I… have failed as an adult.

The next morning, Micah and Ellie had taken down their camp and were now making their way through the forest once again. But having slept through the night and woken up with a fresh perspective on the events that took place, Micah came to a startling realization.

That time, she’d gotten so caught up in her emotions that she ended up venting her feelings to a thirteen year old girl. And not only that, but she ended up being comforted by that same girl, who took pity on her and hugged her gently to assuage her doubts and feelings. At twenty-eight years old mentally, there was just no excuse for letting that kind of thing happen.

Uuu… Mom, dad, forgive me… For more reasons than one, I’m grateful you can’t see me like this…

While fighting back tears in her eyes, Micah continued walking alongside Ellie, who seemed to be in high spirits as she skipped along with light steps. “Hehe… Ehehehe~”

Micah snuck a glance at her, marveling at how truly happy her expression looked. It was the same smile that she’d been shown the previous night, the same smile that had done its absolute best to get her to change her outlook, and to accept the idea of letting people past her walls even if she didn’t know if she could truly trust them.

…Well, Micah couldn’t say she wasn’t grateful, even if it was embarrassing to rely so strongly on someone half her total age like she had. But even so, was it really alright? The idea sounded nice, but it still seemed like such a foreign concept to blindly place your trust in someone despite knowing they might betray or abandon you. Could she really do something like that?

“Micah.” Ellie’s voice brought her out of her thoughts, and she glanced over to see that the girl’s smile had warped to the point that she was now grinning like an idiot. “Micah… Micah~”

“W-What is it? Ellie.”

“Nothing~ I just wanted to try saying it a bit, hee hee~”

“I-Is that so? I-I see…”

Somehow, Ellie’s blunt reasoning left Micah struggling to form a response, her attention focused on fighting off the flush of pink filling her cheeks as she turned her face away.

Th-This girl… How the hell can she say such a couple-like thing so casually… And the amount of skinship she uses is unbelievable considering our relationship. I’ve noticed this for a while now, but she doesn’t seem to have many boundaries for people she likes. Does she treat all of her friends like this?

It was a curious idea, and Micah could completely believe that it was the truth. The stories she’d told about her friends Mare and Keith hadn’t specified her interactions with them in that kind of detail, but it wasn’t difficult to assume they were treated similarly considering Ellie had known them for far longer.

In any case, this wasn’t the time for that kind of pointless speculation. The number of monsters they’d seen recently was oddly low, but still showed a slight increase compared to previous days, meaning it likely wouldn’t be long before they found where [Baphomet] was located. According to Ellie, who cited reports from the Hero Association’s records, its appearance was similar to that of the hornbears, but its body was much more massive and scary-looking.

With that in mind, it probably wouldn’t be too quick; at least, not to the degree that its smaller offspring were. But what would the compensation for that be? Raw strength was a given, but this was a creature that the strongest mages of the past were completely unable to kill to the point that they gave up and sealed it instead. Surely it had some kind of terrifying power that made it live up to its unstoppable reputation.

Come to think of it, maybe Ellie would know something about that. “Say, uh… E-Ellie.” Micah inwardly cringed, fighting off every urge to slap a hand to her face.

W-What are you stuttering all of a sudden for, idiot?! This isn’t Japan, so don’t get embarrassed over saying each others’ names!

“What is it? Micah.” If Ellie took notice of Micah’s internal plight, she made no indication of it, merely tilting her head in confusion.

“So, um… kuhum, what kind of powers does [Baphomet] have anyway? The Hero Association must have that sort of info too, right?”

“Hmm, well… There are some records related to that, but not a whole lot. Most of the Heroes who fought legendary monsters are dead, y’know?”

“E-Eh? You mean they like, died of old age or something right?”

“No, I mean they got killed by [Baphomet] and them. I mean, there are probably some who survived here and there, but that kind of information is still pretty difficult to come by. They’re basically myths at this point, and most of what is known about them are unconfirmed rumors, like how they can kill you just by looking at you.”

“Huh?” Micah paused. “Th-They uh… They can’t really do that, right?”

Ellie’s nonchalant shrug did nothing to quell the worry forming in her heart. “Probably not? I mean they were able to seal it in the end, so I doubt it. Guess we’ll find out in a little while, huh!”

“…”

“Anyway, my point is, most people don’t even know they exist these days. Not much reason to keep talking about them when they’re sealed away like that, y’know?”

“I… guess so.”

To Micah, that sounded like the most irresponsible line of thinking ever, but then she remembered what kind of world she was in. Magi had no such thing as the internet or SNS, and most of the socializing people did was within their own communities as they went about their busy days. They didn’t really have the time or need to learn about something that likely wouldn’t affect their lives anyway, and those that did know, such as the Hero Association and maybe noble families like the Brightwinds, probably didn’t care either way.

Still, it really was stupid and irresponsible. Shouldn’t they at least have these areas guarded? Even if they were certain the seal would last forever, what’s to stop someone from showing up and undoing it whenever they want?

Well, that carelessness was part of why they were even here in the first place. Honestly speaking, though she may have been letting this terrible first impression affect her opinion, the Hero Association kind of sucked. She’d keep that thought to herself while Ellie was around though.

“Anyway, you wanted to know about [Baphomet]’s powers, right?” Her friend asked, bringing the conversation back on track. “Well as far as I know, its abilities should be roughly similar to a demon’s. It shouldn’t have much in the way of intelligence since it's just like any other monster, but it can make use of miasma, which makes it waaaaay more dangerous.”

“Huh? Does that mean it can make people freeze up from fear?”

“Some people, yeah. Part of the training us Heroes go through is related to resisting those effects, so I should be okay. I’m sure you’ll be fine too as long as you keep your distance, but if things get dangerous don’t hesitate to run away, okay?”

Micah was about to admonish her for bringing up the same crap as before, but stopped herself when she remembered their encounter with the mysterious woman the other day. Acting tough like she did nearly got the both of them killed, so with that in mind it really did seem as though running away was the best thing to do to avoid a worst case scenario.

Still, Ellie’s attitude didn’t sit right with her. “...I’m fine with running away, but only if I see you run first.”

“Huh???”

Her perplexed expression didn’t surprise Micah in the slightest. Rather, it caused her to sigh and shake her head. “You’re the type who’ll sacrifice yourself for people without a second thought, right? We’ve traveled together long enough for me to understand that much at least. And because I know you’re like that, I can’t slouch in my efforts to make sure you don’t end up dying a pointless death.” She opened her mouth to speak, but felt the words stall as they played out in her head. She still wanted to say them though, so she averted her gaze to try and dispel some of the embarrassment. “B-Because… we’re um, friends. And I don’t want to leave a friend behind, so…”

“Ah… yeah.” Ellie’s response was kind of strange, and Micah glanced over to see a complicated expression on her face. It quickly warped into an awkward smile as she scratched the back of her head. “R-Right! Of course. I guess anyone would think like that, huh?”

“...?”

“Honestly, you reminded me of Mare for a second there. She always nags me about this kind of stuff too.”

Well considering you’d be out here all alone if it wasn’t for me, you probably deserve it…

Micah also chose to keep that thought to herself, and merely shrugged as Ellie continued. “Okay! Then how about this? Since you can only cover me from a distance, give me a signal anytime you think retreating is better. Then we can take turns covering each other while the other gets some distance, until we’re both safely out of [Baphomet]’s range!”

“Huh? Wait a minute-” Micah suddenly paused, stopping in her tracks as she looked at Ellie in surprise. The older girl stopped too, returning her stare with just as much confusion.

“What’s wrong? You don’t like the idea?”

“No, not that.” Micah shook the notion away. “Ellie… You do know I can do more than just fight from a distance, right?”

“W-Whoa, seriously?!” Ellie closed the distance between them instantly, grabbing Micah's shoulders to shake them excitedly. “Since when?! Are you like, secretly really good at close combat or something?!”

Micah could only endure the semi-violent jerks, smiling nervously as she came to a startling, somewhat irritating realization in her head.

She didn’t see anything!!! I spent all that time last night worried for nothing!

“Hey, I have an idea!” Ellie suddenly released her, eyes lighting up as she backed away. She glanced around until she found a spot to set their supplies down, then returned to where she was standing to face Micah at a distance. “Let’s have a spar! You and me, right now!”

“H-Huh?! All of a sudden?!” Micah gawked as Ellie started unstrapping her sword from her back, holding it in her usual two-handed grip. “But why?!”

“Cuz it’ll be fun! Plus it’s a good way for me to get a measure of how strong you really are. That should help our ability to work together against [Baphomet] right? So it’s a win-win!”

“A-Are you serious…?” Micah’s brows creased at the idea, her mind working to form a counter argument. “What about your team, huh? Do we really have time for this when they’re right on our heels?”

“Oh, that’s right…” Ellie deflated a bit at the valid point, lowering her sword slightly. But to Micah’s dismay, it came right back up moment’s later. “Then let’s just make it a quick spar! We’ll only fight for five- no, ten minutes! And then we’ll quicken our pace over the next couple of days to make up for the lost time. Alright? Now let’s do this!”

“Ugh… A-Alright! Alright already!” Out of excuses, Micah could only begrudgingly agree, and got into a ready stance. “But only for ten minutes!”

“Roger that! Only for ten minutes,” Ellie replied cheerfully. The two girls squared off for a few moments, then without warning they rushed in, scarf and sword poised to strike.

-----

Thirty minutes later, the two girls were panting side by side. Surrounding them were the scattered remains of trees that had been felled, charred or blown away entirely in the fight. Within the center of it all, Ellie was the first to catch her breath, placing a hand on Micah’s shoulder as she gripped her own knees while keeled over.

“Haa… Haa-hahahaha!! That… That was sooo much fun~!” She breathed, still charged with excitement from their heated battle. Micah too, couldn’t find it in her to get angry, since she’d gotten lost in the moment too as things got more intense.

Th-This kid… is really something else. Not only was she able to predict my physical attacks at high speed, she saw most of my spells coming before I could even cast them. I only managed to catch her off guard with water spells and my scarf, but that’s only because she didn’t know I could use them. And that strength…

She briefly passed her eyes over a tree that had taken a dodged blow in her place. Not only had Ellie’s fist shattered it at the base, but the wind pressure generated from her punch toppled two of the trees behind it too. Micah could still remember the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach when she realized how close she’d come to taking the brunt of such a powerful attack.

