Name: Sakura

Level: 7/25

Species: Water Nymph

HP:2100/2100 (2100/2100)

MP:2500/2500

SP:900/900

Offence:19

Defence:518

Magic Power:1119

Resistance:518

Speed:960

[Skills: Humming Lvl 2, Swimming Lvl 7, Appraise Lvl 3, Water Immunity, Night Vision Lvl 5, Ice Resistance Lvl 6, Camouflage Lvl 2, Fear Resistance Lvl 5, Foul Heart Lvl 1, Water Barrier Lvl 2, Water Slicer Lvl 2, Life Dew Lvl 1, Hyrdomancy Lvl 1, Oceanic Blessing Lvl 1, Pain Resistance Lvl 1, Heat Resistance Lvl 1, Magic Perception Lvl 1]

[Titles: The Last of Her Kind, Hybrid Species, Blood Sucker, Guardian of The Ocean]

[Skill Points: 130]

[Follower Count: 23]

BOOM!

He ran down the dirt pathway with aching legs and difficulty swallowing. He clenched his jaw, gripping the axe at his side with clammy hands as his lifeline to his sanity. The smoke-filled his lungs, making him cough uncontrollably but he still carried on. The scent of burning flesh and wood kept his muscles functioning. The screams of terror filled his heart with dread as the sky darkened with ominous clouds.

BOOM!

He could see the burning village up ahead, subject to lightning strikes and scorching flames from the monstrous bird. ‘The tribe, mother, everyone!’ He darted through the gates and grabbed the first person he saw and bared his teeth.

“We have to try and get everyone to the beach!” He yelled angrily, ‘Try to take many people with as possible. Now, GO!” Earning a confirmation from the tribesmen, he darted off through the village. He jumped over burning logs, side-stepped falling embers, all to reach his home.

He looked up, noticing Zellel halted its attack, and was circling the mountain. He was relieved and continued to send anyone he saw towards the beach. He turned a corner, intent on reaching his house to get his mother out of the village.

“MOTHER!” He screamed as he set his sights on his burning house that collapsed. “NO!” He jumped towards the flaming house before he was pulled back by strong hands. “Get the fuck off of me!”

“Micah, you can’t its too late!” Kai yelled, struggling to hold back the flailing man. He grunted, taking an elbow to the stomach but refused to let go.

“MOTHER!” He sobbed, his brown eyes locked onto the scorched hand beneath the rubble. He stopped his struggle, falling to his knees along with Kai. His face contorts, pain filling his entire being. He could only stare at the hand that was burnt to crisp. This where the door used to be, so when he thought about how she tried to escape but didn’t make it in time, it tore his heart to shreds.

Kai released his hold and stood up behind him. “I’m sorry man, when I got here it was too late,” Kai said softly, his tone despairing.

Micah remained silent, tears rolling down his cheeks. The screams and lightning strikes that happened behind him were of no consequence anymore. He felt world-weary, miserable, and angry at himself, at the people and the guardians.

“Didn’t you say the guardians are back? Maybe they will help us!” Kai said optimistically.

He ignored Kai.‘Its all my fault.’ He fell into an abyss of self-loathing and destructive thoughts that rapidly consume him. Even when he was pulled to safety he was lifeless, wallowing in his darkness as his heart cried out of for his mother.

‘Mama, I’m so sorry. I couldn’t save you.’

“LOOK, up there! It's the guardians!” Kai suddenly yelled, pointing in the sky at a moving dirt platform.

Micah slowly looked up, his eyes widened slightly before he looked away. They were too late, his mother was dead and the guardians who were supposed to protect them came when many more had already died. He didn’t care about them anymore.

“So what, they’re too late.” He whispered.

When they reached the village, it was raining embers and ash, and she couldn’t look down at the village any longer. It was the first time seeing it and she could only see it in this state. She looked away from the burning village, not willing to look at the corpses that littered the grassy floor.

