“Holy shit,” Henry blurted out as he witnessed the carnage of the Dark Syers in the capital city of Argon Kingdom. He was still miles away from the city but from high in the sky, the chaos was clear to see even if one did not have enhanced vision or sight.

  “This is a bloodbath…” Ani gasped as she, too, took in the sight of the city spiralling down into ruin. She had insisted on coming along with Henry when he went around asking. Even though she now considered Ulrum to be her home, the Argon Kingdom was still her birthpce. Even if they weren’t here to save the kingdom, she felt she could at least do the minimum if she tagged along.

  Besides Ani, there were also Rayne, Yu, and Kiera. Sarynn did not come along as she would become a liability if she stayed away from a water source for far too long. The Lavans and Augrus did not participate either. They couldn’t, not without giving themselves away. Their presence in a human city would raise many implications by the opportunists. Therefore, they had elected to remain in Ulrum. The Kivus and Zevas had no such problem but they had their own circumstances. The Kivus knew next to nothing about human civilisation, while the Zevas had yet to even offer a verbal gesture to the Lavan’s former plight.

  “The court makes the decision and the common folks suffer for it,” Kiera growled.

  “Such is the way of humans,” Yu sighed. “The ones making the decisions are always the ones who suffer st and least.”

  “They will suffer st… but I will make sure they suffer the most,” Kiera vowed.

  “What a joke,” Rayne scoffed. Unlike others, she didn’t have a distasteful expression. Her expression was one of annoyance.

  “Welp, here we go again,” Henry braced himself inwardly. Rayne never could control her tongue, though it is a whole other matter if it’s in bed.

  Kiera frowned. “I beg your pardon?”

  “You would not get my pardon,” Rayne retorted.

  “What do you mean by that? Do you think what we are trying to do here is a joke?”

  “Our purpose for coming to the capital is no joke. The joke here is your pity for these… people, strangers. For someone who has lived a long life, you’re surprisingly naive.”

  Kiera’s expression turned cold. “Oh? Am I? Pray tell, how so?”

  “We are seeing the start of a war. We do not know of the events that led to this overture. You feel sorry for the common folks but tell me, do you think they would have felt the same way for you? Let us say that your true identity has been exposed before… all of this. You would have been sent to the chopping block and these people that you are feeling sorry for will be there to cheer for your execution.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Then why are you here, with us? You would have lived proudly and openly amongst the common folk. But you didn’t. Because you know full well their opinion of you, should you reveal your true identity to them?”

  “That’s merely your assumption of the worst-case scenario.”

  Rayne guffawed. “How did you even survive until now? I’m baffled even if I take your Magus constitution into consideration.”

  “I heard about your thirst for conflict but I never imagined it to be so bad. Would you like me to sate your thirst? Or better yet, I will make it so that you will never think of shing your tongue whimsically.”

  “You don’t frighten me, Magus, and I have seen a lot.”

  “Clearly you haven’t seen enough or else you wouldn’t be running your mouth so heedlessly.”

  “Says the one who’s running her mouth heedlessly,” Rayne said and cracked her knuckles.

  Kiera responded with a dispy of her magic. She summoned fmes into her hand that took the shape of a three-point throwing star.

  “Alright, that’s enough, you two!” Yu cpped her hands and invoked her shadows to bind the two votile women.

  “What in the name—” Kiera noticed the shadows whirling beneath her but she was a step too te in her response. As a result, her own shadow betrayed her and ensnared her movement.

  Rayne had noticed the shadows moving but they moved faster than she expected. The shadows coiled around her like a bread roll, completely incapacitating her. “This is unexpected. You have been hiding your strength, Yu.”

  “I have not. I just haven’t had the chance to use it in such a way. Now, you two will stay in this state until we reach the city. And you, Henry.”

  “Huh?” Henry reacted. “What about me?”

  “Were you just going to let these two fight on your back while we’re in the air?”

  “Well, I was pnning to fling them off my back if they start fighting.”

  Kiera and Rayne turned wide-eyed and they looked at each other.

  Even Yu was a tad taken aback. “Are you being serious?”

  “I am.”

  “That’s kinda harsh… Don’t you think so?”

  “They’ll live. And they will probably think twice before starting a fight in the future.”

  Yu sighed. “Well, you heard him. Are we all going to py nice now?”

  “Of course,” Kiera answered. “I will… py nice, if that’s how you put it. I don’t wish to be thrown off into the air when we are thousands of paces away from the ground.”

  “And you, Rayne?”

  Rayne tutted and sat down without offering a single word.

  “I’ll take that as your compliance.”

  “We’re nearing the city,” Henry said.

  Ani breathed a sigh of relief. She was not looking forward to an extended period of awkward silence.

  Yu peered into the city. “It’s even worse from up close,” she muttered.

  They were nearing the city with only a few miles left before flying directly above the city. The screams of the citizens and the cngour of battles could now be heard even without a heightened sense of hearing. Explosions would go off intermittently. Even the odour of death began to ooze out of the city walls.

  “This is too much,” Kiera said. “Destruction is everywhere, even in the slums. There shouldn’t be that many of the Dark Syers. What are the normal Syers doing?”