If that’s the kind of power she’s packing in those arms of hers, it’s no wonder she can swing her sword around like it weighs next to nothing. No two ways about it, she’s going to be an absolute monster when she grows up…

“Yeah, well… It was a waste to take it that far. We just made ourselves more tired than we needed to be,” she decided to say. “But anyway… That woman from before was lucky she took you out quickly. If you’d landed a solid hit like you did on that tree, you might’ve punched right through her parasol and sent her flying. I had no idea mana could be manipulated directly to enhance your physical strength like that. You’re seriously amazing, Ellie.”

“W-What are you talking about?! You’re even more amazing, Micah!” Ellie retorted right away, taken aback. “I mean, none of the other kids my age even come close to your speed! And who’d’ve ever thought you could control your scarf’s movements like that? I’ve never seen anything like it before! Plus you can even use four elements at such a young age… Ahh I’m so jealous of you~!” Her fists clenched as she squeezed her face in frustration, then slumped her shoulders with a childish pout. “Meanwhile I totally suck at using magic… My affinity is for earth, but I can only do up to elementary rank no matter how much I try. Other elements don’t even work at all, and even though I know a couple of other spells like [Cure], I wouldn’t even have been able to cut it as an apprentice Hero if I hadn’t gotten that special training and learned my mom’s [Bisecting Slash] technique.”

“Really?” Micah said as she accepted a cup of water from Ellie and gulped it down in one go. The water was from the river they’d camped by the previous night, which they’d gathered and stored as they prepared to leave that morning. “I think you’re selling yourself a little short, personally.”

“Eh? What do you mean?”

“Well… From what I can tell, your fighting style is focused around efficiency. You don’t use spells all that often, instead putting your mana towards enhancing your physical abilities and your sword’s attacks. That may not make you all that versatile, but it’s a good way of outlasting opponents who blast through their mana all the time.”

Like me, though it pains me to admit…

“What I’m saying is,” she continued. “You’re a really good vanguard fighter, and your style suits you. You’re tough, your speed isn’t hampered by anything you carry, and you can dish out damage as easily as you can take it. Even without the [Bisecting Slash], I think you’re plenty strong already. And you’re only gonna get stronger as you gain experience.”

“Y-You think so? Hehe… Ehehe~”

“...W-What? What is it?” Micah raised a brow as Ellie giggled quietly to herself.

“Nothing, it’s just… For a second you kinda sounded like an adult, Micah. That whole explanation sounded like something my auntie Alma would have said, hehe!”

“I, uh… I see…” Micah wasn’t sure how to take the comment, especially considering she hit a lot closer to home than the girl would likely ever realize. “Um, thanks, I guess.”

“Oh no, I should be thanking you! You really cheered me up just now, so thanks. I definitely feel like I understand you a lot more after our spar. Now we’ve become even closer friends than before!”

“Hold on, wasn’t this supposed to be about preparing for our fight with [Baphomet]?”

“Now then! Let’s hurry and make up for lost time! Full speed aheeeeeeead!!!”

“H-Hey, answer my questio-! Ellie! Seriously, don’t just run off on your own like that! I swear, this kid never runs out of energy…”

-----

Over the next week and a half, the two girls spent their time fighting, camping, chatting, and exploring the Zaothern forest together. Right now it was three weeks into the second month since her mission to assassinate Talahanan began, so Micah estimated that it would be about another week before Circe sent someone to rescue her—or to confirm her death.

She glanced at Ellie, who was busy counting up their respective kills from their latest encounter with a large group of hornbears. Now that she didn’t have to hide her true abilities anymore, Micah had been making more of an effort to contribute to their fights, leading to a significant boost to her score. That in turn stoked Ellie’s competitive spirit, and the top score had been bouncing back and forth between them ever since. Micah couldn’t help the smile that formed as she watched the girl fervently work it out with her fingers like she always did. In her mind, however, a vague worry that had begun to form a while ago resurfaced once more.

…It’s nice that I’ve found a way to ride out the month until I can go back to Regalia, but if we don’t find [Baphomet] soon, things are going to get a little tricky for me.

For example, if Circe’s pickup arrives before they find [Baphomet], Micah would have little choice but to abandon the mission entirely and leave Ellie behind. That would lead to a whole mess of complications, and it wasn’t like she’d want to just leave Ellie out of the blue anyway. But it’s not like she could explain anything to her either. She was already going to get an earful for blowing her cover in the first place, so letting Ellie find out more about her situation was definitely a bad idea.

In the worst case scenario, Micah would just disappear without Ellie noticing, which would more than likely lead to Ellie fruitlessly searching for her forever. No, she probably had enough sense to give up at some point, but things would get pretty bad if she made the Hero Association aware of her existence and a full-on manhunt was what followed.

On the other hand, it would still be bad if they found [Baphomet] too soon. Once it’s resealed, Ellie’s quest will be over and she’ll return to her team. Micah won’t have much choice but to go with her, and make up a lie about where she lives to corroborate Ellie’s previous assumption that she was from one of the local villages. But regardless, she was sure the Heroes would have questions about how someone like her could effectively assist in taking down a legendary monster. And once things reached that point, there was no going back from her cover being blown.

Actually, wasn’t she kind of screwed already? There was no way Ellie wouldn’t blab about her to her friends once they parted ways. Even if Micah explained in advance that she didn’t want the Heroes to know about her, Ellie was definitely the type of clumsy person who would let it slip without thinking at some point.

Well, hopefully it would happen only once Micah was far, far away. Once their hunt for [Baphomet] came to an end, it was very unlikely that the two of them would ever meet again anyway.

…

…

Yeah… That would be for the best, wouldn’t it. Circe will probably want to have her assassinated when she finds out what happened, so it’s better to break off all contact with her once we’re done. That’s… the only thing I can do to protect her, as her friend.

“Hey Micah!” Ellie’s voice brought her out of her thoughts. She did her best to force away whatever expression was on her face and looked up to see Ellie waving in her direction. “Come check this out! I think I might’ve found [Baphomet]!”

“H-Huh? Really?!” That got Micah’s feet moving. She jogged to Ellie’s side as the girl pointed to something in the distance.

“See that? The monsters have been increasing in number the closer we get to that area. It’s possible that it’s just a feeding ground, but we’re smack in the middle of where my estimations placed [Baphomet]’s location to be. With any luck, I think we might find it today!”

“But what is it?” Micah squinted, trying to examine the strange structure closer. “A… hill? A huge rock?”

“I think it’s a cave actually. It must have formed naturally due to weathering, or maybe it was made specifically as a place to seal [Baphomet] long ago. Either way, it’s the perfect place for it to hide and regain its strength while producing offspring.” Ellie looked proud of her own deductions, and excitement was more than present on her face as she clenched her fists determinedly. “This could be it, Micah! Three weeks of searching all for this moment! Wanna go check it out?”

“...”

“...? Micah? Is something wrong?”

“Huh? No- uh, I’m- I’m fine.” Micah shook away the pervasive thoughts from earlier and nodded her head. “Let’s do it, Ellie. If [Baphomet] really is over there… then we have to hurry up and deal with it once and for all.”

“All right!” Her friend cheered. Micah doubted that someone as socially perceptive as Ellie failed to notice her inner worries, but it seemed she decided to overlook it. “Then, we’re going full speed ahe-”

“Hold on. Let me do it this time.” Micah smiled, her heart radiating with warmth and appreciation for Ellie’s considerate nature. She still wasn’t completely sure if she could abide by her promise to open her heart towards others in the future, but for right now, until the time when she and Ellie had to part ways, she wanted to continue to enjoy the feeling of letting her inhibitions go and just have fun with her friend.

She walked forward a few steps, clenched her fists, and with a deep breath, pumped one into the air while shouting as loud as she could. “C’mon Ellie! We’re going FULL SPEED AHEAAAAAAD!!!”

Ellie burst into giggles as Micah panted out a few breaths, her face left flush from the exertion and slight embarrassment. That was the first time Micah had ever screamed at the top of her lungs just for the fun of it, but it turned out to be much more gratifying than she could have ever anticipated.

“Now you’ve got it!” Ellie said as her laughter died down. “Alright, I’ll follow you! Lead the way, Micah!”

“Right!” Micah nodded, suddenly feeling energized and ready for action. She wondered for a moment if this was how Ellie managed to stay so exuberant all the time, but quickly shook those thoughts away and focused on the task at hand.

With only a moment’s preparation, she effortlessly kicked off the ground into a full-on sprint for the distant shape that was their target. Granted, she wasn’t running at her absolute fastest speed, but it was still enough that she needed the enhanced reflexes provided by [God’s Blessing] to avoid crashing into trees and other shrubbery that were in her way. Despite that, Ellie kept pace with her impressively well, once again reminding Micah that the aspiring Hero would no doubt become a terrifying force of nature once she grew up a bit more.

As the two made their approach, it became increasingly clear that the structure was indeed a cave. Its overall shape resembled a mini mountain that rose a fair bit above the trees, and as the pair circled around, they discovered a massive opening that served as the cave’s entrance. The interior was even more spacious, but that made it easy to spot the enormous ball of fur curled up at the opposite end, surrounded by a sizable number of hornbears that nipped and played without noticing them.

More than that though, what caught their attention were the plethora of monster corpses strewn about the area, reaching all the way outside to the area around the entrance where they currently were. They were all clearly murdered, but there was a startling lack of blood despite that. Just from looking, it seemed like they were all killed by crushed skulls or broken necks.

“...It was the woman from before, right?” Ellie was the one to voice their collective thoughts, so Micah didn’t bother responding. The woman in white didn’t use any blades at all and relied mainly on blunt physical attacks, so it lined up with the state of the corpses.

So, she really had come here for [Baphomet] too… Was her goal really just to unseal it? No, that doesn’t matter right now.

“Okay, let’s go over the plan one more time,” Micah said as the two of them retreated to crouch just before the entrance. “We’re going up against a legendary monster that couldn’t be killed by mages stronger and more numerous than us, so a prolonged battle won’t be to our advantage. We need to quickly weaken it and find an opening to apply the seal before things get too dangerous. Speaking of, do you still have it?”

“Mhm!” Ellie nodded and produced two mana crystals from her pocket. They were called Seal Crystals, and from what Ellie had explained earlier, they were part of a handful her team had brought with them, each containing a powerful sealing spell. According to her, only one was needed in order to seal [Baphomet], but they brought extras in case some of the crystals were destroyed in the battle.

