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“Marianne-!”

Marianne understood Daphne’s intentions instantly. She had to return to her room quickly and retrieve the Holy Spear while Daphne stalled for time. When Marianne had finished her calculations, she stepped away, her form blurring away. Arjen didn’t miss it and followed.

“Where are you going?”

Arjen was now standing in the way of the stairs leading upstairs, not even half a second since she turned. Marianne’s pupils froze in shock at the speed. Marianne realized his gaze was on her throat.

“You’re first.”

As Arjen’s sword flew forward, a wall of earth suddenly stopped it. Marianne seized the opportunity, quickly leaping on the wall and over his head. Arjen frowned as he saw the chains of light holding his wrists and ankles. In the center of the lobby, Daphne glared at him.

“Daphne, stop this at once.”

“Who do you think you are?”

Daphne’s voice was harsh. The chains were tightening around Arjen. He looked at his bound limbs and smirked.

“Otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to kill you first. Are you so eager to die?”

“You talk about killing so easily.”

Daphne sent an electric current through the chains. Arjen laughed like a madman, even as he took the current all over his body. His skin became a shade closer to his black hair.

“I’m not sure you’re in a position to lecture me, Daphne. How many people have you killed in your life?”

“Unlike you, I’m not proud of it.”

Daphne’s face showed her utter disgust. She tightened the chains, attempting to pin him down, but he didn’t move from his spot. His strengthened muscles were beginning to resist Daphne’s magic.

“Do you think this is a world where you can get by without killing people?”

“The one I know frowns upon it; clearly, you don’t belong.”

Arjen smiled bitterly and began to tense his arm. Resisting the current and chains, Arjen raised his sword. The blade was imbued with a black aura. It seemed crushed space and time.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be a part of your fairy tale.”

The chain of magic shattered to pieces. Arjen raised the sword and pointed it at Daphne. Daphne activated her Circles once more. She was going to give all she got in the next attack.

Five.

She only had time to activate Five Circles, and it could barely deter Arjen’s sword. A golden aura assaulted his side before he could land on the ground. Silver hair fluttered through the space where he once was. Marianne clutched the awakened Holy Spear and stared into the area beyond the destroyed wall.

“Cool…”

Daphne chuckled and walked over to Marianne, casting a protective spell.

“That hurt…”

The look of surprise on Arjen’s face vanished instantly. The two women watched his every movement as he rose from the rubble. The dirt, the walls of the collapsed building, the breeze coming in, and their magic. Arjen seemed to shatter and scatter everything thrown at him. Daphne asked Marianne.

“Did it hit?”

“…I don’t think so.”

Marianne believed he didn’t even block the attack. She saw him angling his sword to deflect it, then turned and destroyed the wall. Did that kind of skill really exist? Even if it could be realized, was it possible to think on one’s feet and react to an ambush so well?

Before Marianne could fully comprehend what happened, death came from the corner of her vision.

A sound of glass shattered behind her. Probably the sound of a protective spell breaking and crumbling. Marianne’s vision blurred. She couldn’t react, and her body flew through the air.

Her mind could only think of pain.

Luckily, there were no wounds. However, her aura was helplessly destroyed. She hit the ceiling above before she bounced like a helpless ball, slamming back into the floor.

“Unfold-!”

Daphne’s mana blossomed around the room. The frozen blade of a spear sprouted from the floor in pursuit of Arjen. He glanced at the rising ground and leaped, using the shattered slabs as a platform. The lobby floor became messy, but more rose from below Arjen. He swung his blade to shatter one he couldn’t dodge.

“I feel like I’ve been scammed in the other world.”

Arjen muttered, his eyes reflecting in the shards around him. He gripped his sword with both hands. His aura compressed and tightly covered the blade, painting it a solid black.

“Well, if I can’t have you, no one should.”

“What are you on about!”

Daphne fired magic as Arjen muttered. He simply slashed all of it. Daphne grimaced and stuck out her tongue.

“Sooner or later, there will be guards surrounding this area, and I’m quite capable of biding my time until then. There is no escape, King of Mercenaries. Put down your sword and stop this madness.”

