"What a funny little brat. And disturbing, I won't deny it."

Severus broke the awkward atmosphere around the table. So encouraged by Cyela's eccentricity that he even dared to address the now silent Tristessa.

"She hated you from the first second, Irandell."

"And you, Sev?" the girl asked in return. "Do you hate me too?"

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" was his retort, with a threatening tone reserved only for her. For Strangers.

And driven by that fear left by Moebius's shadowy appearance in his workshop. An event that seemed best left unspoken, information reserved for the right ears. Ears that their voices, for now, couldn't reach.

"Now, now, don't start, you two. We have a lot to do today."

Auron managed to prevent the two from escalating the conflict. Then he gazed around with discretion, checking that the people attracted by the Sanctuary tattooist and his apprentice returned to their own affairs. That was the green light to go down unto business.

"We'll repeat the same procedures as yesterday. Astoria, continue to insist through legal means for a meeting with the mistress of the house. And without another drop of ale, lady."

"Yes... I'll take your flask of water, if you don't mind," she requested, forcing formality amidst the minimal intoxication she carried within her. Tristessa raised an eyebrow and followed with her eyes the contact between their fingers when Auron handed her the metal container, which he conjured up through his [Divinity of Pocket Dimension]. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Severus, you continue gathering information on the new arrivals. Any information on mercenaries, caravans, expeditions..."

"I'll let you know if I get the slightest clue about them, have no doubt about it," the elf promised, expressing that furious anxiety that always left him uneasy, thinking about that family and the uncertain fate that could befell them.

"I'll go talk to some acquaintances. With luck, I can help you two with your tasks." Finally, Auron focused on Tristessa. The main beneficiary of that still-unformalized alliance. "Tristessa… Will you continue with your plan?"

"Yes. I'm confident in the information I obtained with my Divinity," she said, forcing herself to bend reality a little in order to justify her conviction in the strategy she had devised. "I know we haven't made any progress yet, but I'm sure it will work. It must work."

"I don't like it. I'll repeat it every day if necessary." With his eyes half-closed and his brow furrowed, Auron expressed the utmost seriousness that the matter merited, expressed in the most necessary confidentiality. No one knew if someone was listening to them from the shadows. They couldn't take any risks. "Remember, we're not doing this out of charity, lady. Once that family is safe, you will begin to help us make our dreams come true. After that battle against the Dullahan… I know that you can."

Tristessa smiled, hiding behind that expression how intimidated she felt by the astronomical weight of her promises. At the end of the day, this was all a mutually beneficial relationship. Only she felt an emotional connection to the three of them, after so many loops that they would never remember.

"Of course."

Paying five lesser soul jewels and stepping out of the carriage, Tristessa found the Upper Ward of Entrana at her disposal.

On both higher grounds reserved for the aristocrat and richer social class, imposing Gothic buildings had been erected. With spire-like towers that wished they could rival the imposing presence of the Evil-Warding Pillar to the east; large arched windows, religious symbolism carved into the corners, and so close together that even the narrow streets could accommodate vilecross-drawn carriages.

"Third time here and the atmosphere still feels so…oppressive."

Deep in thought, Tristessa took her first steps along the sidewalk parallel to that avenue, the buildings rising higher and close to each other. As if wanting to stick together in fear against something unholy that was going to fall from the sky.

People dressed according to their higher status walked in peace next to her. Expensive jackets and ties; long, beautiful dresses, professionally trimmed makeup and beards, canes and fans.

Earning disgusted glances due to the foul odor she gave off, Tristessa saw the social emptiness and the resistance to total decay. There was no doubt that this segment of the upper echelons of society had previously been more abundant, given the massive buildings of more than four or five stories, Heterodox cathedrals of the Gods to host masses, theaters, and other places of leisure.

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Now the streets were kind of empty, even with the patrolling soldiers and the families of more than one couple. Bankrupt businesses, derelict great houses, and abandoned cathedrals.

"Have you ever felt someone emanating so much Discord, dear?"

"Mommy, mommy, she smells horrible!"

"Poor girl, so loved by the Darkness…"

Tristessa ignored the comments of passersby as best she could, as well as the ache building inside her. She sympathized with what Astoria must suffer day after day, though much worse… More division, more conflict, and isolation.

