“I’m sorry, miss, I’m afraid that isn’t sufficient. We can’t let you in just based off your word.”

  “What are you talking about? What do you mean you can’t just let me in!? How is my face not sufficient verification for my identity!?”

  Just beyond my sight, beyond the tall city walls and heavily guarded gates, I could hear stern soldiers doing their best to shut down the whines of a teenage girl.

  “With all due respect, miss, claiming to be the younger Symphonia daughter is an easy claim to make when its known she’s studying abroad and doesn’t like to show her face.”

  “Do you need me to blow your eyebrows off to prove that I’m a witch!?”

  “Miss, that would make you the third mage who claimed to be Luna Symphonia to try and sneak into the city.”

  “I-... wha-?” the girl bumbled.

  It looked like they were giving her a hard time.

  Well, at the very least, they were hard at work and taking their jobs seriously.

  A couple knights saluted me as I passed by them to the outer edges of the city, to which I responded with polite smiles and nods.

  It wasn’t just the knights on patrol though. Dotted throughout the armored suits were a few robes, easily identifiable as the signature style of the Citadel’s scholars, who were temporarily lending the city their aid as security personnel.

  If there was one thing they were good at that I wouldn’t complain about, it was that their paranoia did admittedly make them really effective watchmen, even if they found it below their stature to be pushed into such a duty.

  “Well, fine, whatever!” the girl huffed.

  I could hear her heel stomping and turning in the dirt as she spun around.

  “I’ll just wait here then! You’ll all feel like idiots when my sister gets here!”

  I sighed.

  As I did so, one of the robed magi leaning against the wall, tinkering about with the newly added runic protections, shot me a cold glare.

  I could do without all of them looking at me like that though.

  Nonetheless, I still waved politely as I passed underneath his watchful eye through the gates, earning a small scoff from the wizard.

  As he left my line of sight, I felt a small tingle of intrusive mana brush over my skin.

  “With all due respect, miss, a threat like that isn’t going to scare us. The Young Lady isn’t a scary person, and she has much more important things to be doing than greeting the gate guards. She’s a very busy person, you know?”

  Luna came into view, giving the soldier the stink-eye.

  I smiled lightly at her expression.

  “Much more important things,” I called from behind.

  Upon hearing my voice, I could see the knight lock up and bristle, even underneath his armour.

  “Such as picking up my dear sister.”

  The knight stumbled as he spun around, greeting me with a shoddy salute.

  “Y-Young Lady! I-I apologise…”

  Somehow, despite the helmet covering his face, I could see the embarrassed expression and flush on his face.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Luna rolling her eyes and huffing, vindicated.

  “No, don’t worry, it’s fine,” I shook my head slowly in understanding, “I understand. It’s just standard procedure nowadays. Despite my sister’s complaints, your diligence and lack of complacency is nothing but praiseworthy. The city has you to thank for keeping it safe.”

  “T-thank you, Y-Young Lady, I’m afraid I don’t deserve the praise, though.”

  I giggled, before turning slightly to look at Luna.

  “Come on, Luna,” I beckoned her towards me.

  She shot the guard one last glare, resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at him, before stomping towards me.

  The guard’s shoulders shot up as Luna came to my side, realising something.

  “Wait!” he spun around, halting us, “I’m sorry to do this, Young Lady, but it’s standard procedure, the mage will talk my ear off if I forget, even if it’s yo-”

  “No need,” the wizard from earlier sighed tiredly as he walked up, shooing the knight off, “I already ran the check earlier when she walked by. She’s the real deal. Not a cultist in disguise or a skin-crawler or whatever. They’re free to go… well, that is if she can tell me this…”

  His cold eyes lingered on me as he drawled.

  “Are you sure you can vouch for your sister’s identity? How certain are you that’s not someone else wearing her face? I’m curious, what methods does a so-called ‘witch’ like yourself have to guarantee her identity? Or is your name and family all you have?”

  Luna blinked wildly, her thread swinging between the three of us in confusion as to what we were all going on about.

  I just laughed.

  What a silly question.

  “Hm? Methods? Safeguards, guarantees? I don’t need anything like that to identify my sister.”

  My smile slowly widened.

  “Tell me, do the stars still shine at night?”

  The mage raised a wary eyebrow.

  “Yes. Your point?”

  I shrugged nonchalantly.

  “Then that’s my sister. I can tell you that with certainty.”

  The mage scoffed.

  “Based on what? Faith? Love? Superstition? The rumours were right. If you took off that hat and those robes and replaced them with a nun’s habit, I would have thought you as just yet another delusional, ignorant worshipper of Sol. I can hardly even make out the workings of a proper witch inside of you. How was someone like you raised by someone like Symphonia?”

  Luna stiffened behind me, perhaps feeling hurt or offended on my behalf.

