"Is everyone ready?" Kian's voice rose into a fierce, commanding roar. "Tonight, we liberate the mana!"

  "Tonight!" the Cinders roared back.

  _______________

  Eila stood in the shadows of the courtyard, staring up at the castle's massive iron gates. A full battalion of Vanguard soldiers was stationed there, heavily armored and ready. They hadn't noticed the lone figure lingering in the ash.

  Strangely, the massive iron gates were wide open. It was exactly the opening he needed.

  "Alright. Let's do this."

  Eila tossed the small blue pill into his mouth and swallowed.

  Instantly, the agonizing, screaming purple bruise on his arm cooled and faded to a dull grey. The physical chains on his body snapped. He could feel the strength returning to his core, and to all the limbs.

  He pulled his black hood low and stepped out of the shadows, walking methodically toward the open gates. The Vanguard immediately locked onto the approaching figure.

  "Hey, kid!" one of the heavily armored guards barked gruffly, stepping forward and drawing a heavy baton. "The castle's off-limits to commoners. Get your ass away from here before I break it."

  Eila didn't slow down. He just kept walking.

  "I SAID, THE CASTLE—!" The guard moved, reaching out an armored hand to grab Eila's head.

  Eila didn't even blink. He dropped his stance, spinning perfectly on his left foot. In a blur of mana-fortified speed, he delivered three sharp, kinetic kicks in rapid succession, shattering the guard's ribs instantly.

  "OOOF—!" The guard grunted, his eyes rolling back as he was launched off his feet and slammed into the dirt, completely unconscious.

  The atmosphere in the courtyard violently shifted.

  The casual arrogance of the Vanguard vanished. Dozens of heavily armored guards poured out into the entrance, drawing their steel blades in unison. They completely surrounded the lone, hooded figure.

  Eila stood in the center of the ring, slowly exhaling a breath of freedom he hadn't felt in a long time. He didn't reach for his sword, he didn't need it.

  Guard after guard rushed Eila, but he didn't even draw his dead steel sword.

  He moved like a phantom. Eila jumped on the shoulders of an oncoming guard, using the man's own momentum to yank him forward, smashing his helmet violently into the face of the second.

  Eila vaulted off the collapsing bodies just as a spear thrusted toward his ribs. He spun, driving a devastating chop into the spearman's wrist. Bone snapped. Eila snatched the falling spear from the air and drove the blunt end brutally into the leg of the next Vanguard, making him howl and collapse.

  Another guard lunged, managing to lock his arms around Eila from behind. Eila simply dropped his center of gravity, gripping the man's arm and hauling him over his shoulder. The guard crashed into the dirt, and Eila instantly planted a fortified kick into his face, rendering him completely unconscious.

  Suddenly, the sea of Vanguard soldiers parted.

  A towering knight walked forward with heavy, deliberate steps. He was clad in pristine silver armor trimmed with deep crimson, a high red plume sitting atop his helm . Sir Levon, Captain of the Vanguard. Eila had fought alongside him in the old wars.

  "Fallen Hero," Sir Levon's voice echoed from within the metal. "You have a lot of nerve showing your face here. Have you truly no honor?" .

  Sir Levon lowered his massive, pointed lance, the steel tip gleaming dangerously under the orange flames of the courtyard torches.

  "I have nothing to say to people who sacrifice children to appease the politics of Church," Eila rasped. He finally reached over his shoulder, throwing off his heavy cloak and unsheathing his dead steel sword.

  "Then let my lance be your witness, and this courtyard your grave," Levon declared.

  He charged. For a man in heavy armor, his speed was monstrous.

  So fast, Eila thought, sidestepping the initial thrust by a hair's breadth. Sir Levon instantly twisted the heavy polearm, ripping it upward to catch Eila under the chin. But Eila's reflexes were faster. He leaped, planting his boot directly onto the shaft of the lance, and used it as a springboard to drive a spinning kick straight into Levon's helmet .

  The metal clasps shattered. The helm flew off, clattering across the stone.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Sir Levon didn't even flinch, slowly looking back at Eila. He cracked his neck, his scarred face twisted in a fanatical sneer as blood poured from his forehead. He tossed the cumbersome lance aside and smoothly drew a curved, serrated saber from his hip .

  "Attack like a warrior, Hero!" Levon taunted, charging again.

  Eila braced himself to meet the clash, drawing heavily on his mana circuits—

  Thump.

  A violent, sickening cramp seized Eila's chest. His breath hitched. The dull grey scar on his arm suddenly flared back to a blistering, agonizing purple .

  He felt the heavy, pale-grey smog of the courtyard press against his skin like a physical weight. The Noxara was fighting back, actively eating the alchemy . Eila’s mind didn't freeze; it shifted into a cold, combat-driven calculation. At this rate of decay, he didn't have three minutes.

  Ninety seconds. He couldn't win a long game.

  Instead of retreating to find an opening, Eila tightened his grip on the dead steel and lunged forward.

  Sixty seconds.

  He abandoned his defense entirely, pouring every remaining spark of mana into a reckless, all-or-nothing strike. He needed to end this in one move.

