April 3rd

Year 2120

City of Rarbeng

Kingdom of Fergahn, Gartaena

Kayline and the rest of the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team rode out of the city of Rarbeng, having bought all the provisions and supplies they needed. As it was almost nighttime already, they considered staying in the city of Rarbeng for the night, but both because of the Crimson Ruby and the need to keep tracking the Transmutator, they decided to leave and sleep later somewhere along the road. They started riding in the twilight back towards where Salvatore had last seen the Transmutator’s footprints, but after a few minutes of riding, they saw a strange figure in the distance.

It looked like some kind of hyena, except it was way bigger and completely black. It was half-walking on all fours and half-stumbling through the landscape. The distorting light of the twilight gave it an eerie, ominous, and horrifying look. From afar it almost looked as if it was grinning, its sharp white fangs forming a stark contrast with the rest of its pitch-black body.

Suddenly, Kayline realized what Rarbeng’s walls were for. It was made to keep these things out. The city of Rarbeng was one of the cities that was farthest south in the kingdom of Fergahn, and south of the kingdom of Fergahn lay the Southern Wastes. That was where this thing came from. It was…

“...A shadow monster,” Kayline said aloud, feeling a chill run down her spine. Of course. The closer they got to the creator of these things’ fortress, the more they would encounter. This would just get worse and worse.

“...I thought they were just fairy tales…” Salvatore whispered.

Kayline thought the same. Of course, she had heard countless stories about the shadow monsters, but she had never thought them to be actually real. This shadow monster, along with the now-forming mist around it, had a surreal aura to it, something abnormal. Unnatural.

“Now this is an interesting detail you forgot to mention about your hometown, Jarleren,” said Sir Grendar in an accusatory tone.

“We should go. Now!” said Salvatore, alarmed.

“Stop!” exclaimed Jarleren in a whisper. “They’re like dogs. If you stay still and pretend to be calm, they probably won’t notice you.”

But it was too late. Salvatore had already spurred his horse, and it started riding desperately in the opposite direction.

“You can’t outrun a shadow monster,” muttered Jarleren. “Even if you manage to run or ride faster than it, you’ll eventually tire. They’re not natural. They’re not organic. They’re killing machines, created for destruction by the Transmutators during the Transmutation War. They do not tire. You can’t outrun a shadow monster. All that’s left to do… is fight.”

So, Kayline, Sir Grendar, and Jarleren dismounted from their horses, fearfully preparing their weapons. Salvatore returned with his horse hesitantly and dismounted to join them.

“Don’t let it get the horses,” Sir Grendar warned. “They have no means of defending themselves, and catching the Transmutator without horses will be nigh impossible.”

“It seems like it hasn’t seen us, though…” muttered Salvatore.

As if on queue, the shadow monster suddenly turned its head towards them. Kayline’s heart skipped a beat. It stared at them for a few tense seconds, without moving, as a hunter would stalk its prey right before springing into action. The world was in absolute silence, and it seemed like the animals and insects themselves also feared the presence of the shadow monster. After what seemed like an eternity, the shadow monster sprang towards them, running and quickly covering the distance between the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team and itself.

They prepared their weapons and braced for the attack. As Kayline crossed her swords in front of her, ready to block, Sir Grendar rushed forward. Sir Grendar’s steel armor was told to be one of the best—if not the best— suits of armor in the kingdom of Fergahn, making him almost completely impossible to damage, but still, it required an enormous amount of courage to just run off into a shadow monster’s jaw.

Sir Grendar swung his Bladesmasher with a roar, attacking the shadow monster vertically on the jaw. The shadow monster also attacked forward to bite Sir Grendar, and the two objects collided with a fearful shriek, but neither seemed to give way. For a shadow monster’s bare jaw to stand firm against the legendary Bladesmasher was just frightening. The jaw was cut by several inches in the place in which the Bladesmasher was pressing, but no more. The shadow monster then savagely struck with its left clawed paw at Sir Grendar, but as Sir Grendar still had his greatsword locked with the shadow monster’s jaw, he wasn’t able to swing it in order to block the second attack. Salvatore fired two arrows at the shadow monster in an attempt to stop the attack, but they did nothing. Of course. If a full-on greatsword attack did no damage, a few arrows would have no chance.