  “Whatever, I suppose it is not my business. I have received my answer. You’re lucky I independently verified your sister’s identity before you arrived. Go on then.”

  He spun around on his heel, trudging back solemnly towards the inner walls to brood and tinker with the runes again.

  Well. That was an encounter. I guess.

  The knight’s shoulders drooped, his sigh echoing heavily inside his helmet.

  “I’m… sorry about him, Young Lady, you know how those Citadel folks are. Don’t let his words discourage you. The people of Arden will always be grateful for your help.”

  I laughed.

  “You don’t need to worry about me. Luna, come on. Let’s get you home, okay?”

  Luna nodded shakily after a moment of hesitance, biting her lip.

  A tense silence clouded the air around her as we stepped inside the city’s walls.

  After a minute or so of quiet, she couldn’t keep her mouth shut any longer.

  “Doesn’t it hurt? Letting them just talk to you like that? Why do you always just let it happen? Don’t you have any pride?”

  I just smiled.

  She still worried about that sort of thing, hm?

  Well, she was still young. I guess she still had a long time to learn.

  “Pride? Why should I care about that sort of thing?” I shrugged, “I don’t need pride to affirm the fact that you’re my sister. I don’t need pride to become a witch. As long as this heart still beats, those are things which are simply true. And if those things are true, then why would it hurt?”

  Luna frowned, seeming dissatisfied by my answer.

  “You didn’t answer the question. You still don’t make any sense.”

  “Only because you’re not letting it make sense, Luna.”

  She shot me a weird look.

  “Ugh, one day, I’ll get what’s going on in your head.”

  She sighed.

  “What the hell was all of that about, anyways? Why did they need to see permits and verifications and identifications? When the hell did Arden turn into the Citadel? And what was that thing about skin-walkers or skin-crawlers or cultists or whatever?”

  Well, that one was actually a bit complicated.

  “Well, Arden isn’t really the safest place to be right now.”

  That made Luna stumble a bit.

  “Huh? W-what are you talking about? Aren’t the Citadel, Church and Royal Army still hanging around? And on top of that, Mother is still here! How could there possibly be anyone willing to cause trouble!?”

  I frowned.

  “No one really knows why right now, to be honest. The Citadel and Church still have arguments about it every day. All we know is that there’s a new, unknown cult that somehow snuck their way into the city, and they can use mind-altering magic, which they’ve used over the past few weeks to try and incite chaos between all the factions.”

  I sighed, scratching my head.

  “Well, they’ve gotten a bit more aggressive over the past couple of days since the city was put on lockdown. We’re still not quite sure how they’re getting into the city, to be honest, even with all the entrances and walls heavily fortified. That’s why the Citadel is helping us with magical precautions. That’s what that whole thing was about back there. We’re still not even entirely sure if they’re physically disguising themselves or just altering our perception and recognition of them, or if its some other form of magic that lets them sneak in.”

  Luna’s brow furrowed in consideration.

  “Mind-altering magic… the guard mentioned that there were two other people who claimed to… err… be me? W-were they cultists trying to disguise themselves? T-that feels weird… and gross. I-I knew Mother was famous but… I-I didn’t really think that would extend to me.”

  I had a small giggle at her flustered expression.

  “Well, no. Not everyone trying to get into the city is suspicious, but the guards still have to be wary of everyone nonetheless. I’m sure the people who were pretending to be you were just frustrated they couldn’t get in.”

  It was then that Luna blinked, realising something.

  “W-wait,” she stopped walking briefly, shooting me a strange look.

  She was rather cute, doing her best ‘witch-like’ glare – an expression I had gotten familiar with recently due to the Citadel’s eyes – a signature look of cold scientific curiosity with a harsh and careless edge.

  Keyword, ‘doing her best’.

  I don’t quite think she was there yet, compared to the actual Citadel witches running around the city. The bright-eyed, innocent girl in front of me didn’t have the heartlessness or selfishness to manage that scathing, calculating glimmer.

  She just looked a bit petulant, if anything.

  “So the mage was there to run the necessary scans and countermagics. It makes sense that he would be able to verify my identity, even if he didn’t tell his coworker for some reason, but… how are you so sure I’m really Luna? What if I really were some nefarious stranger wearing a magical disguise? It's not like you have the smarts to run those same spells.”

  I raised an amused eyebrow.

  Really, that, of all things, was what caught her attention?

  “Weren’t you listening earlier? I already gave my explanation to the wizard. You’re my sister. That’s that. What else is there to know?”

  “But how!?” Luna moaned, frustrated with my answer, “what does that even mean? If there were five people who looked exactly like me, how would you be able to pick me out from that lineup? What magic is it? What kind of analysis is it? Is it microexpressions? Is it certain habits I have? What if an imposter was able to pick up on those things as well? If I were someone else right now, you would probably already be dead!”

