In the mansion of Adler-Stern, nineteen armored knights walked silently through a pristine white hallway. The last knight in their procession dragged along the body of a young girl.

  The hallway was lined with portraits of beautiful figures. Each had golden hair, blue eyes, and an oppressive gaze. Each held a sword in firm hands. The girl had the same features, but dulled and stained by bloody combat.

  The only thing that distinguished the girl from a corpse was the rise and fall of her chest. She was still breathing. Barely.

  The knights arrived at the end of the hallway and opened the door to her father’s study. It was a pristine white room, tastefully decorated with sculptures and minimalist artworks. The knights dragged the girl into the middle of the room. Two of them clamped armored gauntlets down on her shoulders, forcing her to kneel before her father.

  Her father didn’t look up from his papers. He quietly shuffled them around and wrote on some of them. He tapped on a holoscreen, bringing up some other documents. He entered in some data. He scanned his messages. Once he was finished–then and only then–did he speak.

  “My daughter,” the patriarch said. “You’ve killed two of my knights.”

  “Yes,” the young girl rasped, her voice hoarse, struggling to breathe with her injuries.

  “Why?”

  “You killed… Kaise and Leda.”

  The patriarch barked out a laugh, finally putting his pen down and taking a look at the girl. Their eyes met. “No, daughter. You did. You swung the sword, did you not?”

  She shook her head. “Under your orders.”

  “Do you regret it?” he said, a smile blooming on his lips. “Their deaths.”

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  Silence. The patriarch sensed her hesitation.

  He chuckled. He sensed her growing bloodlust. Sensed her cold rage, her mental calculations. Understood her potential. Without taking his eyes off the girl, he addressed his knights. “Unhand her.”

  His knights stiffened. The two that held her down looked concerned, not letting go. “Patriarch, do not underestimate her. She has killed two of us already.”

  The patriarch’s displeasure was apparent for all to see. He glared at his knights, unable to believe that his own elite legion would disobey him. “Unhand–”

  Lightning rushed though the young girl’s body and into the two knights holding her down. Her eyes changed from a dull blue into a blaze of cerulean. A greatsword of lightning appeared in her hands. She thrust it at the patriarch’s neck.

  The patriarch blurred into motion, pulling forth his own soulbound weapon to block. Raw, unfiltered light parried the girl’s lightning. The light filled the room. The weight of his soul crushed the room, raw mana pressing down like a physical force.

  The two knights snapped back to attention and slammed the girl to the ground. The lightning greatsword vanished. The girl had drawn out all her strength and couldn’t move anymore. The patriarch withdrew his soulbound weapon, and the pressure in the room dissipated.

  The knights let out a breath they didn’t know they held. The patriarch readjusted his tie and observed the girl on the ground. He felt something in that clash of soulbound weapons. In many ways, the girl was a disappointment. She didn’t gain the light affinity that all the heir candidates to house Adler-Stern gained. The trial failed. All the money and resources spent raising the sacrifices would go to waste.

  Yet, not all was lost. She didn’t gain the light of Adler-Stern, but lightning, the patriarch thought. A powerful, fleeting, flash of light.

  He turned backwards, facing the window that overlooked the final city of humanity. “Kill all her remaining servants. Assign new staff. If she gets attached, remove them. Once she is of age, send her to the academy. From now on, she is an Adler-Stern in nothing but name.”

  “At once, patriarch,” the knights said. They performed a crisp salute. Then they left the patriarch’s study, moving with unnatural efficiency, flying through the mansion with sheer ruthlessness. They knew the patriarch was cruel, but orders were absolute.

  For the betterment of humanity. For the prosperity of Adler-Stern.