She could feel the tension building in the air between the three of them as they neared their target and couldn’t help but feel dread. She didn’t know why but she had a bad feeling about this entire situation. He glanced at her quiet companions and she wondered if they felt the same.

“We will attack altogether and overwhelm it!” Saundi told them, leaving no room for argument, “it's us three against it.”

“Right!” Aster replied in earnest.

Sakura was unable to stand still and tapped her fingers rhythmically on her leg. “Are you sure-” She started but stopped herself.

Saundi looked at her. “What is it?”

She shook her head. “Its nothing.”

“We’re here,” Saundi said as they confronted the lightning bird.

‘Appraise!’

Name: Zellel

Level: 20/30

Species: Lightning Bird

HP:9500/9500

MP:8000/8000

SP:5000/5000

[Lightning Bird: This is one of the mythical creatures of mainland Eden. It can summon lightning bolts from its body to strike those in its path. When it descends from the sky, the dark clouds roll in, as if a lightning storm is approaching.]

The physically imposing, blue, and yellow, white-eyed creature filled the air with palpable menace. When Sakura first appraised the bird, she thought, ‘It’s really strong.’ The power that radiated from the bird was like standing too close to a bonfire, however, it wasn’t as near powerful as the world serpent who was eons apart in terms of power.

‘The bird is really strong!” Aster blurted out, her eyes darting from Saundi to Sakura, “What do we do?”

Saundi grimaced. “With the three of us working together, we can win!” Sakura heard the uncertainty in his voice and felt relieved that someone felt the same way she did.

Zellel didn’t move from its position in the air, and she only heard the thunderous sound of its attack, blue lighting streaking across the sky. She found herself airborne, the stone platform crumbling beneath them, and glanced at her companions who had the look of shock spread across their faces.

Then she fell, the wind whipping her watery hair wildly behind her.

Saundi roared in frustration, thrusting his hands downward. From the corner of her eye, she could see the debris from the previous platform reformed immediately into another platform but smaller. They barely had time to land on the platform before Saundi shouted orders.

“Sakura, Aster, you both attack Zellel,” He knelt on the platform, looking back at them, “I’ll try to keep us out of harm’s way.”

“Got it!” Aster replied, preparing herself for an attack. Aster thrust her misty palms forward and several beams of pale light shot from her hands, locking onto the lightning bird, like homing missiles they chased it relentlessly.

Zellel screeched, blue lightning enveloping its body before spreading its large with outwards and with a powerful flap, propelled itself towards them with incredible speed. It zoomed to the left, then to the right, then it barrels rolled downwards towards the village, its wings tucked safely to its side as electricity crackled all over its body. Just before it reached the ground, it spreads its wings and disappeared in a bright flash, leaving blue lightning in its wake.

BOOM!

The beams rained down on the village in repeated explosions, decimating what remained of the village. Zellel appeared in the air again, following them with its beak wide open. A shrill sound reached their ears as Zellel amassed magical energy in its mouth before shooting a thunderous beam that crackled with electricity from its mouth.

He cursed, dipping and weaving through the air to dodge the charged attack. “SAKURA, ATTACK!” Saundi angrily yelled as he maneuvered the platform the best.

Feeling the gravity of the situation and her lack of experience, she randomly slashed her hands downwards, releasing a blade of water that missed the bird entirely. Sakura cursed before desperately attacking with several more blades of water, each missing their mark.

‘Just one hit!’ Sakura screamed inwardly.

“He’s too nimble,” Aster cried out, stopping her attacks altogether, “and we still need to conserve our MP.

“I’ll try to send it to sleep with my voice,” Sakura declared, stopping her failing attacks, “keep it distracted, Aster!”

“Make it fast!” Aster yelled before attacking once more.

She narrowed her eyes at the bird, preparing to unleash her devastating voice. She took a deep breath but she wasn’t so lucky this time and it got stuck in her throat. It was like he predicted her strategy and flashed away, leaving their magical perception off-kilter.

