Blood.

  A lot of it

  Boudicca had never experienced this type of thing before. She felt queasy and twisted, beckoning her to hurl up the nothingness she ate that afternoon, perhaps to relieve herself of her own stomach.

  Her eyes darted from person to person as beads of sweat trickled down each side of her head.

  Her Father chanted from inside the cart providing a barrier of light that protected it from most attacks.

  “To yar left!” Cavael grit his teeth, stepped in between one of the creatures and their team’s archer, his arm numb from all the defense he’s done to this point. He extended his arm and swung it hard, using the shield he had like a baseball bat battering ram. The beast on the other side of such an attack was sent flying.

  “Thanks,” Teresa took a second to breathe before pulling on her quiver. Only a single arrow left, “crap.” She muttered silently to herself.

  “Gotta make it count then,” Cavael teased and the girl sighed with a small chuckle.

  “These don't seem to be normal beastmen!” Alejandra yelled as she ducked under a strike. “They're—mindless, mutated, or something?” She kicked one down and got a good look at it. The humanoid features of a beastman still existed in its faces but it got warped into a more corrupted beastly form. It roared at her and pounced but she dodged barely in time.

  “They're also rger—ack!” Millo took damage but it was healed rather quickly by the elven girl between all of them, “thanks a lot, Miss Bou.”

  “N-No worries!”

  Bou seemed excited to be contributing as the beasts ran towards her again. Teresa stepped in just in time, she took the arrow of her quiver and instead of shooting on her bow, she crouched down, did a sweeping kick to send the beast to the ground then stabbed its eyes manually with the arrow.

  “Phew–” Teresa wiped the blood that spurted from the dead beast. “You good?”

  Bou’s flushed pink as she stared at Teresa, pushing her hair up to a knot and wiping her cheeks with her thumb to clean it off of dust and grime. “U-uh—y-yes?” She stammered for whatever reason. Are you sure this girl was younger than her? Humans are so strange.

  Teresa nodded calmly and called out to the rest. “I could really use some more arrows!”

  “Alejandra!” Millo noticed the maid’s predicament and gestured towards Alejandra, who was busy guarding their rear, “you okay there?” He called as he deflected a cwed strike using his shears.

  “Managing,” Alejandra replied. Her footwork was light and nimble, she dodged two consecutive attacks from two of the deranged beastmen and sshed with a speed fast enough to debilitate one of them, “need something?”

  “Can you retrieve some arrows for Teresa?” Millo parried another strike and kicked the best to Cavael who struck it down, finishing it with his hammer, spttering its brain mush everywhere.

  “On it,” Alejandra hastened her feet, “Bou, keep me healed please.”

  The elf girl nodded nervously, “O-on it!” Bou was trying her best to keep up with the rest of them, knowing only one spell and practically spamming it with such inefficiency is draining her of her mana.

  Teresa examined the corpse of the foe she had just killed. “These beastmen—they don't just have blood—” she dug her fingers deep inside one of its wounds and pulled out a mass of bck soot, “what are these?”

  Cavael gnced at what she was talking about and was confused as well. “Beastmen spill normal blood, whatever that is—it may be the reason they're like this.” Cavael concluded, using his hammer as he swung hard at another approaching mindless beast.

  “Bou! On me. Now!” Alejandra said as she gnced at the monsters before her, Teresa’s arrows stuck to their bodies.

  “Here you go!” Bou called back. She started chanting and raised her hands towards the bck haired woman. Alejandra felt rejuvenated and the fatigue weighing her less and less.

  Alejandra made sure to avoid using her Spirit as much as possible. Only sparsely activating it st second so that she doesn't end up going berserk. She didn't know exactly what happened that night during the ambush in the ball, but from the stories told to her, it wasn't a pretty sight.

  Her Spirit needs to be controlled first, so using it haphazardly will only endanger her and the people around her. There was still one wolf-like beastman ahead of her, the other one she had incapacitated earlier. She charged forward and twisted her feet st minute to shift her body's center of mass. This move avoided the sudden palm cw attack that the beastman decided to do and allowed Alejandra a free hit. She pulled her arm back and thrusted it to the monster’s side stabbing it right through.

