Morning arrived. 

We waved goodbye to Team Quella as they walked to the southeast, heading partly down one of the mountains. Remy had taken Keeth’s prototype and jumped off a cliff. She didn’t fall to her death, but she didn’t glide as fast or as far as she had hoped, so she let go and teleported to the ground. Keeth rolled his eyes and groaned at the loss of his project, but Remy didn’t care and offered him her body if he perfected it in the next attempt.    

“Sister, I don’t think I’ll ever not want to kill her.”  

“I feel the same,” I said when we returned to our horses.  

“Really?” Remy suddenly appeared. “That’s good to know. Here, I forgot to give you these. I took the liberty of setting up some teleportation points.” She gave us two orbs. Both were white, but one was marked with a D. The other had an HB. “D is destination. Break it, and you’ll head to the summit. When you're done, shattering HB will bring you here—to home base.”  

She looked at us expectantly, then frowned. “Aww… Not even a good girl? That’s a bit disappointing. Anyways, don’t let down Lord Meruria, okay? Bye bye!” Remy turned and posed, and then she was whisked away by a sparkle of lights.    

Lori and I shared a look before changing into the winter clothing we had brought.   

I crushed the orb when we were ready, and the warm, dry environment was replaced by a harsh, unrelenting blizzard. It was so cold your skin felt like it was burning. We ran up the snow-covered path and jumped across a gap to reach a cave. The entrance to the peak and temple was still about three miles away. By our estimates, Team Salim was still four days out. We planned to wait and set camp, but that didn’t work out because they arrived ten seconds in a blast of white light.   

Remy was with them. “I don’t want to keep Lord Meruria waiting, so I’m speeding things up,” she said. She threw a hand in the air and left, leaving two Dogfolk maids confused and cold.   

“Kyaaa!!” They hugged each other and trembled from the sheer coldness. Shiku approached us, bent, and used a spell Mia had devised to recreate a campsite. In addition to transforming Cridia almost overnight, she had unlocked secrets behind the magic system and shared some of her discoveries. One was a spell to use mana from the atmosphere to create a campsite. It came in different varieties, and Shiku used one to neutralize extreme temperatures.   

What Shiku had just done was considered a national secret. There existed similar spells. Lord Enele, the Dark Lord of Justice, had a turtle spirit with something similar that evoked the serene naturalistic scenery of the Kingdom of Aquanis. But Mia had reverse-engineered it to entrap it into something almost anyone could use without training.    

“Lord Shiku, you’re the best!” The maids kneeled beside the flames and monopolized the warmth.   

“Lori, Ann, it’s good to see you again. Feels like it’s been a while,” said Shiku. He sat down and removed his helmet, exposing scars across his cheeks. His hands were covered by torn gloves. The jō staff resting on his back looked worn and bloodied.   

It had seen its fair share of battles.   

Sir Salim sat and crossed his legs. “What do you know so far about the mission?”  

“We’re to exterminate a group of orphaned demons that’s been terrorizing the local villages," I said. “Remy said we’re to recover demon cores for Lore Meruria.”  

“Demons? We’ve never fought them before.” Renata sat beside Benedict—leaning a tad too close to him for it to not be out of romantic gesture.   

“I’ve read Sir Salim’s report. You recently acquired [Water Magic] and [Magic Weapon Enhancement]?” Renata nodded. She removed her iron gloves and warmed her calloused, scarred hands by the fire. “You’ll be fine. Fight as you normally do.”   

“You think so? It almost feels like I’ve been coasting. I’m not much of a fighter. But hearing you say that is filling me with confidence.”  

“Lady Renata. Please learn to acquire some independence. Do not drag Lord Shiku down with your incompetence,” said Laika.   

I’d heard of the two maids accompanying Shiku, but I didn’t know they were overly invested in him like this. They flanked Shiku's sides and warmed his hands in their thick, bushy tails.   

“I’m sorry… I didn’t—”  

“And don’t apologize! A Soul Warrior must not lower their heads towards a mere maid! We’ve tried to educate you, but it seems to have not worked.”  