  “Could they have turned against their masters?” Ani asked.

  “Impossible,” Kiera answered. “They are bound by spells of the highest order. Rebellion is not a concept that they can conceive even if they want to.”

  “What if those spells are removed or dispelled? Can it be done?”

  “I can, but it would take me plenty of time just to dispel one Syer, let alone thousands.”

  “Incoming!” Henry shouted suddenly. “Hang on!”

  Something was flying towards them. Something fast and big. An arrow but not the kind a bow uses. Something bigger and deadlier. Of course, it would be of no use to Henry but he had passengers. If that arrow was explosive or if it contained some kind of hidden secondary effect, it would be bad for the girls.

  Rayne and Yu responded in an instance. Rayne grabbed onto the spikes for dear life while Yu strapped herself down using the shadows. Ani was a step slower but she managed to grab on to the spikes too before Henry began his evasive maneuvers. Unfortunately, Kiera was a step too slow. The maneuver ended up tossing her off and she would have gone flying erratically in the air if Yu hadn’t reacted timely. She sent out a strand of shadow to pull Kiera back in.

  Henry flipped himself upright after the arrow flew harmlessly past him. “Is everyone alright?”

  “We’re all good,” Yu answered. “Kiera almost flew off but I caught her.”

  “Good. Keep holding on to her. There’s more coming.”

  Having prepared properly this time, no one flew off of Henry as he executed another set of evasive manoeuvres. Two more arrows flew past Henry and one nearly grazed his eyes. Before he could position himself upright, another round of arrows came. Having had enough of it, Henry soared upwards, out of the range of the arrows as more and more arrows chased after him.

  “Who’s shooting us?” Ani inquired.

  “Who else?” Rayne grumbled calmly. “Can’t you just burn them all, Henry?”

  “There are people down there. There would be too much colteral.”

  Rayne tutted. “You worry too much, Henry. If you won’t handle such simple problems, then allow me,” Rayne said and hopped off of Henry.

  “What the— Rayne!” Henry yelled after her but it was already too te. She was already gone.

  “Will she be fine?” Ani asked.

  “I’m more worried about colteral.”

  “Henry, you have to stop worrying about that,” said Yu. “We’re at war now. Colteral is inevitable. I don’t like it either, Henry, but it is what it is now. We’re not even here to save these people.”

  “...I’m already the indirect cause of these people’s suffering. I don’t want to become the direct cause.”

  “I don’t know much about war but I do know about hesitation. The more we hesitate, the worse things will get. We can’t be fretting over every broken egg now.”

  Henry chuckled wryly. “You’re right. The sooner we’re done with this, the better. Maybe you should be the one taking point.”

  “Well, I’ll think about it once I grow wings like you.”

  ****

  Rayne fell right where she wanted to, on the ramparts of the walls that encircled the city. Ballistas lined the path. There were more than a dozen and that was only on this side of the wall. However, these artillery weapons were instantly rendered useless once the target was in proximity.

  “Interesting machines…” Rayne mused.

  “Kill her!” a soldier yelled.

  All of the soldiers on the rampart immediately lunged and charged at Rayne.

  The attempt to expin her circumstances didn’t even cross Rayne’s mind. She had long made up her mind even before she disembarked from Henry. Moreover, these soldiers had no intentions of listening, as made evident by the soldier corpses lying at their feet. It was not a small number. It wasn’t just the Syers that had turned. A good portion of the soldiers had also turned against their own kingdom. As to why, Rayne did not care.

  Rayne thrust her foot at the soldier who reached her first with a spear. The soldier went flying with that single kick, ploughing through his peers behind him.

  Rayne dodged low, avoiding a sword that could have taken her head. Not that it could take her head even if she didn’t move. She didn’t like being struck, even if it wouldn’t leave a scratch. She wasn’t as durable as Henry but she was as durable as the fine steel knights wore on their persons. She countered with an uppercut that sent the soldier off his feet.

  A soldier swung a mace at Rayne but she caught the head with her bare hands. She then crushed it into pieces as easily as carving a cake. Someone shrieked but Rayne paid no heed. She dodged a thrust that aimed for her neck. She grabbed the spearhead, broke it off the stick, and stuffed it back into the head of the wielder. Another soldier came from behind with an axe. Rayne spun around and blocked the strike with her arm. The axehead broke off from its wooden handle.

  The soldiers gasped. The face of the axe wielder turned pale. He understood right then and there that Rayne was not someone, or something, who could be killed conventionally.

  Rayne scoffed at the axe wielder’s reaction before thrusting the axehead into his face.

  The soldiers were now backing away instead of approaching her. How could one kill something that a weapon had no effect on? These were the questions the soldiers were asking themselves.

  “Is that all?” Rayne asked, smirking— but she quickly wiped away her smirk. She leapt off of the ramparts just as it exploded as if it was struck by a cannonball. She nded on a rooftop of the soldiers’ barracks that was conveniently built near the ramparts.

  As the smoke from the explosion began to clear, a Dark Syer walked out of the drifting dust.

  Rayne grinned. “And I was just beginning to wonder when will one of you show up?”