  It growled in anger and managed to reach her from the distance between them and scratch the arm she used to penetrate it. Alejandra winced but the scar was immediately turned null as Bou anxiously healed her with a spell from afar. “Nice one!” She praised and the Elf girl’s ears turned pink.

  “No problem!”

  Alejandra, now having the beastman stuck near her, jumped up and snatched the arrows that were stuck to its back, arms, and legs. The wolf snarled again and suddenly pulled itself out of the stab wound. It twisted its body in an unnatural way and roared, catching the Lady off guard.

  “ALEJANDRA, BE CAREFUL!” Millo yelled from afar, he tried to take a step towards her but he let his guard down too quickly and the manic beast used it as a moment to strike, sshing his back.

  “SHIT!” Cavael stepped forward and smmed its hammer on the thing's head knocking it back.

  Bou looked away to immediately heal Millo but because of that her notice left Alejandra and the Lady suffered a hurtful punch from the wolfman straight to her chest.

  The Lady staggered backwards as the ravenous creature sent her away right into a tree. It wasted no time and charged straight for her. She had no time to react, she was absolutely going to get hit hard by those cws.

  “Thou is still here, Master,” Time slowed down and a mass of voices giggled at her, she could feel their malicious smile from just the noises they made, “Thou supposed thy master dost not desire her fairest features scarred, dost she?”

  Alejandra felt her heart drop. She had no choice whatsoever. These things don't feel like creatures made by the goddess anymore. They felt like demons. The bde in her hands suddenly felt colder than ever.

  “Fine!” She cursed to herself, giving in to the sword's temptations. “HOARFL—”

  Before she could finish articuting the sword’s name, the beast was pierced by an arrow straight in the back of its head and passed through in between its eyes.

  “I don't know what you were about to say, My Lady,” Teresa walked over and pulled the arrow out of the head by kicking the lifeless carcass to the dirt yet maintaining hold on its shaft, “but I assumed it's something you'd rather not say.” She poke confidently as she tucked the arrow back in her quiver. Teresa could easily identify and read the expression on Alejandra's face, they've known each other since they were children and have not separated since, so she could tell the sudden discomfort as the Lady seemed to prepare a final attack of some kind.

  Maybe the one she used back at the Capital?

  Nevertheless, no one could have known this young tigress more than Teresa. So when Teri saw the face her dy made, it was only right to fire that one st arrow she was keeping to prevent her from doing something she seemed quite hesitant and afraid to do.

  “Insolent peasant.” The mass of voices angrily spat before dispersing into meaningless mutterings and disappearing into a murmur.

  “Teri,” Alejandra sighed in relief, “Have I told you how much I love you? The answer is so much.” She tossed the girl her arrows back, “so so much.”

  Teri shook her head and giggled as she caught them. “No worries, My Lady,” The maid smiled as her cheeks turned red, but she wasn't embarrassed. They were like sisters already, and she would do anything for Alejandra. “We'll always cover each other's blind spots, right?”

  It was a long time ago—

  “Alejandra, I need you to meet someone,”. The Grand Duke, Lord of the East, Joseph Ramirez, beckoned his daughter, “say hi to Teresa.” He pushed forward a young girl dressed in nursery clothes and her short honey brown hair neatly curled to emphasize her plump cheeks.

  “Who is she, Dad?” Alejandra gazed at her Father then at the child before her, she was much younger than Alejandra at the time, she was around 7 and Alejandra was 10, and the disparity between the two was much rger then.

  “She's going to be your friend from now on,” Her Father expined, “you're both going to care for each other and complete each other’s shortcomings.”

  “I see.” The Little Alejandra put her finger to her mouth before breaking into a wide open grin. “Nice to meet you, My name is Alejandra!”

  The young Teresa was a bit overwhelmed by the sudden burst of energy that she reflexively snuck behind the Duke’s leg.

  “Are you scared?” Alejandra tilted her head in curiosity before looking around as if there was a monster nearby, she then tiptoed towards the little maid, “Did you see a ghost nearby?”