He instead raised his shoulder for his shoulder plate to receive the hit instead of his neck, and the sharp claws slashed at the armor with an ear-splitting screech, leaving deep cuts in the steel but fortunately not damaging Sir Grendar’s body. During the whole time, the shadow monster kept pushing his jaw against the Bladesmasher ferociously and roaring, not leaving Sir Grendar any time to rest or get out of the way. The shadow monster then raised his right clawed paw to strike once again, and Kayline sprung into action. She stood between Sir Grendar and the shadow monster’s right paw, crossed her swords, and blocked the attack.

The shadow monster felt strange to her swords. It didn’t have neither hair nor feathers, and it didn’t even feel like skin. It felt like some kind of extremely hard plastic, hard to the touch but without any texture. Still, it was enormously strong, and Kayline pushed her longswords to her left, deflecting the attack.

“Do you think you can hold on there a little longer?” Kayline called over to the trapped Sir Grendar.

“I don’t have much of a choice,” he muttered back.

“Not really,” she agreed, disengaging from the shadow monster and circling it from the side.

Once Kayline was relatively free from its forward weapons, she slashed twice at its body, testing its durability. Each slash bit several inches into the shadow monster’s body, but considering how immense the beast was, it looked like it’d take a year to actually kill it at that pace. And, needless to say, they didn’t have that much time. She kept slashing, biting ever further into the shadow monster’s body, but it didn’t seem as if it was actually doing any damage. And Sir Grendar was holding on, but he was clearly tired now, and as Jarleren had said, the shadow monster did not tire. They had to do something, and quick.

At that moment, Kayline saw Jarleren sprinting towards the back of the shadow monster, holding his dagger.

What is he doing? she wondered. That dagger of his will deal no damage against a monster like this. But then, Jarleren jumped onto a rock, and then on top of the shadow monster. He held on to the savage shadow monster as a rider would hold on to a wild horse, and started to quickly crawl forward. When he got near the shadow monster’s ever-moving head, he raised his dagger high over his head and stabbed down. Of course, the small blade slipped from the shadow monster’s thick skin, doing no damage, but then Jarleren kept stabbing again and again and again, achieving always the same result. But then, Jarleren stabbed on a certain spot, and the blade bit deep, making the shadow monster roar in agony. Then, Kayline understood.

His eyes! Jarleren had been looking for the beast’s eyes. Even though the shadow monster’s skin was almost impenetrable by normal weapons, there were some spots, like its eyes, that weren’t. Still, as its eyes were also pitch-black, along with the mist of the sunset, they were indistinguishable from the rest of the body, so Jarleren had had to try several times before achieving his goal. Then, Jarleren stabbed again, several inches left of the monster’s right eye, and the monster roared in agony once more. It let go of Sir Grendar and raised its head sharply, trying to throw Jarleren off its back, and Salvatore took advantage of the opportunity. He fired three simultaneous arrows at the shadow monster’s mouth, all three of which entered the mouth and bit deep into its inside skin.

The shadow monster gurgled in pain, trying to cough out the arrows, and Sir Grendar prepared his Bladesmasher. He thrust it inside the shadow monster’s mouth with a roar, and it fully pierced the beast from the inside, its tip emerging from its back a foot next to where Jarleren was still crouched. The shadow monster roared once more, then fell to the ground and stayed still. Interestingly enough, the shadow monster didn’t shed any kind of blood, but Kayline ignored that and just sat down, catching her breath.

“They’ll get more common as we travel south,” Jarleren said, sheathing his dagger.

“You okay?” Kayline asked Sir Grendar.

“Yes, I am. My armor is cut in several places though, but it’s still usable. I’m not hurt, though. Luckily, the horses are unscathed too,” he replied. “This is another proof of the threat the Transmutator poses,” he finally added in a grave voice, frowning.

The Transmutator we’re hunting had nothing to do with the shadow monsters, Kayline thought, but she wasn’t in the mood for arguing, so she remained quiet.

After that, they kept riding for about half an hour, then set camp. Even though they knew where the Transmutator was headed, it was better to follow him directly just in case, to kill him before he got to the fortress. Therefore, they could only travel during the day, when they could actually see his tracks. They didn’t light any fires, though, in order to not attract the attention of any more unwanted dangers, and after deciding the guard shifts, went to sleep.

The next day, they headed back towards where they had last seen the Transmutator’s tracks with no problem, and after about a few minutes of searching, Salvatore found them again. Because of the delay the shadow monster and the night had caused them, the tracks seemed more faded now, but still, he managed to find them easily. The rest of the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team could barely see some marks on the ground on irregular intervals, but Salvatore recognized them all as tracks and guided them with expertise through the tracks.

