Ilis’ throat was raw from singing for so long. The sounds of her voice had started to blur with the screams of all the monsters around her. She was interrupted as she had to suddenly take a long gasping breath, causing her and the remaining attack group to stumble. She quickly picked up [Flickering Tune] again, but in that brief moment, one of the adventures was struck down. She glared at the panther-like creature, its eyes glinting with satisfaction and cunning. She blurred forward, her song rising into a howl, but the creature slipped away again, leaving her furiously fighting the press of the horde. Another voice slipped from her song with a gurgle. She grimaced, there were only four of them left; she knew now that they wouldn’t make it. Or rather, she was bracing against the idea, accepting the truth no matter how hard it was. Ilis, along with everyone else in Grenion, would die. It was amusing to her how she had been concerned about Julie; there wouldn’t be a next time for them, and she was…surprisingly disappointed. It had been a while since she’d tried a serious relationship, and Julie…well, maybe it would’ve worked? Another cry of pain brought her out of her thoughts, and then there were only three voices left singing. She gritted her teeth. If there was one thing she was going to do before she’d die? It was to crush that fucking panther thing. She sang faster, driving the others to fight for vengeance, to take down the monster that killed their friends, and she heard them, she heard their voices pound with her tempo.

She started tearing forwards again, not focusing on killing but simply crippling the enemies, so the others could clear up behind her. Every so often, she would let the music rise into a roar of challenge, a taunt, letting the monster know that it was pathetic, cowardly. It was too intelligent to fall for such a simple trick, but she was determined to get as much payback as possible. The other creatures were too dumb to understand she wasn’t challenging them, and threw themselves at her, which changed nothing, they still died regardless.

She started to become reckless, the monster wasn’t showing itself; it was a thing that ambushed, more of an assassin than a warrior. She started to feign tiredness, something that was worryingly easy, but the monster didn’t fall for it, or it didn’t want to take that risk. A heavy weight settled on her heart, and her music changed: She began to sing about sacrifice, risking oneself for the destruction of an enemy. Her team understood immediately. The last guardsman left, a middle aged woman who’d been in Grenion for as long as she could remember, Gretta, jumped out into the throng, just tantalisingly out of their reach, and it was enough, the panther-thing appeared and suddenly leapt from the back of a enormous bear, its mantis scythes, which emerged from their back, arching toward the woman. She launched herself and her fist rocketed into it, digging deep with a pleasing crunch. However, that satisfaction quickly died and became despair, as the creature’s face twisted before spitting out a glob of sizzling liquid; it arched through the air, and splashed right onto Gretta’s face. She averted her eyes, and held back the urge to choke. [Explosive Movements] surged, and she blasted after the retreating monster; this time, she would not allow it to get away.

It managed to put up a fight, attacking with more of its acid and claws. But, she’d never skipped on Dexterity, she slipped both attacks and punched it through the brains. Her voice escalated into a crescendo of victory, but it soon cut off, as she realised that she was the only one singing it. She looked over to where the others had been, but failed to see anything but bloody snarling faces. She was alone. I guess it’s time then. Slowly, the music changed, and the [Song of Ashes] started to play. She had no control over this tune. It was not something she could direct. No, as the haunting sounds came from her throat, she knew, this was an ability she was not supposed to have. Ash rose from the ground quickly, and she stared as they formed into recognisable shapes, people. Gretta appeared first, the ash steadily adding details to her blank form, until her shaven head and ever-present frown appeared; the woman glanced at her and then back at the slack-jawed monsters. She shrugged and readied her spear, as more people stepped up to join her. She was surrounded soon enough by the original team, and then…more came. The old man, her old carer, placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a rough pat, before joining the others fighting. What the fuck is he gonna do? He- Her thought was cut off as he simply blasted the monsters back with pure Mana. She gawked at him, but was interrupted again, as more and more people she’d known throughout her life appeared: old friends and teammates. And then… a familiar woman condensed in front of her. She tensed, as if splashed by cold water. The woman turned to look at her. They stared at each other for a moment, before the other woman gave a smirk eerily similar to her own. She stood frozen to the spot, as the wailing song pushed these people back into battle. Overtime, the notes became more animated as if it were coming to life. But, eventually the notes started to trail off.

The ashen woman emerged from the piles of burnt bodies, and her head turned towards her. She watched her lips move.

You’re doing well sweetie.

She sagged, and was dimly aware of the ash people around her blowing away with the breeze. She swayed on the spot, listening to the notifications roll in her head.

‘Ding’ You have levelled up. [Fiery Enhancer Lv 102 – Lv 120]

90 Stat points gained.

‘Ding’ You have levelled up. [Burning Singstress Lv 54 – Lv 80]

78 Stat points gained.

‘Ding’ [Flickering Tune 2nd Tier Lv 3 – Lv 12]

‘Ding’ [Body of Flame 2nd Tier Lv 19 – Lv 20]

‘Ding’ [Song of Ashes Lv N/A]

Remember the fallen, sing so they may rise from the ashes and fight with you once more.

The song grows with the recent battle.

She blinked at the addition to the end, but was too weary to think about it. She rose, and started to trudge back to the town, wading through corpses and blood. The ground abruptly cleared, and a path of grass flattened in front of her. She gave the [Town Heart] a nod, and continued. She entered the silent town, stares from everyone pressing down on her. She ignored them and made her way to the Scandy Singer.