  Teresa blinked.

  Was this girl stupid?

  Is what she thought. Ghosts aren't real.

  Teresa unexpectedly let out a smile at the little Lady’s suggestion.

  “UWAAAH!” Alejandra pointed at her, “SHE SMILED!”

  The duke pushed her hand down, “It's rude to point, Alejandra.” He chastised and the young girl poured and apologized.

  “It's okay,” Teresa got out of hiding behind the Duke and gave the taller girl a head pat, despite being shorter and younger, “she was just being nice.”

  The Duke smiled and knelt beside the two of them, “My Baby,” He addressed his daughter, “from now on people will be expecting so much from you, people will want you to be perfect and for you to be a truly fwless individual, but—I hope you and little Teresa here can enjoy the company of each other without having to worry about keeping face all the time.”

  “Oh.” Alejandra felt the gentle but serious tome in her Father’s voice. “I will, Dad.”

  “Listen, My sweet princess and little Teresa, you two…” He pced his hand on both of their heads, “both of you—you must cover each other's blindspots, take care of each other.”

  “Yep!” Alejandra nodded excitedly.

  The Grand Duke then leaned close to Teresa and whispered something, “I hope you’ll start and continue to cherish and protect my Daughter, you're my little princess’s protector, Little one.”

  Teri loved hearing that, she loved the feeling she got from it. She puffed her chest and looked at the older girl ahead of her, an oblivious and anticipating smile being shot at her.

  “I will do my best for My Lady.” She whispered back and the Grand Duke smiled.

  “Teresa Montgomery, as your family’s youngest and only daughter, I appoint you from now on as Alejandra's personal pymate and maid.” The Grand Duke imposed and offered his hand to the little girl, “Do you accept?”

  Teresa giggled and put her tiny hand on top of the Duke’s. “YUP!”

  Alejandra feeling left out put her small hand on top of both of theirs. “ME TOO!”

  From then on, Teresa had done her job due diligently and wholeheartedly. She had been loyal from the beginning to the end and had loved the Lady of Ramirez more than anyone ever could.

  Which is why—

  “My Lady?” Such words left the maid’s lips as her eyes slowly lost their light. An arrow from nowhere sticking out of the center of her chest, piercing directly into her heart, “Wh-What just—” her knees buckled and she fell over.

  Alejandra's eyes widened as a noiseless scream broke out of her mouth, she pushed herself off the dirt and caught the body of her best friend in her arms. “Teresa?” Alejandra called, looking for any signs of life within the girl but…

  There was none.

  No response.

  “Teri—Teri please???” Her voice cracked, a begging pleading cry as she leaned her forehead close to the girl.

  “No. No. No. No.” Alejandra wiped away the stray locks of hair that scattered on her face. Her cheeks still felt warm yet her once bright blue eyes were now lifeless and empty. “Answer me…Teri?”

  She turned towards the direction where the arrow came from. Way far behind the trees, she could see him, she didn't know how exactly but, even from a rge distance, she could see exactly what the assaint looked like. It was a masked man in dark clothes, rge muscur build, a blue sigil on his armband, and bright purple hair.

  His mouth was covered in a mask and he carried a crossbow in his hands.

  The dy stared at her maid again, she shook the girl once more hoping for a response but nothing. Alejandra’s despair welled up, she let out a blood curdling scream carrying the maid in her arms as the rest of her party set their sights on them.

  “Goddess no,” Cavael’s eyes widened in shock upon seeing the Lady embracing her friend in tears. “what in the world happened?”

  “Teresa?” Millo’s voice broke, he had known the kid almost the same amount of time as his niece, he could hear his own heart shatter upon seeing her body. He reached towards them but one of the monsters came and stopped him from getting close.

  “BOU!” There was a frustrated angry growl that escaped Alejandra's throat and the poor elf girl jolted back in fear. “Heal her.” The tone was deadly sharp, enough to cut even a knife.

  Boudicca wasted no single step as she rushed to their side, prepared to expend the rest of her mana if it meant saving their comrade. She could feel the girl’s life force slipping away and she was doing her best in keeping it in check.

