Suddenly, we were in the middle of a battlefield. An empty battlefield, riddled with broken weapons, destroyed land, and most importantly, corpses. It was also snowing… how cute… if we removed the corpses, the debris. Just everything, really. "I love the smell of war in the morning." I looked at Myka, who was taking in the environment.

"Smells terrible, in my opinion." I never really liked the smell of corpses. I have no idea how anyone from either Hamblin or the Maid School got used to them.

"I don't like the smell either. I just like what the smell brings."

"What does it bring?"

"Mise-" And suddenly, from behind Myka, an arrow flew through her. It caught both me and Myka by surprise. Myka is so surprised, she's acting dead right now. I think she's acting. I'm poking her head, but the arrow isn't magically coming out, nor is she angrily yelling about me poking her head. Oh… is she actually dead? What do I do now? I guess I can thi- oh shit, that was close.

I should dodge the arrows being fired at me, obviously! I ran around, ducking and weaving, occasionally putting up rock walls or shadow clones to block arrows I couldn't dodge before I found myself behind a broken stone wall for cover. Haa… I can finally relax… 

…

Why is there a sword at my neck? "Who are you? Are you with the enemy? Actually, why is there a maid here? Answer me, or else I'll slit your neck!" 

"I'm Madeleine, I have no idea who the enemy is, and a maid is here because a reality-warping bunny girl teleported me here and was killed before she could explain."

The man stayed still for a few seconds before putting the knife back into a harness. "That's a stupid explanation, and if it were any other battlefield I would've killed you." He dropped his head into his hands. "So, were there any hostiles chasing you?"

"A couple of archers."

"What a pain." He poked the air above the stone wall with one hand, his head still in his other hand. "That should protect us for now.'

"But you did no-" Suddenly, many arrows stopped in the air above the stone wall as if they were stopped by a wall. I poked the area above the broken wall and found it extremely dense, my finger unable to move even an inch through it. "Woah… you're a Sacred Power holder?"

"Yeah. I can make things thicker or thinner without changing the thing's physicality. Looks really wacky when you see a single finger stop a giant broadsword. Granted, I never made it that obvious, always more subtle."

"Can I look in your eyes?"

"You're not going to read my mind or mind control me or paralyse me if I let you, will you?"

"Nope, I just want to know your Sacred Power…. I mean, I have an eye fetish."

"I have nothing to lose, so sure." Yippee! New eyes!

Density Control You can control the density of things. Side Note: Do you think this can change a dense person's awareness?

"Okay, I'm satisfied."

"Good to know." He peeked over the wall. An arrow threw right at his face but was stopped by the thick air. "Seven enemies. It should be some time before they decide to approach us for close combat, so I guess we can continue talking."

"You're not going to attempt anything right now?"

He sat back down. "Look, I'm tired of fighting." He took out a cigar, "Any fire sources?"

"I can make a fireball."

"I don't trust you enough." He put it away. "Anything you want to know?"

"Not really. I just really want to drink some tea."

"So you don't mind if I rant at you?"

"Sure, rant at me. I love rants."

"Good, good." He let out a big sigh. "I thought this would be the easiest paycheck of my life. The other mercenaries thought so too. A whole guild's worth of us volunteered, and now only two of us remain. They fucking lied to us."

"How dare they lie. Lying is bad. How did they lie to you?"

"The generals, the backbone of their strategy. The powerhouses were there to make this job as easy as cutting through grass. They promised those eight would turn the tide of the battle since they were the Garwet Kingdom's strongest, but none of them came."

"Wait… The Garwet Kingdom? Oh, is this the Duchess' war?"

"Duchess Chloe, yes. I'm surprised someone refers to her that way instead of Demon Empress."

"Eh, that's cause I was under her employ before she became that. She'll always be Duchess or Boss to me."

"Well, I'll be… Chloe Darrow's sole maid who ran away. I could pick up a pretty penny if I took you in." He examined me, then looked out towards the body-riddled debris field before us. "If I made it alive with you, that is. No way that's worth it. I also can't leave this one behind. She'd surely die if we tried to retreat with you in tow." He patted something that was beside his other side. I leaned over to see a little girl curled up crying and wearing peculiar clothing.

"Who is she?"

"Just some unfortunate girl. Popped out of nowhere like you, saying she was chasing her brother. I think she said his name was Jeremy. Now… where was I?"

"Something about the generals."

"Yeah, those guys. They're the reason we thought this was an easy payday. Come on, a war where you fight on the side of people like the Seer, the Bandit King of Garwet Kingdom, the Demon Lord and Wulfric the Hero. Come on, it'd be foolish to be in the opposition. The Demon Empress would also be one of the generals, and her luck should've made us win. The last three were going to make this a cakewalk, however."

"Ooh… who were they?"

"Raki the Weaponslayer, a demon who is said to have never been touched by a weapon, Alexis Lentil, the Queen of Combat from decades before, and the Summoner, a mysterious force who commanded legions of demons. Unfortunately, the Weaponslayer and the Combat Queen never showed up, the Hero and the Summoner were supposedly killed off, the Seer and the Bandit King were in no way going to show up, and the Demon Lord and Empress don't even show up to the battlefield. We were fucked from the get-go."

"Huh… I've met all of them."

"I figured. So is it true the Demon Lord invited them?"

"He didn't invite Merida or Speedy, and Merry isn't dead. The Hero is definitely dead, though. I saw him get assassinated."

"I don't know what those names mean, but the Seer, the Bandit King, and the Summoner, respectively, if I had to guess."

"Oh, but I did get letters from Raki and Alexis. Let me just grab them out." I grabbed into my dress… daggers, masks, plate, where are the letters? Ah! There. I took them out and gave them to the mercenary, who took a quick skim through them.

After finishing them, he angrily threw the letters down to the ground and took out his knife. "Fucking hell. If you had delivered these letters to the Demon King and sent his reply letters, they would've been here on the battlefield! You're the fucking reason we've all died!" He lifted the knife above his head when a hand popped out of the ground. 

We both looked at it, confused, when the hand pushed upwards, revealing a familiar pair of bunny ears. After some time, the hand managed to pull up at least the face, revealing it was Myka. "Fucking hell, I hate how much dirt is between Hell and the surface. I should've just teleported."

"Oh, hi Myka."

"Huh, you're in a life-threatening situation. Are you scared?"

"Not really."

"Why not?"

"Because I know Death personally."

"You've been told by two different people that he's… you know what, I don't fucking care." She grabbed a nearby rock and threw it at the man's head, completely exploding it and sending blood everywhere. The girl that was next to him suddenly screamed before suddenly fainting. The arrows stuck in the air suddenly fell and soon too did his body. "Ooh… that was bloody."

"Sure was."

"Anyways, that part of my plan completely flopped. I was gonna teleport you to a bunch of places and say a bunch of things while ignoring you, but that suddenly flopped when I died." She took out a pocket watch. "I'll explain all that later. We're running out of time for this bit." She snapped her fingers, and back at home, I was, in the gardens, where a pale child was tending to the gardens.

---

Character profile: Ludo Folley

Sacred power: Density Control

Mercenary Rank: Mercenaries don't have ranks.

Description: A famed mercenary known for his impeccable defence and extremely heavy offence. He is unparalleled in duels, with weapons breaking upon contact with him and his strikes being equally as heavy as they are fast. Due to how subtle he is with his Sacred Power, only a few know about his status as a Sacred Power holder. His preferred jobs are Escort Guard jobs, where he often gets to duel bandits. He is one of just a handful of people to have met a Bandit King, fought them, and lived to tell the tale.

Chapter namesake: Winter Valentine by bo en.