“You are an incredible tracker,” Sir Grendar pointed out. “Your family must be proud.”

“I wish that were the case,” answered Salvatore, without looking at them.

“What do you mean?”

“I started honing my skills way too late. For the first twenty-or-so years of my life, I did nothing productive at all, just enjoying the wealth that my family, House Arneret, had. But their patience, of course, ended. They started treating me terribly, being ashamed of me being their son. They dishonored me, calling me a lazy good-for-nothing profiteer. That’s why I decided to become an adventurer, to bring honor to my name and gain a place among my household once more. And, what more glorious job is there than putting an end to the last Transmutator?”

So, every member of the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team had a tragic story, to some extent, Kayline reasoned. Well, it made sense. Happy people in happy families didn’t feel the need to go out and hunt world-ending ancient menaces. Still, they all had hopes, dreams, and objectives. They were determined to stop the Transmutator, whatever it took.

Merdilen suddenly woke up. It was still early morning, but he woke up anyway, feeling some kind of heavy presence. He recognized it almost immediately. A shadow monster. He sat upwards, looking around nervously. They were in some kind of plains, with Alvoren Vandmorn still sleeping in his bedroll several feet from him, but there were no shadow monsters to be seen anywhere. Still, the feeling was unmistakable. Somewhere to the east, relatively near them, was a shadow monster. He stood up, and without bothering to eat breakfast or anything else, started to walk east.

Merdilen wanted to check out this shadow monster to make sure it wasn’t killing people, but it wasn’t worth waking up Alvoren. He would just check it out, he wouldn’t actually fight the shadow monster, so he should be okay on his own. He’d have breakfast once he returned and Alvoren woke up. He didn’t exactly know how far the shadow monster was; it could be a minute away, five minutes, ten minutes, or half an hour, but as it was just about eight in the morning, he probably still had plenty of time before Alvoren woke up. Who knew, maybe he’d go back to sleep for an hour when he returned.

He kept walking for about half an hour, when he finally saw it. It was a massive hyena, pitch black and with sharp claws and fangs. It was pretty much the same as the other shadow monster he’d encountered, but he felt terrified all the same. Still, it was fortunately just laying in the middle of a small forest, nowhere near any settlements, so he could just leave it there. He stealthily scouted the nearby area, and after a few more minutes, prepared to go back.

“Try anything funny and you’re dead!” shouted a voice in Alvoren Vandmorn’s ear.

He woke up, startled, and looked around. About ten men were surrounding their small camp carrying swords, one of which was holding his sword against Alvoren’s neck. Merdilen was nowhere to be seen.

“W-what?!” he muttered, puzzled, trying to grasp the situation.

Are these the killers Merdilen mentioned?! he thought, scared. No, it can’t be. Merdilen said they were just four people. These are about ten. Then what are they?!

“The reports said he’d be here. Answer me: where is the Transmutator?” the man holding his sword to Alvoren’s neck asked. “Where is he?!”

What?! he wondered. How do they know about him? How did they know where we were?! But then, he got to a conclusion. The kids! They were spies! I, the great hero Axerhos, was right! There’s no other answer!

“Where is he?!” the man shouted.

“I-I have no idea!” Alvoren genuinely answered. “I just woke up!”

Has he deserted me?! No, no, my loyal companion would never do that. Then, where is he?!

The man pressed his sword against Alvoren’s neck even harder, shedding a drop of blood. “Don’t you dare lie to me!”

“I genuinely don’t know!” he answered, scared.

“Well, then,” the man said. “We’ll wait for ten minutes for him. If not, we’re taking you with us. You’re his friend, aren’t you? He’s bound to appear sooner or later.”

So, they started waiting in silence, waiting for Merdilen, the Transmutator, to appear. Alvoren was getting increasingly nervous, and now he was afraid. He considered trying to fight, but this was too big a challenge for even the great hero Axerhos to overcome.

Where is he?!

They waited for ten more minutes, but he didn’t appear.

“Well, if he wants you back, he’ll have to come and get you,” the man said menacingly, pulling him up and dragging him out of their small camp.

After an hour, Merdilen finally got back to their small camp. It had taken way longer than he had hoped for, but now he knew the shadow monster wasn’t hurting anyone, so it’d probably pay off. But when he looked at the camp, Alvoren just wasn’t there. He’d probably already woken up and was probably taking a bath in a nearby river or something.

“Hey, Alvoren!” he called out, just in case, but no one answered.

