A trickle of sweat fell down Gray’s chin as he glanced between Seiki as she played with her daggers and Thorn whose hands lay lit up with arcane runes whilst blood trickled down his fingers.

“Blindly…Trust you, huh?” Lizbeth mused, eyes wide with fury, yet not at Erika. Lizbeth was furious with herself for allowing Erika to trick her. “How…did I not see this…coming?” She said to herself.

“Because you’re just a recruit, while you hold more combat training than me, I was raised by a war-born people. Simply the history of my world gave me great insight into combat tactics.” Erika explained coldly, “And, diplomacy.”

“Shit, I guess to the army with us huh?” Gray mused with a sigh.

Gaining himself a ferocious glare from Lizbeth, “I am a Darkmane…I can’t…I won’t allow myself to be belittled to a common footsoldier!” She exclaimed, her gaze then returning to Erika. “This is my last chance…My final chance to prove myself worthy of my clan!” Her eyes burning with determination. “I won’t let you ruin it.”

Lizbeth clenched her weapons as an aura of bloodlust surrounded her, “For me to fail here, is not an option.”

A sensation both Thorn and Seiki felt, the scent of a cornered animal ready to put it all down. Stronger than any predator’s, stronger even than the murderous intent which was also permeating Lizbeth’s eyes, the sensation overwhelmed them and momentarily after Gray too.

All three of them faltering then.

“You are prepared to lay down your life, for this? For your family’s pride?” Erika asked, her barren gaze meeting Lizbeth’s shaking eyes.

At her question, Lizbeth’s expression solidified with focus. “To reach that person, to become his equal and to rise above. I won’t let one thing stand in the way, that is my determination.” Lizbeth hissed, as her hair began to elongate, lycanthropy preparing to take her body over.

Erika’s eyes narrowed then, taking out a standard dagger very similar to Seiki’s which was previously tucked away out of sight, she raised it before herself.

With her other hand, Erika clenched the blade, cutting her palm as she did.

At first wincing at the pain, Erika chuckled right after as blood dripped off her palm and blade. Meeting Lizbeth’s gaze once again, yet this time with soft understanding eyes and a smile.

Lizbeth’s eyes widened, as a sensation tugged at her very core, her vision briefly shifting to what she had seen two years earlier.

The ferocious yet majestic monster, within Erika.

Her vision returning to her, Lizbeth’s eyes widened even further in astonishment, as she now saw Erika standing behind Thorn. Grasping his left arm with her bloodied hand, she also held her bloodied dagger to his throat.

“Y-You can’t do this!” Thorn exclaimed, “You’re o-on our s-side!”

“Make one move, say one more word, or try anything.” Erika said as she looked over at Seiki, letting go of Thorn’s shoulder revealing a blood-stamped rune, “And if you knew what I just did to your inscriptions, you’ll wish you hadn’t.” She warned, and the blood rune lit up a bright blue then.

Just as a volley of vines rose out of the ground beneath Erika, the rune lit up…Sending a surge of vast mana coursing throughout Thorn’s body as the runes on his hands also changed from a dim red to a bright blue.

Erika leapt aside as the vines suddenly stopped, watching as Thorn finally realized what she had done.

“Shi-” Not a moment later the ground beneath Thorn unraveled, thick dark blue branches rose out and engulfed him entirely, forming like a cocoon of thorns.

The other three simply started in both confused and surprised awe.

“What do you think, I’ve been doing these past two years? I’ve studied your language, your runes, your knowledge of summoning and conjuration through resources aside from mana.” Erika explained, turning to face Seiki.

“W-Wait but you’re supposed to be the traitor!” Gray exclaimed, very much confused yet also just as much amused.

“Kei only told me that I am indeed the Traitor, the same she told me the last thirteen times I was, and each of those times what do you think I did?” Erika asked.

Then it dawned on Seiki, “Nothing…You just didn’t help either side and took the punishment of losing with everyone else…We…We were surprised when you suggested a strategy out of nowhere.” Her eyes focused on all three of them as she no longer played with her blades.

“I was never told who I should betray, so I concocted this. Six of us rushed forward, three stayed back to hold off Del. Then one of us three ran further ahead and got caught.” Erika smirked widely now, “Gray, I gave it to her. To Tejil.”

Gray moved from realization to uncontrolled laughter, “The mixture! That’s why you wanted it!?” He exclaimed with great delight.

“What…what mixture…” Seiki asked, her eyes now glancing over at the forest of roots that held Tejil.

“A corrosive mixture, once released and each part of it comes into contact with the rest, those roots are as good as fucked.” Gray explained through the cackling.

“And,” Erika then met Seiki’s shaken gaze, “With three of us here facing you now alone, one of us running far ahead to capture your flag. Three stayed back to fend off Del, true but, not entirely the whole picture.”

Seiki then, began to laugh too, a defeated cold chuckle. “The five you said…wouldn’t comply.”

“The five, who are now seven, against a lonely Del.” Erika added. “I knew they wouldn’t be too far behind us, but just to be sure, I discretely suggested to the smartest of them that with my plan one of you would be left behind and outnumbered.”

“Smartest? From that bunch?” Gray asked with a raised brow.