However, each of her team’s members carried a single Seal Crystal on them, and Ellie was only able to take Mare’s the night she left Jochen. In other words, in addition to her own crystal, they only had two to work with between the two of them. To make matters worse, seals were a type of magic that worked kinda like a certain capture item from a certain monster-collecting franchise back on Earth. If used at the wrong time, a target with sufficient strength could break free before it has a chance to finish applying, meaning they had to be extra careful about when they decided to use it.

“I’ll take one and you hold onto the other,” Micah said. As Ellie obliged and passed one of the crystals over to her, she took a second to pray that this one wouldn’t follow the path of the last crystal she kept that obscured her appearance with illusion magic. “Once we get in there, we’ll attack [Baphomet] together and adapt based on how effective it is. If it seems like we can end it, we’ll continue attacking relentlessly until we see an opening to apply the seal. If not, we’ll backpedal and fight in our usual formation. And finally, if things get too dangerous, we’ll do our best to cover each other and run away together. Got it?”

Ellie nodded, and even looked a little impressed. “Wow, you’re pretty smart, huh Micah? I’m really glad I brought you along with me~!”

“E-Eh? Y-Yeah, thanks…”

Stupi-! Stop getting embarrassed every time she compliments you!

“K-Kuhum. In any case, this is it. I’m going in, Ellie.”

“Right behind you!”

Cautiously, the two crept past the gaping entrance and stepped inside the cave. The ceiling was high up, incredibly so, which Micah guessed was to accommodate the equally massive creature that called the dwelling its home. That very creature was at the far back, still curled up and unmoving even as they approached.

It was the smaller ones that noticed them; first by scent, then by sight as they turned and screeched out a series of warning cries. That got the others into action, as they bounded forward to put themselves between the two of them and [Baphomet], who stirred only slightly at the commotion.

That struck Micah as odd. Wouldn’t the parent be the one to defend its children in a situation like this?

“How many are there?” Ellie asked. It seemed that in this life or death situation the older girl wasn’t willing to take the time to count it out on her fingers like usual. Smart.

“Thirty-two, counting the smaller ones,” Micah answered. “But only fourteen stepped up to attack us, while the rest look like they’re waiting on standby.”

“[Baphomet] is hurt,” Ellie reported in turn. “That’s why its children are protecting it.” She sighed. “Now I finally get why it’s only been producing offspring ever since it was unsealed.”

So it’s hurt, huh? We can probably attribute that to the woman in white too. In other words, she came here, unsealed [Baphomet], then… attacked it? And fled afterwards while slaughtering its offspring. And ever since then, it’s been using its kids for protection, and to gather food while it regains its strength.

Hold on, setting aside why the woman would unseal [Baphomet] only to beat it up right after, didn’t legendary monsters possess the same miasma as demons? That meant they should be able to heal even fatal injuries with ease. The only way to truly injure it would be, just like she’d seen with Talahanan, if it had exhausted all of its miasma during the fight, and was injured afterwards. But that was…

…

…

“...You know, whoever that woman was, I’m suddenly glad we didn’t run into her on her way here.”

“Ditto.”

The two girls shared a relieved smile as they collectively shivered from the thought, but quickly refocused as the monsters gave another shriek of warning, attempting to ward them off. They wouldn’t leave that easily though.

“I’ll get a spell ready. Take care of them for me?”

“Fufu~ You got it.” Ellie grinned, and without another word rushed in with her sword at the ready. In a matter of moments body parts were hitting the floor as she swung and slashed her way into the group of hornbears. As they focused their attention on her, Micah took the time to prepare to cast [Harden]. With luck, she’d be able to restrain [Baphomet] to the ground and prevent it from joining the battle. All she would have to do from there is assist Ellie in taking care of the offspring, then apply the seal once the coast was clear.

Once she’d built up enough mana and converted it into earth magic, Micah brought her palms to the ground, digging her fingers into the coarse rocky floor as it splintered a path towards her target. The crackling trail swerved this way and that to avoid interfering with Ellie’s offensive until it reached the furry mass, after which it burst from the ground to wrap around it several times like a series of belts before spearing back into the ground, securing itself tightly.

Micah highly doubted that would be enough to keep [Baphomet] held down if it truly wanted to stand, but it would have to do for now. By the time she turned her attention to the remaining hornbears, Ellie had just finished carving another two up, leaving significantly less than before. Micah spotted a group hanging back in preparation to pounce her partner while her back was turned, so she thrust her palms out and let loose a blast of flames in their direction. It collided with one directly and forced the others to scatter—some towards her that were subsequently dashed to pieces by her scarf ends, and others towards Ellie, who noticed their unintentional charge and moved in to slice them apart like the rest.

All in all, barely two minutes had passed before the pair had significantly reduced the number of monsters bearing down on them. Only a handful of screeching infants remained, but just as the two were about to rush them, they felt the ground beneath them tremble.

Ellie looked her way in confusion, but Micah could only shake her head to deny that she’d used any sort of earth magic just then. Then the second tremor followed, nearly throwing them to the ground. That brought the girls’ attention towards the gigantic ball of ash-black fur, now rumbling with life as the rocky restraints Micah had applied strained to stay secure.

The third tremble. Micah felt her stomach drop as she watched the restraints snap like twigs just from the creature’s slightest shift. The fourth rumble followed as a massive snout twisted around to come halfway into view, exposing an equally massive curled horn, as well as an eyelid that slowly began to unfurl itself. A few moments of tense silence passed as Micah and Ellie held their breaths in anticipation, untill…

Darkness. Within that socket, horrible, unending darkness had emerged, and a single slit as red as blood zeroed in on them, rooting them in place.

In that moment, Micah had forgotten all about her immunity to the effects of miasma, as the sheer hatred contained within the gaze of the being before her filled her with fear all its own.

A fifth rumble, and the two girls could only stand there in awe as the monster pushed itself to its feet, shrugging off the remnants of its feeble shackles that Micah doubted it had even felt in the first place. And then, there it stood. Its head wasn’t far from scraping the ceiling as the enormous monster reached its full height, its body now held up by four muscled pillars tipped with claws bigger than their own bodies.

So this is it… the legendary monster, [Baphomet]...

It was essentially just a giant version of the hornbears they’d been seeing so far, but something about its sheer size and how high Micah had to crane her neck just to look it in the eye made her swallow hard. Could the two of them really do this? Wouldn’t it have been better to leave this to a larger group of professional Heroes after all? There was still time to run, maybe they should-

“Hahaha!” Micah heard an absurd noise come from her flank, and turned to see her friend smiling broadly at the gigantic furball of death staring down at them. “Nice to meet you [Baphomet]! Sorry, but you’ve been causing lots of people trouble ever since you woke up, so I’m gonna have to make you sleep some more, okay?”

“RAAAAAAARRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

A terrible sound followed as [Baphomet]’s response to Ellie’s friendly greeting was an ear-splitting roar that rumbled throughout the cave and rattled the trees outside. Both Ellie and Micah had to cover their ears to protect their eardrums, and when she returned to her senses, Micah had just enough time to dodge the shadow looming above her before a jumbo sized paw smashed into the ground where they had been.

As rocky debris scattered everywhere from the impact, Micah considered what their next move should be and almost missed the blur of speed that was Ellie dashing in with her sword in hand. The familiar blue glow shone like a beacon in the darkness of the cave, and Micah immediately knew what was about to happen.

“[Bisecting Slash]!” With her trademark cry, Ellie brought her sword around in one clean swing that chopped into [Baphomet]’s huge leg like an axe to a tree. It wasn’t enough to penetrate fully, but Micah watched with mouth agape as the creature recoiled and stumbled to an awkward fall from the shock of its injury. In one move, Ellie had managed to briefly immobilize it without getting so much as a scratch on herself. Watching such a display, Micah felt like she understood a bit more of why the girl had been so confident in her ability to defeat it on her own.

As she landed back on the ground, Ellie then angled her sword as though it were a javelin, holding the handle over her shoulder as she prepared to throw it at [Baphomet] while it attempted to right itself. “Now take thiiiiiis!!!” she shouted before letting it fly. Straight as an arrow, Ellie’s massive sword pierced [Baphomet]’s equally-massive head like a bullet, burying itself part way as the force toppled the giant onto its side.

“Woo hoo! Nice one, Ellie!” Micah cheered, and the girl turned her way with a wide grin in response.

“Ehehe, nothin’ to it!” she bragged, even going so far as to throw up a peace sign that elicited a snort from Micah. “See? I told you I’d get it done!”

“Alright, alright,” Micah said, cutting her short with a wave of her hand. “Before your head gets any bigger, hurry up and apply the seal.”

“Roger! Just gotta grab the crystal and-” Ellie reached around to dig in her pocket, but as she produced it her eyes suddenly went wide. “W-Whoa, watch out Micah!”

Even without the warning, Micah had sensed the presence of the three infant hornbears in time to notice their three-pronged pounce. Her mistake was failing to realize that they’d been using the scattered debris as cover to get closer to her, and with three attacking at once from different directions, it was almost impossible to avoid harm with the brief window she had. So instead, Micah’s first instinct was to swerve away from two of them and put her arm in the way just as the third clamped down.

“Ow, fuck!” A curse slipped from her lips from the sharp pain, but relief flooded her senses a moment later as she watched the other two monsters land rather ungracefully from their failed surprise attack.

“Micah!” Ellie called after her as she started to rush over in a panic, failing to notice the large shape rising behind her. “A-Are you oka-”

“Ellie, move!!!”

“Huh…?” Ellie’s face was one of confusion as Micah shouted, but instinct and trust in her friend threw her body to the side, arms shielding her fall as she rolled away just in time to avoid the splash of an odd, viscous black liquid. She couldn’t decide if she was horrified or simply puzzled as she watched it bubble and ooze outward like putrid slime, but both emotions were replaced by fear as the ground around her darkened from a massive shadow above her head.

She looked up, and her pupils shrank.

“Ellie!!!” Micah’s voice shook as she watched Ellie brace just as a torrent of black ooze engulfed her, splashing outward in an arc wide enough to reach Micah’s shoes. From above, [Baphomet] coughed out more globs of the goopy substance, seeming unperturbed even as Ellie’s sword still clung to the side of its head.

“Damn it…!” Micah grimaced as the hornbear clamping down on her arm bit down harder, sending a wave of pain radiating from that area that brought her down to one knee. “Get… off me, you stupid monster!”

With worry for Ellie in her heart, Micah sensed the two hornbears attacking and swung her arm around in a wide arc, dragging the monster with it to smack both of them away. She let the momentum carry her arm up, then quickly brought it down to slam the creature’s head against the ground. It went limp after that, so she used a scarf end to pry her arm free, then tossed the corpse towards one of the others.

