Solis crouched behind the underbrush, panting, torn between instinct and fear. His eyes stayed locked on Larielle, who, though wounded, still stood tall amidst the chaos. Flames, frost, and whirling blades of wind clashed around her. Every muscle in his body urged him to move, to act, to help—but his mind scrambled for a plan.
Then her voice rang out like a whip cracking through the forest:
"Just leave me here. Go back to Pompom Village, at any cost!"
The command echoed through the treetops, slicing through the fear that had momentarily gripped the others.
Larielle lifted her bow, and in one smooth motion, nocked three arrows. Her arms trembled slightly, her back still singed from the fireball's blow. But her aim remained unwavering.
Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!
Three arrows. Three targets. Three clean hits. Each enemy reeled from the sudden strikes.
She glanced over her shoulder, her expression hard yet serene. "Your safety is under my responsibility, as me being your captain in this mission. So just leave. I will take care of them. And don't dare to oppose, it's an order."
She gave a faint smile—one that held no mirth, but deep, resolute courage.
Razille clutched Vaidya's hand tightly. "She's serious. We can't waste her sacrifice."
Vaidya nodded grimly. "We'll come back for her. But now, we follow orders."
Ada gritted her teeth. "This is insane! She'll die if we leave her!"
"And we'll all die if we stay," Vaidya said, ice lacing his voice. "We're outnumbered. We have to move."
Solis lingered, eyes never leaving Larielle's form. But eventually, he followed. The group turned, dashing through the forest as fast as their limbs could carry them.
But Solis didn't run far.
As soon as the others had gained distance, he slipped from the trail and backtracked through the shadows, weaving between trees like a ghost.
He returned to find Larielle holding her ground like a lone mountain against an avalanche. Her arrows cut through the air, her stance unbroken.
Solis hid behind a rock, studying her. She had taken down more than a dozen already. Her movements, though slowed from injury, were still methodical and deliberate.
But the mages had begun to regroup.
A coordinated barrage of fireballs, ice blasts, and slicing water jets rained down. Larielle grunted as one caught her leg, another her shoulder. Her breathing grew ragged.
Then she did something Solis had never seen.
She pointed her bow skyward, pulling an arrow taut, her fingers steady despite the blood trickling down her arm. Her breath was even. Her eyes closed.
"Ancient Wind, bearer of storm," she whispered, voice carried like a breeze. "Lend me your fury."
The world seemed to pause as she loosed the arrow.
It soared upward, cutting clean through the night air, climbing higher and higher—beyond the treetops, beyond the fog, into the starlit canopy above.
Then—
Shatter!
The shaft erupted in midair with a sound like breaking crystal. The arrow splintered into a thousand shimmering fragments, each one glowing faintly, spinning in place for a heartbeat—then shooting down in all directions like a sentient meteor shower.
Each shard honed in on a target—every masked mage who had dared to draw their weapon. They dove with uncanny accuracy.
Boom!
Crack!
Fwoosh!
Explosions tore through the clearing. Cloaks lit aflame. Magic wards cracked. Screams of surprise and agony echoed as mages were flung back or pinned to the earth by glowing splinters. Trees trembled from the impact. The very air rippled with residual force.
Solis, watching from behind the brush, was frozen—his lips parted, his eyes wide.
He had never seen anything like it.
Then he saw it.
A glow—subtle, yet unmistakable—wove itself around Larielle's form. A soft luminescence, a graceful fusion of green and blue, clung to her like morning mist catching dawn's first light. It didn't pulse with rage—it flowed with grace, dignity, and something… ancient.
And behind her…
For the briefest flicker of time, a figure took form. A woman, taller than Larielle, radiant and ageless. Her hair flowed like river silk, her robes shimmered with leaves and sky. A bow rested across her back. She stood with a hand placed gently on Larielle's shoulder.
A spirit?
The vision vanished as swiftly as it had come—like a mirage swallowed by wind.
Solis felt a chill despite the heat of the battle. His chest ached, his soul stirred.
But the enemy had seen enough.
"Enough!" one of the dark mages barked, his voice like gravel crushed underfoot. "Cast the seal!"
Three robed figures stepped forth, their eyes blazing with focus. They lifted their hands in unison, and glowing dark runes etched themselves into the air, swirling and connecting in rapid patterns. The air grew cold and heavy, as if the forest itself held its breath.
A sudden pulse of energy lashed out like a whip.
Whummm—
It rippled outward in concentric rings, slicing through magic, silencing nature's sounds.
Larielle's glow flickered. Her body shuddered. Her fingers fumbled.
The bow slipped from her grasp and clattered to the ground.
"Wha… what is this?" she gasped, her voice weak. Her legs gave out.
She dropped to her knees.
A dome of inky black shimmered into view, encasing her like a veil of oil-slick glass. Arcs of static-like energy coursed through its surface—anti-magic seal.
"No…" Solis whispered, clenching his fists.
Inside the dome, Larielle tried to rise, but her limbs felt like lead. Her strength—her mana—it was being drained. Pulled into the very spell that trapped her.
One of the cloaked mages stepped forward, eyeing her like a predator.
"Well, well," he said with a grin of rotted teeth. "What have we here? An Aegle using high-level ancestral magic. A rare catch indeed."
Another, cloaked in a deep maroon robe, added coldly, "The leader will be pleased. She'll be a perfect offering for his search… for infinite power."
Their eyes glittered with greed and purpose.
A third mage, smaller than the rest, kicked Larielle's bow aside with a scowl. "You damn forest witch…!" he snarled, raising a boot to strike her—
That's when Solis moved.
The rage boiled.
His eyes narrowed. The flame inside him roared to life.
He stepped out of the shadows.
"That's enough."
The mages turned, startled.
There stood Solis, sword gleaming in the moonlight, eyes blazing with fury. He couldn't take another second.