  “But I’m not,” I shrugged matter-of-factly, “I’m alive. And you’re my sister. That’s all that matters.”

  “Ugh, you’re insufferable! Would it kill you to at least give a straight answer!? This is why no one is taking you seriously as a witch! You should at least be able to explain yourself clearly!”

  “But I am,” I smiled nonchalantly, “I’m making myself very clear. You’re the one refusing to accept the explanation.”

  “What explanation!?”

  I sighed dramatically.

  Alright, fine.

  Really, did this child need even that explained to her in simple terms?

  Even after what happened last year, when I had to take her out during our last birthday, she still hadn’t let that lesson be drilled into her head.

  I looked up at the bright blue sky, with not a single cloud in sight.

  “I don’t need something as silly as magic to know whether or not it’s you, Luna. Hell, I hardly even need my eyes. I could do it blindfolded and deafened. I could have all of my senses and mind taken away from me, and I could still pick you out from a crowd of identical people.”

  I closed my eyes, envisioning the view of that night, of all the dozens of years I spent under that veil of stars, with all the different people I spent them with.

  A mother and father driving out into the lonely mountains with their son.

  The jaded witch climbing above the clouds, doing her best to reclaim her dream of touching the heavens, that lost little girl by her side.

  An older sister chiding her younger sibling.

  “You remember what I told you, right? As long as we live under the same sky, none of this matters. The pain, cold, loneliness, fear… whatever it is. No matter how dark it is, no matter how cold the night or how lost you feel, all you need to do is look up. And if you see all the lights in the sky, then I still love you. This heart beats with love for you, and as long as it remains beating, then that’s all I need. I love you. That's a simple truth of this world. And if you're in front of me, my heart will tell me that it's you.”

  Luna’s frown intensified.

  “So he was right? It is nothing but superstitious hodge-podge? Just some nebulous instinct backed by unscientific faith and love?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “I know you want to be a ‘grown-up witch’, Luna, but that doesn’t mean everything in the world can be boiled down with a scientific, logical, or mathematical explanation. There’s more that matters in the world than just finding a cold, objective truth and answer to everything. Learn to live a bit, cherish the world and people around you, relish in the warmth a little, would you?”

  She just shot me a weary glare.

  “You’re impossible. I don’t know that I’ll ever get you.”

  For a moment, I paused.

  A fleeting vision flickered in my mind.

  A mother and father who just wanted to let their son know that he didn’t need to be so worried, so lost or so anxious, that they would eternally just be grateful that he was alive and that they could share their world with him.

  A boy who refused to accept that answer, and slowly, very, very slowly, over years and years, ran away from home. Always searching for something else. Vindication. An excuse. Justification, a reason. Blamelessness.

  He never found his answer during that life. Despite the fact that it was always there, staring him in the face, waiting at that familiar home at a quaint dinner table with an eye-wateringly spicy pot of broth.

  Luna stopped walking, noticing I was now lagging behind.

  “Hey, is something wro-”

  She blinked.

  I was smiling.

  I wonder if she noticed the sadness.

  If she did, then going by her clueless blinking, she probably didn’t get why.

  She frowned.

  “Are you okay?”

  I regained my bearings.

  “It’s fine, just remembering old memories. Come on, let’s get you home.”

  There was only one thing I really cared about in this life.

  I didn’t want that to happen to Luna.

  She was still young.

  I didn’t know how I could properly teach her all of that – I was never properly taught, I had to learn it myself the hard way – but at the very least, time was still on my side.

  The world would not wait for me. I hoped I could manage it before anything happened.

  Before we went home, I went out to the markets to do some quick shopping.

  The city was as bustling as ever, crammed to the brim with all sorts of colourful personalities and bright, odd clothes.

  It was hard to find any space to walk through.

  I had to squeeze myself through, and much to Luna’s chagrin and embarrassment as a fifteen-year-old, hold her hand to make our way through without her getting lost.

  Aside from the overpopulated streets, everything was fairly ordinary.

  Well… that is, if you were able to ignore the increased amount of inquisitors, mages and knights silently lurking around every corner.

  People tried their best to ignore them – something that was at least made easier by the infinite mass of bodies on the street – but their presence undeniably added a strange tension to the atmosphere.

  While news had still yet to fully travel outside to the rest of the world, Arden itself was on high alert.

  A small air of hesitance and paranoia underlined every single whisper and interaction.

  No one had ever managed to catch a glimpse directly of the mysterious cultists, but they had still managed to turn into somewhat of an urban legend overnight.

  Faces you couldn’t quite make out just out of the corner of your eye, faint whispers that tickled your ear that you couldn’t quite understand. Maybe something had already gone wrong and you just didn’t notice it. Maybe you had already fallen under their mysterious influence.

  The only thing the people of Arden could currently do was remain vigilant, and stubbornly stick to their way of living.

