“I need more men with me! Surround her!”

Fully armored guards appeared from the sides, closing off all my exits. Even with the chaos caused from the Ace knights’ battle, there seemed to be enough guards to surround me.

Each of the faces were filled with terror. Their swords were shaking. They were hesitant in getting any closer to me.

“P-please, I don’t mean any harm.”

I lowered my head while raising my arms, averting my gaze. I knew it was hopeless, but this was all I could do. Maybe if they saw me as a non-threat, they would let me go.

One of the guards asked, “What do we do with her?”

The guards seemed unsure of this whole situation. None of them seemed to have any experience leading a group so they all just stared at one another, waiting for anyone to make an order.

Then a familiar voice showed up.

“What are you guards doing?”

I felt relief when I noticed Aydin had arrived. We had met earlier; he was Grayson’s apprentice.

Then my relief turned into distress as he gave out his order.

“There are demons lurking around, we have to kill them all. Make sure to keep all the citizens safe.”

It was then that our eyes met. Aydin froze in his tracks, but he immediately recovered, drawing his sword.

“You… you’re…”

“Hah!”

The sound of a metallic clank could be heard from behind me. I turned around to see Din. He had just hit a guard in the head with a shield and was standing over him.

“Lorelei!”

He was out of breath as he clutched his shield. He came closer to me inside of the circle of guards. I quickly ran towards him and hid behind him. Din held my shoulder with one hand. Even though we were still in danger, I felt safe under his touch.

The guards started backing up as soon as Din entered the circle. Even with just a shield, Din appeared menacing to them. I also noticed that the guards would back up the moment they noticed me looking at them. I used this to my advantage to create distance between us.

Aydin stepped forward, “What is the meaning of this? Are you harboring a demon? Endangering the citizens of Ravenwalt?!”

“She’s not a demon.”

Aydin narrowed his eyes.

“Then explain her eyes. Those are definitely the eyes of a demon. Even Katherine turned out to be one,” Aydin raised his sword towards Din, “I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re one as well.”

“Katherine is fighting the other Ace knights over there. We need to help her, Din.”

I pointed towards the main stage. Katherine was still fighting near the stage. She was somehow able to hold her on against both Grayson and Callum. It was only a matter of time until she would be too tired to fight them. With the way she was moving right now, she might’ve hurt her left shoulder with that fall.

At the same time, Ray was managing to dodge some of Lenetio’s spear thrusts. It looked like he was looking for a chance to grab the spear after each thrust, but Lenetio was quick enough to pull the spear back in time. It was a slow losing battle for Ray.

Din gently pushed me back while still facing Aydin. Reinforcements had arrived and they began surrounding us. The guards formed a circle around us once more.

“We can’t worry about her right now,” Din whispered. “Shit, I don’t know what I can do here.”

Aydin moved forward carefully. Unlike Din, who would rush straight at his opponent, Aydin seemed to be more careful about his every move.

“I can’t let you two leave. Please understand.”

“How about you just act like you never saw us? This can end peacefully.”

As we were slowly moving back, we were getting too close to the guards behind us.

“They’re behind us too. Din, they’re everywhere.”

“Dammit…!”

Rather than letting Aydin making the first move, Din suddenly charged at him with his shield in front of him.

Even with the sudden attack, Aydin was able to swing his sword towards Din. With a loud clank, his sword was reflected by Din’s shield. Aydin took the full impact of the shield, knocking him off his feet.

The guards on either side of Aydin close in on Din as Aydin goes down. Din deflected a sloppy sword thrust from the guard to his left, putting the guard off balance, but he wasn’t quick enough to turn before the other guard slashed at his exposed arm.

He screamed in pain as his arm began bleeding. He quickly switched his shield to his other arm. He was in great pain, but still managed avoid a swing from the first guard by ducking. While ducking, he slammed his shield at the guard’s chest, causing him to stumble backwards and drop his sword. Din then kicked the other guard’s knee while he was crouched. The guard backs away, but the rest of the guards slowly begin closing in.

Din reached for the fallen sword, but immediately screamed in agony as he had used his wounded arm.

As soon as Din felt the pain in his arm, I saw that Aydin had already recovered. Unnoticed by Din, Aydin was thrusting his sword towards Din. I rushed towards him as fast as I could.

“Din—!”

The sounds of the battle became muffled. My vision darkened.

Aydin backed away from me with a startled expression. His sword was covered in blood.

I couldn’t even stand up anymore at this point. I could feel a sharp pain in my stomach.

I lost my balance but before I hit the ground, I could feel a warm embrace.

I turned to look at who was there. It was Din.

Oh, I made it.

Din’s eyes were filled with tear as he looked at me. He was yelling something, but I couldn’t hear him anymore.

I reached out my hand and he held onto it with his free hand.

“Please don’t leave me.”

I had wanted to say that, but I wasn’t even sure what sound exited my mouth.

Ah, even my body felt numb.

I couldn’t see anymore.

All black. Just black.