The next morning, a deafening roar tore Leticia from a peaceful sleep. Startled, she sat up in bed, her heart pounding in her chest. Seconds later, Aleph burst into her room, his face marked by urgency.
"Princess, we need to get out of here!" he exclaimed, his voice tense.
Confused and frightened, Leticia hastily gathered her belongings. Upon leaving the inn, she was met with a scene of chaos. Villagers ran desperately in all directions, their faces contorted by panic, while flames rose, devouring entire houses.
Shineidea warriors mounted on black horses threw burning torches into the buildings, ensuring no one could hide. Amidst the turmoil, a young man ran desperately down the street, his clothes partially burned. His eyes were wide with terror.
Aleph, who was observing the chaos beside Leticia, intercepted the young man, holding him by the shoulder to get information.
"What is happening?" he asked, his voice firm despite the tension.
The young man, breathless and his face marked by panic, babbled as he brought a hand to his forehead, as if trying to contain his anguish.
"The shineideas… they're after someone. If they don't find them… they'll kill everyone," he murmured, before breaking free and running off, disappearing into the crowd.
Aleph turned quickly to Leticia, holding her hand firmly.
"For your safety, we need to leave here immediately," he insisted, concern evident in his voice.
He felt her hand tremble in his, but when he looked up, he met Leticia's determined expression, her eyes shining with a mix of compassion and courage. For a moment, she hesitated; she had never faced a shineidea before, and fear pulsed in her chest. But the sound of screams and the desperation of the people around her made her step back from fleeing. She could not abandon these villagers.
"I can't leave these people… not like this," she whispered, her voice firm and decision reflected on her face.
Worry for the villagers gnawed at Aleph. He wanted to help them, to fight by their side, but his mission was to protect Leticia, and that was his absolute priority. With a firm grip on her hand, he led her down a less exposed path, dodging the flames and the screams of terror that echoed through the village. With every step, with every pleading look that crossed his path, Aleph felt the weight of his responsibility and the conflict between his duty and his compassion.
The scene grew increasingly grim. The fire consumed the houses rapidly, its flames fanned by the wind, swallowing homes and transforming the landscape, while the shineideas captured and interrogated everyone who emerged from the burning buildings. Those who didn't answer in time… were summarily executed.
A family emerged from a burning house. The mother, with a child in her arms, was the first to come out. Without warning, a shineidea attacked her, the blade piercing through her chest. The woman fell lifeless, the child rolling to the side, unharmed. The boy, in tears, shook his mother's shoulder, calling for her desperately, but silence was the only answer. The father, paralyzed by horror, watched the scene in a state of shock, unable to move or even react.
The shineidea, with a cruel smile, raised her violet-bladed katana, ready to silence the child's cry. At the last moment, the impact of another blade interrupted the attack. Aleph's sword intercepted the blow, deflecting the katana with a clash. Moving with speed, Aleph counter-attacked, his blade piercing the shineidea's heart. The creature dissolved into dust, leaving only a trail of dark ashes.
The child's father, waking from his stupor upon seeing the shineidea disappear, looked at Aleph with teary eyes. On his face, a mixture of pain and relief took shape, a brief spark of satisfied revenge. He hugged his son tightly, as if to protect him from the chaos around them, and, without a word, fled the scene, carrying with him the pain and the memory of the woman he had lost.
Aleph watched the family flee, a tight knot in his throat and his fists clenched. Around him, chaos still reigned, but in his heart, a determination to end all this destruction was budding.
Noticing the death of their companion, the shineideas around Aleph stopped their interrogations, releasing the captured citizens. One of them, still holding a hostage with a dagger pressed to his neck, raised her voice, staring at Aleph with a threatening gaze.
"We will only stop when we find Princess Leticia!" she shouted, before slitting the man's throat with a cold, calculated movement.
The victim fell lifeless, and the leader of the shineideas, raising her blood-stained sword, signaled for the others to resume the attack. The village became a field of slaughter, the sound of blades and screams echoing everywhere.