  My grocery trip wasn’t anything special. I picked out a couple fruits, vegetables, grains and mushrooms and packed them up. I had Luna point out to me whatever she wanted and made sure to get extra.

  More than a few of the vendors and farmers recognised me. I had long since become a familiar customer to most of them, and despite my reluctance and embarrassment over the matter, they treated it as an honour and blessing to have a ‘celebrity’ like me buying their product.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  I walked up to a familiar stall, run by a kindly old man who I had unwittingly become acquaintances with.

  It was obvious just by looking at his face that he had lived a storied life – scars and burns were littered across his face, teeth were chipped and missing, the hand he was using to tap on his stall had two fingers missing – yet still, he wore a bright, wide smile on his face as he lived out his retirement as a simple humble farmer.

  He gave me a small cheery salute with missing fingers as I approached him and his produce.

  “‘Ey, lass, little Symphonia. Good t’ see ya around, ya hanging alright in there kid? Arden’s sure been a bit hectic lately, no? Don’t go running around worrying your head off about all of us too much, yeah? Don’t know about those Citadel and Sol folk, but us Arden residents are hardy guys and gals, we can handle a bit of hurt without you needing t’ patch us up.”

  He pointed his only remaining thumb towards his own face, gesturing towards the countless battle scars that told the story of a careless youth.

  I just chuckled, used to his – and the rest of Arden’s peoples – antics.

  The bragging aside, there was a kernel of truth to his words.

  Arden might have been a boring old frontier town before Mother came along, but that came with its own set of advantages. Life was tough, and its proximity to the Yrd’ll Mountains only made life even harder thanks to the dangerous monsters and wildlife lurking around.

  Most of Arden, whether out of necessity or just because they were bored out of their mind, grew up learning battle and survival skills, making their living as Adventurers.

  With that knowledge, it didn’t really need to be said why most of the old men and women around here retired to become farmers while looking like that.

  “Anyways, how’s the missus, is she still healthy?” I shook my head, smiling at his upbeat attitude.

  “Yeah, sure is! No thanks to you, lass! Ever since you came along and helped her out with that darn illness, it’s almost like she’s twenty years younger! Couldn’t thank ya enough for that.”

  “Glad to hear it. If it ever starts acting up again, don’t be afraid to tell me, okay? I’ll see if there’s anything that I can do.”

  “Psh,” he just waved my gesture of kindness away, “nah, there ain’t nothing ya need to do for us, lassie. We already owe ya more than we could possibly imagine, and that’s before ya count all the growth for this lil old business of mine! I’m already well on my way to become the number one mushroom farmer in the city cuz of you!”

  It was then that he noticed my companion.

  “Oh?”

  His eyes lit up, and his toothless smile widened.

  Luna flustered underneath the attention.

  “Is this the famed little lady I’ve been hearing about!? Your little sister, Luna, was it?”

  He busted out in laughter.

  “Wait until the lads get a load of this! When I tell them that I got both the Symphonia girls eating out of my cart, I’ll shoot straight up the monthly top earners rankings!”

  I smiled wryly as Luna continued to wilt, reminded of her unwilling celebrity.

  “Anyways, I’ll be taking the usual.”

  “Yeah yeah, your favourite, right? I’ve been pumping up the enoki production just for you, lass. Here, c’mon, this is all for you.”

  He haphazardly tossed a pile of long, spindly mushrooms into a bag, handing them over to me as I fished out a couple coins for him.

  Unexpectedly, after counting up his fare, I found a few coins being tossed back my way.

  I stared at him with a bit of confusion.

  “Just treat it as paying back the favour,” he shrugged with a cheesy grin, “you visiting this ol’ man has done wonders for the reputation of my product, and the missus would kill me if I didn’t do something for ya!”

  I chuckled.

  Being Belle’s daughter, I wasn’t exactly in need of money or anything, but this man was showing me all of his sincerity, and it didn’t feel right to turn that kind hearted gesture down.

  At the very least, he seemed to be doing pretty well himself, assuming those weren’t just empty boasts about his sales to make me feel better.

  I opened my mou-

  Something tingled.

  A cold shiver, a frightful feeling.

  I froze.

  I saw it in the worn, wrinkled eyes of the old man too.

  Before anything had even happened, his survival instincts, sharpened by long decades of battle, realised something was happening.

  “GET DOWN!”

  Without thinking, I dropped everything in my arms and jumped to cover Luna with my body.

  I closed my eyes and braced myself.

  An explosion rumbled in the distance, a massive shockwave of heat and wind pulsing through the heart of the city.

  Luckily, we were far enough away to have been uninjured, but…

  I opened my eyes.

  After the momentary silence and boom had faded, a wave of panic and confusion flooded through the street.

  Luna gasped, swivelling around as she looked at the source of the explosion.

