Entry #19

The morning mist clung to the surface of the lake like a veil of glass, the stillness broken only by the soft footsteps of Lamia as she walked across the water’s surface with impossible grace.

“Ready for your trial, Louis Delacroix?” she called out without turning around.

Louis stepped forward, eyes steady. “I am.”

“Then let us begin.”

She moved effortlessly across the lake, not a ripple under her feet. The others stood at the shoreline, watching in silent awe.

Gabriel blinked. “She can walk on water...”

Lamia turned her head slightly. “Keep your focus on the movement beneath your feet. Feel the tension, the balance. Waver—and you’ll sink.”

Louis took a deep breath and stepped forward. The cold licked at his boots. Slowly, carefully, he walked onto the surface, each footstep demanding precise control.

“Have you ever thought of water not as a flood or a wave, but as a weapon?” Lamia asked, drawing a long, elegant blade shaped from water itself. “Pressurized to cut through anything—steel, glass, even bone—without losing its form.”

Louis hesitated. “No... I hadn’t.”

She dashed forward.

His reflexes kicked in as he raised the enchanted blade Ilazki had once gifted him. The two weapons clashed—and the sword snapped in half.

Louis staggered back, stunned. The top half of the blade tumbled into the lake, vanishing beneath the surface.

Joaquin shouted from the shoreline. “Louis! Don’t let her weapon touch you! It’ll sever your limb clean off!”

“I understand!”

Lamia didn’t stop. She came again, fast as a wave, weapon gleaming. Louis raised the remaining half of his broken blade to defend—only to watch it reduced to wet fragments.

“W-what…” he gasped, eyes wide as he dropped the shattered hilt into the lake, his hands now empty.

Lamia’s voice was calm. “You abandoned your weapon.”

She pressed the assault.

Louis fell back on instinct, drawing from every element he had mastered. First, he conjured a wooden sword—destroyed in a blink. Then a fire-forged blade—brief resistance before it evaporated. An ice sword—crushed under pressure. A lightning blade—it held, but it shocked his hands with every parry, burning him.

Then he summoned a blade of wind—light, fast, reactive.

It held.

Lamia lunged again, her blade connecting with the wind-forged edge. The result was surprising—the wind absorbed traces of the water element on impact.

Louis’s eyes narrowed. “Water is about focus,” he said aloud. “It flows, but it also clings. It moves, but it remembers.” He looked at Lamia. “I see now—you’re connected to your weapon because you are your weapon.”

He infused the wind blade with water, condensing it. The pressure grew. The blade hissed in his hand.

They clashed again—and this time, Lamia faltered.

Louis moved faster, weaving the lightning element into his body. Sparks crackled around him as his reflexes sharpened. He attacked, pressing her back step by step.

“Focus!” Lamia hissed to herself, her grip tightening.

Louis feinted upward and then swept low, knocking her off balance. As she tried to parry, he pivoted and swiped her feet.

Splash.

Lamia plunged into the lake.

She surfaced seconds later, water cascading from her shoulders, and found herself looking at Louis standing over her, his blade pointed downward. Pressurized water shimmered from the edge.

She smiled and exhaled. “You win.”

By the lakeside, as mist lifted and morning broke fully, Lamia stood before Louis.

“I hereby bestow you the mastery over the element of water,” she declared, her voice proud and clear. “You’ve earned it.”

A glow washed over Louis as the element responded to his soul. He breathed deeply, feeling the element settle within him like a river beneath the skin.

Gabriel punched the air. “Yes! One more to go!”

Joaquin clapped Louis on the shoulder. “You’ve come a long way, my friend. From the moment we landed on this island until now.”

Mira beamed. “Congratulations, Mr. Louis!”

Louis smiled at them all. “I wouldn’t have made it this far without you.”

Lamia approached. “Where will you go next?”

“Our original plan,” Louis said, “was to head to Vishap’s post after earning wind from Aide. But when Olentzo’s post was raided... plans changed.”

“I see. Then you’re finally ready,” she said.

Louis glanced at the river, and the cloth-wrapped remnants of Ilazki’s sword. He sighed.

“I’ll need to worry about a new weapon now.”

“I’m sorry,” Lamia said. “I didn’t mean to destroy it.”

He knelt beside the water, unwrapping the hilt.

“I’m not throwing it away,” he said. “It’s been with me through battles. It deserves rest.”

He held the hilt carefully and concentrated, channeling the water element through it. A pulse of pressurized water shot from the end like a blade.

Louis grinned. “It still has some fight left.”

Lamia raised a brow. “Clever.”

“Thank you,” he said with a bow. “For everything.”

Later that day, Lamia stood silently at the edge of her lake, eyes watching the gentle current.

“Congratulations on training the champion,” a voice cooed behind her. “You’ve done well with my daughter’s element.”

Lamia turned slowly. “Lady Tenebrae…”

The goddess stood in a fraying form—her manifestation struggling to hold together.

“You don’t have any use to me anymore,” Tenebrae said, smirking as she raised her hand to strike.

“Just like others of your kind”

CRACK.

A massive ice golem fist slammed into her from the side, sending her staggering.

“You won’t lay a finger on her,” said Olentzo, his breath steaming.

Lamia gasped. “Master—!”

Tenebrae’s body twisted and regenerated as she laughed. “You can try, son. But remember what happened last time?”

“You’re fading,” Olentzo said grimly. “Your body is breaking down. The more I hit you with ice, the faster it unravels.”

Tenebrae narrowed her eyes. “Then try. Avenge your precious Ran.”

Olentzo trembled, fury rising—until Lamia grasped his hand.

“Let it go,” she whispered. “Don’t give her what she wants.”

Olentzo took a breath.

“I tried to forgive you,” he said, voice cold as frost. “But I’ll never forget what you did to our family.”

The golem’s fist slammed down once more—shattering Tenebrae’s manifestation into a thousand shards of darkness.

Silence fell.

“She’s gone,” Olentzo said quietly.

Lamia stepped forward and embraced him tightly.

“It’s alright,” he whispered. “I’m here.”

Entry# 19 End