They didn’t have any time to react as the stone platform suddenly imploded. Sakura could only see a blue flash in her vision only for a second before she screamed, electricity dancing across her body and sending her mind into a frenzy The pain overwhelmed her so much that she couldn’t think about what do next and only focus on the pain.

‘It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts so bad!’

[Pain Resistance Lvl 2]

[Lighting Resistance Lvl 1]

They all fell in the village and luckily she landed in the village lake with a loud splash, sinking to the bottom of the lake. She was unable to move her body that was numb from the lighting attack and laid at the bottom of the lake unmoving. A few minutes passed and she was finally able to move somewhat. She brought a hand to her mouth and an aquamarine droplet entered her mouth and instantly the pain she felt from the attack lessened but not by much.

[Life Dew Lvl 2]

She was the inexperienced one out of the three of them, completely clueless. This battle only proved that all of her other battles were due to luck. Those who she fought could’ve killed her easily, her life ended just as easy as she came to this world.

‘What do I do now?’ She thought helplessly, staring at the cute gold-colored fish who swam up to her and blinked at her with its beady eyes. She reached out, caressing it slightly, and whispered. ‘What should I do now, fishy?”

“SAKURA, GET OUT HERE NOW!”

The waterfall near her muffled the sound of everything going on above but she still heard Saundi calling her name. The fish swam around her happily before pulling her hair with its mouth. Sakura giggled at its antics.

“You want me to go and fight?” She asked and the fished nudged her cheek in confirmation. “You’re right, they still need my help.” She quickly opened up the menu, checking her status.

Name: Sakura

Level: 7/25

Species: Water Nymph

HP:2100/2100 (500/2100)

MP:1900/1900

SP:600/900

‘Three more attacks from that bird and I’m done for.’ She thought after confirming the state of her HP. She scrolled furthermore and her eyes widened at the skill points she accumulated. She opened the shop, hoping to get a skill or title that could help her.

[Water MP Auto-Conversion Lvl 1: With this skill the user automatically absorbs water into their body and converts it into MP. Cost: 100 Points.]

[Water Unity Lvl 1: This user becomes one with any body of water. Furthermore, creatures will be less aggressive or even lose their aggressiveness against the user altogether. The user can sense and feel the living creatures and possibly their emotions from the entire world. Cost: 20000]

[Icy Wind Lvl 1: The user releases a blast of ice-cold wind that may freeze the opponent. However, without Ice Immunity the user will damage themselves with each use. Cost: 100]

[Water Dancer Lvl 1: This skill allows the user to become more nimble and elegant underwater, increasing their evasion. Cost: 100]

[Water User: This title increases the power of water-based attacks. Cost: 100]

Sakura read through the options quickly and without a thought, she bought the Water User title. Though useful, the other skills weren't like titles that sometimes give you extra skills for earning a title.

[New Title Acquired: Water User]

[New Skills Acquired: Surging Body Lvl 1, Water Control Lvl 1]

[Surging Body Lvl 1: The user absorbs water which dramatically increases their size and doubles total stamina points.]

[Water Control Lvl 1: Allows the user to freely manipulate water.]

Desperate to provide any help at all, she started absorbing the water into her body and her body started slowly growing in size. She wore a tight-lipped smile and zeroed in on Zellel’s magical signature.

Saundi felt like time distorted, seeing Zellel moving so fast and leaving after images while sending out bolts of lightning in a barrage of death. He cartwheeled to the right, dodging the attack that scorched the earth where he previously stood. He darted across the village, swerving behind smoking houses as he lighting strikes became more prominent behind him. Sensing the impending danger behind him, he dug his earthen feet into the ground before dive straight into the earth, his melding with the earth.

‘That bird is too strong!’ Saundi thought as he swam through the earth while keeping track of the bird with his magical perception. When he emerged from the earth, his lower body still merged with the earth, as if sensing him instantly, Zellel lashed out with a bolt of lightning.