Merdilen probably wouldn’t have thought much about it under normal circumstances, but then he noticed something. Alvoren’s sword and shield were gone. And, even though he was no tracker, he could clearly see about ten sets of footsteps around their camp. That definitely wasn’t normal.

“Alvoren! Alvoreeeeeeeeeeeen!” he called out, but once again, no answer. “Damn it!”

Was he captured in the hour I was away?! he wondered, feeling increasingly more nervous. Examining the camp, he clearly saw the tracks leading away from it, away… into the mountains. A high mountain range rose in the distance to the west, and the tracks were leading in that direction. He waited a few minutes for Alvoren to appear, but of course, he didn’t. But the thing was, he didn’t know for sure if those mountains were anything special. He took out his map, and in it, he saw a small annotation in the mountains he was looking at.

Bandits. So, it was bandits who had taken Alvoren. But, why? Why’d they take Alvoren?

A bait. He immediately came to the logical conclusion. It was a trap to catch Merdilen, kill him, and collect the bounty. But still, he needed to save Alvoren. He had been captured because of him; it was his responsibility to save him. He ate breakfast in half a minute, packed his essential things, and started following the bandits’ tracks, determined to save Alvoren.

“Please! Have mercy! I will do whatever you want, please, just have mercy!” the man said, terrified, crawling away from her.

Kayline Sherdaine answered nothing, but instead raised her right longsword.

“Please!” the man begged once more, in a desperate effort to save his life.

“There is no mercy,” Kayline answered coldly, slashing downwards and killing the man, his blood spraying over her.

There was blood everywhere. There was blood everywhere.

Kayline woke up with a gasp, sitting upwards in her bedroll. Even though the autumn night was relatively cold, she was sweating. A single sensation lingered from her dream—from her nightmare. There was blood everywhere. Slowly, her dream started coming back to her mind. A hunt.

About a year ago, long before the Transmutator job, Kayline had been a bounty hunter. They desperately needed money, and even though it wasn’t a honorable job, Kayline had found bounty hunting a way of earning big money fast. She hadn’t told her mother, though, but she had become a bounty hunter. Although bringing the targets dead sometimes was easier and provided a better bounty, she had decided not to kill people. She wouldn’t go as far as giving up her morals for money.

But, on a certain job, it had taken too long for her to capture her target, and she desperately needed the money. So, she had coldly and unmercifully killed him. She had regretted it immediately after, but the man was already dead, so she had been just left with her guilt.

Kayline was a sinner.

At that moment, she had decided not to kill anyone ever again… until the Transmutator job. For the first time in months, she had remembered clearly that scene.

Although deep down she believed it was wrong, she had buried those thoughts, convincing herself that killing the Transmutator would be for the sake of all mankind. And at the beginning, when all they knew about the Transmutator was that his ancestors had been mass murderers, thinking that had been easy. But nothing was as black or white anymore.

For all she knew, nothing was proving this specific Transmutator was evil. Nothing. More than two weeks had passed since the Transmutator’s first sighting, and he hadn’t committed a single real crime during that time. Jarleren might have committed more crimes than the Transmutator had, but as he had agreed to kill the Transmutator, he had been forgiven. They didn’t have any real reasons to kill the Transmutator. In fact, the Transmutator had even spared her life in that first battle.

But the truth was, she was afraid. She was afraid of any changes. She was afraid of going against the world.

It was her guard shift already, so she got up, pondering on her problem but without getting to any solutions.

Three hours later, the rest of the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team got up, and after having breakfast, continued their hunt once more. Kayline felt uneasy, but she did her best to hide it. They kept riding for several hours, until they arrived at what looked like some kind of camp. Kayline didn’t give it a second thought, but Salvatore started examining it profoundly.

“The Transmutator was here,” Salvatore confirmed, “but something happened. It seems they were kind of attacked, but it’s strange.”

Salvatore kept examining the scene for several minutes, until he at last raised his fist victoriously. “Ha-ha! I’ve got it. What happened first is that one of them left the camp. See, these footprints that trail away seem to be about half an hour older than the rest, and they, later on, come back, much fresher. So my theory is that whatever happened, happened while one of them was gone. So, I’d guess several people arrived at the camp, and they found the remaining person sleeping. They must have pressed him against the ground, as we can see because this bedroll over here has clearly had a lot of pressure on it.

“They later pulled the person up for unknown reasons, and dragged him out of the camp against his will, as we can see over here, because his footsteps are too long, so he was being dragged. The other person arrived much later, and started following them, as we can see because of these much fresher tracks. They were probably bandits or something. And I believe they captured the Transmutator’s partner, not the Transmutator himself, as there’s no way a mere ten bandits would have been able to defeat a Transmutator.”

