[A Week Later]

Azel was currently resting on the bed with his eyes open, staring at the ceiling in contemplative silence while Anastasia cuddled closely next to him, it's smaller form pressed against his side.

"Today is the final trial…" It said softly as it began getting out of bed, the silk sheets sliding across its skin.

After the Trial of Judgement where Azel had so efficiently executed the scammer, Anastasia had given them a few more trials to complete over the past week.

There had been the Trial of Purity, the Trial of Wisdom, and many others so right now they were drawing to a close with both Azel and Sylvia performing splendidly in all of them, passing each challenge with flying colors.

"Are you going to go home early after this concludes…?" Anastasia asked, though there was reluctance in its voice.

"Yes." Azel confirmed simply.

After all, Medusa needed taking care of back home, and he'd been away for over a week now. "Though, I'm sure I'll be back before next month ends."

Anastasia got off the bed completely and stretched its hands above its head, cracking a few bones with satisfying pops.

"I see… I will look forward to your return then." It said, trying to keep the disappointment from its tone.

And then, just from its will alone, different robes and jewelry that it usually wore began floating from where they were carefully kept in wardrobes and cases.

The garments drifted through the air and onto its body like they had minds of their own. The clothes literally wore themselves on the Elf King, wrapping and fastening without any physical touch required.

Though they were proportioned for its larger form, so the fabric hung loosely on its smaller 5'7" body. It simply grew taller in response, its form extending upward to fill the clothes properly until it reached its usual imposing height.

"We have honored our agreement as well…" Anastasia said as various pieces of neck jewelry attached themselves around its throat with soft clicks. "And you did successfully make me fall in love with you within the time frame we established. What would you like to request from me as your reward?"

The necklace Azel had personally crafted for it settled into place perfectly. It was beautiful, and Anastasia had silently vowed to cherish it forever as a symbol of their connection.

"Take a vacation." Azel replied casually as he sat up from the bed with a long stretch, his newly defined muscles flexing.

"Vacation? Like a complete break from my royal duties…?" Anastasia asked with genuine confusion.

On a regular day, it would have never even considered such a thing.

The responsibilities were too important and too constant. However, since it was Azel specifically asking, it had to genuinely consider the possibility.

"While I would honestly love a vacation from the endless meetings and ceremonies…" It said slowly. "I'm afraid that I cannot take one, as the title and duties of Elf King require me to personally guide my subjects. They need leadership."

"So you're telling me you can't create a magical clone of yourself?" Azel asked directly, and Anastasia's eyes widened with the realization.

"With your level of power, creating a perfect duplicate should be like child's play, shouldn't it?"

The Elf King paused mid-motion, genuinely processing that suggestion then it exhaled with dawning comprehension.

"I never truly thought of approaching it like that…" It admitted. "Well whatever, we'll experiment with clone creation when we're done with the Trial Of Ascensio—"

Anastasia never finished the sentence.

Its attention suddenly snapped to a specific drawer in the room, and it attempted to open it with telekinesis. The drawer did not budge even slightly, which was impossible given its power.

"Anything wrong?" Azel asked, noticing the abrupt change in demeanor.

The Elf King did not reply immediately.

Instead, it walked directly over to the drawer with purposeful strides and grabbed the handle physically.

It dragged the drawer open with such force that it tore completely off its hinges, wood splintering. Anastasia looked inside with eyes going wide with shock and fury.

The drawer was completely empty.

"Who dares steal my ring from me!!!" Its voice boomed with magical amplification all over the entire castle, the sound physically rattling windows and making the very walls shake.

The sheer force and rage in that shout instinctively made everyone currently in the castle flinch simultaneously, servants dropping things and guards straightening in alarm.

Azel turned to face Anastasia fully. "Ring? What ring specifically?"

"It's a—a… personal gift from my father before he died. Or rather, it's the sacred heirloom passed down through all the Elf Kings across generations…" Anastasia said, its voice shaking with barely controlled emotion.

Then it floated out the door completely without another word, still shouting demands and questions at anyone it encountered in the hallways.

Azel let out a long sigh, already having a sinking feeling about this.

"Someone managed to steal something while I was physically in the room sleeping… and even Anastasia didn't notice despite its power." He said aloud. "Gwen, did you see anything suspicious at all?"

The ghost floating behind him in the corner shook her head vigorously. "Not even a single thing out of place… I didn't feel any strange movements or magical disturbances during the night."

