“YING!!”

  A screech tore through the woods.

  Hennah, Ming, Jug, and Ying sprinted through a break in the trees as goblins and trolls stormed out from the brush.

  “I told you not to wake those trolls, Hennah,” Ming said, her voice flat.

  “I thought we could use a little challenge! Right, Juggy boy?”

  “No. Not a good idea. Nuh uh. Nnh-nnh.” Jug shook his head, already regretting his life choices.

  Hennah glanced at Ying, who was visibly trembling.

  “Oh Great Divine One,” she muttered. “I thought we could have a little fun—”

  “NO!!”

  Ming, Jug, and Ying yelled in perfect unison.

  Then, from the shadows... a massive ogre emerged.

  And behind it—

  “Myke?” Ying blinked, tilting her head as Myke casually strolled into the fray.

  “Great! You brought ogres too?” Hennah chirped.

  “Just adding some difficulty scaling,” Myke said, stretching his neck with a grin.

  Ming looked at Jug. Jug looked at Ying. Ying looked like she was about to pass out.

  “Myke…” Ming warned.

  “Not now.”

  “Understood.”

  He stepped forward and raised a hand.

  “VALIRION!!”

  His voice boomed. “Don’t die.”

  In an instant, chaos ignited.

  Jug smashed into an ogre’s face, poking its eyes and punching its guts with all the technique of a brawler who skipped training day.

  Myke glitched forward, his chain blades spinning, deleting goblins with surgical precision.

  Ying drew her bow, breath slow, eyes sharp. Magical arrows shimmered in her grip before she released them into the air—each one striking true.

  Ming landed softly, crouched low, hand to the ground.

  “Salgha,” she whispered.

  Flames erupted around her as she dashed through the trolls, cleaving their mallets mid-swing with a single arc of her blade.

  “SHUT IT, GUYS!! I’M ABOUT TO WIN HERE!!” Hennah screamed.

  She wasn’t fighting.

  She was playing cards.

  With three goblins.

  In the middle of the battlefield.

  “HENNAH!! GET IN THE FIGHT, PINK HAIR!!” Jug bellowed.

  “I am fighting!!”

  “Nah girl—”

  WHAM.

  Jug got launched back by a backhanded ogre swing.

  The forest roared.

  Flames danced through smoke.

  The sky echoed with screeches.

  Birds scattered above the trees as magic and madness filled the air.

  In Telkha, the halls of the training complex echoed with fading chatter. Most of the staff had finished their shifts—some leaving, others lingering behind in small groups.

  Among them, Vehra and her team from Cinder’s Petal entered the training ground for final preparations before the friendly match.

  Suddenly, a soft tug pulled at Vehra’s robe. She stopped mid-step, startled. A small figure stood before her—hooded, silent.

  Her teammates paused instinctively.

  “Vehra?” said Ronald T. Orlath, noticing the exchange. “Do you know her?”

  Vehra turned slowly. A gentle smile crept to her lips.

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  “…An old friend,” she replied, and carefully lifted the hood.

  Beneath it was Kana F. Solva—her face pale with terror, eyes downcast.

  “Wait—isn’t she from Team Jashash?” said Tela C. Lesta, eyebrows raised. “Didn’t they ban her from fighting?”

  “She quit,” Vehra answered softly. “Not banned—exiled.”

  At that moment, Maks and Sheyla emerged from the studio corridor, prepping their caster setup.

  “Elaiviras,” Vehra called out to Maks.

  “Yo!” he replied.

  “Take Kana with you,” she asked calmly.

  “For an appointment?” Maks asked, curious.

  Sheyla eyed Kana with a sharp, sour look. Kana instinctively lowered her head further.

  Vehra gave a simple nod.

  Maks softened his tone. “Right this way, Ms. Solva.”

  Kana hesitated, then quietly followed them.

  “You’ll have to wait until Vehra finishes training,” Maks explained.

  “Yeah… not until you screw her first,” Sheyla muttered sarcastically.

  “Shey. Please.” Maks tensed. “She was exiled by Jashash.”

  “…Wait, what? What do you mean, exiled?” Sheyla blinked, confused.

  “I…” Kana finally spoke, voice trembling. “I just… want to join Valirion.”

  Sheyla’s tone shifted instantly. “Why? So you can seduce Myke and Jug again? Humiliate Ying like last time?”

  “Shey, that’s enough!” Maks barked.

  Kana looked down, hands clenched.

  “I feel… safer with them. I feel like I belong. I’m not the same anymore… not after AyLex recruited me…”

  Maks nodded quietly. “Let her be.”

  A few hours passed.

  Cinder’s Petal finished their training. One by one, members filtered out of the facility, until only Vehra and Tela remained.

