“O-PHE-LIA! O-PHE-LIA! O-PHE-LIA!”

Loud chants rang in unison over the competition street as every challenger, gambler, and host stopped their work and circled the arm wrestling stand. With a giant giant for even giants lying breathless right next to them, a bewitchingly beautiful black-haired woman pitted her arms against a rowdy ravishing red-haired gentleman.

A smirk covered the woman’s face while the man grunted in desperation. Each minute pushed Ophelia’s hand further in and sent the crowd into an uproar! This woman had suddenly popped up and had absolutely wiped the floor with the stupendously powerful giant and was now even crushing the unpleasant redhead, she was their messiah!

As Vincent’s hand dropped lower and lower the crowd grew louder and louder. With a crash, Vincent’s hand fell on the table and the cheers apexed! Even the people who had bet on Vincent rejoiced, that man had just caused them that big a loss this whole time.

With graceful bows and exaggerated waves, Ophelia collected all the money while indulging in the excited crowd before leaving the cheery competition street alongside her two groaning companions.

“You really made work of us, huh? Using psychokinesis was unfair!” Vincent said.

“I agree! How can you pummel us so cruelly?” Vigsius chipped in.

Ophelia lightly shrugged and stuck her tongue out. “Not my fault you guys are weak-asses.”

Vincent was about to retort when a sudden wave of malicious energy hit him. Vincent and Ophelia jerked their head towards the central circle of Essen. There weren’t any visible changes in the lively festival, but their glares only got more intense.

“Say, where are the kids?” Vincent asked without turning his head.

“They went to explore on their own, I did put a barrier and alarm magic on all of them.”

As Vincent continued, a red tint suddenly spread all over the sky of Essen. “We better finish this fast then,” he said.

**

A child covered from head to toe in metallic armor walked alongside a slightly taller redhead at the central circle. Joanich’s face wasn’t visible, but he gave off an aura of having resigned himself to his face, whereas Astolfo had a giddy smile on his face.

“So, where next?” Joanich asked. His high-pitched voice had a hint of childishness that passed through his heavy armor.

“We did most of what I wanted to… What do you say, young knight? Which other place’s decorum do you need to check?”

“Uhh, is anything even left—”

An intense rumbling of the earth interrupted the two. Screams and shouts rang out as a strange dome of red mist burgeoned from the fountain in the middle of the central circle. The dome of mist shot into the sky and started spreading in all directions.

Stunned, many people near the fountain found themselves captured in the expanding dome. Within seconds, color faded from their skin and their bodies thinned like dried branches. The people ran towards the edge of the dome in a fluster but the mist inside made it impossible for them to breakthrough.

Incomprehensible fear gripped everyone in the central circle as they stared at the expanding mist with horror-struck eyes.

“A-a-AHHH!!” With a loud shriek as a cue, people returned to their senses and dashed away from the expanding mist.

“Let’s run, young knight!” Astolfo screamed and sprinted ahead, but his companion stayed hesitant.

“We-we have to help them!” Joanich muttered as the dome closed in on them. Most people had already passed by and the dome was just a few seconds away! Hearing him, Astolfo backtracked and grabbed the young knight before running again.

“Help them when you live!”

**

With a haggard white-robed magician on their back, Charlotte and Luka were headed towards the central circle to look for Astolfo when a red mist spread all over the sky.

“Woah…” Luka marveled as he followed the rising mist with his eyes. “What’s that?”

Charlotte and Truss also followed Luka’s sight when a loud shriek reached their ears.

“I guess that is no more festivities,” Charlotte said.

As the fleeing people neared the group, so did the red dome. Everyone who got caught in the portal immediately lost all color from their skins. Their life force was being sucked away! “Ah, um! Young miss, sir, this doesn’t look very good, we should move to the portal!” Truss said.

“Oh! Great idea, mister magician,” Charlotte commented as the three started jogging backward. At last, the city knights had appeared to investigate the dome and to help people evacuate. Charlotte pointed at the knights and exclaimed. “Luka!”

“Got it. I’ll tell the knights, so you bring the portal in the front!” Luka shouted as he changed his direction closed in on the retreating knights.

“W-wait! Where are you going? We should save ourselves first!” Truss was flabbergasted at the sudden turn of events. Within minutes of coming across a dangerous situation, these kids had already made a plan to help others without consulting him? The portal was a secret as well. Other’s couldn’t know about it!

Charlotte clicked her tongue and shook her head at the selfish magician. She grabbed the sleeves of his robes and urged him to run faster. “We are saving ourselves,” she said. “We are just helping others too while we are at it.”

**

Three robed figures charged ahead in unison. With their long swords, they circled Vincent from both sides and the front. Vincent narrowly avoided the swords from both sides as he stepped back. With a smirk, the one in front closed in and swung his sword with great force!

A loud swish resounded in the air…

…and the sword passed through Vincent.

“Hm, you guys are better than I expected,” Vincent said as he looked at the dumbfounded robed figures. He stomped on the low sword of the one that attacked him and broke the blade. Before they could realize what had happened, the two on the sides were knocked out with a kick in their faces.

The last-robed figure staggered backward as Vincent stepped towards him. He grabbed the robed figure’s broken sword with one hand and his collar with the other.

“What kind of evil cultists are you? Angra? Kimora?”

“Kuh! Vincent Kirsche… How-how can you be here…!” The man’s voice cracked and trembled as he spoke through gritted teeth. “I will never tell you anything!”

Vincent sighed and shook his head. “All you evil cultists have tight mouths, that’s the only good thing in you.” Then, his eyes narrowed. “It seems you are useless.”

—Swish

Vincent snatched the broken sword and chopped off the man’s head. Without waiting, he turned towards one of the houses and hurled the blade in the air. The sword sliced through the wind as it cut into the wall of the house and lodged itself in the neck of a hidden robed figure.