Over the past few days since Gwendolyn's initial warning, Azel had tried desperately talking to the Elf King about Sylvia's treachery.

Even though Anastasia said it would look into the matter seriously, it had found absolutely nothing concrete.

He had also tried going directly to Sil for help.

The tree spirit had obligingly carried him through different compartments and chambers of Yggdrasil's interior, searching everywhere but there was no evidence of anyone named Merek, and no way he could have physically gotten in contact with Sylvia during the trials since the whole massive tree was essentially Sil's main body and she would know.

In the end, Azel had directly confronted Sylvia about his suspicions.

Nyala had confirmed through her lie-detection abilities that Sylvia was absolutely lying when she denied everything.

However, if he didn't have actual proof of how she planned to summon Merek, or concrete evidence of how she had even gotten in contact with him in the first place, his hands were tied. It was not like he could kill her after all…

It was like solving a murder case and knowing exactly who the killer was, but lacking the physical evidence required to actually apprehend the criminal in court.

So instead, he had made sure to watch Sylvia extremely carefully over the past week, ensuring that she didn't do anything obviously suspicious.

But it was like she was moving completely ordinarily, going through her daily routines without any strange behavior. In the end, he had decided to just keep watching her closely with Gwendolyn's help.

"I see…" Azel said as he stood up and stretched some more, working the stiffness from his muscles. "Let's get prepared for the morning. I'm sure Anastasia will have recovered the ring immediately with its power."

…

Later that day, in a giant colosseum-style stadium in the heart of Elun'varis, almost all of the elves in the whole capital city had gathered to watch.

The stands were packed to capacity, and some spectators had even traveled all the way from neighboring elven towns and smaller cities just to witness this final trial.

The atmosphere was electric with anticipation.

Azel stood in the center of the massive arena floor, finally not wearing his usual concealing cloak.

What he did wear instead was a set of light armor that had been officially provided by the trial organizers.

The enchanted leather fit him perfectly, offering protection without restricting movement.

Sylvia stood at his side as his designated partner, casually testing out her rapier with a few practice swings and thrusts.

The blade cut through the air with whistling sounds.

'Gwendolyn… follow her closely. If she does anything even slightly weird, tell me immediately.' Azel thought, projecting the command mentally.

Gwendolyn's ghostly form dispersed like smoke and drifted in Sylvia's direction.

Azel looked back upward to the top of the arena where the Elf King was sitting on an elevated throne, presiding over the proceedings.

It was still visibly annoyed and distracted about the thief who had stolen from it.

Anastasia had even used its authority to search through literally everybody's belongings including Sylvia's room, tearing through everything but the ring wasn't anywhere to be found in the entire castle.

The ring was incredibly important, and although its father hadn't explicitly told it what the artifact's actual uses and powers were before dying,

Anastasia still felt the overwhelming need to protect that precious heirloom.

The next set of opponents entered the arena from the opposite entrance.

It was the Arclight family heir, the tall elven woman with crackling light already dancing around her fingers and her designated lover walking beside her.

She gripped her massive battle axe with both hands, the weapon looking almost comically large.

Just then, the Elf King's magically amplified voice boomed across the entire stadium.

There was also another pair of opponents that entered from a third entrance.

It was Feliora looking calm and confident, and her supposedly "useless" fiancé trailing behind her.

And somehow, against all odds, Alanar had actually managed to make it to the final trial.

So there were multiple teams competing simultaneously in this final challenge.

"Count down from 10!" The Elf King announced from its throne, and the command echoed throughout the space.

Everyone in the packed stadium immediately began counting down in unison, their voices merging into a thunderous chant.

"10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1!"

The instant everyone shouted that final number, Alanar immediately fired out a massive bolt of lightning directly toward Sylvia without warning.

Only for her to stomp down hard on the ground, and a thick barrier of solid Earth erupted in front of her, deflecting the crackling lightning harmlessly to the sides.

She then used the wall itself as a springboard, jumping onto and up the earthen surface.

This gave her the height and momentum to move closer to Alanar, and she threw a devastatingly powerful kick aimed at his head.

Alanar redirected the kick at the last second with magic-martial arts, and it was immediately clear that he was preparing to use his signature starlight magic.

However, the moment before he could complete the casting, Sylvia used a powerful concentrated gust of wind magic to blast him directly in the face.

The wind knocked him backward, disrupting his spell.