It hopped out of the way, and immediately charged her at the same time as the other one. While one leapt into the air to bite her from above, the other remained on the ground and lowered its head in preparation to ram her legs with its horns. The two frontal attacks left Micah with little option but to attack them at the same time, so her scarf ends raced out to skewer their bodies. They both let out pained screeches as the scarf ends went right through them, but they were effectively immobilized. Taking the opportunity, Micah prepared her mana and casted [Stalactite] once it was ready, raising two rock spears out of the palms of her hands and gripping them in each. In one quick motion, she thrust them into the heads of the monsters, killing them both instantly.

With a sigh, she let their bodies drop and turned her attention to the pool of dark sludge that Ellie had been completely showered by. The pool had been bubbling fiercely ever since it touched the ground, but now the frothing had gotten to the point that it began to resemble shapes.

No… It’s not that it just resembles shapes. Those are…!

Before Micah’s eyes, the vague shapes scattered throughout the ooze started to take form. Swampy liquid somehow warped into fur and flesh, and Micah could scarcely believe what it was that emerged from the tar like fluid.

Hornbears. Dozens of them, in an eclectic mix of shapes and sizes. And beneath it all was…

“Ellie!”

“B-BWAH!!! Haa…! Haa…! Haa…!” She was alive, and judging from her heavy panting had been holding her breath the entire time. The bits of slime that clung to her hair and clothes seemingly evaporated, along with any other miscellaneous splots that hadn’t transformed into monsters, but that still left her in quite a bit of danger. “H-Hey!”

Ellie was right in the center of where the mob of creatures had spawned, and as such they all immediately honed in on her as she struggled to get her bearings. In the blink of an eye she was pinned down, helpless as a series of fangs and claws bore down on her from every direction.

“Hold on, Ellie!” Micah knew she had to help, and wasted no time in sending her scarf ends out to support her friend. They stabbed and sliced into the group to try and lessen the number as much as possible, but her anxiety grew as she realized she wouldn’t be able to get to Ellie fast enough to prevent her from being hurt, or worse.

That anxiety warped into outright terror as Micah’s eye caught a shadow looming overhead. “Oh god…”

Micah’s body moved before she could think, kicking off the ground to run with everything she had in order to intercept [Baphomet]’s fully-healed foreleg before it could crush Ellie along with every hornbear holding her down. She arrived just as the paw came down, stopping its movement at the last moment as she strained to hold it up with her arms.

“M-Micah…!” She heard Ellie call out, but the pressure from holding back [Baphomet]’s weight was so great that it took her full concentration just to keep from buckling beneath it right away. The ground splintered and cracked under her feet, and Micah could feel her face dripping with sweat as her teeth gnashed from the effort.

“E… Ellie…!”

“Micah!!”

Shit! My arms feel like… they’re going to break…! What do I do?! What can I even do right now?! Think damn it, THINK!!!

“My arm!”

“H-Huh…?” Micah dared a glance to the side, and though she could barely make out Ellie’s face amidst the pile of monster bodies, she caught a glimpse of her expression—one of urgency as she flexed the fingers on her pinned arm.

“Just… nngh… one arm is enough…! Just free my arm!”

Micah couldn’t even form a response in her current state, but understood enough to shoot both scarf ends towards the pile of monsters just next to her. Rather than trying to reduce the total number of monsters to free Ellie, she instead focused on killing the ones near her arm. It took significantly less focus, and once the arm was freed, Ellie immediately balled her hand into a fist. Micah watched as the blue glow that would usually encompass her sword’s blade now illuminated her knuckles.

“Take… THIIIIS!!!!”

A devastating shockwave rumbled throughout the cave as Ellie smashed her fist into the nearest hornbear. The blow was incredible enough on its own—enough to instantly obliterate her target—but it was the subsequent pressure wave that did far more damage, as the others surrounding her were either similarly pulverized, or blown away entirely en masse from what looked like a literal explosion of power. Micah had to stab her scarf ends into the ground to avoid sharing their fate, but it did help ease the weight on her arms as [Baphomet] fought to resist the torrential winds stirred up by Ellie’s super punch. Micah took the opportunity to throw that weight off to one side and slip from beneath it to regroup with her.

By some miracle likely caused by all of the monsters trying to snap at her at the same time, the girl herself was mostly uninjured as she got to her feet. “Th-That was close,” she said. “What now?”

“We… We need to get your sword back,” Micah told her, eyeing the weapon still partially lodged in their adversary’s skull. “If you can deal more blows like the one you did earlier, we might be able to chop off a limb or two and seal [Baphomet] away while it’s immobile.” Her gaze traveled behind to the hornbears that were tossed away earlier, still struggling to regain their bearings but not far off. “But it won’t be easy to take it on while we have to worry about offspring popping up out of nowhere. Could’ve used a little warning on that, by the way.”

“Sorry, I didn’t know it could do that either,” Ellie admitted, shaking her head. “We know of the legendary monsters’ ability to generate offspring, but we never knew the exact method. I haven’t heard anything about them using it during battles before either.”

“They must have never needed to before. I guess that means [Baphomet] must be getting desperate. Should we be flattered?”

Ellie chuckled at Micah’s joke, for whatever it was worth in their somewhat perilous situation. All things considered, they were doing pretty well—or at least Micah assumed as much considering they were still alive. [Baphomet] was proving to be every bit of the fearsome foe it was rumored to be, but Micah also couldn’t help but notice that things weren’t quite as difficult as she had been imagining. Having to hold up its entire leg was indeed grueling, but her duel with Talahanan had taken much more out of her.

Was it because Ellie was here with her? Or was the legendary monster indeed still recovering from having been attacked by the woman in white earlier? Maybe a bit of both? Either way, she supposed it wasn’t something to complain about as long as they walked out of this ordeal alive. It could still regenerate with the miasma it had left, but if she could just create an opening for Ellie to slice up its entire body at once…

“Okay, I’ve got a plan,” she announced to Ellie. “It’s been spewing these things out for the better part of two months, but I’m guessing it still takes miasma to do it. That’s why the number of hornbears we’ve seen has decreased since around the time we encountered that woman.”

Ellie’s eyes widened with understanding. “Oh, I get it! We thought she was the one killing them all, but it actually just needed to conserve the rest of its miasma to regenerate its injuries!”

“Bingo.” Micah nodded. It wasn’t a sure bet, but it made enough sense that she was pretty confident in her deduction. “So in other words, it took a risk using it just now, and was probably hoping to end things in one go. That is, if it has any semblance of a brain in there. It probably can’t afford to keep creating offspring as long as there’s a present risk of being injured again, so I’ll keep its attention while you mop up the stragglers behind us. Then, we’ll push the attack and get your sword back, and after that you’ll…” She trailed off as she realized Ellie had stopped paying attention and was instead looking forward with steadily widening eyes.

She followed her gaze, and instantly regretted letting her guard down.

““MOVE!!!”” Ellie had shouted it at the same time as her, and as they both leapt away from each other a vicious blast of crackling red light filled the space between them in the next moment. It was a literal beam of energy—something Micah would only have expected to see in a shounen anime back home—and yet [Baphomet] had launched it straight out of its mouth. What’s more, a glance back revealed that the attack had not only completely shredded the ground in its path, but also had eradicated any trace of the offspring that had been behind them ready to charge.

“What… What the hell was that?!” Micah shouted, incredulous at the sight of yet another unknown ability from the legendary monster. Ellie, who was now quite a bit away, shouted in turn.

“I-It’s [Miasma Gun]! A demon variation of the advanced ranked spell [Mana Gun]!”

Are you fucking kidding me?! “It can use SPELLS too?!”

“I didn’t know either! Th-Though now that I think about it, they might’ve said something like that during the brief…”

“Pfft.”

Somewhere nearby, Micah could’ve sworn she heard a snort. She turned her head to locate the source, but immediately snapped it back when she noticed [Baphomet] raise its head. Another red ball of miasma was swirling into existence just above its open mouth. There wasn’t any time to think before it erupted again, first at Ellie who dove away in a panic, then to her as its head swerved around in an arc.

Micah pushed off the ground to avoid it as it passed, but the beam followed her upwards towards the roof of the cave. Acting fast, she sent her scarf ends to meet the hanging stalactites and used them to reel herself in. She planted her feet against the ceiling and hastily jumped to the side just as the red laser of death caught up, carving a sizable hole that let it continue into the sky above. Micah watched it drag across in a clumsy attempt to graze her, and pivoted her body away as it finally dissipated.

She brought her attention down to [Baphomet] as she fell, noting that it seemed to have given up on her and was now focusing on Ellie. That gave her time to think if nothing else.

Judging by the way everything instantly evaporated as soon as the [Miasma Gun] or whatever it was called made contact, it was probably a very, VERY bad idea to let it hit her by even the tiniest margin. This new tactic it was adopting showed that [Baphomet] was very clearly trying to keep them at bay—another desperate attempt to end things fast, or at the very least to create another opening to attack at close range like it tried to before. Not to mention that it had effectively separated the two of them, and as long as they had to be wary of that beam it pretty much had the advantage. With that in mind, the question now was how long it could keep this up. If all of its actions were fueled by desperation and lack of options, the best move from here would be to exhaust its miasma by baiting its attacks until they could-

“MICAH! THE ROCKS!”

“Eh?” Ellie’s shout brought Micah out of her mid-air contemplation, and it was only then that she heard it. She tried to glance up, but felt the crack of a heavy impact against the back of her head before she could. “Ugh…” Her senses dulled immediately as the piece of roof-turned-debris slipped past her, racing towards the ground to smash against it the same as it did her skull. Others followed it, and maybe there were more still above her, but Micah could only focus on the blood that had begun to run down her forehead, and her steadily-fading consciousness.

She was in free fall now, no longer in control of her landing or her orientation. The wind rushing up from beneath her felt more like a gentle cradle, and Micah no longer had the strength to do anything but indulge in it as she rolled forward. The next rocks hit her, flat chunks now replaced by the stab of loose stalactites; one of which she could faintly feel hook itself underneath the cloth at the base of her exposed nape. Micah’s eyes, narrowed in their pursuit of rest, widened again ever so slightly as she felt it tug… then fell shut.

Like that, Micah fell.

The sound of Ellie’s screams weren’t nearly as loud as the thunderous boom of boulders and other scattered pieces of debris that formed the giant mound of rock as it collided with the ground, and with it, buried a young girl within.