“...Wow,” Kayline muttered.

“And the tracks lead… west, towards that mountain range over there,” he finally added. “The Transmutator also went west, which seems odd to me, as the fortress he should be headed to is south.”

So he’s going after his captured friend, Kayline realized. It didn’t seem evil at all. But still, she couldn’t let herself be fooled by appearances. She looked forward with determination and rode towards the others.

It’s my fault Alvoren was captured, Merdilen thought grimly. It’s my fault. If I hadn’t teamed up with him, he would still be okay and free. Therefore, it’s my duty to free him. Thinking back, I have actually done almost no good for the entirety of my adventure. Maybe it would have been better if I had never left my house at all. Who knows, if things don’t get better, and quick, I may even go back to my house, and try again in a few decades or something. But for now, my job is to save Alvoren. I gotta focus on that.

Merdilen kept following the tracks for several hours, until he finally got to the feet of the first mountain from the mountain range. He was probably only about half an hour behind the bandits who had Alvoren, but as he was no professional tracker, he had no way of knowing for sure. Merdilen couldn’t see them yet, but the mountain had several unnatural boulders, steep cliffs, and the like along the road, so that didn’t really mean anything. Still, they had to be a few hours ahead of him at most. They’d have to stop eventually when they got to their lair, so he’d catch up sooner or later.

Slightly Transmutating his boots into more resistant trekking boots and Transmutating some rocks into a trekking pole, he started walking up the slope of the rocky mountain in parallel to a small road in order to not be seen by anyone traveling through it, which started becoming steeper and steeper. The footsteps were almost impossible to see now in the rock, but there was only one road—the one he was walking parallel to—so he should still be going on the right track. The higher he trekked, the colder it got, but he just Transmutated his black leather clothes into warmer materials and kept going.

“There he is!” Sir Grendar exclaimed in a whisper.

After sharply turning to the west, several hours earlier, they had kept following the Transmutator, knowing the time for their next fight would arrive soon, all of them tensed up in anticipation. They had been trekking through a cold mountain rapidly for the last half an hour, with Salvatore guiding them expertly along near-invisible tracks. Higher up in the mountain, trekking too, they could indeed finally see him. A man with black clothes and golden hair. The Transmutator.

After twelve days of the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team following him nonstop, they had finally caught up to the Transmutator. If they killed him now, their journey would finally come to an end. And, along with what Jarleren had ordered men to make in the city of Mithforden, they would definitely kill him this time. What Jarleren had ordered. New weapons for Salvatore, engineered based on Kayline’s Sonic Blades. Sonic Arrows.

As they were in a hurry, they hadn’t had any time to test them, but if they did work, the Transmutator would have no chance.

“This is it. The time has come,” Sir Grendar told them in a solemn tone. “Almost three weeks have passed since the Transmutator was first spotted, and after spending most of it in earnest combat and persecution, we, the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team, have finally found him once more. All of this will finally be over. His menace will finally end. The world of Gartaena will finally be at peace once more. My ancestor will finally be avenged, his will fulfilled.”

“My family will finally love me and accept me once more,” Salvatore said.

“I will have enough money as to not suffer as I did when I was a child ever again,” Jarleren said.

“And… my family won’t be poor anymore, and my mother will finally get better from her illness,” Kayline finally said.

“Anti-Transmutation Strike Team, let’s go,” Sir Grendar finally said with determination, and they all dismounted from their horses, preparing their weapons and charging into battle.

Merdilen kept walking with haste, until he suddenly heard something in the road below him. He looked behind him and saw what he had most dreaded to see in the last weeks. Four blood-thirsty fighters running at him with their weapons prepared, ready to battle. The killers.

Not now! Merdilen thought nervously, and started running more quickly up the slope. He couldn’t afford to fight them now. He couldn’t afford to die or be severely hurt now, not when the life of an innocent man was on his hands. They kept running at him with determination, the distance between them growing shorter and shorter.

“This ends now, Transmutator!” one of them, the big guy, roared.

He loosened some boulders from the mountain using his Transmutation, and they started rolling down towards the killers at alarmingly high speed, but they nimbly dodged them, still running towards him.

Oh, no! Merdilen then started creating small rock pillars with his feet and boosting himself on them, in an attempt to get as high and far away from the killers as possible, but then one of them shot a precise arrow towards him. But it wasn’t a normal arrow. For some unknown reason, it released an incredibly high-pitched screech while it flew towards him, a screech that resounded on the depth of his mind, stunning him. He screamed, grabbing his head with his hands, and then the arrow itself buried deep in his back.