“Yes, Laika. We must educate her more. It is an honor to become a Soul Warrior. Yet it is even more so to become Lord Shiku’s ally! We cannot have you—”  

“That’s enough.” Shiku’s voice was feminine, but it could stop a moving truck when he was serious.   

“Forgive us, Lord Shiku,” said the sisters in unison. Benedict remained silent and scratched his neck. He…wasn’t so much of a fighter, either. But he was an excellent blacksmith, responsible for repairing and maintaining their equipment. His tools were kept in Sir Salim’s [Hammer Space].   

“Let’s prepare for the battle.” Sir Salim spoke, and all eyes turned to him. He crouched and pulled out a map of the temple built into the mountain’s peak. “The demons are orphaned. Normally, they would revert to their demon cores, then return to the Demon Realm after lying dormant. But they’re feeding on the surrounding villages at the mountain's base,” Sir Salim continued, citing that the abductions happened every month. And it had been going on for the past three months. The demons didn’t kidnap everyone. Just a chosen few while using fear and force to keep everyone else in line. The food shipments were always on time. Lord Meruria only realized something was strange when a child managed to stow away in a basket of corn and died from her harsh injuries.    

The temple had multiple floors and hidden paths that presumably led to teleportation gates—it was practically a labyrinthian maze. Holy Lord Sajun, the previous ruler of Cridia, was known as the Holy Lord of Portals, so we presume the temple was built during his reign. That answered the question of how the demons came and went—they would have trouble flying in these wintery conditions.  

The plan was to infiltrate the temple, annihilate the demons, and destroy the teleportation gates after using them to travel to the villages to kill enemies hiding amongst the populace.    

Renata and Benedict were scared. They didn’t say it, but I saw the fear. I felt it.  

You couldn’t force non-warriors to turn into warriors without shattering and rebuilding their psyche from the ground up. And that was risky. Although we saw the proof of training visible. The cuts. The scars. The callouses and bruises. The fire harbored in their hearts hadn’t yet reached the apex of their brightness or intensity.    

After Sir Salim laid out our plan of attack, it was time to start the mission.   

---

“Umm… Is that…”  

“Necessary? It is. Sister’s the strongest in the world. It’s always a joy to see her strength in action.”  

Lori answered Renata’s question while I held my katana. Four seconds ago, it had turned completely yellow. An orb surrounded by icy mist balanced on the tip. The ground crackled, rippling with mana—the energy of this world—and created a crater around me. Proof of the power I wielded was evident.  

I forced more mana to flow through it until the orb quadrupled. The swirling power was so great that the snow had ceased falling in the 2,500 feet surrounding us.   

And the temple?   

A mile away, obscured by a falling curtain of soft, white snowflakes.    

I knew the demons felt the surge of power. Slowly, I moved my katana in a circle—mimicking a clock’s second hand while the charged attack hovered in the air.   

“Hhmph!” It was quicker than a blink—sharper than the crackle of a thunderstorm. I sliced the orb clean through, wrapped the escaping energy around my sword, spun, and flung it towards the temple.   

It was instant.   

Immediately, the ground below us caved in, and a large chunk of the mountain shattered behind us. Sir Salim produced a barrier to keep the others standing, yet even that was almost broken by the power I unleashed.    

The moment my attack struck the temple, there was an explosion. The air pressure sent the snow covering the land around our target scattering, allowing unfettered access to the bare ground for the first time in centuries. The snow clouds above were whisked away, allowing sunlight to bless the dried, dead, rocky surface.  

And the front of the temple was destroyed—the main hall lay directly behind it. The raging blizzard had died, Sir Salim enchanted our speed and agility, and we reached our target in less than a minute. As we expected, a unit of demons emerged and prepared to fight back, meeting us in the field of rubble. They looked humanoid, with some having red skin, black horns, and four arms. Others reminded me of succubi and incubi. A few were monstrous in shape, appearing as giant worms with a dozen mouths covering their blocky hide.   

But they were nothing.   

Demons could bleed.   

And they could die.   

And their potential was squandered if they were resorting to kidnapping citizens. I never wanted to be a hero of justice, but potential wasn’t limited to someone’s combat or fighting ability.   