—---

Jason was suddenly awake, and looking around in a daze. Wha? He was no longer on the mountain but in some kind of box. He wriggled, and looked for a way out. There didn’t seem to be any, but that didn’t mean it could stop him. He activated [Phantom State] and immediately experienced a burning pain that almost sent him back into unconsciousness. He came out of the State immediately, panting heavily. What the fuck was that?! He pressed his hand against the wall, feeling its smooth cold surface. His stomach dropped; he had an idea of what this could be. Silver? How?! Why would anyone just have one of these around? He was horribly confused, and was beginning to breathe too quickly. The Alchemist wouldn’t have one of these, at least he didn’t think so? He frowned, it was possible that the Alchemist was the owner of this container, but he just didn’t feel it was likely. The man was going to kill me… why didn’t he? He decided to think about who else it could be. Who else would have something that could capture Phantoms?...or maybe just Death magic in general… His breathing caught as two groups came to mind. The Holy Will, or the Grasping Hand…fuck me… He took several deep inhalations before asking, Alright, what do I do? He could think of one way to potentially escape; he could use bone manipulation to create an edge and use [Spacial Strike] to cut the metal apart. His intelligence was high enough that it should work. The only problem he could see with it though, was the sheer unimaginable pain he’d have to go through…which just wasn’t practical. He could work on levelling pain resistance…but he had reservations about that particular ability. Pain existed for a reason after all – at least he fucking hoped so. So where did that leave him? Bloody stuck, is where it left him. He’d just have to try and escape when they let him out, which… sounded like a terrible plan, but better than torturing himself. So he waited, and waited, and waited.

Hours passed, and he must have fallen asleep, because when he woke up, he was no longer in the box. His eyes immediately widened and he tried to stand up, only to realise he couldn’t move. He looked down, and saw the reason why: his entire body was encased in silver. He goggled uncomprehendingly at the sight. How?! Someone cleared their throat and his head jerked up. A man sat on a chair on the opposite side of the cell. It took him a moment to recognise him as the one who’d spoken to the thing in the dungeon. Now that he was closer, he could get a better look at him, which basically meant he was now aware of how handsome he was. Jason wasn’t gay, but he still raised his eyebrows at the super model in front of him. He had shortish black wavy hair, green eyes and pale skin, and judging by his arms, he was incredibly toned too. The young man smiled at him

“Good to see you aren’t in too much distress.”

‘Ding’ [Silver Manipulator Lv ??]

His jaw dropped.

The man chuckled, and Jason realised that he’d been staring for a few moments now. He closed his mouth and glared at him. Some people, are just blessed by the fucking gods aren’t they? He paused. Wait, aren't there gods in this world? damn, maybe he really is. I wonder if I could get that. He shook off his thoughts and brought his focus back to the situation.

“So, Phantom, I’m sure you can guess why we’ve brought you here instead of letting that Alchemist kill you.”

His eye twitched. That Alchemist could have been working for them, for all I know. In fact, that sounds super likely. But wait… how does he know I’m a Phantom? [Identify] should show Bone Manipulator… He narrowed his eyes. The most likely explanation was [Identify]’s second tier.

The other man was still smiling at him. “Not going to say anything? A shame, this would be much easier if you’d just tell us. You’re one of us after all! A practitioner of Death Magic. You would be most welcome among our group.”

Jason exhaled slowly through the nose. “I’m not interested at all. I don’t want to join the Chess war, or anything like that.”

The Silver Manipulator nodded easily. “That’s fine, we’ll let you go once you’ve revealed details about your Class.”

He winced. And that’s the thing, I do not want to give these guys anymore power. He silently shook his head. The man sighed. “Well, I suppose it’s going to be the hard way after all.” Suddenly, the silver encasing his body became jagged, and started digging into him. Holy shit, he’s going to torture me? Just like that?!

“Wait! I’ll tell you!”

The other man quirked an eyebrow. “Well, that was easy. Most people would make an attempt to endure.”

Jason shook his head. “Yeah, those people are crazy. Just tell me what you want…”

The Silver Manipulator leaned forward. “Everything, of course.”

—---

Ilis stared at the ceiling. She’d been lying on her bed for who knows how long, ignoring all of her worries. Juliet was in the room as well, sitting in a chair and waiting for her to speak. She had said nothing to the woman since she’d got back, and really didn’t feel like talking anytime soon. Finally, the woman broke the silence. “Ilis, talk to me. What happened? What was that ability? That was not normal.”

She felt somewhat relieved that she wanted to talk about that, and not their future. “When I came back from fighting yesterday, and people sang that song I made, I unlocked that ability afterwards. I…think it might have something to do with my mom…”

The innkeeper said nothing, and continued to watch her. She swallowed. “My mom left one day to fight against some army, I can't remember who; It was her last battle, and I was very young. I remember some things, like her telling me how important singing was… I never really questioned it.”

Juliet bit her lip. “Ilis…what you did...seems similar to Death magic... do you think your mother had…?”

She snorted. “How am I supposed to know?”

The innkeeper nodded, and then stood up from her chair to walk over and lay next to her. They stared into each other's eyes, for a moment, before Ilis went in for a kiss. Juliet reciprocated, and her hands snuck around her waist. They both paused before it could go any further, as they heard a sudden commotion outside. Juliet huffed, standing up and walking toward the window, before looking out and shouting, “Rob! What’s going on?” There was a muffled reply, and the Innkeeper leaned back in surprise, before her face became concerned. She thanked the passerby and Ilis saw her turn back to her. “You might want to see this.”

“What now?!” She sighed and got up from her bed. Following the lady, they walked out onto the street together, joining the crowd that was headed for the gates.

When they arrived, they couldn’t see past the large group of people, so they headed around and up to the wall. No guards stopped them on the way, and when they got to the top, Ilis froze at the sight that was waiting for her. A large procession of people were heading towards them. Even from where she was, she could make out their harried look. What? She peered closer and started to recognise familiar faces. Ice slid down her back, as she realised what she was looking at. Her eyes searched the crowd and she eventually spotted them; Brand, Falan and Falisty were marching along with everyone else, just as defeated as the rest of them.

Danist has fallen…