"If I were a Dark Lady… This is what I would want for my enemies," she thought, reasoning both with what she was seeing in the wealthy area of ​​Entrana and what she had already experienced on the mainland, in the commercial district and the slums. "A broken society, easy to torment. Ready to surrender at my feet when there is no one left to resist."

Of course, she had gotten that idea from one of the video games she remembered pouring many hours of fun into. And it terrified her to no end to think that in Nekrom, this was a fantasy that could become reality, and she was caught in the middle of it.

After several minutes of walking and traversing the labyrinthine streets, Tristessa finally had a large open space on her left, a plaza with cobblestone and travertine floors. At the far end, imposing itself with a large shadow, rose the Lord's Castle of Entrana: a structure that invited one to look up, vertically, thanks to the four towers arranged at cardinal points; ironwork everywhere, in the form of railings and sharp tops; and high, black walls, seeking to command respect for one of humanity's last bastions against the Shadow Queen.

"And that's where she is… And the execution yard where I died for the last time," she thought, seeing across the plaza that the castle's great entrance gate was wide open, inviting people into the darkness of the gargantuan vestibule with minimal security around it. It even seemed deliberate. "To enter and never leave… Like falling into a spider's web."

In there was the group's main target: Aurelia Eramisaptor, the person who condemned the Mercer-Archeos to exile and, by that same power, who could also reverse that sentence. Not only that, as the Lady of the Domain, her absolute military power could provide her team with what was necessary to fight the Coven.

It was critical to get an audience with that woman and convince her that there was a high probability that the Coven could arrive in the city in a matter of days, pursuing a caravan of mercenaries protecting the exiled family. There was no other way Tristessa could think of to save them all; she had no choice but to follow the plan she'd devised in her mind palace before it fell into the hands of the strange dark frost.

If Astoria couldn't get it through legal means, Tristessa was forced to resort to a risky and terrifying tactic. So much so that just thinking about it sent a dreadful chill through her, icy stabbing pains down her spine and trembling behind her eyes.

Pure panic, and all because of just a single idea:

"The only way I can get in and out of that web is for a spider to do it for me."

With that grim thought, the black-haired girl continued down the street, looking for a new place to carry out her simple but dangerous operation. The alleys opened up and multiplied, just like in the industrial district, offering shortcuts between buildings so as not to slow down the flow of carts and carriages. With the population declining and the limited mobility of soldiers on patrol, it was not unusual to see these narrow passageways and streets vast-empty, making them perfect places for privacy.

Tristessa chose a different alley than the previous two, between two large administrative buildings that didn't even have windows facing outside from those walls. There was only a single crystal of power mounted on an electrical panel on the dark brick wall, equidistant from the two ends of the corridor, turned off during the day. This didn't mean that sunlight reached the interior of that narrow space, hidden between the buildings. Thus, shrouding the alley and turning it into a den of shadow.

"Well... Now just wait," Tristessa thought after leaning against the wall, her arms crossed, her nerves on edge. She let out a sigh that echoed faintly in the alley, intensifying her anxiety. "Come on, show up…"

But the person she was waiting for wasn't appearing. Hours passed, and not a soul deigned to cross that alley. The sound of the wind rustling against the old bricks of the buildings was amplified like a sounding box, making Tristessa's nervousness even more intense.

Fearing that no one will show up, and another day will have been wasted without any progress.

Fearing that that person will show up and her plan won't unfold the way she expected, resulting in a catastrophic failure that will send her back to the beginning of the loop... All her and others' efforts, wasted.

"Will the Dullahan return? Will I ever be able to win back the three of them's trust?" she tormented herself, thinking the worst and the return of the Baptism in Ruins in her chest, now intact and through which she could only feel the beating of her heart against her intertwined arms. "No... I can't allow it. All over again... Will I ever be able to...?"

While she was overwhelmed by her thoughts, Tristessa belatedly realized that a person had stood at the southern entrance of the alley. Their silhouette blocked part of the light, casting the blackest of shadows inside. Over her, brought with an extreme, ominous cold.

"..."

Tristessa couldn't make out that silhouette until that person began walking toward her. The light filtered around them, stripping them off the shadows and allowing her to see a black uniform protecting that person's feminine figure. Hooded, with a white mask with human features and…

A dark bird of the Stormfall Dominion, drawn in black ink across her right cheek.

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