  Sir Levon’s eyes narrowed, spotting the sudden, desperate shift in Eila’s form. "How predictable," the Captain growled, recognizing the behavior of a man on a dying timer .

  Levon didn't just swing; he waited for the exact moment Eila committed to his lunge.

  Thirty seconds.

  Eila side stepped the serrated saber, Sir Levon smiled. He violently wrenched his wrist, turning the serrated edge of the blade mid-swing to intercept Eila’s opening. The steel ripped through Eila’s undefended chest, slicing a deep, jagged gash diagonally across his ribs .

  Eila staggered backward, his vision blurring as hot, dark blood spilled onto the ash-covered ground. His ninety seconds were already nearly gone.

  ___________________

  "The Vanguard patrols have vanished from the rear," Kian whispered, peering carefully around the edge of the stone wall toward the blind spot. "Eila must be tearing the front gates apart."

  "Well DUH!" Riko stretched her arms lazily over her head, utterly unbothered. "He's the Hero of Aethelgard with his powers returned after all. No Vanguard is going to survive more than a few seconds against him. When are we moving?"

  Beside them, Lucio was trembling. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he forced his VENTUS MYTH magic to levitate a small, flickering orb of wind into the sky. The pale-grey Noxara smog immediately clawed at the spell, trying to suffocate it, but Lucio pushed it just high enough to scan over the rear garden walls.

  "Clear," Lucio gasped, letting the orb violently dissipate as he fell to one knee, exhausted. "There's no one in the yard."

  "Alright. We move now," Kian commanded, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "The Overseer quarters are on the far left. Kaito suppresses the guards. I'll use the alchemy to knock the LOGIC mage unconscious, and Riko secures them in the spatial chest. Are we ready?"

  "Ready," they answered in unison.

  The Cinders slipped silently through the rusted service entrance, creeping into the massive, ash-covered rear gardens of the castle. The silence was deafening. There were no guards. No alarms. Just the dead, grey brush.

  It was too easy.

  CLANG.

  The massive iron gates behind them slammed shut with a violent, metallic shriek. The heavy locking mechanisms engaged simultaneously, sealing them inside.

  "H-Holy..." Kaito choked, freezing in his tracks as he looked toward the center of the dead garden.

  Sitting directly in their path was a pristine, white porcelain table. It looked entirely out of place in the ash-choked warzone.

  Sitting at the table was Kaelen.

  He was dressed in an immaculate, sharply tailored black suit, completely untouched by the Noxara smog. He wasn't flanked by guards. He was completely alone, casually stirring a steaming cup of tea with a silver spoon.

  As the rebels stared at him in sheer terror, Kaelen slowly raised his head. He offered them a polite, chillingly perfect smile.

  "Welcome, my subjects, to the Castle of Aethelgard," Kaelen murmured softly, the silver spoon clinking gently against the porcelain. "Care for a cup of tea?"

  Without even standing up, he snapped his fingers.

  _________________

  Heavy iron boots echoed across the pristine throne room. Eila was dragged into the chambers by a dozen Vanguard guards, his wrists and torso bound in massive iron manacles. Dark blood still dripped steadily from the jagged gash Sir Levon had carved across his chest.

  "Y-You... too?" Riko whimpered, her chaotic energy entirely broken as she stared at the chained, bleeding Hero. The rest of the Cinders knelt on the polished floor, completely paralyzed by Kaelen's Vanguard.

  Kaelen stepped forward, a pristine golden circlet resting flawlessly upon his head. He didn't look at the rebels. His silver eyes were fixed entirely on Eila.

  "Well, what have we here? The Hero of Aethelgard," Kaelen murmured, a chilling, polite smile forming on his lips. "I trust you received my present well?"

  Eila's blood turned to absolute fire. The image of Imara choking on the floor flashed through his mind. The purple scar on his arm was screaming in agony. The Noxara smog had almost completely suffocated the alchemy.

  He had exactly ten seconds of the pill's effect left.

  "KAELEN!" Eila roared.

  CRACK

  The massive iron manacles shattered into shrapnel. Eila's brute-force mana violently erupted, simply too monstrous for even the Noxara to contain. The dozen Vanguard guards holding his chains were instantly launched in opposite directions, their armor crumpling from the sheer kinetic shockwave of his aura.

  Kaelen's eyes widened slightly, a flicker of genuine intrigue crossing his face.

  Eila didn't hesitate. He snatched a falling broadsword from a mid-air Vanguard guard, his boots cracking the stone as he launched himself forward in a blinding blur. The blade was aimed directly at Kaelen's heart.

  "What a monster," Kaelen observed softly, the rough mana prickling his face.

  Without breaking eye contact, Kaelen casually raised two fingers and flicked a compressed, violently glowing Orbash directly toward the helpless Cinders kneeling in the dirt.

  "Tell me, Hero," Kaelen whispered, the sadistic trap springing shut. "Will you kill me? Or will you save them?"

  The sphere ripped through the air toward Riko and the others at an astonishing speed. Eila's eyes darted toward the explosive anomaly.

  For the Hero of Aethelgard, the world suddenly slowed to an absolute crawl.

  The ten seconds were almost gone.

  "CONCEPT: CREO!!"