Saundi slammed his palms into the ground – causing the ground to tremble – and his fingers sunk into the ground. He stretched his jaws wide open, aiming his gaping maw at the lightning bird and unleashed a large stream of dirt, rocks, and bits of metal from his mouth. The magical attacks collided, exploding and sharp shrapnel flew through the air, hitting and stunning the lightning bird momentarily.

‘I got you now!” Saundi roared before firing off another blast.

Suddenly, Aster rushed and jumped towards the bird with her misty hand, turned misty scythe, She slashed horizontally with her scythe, leaving a streak of pale light, hoping to decapitate the bird or damage it severely.

Zellel screeched as if predicting her attack and flashed upwards and dodging the deadly attack. She sliced through the air, an expression of shock on her face. However, before she can land on the ground, dirt, rocks, and bits of metal occupied her vision.

She screamed.

She only felt immense pain from her side and she was thrown across the village and over the lake in the other section of the village. She crashed into a house and her mist body instantly dispersed, leaving the area foggy.

Saundi clenched his fist and cursed Aster secretly in his heart. “Dammit, I almost had him!” He yelled before sinking back into the ground just as lighting seared the earth where he was. He already recognized their greatest weaknesses, which was Aster and Sakura’s inexperience. If he had proper companions then maybe the could win but he didn’t and was stuck with two inexperienced women.

He was the one who read all those reincarnation novels in his past life and has an idea of how to navigate somewhat and just like in those novels he was going to be the hero of this world. The male protagonist always overcomes strong villains like this in the novels and to do that they always had that one cheat skill. He opened his menu and looked at the skill list and smirked.

[Gemstoner Lvl 3: This title grants the user the ability to harness the powerful magic of magical gems by amalgamating the gem into the user’s body which doubles the user’s MP temporarily. However, doing this puts the user in a drug-induced state afterward for a few minutes due to the intense increase of magical energy.]

[Gemstone Beam Lvl 2: This skill can only be used after Gemstoner has been used. The user attacks with a powerful magical beam that changes attribute type depending on the gem used.]

He had collected five magical gems so far; two ruby gems and three aquamarine gems. He forced a ruby gem from inside his body to protrude from his chest and began the amalgamating process. He swam through the earth until he reached the surface and slowly emerged from the ground. The ruby glowed a bright red and suddenly red lines sprang from the gem and ran over his body. His now red eyes gleamed, ruby gems forming all over his body, and his magical power increasing dramatically.

Zelle screeched, flying towards Saundi with a body crackling with electricity and incredible speed. The earth nymph aimed his gaping mouth at the bird, amassing magical energy in his throat. Zellel reached him in record time with its lightning speed.

Then he released it.

An ear-splitting red super-heated beam scorched the earth, enveloping Zellel, and completely wiping out what was left of the buildings and the surrounding forest. His eyes widened as he saw Zellel appeared to his right side from the corner of his eye and unharmed. He turned, moving the beam with him, cutting through the earth and trees to catch Zellel in the attack. He didn’t care if he destroyed everything, he wanted to hit the bird once. The red beam tore through the earth, leaving flames in its wake. However, Zellel continued to evade flawlessly with its’ superior speed and lightning-fast reflexes.

‘STOP RUNNING DAMMIT!’ Saundi thought angrily before ducking his head, directing the beam to hit the ground in front of him.

BOOM!

The attack exploded in his face, surrounding the area in a flurry of flames, catching the lightning bird, surprisingly. Saundi dropped to his hands and knees, watching the red, now transparent ruby gem fall to the ground. He panted loudly, his body steaming from the attack he inflicted on himself to catch the bird. If it wasn’t for the fact that he gained Fire Immunity temporarily when he amalgamated the gem, he could’ve killed himself.

Zellel screeched and flew out from the smoke, taking to the skies with only a few burns but otherwise unharmed.