-----

*Boom*

…

…

…

*Boom*

“Ugh…” A heavy groan escaped Micah’s lips as she felt her consciousness return. She sputtered out a series of coughs against the bumpy cave floor, forcing dust from her lungs as she struggled to think amidst the dull ache assaulting her brain. The soreness pervading her entire body didn’t do her any favors either.

Huh…? What’s… Where…

Micah scanned around, but found that her view was limited as she lay prone on the ground with rough, stony walls close enough to touch all around her. There was no sign of [Baphomet], or Ellie, or anything really save for faint rumbling noises she could hear in the distance. In an attempt to get her bearings, Micah tried to stand, only to find resistance in her lower half. She glanced back to investigate, eyes widening at the sight of a wall that was far closer than the others—close enough that she could see no trace of her waist buried beneath it.

No way… I… I can’t feel… my legs…

There was a chance that they had just gone numb, but the blood pooling from beneath the stony edges left little room for such wishful thinking. So instead, Micah took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself.

*Boom*

Okay… Okay okay, Micah calm down… Don’t panic. The pain is only minimal, which is good all things considered. But on the other hand, there’s a good chance you just lost the use of your legs, which is… not so good. It also looks like you’ve gone and gotten yourself trapped inside a huge coffin of boulders, low to the ground where all of the carbon dioxide gathers the most, and you have no idea how long you’ve been unconscious and producing it either, so in addition to not being able to walk even if you escape, you might suffocate from CO2 poisoning before that even happens. Great…

In lieu of hyperventilating, Micah focused on taking deep breaths as she examined her options.

I can worry about my legs later. Right now, I need to get out of here and figure out what’s going on with [Baphomet] and Ellie. If she’s nearby, she might be able to help me out with [Cure].

With her plan of action decided, Micah activated [God’s Blessing] and began preparing to blast her way free.

…Eh?

Or at least, she tried to, only to be met with no response at all. Micah tried again to access her mana, but found that all she could gather was the near-non existent pool within her own body. The much larger pool within the scarf was nowhere to be found.

Which, Micah realized a moment later, was because the scarf too was nowhere to be found.

“N-No… No…! Where… Where is it?! Haa…! Haa…!” Without missing a beat, the realization that she was separated from her most precious possession led to the onset of symptoms she’d been hoping to avoid. Whether it was the direct cause or simply the impetus for the inevitable Hypercapnia, her mind swam with panic and numbness as she felt her mouth become dry and her lungs squeeze as though being strangled directly. Sweat fell from her face far faster than it had been up until that point in the humid closed space, and soon her consciousness began to fade once more.

No… Can’t fall asl… Someone… Someone…

*Boom*

The ground rumbled once more, and a series of smaller stones from the mound of boulders overhead came down to smash to pieces nearby, reminding her of yet another way she could be killed if the rocks were disturbed in just the wrong way. If they were to fall, she’d probably…

Probably…

…Wait…

A new idea suddenly came to her. Desperately fighting off the fatigue and panic, Micah scanned her surroundings once more with what little perception and concentration she had left. She couldn’t miss it. She had to see it the next time it happened to be sure.

…

…

*Boom*

…There! The next rumble unsettled the mound even more than the last had, and that allowed Micah to spot the shift of a stone not much bigger than her, plugging up the wall. The slightest gap had been created in it, allowing Micah to see a speck of light peek through into her coffin. While panting out weak breaths, she reached out for the stone with both hands, and after realizing that she had no strength to pull it, decided to plant both palms against it and wait for the next rumble.

E-Ellie… if that’s… you out there… please… keep… fighting…

…

…

…

…

*Boom*

The next rumble. Micah felt the stone jump, and she used that chance to push it as hard as she was able. The gap grew, and Micah could now see a glimpse of the cave’s interior as the surrounding debris collapsed and more boulders crashed down from above. One smashed near enough to cut her face with its shrapnel, but she didn’t care. Whether it was the hope of escape, or the sheer concentration she was putting forth to the task, Micah no longer felt like she was about to pass out. She could smell the fresh air outside; feel it caressing her skin as it seeped in, and that was the only thing on her mind as she waited for the next one.

Just one more… Ellie!

…

…

…

“RAAAAAARRRGHHH!!!!”

*Kaboom!*

She heard [Baphomet]’s terrifying scream, followed by a huge impact that caused the entire cave to shake, and Micah knew it was her chance. Summoning every ounce of her strength, she pushed hard against the stone, uncaring for the ugly grunts she made or the way it felt like her waist would tear off from how hard she struggled.

When the next rumble came from above, she knew she’d succeeded.

All at once the part of the mound being held up by the stone collapsed, raining rocky shards in a violent cacophony of noise, impacts and dust. Micah brought her arms up to cover her head, and thanked herself for it when she felt several of those impacts strike her directly. By the time it was over, Micah peeked through her sore, aching arms and sighed in relief at the sight of the familiar cave’s interior just as she remembered it, save for the huge pile of rocks still keeping her lower half pinned.

“Ah…!” An audible gasp escaped her when she caught sight of what was essentially a godsend to her now. Her scarf lay just a short distance away, and though it was also mostly buried in rubble, it was just close enough for her fingers to barely brush one end as she reached out for it. If only she could get a good grip on it, she might be able to-

“Micah?!” From around the side of the mound appeared a very battered, and very worried-looking Ellie. When the two made eye contact, her own widened considerably as she took stock of Micah’s situation.

“E-Ellie!” Meanwhile, Micah herself was so overcome with relief that she was nearly reduced to tears even as Ellie stood stock still and said nothing. “I’m so, so glad you’re here. Where’s [Baphomet]? No wait, nevermind that.” She reached out with one hand. “Give me a hand first. My legs are also pretty messed up I think, so I’ll need your help with [Cure].”

“...”

“Ellie? C’mon, hurry!” She shook her hand insistently. Ellie remained speechless and still, but a sudden rumble from somewhere beyond the mound Micah couldn’t see spurred her to begin wordlessly rushing over.

“Thanks. My Seal Crystal was probably crushed, but I’ve still got plenty of mana left. Once I’m free, I’ll blast [Baphomet] with everything I’ve got and give you a chance to apply the se-”

*Fwoosh*

Micah froze, her words stalling in her throat. Ellie’s momentum hadn’t slowed in the slightest as she neared, and by the time Micah realized she had no intentions of stopping, it was too late. Time slowed to a crawl as she suddenly realized that Ellie was behind her, and her outstretched hand continued to meet only empty air as the patter of footsteps continued off into the distance.

H-Huh…? Why… did she just…

Ever so slowly, Micah turned her head. Shock was evident in her expression, but the emotion flooding her mind in that moment was nothing short of confusion towards the incomprehensible sight filling her view.

Ellie is… Why… is she… running that way…?

As if her life depended on it, Ellie was making a mad dash towards the cave’s entrance. As if she was going to die, she ran without stopping or turning around once. As the rumbling began to pick up again, Micah could only watch as her friend’s silhouette continued to grow smaller with each step that brought her closer to salvation.

And meanwhile… Micah was…

*Rumble*

Japan, twenty-four years ago.

“O-Onii-chan…! What’s happening?! Mikasa… Mikasa is scared!”

“...”

Even now, she still remembers it well.

“Onii-chan?! What should we do?! Onii-...”

“...”

“Onii… chan…?”

That look on his face. The fear in his eyes. Back then, she had never seen it before. She couldn’t recognize the meaning in that expression until it was too late. And as a result…

He too had begun to fade into the distance.

Steadily, Micah lowered her outstretched hand back to her side, and her expression of stunned disbelief settled into one that was much more calm. She almost even wanted to crack a smile, at how ridiculous it was that she had failed to see it coming yet again. No, at how she tried to pretend like she didn’t see it coming.

After all, Ellie had had that same expression on her face.

…I see. Ellie, just now… you felt it too, didn’t you?

Just like Mikasa had experienced when she heard the pitiful cries of her kitten as it was toyed with by that group of boys. Just like Kou had experienced when he felt the horrible shaking of the earthquake and saw the panic in his helpless little sister’s eyes.

The immeasurable fear that comes with understanding that one must put their own life in danger. The realization that a choice must be made, one that will decide the life or death of another living thing. Friendship, trust, love, all of it put to the ultimate test in one terrifying moment.

Ellie had just experienced that awful feeling for the first time. And in the end… she made her choice.

“Haha… Hahaha…”

“And the worst part is that you never know whether a person is really like that until it’s too late. You could spend your whole life together with them, and only find out at the very end that they never really cared about you the same way you did for them.

“That’s… reality.”

“Haha… Ha…” There was no hint of humor behind Micah’s dark chuckles. Instead, they were laced with a malice that even Kou had failed to bring out of her. “So… even someone like you… Even someone as kind and brave as you turns into a coward when it really counts…”

Tears, hot and stinging, began to stream down Micah’s cheeks as she watched her friend leave her for dead. At first she wondered why she would even bother to cry, since she felt nothing but pure hatred towards the girl for betraying her trust, but it didn’t take long for her to understand that that was exactly it. This was different from the time with Kou. Right now, at this moment…

“I’m Ellie! I happened to be traveling in this area and found you unconscious in the forest, so I went ahead and looked after you until now. What’s your name?”

“Let’s seriously be friends, okay Mariel? We’ll travel together, protect each other, find [Baphomet] and deal with it once and for all to save the Zaothern villages! I don’t know how long we’ll be journeying for, but please treat me well!”

“Yay! We make a great team, don’t we?”

“...Mhm, I knew it. You look way better with a smile on your face.”

“...I’ll be fine Mariel, really. Please, just go…”

“Hey… We’re friends, okay? I’m serious.”

“Please, Mariel! Please, have faith in something! Have faith in me! I don’t want to see you end up like I almost did! I promise, there really are people in this world you can trust!”

“... ‘cause you’ve found one already, silly. Her name’s Ellie, and she’s trusted you from the moment she first met you. That feeling’s been growing stronger every day we’ve been together, and it’s too late to change them now that we’ve come this far.”

Micah shut her eyes tight and clenched her teeth in a vain attempt to bar the tears from flowing, but as more memories of her time with Ellie played in her mind one after the next, they continued to fall unimpeded as she fought to keep her sobs restrained.

You… You’re kidding me… After all of that time we spent together… All of that crap about friendship and trust and opening my heart… This… THIS… is how you want it to end, Ellie? I wanted to believe… you were different from the liars and the cowards in the world. You MADE me believe you were! And… And for what?!