  They made their way to the caster studio, where Kana now lay curled up on the couch, fast asleep. Maks and Sheyla were rehearsing mic lines at their desk.

  Vehra approached the sleeping girl, gently brushing a strand of hair from her face. A soft smile played on her lips.

  “…Her outfit’s way too revealing,” Tela muttered.

  “That’s the only one she has left,” Maks replied, glancing over. “She told me.”

  “Pft. Figures. Consequence of being a whore, I guess,” Tela scoffed. “That’s what life gave her.”

  Vehra didn’t respond. She only knelt and began to hum—a soft, ancient hymn, barely above a whisper.

  The melody drifted through the room, warm and strange. Maks slowed his breathing. Tela hesitated... then joined in.

  Together, their voices formed a fragile lullaby.

  And Kana, though half-awake, finally shifted into peaceful sleep.

  Back in the forest, as Ying fired her last arrow at the goblins—and some fled—she exhaled heavily and dropped to the ground in exhaustion.

  “No more... no more goblins...” she muttered.

  Suddenly, a loud rumbling echoed from afar. She turned her head—but no one was with her.

  “Myke? Hennah? Ming? What the f—” she swore.

  “GUYS!!” she shouted, heart racing.

  Soon, a group of goblins, minotaurs, orcs, and ogres emerged together. Ying trembled as she saw the massive horde.

  “No...” she whispered, raising her bow.

  The orc leader stepped forward, skull trophies rattling across his chest.

  “It sees...” he said. “Entering me place means... death.”

  “I... I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just here with my friends. For training,” Ying said, hesitating.

  “Ah... training. You must be from Telkha... ja?”

  She stepped back, bow aimed at him as he moved closer.

  “Myke...? Myke!?” she called out—but no answer.

  “They’re not here...” he chuckled. “We distracted them into our traps. Except you, lovely one.”

  “...T-Trap?!”

  He shook his head.

  Her heartbeat pounded faster. Her grip tightened, though her hands shook. Her eyes convulsed. Teeth gritted.

  “Trap?” she growled.

  The monsters laughed—until they saw her eyes turn violently yellow.

  “Trap!?” she screamed.

  “No use resisting, little one. Submit, and we will give you mercy,” the leader said, grinning.

  She stared into his eyes, her fire rising. Her team was trapped.

  “TRAP!?”

  Her bow shifted—now a spear—then split into twin blades as flames burst around them.

  The leader scoffed at the transformation.

  “Now... you are in my trap,” he sneered, drawing his dagger.

  “I...WILL...KILL YOU ALL!!!!!!!” Ying roared.

  She glitched into multiple clones—only the leader realized they weren’t just duplicates of her.

  Different colors. Different weapons.

  Each one a vision of power.

  “Impossible...” he whispered, barely dodging the barrage—arrows, spears, chaos.

  Ying’s assault was unrelenting:

  Blade swings like wild flares,

  Arrows of thunder,

  Spear flurries,

  Chains of vengeance.

  She fought alone. And she didn’t stop.

  “ATTACK THIS HUMAN!!” the leader screamed.

  They swarmed her—but she didn’t yield.

  “I’ll rip your skin apart... break your bones... and grind them into powder,” she grinned, violent eyes locked on him.

  “This human... is not normal,” the leader muttered.

  Ogres charged—

  She beheaded them in a flash.

  Goblins? Shot mid-air.

  Orcs? Cut down in a dance of unpredictability.

  Not one blow landed on her.

  “BOSS!! WE CAN’T STOP HER!! SHE’S THALULAH IN FLESH!!” one goblin shrieked—just before Ying erased it from existence.

  “Thalulah...? You... BASTARD!!” the leader howled.

  Then—a deafening screech. Long. Piercing.

  It echoed through every soul present.

  Ogres ran.

  Goblins dug holes to hide.

  Orcs fled to the woods.

  Ying covered her ears and collapsed, pain shooting through her skull. Her senses overloaded.

  The leader laughed—until he felt the heat.

  He turned.

  A woman stood before him—wrapped in bandages from her mouth to her legs, wielding a curved blade. Her eyes glowed crimson.

  “Thalulah...” the leader said, stunned.

  She didn’t speak.

  She simply lifted her fingers—gesturing in a silent language:

  Stay... away... from her.

  “Heh,” the leader scoffed and lunged.

  “I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DU—”

  But before he finished, she pointed at him—

  And vanished into shadows.

  Ying, half-conscious, looked up.

  A tall figure knelt beside her, bandaged hand reaching out, fingernails black as ash.

  And then... Ying fainted.

  Thalulah remained.

  She brushed the girl’s hair aside.

  And said nothing.