’s sword with theirs.

"Tch...!"

Tija backed away.

"Mother told me everything... I’ve also learned about the truth about Father..." Yarjak stated softly and bitterly.

His lips were shaking as he took one step forward.

"But-"

"Mom. Yarjak." Sara cut him off sternly.

"?"

Cylia turned her head over to her daughter.

"Please leave this area." Sara stated as she summoned her sword back into her hand.

"S-Sara? What do you intend to do...? Let us help-"

"Leave her be, Yarjak." Cylia sighed.

"But Mother!"

After learning about Tija’s true thoughts and motivation, Yarjak could not help but want to confront and try to talk it out. After all, he was her little brother.

"This is an order." Cylia replied sharply.

Yarjak could only see his mother’s back but he noticed her voice slightly trembling even though she tried to hide it.

"Understood..." Yarjak said reluctantly.

Despite the soldiers of Youra clashing with the northern soldiers, Cylia and Yarjak left.

"I’m sorry..." Sara murmured with guilt as the two passed by her.

None of them reacted to her. Yarjak did not know what she meant but their mother did.

"I won’t pull any punches from now on, Sara." Tija declared.

"Me, too." Sara replied softly with her gaze still directed to her feet.

[Have you resolved yourself now?]

This time, Tija charged at her.

"..."

Sara took a deep breath.

While Tija swung her sword horizontally, Sara launched three swings.

The first swing parried Tija’s sword. The second one left a shallow cut on her right wrist. And the third one left one on her left wrist.

"Hm."

Tija raised her eyebrows slightly upon looking at her wrists.

"Surrender, Tija. You’re no longer able to fight." Sara suggested with a stern gaze.

But Tija just grinned at her.

"Not yet."

From beneath, water streams emerged. They appeared like tornadoes made out of water due to their size and the destruction they caused on the field.

Tija grabbed her sword one last time before her hands would fall off and dashed towards Sara who was trying her best to avoid the water streams.

"Tch..."

However, the rate at which her hands were falling apart was quicker than she anticipated.

Sara was ready to block her attack but before she was midway through her swing, her hands tore apart from her body.

"!"

In the end, blood was splattered on Sara’s eyes.

"I still have my legs!"

Tija launched a kick at Sara who was blinded for a moment.

"..."

Sara was sent flying and while she was in the air, she wiped the blood from her eyes and looked back at the water stream into which she was about to crash.

Black water assembled on her blade and was then shot at the water stream.

And as she was about to get in contact with the water, it was split in two. Thus, Sara avoided getting caught up in the stream as she flew right into the gap.

"Then, how about this...?" Tija muttered apathetically.

Above her, she summoned a large water ball which also absorbed the water streams.

Sara, in turn, got back on her feet and launched another black water slash.

The two water attacks clashed against each other shortly before the black water slash vanished.

But Sara was unfazed and stormed forward.

The large water ball was still heading towards Sara and yet, she showed no signs of dodging. Instead, she walked right through the water ball which was getting split as well.

It seemed like the water avoided her as she ran through it.

Then, Tija was in her sight.

"..."

Unable to escape, Tija stood there with a sword pointed at her neck.

"What are you doing? Kill me already." Tija said indifferently.

"Just surrender. There’s no need to kill you." Sara replied sternly.

Tija sighed.

"You haven’t noticed yet, right? Vira, the demon you’ve encountered in the dungeon, is dead."

While Sara was occupied with Tija’s water attacks, Mika turned into his future self and killed Vira.

"This battle won’t end until you kill the commanders." Tija stated.

Sara’s sword was starting to shake.

"I won’t-"

"Kill me!" Tija shouted slightly enraged.

Sara flinched and looked at Tija stunned.

Then, water shaped like tentacles rose up from the ground and surrounded Sara’s head. It was not visible but their heads were sharp.

"If you won’t kill me now, I will kill you. And after killing you, I will continue by killing as many people as possible, including Yarjak and Mother." Tija announced threateningly.

Some water tentacles poked from behind Sara’s head and neck, where she even noticed a small trail of blood flowing down.

"You’re taking after Mother, don’t you? Then, you should know what you have to do!"

"..."

Sara bit her trembling lips.

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I-I don’t want to!" she cried.

Even though she declared to her mother and Yarjak that she could handle her, Sara just could not bring it to herself to kill her sister when it came down to it.

"I see."

Tija’s expression and tone turned blank.

"Then, I will do what I just said. After all, I actually do what I meant."

The water tentacles began to dig deeper into Sara’s neck.

"...!"

Instinctively, Sara tightened her grip on her sword.

"Good..." Tija muttered.

The water dispersed.

"You will make a fine queen, my dear little si-"

With a gentle smile on her face, Tija’s head fell to the ground.