“Never underestimate the quiet ones.” Erika said with a shrug and a chuckle.

“Celest…” Lizbeth then mused, “You…You planned all of this?” She asked with wide shaking eyes, “You had us all stumbling in the palm of your hand.” She said with melancholy, a twitch to her lip as she covered her mouth then, feeling sick at falling for all of it.

“Ahh, don’t put it in such a terrifying analogy…” Erika then blushed as she grinned, “The smallest misstep from my part, or lack of trust from you all, and it would have completely failed.”

But Lizbeth didn’t absorb her words then, raising her gaze to stare in astonishment at Erika, she now understood what her ancestors were trying to say.

“You were…the stronger monster.” Lizbeth muttered out.

Then each heard something collapse, turning to see Seiki had fallen to ground and onto her knees, daggers dropped beside her as she held her hands up in surrender.

“You…You really got us. Alone you disabled Thorn, got Del surrounded and completely outnumbered…And you kept it all for the last trial, I’m sorry to disappoint but…I just can’t meet the bet you made. You’re too much…Nobody sane would have taken a gamble like that.” Seiki said with a distraught tone.

“Don’t let it crush you,” Erika then said, “You fought well, but got lax at the end. That is what we’re all here for, to learn and like Kei said, to make mistakes.” Walking over to Seiki, Erika offered her a hand.

“Also, this whole thing all rested upon one thing really.” Erika began as Seiki took her hand, raising her back up to her feet then.

“I know, Thorn, we relied on him too much.” Seiki added with a sigh.

“I made sure to only use enough blood to print the runic pattern onto his sleeve, I didn’t know what any more of that would have done to him. I also didn’t know if it would have been enough to make him lose control.” Erika admitted.

“You know, I was somewhat wondering, when you’d use that ability of yours again-” Gray mused.

“Wait…wait wait wait!” Lizbeth then exclaimed, suddenly grasping Erika by her shoulder and spinning her around, gripping Erika tightly by both shoulders as Lizbeth stared down at the ground. A tinge of blushing red visible on her cheeks. “S-So I said…a-al-al of t-tha-that! F-For w-wha-what!?”

Erika froze up, glancing away as she replied tentatively, “Uhm, we never heard anything?”

Lizbeth’s gaze rose to glare daggers into Erika’s paling face, “You heard nothing.”

“We heard nothing…” Erika nodded. As did Seiki as Lizbeth glanced at her.

“Oh! To reach that person!” Gray began to exclaim dramatically with a shit-eating grin, “To become his equa-”

“Silverhide!!” Lizbeth snarled as her face boiled up crimson before her form suddenly blurred, appearing beside Gray, her tomato red clenched fist found its perch dead-on into his chin, sending Gray rising up three feet off the ground with an expression that told of how unguilty he felt.

An expression of amusement that lasted beyond falling back down into the dirt and passing out there and then.

Sometime later…

“I think I get it now,” Gray said as he held a leaf with a cold mixture onto his chin, as he and the other recruits stood at attention and watched. Just like how all the successful traitors had to before, they now simply stood and watched, as the defeated dragged the boulder.

As Erika alone, struggled against the mud, pulling and pushing onto the ropes which held the great rock behind her.

“What do you understand, degenerate?” Lizbeth growled at him.

“This, is also a lesson.” Dust then spoke out, “We watch, as she who brought us victory, has to weight it all over her own back.”

“Hahah!-” Erika chuckled exasperatedly, “I thought! Nobody would have to! Do this!” She cried out.

“Oh, you thought, did you?” Kei grumbled, “You thought a lot of things today. Like how, you thought my generalization of treacherous, meant it was up to each one’s interpretation. Keep.Dragging.The.Rock.”

Chuckling once more at her own idiocy, Erika continued to struggle against the boulder many hundreds of times her own weight. Barely having moved it a few feet.

This is what I get, I guess, I should’ve asked her to specify…

Erika thought to herself, when she suddenly heard a sigh from beside her.

“You thought all of that up, but didn’t think it through quite enough did you?” Lizbeth asked as she took up a couple ropes off of Erika.

“Darkmane, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Kei demanded.

“Taking my part of the punishment for my many failures today.” Lizbeth responded, “This victory, I don’t accept it as solely our own.”

“Hm?” Kei hummed.

“Then I don’t either.” Dust claimed, also taking up two ropes dragging behind the boulder.

“Ahh, screw it.” Gray threw his leaf aside, picking up another stray rope, he joined them.

Then so did Tejil.

And Drun.

And Celest…

Kei watched, as one by one the entire row of recruits took up a rope and began to pull, all of them rushing ahead now as their joint strengths slid the boulder over the mud with great ease.

Briefly opening her mouth to say something, Kei stopped herself, and instead lightly grinned.

It seems that, our system has failed us, father. These recruits…They’re no drop outs to be fed to the front lines as fodder. These pups…

Kei sighed, glancing up at the midday sun, “They’re warriors.” She whispered to herself.

Looking back down at the lot then, “Hey, who told you to group up on one boulder? Get your damn own!” She exclaimed, and as all came to a sudden confused stop, each of them fell over into the mud.