“And that’s what happened. Victoria stayed behind fighting Zorig’s corpse, just like she mentioned in the messages, and i haven’t heard anything else about her since then”

  Hernan finished expining the st details of the situation to Midas.

  “A semi-transcendent with Void characteristics… I’m afraid that even with her blessings, Victoria will have a hard time. I just hope she’s alright.”

  Little Eithne, who had been silent until then, finally spoke.

  “I’m sorry, Hernan, but I can’t just stay here waiting, hoping she’ll escape. I need to go save her.”

  Eithne looked at Ariel, searching for her help.

  Ariel let out a brief sigh.

  “I’m sorry, Eithne, but I can’t…”

  “Please, Ariel, don’t ask me not to go save her, because if that’s the case, I’ll have to disobey you.”

  Eithne’s determined gaze made it clear she wouldn’t accept no for an answer.

  Ariel looked at her closely, analyzing her briefly.

  “Eithne, let me finish. What I was going to say is that I can’t help you save her. There are other matters I must attend to. However…”

  Ariel turned to me to say what she had in mind.

  “You and Midas will go on a mission to rescue Victoria. After that, you must return to the Spell Nexus; that’s where we’ll carry out our defense.”

  “As for you, Hernan…”

  Before Ariel could finish, a vio was heard pying masterfully in the distance.

  “There’s only one person I know who pys instruments to announce their arrival… Alnis made it.”

  I smiled at the thought of another of my comrades having survived. Alnis had arrived, leading a few dozen infernal warriors — the remains of her legion.

  Ariel also smiled faintly when she saw Alnis was safe.

  At that moment, I analyzed Alnis’s state.

  She didn’t look good. Her once-bright skin was much paler than before, and when I looked more closely, I noticed her eyes were slightly unfocused. Her body trembled faintly, though she did a good job of hiding it.

  “If I hadn’t been paying close attention, I wouldn’t have noticed.”

  Hernan and Eithne went to greet her, as did I. Alnis, apparently, had used the Vox again and had received severe wounds to her throat and core.

  “Alnis, you can’t take part in any more battles. If you use the Vox one more time, both your throat and your powers might be gone for good.”

  Ariel said it with a serious look.

  Alnis nodded, showing no annoyance, fear, or resignation. She, more than anyone, knew the state of her body and how vulnerable she was.

  “Given that, Hernan, you’ll go ahead to the Spell Nexus and do everything you can to defend the area.”

  “It’s time for us to split up again.”

  We all nodded and immediately left for the directions we’d been assigned.

  But before I could move, Ariel stopped me for a moment.

  “Midas, wait a second.”

  She seemed a little nervous. I asked her what was wrong.

  A soft, warm touch spread through my hand. Ariel had taken it and marked a rune on it.

  “Oh… what’s this?”

  I asked curiously.

  “It’s a rune. It’ll protect you if you’re ever in danger.”

  Ariel smiled one st time before flying off.

  I stayed for a few moments watching as she disappeared into the distance with the rest of her angelic legion.

  “Deep down, I wished she would take me with her.”

  I pushed that thought away as quickly as it came. Victoria needed to be rescued — and that’s what I was going to do.

  For the st time, I said goodbye to the members of my legion and headed with Eithne toward the western wall, the st pce we had heard from Victoria.

  Since it was just Eithne and me, we avoided most of the monsters rampaging through the area, destroying everything in their path.

  Eithne was an incredible archer and hunter. And she knew Victoria well, so it didn’t take her long to find traces of her battle with Zorig.

  I looked over the battlefield. The terrain was heavily deformed — the result of the merciless blows from that colossal weapon.

  I was studying the remains of the fight when I heard a faint sob.

  I rushed to the only potential source of the sound to see what it was.

  Eithne froze when she saw it, and when I got there, I almost regretted coming.

  There it was, in a corner — a severed arm.

  “Midas… It’s her arm. If something happened to her, I… I don’t know what I’ll do.”

  Eithne looked at me. Tears streamed down her face — she was terrified of losing her.

  “Eithne, don’t worry. She’s fine. Look around you and calm down.”

  Despite her shaken state, she was still one general who had withstood the Void’s ferocious assaults for years. And when she looked around, she noticed what I had pointed out.

  This had been the st pce where Victoria fought Zorig. However, something didn’t add up: Zorig had come from the south, met Victoria, and they fought.

  But near where Victoria’s severed arm y, to the north, there were traces of wind bsts — the same kind Zorig used to propel himself in battle.