It hurt terribly, and he lost his balance, falling from the rock pillar he was standing upon and hitting the rocky ground hard. Although he didn’t think he had broken any bones, the crash hurt terribly, but he stood up and kept running away anyway. He was still stunned though, so as much as he tried to use his Transmutation to his advantage, it just didn’t work.

The killers were gaining ground on him with an alarming speed, but he saw confused there were just three of them running after him now. The small guy was nowhere to be seen. He looked to his right, scanning for him, but it was too late. He saw the small man standing upon him, raising a dagger, and the man stabbed down. He tried to dodge, but he was too slow, and the dagger buried deep in his right shoulder. He screamed once more and tried to keep running. But he was too weakened, and tripped on a small rock.

He fell to the ground, and rolled several feet downwards, coming to a stop on the top of a sheer and completely vertical cliff. He tried to stand up, and was able to, but he was too weakened to try anything else. Because of the stunning arrow, he couldn’t Transmutate anything at all, and as he had been so intent on running away and so confident in his Transmutation powers, he hadn’t even made his sword.

The group of four killers approached him menacingly, blocking his exit, pointing their swords, bows, and daggers at him.

Is it… over? he wondered, terrified. No, I can’t die yet. I can’t die here. I still need to save Alvoren. But there was nothing he could do. He took several steps backward, trying to get away from the killers, but his feet quickly reached the border of the cliff. Small stones and dust fell down into the abyss below from where he had stepped on.

“Goodbye, Transmutator,” the big man said, full of hate, taking several steps towards him and raising his greatsword.

He slashed down, aiming for his head.

Merdilen raised his left arm and tried to Transmutate his Transmutation glove into a steel shield, in a desperate attempt to block the blow.

But, as he was still stunned, he wasn’t fast enough.

The massive greatsword sliced cleanly through his defenseless left arm with tremendous force, cutting through clothing, skin, meat, and bone. It severed Merdilen’s left arm completely from the elbow, and the arm fell away, dropping into the abyss below.

Merdilen grabbed his bleeding stump, screaming. Pain like he had never felt before rushed through his body.

There was blood everywhere. As Kayline watched the defenseless Transmutator screaming, his arm severed at the elbow, all she could think about was that horrendous scene. The scene she had vowed never to repeat.

The shocked Transmutator tried to say something, but no words came out of his mouth. But it wasn’t necessary. Kayline knew what he had tried to say. The same thing the target she had killed had said right before she sinned.

Please! Have mercy!

She had vowed never to repeat that scene. But she had also vowed to save the world. Deep down, she felt that the decision she made now would change her life forever.

Sir Grendar raised his Bladesmasher once more, ready to deal the killing blow. The Transmutator fell to his knees, grabbing his stump, unable to do anything but die. To Kayline, time might as well have stopped whatsoever.

She had to do something, but what? What?!

Merdilen fell to his knees, grabbing his stump, unable to do anything but die. This is it… My adventure… my quest… my dream… it’s all over. The big man prepared his greatsword, ready to kill, like an angel of death. He slashed down. Red filled Merdilen’s vision. But it wasn’t blood.

It was red hair. A girl's red hair.

She recognized that girl. She was one of the killers. Killing him was her job. Then, what was she doing now? The girl was raising her two longswords, blocking the greatsword, her arms trembling under the pressure but full of determination. Merdilen stared at her, his mouth wide open in disbelief.

After a few seconds, her swords started to crack under the pressure.

“What are you doing, Kayline?!” the big man roared at her furiously.

“I’m doing what’s right,” Merdilen heard the girl mutter back, and she took a step to the side, disengaging from the lock.

The big man prepared his sword once again, although he didn’t seem sure if to attack her or not, but Merdilen saw from the side of his vision the small man preparing his dagger, looking at her. They were going to kill her for saving his life. And he couldn’t allow that.

Mustering what little strength he had left, Merdilen ignored the overwhelming pain, and stood up. He grabbed her arm with his remaining right arm, and without giving it a second thought, jumped backward, into the long abyssal fall behind them.

Merdilen prepared to Transmutate the ground at the bottom in order for them to land safely, but the overwhelming pain along with the pressure of the free fall was too much for his weakened body. While still falling, he started drifting in and out of consciousness, until he passed out completely.

THE END OF PART ONE