The entire forest erupted into a single battlefield. Screams, metal, and snapping branches collided into one wave of chaos.

"We are under attack, everybody into positions. Prepare for counterattack!" Scar's voice cut through the madness like a blade, but his command did little to calm the panic. The real question was how many could stay steady in a one-sided slaughter like this.

My instincts suddenly screamed at me, sharp and urgent, demanding that I drop from the tree immediately. I trusted them without hesitation. Before I even fully let go, a silent gust sliced over my head. The pressure of wind passed so quickly it felt unreal, as fast as a bullet cutting the air.

The moment my feet landed on the soft forest floor, I understood exactly what had happened. Aldren, the wind user, had locked onto me. His bow was famous for its speed. His arrows were said to rival the bullets of my world. He was one of the most troublesome opponents a mage could face.

So he noticed me that fast… annoying. I cursed under my breath, irritation crawling up my spine. My luck was clearly not on my side today. But whatever. He had far more targets to choose from in this chaos. I refused to believe he would focus solely on me until one of us died.

"Elira, we need to move. We cannot waste time here. Getting involved in this chaos will only slow us down."

I had shared my real goal with Elira a couple of nights ago when we were alone, trusting that she would not betray me. She gave me a firm nod now, no fear in her eyes, only focus.

Around us, the mercenaries were scrambling to find opponents, swinging wildly or shouting at shadows they could not see. It created just enough distraction for us to slip away unnoticed.

We moved quietly, carefully, and once we were sure no one paid attention, we disappeared into the dark embrace of the forest.

Screams and shouts tore through the once silent forest, ripping apart the stillness that had felt so heavy moments ago. On one side of the battlefield, explosions flared bright enough to scorch the darkness. On the other, swords carved through the air, clashing against something dense yet disturbingly hollow. The echoes rang through the trees like metal striking empty coffins.

We did not have to wonder what caused it for long.

A rattling sound rolled beneath the forest floor, sharp enough to scrape against the nerves. The earth shivered in place before splitting open. A thick black miasma seeped upward, writhing like smoke with weight, pulling itself together as if answering a silent summons. It crawled around our feet and forced me to a sudden halt, my breath caught half inside my chest.

Even Beelzebub, perched on Elira's shoulder, let out a sharp screech, his tiny claws digging into her cloak. The sound only made the atmosphere feel colder.

The miasma twisted. Something inside it shifted. A pale shape began to form within the darkness, rising piece by piece. At first it looked like scattered fragments of bone caught in a storm, but then they aligned, clicking together with wet cracks until the shape stood upright.

A skeleton emerged, sword clutched in its bony hand. The blade was old, rusted in patches, yet carried a faint metallic glow as if it remembered the lives it once ended. Its empty sockets were not empty at all. A cold bluish light flickered deep inside them, faint but alive, staring straight at me.

A chill slipped down my spine.

This sight dragged me straight back to the night in Ashvile, to the first time I fought a creature that should not have walked. The memory flashed in my mind, uninvited and sharp, the sound of bone scraping stone, the way its jaw had clicked open as if it wanted to speak.

"Look at this… is this where your little town got the skeleton from?" I laughed, teasing Elira as if this moment were nothing more than an inconvenience. She didn't answer. Her gaze stayed fixed on the creature as it finished rising from the miasma. It was much smaller than the massive one we found back in her hometown, only human-sized, but eerie all the same.

"I do not know," she murmured, her voice steady but her eyes trembling slightly. "The aura is different. The one you killed was sealed off, its power limited. This one… we must deal with it promptly. If we do not, it will draw attention from the Holy Knights. And that is the last thing you want, right, Beatrice?"

She smiled softly, but I could see the truth hiding behind it. Her eyes shook with something more than simple worry. She was afraid of what else might be waking here.

"You're right," I exhaled, letting power flare behind me in a halo of cold light. "Let's fuck it up and move on to searching for the Qillin bones."

I extended my fist toward her.

She tapped hers against mine with a small smile of her own.

For a brief moment, despite the rattling bones and the rising miasma, the two of us stood together in a shared spark of determination.

The skeleton stepped forward, its bones grinding with each movement, the miasma clinging to it like a shroud. More rattling echoed around us, spreading like a plague. The forest floor shifted again. Shapes stirred beneath the soil.

My fingers were already shaping the ice flower in my palm when several new sounds rippled through the forest. One… two… five… ten. Ten distinct cracks split the silence, each followed by the harsh scrape of bone against bark or earth. One by one, skeletons rose from every direction, as if the shadows themselves had been hiding them. Some pulled themselves out of tree trunks, others crawled from beneath layers of leaves, and a few stepped forward from patches of darkness that should not have been deep enough to hide anything at all.

"Well… shit."

I was done waiting for even more to show up. My hand slammed into the ground. Frost exploded outward in a circular burst, ice spikes tearing through soil, roots, and air. The surge shattered several skeletons instantly, scattering bone fragments across the forest floor.

"Let's run!" I called out to Elira, who was gearing up for her own attack. One skeleton was manageable. Ten at once was simply idiotic, and wasting time here would only draw attention we absolutely could not afford. Just as she warned earlier.

She didn't hesitate. The moment my ice cleared a path, she moved beside me, and together we sprinted deeper into the forest, leaving the cracking bones behind us.

"I doubt they would have brought the bones to the battlefield. There has to be somebody protecting them from afar," Elira said, softening the ground behind her as she ran beside me.

"You're right. We need to find where. Wait." A thought struck me fast. "What if the one guarding the bones is the bow user—Aldren? It would be perfect for him. Staying near the loot as both protector and scout. The fact that I was not killed by a single arrow means he must be far away, and with his vision… no wonder he found us so easily. We underestimated him as a scout. That mistake cost Scar more lives."

Not that I cared how many died, but having them distract the Holy Knights and possibly Hera made me feel a little more at ease.

Still… do you ever get the feeling the world is out there waiting to trip you at every corner? That something invisible pushes you downhill just to see if you get up again? Maybe it's just me…

BOOM!

A violent explosion ripped through the forest from the right. I barely managed to cast a barrier of ice before it reached us, but the force was so strong it launched us into the air. I hit the ground hard, rolling across dirt and shattered roots. Elira crashed into a tree with a painful gasp, and Beelzebub flew off like a tiny ball of fur thrown by fate itself.

"Shit… Elira, are you okay?" I shouted, coughing as I pushed myself upright. There was no response. A cold shiver ran along my spine.

The flames parted, and a man stepped out with the confidence of someone who believed he owned the world.

"Well, well, well… an ice mage. What luck for me. Ice and fire, the perfect love story, don't you think, cutie pie?"

The trees around him burned in spirals of heat, their branches melting into glowing embers. A massive greatsword rested against his shoulder, and a casual flame flickered in his free hand. He looked like a walking furnace with too much muscle and not enough brain.

I spat blood from my mouth and wiped it away. "Blackbrand… what luck."

He grinned, pleased by the recognition. His greatsword ignited with roaring fire, heat rolling from it like waves from a sun.

"I'm honored such a beauty is already interested in me," he said, voice dripping with arrogance. "But that look in your eyes… tsk, tsk. Seems like I need to beat you into submission and teach you not to reach for treasure that isn't yours."

I rose slowly, frost swirling behind me in a radiant halo. The ice flower bloomed fully within my palm, its sharp petals glittering like frozen stars.

"I'll kill you for injuring Elira and Beelzebub," I said, my voice dropping into a cold growl. "You fucking trash."

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