“You… traitor…” Micah felt her fingers tremble along with her voice as a swirl of rage and despair unlike any she’d felt before built up within her. Those same fingers clenched so hard her knuckles turned white, and suddenly she exploded, struggling fiercely to free herself from the boulders pinning her down. “Damn it! You TRAITOR!!! DON’T FUCK WITH ME!!! I’LL KILL YOU, YOU LIAR! YOU COWARD! ELLIIIIIE!!!”

*Kaboooom!!!*

As if summoned by her animalistic cries, a massive, furry paw smashed into the ground just next to her, splintering the ground. Micah’s stomach dropped as she angled her head up to see [Baphomet] standing above her, the last remnants of bruises and injuries she hadn’t seen before regenerating until they vanished completely.

And then, it screamed.

“RAAAAAAAARGGGHHHH!!!!!” Its focus wasn’t on her at all, but instead the fleeing form of Ellie. With pure hatred in its eyes directed only at her, it kicked off the ground, generating a blistering shockwave that Micah had to brace against as it broke into a mad dash of pursuit.

“Huh…?” Micah couldn’t help but be confused. She was certain [Baphomet] was going to attack her in her vulnerable state, taking advantage of its earlier strategy of collapsing the roof on her in order to remove one of its opponents. It didn’t feel like it recognized that she was trapped and thus the perfect prey—it didn’t even look at her just now.

…

…

No way… Could it be…?

…Ego? Tunnel vision? Is it trying to get revenge on the one who’s been attacking it this whole time?

[Baphomet] was capable of some measure of intelligence and planning—that much she was able to discern from their battle. But even less intelligent animals still possessed an ego; one that could be manipulated to induce certain behavioral patterns.

Micah’s focus returned to Ellie’s distant form, still running in desperation towards escape.

You… didn’t realize that, did you Ellie? Because I told you it was intelligent, you figured it would choose the easy prey over the more difficult one, but it chose to pursue you instead…

…

…

…Serves you right.

With that bitter thought, her head sank low as she finally found some measure of acceptance towards her situation. If she was going to die here, she would die with the satisfaction of knowing her betrayer got what was coming to them first. Ellie would die due to her own ignorance and cowardice. It was her own fault for not noticing how her actions would affect [Baphomet]’s…

…

…

…Wait…

Micah looked up again as a sudden epiphany hit her. As she watched Ellie continue to run without looking back, her heart stirred with an entirely new emotion: Hope.

Ellie… wouldn’t miss that sort of thing. Not the Ellie I know.

Over the course of their lengthy journey together, Micah had seen Ellie interact with a number of animals. She seemed to understand their behaviors well, so it was hard to believe she’d fail to consider [Baphomet] in the same manner. But if she was going to just up and run away, why would she have spent so much time earning its ire beforehand? Unless…

Micah’s heart thumped with uncertainty, but the thought had already been planted. It was much more believable than simply accepting that Ellie would betray her after all this time, but the conclusion was no more pleasant to consider. Was Ellie purposefully leading [Baphomet] away?

Was… she about to…

As she neared the mouth of the cave, Ellie suddenly stopped, and so too did Micah’s heart as she watched the girl turn back around, the fear from earlier replaced with grim determination as she stared down [Baphomet]’s charge unflinchingly.

N-No way… Ellie… why…?

Micah didn’t know what to feel at this point. After having her emotions thrown into disarray, she was still struggling to recover from the idea that Ellie had perhaps not betrayed her like she’d assumed, but was instead using herself as bait.

[Baphomet]’s huge bounds got it into range frighteningly fast, and as it closed the distance between itself and Ellie it lowered its head, baring its horns on full display as it charged with the intention to crush her in a powerful ram.

“Ellie, what are you doing?! Why are you just standing there?! Are you betraying me or not?! If…” Her eyes squeezed shut. Ahh, geez! What the hell was she even saying anymore?! “If you’re gonna go this far, then hurry up and get out of here!!! RUN!!!”

But no matter how much she cried out, Ellie wouldn’t budge. Instead, she stretched her arms out wide, as if she fully-intended to receive the devastating attack coming her way.

“Ellie, no! ELLIE!!!”

*Kaboom!!!*

The collision was severe. [Baphomet] kept its head low in order to ram her, but that inadvertently led to it carving up the ground too, splintering it apart as crackling bits of debris and rocks scattered from the impact site. And still it pushed on, dragging itself through the floor all the way towards the cave’s entrance as if to smear its prey along the floor and prevent any chance of survival.

Micah was far away from all of it, but she’d fallen into despair nonetheless. Tears which had just begun to dry up began to fill her eyes once again, but before they had a chance to spill she paused, blinking in confusion as she realized that [Baphomet]’s forward momentum came to a stop far faster than it should have considering its speed.

“How… dare you…” And then, she heard it. From the other side of [Baphomet] where she could only assume Ellie had completely stopped its charge with her bare hands, Micah heard her voice carry throughout the cave. “How dare you… hurt my friend. You MONSTER!!!”

That last shout was accompanied by an explosion of power similar to what Ellie had produced earlier, and to Micah’s disbelief, [Baphomet] was thrown airborne. From the epicenter where the familiar blue light emerged came a bone shaking shockwave that rattled the cave’s interior such that even Micah had to brace, but the sight of the legendary monster soaring through the air back towards her direction kept her eyes wide open.

How many meters was that? Micah honestly couldn’t tell, but from the mouth of the cave all the way to where she laid beneath the huge mound of boulders, the multi-ton monster tumbled until it collided with a heavy thud, burying itself in that very mound.

Micah was speechless—partially due to the incredible feat she’d just witnessed, but even more so as she realized exactly what Ellie had been thinking over the last few minutes, and what her ultimate goal was.

She was free now. Ellie had used [Baphomet] as a living projectile and cleared away the rocks holding her down, giving her the room to scramble free of her earthen prison. Everything, down to the way she’d been attacking it to earn its ire, had been done specifically for this moment. Ellie hadn’t run away to betray her at all; she was trying to lure [Baphomet] over for a clear shot.

That was… That was so…

“Stupid!” She finished her thought aloud as she crawled her way over to where her scarf sat, also mostly cleared of debris. As expected, her legs were in bad shape even after being freed, so this was the best she could do. “Why the hell would you do something so risky and complicated when you could’ve just punched the rock in the first place?! Are you an idiot?! You scared me half to death!”

“S-Sorry! I just panicked!” Ellie’s sheepish apology came from across the cave. “When I saw you stuck like that I just… I didn’t want to do anything that put you at risk. I mean, you’re already here because of me in the first place, so…”

“So you punch a huge-ass monster towards me?!”

“I said I was sorryyyyy~!”

“Hehe…” Despite herself, Micah couldn’t suppress her giggle as she finally reclaimed her scarf and wrapped it around herself. “You idiot…” Thank you.

Unfortunately, their moment of calm was short lived, as soon enough the cave rumbled again as [Baphomet] emerged from the rubble, looking nearly unaffected by Ellie’s attack and more enraged than ever.

Still kicking, huh? It must have regenerated again, meaning it might not have much left in the tank.

Meanwhile, Micah was still doing good on mana. She hadn’t launched any large-scale attacks and had mostly focused on covering Ellie, so she still had plenty to spare. What caught her by surprise, however, was the fact that she’d actually gained a couple of levels from her near-death experience buried in the rubble. Going into the fight she was at Lv. 62—having gained only nine levels since she first set out with Ellie, much to her disappointment. She also gained one after coming face to face with [Baphomet] for the first time, putting her at Lv. 63. Yet now, despite the fact that she hadn’t been wearing it at the time, she was two levels higher than that at Lv. 65.

Considering many of the descriptions of [God’s Blessing]’s Abilities referred to the unspecified “wearer” as the one who could make use of them, Micah assumed that nothing related to the scarf would function properly unless she was actually wearing it. She couldn’t use any of the Abilities while not wearing it, for example.

But that was a mystery for another time. Right now, she needed to figure out a way to deal with [Baphomet] once and for all. And that started with fixing her legs up so she could rejoin the fight.

“Ellie, can you come and-”

“Micah, cover me!” Ellie said. “I’m gonna put an end to this right here and now!”

Micah glanced over at her incredulously, and that was when she noticed the large sword in her hands. She flicked her gaze back over to [Baphomet], and finally realized that Ellie’s sword was missing from its head.

She got her sword back! She must have taken it when she stopped [Baphomet]’s charge, and punched it back towards me afterwards. Geez, I really can’t decide if she’s an idiot or a genius…

“I’m going in! Help me out, Micah!”

“Ah, r-right!” She didn’t know how much help she could be from the ground unable to move, but Micah decided to build up a spell anyway as she saw another ball of miasma swirling into existence above their opponent’s mouth.

Still got enough for that much, do you? Sorry, but I think I’m a bit faster.

She could have gone for a more powerful blast, but instead she was glad to have prepared [Aqua], as all she needed to do was wet the ground nearby and send it flying towards [Baphomet]'s face before it could fire. The dirty water worked exactly as she intended, staining the creature’s eyes and sending it into a blind frenzy. There wasn’t much Micah could do to stop the actual attack though, and in the next moment the laser beam was shooting off randomly, sweeping around the cave.

…Okay, so perhaps she didn’t think it through as well as she could’ve, but at least she kept it from zeroing in on Ellie. Micah braced again to avoid wayward rubble while praying the beam wouldn’t swing her way. Ellie meanwhile, continued her forward rush with sword in hand. Falling debris like stalactites and bits of loose rock blocked her path, but they were quickly sliced apart with just a few swings of her sword as she remained unimpeded.

“Ellie! Toss me your crystal!” Micah called. “I’ll apply the seal while you’re cutting it up!”

“My crystal broke too!” WHAT?! “Forget it, just gimme a foothold!”

What the hell was this crazy girl on about?! Without the Seal Crystals, they had no way of stopping [Baphomet]! Still, Micah complied and shot her scarf ends out into Ellie’s path just as she leaped into the air. She passed from one to the other, and as she did so, Micah continued moving them to create impromptu stairs that led the girl up to the height of [Baphomet]’s head.

By then, it seemed to regain its bearings, and with a shake of its head it refocused its attention on Ellie. Her eyes widened to see the next beam incoming, and at the last second Ellie sprang upwards, leaping high above it.

