"And that's what happened. Victoria stayed behind fighting Zorig's corpse, just like she mentioned in the messages, and up to this moment, I haven't heard anything else about her."
Hernan finished explaining the last details of the situation to Midas.
"A semi-transcendent with Void characteristics… I'm afraid that even with her blessings, Victoria will have a hard time. I just hope she's alright."
Little Eithne, who had been silent until then, finally spoke.
"I'm sorry, Hernan, but I can't just stay here waiting, hoping she'll manage to escape. I need to go save her."
Eithne looked at Ariel, searching for her help.
Ariel let out a brief sigh.
"I'm sorry, Eithne, but I can't…"
"Please, Ariel, don't ask me not to go save her, because if that's the case, I'll have to disobey you."
Eithne's determined gaze made it clear she wouldn't accept no for an answer.
Ariel looked at her closely, analyzing her briefly.
"Eithne, let me finish. What I was going to say is that I can't help you save her. There are other matters I must attend to. However…"
Ariel turned to me to say what she had in mind.
"You and Midas will go on a mission to rescue Victoria. After that, you must return to the Spell Nexus; that's where we'll carry out our defense."
"As for you, Hernan…"
Before Ariel could finish, a viola was heard playing masterfully in the distance.
"There's only one person I know who plays instruments to announce their arrival… Alnis made it."
I smiled at the thought of another of my comrades having survived. Alnis had arrived, leading a few dozen infernal warriors — the remains of her legion.
Ariel also smiled faintly when she saw Alnis was safe.
At that moment, I analyzed Alnis's state.
She didn't look well. Her once-bright skin was much paler than before, and when I looked more closely, I noticed her eyes were slightly unfocused. Her body trembled faintly, though she did a good job hiding it.
"If I hadn't looked for trouble consciously, I wouldn't have even noticed."
Hernan and Eithne went to greet her, as did I. Ariel, apparently, had used the Vox again and had received severe wounds to her throat and core.
"Alnis, you can't take part in any more battles. If you use the Vox one more time, both your throat and your powers might be gone for good."
Ariel said it with a serious look.
Alnis nodded, showing no annoyance, fear, or resignation. She, more than anyone, knew the state of her body and how vulnerable she was.
"Given that, Hernan, you'll go ahead to the Spell Nexus and do everything you can to defend the area."
"It's time for us to separate again."
We all nodded and immediately left for the directions we'd been assigned.
But before I could move, Ariel stopped me for a moment.
"Midas, wait a second."
She seemed a little nervous. I asked her what was wrong.
A soft, warm touch spread through my hand. Ariel had taken it and marked a rune on it.
"Oh… what's this?"
I asked curiously.
"It's a rune. It'll protect you if you're ever in danger."
Ariel smiled one last time before flying off.
I stayed for a few moments watching as she disappeared into the distance with the rest of her angelic legion.
"I wish she'd take me with her… deep down."
I pushed that thought away as quickly as it came. Victoria needed to be rescued — and that's what I was going to do.
For the last time, I said goodbye to the members of my legion and headed with Eithne toward the western wall, the last place we had heard from Victoria.
Since it was just Eithne and me, we managed to avoid most of the monsters rampaging through the area, destroying everything in their path.
Eithne was an incredible archer and hunter. And she knew Victoria well, so it didn't take her long to find traces of her battle with Zorig.
My vision expanded over the battlefield. The terrain was heavily deformed — the result of the merciless blows from that colossal weapon.
I was studying the remains of the fight when I heard a faint sob.
I rushed to the only possible source of the sound to see what it was.
It took Eithne's breath away, and when I got there, I almost regretted coming.
There it was, in a corner — a severed arm.
"Midas… it's her arm. If something happened to her, I… I don't know what I'll do."
Eithne looked at me. Her face was a sea of tears — she was terrified of losing her.
"Eithne, don't worry. She's fine. Look around you and calm down."
Despite her shaken state, she was still one of the generals who had withstood the Void's ferocious assaults for years. And when she looked around, she noticed what I had pointed out.
This had been the last place where Victoria fought Zorig. However, something didn't add up: Zorig had come from the south, met Victoria, and they fought.
But near where Victoria's severed arm lay, to the north, there were traces of wind blasts — the same kind Zorig used to propel himself in battle.