I changed my Soul Weapon to Wind Speed and covered my body in air, jumping between each foe with a practiced motion. Their flesh met my blade and faltered against my peerless technique as the cyclone of wind circulating around my weapon turned bloody.    

Lori was just as deadly. She spun her spear to knock away an incoming spell and thrust her spear forward, shooting a liquid beam of shadow that suffocated the would-be caster. She jumped back and slammed her weapon into the ground after changing it to Earth Spike, which erected pillars of sharp rock beneath her enemies.   

They were skewered through the chest—destroying their cores instantly.    

We were ordered to bring some back, but not all of them.    

Shiku was impressive. His jō staff fit well in his hands. He engaged up close and used a combination of aikido to confuse his opponents by throwing them to the ground before destroying their heads with a magnificent thrust.    

Renata used [Magic Weapon Enhancement] to wrap [Tidal Knife] and [Watery Anchor] around her trident. The former covered it in a sharp blade, and the latter connected her wrist to the trident’s handle. She threw it, skewering a handful of demons, then yanked the anchor, returning her weapon to her hand. Her accuracy and power were unparalleled—a dozen years of practice had sharpened her eyes and reflexes. She quickly turned and killed four more the same way.    

But Renata was limiting herself. My sister and I felt it as we fought against the horde. That potential needed to be extracted. If she never acquired the necessary strength…her life would end.    

Sir Salim hadn’t joined the fight. He was a watcher—ordered to gauge our every move and deliver a report to Lord Meruria. I took a half step back and sheathed my wind-covered katana, daring all to come within my range.   

Two fools believed in their hubris and stepped too close, and they were reduced to mince a breath later. The following instant? I turned around and cut an invisible demon to shreds. Only idiots believed they could sneak behind to take my head.    

Before we started, Sir Salim retrieved a shield for Benedict, which the blacksmith put to good use. He was but a mere Lv. 33, yet his toned arms withstood a barrage of spells without giving up a step. He swung his hammer with haste and power, shattering bones and sending his enemies flying. He looked ahead at the temple’s main hall. We were still on the outskirts—just barely an inch inside because the demons were numerous. Individually, they were weak, but there were a lot.   

“Watch—Watch out!” He roared and channeled a skill called [Nature Clap], which caused blooming vines to emerge in an outward cone from where he struck the ground. They rampaged into the temple’s main hall and spread like wildfire, piercing the demons like piles of meat.   

His strike wiped out the rest without causing a cave-in.   

My sister and I held enough power to cleave the mountain’s tip, yet doing so would cause catastrophic consequences to those who lived at the base.   

But Benedict's powerful attack paved the way. We hurried past the still-dying demons and jumped over the green-covered obstacles until we entered the main hall.    

Corpses hung from the support beams like sadistic ornaments. Intestines danced between the 20-foot-tall statues of Lord Sajun like the tinsel you hung around Christmas trees.    

Renata fell to her knees and vomited. Laika and Leika grabbed her by the collar and forced her to stand. The two maids knew supportive magic-- they'd been using it non-stop since the attack began. It didn’t provide a substantial boost like Sir Salim’s buffs, but it was something.   

“The fight’s only just begun,” I said when the ground became covered in crimson symbols. They collected before me. A scar formed in the air in front of me, and it opened to reveal a red-skinned demon with six arms wearing a suit of enchantingly bright golden armor. It stood fourteen feet tall and was probably central to the temple’s defenses.   

“GGGOOOOAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!” The demon roared. Magic circles appeared overhead and rained down hellfire.   

Lori stood defiant and spun her Cyclone Swallow above her head, using a thick, whirling wind cone to redirect the falling meteorites through the temple’s destroyed entrance.    

“Leave this to me.”  

“Let your fight be as enjoyable as you are beautiful, my sister!” Lori turned to Shiku, and they all went their separate ways.   

“Fighting without backup?” The demon wasn’t speaking Arezzian—my translation ring allowed me to understand the Demonic language. “Honorable, but foolish. I won’t play by the rules, despicable human! I’ll carve your flesh from your skin and mount your corpse upon my armor! Come to me! Rise, my demons! Fight and protect your lord!”  

