Hernan was fleeing together with Victoria from the battlefield. They were heading toward the center of the city, looking to regroup and await orders. They had changed their destination, since they doubted the commanders would still defend the walls at this point.

  “We’re almost there. By the God of Storms, may the message zone still be intact, it’s our st hope to know the others’ positions.”

  Hernan had not stopped frowning since they had separated from the rest.

  “There was nothing you could have done about it. Not even I, with my blessing, could have hoped to defeat a semi-transcendent that’s also being controlled by the Void.”

  Victoria said that, but deep down, she was far more upset than Hernan for having escaped that way.

  “I had to abandon Orcium… and now I had to abandon Michael and Arthur.”

  The thought weighed on her mind as she tried to calm her friend.

  The two entered the communication zone on the outskirts of the residential area, looking for a message orb. Hernan searched the room frantically.

  “It has to be here somewhere. I’ll have better luck if I use Geomancy.”

  Hernan focused, channeling his powers to sense the surrounding ground.

  “Got it.”

  Victoria was pleasantly surprised.

  “Geomancy really is something useful. It lets you sense your surroundings to locate your opponents or find objects.”

  “Yes, but Geomancy can do much more. I’ve heard stories about people creating entire structures out of nothing, walls and colossal cities built by a single person. But that level of control over Geomancy was lost long ago.”

  Hernan said that while raising a small message orb from the ground.

  “General Ariel, we’ve reached the residential zone with Victoria. We’re awaiting orders.”

  The orb lit up, letting the message spread to the rest of the connected orbs. At that moment, another orb hidden on a shelf shone brightly.

  “I’ll take this one.”

  Victoria stored the orb, their communication would be essential going forward.

  Then, Ariel’s voice resonated throughout the room.

  “We’ll meet in the area where the crater is, and from there, we’ll head to the Spell Nexus.”

  “General, I have something else to report. A semi-transcendent enemy has appeared and is using Zorig’s body as a shell. Arthur and Michael stayed behind fighting it so we could escape.”

  The voice fell silent for a moment before speaking again.

  “The enemy probably compromised the communications, so the priorities are to regroup. Escape quickly and don’t let their sacrifices be in vain. We’re on our way as well.”

  At that moment, the orb dimmed, marking the end of their conversation.

  Victoria sighed in relief. No further deaths had been reported, which meant that Eithne was safe.

  Hernan also sighed, relieved that there were no reports of casualties.

  “Wait… why is this guy sighing? And more importantly, why the exact same way I did?”

  Victoria looked at him closely, analyzing and thinking through the possibilities.

  “Ariel? No, that’s impossible.”

  “Eithne? No…”

  For a brief moment, Victoria’s gaze revealed murderous intent, but she quickly rexed at how ridiculous the idea was.

  “The most probable options are Midas or Alnis.”

  Curiosity consumed Victoria, but her manners kept her from asking directly to ask directly, so she improvised a question.

  “Hernan, you look relieved.”

  Hernan smiled for a moment.

  “There it is, that foolish smile that confirms everything. Now I just need to know who it is.”

  “Yes, I wanted to give one of my flutes to Miss Alnis. A few days ago, she pyed a song in the towers, and I asked her to teach me.”

  Victoria looked a bit disappointed at the name that came out of Hernan’s mouth. She had hoped it would be someone else.

  “Very well, it’s time to move. Everyone, get into position, we’re leaving.”

  Moments ter, the legions were organized in lines and marched quickly toward the great hole.

  As they walked, Victoria felt a powerful aura approaching them, it was Zorig’s, unmistakable for the corruption of the Void.

  “So this is all the time they bought us, huh?”

  Victoria wasn’t sad or angry, just resigned to the grim state of humanity’s st line of defense.

  She ran quickly toward Hernan, time was running out, but Hernan was already heading her way.

  “Victoria, get ready for battle.”

  The legions, seeing their commanders, took formation, ready to die for Last Bastion today.

  Victoria looked at Hernan, a Legendary-level Geomancer who didn’t even have a god’s blessing, and at the hundreds of soldiers behind him, who would inevitably die with a single swing of Zorig’s weapon.

  “If they stay, they’ll undoubtedly die. They won’t even be of help, they’ll just throw their lives away.”

  At that moment, Victoria made a tough decision.

  “Honestly, I want to be selfish and run away. But if I do that, Eithne won’t forgive me, right? Or maybe she’ll understand if I tell her I did it just to see her again?”

  Victoria closed her eyes for a few seconds, the decision was already made.

  “Hernan, go ahead. I’ll stop Zorig for as long as I can.”

  Hernan looked at her wide-eyed.

  “You’ve lost your mind! I’m not letting you die alone.”

  Victoria replied sharply, “Idiot, who said anything about dying? I still have to see Eithne. But this is the most logical choice. You’d just be a burden in this fight, you can’t even hurt him. Might even get in the way, and then what? You’ll die miserably, doing nothing but feeding your stupid egos, and we’ll have even more problems keeping the zone stable.”