Arjen chuckled at Daphne’s words. He seemed to think her words were genuinely funny.

“Guards? The Knights? Ha~, pray they won’t arrive lest you want unnecessary bloodshed.”

With that, Arwen raised his sword. While his aura became smaller, it became more suffocating. Daphne’s instincts warned her not to let him use it. Then, his eyes seemed to look beyond her. Marianne staggered, unable to steady herself as if she hadn’t recovered from the attack.

“I guess I have the same target.”

I have to stop him.

Daphne’s mind went white. She let her Seven Circles spin furiously. Arjen sent his aura forward, and Daphne consumed all her mana to raise the protective spell.

Light bent and space warped. A black-red crescent clashed with the Seven Circles of protective magic, slowly eating away at it. Daphne, realizing she could do nothing to stop it, stopped feeding mana into it, grabbed Marianne, and threw her away.

The headquarters building split in two. Daphne gritted her teeth as she absorbed the recoil of the incoming magic. Her circles spun, churning her insides. Blood and a fishy odor rushed up her throat. Spitting blood on the floor in disgust, Daphne looked up.

“I didn’t think you could block that. You’re strong, Daphne.”

Arjen stood in the rubble of the collapsed building, looking very surprised. Screams echoed throughout the street. The guards realized what was happening and rushed forward, spears drawn. Daphne looked at them and shook her head frantically, but her words did not reach them.

“Useless bugs.”

Arjen raised his sword. Again, the black aura rose from the hilt.

“No…, no.”

“This is the world you live in, Daphne. It is a place to kill and die. Were you being sheltered from the truth by that damned Hero?”

The corners of Arjen’s mouth twitched into a smile. Daphne couldn’t move.

“With the amount of mana you had, you could have defeated me. If you had cast a destructive spell of the Seventh Circle, I would’ve been a goner.”

Arjen looked around at the approaching guards.

“Is it out of concern for the people of this Kingdom that you didn’t do so? Were you afraid of the citizens who would’ve died as a consequence?”

Shaking his head, Arjen’s eyes were filled with disappointment.

“No, Daphne. The real you would’ve killed me along with everything else. This is not who I know you to be. I believed that you were the only one who could help me.”

The guards have almost arrived. Arjen scratched his chin.

“This is going to be troubleso–”

Something streaked across the sky. Arjen spun his sword, parrying the flying mace. Daphne knew the owner of the weapon as it clattered to the floor.

“Long time no see, Georg. You’re alive and well here.”

“What do you think you’re doing, Arjen?”

Georg said grimly, raising his shield. Arjen picked up the mace and handed it to Georg.

“It seems old. You can have it back.”

When Georg didn’t take it, Arjen threw the weapon at his feet. The mace cracked against the ground. Georg looked down at his weapon, then at Daphne and Marianne, before turning back to Arjen.

“What the hell. Tell me what the hell you’re doing.”

“Aren’t you here to stop me?”

The guards had now surrounded Arjen in a circle. Georg sighed as he raised his shield.

“I’m sorry in advance, Arjen.”

Arjen laughed ferociously and sprinted with his sword, striking the shield. However, even under the terrifying pressure, Georg did not back down.

“You know, Georg, I would hesitate to kill you.”

And shield and sword clashed.

***

“…What are you doing here?”

Iris stared at me bewilderedly. Arjen’s note was crumpled in my hand.

“Isn’t Arjen here to see you?”

“Arjen…? No. Did you come here to find Arjen?”

「To the Hero who banished me.

I remembered. Everything. What you took from me, what I was. Now it’s time to find what I’ve lost.

Arjen Elmion.」

I thought he was talking about Iris. But I realized that I was sorely mistaken. Arjen hadn’t lost Iris. I thought he would take her with him, but he didn’t. It was something Arjen, the protagonist, had lost.

“Are you okay?”

Iris asked, grabbing my hand. I nodded, but even I knew it wasn’t true.

I needed to get to the Capital.

I spread my wings, completely forgetting the pain in my heart.