  “T-that feeling… It was condensed mana being released. T-the generators!”

  A massive crystalline spire fell through the black cloud of ash and smoke, blue energy fissuring through the smog, giving the incident an eerie, arcane glow.

  It was just hushed murmurings at first, as everyone was lost as to how to react.

  No one moved, simply staring for a second at the destruction as tension built up until it choked the air.

  Then the broken spire collapsed, toppling over and crumbling over onto the district below.

  Armored knights began running through the streets. Shadows flitted up above as Adventurers geared up and hopped over the roofs.

  Then the screaming, shouting and running.

  Confusion turned to terror.

  A stampede of bodies trampled over us.

  I clung onto Luna for dear life.

  From the next spire over, crystals cracked, their rough seams bursting with light, spilling purified energy out into open air.

  A second explosion rang out across the city.

  I could already hear the sounds of swordfighting and spellslinging.

  I did my best to make out anything I could through the endless shouting and screaming, but it wasn’t much.

  “IT’S CULTISTS! RUN!”

  “ALL CIVILIANS, EVACUATE THIS WAY!”

  “ALL ACTIVE B-RANKS AND ABOVE, HEAD TO THE ENERGY DISTRICT!”

  I staggered, feeling countless shoulders slam into my own, almost sending me to the floor.

  I felt a dry, wrinkled hand grab my collar and throw me back, taking Luna with me.

  I stared up at the old farmer, who looked up at the situation with a deadly glare on his face.

  “You alright, girl?”

  I groaned, rubbing my sore shoulder and applying a touch of magic to it.

  I swung my head around.

  Luna was fine.

  “Yeah, I’m good,” I swallowed tersely.

  I staggered to my feet, and spotted my staff lying just a bit away, next to my trampled groceries.

  I grit my teeth.

  I shot a solemn look at the old man as I picked up my staff.

  “Take Luna to safety.”

  There wasn’t anything else that needed to be said.

  I had no other concerns.

  There wasn’t any time to waste.

  There were people I needed to help.

  I shifted around, looking for footholds on the walls and windows of the street, tracing out a viable path to the rooftops.

  That would do.

  “W-wait, Sister, w-where are you-!?”

  “C’mon, you heard the lady! Let’s get moving!”

  I hopped up on the wooden market stands, leaping from one to another as I made a mad dash for the nearest wall.

  With a clean jump, I grabbed a hold of the parapet and vaulted over the overhang, giving me a clear view of the streets below as I ran from rooftop to rooftop.

  As expected, I wasn’t alone.

  Small dots cascaded, all centralising on a singular point in the city, slowly turning into figures.

  Aside from the knights and inquisitors already stationed there, Arden’s native adventurers would be the first on the scene, being the only personnel who excelled at traversing difficult terrain, bypassing the chaos of the fleeing crowds in whatever fashion they could.

  Unluckily, though, unlike the holy inquisitors, royal knights, and Citadel magi, there was no assurance of quality or capability of the Adventurers who would arrive first in the chaos, something that was doubly dangerous since the capabilities of the enemy were completely unknown.

  There was a decent chance the injuries had already begun to rack up in the small amount of time that passed.

  I gnashed my teeth, spotting something dissatisfying below.

  That wasn’t good. I needed to go faster.

  Compared to the adventurers, the knights would be a bit slower, but their tall frames and steel armor would give them an advantage in pushing through the crowds. They’d arrive second. That was good, they were durable frontliners who would be able to buy time until the rest of the forces arrived.

  But…

  Figures garbed in priestly robes and nuns’ habits staggered, stumbling back as they failed to make progress towards the district, locked in place by the stampede of people.

  It would be a long time before they could get to the scene.

  There’s no guarantee what would have already happened by the time they could arrive.

  If I didn’t get there fast, there wouldn’t be any other healers who could be there in a timely fashion.

  As I drew ever closer, alternating waves of heat and cold brushed over me. Lights flashed as mud rained from the sky and winds cut through stone.

  Clashing steel echoed as dark clouds poured through the streets, only to be dispelled by flashes of light moments later.

  A roar of flame echoed in front of me.

  “GET DOWN!”

  I saw one of the knights pull his allies down, bracing himself as he readied to block them from an oncoming fireball with his shield, however fruitless such an effort might have been.

  I hoarsely screamed as I jumped forward, spinning through the air as I tumbled onto the battlefield below, swinging my staff upwards in a wide arc.

  A haphazard wall of rock and earth burst through the stone street, scattering the fireball.

  I wasn’t great at other forms of magic still, but you couldn’t get through six years at Nindo by not learning any tricks, especially if you got yourself into as much trouble as me in every practical exam.

  I ducked my head down and rolled safely onto the ruined street, slamming the butt of my staff into the stone to halt my momentum, and giving me the opportunity to pulse my mana through it in a large radius.