  Hernan wanted to speak, to argue, to say that, he didn’t want to abandon anyone ever again.

  But he felt the weight on his back. The weight that kept him sane even now. The weight of being the st line of defense for humanity… and the weight of the soldiers he carried with him.

  “What right do I have to follow my selfish desires and throw my life away with them?”

  Victoria extended her long arm and patted his head. Hernan had to look up to meet the tall vampire’s eyes.

  “Stay alive, Hernan. And don’t worry, I don’t pn to die here.”

  Victoria looked at him with a smile. For the first time, Hernan thought the pale vampire looked radiant.

  At that moment, the hundreds of men who made up Midas’s and Hernan’s legions knelt before the vampire princess.

  “THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING, PRINCESS VICTORIA!”

  Hernan gave a small, courteous bow, pcing his hand on his chest and lowering his head slightly.

  “See you, Victoria.”

  “LEGIONS, ADVANCE WITHOUT STOPPING!”

  Victoria summoned the slender great sword that had accompanied her through countless battles. Its crimson bde seemed eager to taste the blood of her enemies once again.

  Zorig’s aura was approaching faster and faster, a furious storm swept across the horizon, houses torn from their foundations as the ferocious owl-man carved his path.

  Victoria prepared six blood spears around her.

  “I must avoid close combat at all costs.”

  Victoria was a vampire, which gave her greater strength and agility than the average person. However, that would not allow her to overpower a warrior whose very existence was built upon mastering close combat.

  “It seems he can’t fly, so I just have to stall him as long as I can and then escape. Ah… it sounds so wonderfully easy in my head.”

  Finally, Victoria saw the owl-man charging toward her, and she lifted her greatsword, preparing for combat.

  She let her magic connect with the message sphere.

  “This is General Victoria. The enemy has reached us. I’ll stay behind to defend Hernan’s retreat.”

  At st, the owl arrived, leaping forward with bursts of wind that propelled him faster and faster.

  No words were wasted, these two enemies had nothing to say to each other. Victoria wasn’t one to waste her breath; she only used it to steady her breathing and bring death to her opponents.

  Victoria dodged left, hurling her blood spears at her foe. The owl deflected most of the blows with his mace, but one struck his armor and exploded, slightly reducing his speed; however, he still advanced, unstoppable.

  His mace smashed against the ground as Victoria moved back, careful not to lose her footing amid the debris and destruction.

  Then she lunged. Her eyes turned crimson to track every movement of her opponent. For a few moments, her speed increased tremendously as she shifted her stance, raising her great sword high.

  The owl-man tried to crush her with his hammer, but Victoria pced her bde against the hammer’s head, redirecting the attack to the side before it could hit the ground.

  She sliced through his armor, cutting into his decayed flesh.

  But contrary to what Victoria had thought, the owl-man hadn’t put all his strength into that blow. He was prepared for a follow-up strike, swinging the mace terally mid-motion.

  Victoria couldn’t dodge, she had gambled on his attack being all-out.

  So she turned into a pool of blood. The mace still struck her, but she reduced its destructive power. In liquid form, she surged toward his face, forcing her way through his eyes and nostrils.

  The owl-man’s head burst into a thousand pieces.

  But Victoria, now a puddle of blood, had to escape quickly, the creature’s body was filled with Void energy, which she could only resist thanks to the blessing of the God of Death.

  “His body is far weaker than it should be for a transcendent. I destroyed it as if it were just someone at Legendary level.”

  Victoria was surprised at how well her pn had worked. At first, she only intended to blind him, but once she realized how weak the body was, she inflicted as much damage as possible.

  Yet the owl-man, now headless, rose once more. Furious fmes ignited where his head had been, fmes of pure ether.

  “That’s why possessing bodies is useless. In the end, they’re too weak, the flesh breaks too easily. Don’t you think so, Victoria?”

  Victoria’s eyes widened. Bck veins spread across her skin, she had been poisoned in the moment she entered his body, and her resistance was struggling to keep up.

  “I’m going to kill you, eternal princess of the undead.”

  Victoria didn’t look away from her opponent.

  He charged like an enraged beast.

  Victoria tried to create distance, but she was far weaker than before.

  Finally, the owl-man smmed his mace into the weakened vampire’s body, sending her flying.

  Yet she rose once again, covered in blood. One of Zorig’s mace spikes had torn off her arm, it y a few meters away, and half her face was deformed from the brutal impact.

  “You blessed ones are really tough, aren’t you?”

  The owl-man mocked and lunged at her again.

  But Victoria transformed into a bat and fled, soaring into the sky.

  “RUN, RUN, LITTLE BAT! YOU’RE ALREADY DEAD, YOU HEAR ME? YOU’RE ALREADY A WALKING CORPSE!”

  The shrill, mocking ughter echoed throughout the entire area.