The demon suddenly held six staffs, and the main hall became filled with flaming pillars. They were probably connected to the Demon Realm because a dozen foes were spat out every minute.   

“Bwhahaha!!! Nothing to say, girl? I’ll—”  

“Nothing to say?” My voice was cold, yet I felt excited. My arms tingled for the fight. I found myself smiling. “It’s not out of fear, I’ll assure you.” My katana switched to Shocking Flake. I drew it…and the fight began. I used its powers of electricity to supercharge my body. The ferocious sound of thunder snapped every tenth of a second, foreshadowing another demon’s death.   

In ten short seconds, 100 were dead. From the six-armed demon’s point of view…  

I was standing still. I had moved too fast for it to be perceivable. It took 1/20th of a second to reach a foe and 1/20th to return to my starting location. To it, the demon’s pathetically weak allies were dropping after being disemboweled and beheaded.     

“Are you scared? Afraid? Frightened?” I stepped towards the tall demon, and his top left arm was removed from his body. “Could you not see that? I slowed it down, although that means you’ve reached the end of your potential.”  

Two more steps, and the demon didn’t have any arms.    

“I have the soul energy to spare, demon. But I’m never one to torture the weak. I’ll put you out of your misery.”   

“DIE!!!!! [DEMON FIRE ERUP—]”  

“[Install: Thunderflash].” I cut the air above and created a storm, and a series of lightning bolts struck my body, encasing me in its purest essence.”   

It was like I moved at the speed of lightning.  Although this… ‘install state,’ as it was called, would drain every ounce of my soul energy. One heartbeat for me was .0000001 seconds to my enemy, although I only had enough Soul energy to sustain it for three beats. And that was enough to go from enemy to enemy and end their lives. They were carved like livestock being butchered for processing, collapsing to the dirty, bloody floor in a sickening splatter.    

I jumped from Lv. 48 to Lv. 66, acquiring SP I couldn’t use, and a few titles that were more than flavor text. [Lightning Samurai] doubled the effectiveness of Shocking Flake’s lightning abilities, so I equipped it. I couldn’t test it until my soul energy recovered, but with my opponents dead, I went around the room and plucked cores from chests until Lori returned.   

She was brought speechless by my power after announcing her success. She was covered in blood, but her immaculate skin and beautiful face… She was clean from harm.   

Shiku, Laika, and Leika returned, citing that he didn’t encounter any demons in the village he was teleported to. Lori said the same, although they had probably escaped. Regardless, they teleported back and destroyed the gate before returning.   

Benedict arrived at the same time as Sir Salim, and they shared similar tales.   

However…  

None of them found any of the missing people. The demons were orphaned, so they resorted to kidnapping to drain mana from their captives’ bodies to sustain their energy requirement to remain materialized.   

Shiku, Sir Salim, Benedict, and Lori exhausted their assigned areas. They couldn’t be hidden, either, because the map would’ve shown that.    

“Something’s wrong. We need to check on Renata!” Benedict exclaimed. He redoubled his grip and ran. We followed him through twists and turns, running over dead demons soaked with water. They bore distinctive wounds that fit Renata’s [Tidal Knife]. But the path led into a large chamber—different from the gate rooms the others had found.   

That was to be expected. That was on the map, but…   

The demons here…were different.   

They looked like hybrids. Half of their bodies were clearly made from human or beastfolk, yet the other half contained demon-like properties.    

But there were some…that were free of any demonic qualities.    

“Transmutation?! We didn’t receive word of this!” Sir Salim exclaimed. He explained that some demons in the Demon Realm could turn humans into demons. What we saw was the second to last stage. The enemies we killed… They used to be human. And the kidnappings had been going on for far longer than we had thought.  

Just how many went into the six-armed demon I killed? Sir Salim said the process was all but irreversible. The quickest mercy would be to kill them.   

But did Renata do this? The corpses were steaming—their faces contorted into sheer agony and pain. The blood was boiled from the inside, causing superficial burns all over the body.    

She didn’t know any spell or technique to boil someone’s blood.   

Benedict’s face turned to one of dread. He charged forward and leapt through the watery, mirror-like teleportation gate.   

