Shadows flickered briefly through the trees but quickly disappeared from sight.

  Sibonen exhaled in relief, convinced that the enemy had fallen for his strategy.

  As darkness deepened, he spoke softly.

  "It seems the enemy has taken the bait."

  Almost immediately after his words, footsteps approached their hiding spot, and Jensen's voice echoed from a distance.

  "We know you're hiding here! Surrender, and we'll take you prisoner!"

  The situation Sibonen had hoped to avoid was now upon them. The enemy was sweeping the area. Fttening himself against the darkening grass, Sibonen surveyed his companions.

  *We haven't been spotted yet, but we can't st much longer. If they get closer, I'll have to judge the numbers and evacuate some of us.*

  His gaze settled on Lady Izi. Something about her looked different—a faint blue light seemed to shimmer around her eyes.

  *Am I hallucinating from lying here too long?*

  As Sibonen stared, Lady Izi spoke quietly.

  "My strength is returning. Give me a little more time, and I shall annihite them all."

  Sibonen remembered something she had mentioned before.

  *She said the full moon weakens her... but can she really take on seasoned warriors alone?*

  He still had no real grasp of Lady Izi's true power.

  At that moment, a magical fre exploded nearby. Instinctively, Sibonen shielded his eyes to avoid being blinded.

  "They've… they've spotted us," Atari gasped weakly.

  Despite his condition, Atari began chanting a spell—his voice reverberating through the ground. The vibrations ran deep, startling Sibonen.

  Isrin rose slightly and fired her crossbow. A scream rang out from afar, and more enemies began to emerge. There were at least fifteen to twenty of them.

  An arrow whistled through the air toward Atari, but Lady Izi stood and intercepted it with her arm. Sibonen flinched at the sight of the arrow lodged in her flesh, but it was clear she had shielded Atari.

  *Dangerous...*

  Sibonen fired his own crossbow at the nearest enemy, but they deflected the bolt with a tilted bde. Meanwhile, Atari struggled to his feet.

  "Ignis Sacrificii! (Fme of Sacrifice!)"

  A brilliant light enveloped Atari's body. The enemies sensed the danger and scattered their formation.

  Jensen's frantic voice cried out.

  "Get back! It's a self-sacrifice spell!"

  Atari's face was serene, free from pain. His entire body glowed as pieces of ash began to fall away.

  "Pro amicis meis... (For my friends...)"

  Sibonen thought he caught a fleeting smile on Atari's face before a massive burst of fme erupted, hurling itself toward the enemy ranks like a volcanic explosion.

  Stunned by the roaring inferno, Sibonen was nearly knocked over as Lady Izi grabbed him and dragged him away.

  "The enemy is scattering. We run now.“

  Lady Izi pulled Isrin and Sibonen up the slope. As they fled, Sibonen gnced back.

  *Atari...

  He remembered Atari's earlier words and realized that this had been the pn all along: to buy them precious time.

  They hadn't shared many conversations, but in the chaos of escape and sacrifice, Sibonen understood—everyone was doing everything they could for each other.

  Atari continued hurling fmes, but the enemies had already retreated beyond his reach.

  Pain wracked his body, but he no longer cared. His life's fme was about to be extinguished.

  *I never thought I'd die like this,* Atari mused with a small, ironic smile.

  He remembered his ten years in the merchant guild, his dream of becoming a farmer after retirement.

  *The spell I hated learning so much... Master, are you watching?*

  Atari's body crumbled into ash and fell to the ground.

  ---

  Jensen, standing beside Baku, stared in disbelief.

  *You're insane, Atari. But... there wasn't really any other way, was there?*

  Without any reverence, Jensen crushed the ashes underfoot.

  "They've gone up the hill. We don't have much time. Move! And you!"

  He grabbed a man cd in bck.

  "Summon the Greater Demon Counterforce!"

  ---

  The three remaining survivors hid behind a massive fallen tree.

  Sibonen observed that Isrin and Lady Izi were surprisingly composed.

  "Is anyone hurt?" Sibonen asked.

  Isrin shook her head. Lady Izi raised her arm.

  "They prepared weapons meant to hurt me."

  Without flinching, she pulled two arrows from her flesh. No blood flowed.

  "Ten more minutes... no, maybe just a little longer."

  Her eyes glowed with an intense blue as she gazed at them.

  "I will protect you both. Stay alive, no matter what."

  Isrin nodded firmly. Yet, there were still over ten enemies, and Atari's sacrifice hadn't seemed to weaken them much.

  "Lady Izi, Sibonen," Isrin said, "the enemy will reach us within the hour."

  Sibonen realized that Isrin possessed some kind of extraordinary intuition.

  "They won't come recklessly," Lady Izi said. "They'll prepare themselves to fight me."

  Neither Sibonen nor Isrin fully understood Lady Izi's abilities. But Isrin remembered something.

  "Sibonen, Lady Izi is one of the ancient ones—an Ascendant. I've seen her depicted on ancient murals."

  She recalled the time when she had accompanied Riche on an early investigation for the Field Department.

  *That is Lady Izi—the Ascendant who devoured demon lords.*

  "Anyway, let's not become a burden," Isrin added.

  Sibonen nodded.

  The enemy took longer than expected to arrive. As twilight deepened, a bright light rose into the sky, illuminating the surroundings faintly but clearly.

  "Such high-grade magical devices... ordinary bandits or rogue merchants shouldn't have access to something like that," Isrin muttered.

  Jensen's voice soon boomed through the forest.

  "You are surrounded! Surrender, and your lives will be spared!"

  But Sibonen and his companions knew better. Surrender meant certain death.

  "There will be no surrender. Only your deaths," Lady Izi decred.

  She rose and strode forward.

  She tore off her blood-stiffened dress, revealing a sleeveless top and shorts underneath. Her pale, marble-like body seemed to glow in the dim light.

  *This must be what the ancient goddesses looked like,* Sibonen thought, awestruck.

  From the enemy ranks, someone screamed,

  "A demon is coming! Prepare yourselves!"

  Arrows flew from every direction, but Lady Izi stood unmoving. Every arrow bounced harmlessly off her skin, as if striking solid stone.

  "If you will not come to me," Lady Izi said coldly, "then I shall come to you."