  “Save her.”

  “I-I’ll try.”

  “No.” Alejandra’s voice was harsh. “You have to.”

  Alejandra's eyes turned towards the purple haired man, dashing down the woods. She saw him again, in much greater detail, the sigil in his armband becoming clearer and clearer.

  It was the Kingdom.

  Again.

  Alejandra couldn't take it anymore. Anger and hatred boiled from within her until suddenly a burst of white aura exploded from inside and bsted the whole area, knocking back every single one of the monstrous beasts and shifting the winds and the pressure in the air.

  Bou screamed as the sudden force overwhelmed her.

  “ALEJANDRA DON'T!” Millo tried to call for her but it was too te, the Lady’s eyes had turned white from rage as the Spirit of Azarol began to consume her. The temperature dropped and he was being pushed away by heavy winds.

  She was losing her sanity.

  Bou was blown away by the Spirit burst but she kept a tight hold on Teri's motionless body. Cavael, fortunately, managed to step behind her and catch her before she could crash somewhere else. The cart next to them tipped over and the passengers inside hopped off before they got hurt. Old man Royce helped pick up Tony who struck the dirt with a thud.

  “Alejandra, listen to me!” He yelled but the girl didn't budge from her spot.

  “Now, Master, speak thou name!” A mass of voices clouded her judgment.

  “Come to me,” Her bck hair turned pure white, “Hoarfloe.”

  The air turned frigid cold and the surrounding leaves started to experience frostbite as their tips froze over from the sheer immense blizzard that's being generated by the Lady.

  “What's happening to her?” Bou desperately asked the two men behind her.

  “That's—” Millo looked at her sword. He thought it was just a normal magic sword but he was wrong. Completely wrong.

  “That's—That’s a Fairy Bde.” Cavael blurted out before Millo could, “Those things are like myths—to see a real one being used before my eyes—it's a miracle.” He bit his lip, after all, what about this scenario seemed like a miracle?

  “What happened?!” The Old man rushed to their side and saw the maid’s body. His heart dropped and a guilt crept up his throat.

  The cloaked man beside him clenched his fists as he looked at the arrow that struck her. He recognized it, in fact, those same arrows were the ones that chased him out of the Kingdom’s army.

  “Leilo.” He whispered and he gnced back at a familiar sight, the Frost Queen that had taken off and removed his good arm.

  Leilo was one of the Kingdom's best sharpshooters and a high ranking Major of the Grey Army, which means he was higher ranking than even Hughie. He didn't understand that man’s intentions—he never did. Even when Leilo pnned the ambush on the Capital, his true intentions remained hidden behind his facade.

  That man’s adjudicator ability is also one frustrating one.

  “M–Miss Elf?” A young Tony peered from behind the adults. “Is she going to be okay?” He asked about Teresa, id on her p.

  “I-I’ll do my best.” Bou started chanting over and over and kept casting the basic healing spell onto Teresa's body but after the first few hits, it didn't get much better. She was breathing, at least but it was so weak you wouldn't be able to notice it.

  The pressure in the vicinity grew more intense as the being not too far from them raised her sword in her hand. “Piety.” One word was uttered and a dozen different ice shards formed around her before darting inside the forest at astonishing speed.

  “Alejandra, get a hold of yourself! Please!” Millo’s own spirit activated but it was quickly dispersed as Alejandra's proved to be stronger yet also unstable that it was like blowing a fan inside a hurricane.

  “Silence, you dreg!” A dozen or so voices spoke at once from the Lady’s lips. “Shall thou dispose of thee first, before thou concern thyself with mine Lady’s prey?” Its haunting calls pushed through the wind and seemingly spoke directly to his ear.

  Millo was suddenly overcome with troubling bloodlust as a feeling of deep fear consumed him. It was a scare he was not expecting.

  The being raised his niece’s hand towards them but stopped halfway. It suddenly winced as it seemed to have been hit with a headache causing it to lower its hand to calm itself down. “Of course, Master,” It spoke to itself with venomous spite, she turned her gaze once again back to the forest, “Piety.” She said once more and once more, ice shards formed beside her and shot towards the forest.

