“Look at the ground. See? This slight ring of light? This is some sort of spore that surrounds the trees, and when someone steps into these circles, the tree attacks the invader in the manner you have seen them do to the Goblins and the enemy soldiers. In order to survive, take water and wash away the spores. This way, you can shrink the circle, and come closer to the trees. Don’t worry though, the circle takes about a full day in order to regenerate back to how it was.”

With these words, along the road opened by Lady Aquamarine at the head through the Starlight Forest, Tomoe and Bran located themselves to the side. Covered by high bushes, looking down over the ridge, as Beheaders finish going through the main path, going up, away from the enemy army.

“I wonder if the others are positioned?” Bran says.

“We haven’t heard the trees attack further up, thankfully” Tomoe replies.

“What a bleak way to see it.” Bran snorts.

A wry smile appears on Tomoe’s face “I’m just really glad that they didn’t make any mistake.”

“Me too.”

Silence then dominated the area. Bran, being at Tomoe’s side, suddenly starts seeing around, and then tucks his head between his shoulders.

“What’s the matter?” Tomoe asks.

“Is it really true? No animals nor magic beasts live here? There is so much silence in the air.”

“Well, it isn’t true, completely. Small animals and magic beast do live here. The problem lies with the big ones. Only one big magic beast lives here, it adapted somehow, but besides its race, no other big animal or magic beast lives here.”

“I see. Shouldn’t we take it into account?”

“No. They move in the night. We are safe from them right now.”

“Well, I thought we could make use of them for our advantage. But tell me, what is stopping them from burning completely the Forest instead of going through it?”

Tomoe points towards the sky. Bran follows her finger, only to discover a column of smoke visible, really, really thin.

“It wouldn’t really work.” Tomoe replies “The Starlight Trees are really tough, even the leaves are hard to burn down. If not only for that, the Trees regenerate too.”

“So, they do have to get through the forest.”

“If they want to end this invasion fast, yes, they have… just like they are doing, right now.” Tomoe says, pointing downward the path. Bran follows once more her finger, in order to see the first soldiers of the enemy army appear on sight.

“Remember the plan?” Tomoe asks.

“The others will distract the enemy army, you and I will jump against the leader, separate him, isolate him, and take him out.” Putting a hand to Tomoe’s shoulder, Bran adds “together.”

Another wry smile, but Tomoe doesn’t add anything else.

They have the invading army on their eyes. As they go up, the ruffles of the leaves on the ground start to get stronger, and the sound of the armor, especially when they step forward, gets more noisy. The soldiers that are at the front pass Tomoe’s and Bran’s hiding spot, continuing to go up, as both of them have their eyes put on the soldiers that are coming, waves after waves of heads under helmets.

Suddenly, from behind a tree, a helmet unlike all the others appears. With garments that are like feathers that sway at each movement, Tomoe recognizes the form, the pattern, at the same time that a huge pressure hits her in her stomach. Without noticing, she took a deep breath.

Without notice, enemy soldiers that were on the front yelled, and some of them suddenly appeared, on the air, as if they were thrown back down with a huge impact. Droplets splashed, reaching Tomoe’s face, as a yell came from their target, ordering a push forward to Tomoe’s surprise. The soldiers at the front and at the sides of the road started to tame fire and electricity, firing at the front and to the sides of the road.

Flames spawned forward, electrical arcs using them to reach even further. Bran grabs again Tomoe’s shoulder and pushes her against the floor, just in time before some flames reached her. Whispering, Bran says:

“We need to go! This has turned really dangerous.”

Tomoe replies, whispering loudly “What are you talking about?! We have him on sight! We can’t back down now, not now!”

“We can’t have the rest of us up there risking their lives in a situation like this.”

“This is the chance to end that bastards life! We could end the invasion right here, right now!”

“If you reach him!”

“It is better than to run away, just because something unexpected happened! The plan still can work!”

“Are you going to risk the rest of us that are up there?!”

“They are there because they wanted to! If we go back, all the risks and damage would have been for naught!”

“You’re losing it Tomoe!”

These words felt heavy on her as an overwhelming burning feeling ran through her entire body. Like a thorn pushing through the skin just enough to take out blood, these flames came out bursting and bringing all the memories of every that she saw and experienced since this disgrace started. All the dead people, the blood and ash painting the streets, the bodies piled up, the Grim Wolves back at the red District, the bodies that were buried just the night before, the goblins, the wall, everything, everything came back.

All this sadness, all this grief, all this sorrow, all the rage… the rage and the humiliation. All their fault. Everything about it, all their fault.

If they have never come… nothing like this would’ve happened.

For the first time in what it felt like forever, Tomoe once again was taking a deep breath, but instead of feeling like she was lacking air, each breath of fresh air fanned the flames inside her, the burning fire that is getting out of control.

Tomoe suddenly stops speaking. With her mouth slightly open, and her eyes glaring at him, she then says “No, I’m not.” While she raises her hand, pushing Bran away with water taming.

Incorporating herself, she locates her target, slightly back from the position she wanted him to be. Still, gathering water under her feet, she launches herself forward, out of the high bushes, through the air at high speed. Tackling her target, she grabs him tightly, taking him with herself, all the way towards the bushes on the other side, between many Starlight trees.