Micah’s scarf ends were the only casualties, but luckily she’d given herself that Ability before, and they quickly began regenerating as she reeled them back in. More importantly, she was still wrought with concern over what it was Ellie planned to do now that she was high up in the air above their foe, when neither of them had any conceivable way to end this fight.

“Micah, cover me! I’m gonna put an end to this right here and now!”

Wait… don’t tell me…

The beam erupted again, and Ellie twirled her body to avoid it as she fell faster and faster towards [Baphomet]. Once she got within range, the familiar blue glow began to surround her sword as she held it at the ready.

However, this time something was different. Rather than stopping there, the light continued to grow in size, shining brighter and brighter and eventually shaping itself into its own blade along the edge of the original, until it just about doubled her weapon’s total size.

“RAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGHHHHH!!!” Seeing as the beam was useless, [Baphomet] let it expire and roared in fury before priming itself to jump just as Ellie had. The ground beneath it shattered as it sprung upward, head tucked in for a rising ram as its horn began to emanate a red aura similar to the way Ellie’s sword had that quickly surrounded its entire body in a cone of miasma.

W-Whoa…

It was like watching a battle shounen take place right before her eyes. Micah’s mouth hung open as she watched the two opposing forces, the two opposing lights, steadily close in on each other.

“[Supeeeeerrrrr… Bisecting Slaaaaash]!!!” Ellie brought her supersized sword around just as [Baphomet]’s supercharged headbutt made contact, generating an explosion of light and energy that scattered the surrounding debris and kicked up the wind, forcing Micah to brace yet again as sparks flew from the point of their clash.

Geez, I knew it! She’s trying to kill it! That girl really is out of her mind! There’s no way she can beat something like a legendary monster on her own! What the heck is she thinking?!

Her gaze traveled to Ellie’s face, wrought with exertion, determination… and also a fury that seemed to rival [Baphomet]’s in intensity.

“How dare you… hurt my friend. You MONSTER!!!”

Ellie... Is that why? You’d go this far, just for something like that?

You… You really are a…

“Nnngghhh… GRRAHH!!!!” Ellie’s grunts were proof enough of the impressive amount of effort she was putting forth in order to hold [Baphomet] back, but Micah could see clear as day that it wasn’t enough. The issue wasn’t the clash of powers itself, as despite miasma being factually more powerful than mana, Ellie seemed to be overpowering [Baphomet]’s miasma just fine due to how little it likely had left at this point.

The issue was that [Baphomet] itself was proving to be too tough to slice through even with all of the power Ellie put into her strike. Before, Ellie had tried to use her [Bisecting Slash] to cut off a single leg and failed to do much more than penetrate a bit, so it made sense that splitting the creature straight down the middle would prove to be even more of a challenge.

But… even so… as Micah’s eyes took in the extraordinary display of human versus beast, clashing with powers she never would have thought possible while seeing such things behind a screen or a page in her youth, she couldn’t help but feel like Ellie really could do it. Just like the heroes from all her favorite battle anime, she wanted to believe Ellie would overcome the overwhelming adversity before her and make the impossible possible. Both of them would.

Because…

‘It wasn’t because I was stronger that I defeated you. The reason I won is because my friends were here, supporting me, and fighting by my side. This bond of ours will surpass any level of strength, no matter what.’

Because… they weren't alone. As long as they were together, fighting with all they had, they could overcome anything.

Micah planted both of her hands against the ground and poured every ounce of her mana into her final spell. A blue glow surrounded her body as she felt an enormous drop in her reserves.

Who cares if it’s foolish?

Who cares if it’s reckless?

Who cares if she goes into Mana Depletion?

As long as she could do her part and provide the support Ellie needed, none of it mattered.

Her mana stretched out to each wall of the cave, granting her complete control of the floor beneath her. Beneath [Baphomet].

“AaaaaAAAAHHHHH!!!” With a powerful cry, Micah launched the spell, watching as the cave rumbled and shook more than ever before as the very ground beneath them trembled. Slowly, the area surrounding [Baphomet] shifted, splintering and cracking until it broke off entirely, as a huge platform larger than its own body suddenly formed underneath it and began to rise.

This was [Rock Wall] at the absolute highest level Micah could bring it to: Advanced rank. The amount of power she was putting forth made her feel almost godlike as the earth itself bent to her will, colliding with [Baphomet]’s underside and forcing it toward the heavens.

And, more importantly, into Ellie’s downward slice.

“HaaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!” As if to match her, Ellie too let out a cry as she strengthened her grip on her sword and put more power into her swing. The blue light increased in intensity, forming a cone of its own that surrounded her in a brilliant aura of mana.

[Baphomet], helpless as the two opposing forces worked in tandem to split it apart, couldn’t even struggle as its cone of miasma shattered completely and Ellie’s sword dug into its face.

“YOU’RE… FINIIIIIISHED!!!!!”
“YOU’RE… FINIIIIIISHED!!!!!”

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGHHHHH!!!!!!” As a bright light began to envelop it from the impact, [Baphomet] let out an ear piercing scream that carried far past the confines of the cave and out into the forest expanse beyond. Its hollow, dark eyes were wide as everything around it shook, its view going white…

And then… it died.

Ellie’s sword finally broke through the exterior, and her momentum carried her all the way down [Baphomet]’s body, severing it straight down the center. Even after she cut through and reached the rock platform below, the mana-coated sword easily split through it like a hot knife through butter, traveling all the way down until it collided with the ground below, resulting in a mini explosion.

Micah shielded her eyes from the scattering dust and debris, as well as the literal fountain of blood that sprayed out from [Baphomet]’s disjoined body. It wasn’t until several moments later that she heard Ellie’s approaching footsteps, and a pair of hands take hold of her.

“Micah! Haa… Haa… You okay?” her partner asked, still panting out exhausted breaths. “Here, I’ll- haa… I’ll heal your legs…”

“Y-Yeah… thanks. Haa… Haa…” Micah winced, from both the pain of Mana Depletion and as Ellie made contact with [Cure], finally getting some feeling back and regretting it as a wave of even more pain radiated from her lower half.

“So uh…” the girl started, filling the somewhat awkward silence between them as she worked. “We… really did that, huh?”

“Y-Yeah…” Micah’s gaze traveled upward. “...We really did.”

Ellie glanced back as well, and as a smile spread across her face, Micah couldn’t help but follow suit despite the pain she was in.

Because as the two gigantic halves of their enemy slowly collapsed under the crumbling platform it was propped on, she knew that they would always be the first ever people in the entire history of the world to bear witness to such a spectacle.

“We just killed the legendary monster, [Baphomet].”

-----

After a while of being healed, Micah found that she could move her legs relatively well, and though she was extremely sore, there didn’t seem to be any risk of permanent damage, thankfully. She also managed to recover a bit from the effects of Mana Depletion, and shakily got to her feet as the final remnants of debris crashed down nearby.

“Phew… glad that’s over and done with.” Ellie sighed, seeming like a weight was lifted from her shoulders as her mission had finally come to an end after so long.

Speaking of that, Micah grimaced as she felt a pang of guilt in her stomach. There was still something she needed to say before it was too late. “Ellie… About what happened while I was trapped…”

“Don’t worry about it!” Ellie interrupted, turning her body away. “It was my fault for giving you the wrong impression. You had every right to get mad at me for that.”

“B-But still… I said some really harsh things to you, even though you were thinking about me that entire time.”

“It’s fine, Micah…”

“Ellie…?”

“Ehh… I don’t get it.” Micah could tell something was wrong the moment she saw Ellie’s shoulders shake from behind, but the crack of her voice made it clear that she was fighting off tears. “It’s so stupid… I’ve heard things like that so many times before, but… for some reason, this time…” She turned around again, and Micah felt her heart squeeze as she saw Ellie’s pained expression, framed by tears and a weak smile. “I-Isn’t that weird? We don’t even know each other that well, but it really hurt… that I made you hate me…”

Feeling her own tears trying to surface, Micah stepped closer and wrapped her arms around Ellie’s trembling form. “I’m sorry, Ellie! I was so caught up in my own stupid problems, I let my emotions get the better of me again. I knew you weren’t that kind of person—I even figured out what you were doing soon after but… Damn it, I should’ve thought it through and figured it out right away! I’m such an idiot! I’m sorry…”

“Me too,” Ellie whispered as she returned the hug quietly. “I’m sorry, Micah… for everything. I don’t know what kind of past you’ve had, but I swear, I’ll never let you be alone. I’ll always be there for you, no matter what. You’re… my precious friend, y’know?”

“Yeah… I know.”

“For life, okay? I mean it.”

“Mhm... Friends for life.”

Their conversation trailed off as they held each other in silence. Micah wasn’t sure how much time passed as they stayed like that, but eventually their moment was broken by a sudden impact from nearby. The both of them glanced over to see the broken remnants of a rock that had hit the ground, and as their gazes traveled up to the ceiling, it was to see more hanging debris ready to fall.

“Th-The roof is…” Ellie started, but didn’t have the time to finish that thought as another chunk of the destroyed roof collapsed, raining yet more debris down. The two girls huddled together to shield against the shrapnel, but it was clear it wouldn’t be the last.

It was true that [Baphomet] had sent many of its [Miasma Gun] blasts skyward, so it was no surprise that after carving into the ceiling so many times, it was finally starting to lose its integrity and give way. At this rate…

“Ellie, let’s run!”

“Y-Yeah!”

Micah took her friend’s hand and together they sprinted for the entrance, only to halt as they watched the entire thing collapse, blocking it entirely.

“N-No way…” Ellie muttered. Micah too felt her face pale at the sight of their only escape being sealed off.

“Crap… I don’t have any mana left to blast through…!” Micah said. “What about you?”

“S-Same here. I used it all on [Baphomet]!”

…

…

…Well shit.

It had been a while since Micah was stunned enough to have that kind of thought. But truly, there was no better time for it as fate enacted its cruel irony upon them.

Again, they braced as yet more pieces of roof came raining down, coming dangerously close to crushing them. Micah scanned around for an exit, but other than the ceiling itself, it seemed there really wasn’t any. What to do…

“Micah, I love you!”

Wha-?!

“I know I haven’t known you for all that long all things considered, but I really mean it. You’re one of my dearest friends!” Ellie squeezed her eyes shut as she tearfully expressed her feelings while gripping Micah’s hand with both of her own. Meanwhile, Micah had to put her free hand on her chest to calm her rapidly-beating heart.