"Why would he have rushed off like that if his opponent was already dead? There's only one answer to that…"
Apparently, Eithne reached the same conclusion I did, because her eyes lit up with a fierce determination, ready to face whatever enemy stood in her way.
"Let's hurry, Midas. If we're right, Victoria must be being chased by that monster. She needs us more than ever."
"Yes. Let's go save your beloved."
Eithne and I rushed forward as fast as we could. Elves were naturally agile, but I could move even faster thanks to the blessing of the God of Thunder.
I could use one of the techniques called Thunder Step, which allowed me to cover short and long distances at speeds far beyond my rank.
But I couldn't go too far ahead — we had to be careful that this wasn't, in fact, an ambush planned by that Void monster.
That was also a possibility we couldn't dismiss.
The further we went, the stronger the traces of aura, ether, corruption, and magic became. We were getting close. Soon we would find Zorig and Victoria… or at least just that monster.
But I wished with all my heart that Victoria was still alive.
Not that wishing would change anything. My wishes haven't come true for years.
Still, for my friend's sake, I wished Victoria would be alright.
The sound of a mace striking the ground and the nearby structures echoed through the air. We had finally arrived.
And apparently, not too late — there were still sounds of battle.
We kept moving, and soon, our enemy came into view.
It was, without a doubt, the corpse of that wise owl-man who had loved to read history books.
But now he was nothing more than a desecrated parody of what he once was.
His armor was half-destroyed on one side from a massive cut.
The place where his head should have been was now consumed by a strange flame, and the place where his wings should have been was bound by chains of light.
The feathers on his legs were filled with dirt, as if he had fallen repeatedly.
A weakened Victoria also entered my field of view.
She had only one arm, was missing an eye, and her crimson armor was shattered — it was hard to tell which parts were paint and which were her own blood.
Her face was terribly bruised, and part of her long white hair had been torn out, perhaps by a blow from the mace or during some brutal close-combat struggle.
"I need to separate them quickly."
That thought came instantly, followed by my body's automatic movements.
I quickly summoned a Manemite Spear. With this, I would only have three of these trump cards left, but that was fine — if it was to save my friends, it was worth it.
Lightning energy flowed through the spear, charging it with the power of the God of Thunder. His blessing resonated with relentless fury, and at that moment, I hurled it straight at the walking corpse Zorig had become.
The spear flew at incredible speed, and my aim was no less precise.
Hundreds of meters meant nothing to me — the spear would strike exactly where it needed to.
Zorig was preparing his final attack, and Victoria, gravely wounded, was raising her greatsword with her only arm, ready to die fighting.
But then, incandescent lightning and a fierce roar tore her out of her acceptance of a cruel fate.
The spear struck Zorig's back, exploding with tremendous force, blowing apart his armor and severely damaging the rotting flesh inside, still being controlled.
The owl-man was sent flying by the explosion's impact. Even if he was a corpse, he couldn't move properly with a body torn apart like that.
Eithne seized the opening and rushed toward Victoria as fast as she could.
Victoria could barely stand. In fact, when she saw Eithne, she finally collapsed to the ground, barely conscious.
"Victoria! Please, don't leave me! Not now that I've found you!"
Eithne cried, but even so, she didn't freeze. Quickly, she pulled out a knife tied to her belt, cut her hand, and let Victoria drink a large amount of her blood.
Victoria began to recover slowly, but something seemed wrong — what should have been enough to restore most of her vitality only served to bring back her consciousness.
"Eithne… you have no idea how happy I am to see your beautiful face."
Eithne hugged Victoria's body, which was even colder than usual.
"Victoria, you're not healing… what's happening? Please, don't die in my arms."
At that moment, a mocking laugh echoed all around.
Zorig stood up. His entire back was destroyed, and pieces of flesh fell off him.
"I'm sorry, little elf, but your beloved is already dead. I made sure of that myself."
The owl-man waved his mace menacingly, pointing it at Eithne and me.
"And now I'll personally make sure to kill yo—"
Before he could finish speaking, I lunged into combat with him. I couldn't stand him — his borrowed voice, his mocking laugh, taunting all of us… and worst of all, wearing that form.
"Hegemon Style."
I moved to face the monster head-on, ready to cross blades.