“Shit!” Saundi cursed, glaring at Zellel before his eyes glazed over and a smile presented itself. “I’m just going to lay here for the bit.” He fell over on his back, staring wide-eyed into the sky with a happy expression. "The sky is so blue." He giggled.

Aster was on all fours, panting as her misty body re-formed. She glared at Saundi who was laughing and smiling while on his back. ‘What is wrong with him?’ Aster thought before standing up. She could see Zellel going in for the kill on Saundi and rushed towards him.

She wanted to curse the earth nymph since he was the reason she’s in her current condition. She gathered a swirling ball of mist in her hand, launched it towards the earth nymph. The mist ball exploded above the nymph and covered him in a dome of mist that protected him. She attacked the bird with her scythe once more but missed when Zellel dodged and retaliated with several lightning bolts. The scythe transformed back into her arm and she thrust her arms forwards, shooting several beams of light from her palms.

She ran sideways across the battleground, shooting beams that collided with each of the lightning bolts. The attacks caused continuous resounding explosions. When the attacks ended, only smoke remained and they both ended up near the lake. She sucked in a deep breath, ready to unleash another attack but was interrupted as the lake exploded. A pillar of water shot upwards into the sky like a roaring dragon and then an angry colossal face burst from the pillar with a roar.

Aster went wide-eyed and slack-jawed. “SAKURA?!”

Sakura’s colossal form emerged from the water with her torso being the only visible part of her body with the rest submerged. “Aster, get out of the way now!” Sakura yelled and swung both her large arms towards the bird. Aster heeded her words and jumped back several steps, avoiding the incoming attack.

Zellel darted upwards, dodging that hands that produced a thunderous clap and exploded in a rain of water. Its body crackled wildly with electricity and shot several bolts of lightning in rapid succession. A thin, aquamarine film rose quickly from the ground in front of the lake forming a barrier in front of her. The electricity danced across the water, making a hissing sound, before going directly into the ground.

Her face contorted with fury. “Let’s see you dodge this!” She raised her arm and slashed in downwards. Unaware of the mass of water that was in the air, a drenching downpour of water bludgeoned Zellel from above, the weight of it pushing it to the ground.

Zellel screeched and crashed into the ground with his feathers fully drenched. It glared at her, screeching as it flopped around, unable to fly. She smirked and wasted no time in following up with another attack. Her watery hair rose behind her, coiling like snakes and lashed out towards the lighting bird. Tendrils whistled in the air, speeding towards the bird, ready to impale it. However, her attack never connected as a stream of dirt stopped her attack and exploded right about the vulnerable lightning bird. Sakura cursed and followed where the attack came from.

“What are you doing, Saundi?!” Aster yelled, pissed off by his sudden attack that stopped Sakura's blow.

“What am I doing?!” Saundi yelled, glaring at Sakura. “Didn’t you see me attacking first?!”

“Saundi you-”

“Sakura watch out!”

Sakura only heard Aster yell her name until it was drowned out by a thunderous sound. Her mind went numb, unable to realize the earth-shattering scream she let out. Her vision went blurry as tears filled her eyes. The deep agonizing pain seemed to be amplified due to her body being made of water. She didn’t see when the bird dried itself by using its lightning and escaping to the sky.

[Lighting Resistance Lvl 2]

Though she gained another level in lightning resistance, it didn’t make the pain hurt any less. She fell back, crashing through the waterfall and into the base of the mountain. The rocky surface crumbled beneath her back by the force of her body and she fell through. Her body returned to its’ original size the moment she hit the ground. The water nymph laid on the ground – waiting for the numbness to disappear – and panted. ‘This fucking hurts,’ She cursed as tears pricked at her eyes, ‘and I’m really scared.’

[Fear Resistance Lvl 6]

She opened her eyes – blinking away the tears – and found herself in a familiar room. She slowly got up from the dirt mound she was laying on and looked around with astonishment written on her face. ‘This is that same room where I met Saundi and Aster.’ She thought before noticing that the platform was gone and in its place was a hole spiral stairs.