“Tsk. What a hassle,” Vincent said while stretching his arms. He looked around him.

The red mist was still ways away, though it was expanding very fast. He inspected it beforehand and was sure that unless someone was very old or chronically ill, they won’t die in there so soon. Next, he looked at the flying clouds of dust and the sight of a maniacal giant holding dozens of people in his hands while stomping on robed figures. Further away, hundreds of thousands of pebbles floated in the sky. Crashing down into the enemies at a speed faster than Vincent’s eye could see. The place Vigsius was headed to was the storehouse where the portal was located. The transport magician and his children had already secured it.

“Only the brat is missing… I should look for him—”

The earth rumbled!

As if a great seism had hit the city of Essen, the ground quaked and the red mist turned black! Vincent’s eyes darted all over the place before landing on the top of Viscount Essen’s estate outside the expanding mist. At its annex stood a noble personage with disheveled hair and trembling madder eyes.

“No way… the viscount is the one controlling this? A noble… evil?” Vincent’s eyebrows furrowed into a tight frown. He closed his eyes and wrapped himself in the red aura of his mana. His empty hand stretched outward in a sword stance.

“Come, Light Sword, Aelius!” A tempest of light erupted in Essen with Vincent at the very center. The incomprehensible mass of light compressed around Vincent’s hand and formed a majestic sword. For a second, everyone stopped in their tracks and stared at the bewildering spectacle in front of a legendary sword.

“Impossible! Aelius?! It can’t be…” The fearful voice of the wild noble reached Vincent’s ears.

With a cold glare, Vincent brandished his sword and rushed towards his enemy.

**

“Throw away your armor!!” Astolfo screamed at Joanich.

“H-how?” Joanich screamed back. They didn’t have a second of leeway! The red mist expanded with great speed and the two could not outrun it.

Astolfo looked back at Joanich… If he abandoned him, he could run a bit faster.

‘Shit! What am I thinking?’ Astolfo rebuked himself in his mind. He shook his head and focused in front of him again when the earth shook.

A great rumble spread over the ground, followed by a blinding beam of light.

“Ahk!” Astolfo shouted as a broken rock hit his feet, and he fell to the ground. Astolfo’s eyes widened. He tried to get up, but the debris had left a large deep gash in his leg.

The dome was still expanding.

He was done for.

Just as the ever-increasing mist touched his leg, he was lifted. The armor-clad Joanich had come back to help him!

Joanich roughly put Astolfo on his back and sprinted ahead again. He ran with all his might but was even slower than before. With loud, heavy breaths, Joanich summoned all the strength in his body and ran, but could not escape the expanding dome.

Flabbergasted, Astolfo looked at the knight in bewilderment before turning back towards the dome. The previously red chamber had turned black as it continued to greedily mow down all of the city. The people inside were in a much worse shape than before… They were dying.

Astolfo’s eyes lost their light as he slumped onto the back of the young knight. “No… what are you doing? Let go… save yourself.”

“I can’t, hah, hah… I am a knight. Didn’t you tell your mother I will protect you?” Joanich spat back.

Astolfo closed his eyes….

And they were engulfed within the dome.

As if every single cell in his body was being pulled out, Astolfo felt all the energy in him leave. His head was getting cloudy and his mouth dry. He could feel his shallow reserves of mana evaporating like droplets of water in a desert. With each passing second, it got hard to keep his eyes open and harder to even try. The dome of black had swallowed them whole long back. They were nowhere near the edge.

Yet, the knight continued running.

“I’ll protect you… I’ll protect you…” Joanich continued mindlessly. His speed was slower than that of a person’s walk now, but he didn’t stop. Onward, and onward, he ran and ran until he too, stumbled upon a broken rock.

The armor-clad young knight and the redhead on his back fell in a great fall, skidding all over the jagged streets of Essen.

“Haah… haah…” The mindless mutterings of the young knight had turned into weak sighs. The fallen Astolfo opened his eyes and looked at the armor-clad boy. His skin had dried off and his body was weak, eyes hollow and mouth sunken. When he saw it, a fear he had never felt before ate him. A fear he had never felt even with the memories of Astolfo.

A fear he had never felt but was painstakingly familiar with.

“I… I am going to die…” Astolfo said. “No… No, no no… I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die… No, no! No… die… no…”

Astolfo’s heart pumped in a craze and his mind ran. He was going crazy. The fear welled up his chest and choked his throat. How? It was so peaceful just minutes ago, and now he was going to die?

“No, this isn’t real… I don’t. I don’t. I don’t... I’ll die…!” Astolfo’s mutterings turned into welps. His heart sobbed, it cried, it was angry and scared. The emotions went up to his throat and clogged his tongue. He couldn’t breathe.

“What I will be teaching you today is a tier four magic spell that I have invented and tested myself. A spell that you can either use on yourself or someone else…”

Then, the words from his last dream came into his mind. It was as if he could hear Astolfo speaking to him.

“With the world at an apparent end. I hope my last teaching can buy someone even one more day of life.”

He could live. Yes, he could live.

“With my soul magic, I created a simple, but powerful spell. Whenever you are cornered with no way out. Just one person can reach a safe spot with this spell.”

Astolfo’s mind cleared away. His crazed heart came to a lull. His body moved on his own as he crawled towards the armor-clad young knight. He was in pain, but he couldn’t register it. His body, his self had become its own master as it pushed him towards the boy.

“There is just one condition to this spell. Just one thing you will need”

Astolfo yanked out Joanich’s helmet and placed his hand on his cheek. “I’m sorry…” he said. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry… I… I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.”

“You will have to sacrifice a soul.”

.

.

.

Inside the dark dome in Essen, a bright light shined, and an armor-clad child breathed his last.