O-Oh, so that’s what she meant. I nearly had a heart attack just now. Still…

“C’mon, now’s not the time to give up, Ellie,” she said while pulling her hand away. “There’s gotta be some way out of here. If we work together, I’m sure we’ll-”

“[Bisecting Slash]!” At first she thought it was Ellie who’d shouted, but soon after the distant voice had cut her off, an explosion rippled throughout the cave. Both girls turned towards the cave entrance, now newly reopened after the blockade was seemingly obliterated from the outside.

“Ellie…!” Moments later, a figure came rushing in, one that didn’t at all match the one that had just shouted. It was a girl who looked to be around her own age, dressed in a lilac blouse, shorts and loose robes that had certainly seen the wear and tear of forest travel. Thick boots resembling Ellie’s covered her feet, and matching fingerless gloves similarly covered her hands. What stood out the most from her attire however was the metal trident clinging to her back. “Ellie! Can you hear me?!”

“Mare!” Ellie wasted no time in answering the girl’s call, and Micah understood why after hearing her name. This must have been the same “Mare” that Ellie had mentioned in her stories. Well, “mentioned” was putting it lightly, as Mare had had a presence in just about every single one of them. As Ellie had so eloquently put it, Mare was, “her absolute bestest friend in the whole wide world”, as well as her first real friend. “I’m here, Mare! Over here!”

“Ellie!” Light gray shoulder-length twintails flowed behind her along with the long bangs framing her face as she ran, crystal blue eyes centered on their position. Without stopping, she sidestepped and vaulted over any obstructions caused by the collapsing roof, all the way until she arrived.

“Mare! Aw, it feels like I haven't seen you in ages! How've you be-”

“What were you thinking, running off on your own like that?! Are you an idiot?! Everyone was so worried about you!”

“Urk…! I-I’m sorry…”

Mare seemed like she wanted to scold her further, but instead took a deep breath and reached out to hold Ellie’s arms while checking her over. “...Nevermind that for now. Are you hurt? You look awful.”

“Ehehe, I’m fine! [Baphomet]’s been dealt with too, so now there’s nothing to worry about anymore! Isn’t that right, Micah?”

Urgh…! Crap, I should’ve told her not to use my real name in front of her team!

Micah, who’d been awkwardly standing there watching the two talk, froze when their attention turned to her. Ellie was her usual bubbly self, but Mare’s eyes widened in shock, then immediately narrowed in suspicion as she regarded her. In one motion, she dragged Ellie behind her protectively and readied her trident, leveling it at Micah. “Wh-Who are you…!” she asked warily.

“Um… well…”

“W-Wait a minute, Mare! Micah’s a friend!” Ellie stammered to explain, but Mare shrugged off her hand and continued to glare Micah’s way without budging. “She helped me take down [Baphomet]! She’s a really good person, I promise!”

“...That remains to be seen,” Mare retorted, not budging an inch. Micah, unsure of what to do, raised her hands in surrender without saying anything.

“Mare! Did ya find Ellie?”

“Uwa… This place looks like a battlefield.”

“What…? Is that… [Baphomet]?”

There were more voices now, the first belonging to the woman who’d shouted the name of Ellie’s technique, the second a guy she didn’t recognize, and the third another woman. Multiple sets of footsteps approached, drawing their attention. Ellie and Mare looked ready to call out to them, but before they could, Micah caught a flash of motion in the corner of her eye and turned back towards them, only for her heart to jump at the sight of someone she would never have expected to see.

Circe of all people stood just behind the two girls opposite of Micah, completely in their blind spot as she reached a hand out towards Ellie. Her cold, hyper focused eyes told Micah all she needed to know about what her intentions were. “Wait, don’t kill her!”

“...!” It was Mare who reacted fastest to Micah’s shout, whipping around just in time to notice Circe’s presence as her motion halted and she instead brought her arm across, knocking her and Ellie to the side with ease.

Micah turned her surprised gaze up to her boss, who flexed the fingers of the hand she used to strike while the other rested on her hip. Her demeanor was relaxed, unconcerned even as she regarded Micah with her usual insufferable smirk.

“What’s wrong, Micah? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

It… really was her. For whatever reason, Circe was here in the flesh.

“Huh? What’s wrong with me?” Micah shook her head, forcing herself to accept the situation and instead focus on having her numerous questions answered. “What’s wrong with you! I mean, you can’t just show up out of the blue like this! Why are you here? What about the escort? Isn’t it still a week early?”

“No time for all that now,” Circe said, turning toward where she’d slapped Ellie and Mare, and where the approaching voices were coming from.

“Huh? What the-?!” The first to step into view from around the boulders and debris was a woman who bore a striking resemblance to Ellie, down to the massive sword strapped to her back. “Ellie! Mare! What happened?!”

Along with her, three other adults rushed to the side of the two girls, who groaned from the heap they’d been flung into. The other woman in the group—who looked startlingly like Mare—was the first to notice Circe standing front and center while stretching her arms above her head casually. “Who are you?” she asked warily, calmer than Mare had but no less similarly.

“Finally noticed me, huh?” Circe remarked. “Unfortunately, you’re a little late to arrive. That seems to be a trend with you Heroes, doesn’t it? Always too late to do anything.”

“Hah?! The hell’d you say?” The Ellie-look alike, who Micah guessed was probably her mother, and the one she called names like Eveline of Two, faced Circe’s relaxed demeanor with one of irritation. With one arm, she yanked the sword off of her back and pointed it Circe’s way. “Based on the way you’re talking… you wouldn’t happen to be the mage who unsealed [Baphomet], would you?”

“Aw~ You’d like that, wouldn’t you,” Circe cooed, crossing her arms. “But unfortunately, I’m not the one you’re looking for. I still plan on getting in your way though, so forgive me for that.” She smiled, grinned even as her deep purple eyes glowed bright in the dimness of the cave. As she unfurled her arms, a shadowy mist-like substance began to seep from her body, just like how Zaheer’s had whenever he used his dark magic.

“What the…? Is that… dark magic…?” And judging from Eveline’s reaction, it seemed it wasn’t such an exclusive thing after all. The one who resembled Mare—likely Alma, the one Ellie had referred to as her “aunty”, seemed more surprised than confused too, unlike the others including Mare and Ellie.

“Yup, it sure is. You seem familiar with it already, so I imagine you know what’s about to happen?”

“Everyone, be careful!” Eveline shouted as she took a firmer stance. Alma moved closer to her flank, looking equally as wary. “Dark magic is serious stuff. I dunno who this chick is, but she’s extremely dangerous. She can bring the dead back to life as easy as breathing, so don’t let your guard down around her.”

What? Reviving the dead? Circe had that kind of power? Wait, then… wouldn’t that make her a-

“Bingo!” Circe exclaimed happily. “That’s right, I’m what you’d call a ‘necromancer’. One of the last ones, in fact. How humbling to know the reputation of my kind still precedes us.” Circe let her hands fall, causing the mist to spread out behind her, racing for the mound of crumbled rock Micah and Ellie had left in the wake of their final attack. “Now then, you’ve made me quite happy, and so… here’s your reward.”

She smirked as the mist dug into the debris, circling and entwining with it, and after a few moments of silence… the ground began to rumble.

“N-No way… You didn’t…” Eveline’s face went pale, and the others followed suit as they realized what it was Circe was doing. Even Micah had an idea, and once again reaffirmed how glad she was to have avoided making an enemy out of the woman. After all…

“RAAAAAAAARRRRGHHHHH!!!!”

She wasn’t the one who had to deal with an undead, seriously-pissed off [Baphomet].

In a heart-stopping moment, the pile of rocks exploded as the giant hornbear burst free, now in one piece and fully regenerated as it took position behind Circe and roared in fury. It looked the same as it was before, save for the slit in its black eyes appearing a dull grey instead of its usual blood red.

“How do you like my new pet, Baphy?” Circe taunted, reaching a hand up to pet the underside of its snout. “Don’t worry, I have him completely tamed and under my control. From now on, he’ll only obey my commands alone. He also has the added bonus of being immortal, so attacking him will only make him angry. I do still need to learn the limits of his power though, so I hope you won't mind if I use you as practice dummies for a bit.” She flicked her gaze up to her so-called “new pet”. “Take your time.”

“RAAAAAAAARRRRGHHHH!!!” It really did seem to be completely under her control, as it immediately complied with her words and sprang forward, forcing the Heroes to scatter as it went on the attack.

Micah couldn’t take her eyes off of the spectacle, watching with rapt attention until Circe addressed her. “Hey. What are you still standing around for? I can’t distract them forever. Hurry up and go with Zahy.”

“What? Zaheer’s also-” Micah glanced back, and blinked in surprise at the sight of an opening in the wall of the cave a short distance away, and more importantly, the familiar hood-clad form of the dark-skinned man waving her over discreetly.

“Go on.” Circe shooed her away, then turned back towards the ongoing battle while crossing her arms again. “I’ll handle the rest here.”

“W-Wait, what are you gonna-”

“Relaaax,” she cooed. “You don’t want me to kill anyone, right? Normally I’d disagree, but you know the situation better than I do, so I’ll trust your word that there’s a reason for this.” Her eyes flickered Micah’s way, and though her easygoing smile remained, she could feel the threatening malice hidden just beneath it. “It better be a good one. Now go.”

“I… A-Alright.” Micah spared one more glance towards the battle before turning to run towards the opening and Zaheer.

“Micah…?” The hesitant call of her friend slowed her gait, and she glanced back momentarily to see Ellie watching her, looking equal parts confused and worried as she held her sword in preparation to engage [Baphomet] along with her team.

So much was happening at once. Micah had no idea how she would even begin to explain any of this to her, so she just settled for assuaging her worries as best she could. She flashed a smile to show that everything was okay, then brought a finger to her lips in a shushing motion while silently urging Ellie to keep everything related to her a secret and praying to Nor that she understood.

Thankfully, after a moment of looking concerned, Ellie’s expression settled into a smile as she nodded, showing she had. In fact, she brought an arm up to wave goodbye as her smile broadened further, and despite herself, Micah couldn’t help but return it, expressing her farewell to her friend just the same.

Goodbye, Ellie. Our time together wasn’t all that long as I’d hoped it would be in the end, but… I was happy I got to spend it with you. I’m really, really glad I got the chance to meet you. You rescued me, smiled at me, talked to me, protected me… You even cried for me… I doubt you’ll ever come to know what it really meant to me that you did all of that for my sake; that you called me your precious friend. But even so…

…

…

…Thank you. For everything. I hope we’ll get the chance to meet again someday.