  A circle of light enveloped the small encampment of adventurers and knights shielded by my wall as their cuts and burns slowly unwound.

  A few of them blinked at their healing injuries and stuttered over their words as they tried to process what had happened in a span of two seconds at most.

  “Thank me later!” I snapped, “Focus!”

  They regained their bearings and nodded tersely.

  “On my signal, you charge, okay!?”

  I gripped my staff tightly.

  “Three, two… one!”

  I smashed it into the wall of earth, shattering it into a barrage of shrapnel concealed by a cloud of dirt.

  “Go!”

  I dived into the cloud, rallying everyone with one more lingering restoration spell as I slipped through the frontline, leaving both ally and foe alike behind me as I made a mad dash down the street.

  I’m sorry.

  I couldn’t afford to waste much more time here.

  This was still just the entrance to the energy district.

  The heart of the chaos – the crumbling generators – was still much further ahead.

  I just had to hope that small maneuver gave them enough cover to engage the enemy and take out their spellcaster, and more help wasn’t too far behind.

  An ear splitting scream drew my attention, breaking my focus for a moment.

  A faceless figure shrouded in a shadowy black cloak leapt at me, a bloodied runed dagger clutched tightly in their bony hand.

  For a split-second, I looked at their face.

  Or I tried to, but my eyes started to hurt.

  Fuck. I couldn’t afford to get distracted.

  I thrust my left hand out, a small swirl of flame pushing out of my palm, repelling them and sending them rolling to the floor as they tried to put out the fire.

  It didn’t take them out, but that was fine. I just needed a small bit of space between them and myself.

  I slammed my staff through the cracked stone, imbuing it with mana as the earth deep beneath rumbled and roared, swelling until it burst through the street as a familiar tendril of vines that latched onto them and tossed them away, smashing them into a building.

  I spun around and continued running.

  The air grew thicker and dustier as I made my way further into the district.

  A small whirlwind threw an unlucky adventurer high up above the buildings.

  I grunted, exerting myself as I skid to a halt and rapidly forced a length of roots to grow towards him, lowering him back to the ground safely.

  And as he touched back on the floor and rejoined the hectic battle, I found myself at the source of the chaos, the ruined generator.

  There was hardly even any time to survey the situation.

  I barely even got to see the extent of the damage caused before arcs of lightning split and jumped across the site, dancing around the breaking mana crystals and feeding off their leeching energy to violently explode and grow outwards, shocking numerous adventurers into unconsciousness.

  Two nearby engineers – well-versed in theoretical sorceries, but ill-prepared for combat – did their best to deconstruct the spell to enact the proper countermagic, but their inexperience and the chaos of the situation got to them, and they were unable to properly contain the attack.

  They weren’t within my range, I had to get closer to them.

  Ah, shit. The field of lightning was closer to me than I was to them.

  I preemptively sucked in a deep breath.

  This was going to hurt.

  Against any sane person’s better judgement, I leapt straight into the field, almost immediately groaning in pain, biting my lips as I held back a scream.

  I felt my nerves scream as a dangerous tingle paralysed my body, leaving me only able to stumble towards my goal as I fought off the burning pain.

  That was fine though. This had been a part of my decision calculus from the beginning. It was still faster to get in range this way rather than try to dance around the spell’s growing area of effect.

  I circulated the mana inside of me, gritting my teeth as I forced my healing into overdrive, my skin almost glowing red as it healed and burned, sizzling and singing before restoring and regrowing in a vicious cycle that only brought me pain without rest.

  With twitching fingers and limp arms, I dug my staff into the ground, slightly altering the structure of the earth to properly ground and insulate the two scholars.

  That gave them just enough reprieve to gather their thoughts and come up with a proper plan of action.

  “Disenchant and diffuse the crystals! I’ll reconstruct the environment!”

  It didn’t take more than a few seconds for their countermeasure to be swiftly enacted.

  The cracked arcane crystals sputtered and almost evaporated as their rampaging mana was quickly subdued and dispersed, and something inexplicable in the air and ground shifted, with the very laws of nature being bent on a whim.

  It was hard for someone as uncultured as myself to understand what they did, but the effect was evident. The air started to distort, twisting and bending like a haze of heat, as violent snakes of lightning curled and smoothened out into harmless ropes that disintegrated into harmless motes of light.

  I felt the searing, screeching pain inside my nerves slow to a crawl, leaving behind a faint sizzling burn, and the earth beneath me became walkable once more.

  Finding an opportunity, an inquisitor who happened to have been stationed at the district before the chaos leapt forward, brandishing a mighty warhammer.

  “For Sol!”

  Its head smashed into the offending cultist mage, sending the dark-robed silhouette flying away, dispelling the field of lightning for good, giving the combatants littered around some relief.

