The walk away from camp was quiet. Anemone watched Aronia’s back as she walked ahead of her with a stooped posture. As Anemone ran up to the side of Aronia, the stiffness in Aronia’s neck caught her eye. During their walk, her eyes never met Anemone’s. Not even a single word or utterance left either of their lips. The dead of night spoke even louder than the sound of Anemone’s heart throbbing in the back of her throat.

  “She must be upset with me… I know I haven’t been the nicest to everyone,” thought Anemone.

  Anemone looked down at her hands as she fiddled with her fingers. Her words stayed caught in her throat. Forming a sentence was almost as exhausting as fending off all the insecta she had faced today. All she wanted to do was crawl onto her mat and lie down instead.

  “Just tell her you’re sorry you’ve been a liability! It’s not that hard to say! Lauma knows Titania would have said it at least a dozen times by now.”

  It had been a long day. Every mistake Anemone had made replayed in her mind. How could she not have been perfect? Spriggan had trained her this whole time. He had prepared her to face multiple opponents at any angle, yet their foes constantly caught her off guard. Aronia surely felt disappointed with her. What other reason would she have had for coming out here with Anemone?

  “Hey, Nin.”

  Aronia’s voice cut through her thoughts.

  “I think we’re far enough. Stay here and do the second while I work on the third one.”

  “Huh?”

  “The auldjin said six hundred steps from the second, right? I’ll be right back.”

  Aronia spread her wings and dashed into the darkness, leaving Anemone behind. Anemone stretched her arm forward, hoping to grasp Aronia by the arm, but she was too quick. In a single flap, she was already a yard away. Anemone could only stand there with her arm still stretched, unable to move. Spit plunged down her throat from the heavy gulp of air. The chilling wind blew, and her body shivered. She crossed her arms, rubbing her shoulders until they almost felt burned. It was more than just the cold that made her shudder. No one else was around her at that moment. Aronia was not that far, despite the distance. Although the camp remained a decent run away, she was alone.

  “Stop overthinking, Nin. Just make stupid sigils. And add a Furin Bells-Ars.”

  Anemone squatted and drew the sigil and symbols needed to create the outer ring’s edge. Her fingertips glowed with light energy, and the marks etched themselves into the ground, shining until they disappeared.

  “I know Spriggan said six hundred steps away from the second, but that seems so far.”

  Her face looked forward and then back to the camp. A whisper left her lips.

  “Then again… malevolence doesn’t have that wide a presence,”

  Despite Gallu-utukku’s ability to suppress their malevolence, Aos-si developed a way to detect their dark aura. According to Rubus, Anemone learned that D?kkálfar naturally saw the malevolence of the Gallu-utukku. In contrast, everyone else had to devise alternative approaches. And the Furin Bell-Ars was the one she was most familiar with, thanks to Spriggan. Anemone reached to her hip and unclipped her grimoire. When she opened it, her fingers went straight to the bookmark for pre-cast Ars.

  “Find (Furin Bells-Ars).”

  As the book flipped through its pages, her eyes landed on the design of the Ars she needed.

  “I’m glad Spriggan had already prepared for this situation… page 15? Putting these Furin Bells-Ars next to a Whisper-Ars is going to be a lifesaver. Now we can hear them coming.”

  Anemone traced her fingers along the ground under the sigil for the Ring-Barrier and drew brackets. After that, she placed her hand under the arc between the brackets. Light shone from her grimoire and the barrier. A two-ring symbol, linking the two spells, appeared where she placed her hand. Then, a beam of light stretched around her, encircling the perimeter.

  “Ars-Link: (Furin Bells-2ndArcR),” Anemone chanted. “I only hope whoever makes the first ring is strong enough… I also wouldn’t feel the shock from that thing breaking.”

  Direct offensive forces could not penetrate their defenses beyond the first and second rings. If the blow were too powerful, the caster would feel an immense shock through their body. Yet, the more powerful the caster, the less probable it was that any inflicted damage would render them unconscious. Since they were all trainees, none had a strong enough Flux for a proper Three Ring-Barrier. At their full potential, they could create a barrier where every ring had all the functions without aid. The precaution for this was multiple casters writing on the first. That way, the barrier would be the combined strength of two users rather than one. But for now, this would suffice.

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  The moment Anemone stood, a shift in the wind made her ears flap.

  “No, dusk hasn’t settled into night yet… we should be fine.”

  Anemone assumed her mind was playing tricks on her and ignored the thought. However, the surrounding air had a faint, stale taste, almost dry and bitter. She looked around to spot a nearby tree to climb. Not much further than where she had placed the spell, one had a branch low enough for her to jump to. Beneath her boots, the sigils she had worn shone faintly as she focused on her legs. Her legs bulked with a burst of energy to spring up, reaching the lower branch in a mere second. Anemone bound from its lower branches all the way to the tree’s middle point gracefully. She sat on a tree branch to scan the area for foes lurking nearby.

  In the distance, Anemone could hear rustling tree leaves, yet nothing was visible. Leaves and branches swayed and crunched, contrasting the flow of the wind. Quiet as it was, the sound still managed to get her attention. The rustling reminded her of the way a branch bends from being crawled along. She rose silently to her feet in the stagnant air, bringing her mind into focus. A bitter, smoky flavor, foreign, accompanied by the stale dryness. It was the taste of malevolence.