  “Thy must now continue mine hunt.” The Lady spoke like an archaic mass, her body then floated above the dirt as her skin turned pale and freezing. In a single fsh using the Lady’s possessed body, wielding her sword, and the immense pressure her spirit generated—she vanished as a blur.

  “Alejandra!” Millo called and took a step to stop her but the gust of cold wind generated from her flying unched him backward. He barely managed to avoid smacking into the rocks by flipping himself up and nding on his feet.

  Hughie stayed silent, afraid of revealing himself. He watched as the group helplessly struggled in figuring out what to do.

  “It's not working!” Bou was on the verge of tears, someone was dying right in front of her and she felt powerless, “whatever I’m doing it's not healing her!” She cried. Tried as she might, she couldn't seem to find the stab wound so she can't cure it.

  “Rex yourself,” Her Father slid next to her and put his hand on her shoulder to calm her down, “if you get frustrated, you won't be able to help at all.”

  Bou pursed her lips and nodded, going back to focusing on the healing, trying to find where the arrow pierced and stopping the bleeding.

  “I have to go get her.” Millo sheathed his two shear bdes behind him.

  “Ye can't go on yer own!!?” Cavael stopped him, “who knows what could happen, what if they got more of them mutated beastmen!?”

  “That's my niece out there!” He yelled, “and this girl is also my family!” He pointed to Teresa, “that person who did this to her deserves the worst of hells—but I must not let Alejandra get consumed by her rage.”

  Cavael looked at his eyes and he remembered what this man had said earlier. These young ones deserve peace, and it's our job as adults to make sure they do. “Right.” He lowered his hand.

  “I’m coming with,” Royce volunteered, “I might not know what happened here but I hired you all so…I must see this through.”

  The dwarf and the gardener looked at the old man in unison. “You don't have to, it is our job to protect you.” Millo refused him but the old man just shook his head. “Plus, it's quite dangerous.”

  “I know these woods, I might not look at them but I used to be a hunter myself.” He proudly procimed.

  “But—”

  “Stop.” Hughie had had enough, they were going to keep bickering like this and not make any progress whatsoever. He didn't want to involve himself but if Royce endangers himself just to help others, Hughie has to stop him. “I’ll do it—the rest of you focus on staying here and protecting the elf and the girl—if she can still make it.”

  “What are you—”

  “If those beasts come back we need someone to protect them.” Hughie, still cloaked, reasoned and the two men shut up after that. “Uncle Royce, you stay here and keep Tony safe, okay?”

  “Alright then, boy.” The old man’s wrinkles didn't hide the worry for his friend. “Come back to us, okay?”

  “No matter what.” He smiled.

  He then took a step towards the forest and for the st time a voice called out to him. “I don't know who you are but please—see if you can save her.” It was a desperate beg from the Ramirez Lady’s uncle.

  He didn't reply. He only stopped briefly before proceeding into the woods. Once he was far enough from the rest of the party he removed the cloak that covered him and sensed his surroundings. Where is magic the weakest?

  He scanned the forest, using illusions that stretched far and wide. He's casting illusions that act like testers. It would reach out and keep doing so until something stops it.

  It kept stretching and stretching until–

  He snapped his eyes open. He found her, she was running from tree to tree in front of her seemingly going just as fast as…Leilo.

  The man who exiled him and the man who shot the maid dead. He wondered why he was here when the st time he saw him was with Freya on their way to the base in the outnds. What was their pn?

  He remembered reporting to them about the Lady of Ramirez but the Grey Commander didn't really react.

  Were they perhaps after the Lady herself?

  He forgoed further unnecessary thoughts for now and finally took action. The ex-captain pced two fingers up to his lip and with a few determined words, decided to end this once and for all.

  He understood her pain. He understood the horror. The fear. The anger. The hatred. He understands all of it. She had practically witnessed her sister die in front of her…however—

  Lady Alejandra, there is something you must know.

  He closed his eyes and felt his empty arm.

  Time to get started.

  “Illusory art: One Thousand clones.”