Leticia, watching the horror unfold, felt an overwhelming wave of guilt. "They are killing all these people… just to find me!" The pain of that thought was almost unbearable, and her eyes grew sad, reflecting the weight of every life lost.
Aleph, on the other hand, felt confused. He still didn't understand why the shineideas were so obsessed with capturing Leticia. Amidst the confusion, a thought emerged, a hypothesis. "How did they know where we were? It could only be… him. But what would he gain from this?"
As the attacks continued, Leticia's feeling of powerlessness grew. More and more lives were being cut down around her, and she knew she was the cause of this violence. Then, determined to put an end to the massacre, she climbed onto an improvised stage, attracting the attention of the shineideas, and shouted with all the force of her lungs:
"I am the person you are looking for!" she yelled, her voice firm despite the fear running through her. "Stop the attacks!"
Hearing Leticia's shout, the shineideas ceased their assault on the villagers and turned to her, their eyes shining with a predatory bloodlust, moving in her direction with their swords raised.
Leticia, determined to resist, drew her sword and faced the attacks that came in a relentless sequence. Every blow she delivered seemed to pass through them as if they were made of smoke, causing no damage. It was like fighting shadows. Despite this, Leticia felt a momentary relief seeing that, at least, the shineideas had stopped the massacre of the citizens.
Aleph remained by Leticia's side, vigilant of every movement around them, searching for an escape route that wouldn't force him to use an ability he wished to keep secret. With skill and precision, he dodged attacks and counter-attacked effectively, his blades striking the shineideas in a way that impressed Leticia, as she had seen him eliminate one of them before. Still, she noticed something peculiar in his fighting style: he seemed to be holding back, acting with a caution that differed from the vigor he had shown when facing Laurenn, as if he were hiding something. But she barely had time to process this detail while defending herself from the enemies' attacks.
Gradually, a larger group of shineideas surrounded them, forming a barrier of blades and cruel laughter. Aleph, with fluid and precise movements, repelled the attacks, but with each defended blow, a new one came, faster, more violent. But now the shineideas seemed to be amusing themselves with the situation, as if the siege were just a game to them.
Leticia, breathless and with her heart racing, cast an anxious glance at Aleph. "There are so many... How are we going to face all these shineideas and still protect the villagers?"
As they exchanged glances, they both knew the chances were slim. Leticia took a deep breath, drawing courage from the realization that, however grim the situation, she was not alone. And that, perhaps, was enough to keep hope alive as they faced the impossible.
The Royal Knights arrived, their armor gleaming under the morning sun. But their swords, like Leticia's, proved ineffective against the shineideas.
The fight became even more lopsided, as the shineideas intensified their attacks, as if challenged by the presence of the royal guard. The knights, torn between protecting the villagers and facing the shineideas, fought bravely, but many succumbed to the enemy's relentless fury. They knew their chances of victory were minimal, but their determination to protect the innocent surpassed their fear of death.
The scene was devastating. Flames consumed the houses, bodies lay inert on the ground, wounded soldiers fought in vain, and terror was stamped on the faces of the villagers who still survived. The scene of horror was seared into Leticia's mind, causing her deep pain and a sense of guilt.
"If only I had the ability to defeat them..." she thought desperately. "I trained so much, but I haven't reached that capability. I won't be able to protect these people."
Aleph noticed Leticia's anguish, aware that the princess blamed herself for her powerlessness in the face of the destruction. Her safety was his priority, a promise made to Laurenn. He considered the possibility of retreating, of leaving the fight to the Royal Knights, but the idea of abandoning the villagers bothered him.
He was about to suggest it when a horrible sight made him hesitate: the village chief was struck mortally from behind, with no chance to defend himself. The brutal scene paralyzed Leticia, unable to look away. The kind and welcoming man who had received them with such hospitality the night before… had been killed.
Distracted by the pain and shock, Leticia didn't notice one of the shineideas approaching stealthily, preparing a deadly attack. Leticia detected the movement too late to react, but Aleph interposed himself, taking the blow in her place. The blade cut deeply into his right shoulder, staining his clothes with a vivid red.