  I winced, shaking off the pain as my fingers still twitched numbly.

  I let out a deep sigh as I surrounded myself with an aura of restoration, slowly closing the wounds and peeling off the burns of all the injured in my vicinity.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the inquisitor narrow his eyes in distaste, recognising where the healing effect was coming from, but he made no comment.

  He understood that this situation was more important than petty religious disagreements at least.

  The engineers ran up to me as the chaos settled, panic on their faces.

  “Young Lady! What are you doing here!? Your mother is going to go mad if she knows you’re here!”

  I could only pant breathlessly as the last of the numbness and searing passed.

  “Where is she? Mother?”

  “Not here! There was a routine inspection she was meant to oversee on the other side of the city, it’ll be a long time before she gets here!”

  It wasn’t just worry that had me asking about her whereabouts.

  It was a practical question too.

  As far as I knew, Mother was currently one of only two people in Arden who had an S-Rank or was of equivalent strength, with the other being Selenia, and there was no telling what was going on in that lady's brain, or what she might have been doing at the moment.

  The amount of damage that could be contained was almost directly correlated with how long it would take for Mother to arrive.

  If she was on the other side of the city, then that was bad news.

  “You need to get out of here, Young Lady! We can’t be risking your safety, we owe you enou-”

  “If I wasn’t here, you wouldn’t be standing right now.”

  I grit my teeth, glaring at them.

  We didn’t have time for arguments.

  I needed to figure out the scale of the attack, then do my best to limit the injuries.

  “How many are there?” I coldly asked.

  They hesitated for a moment, before eventually relenting to my questioning.

  “We don’t know. Several dozen at the least… maybe close to or upwards of a hundred.”

  “A hundred?” I spat, ”How the hell did they get into the city undetected!?”

  “We don’t know! We ran a routine inspection of the entire generator this morning, and nothing was amiss! None of the Citadel’s sensors or detectors went off either! No unauthorised personnel were spotted, or anything even similar! It just… happened! They might as well have appeared out of thin air!”

  Fuck.

  Was there anything we did know?

  It was too late to question that for now.

  “Does anyone know if there were civilian casualties?”

  It was the inquisitor who spoke up this time.

  “The spires collapsed towards the commercial districts and recreational areas. More than a few would have gotten trapped underneath the rubble, but we are fortunate in one matter. They happened to fall towards the cathedral, clearing a path for my brothers and sisters. There should already be priests tending to those caught directly in the path of the collapse, and more on their way to aid us directly.”

  Finally, some good news.

  Well, it wasn’t much, but it was more than nothing, and I would take that.

  At least I wouldn’t have to carry the burden of being the sole healer on the battlefield for long, even if I had my reservations about the safe, long-ranged style that most priests defaulted to when it came to healing.

  “Then we focus on the battle at hand.”

  He frowned, nodding along to my words.

  “Indeed.”

  I heard a rush of armored boots close in from behind.

  I spun around, and sighed in relief at what I saw.

  The first platoon of royal knights had arrived, with the earlier group of adventurers in tow.

  And leading them, of course, was General Hywind. Royal generals weren’t quite equal to S-Ranks – at least universally, though I knew of a few exceptions – but his presence was nonetheless a massive relief for my worries about the odds of the battle ahead of us.

  He froze upon seeing me, his eyes widening in fright.

  “Young Lady, yo-”

  I held my hand up to shut him up.

  “I’ve already heard it. You’re not getting me to budge.”

  I swear, it was starting to get a bit annoying.

  Everyone from Arden tended to worry over me a bit too much.

  I guess in their eyes, I was still either a ten-year-old child watching the Evaluations for the first time high up in an enclosed viewing booth, or a fifteen-year-old taking an exam in their home stadium.

  Even Hywind, who hadn’t returned home in decades and had only gotten to know of my name in the past week or two was starting to sound exactly like them.

  “But-”

  “I said it’s not happening!” I screamed hoarsely, “Now go!”

  I glared harshly, leaving him no room for argument.

  He flinched at the resolute light in my eyes, before slowly nodding.

  “I understand, if that is what you wish, Young Lady… Everyone!”

  He spun around, bellowing to every available combatant in the area with a truly impressive volume, befitting his station as a general of the Royal Knights.

  “You heard the Young Lady! There is no time to waste! There is no telling how catastrophic the battlefield ahead of us might have become in that brief two minutes since the explosion, and every second we waste is another life on the line! We march in at once! Save your fellow man at all costs! For Arden! For Sol! For Sangferrus!”

  He roared as he charged alongside the gathered soldiers into combat, into the depths of the rubble and debris of the collapsed generator, almost fading from view as the air was clouded with smog and ash, disrupted every once in a while by a wild spell.

  I stumbled, dragging behind them.

  I winced as I fell to my knees, my legs still struggling to move as I leaned on my staff for support.