  “Why would he have rushed off like that if his opponent was already dead? There’s only one answer to that…”

  Apparently, Eithne reached the same conclusion I did, because her eyes lit up with a fierce determination, ready to face whatever enemy stood in her way.

  “Let’s hurry, Midas. If we’re right, Victoria must be being chased by that monster. She needs us more than ever.”

  “Yes. Let’s go save your beloved.”

  Eithne and I rushed forward as fast as we could. Elves were naturally agile, but I could move even faster thanks to the blessing of the God of Thunder.

  I could use the technique called Thunder Step, which allowed me to cover short and long distances at speeds far beyond my rank.

  But I couldn’t go too far ahead — we had to be careful that this wasn’t, in fact, an ambush pnned by that Void monster.

  That was also a possibility we couldn’t dismiss.

  The further we went, the stronger the traces of aura, ether, corruption, and magic became. We were getting close. Soon we would find Zorig and Victoria… or at least just that monster.

  But I wished with all my heart that Victoria was still alive.

  Not that wishing would change anything. Nothing I wish for ever comes true anymore.

  Still, for my friend’s sake, I wished Victoria would be alright.

  The sound of a mace striking the ground and the nearby structures echoed through the air. We had finally arrived.

  And apparently, not too te — there were still sounds of battle.

  We kept moving, and soon, our enemy came into view.

  It was, without a doubt, the corpse of that wise owl-man who had loved to read history books.

  But now he was nothing more than a desecrated parody of what he once was.

  His armor was half-destroyed on one side from a massive cut.

  Where his head should have been was now consumed by a strange fme, and the pce where his wings should have been was bound by chains of light.

  The feathers on his legs were filled with dirt, as if he had fallen repeatedly.

  A weakened Victoria also entered my field of view.

  She had only one arm, was missing an eye, and her crimson armor was shattered — it was hard to tell which parts were paint and which were her own blood.

  Her face was terribly bruised, and part of her long white hair had been torn out, perhaps by a blow from the mace or during some brutal close-combat struggle.

  “I need to separate them quickly.”

  That thought came instantly, followed by my body’s automatic movements.

  I quickly summoned a Manemite Spear. With this, I would only have three trump cards left, but that was fine — if it meant saving my friends, it was worth it.

  Lightning energy flowed through the spear, charging it with the power of the God of Thunder. His blessing resonated with relentless fury, and at that moment, I hurled it straight at the walking corpse Zorig had become.

  The spear flew at incredible speed, and my aim was no less precise.

  Even hundreds of meters away, my aim wouldn’t fail — the spear would strike exactly where it needed to.

  Zorig was preparing his st attack, and Victoria, gravely wounded, was raising her great sword with her only arm, ready to die fighting.

  But then, incandescent lightning and a fierce roar tore her out of her acceptance of a cruel fate.

  The spear struck Zorig’s back, exploding with tremendous force, blowing apart his armor and severely damaging the rotting flesh inside, still moving under the Void’s control.

  The owl-man was sent flying by the explosion’s impact. Even if he was a corpse, he couldn’t move properly with a body torn apart like that.

  Eithne seized the opening and rushed toward Victoria as fast as she could.

  Victoria could barely stand. In fact, when she saw Eithne, she finally colpsed to the ground, barely conscious.

  “Victoria! Please, don’t leave me! Not now that I’ve found you!”

  Eithne cried, but she didn’t freeze. Quickly, she pulled out a knife tied to her belt, cut her hand, and pressed her bleeding hand to Victoria’s mouth.

  Victoria recovered slowly, but something seemed wrong — what should have been enough to restore most of her vitality only brought back her consciousness.

  “Eithne… you do not know how happy I am to see your beautiful face.”

  Eithne hugged Victoria’s body, which was even colder than usual.

  “Victoria, you’re not healing… what’s happening? Please, don’t die in my arms.”

  At that moment, a mocking ugh echoed all around.

  Zorig stood up. His entire back was destroyed, and pieces of flesh fell off him.

  “I’m sorry, little elf, but your beloved is already dead. I made sure of that myself.”

  The owl-man waved his mace menacingly, pointing it at Eithne and me.

  “And now I’ll make sure to kill yo—”

  Before he could finish speaking, I lunged into combat with him. I couldn’t stand him — his borrowed voice, his mocking ugh, taunting all of us… and worst of all, wearing that form.

  “Hegemon Style.”

  I moved to face the monster head-on, ready to cross bdes.