Meanwhile, Feliora had locked onto Azel as her primary target now, her eyes tracking him across the battlefield.

'You seem to have grown considerably stronger since the last time we met.' Feliora observed, she wasn't able to beat him at that point in time… but she was a lot more confident now. 'Oh, and I see you've undergone a Bloodline Awakening too. How impressive.'

She smiled genuinely. "I honestly wish you were my fiancé instead of this useless man I'm stuck with."

"Well, beggars can't be choosers." Azel commented dryly, and she gave him a look that showed she was annoyed.

She extended her hand, and the unique weapon she'd received as a reward from Yggdrasil materialized in her grip.

It was a beautiful sword forged entirely from living wood.

"It seems you people have all forgotten about me!" The Arclight daughter shouted indignantly as she descended from the air with her battle axe raised high for a devastating overhead strike.

However, with a single casual flick of Feliora's free hand, the Arclight heir suddenly fell under the effect of a now triple-layered Lunar Illusion.

Her eyes went blank, and she crashed to the ground completely unconscious, down for the count before she'd even landed a single hit.

The other two combatants… the lover of the Arclight elf and Feliora's useless fiancé were battling it out in their own corner of the arena.

Meanwhile, Sylvia was aggressively going after Alanar with relentless attacks.

Azel and Feliora were about to cross weapons in what promised to be an interesting duel.

However, before their blades could even meet, a concentrated beam of pure light suddenly tore down from above, consuming Sylvia's entire body in an instant.

The attack had come directly from the Elf King on its throne.

Sylvia's body turned to dust without even having time to scream, disintegrating into nothing but ash particles that scattered in the wind.

'I knew it… that body was just a clone.' The Elf King thought with grim satisfaction.

Sylvia had been acting subtly differently after the third trial, small changes in behavior and speech patterns but Anastasia hadn't given it much serious thought at the time, dismissing it as stress or fatigue.

'Is this the terrible feeling of being incompetent?' It wondered bitterly.

If it had been more competent and observant, it could have discovered the deception much earlier.

However, if Azel had not specifically told it about clones this morning, Anastasia wouldn't have thought to look for the signs.

The real Sylvia had a distinctly different battle style and she couldn't use the wind element… That was what the Elf King knew about its daughter.

"I didn't think you would figure it out quite that quickly!" The real Sylvia's voice called out mockingly from high above.

She was currently floating in the sky far above the arena field, held aloft by two massive protrusions of dark wings made entirely of Merek's signature destruction magic.

The wings were tattered and ominous, radiating malevolent energy.

"Sylvia… what are you planning to do? And what is that corrupted power? Why do you have my stolen ring as well…?" Anastasia asked with forced calm, though its magically amplified voice boomed everywhere with barely controlled fury.

Sylvia didn't waste time with a lengthy villainous monologue or explanation.

She immediately crushed the ancient ring in her hand with a sharp crack, the metal crumbling.

Anastasia stood abruptly from its seat as it looked upward to see the entire sky had suddenly turned deep crimson, as if reality itself was bleeding.

Sylvia was laughing maniacally now.

"I bring to you… The Calamity that once destroyed Elun'varis completely! The Calamity that had you on your knees sobbing in despair! The Calamity that personally killed the former Elf King, and your father had to sacrifice his very life force just to seal away!" She shouted triumphantly.

"I bring to you…"

The shadows around her began coalescing to life, darkness taking physical form beside her floating figure.

However, before she could finish her dramatic introduction, she received a vicious backhand strike packed with pure destruction magic.

The blow collided with her face with devastating force, and immediately within that tiny fraction of a second, the destructive energy spread to every single neuron in her brain.

Sylvia's entire head exploded violently, showering gore, and her now-headless body fell limply toward the ground far below.

And then an evil, rasping laughter filled the air throughout the arena and the entire city.

"Kekekekekekkekekekekekekkeeke….."

The sound was wrong somehow, grating against the ears and making people's skin crawl with instinctive fear.

Anastasia could recognize that specific laugh from anywhere in the world, and it made its entire body tremble uncontrollably.

The shadows fully formed into a distinct figure now clearly visible to everyone.

An old man with a long white beard that reached his chest, wearing ragged robes that looked ancient and decayed.

In one gnarled hand, he held a twisted wooden staff crackling with destructive energy.

It was Merek, the Wizard of Destruction and Anastasia had the terrible, sinking feeling that it would not live to see tomorrow's sunrise.

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