  Even if I undid the damage, the pain and paralysis still lingered.

  I staggered forwards, sweeping my eyes around the battlefield as I desperately tried to find some way to help as I regained my mobility.

  The ruins ahead slowly became clearer as the dust and soot settled to the ground.

  Countless figures in black robes, moving in inhuman, deranged manners clashed against orderly forces, each side summoning elemental onslaughts to push against one another, sending tremors through the earth and further misshaping the battlefield.

  And this was just the opening to one of the destroyed spires.

  There was a whole second one on the other side of this, and who knows what was happening there.

  I saw a black robe off to the side, away from his cultist compatriots, walking calmly and slowly away from the chaos, slipping into the shadows.

  I paused, blinking in confusion.

  What was that one doing? Why was he not-

  Do you remember what’s important?

  …Ugh. Fuck.

  My eyes. The dust and ash must be getting into them.

  I rubbed painfully at them.

  Whatever, it wasn’t that important, it was just one cultist. The hundred or so up ahead were more important than-...

  Are you certain of this ‘truth’?

  Ugh, wow, no, seriously, that itch was distracting.

  Christ, what poor fucking timing.

  I hadn’t felt something like this since that time Mother was test-

  …

  Selenia lightly tapped her eyepatch, smiling widely, almost splitting her cheeks as insanity danced in her eyes.

  “I have already been visited by the touch of madness once… compared to the whispers and oh-so-enticing tide of the Black Moon, his silly words were nothing to me.”

  I froze.

  Artemis frowned as her blind eyes continued to peer deep inside me.

  My eyes glazed.

  I saw black.

  A ring of night, beckoning a tide of madness.

  “I know the feeling… of voices that never stop calling. What it means to live with madness crawling, always hungering… Even though my eyes cannot open any more… I never stop seeing it.”

  What was I doing again?

  My eyes felt itchy.

  I remembered Selenia’s recount of her encounter with the strange cultist whose face she could not see.

  She had already been half-blinded by madness, so his magic had reduced effect on her.

  Behold the world before you.

  Forget all lies.

  This… this was the magic they were talking about, right?

  I didn’t entirely get it before, but seeing… feeling it in action in front of me, I think I understood now.

  There was something there, actively trying to pry my thoughts away, forcing me to look away and think about anything else.

  I grit my teeth, focusing through the strange haze obscuring my vision and pulling my eyes away.

  Recall truth.

  Recall the oath.

  You promised.

  I couldn’t look away. I could not afford to.

  This was my only chance to figure out why any of this might have been happening.

  Aside from when I tried to look at the face of the one from earlier, I didn’t get this reaction from a single one of them.

  That had to be important. This one was up to something.

  The corners of my vision faded, and the world around me blurred as I stumbled around, holding back the urge to vomit and claw my eyes out.

  Will you run again?

  That’s very much like you.

  Run, like you always have.

  Find an excuse, as you always have.

  There’s always something to blame, no?

  But as everything faded, my target became clear.

  …

  His left sleeve was empty, but his right one was not.

  That was him.

  That was the man Selenia had encountered and taken the hand of, during the first incident that kicked this whole train of events off.

  I felt my mind sharpen.

  One conclusion remained.

  Whether or not the train of thought that led there was sane or made sense, I didn’t care.

  It was the absolute truth. I was certain of it.

  That was their leader, the source for all of this.

  And he was headed away from the energy district.

  And going towards Arden’s heart.

  And I was the only one able to see past that odd magic of his and notice his goal.

  That was reason enough to run after him.

  “Young Lady, is everything alright?”

  One of the engineers left behind – they didn’t join the battle, after all, they were scholars and researchers, not fighters – shook me in concern.

  I snapped back to reality.

  I curled and uncurled my fingers several times to check my condition.

  I could move normally again.

  “Go and get more help,” I commanded simply.

  “W-what?”

  “Tell whoever you can find, it doesn’t matter who, Royal Knights, Church, Citadel, whoever will listen, that I’m chasing after a prime suspect. I’ll make myself as obvious as possible.”

  “What are you talking abo-”

  I got up and ran.

  I had a bad feeling.

  There was only one thing in Arden worth caring about in that direction.

  And so it starts.

  This was meant to come out yesterday, but like 3-4A (the third-year exams), this one ended up spiralling a bit out of control in scope. This is the first half of what was originally just one chapter, but will be two now.

  That does mean the next few updates should be a bit faster though, since most of next chapter is already written.

  Also, to be clear on the last portion of the chapter: the reaction Estelle has with her eyes is not implying that the cultist has a connection with the Void. While a similar thing happens when she is in close contact with Null energy, the voice in the back of her mind is doing a thing similar to what happened to Selenia and is just overpowering the weaker influence, while still doing its best to drag her closer towards its own ‘agenda’.