She approached the stairs carefully before looking down inside and a strong magical signature filled her senses. The walls going down were littered with aquamarine gems that produced a soft flickering glow, unlike the steady glow it usually had.

Two figures landed next to her, looking as exhausted as she was. “What happened to Zellel?” Sakura asked, still looking down in the hole.

“It suddenly disappeared after it attacked you,” Aster continued after sighing, “so we came here looking for you. But something strange was happening outside when Zellel disappeared-”

“This was beneath the platform this whole time?” Saundi interrupted, looking troubled, “we should go down now. I can feel it, something is happening with the island.” He quickly created a stone platform and they all hopped on, “hold on tight.”They huddled together as they flew down the hole, forgoing the stairs altogether.

"What do you mean something is happening with the island?" Aster questioned him but he remained silent.

When they reached the bottom, they entered a room where the walls were completely covered in aquamarine gems. Sakura jumped off the platform looking at the weakening light the gems were giving off and felt like something very wrong happened.

“There he is!” Saundi pointed at a man standing in front of a stone table at the center of the room.

“You’re too late, guardians.” The man turned around with a red gem that shined brightly in his hand. He smirked, stuffing the gem in his pocket before running a hand through his hair. “This is the end.” The gems in the wall suddenly turned transparent and the room turned dark but they could all still see because of night vision.

Sakura froze and stared with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. She looked around the room frantically and it all see to come back to her. This happened, this moment, she saw it in her vision. She recalled when she tried hydromancy and saw that exact moment. She looked between the man who stepped away from the table and the transparent gem was tossed aside before fully focusing on him.

‘Appraise!’

Name: Syn

Level: ????

Species: ?????

HP:13000/13000

MP:15000/15000

SP:9000/9000

“Who are you? Where is Jiandbo?!” Saundi interrogated with an enraged tone. He took a step forward but Aster gripped his shoulder.

“He’s not Jidanbo,” Aster trembled, sucked in a breath, and stepped back, “his name is Syn and he’s really strong.”

Syn looked surprised for a moment before he laughed. “Oh wow, you have the appraisal skill,” He laughed, “lucky for me, I have a special item that blocks that skill from seeing some information and for the record, the real Jidanbo is dead and has been for a while.”

“Dead?” Sakura questioned as dread filled her body.

“He’s been dead for a while now,” Syn shrugged in an uncaring way, “I just borrowed his skin for a little while.”

Saundi growled. “What did you do to the island?”

Syn titled his head to the side and smirked. “You must be new guardians….hmm….very interesting and unexpected but I’ll tell you anyway. This island is one giant aquamarine gem, accumulating magic over the years until me, that is. There is enough magic in this red gem,” he patted his pocket, “to destroy an entire continent. Now that I have what I need, this island is going to slowly die, the trees, the surrounding creatures, the people, they’re all connected to this rock spiritually due to living here for so long.”

“This can’t be true.” Sakura was in disbelief. This couldn't be the real reason this island has guardians but she couldn't deny anything as she didn't have much information.

“I was only to execute this so fast because of Zellel. I’m surprised, though, that you’re this weak,” He looked at Sakura with gleaming eyes, “I could kill you now but it would be so much more fun to let you wallow in the aftermath of it all or I can kill you two and take the water nymph as my…..pet but I’d rather let you all suffer.”

“We need to get that gem!” Saundi snapped, rushing towards with loud footsteps that caused mini-quakes in the cave.

Syn laughed and waved at Sakura. “Goodbye, my little guardian.” Then the space behind him warped and he vanished.

“Did you hear what he said?” Aster said quietly after a while, “The people….the island.”

“FUCK!” Saundi cursed, glaring at where Syn stood, “dammit, it wasn’t supposed to be like this!”

Sakura stared at the gem on the stone table before wrapping her arms around herself and looked at the rocky floor. When she first entered the room, she sensed the last bit of magic leave that gem on the table and didn’t know if the others noticed. “We might have a way to save the island.” She said with a complicated expression, earning surprising looks from her companions.