  “Ugh! I drew the ring too late!”

  Anemone pulled her hair. Her eyes shut, and her breathing elevated with a cold sweat. A pained expression grew from a stinging feeling in her head that made her knees weak. When her eyes reopened, she once again perceived an aura emanating from everything. Anemone found her eyes were automatically adjusting when she had to view energy. The sight returned, but the pain became so intense that everything looked blurry. After wiping her eyes, Anemone drew knives from her grimoire.

  As her eyes irritated her, she leaned closer to the trunk to hide. However, Anemone misstepped and lost her footing. Anemone noticed several severed tree branches while looking at the sky during her fall. Her body froze just as it did before. Just like her previous encounter with the Vespula. Her muscles tightened while the echoes of her racing heart blasted through her eardrums.

  “Not again! I’m not that careless!”

  She rotated her body midair and carved one of her knives into a tree trunk to slow her fall. Sharp pain in her shoulder almost caused her to release the knife. Her eyes widened as warm blood dripped down her arm from her shoulder. At that moment, Anemone realized she didn’t just fall; something struck her. Luckily, it had only cut her shoulder deep enough to draw blood. Anemone gritted her teeth as her eyes darted through the darkness; she was no longer alone. To add, her body became heavier. A roar left Anemone.

  “WHY NOW! I just want to lie down!”

  While hanging from her knife, she prepared for her next jump by digging the heel of her boot into the tree. A loud bang in the distance momentarily pulled her attention. Then, the wind grew quiet again, and she focused on her sight. It felt eternal as she hung from the tree, and her eyes burned so badly she felt the urge to shut them. She continued to wait, feeling a cold and dark force emanating near her. The air thickened, and her hands sweated as she tightened her grip on her knife. Faint smoke from black embers drifted past her on the wind. Instinct kicked in, and she launched herself to the ground. A sizeable piece of the tree flashed from her sight. Her eyes shut, and her vision turned normal.

  “Lauma! This is so unreliable!”

  As Anemone continued to fall, she focused on the falling tree trunk. Her eyes widened, and her blood ran cold.

  “Is that my knife mark?” she said. “That chunk is the size of my torso!”

  It was the same piece she clung to that flew. Her body would have flung with it if she were a second slower. As her feet touched the ground, she entered a defensive stance and chanted, ‘Arcane-Mono: 1st Tier: Exalt: Armachd’ to prepare for a blow. Anemone’s body flexed, strengthening itself. With her blades raised, she blocked the strikes that came her way, as little sparks flew. In the dim light, she could make out a shadowy figure darting by.

  “It’s a mimic?!” she cried.

  The figure rushed back into the shadows of the forest shrubbery.

  “If I don’t stop it, it’ll fool someone else!”

  The sight returned as she rushed after the creature in the dark. Faint trails of shadowy embers pulled her eyes across the ground, leading back into the trees. To reach the upper canopy, she looked up and then leaped into the branches. Another figure appeared on the same tree branch when she reached the top. Anemone threw her knife at the figure, but it dodged.

  “Easy there!” A familiar voice shouted.

  Anemone stood and gazed at the figure, and her vision turned normal. It was Aronia in the distance. As she got closer, she apologized profusely and bowed her head.

  “I’m so glad I didn’t hit you, Nia!”

  “No biggie, I’m glad I ran into yoo, Aron,” Aronia assured her.

  “Yeah, no kidding. What are you doing here?”

  “The damn thing nicked me on my arm and drank my blood. I was hoping to stop it.”

  “Same, it got my arm as well. I guess it could be any of us now.”

  Anemone thought, “Wait, Aron?”

  She looked up, letting Aronia get closer. Anemone saw black flames covering her body and clenched her jaw. She shook her head, vaguely nodding from left to right.

  “No, no, no! I can’t! Even if it isn’t Nia.”

  Her adrenaline soared as her chest grew tighter. Time slowed, staring at what was before her. Her hands grew clammy, unable to stop shaking. As Anemone’s eyes widened, the sight returned, and all she saw was black flames roaring before her. Those flames raged around a bright purple core, lunging towards her as if they were about to consume her. It was as if someone else had forced her hand to move; Anemone felt her hand fly towards the core of the entity before.

  She blinked.

  “I’m dead…”

  Anemone opened her eye; her knife had stabbed the fake Aronia in the chest. A loud cry bellowed before her body withered back into a shadow, then crumbled into a slender, dried-up figure. Anemone’s eyes strained. Blood rushed into them, and she could feel every drop until they almost popped. She took two steps back, and the world spun. It spun to the point that Anemone became dizzy. The weight of her body forced her to her knees as her eyes landed on the gemlike core of the mimic. It sat on her blade, gazing back at her. An empty scream left her as she tossed it onto the branch before her. Air forced itself in and out of her lungs until she could not breathe. No matter how much she tried to gasp, it was as if her lungs had stopped working. Then, another bang echoed in the distance, shaking her body to its very core.

  “I killed her…”