We followed and emerged in a large shed. The teleportation gates were hidden outside of the villages. Benedict used his hammer to destroy it in a single blow, and we saw a hazy red mist spread as far as we could see. It seemed the epicenter came from Renata’s assigned village, but…  

“I CAN’T MAKE IT STOP!!!!! I DON’T WANT TO KILL ANYMORE!!!!!!” Renata’s voice echoed across the dozens of corpses stretching between us and our classmate.   

The red mist seemed to spread with every passing breath.   

“RENATA!!!” Benedict screamed her name and tried to charge ahead, but Lori grabbed his arm and brought him to the ground. He tried to fight, but Sir Salim said the mist was from a spell that caused your opponent’s blood to boil. It was a combination of [Water Magic], [Blood Magic, and [Fire Magic].    

“It’s dangerous to enter with protection.” Sir Salim switched to a spear made of water and enveloped us in a protective bubble, and only then did we race across the corpses into the village’s heart.   

The dead were everywhere. Bodies of demons, half-demons, humans, beastfolk, orcs, ogres, oni, children, babies…  

Everyone had tried to run for their life. It was a guess, but perhaps Renata became angry when she saw those transmuted demons. Her rage caused her to acquire more magic. She instinctively combined the three skills to create [Blood Boil]. And in her moment of weakness, she refused to cancel it before running through the portal. She probably charged ahead, then after realizing she couldn’t turn it off, she shouted a warning. But the range spread faster than her voice traveled. Or they couldn’t hear Renata over their screaming.   

And there... She was on her knees in the middle of the village. The aura of red mist radiated from her core. She punched the ground and screamed. She yearned to die to stop the senseless murder. She called for her mommy and daddy in the most innocent voice I’d ever heard.   

Benedict ran to Renata and hugged her. She panicked and attacked, only stopping once his voice reached her heart. She begged him to go away. Her voice was inconsolable—too full of emotional devastation to make out. But she pointed at the bodies surrounding her. Most were already burnt black. And then they popped like pimples, sending boiling blood everywhere. When a few drops landed on the straw houses, they caught flame, starting an inferno.   

The village… it was destroyed. Everything that had once lived—took a breath, played, cried, laughed, and prayed—had died.   

But…  

There was more. The red mist kept ever expanding upwards as well as outwards. And bodies of humans and beastfolk with demon-like properties, with wings, rained from the sky. Lori saw some from the village she found after entering her teleportation gate.    

Shiku said the same.   

Those ‘people’ must’ve been in either a late stage of the transmutation process or were full-fledged demons. They probably tried to fly high above to check out things, but they paid for their curiosity with their life.    

But the raining corpses… pushed Renata over the edge. She grabbed her head, pulled her hair, and tried to run away. She was hysterical—soul-deep in a fit of madness. Benedict chased after her, but Sir Salim suddenly appeared in front of Renata. His spear had changed to one of a flower, and he waved it across her head. Fragrant green petals fell, and her eyes closed. Benedict ran, jumped, and caught Renata in his arms before she hit the ground, and only then did the red mist return to her body. Without the crimson filter, the reality of what Renata caused became more readily visible.    

Laika and Leika rushed to her side, used the healing spells they knew, and then applied standard first aid. Shiku joined Salim and discussed what happened, and I remained by my sister’s side.   

All the experiences I had didn’t help me prepare for this. Lori and I joined Shiku.    

Laika approached a few seconds later. “Physically, Lady Renata’s fine. We didn’t find a scratch. Mentally? I…am not qualified to offer my opinion.”  

“We’ve completed our task. Benedict, carry her.”  

Benedict ignored Sir Salim’s order the first three times and obliged on the fourth. We walked to the gate, bypassing the corpses, and returned to the temple. We retraced our steps until we were outside, and Lori and I pooled our strength together to destroy the structure. We were left with a crater that was full of nothing but rubble and forgotten memories best left to be buried under an avalanche of snow.  

After cracking the orb Remy gave us, we found ourselves at the spot where we left our horses. 

We merely needed to return and deliver our report to Lord Meruria.  

If we were lucky... Renata would be awake, although I didn’t believe she would be mentally sound.