“How?” Saundi demanded, stalking over to her with anger-filled eyes.

She sighed, ignoring him and walked towards the gem on the table. “If we combine our magic or what is left of it and pour it into this gem,” she paused and turned to them, “we should be able to save the island until we can find a more powerful magic source to give it the energy it needs.”

“Then let’s do it,” Aster walked up to the table, agreeing with Sakura “we have nothing else to lose.”

“Fine,” Saundi replied, looking aggrieved as if someone wronged him.

They gathered around the gem with their hands outstretched and started pouring all their magic into the gem. The gem rose off the table, hovering just above the surface and started with a dim light. Sakura started panting almost immediately, her magic ready to give out.

“We’re too low on magic, Sakura.” Aster panted tiredly.

“Keep going!” Sakura hissed, forcing everything she had into the gem.

“I’m almost out of magic.” Saundi groaned, his earthen hands trembling.

Sakura pleaded to whatever god or force brought them here as she thought about the tribe who depended on them. She thought about the coral reef and all the beautiful creatures that lived there. She lowered her head, her lips quivering as water droplets fell from her eyes onto the table and she began to spill everything she felt.

“When I first came to this world, I was shocked, unprepared, and unwilling. I wanted to go back home, to my old life, but I had to survive. Those four words, “I have to survive” kept me going and was my lifeline. After meeting Micah, seeing how much he believed in us, how hard he worked, I can’t help but think, “that it’s my duty as a guardian”.

I didn’t even want to become a guardian in the first place. Being responsible for so many lives is an incredibly tough job and now it's our fault that the village is destroyed and that so many people are dead. The island is now dying because we were too late yet that doesn’t matter because no matter which path we chose,” she recalled her vision and their decision to save the villagers, “we would’ve lost in the end or maybe even die.

I was scared, so scared that if we fight this battle we’ll lose our lives. I’ve been trying to hang on to this life since I arrived here, struggling and getting lucky. If we die here, saving this island, I won’t regret it but if we survive, I promise to not only get stronger but rebuild this village, no this island, into something spectacular. I don’t want it to be just surviving anymore. I want to live, live long enough to get back our lives.”

No one uttered a word after her confession, their faces bearing contemplative expressions. Sakura sighed, feeling a little lighter after her confession and smiled contentedly.

[Warning: Are you willing to sacrifice your levels to supply the gem with magic? Y/N]

Aster yelped, almost snatching her back from the crystal. “Did you guys get a notification as well?”

“Yes,” Sakura responded, “we should-”

“I say we do it,” Saundi interrupted, “we can always regain levels in the future.”

Sakura briefly glanced at the man who refused to look at her or Aster before clicking ‘Yes’. She could feel the difference in her body almost instantly. Magic was flowing out of her at a rapid rate and into the gem that seemed to be flickering with life. Aster was the first to fall unconscious when the magic stopped coming from her. Sakura looked at Saundi with half-lidded eyes who was next to fall over. The gem flared to life with weak light, causing her to smile before she fell back from exhaustion and magic depletion. She panted, laying on her back and barely managed to open the menu.

Name: Sakura

Level: 1/25 (-7)

Species: Water Nymph

HP:1500/1500 (1500/1500) (-600)

MP:2000/2000 (-500)

SP:800/800 (-100)

Offense:19

Defense:218 (-300)

Magic Power:519 (-600)

Resistance:218 (-300)

Speed:360 (- 600)

[23 devout followers lost: Follower Count: 0]

Tears pricked at her eyes. ‘I’m back at square one.’ She thought, her vision growing dark. She knew Micah wasn’t dead and if she lost him as a follower, someone as dedicated as him, then she knew it would be so much harder to gain the trust of everyone again. Maybe, it was finally the end of the guardians.

‘I’m sorry, Micah.’ She thought sadly.

Then she fell into darkness.