Nelg heaved with difficulty, transporting Liara on his back. They were already out of the battlefield and into the forest where Glenn fought Father Albenas so many chapters long ago.

  "I have to say, being human sucks on most parts," he cursed through his teeth. "Glenn and the others make this look—huff—so damn easy. You'd believe being indestructible would come with infinite stamina, but I guess—huff—not, fuck!"

  Liara groaned softly, grimacing painfully in her sleep. He had been running for a while now, and he still had yet to find any trace of Milena and Sahro. The idea of returning to Glenn's side did cross his mind, but a peek at the battle through Glenn's eyes was enough to deter him from doing so. The massive deflagrations he kept hearing weren't exactly helping, either.

  Nelg clenched the item Glenn gave him. A small, black wristband. The one he used to communicate with his sister back when he was in Sevirox's Core.

  'I understand the reasoning, with it being a way to contact the exterior despite the spatial seal, but what can Lina do? She's in King's Rise!'

  Nelg bit his lip before swearing and putting the wristband on. The communication went up almost instantly, Lina's worried face appearing on some sort of holographic screen.

  "Glenn, where are you?! Are you okay? Everyone is out looking for you and Liara—wait." Lina frowned. "You're not Glenn. Nelg?"

  "Huff, y- yeah, it's me. Your brother is fighting a Pope alongside Munirp's strongest warrior or something."

  Lina paled. "Is there anything I can do?"

  Nelg stopped to take a breath and adjust Liara's position on his back. "Huff, actually, yes. We're stuck on Retni's Plains, near... uh, the Still Peak, I think? I don't remember the geography very well—"

  "Retni's Plains?" Lina's eyes widened. "I'm in Satidipug with survivors! I heard a huge commotion above ground, was that you guys? You were this close?"

  "Satidipug? Isn't that a city?" Nelg blinked in disbelief. "What the hell are you—no, it doesn't matter. Someone sealed the area with a spatial domain of some sort, and Glenn believes you might be capable of helping us out. I have Liara on my back, and Milena should be running around with Sahro, too."

  Lina nervously clasped the back of her neck. "O- okay, I'll find a way, d- don't worry."

  The call suddenly closed, leaving Nelg less than reassured. 'Shit, what am I doing? Putting our lives in the hands of a nineteen-year-old who never saw a body in her life. Shit, shit, shit.'

  A branch snapped a few trees away from him, making him freeze in place. Nelg held his breath, his eyes searching through the forest for any movement. Something broke another stick, causing a nearby bush to tremble slightly. Nelg lowered his position, ready to drop Liara on the ground and turn into a weapon. He wasn't comfortable fighting by himself, but if there's one thing his experience under Nora the Slaver taught him, it's that sometimes you do not have a choice.

  Milena pushed the bush away, sighing in relief when her eyes settled on Nelg. "Oh, by Onnea, I knew this was a familiar energy."

  Nelg almost teared up. "You scared the hell out of me!"

  "..This is really weird hearing that from someone with Glenn's face," admitted Milena. "A little refreshing, too."

  "Not everyone can throw fucking Suns at their enemies, alright?" Nelg said with a tinge of irritation. He looked at the figure sprawled on her back, held up by two cybernetic-like arms. "Is that...?" He almost dropped Liara out of surprise. "What the fuck happened to Sahro and you? Why do you have robot arms?"

  Milena's eyes widened. "You know about robots— Of course you do. Damn it, we don't have time for that, Nelg. We need to find a way through the spatial barrier. We won't survive a fight between Newborn Rulers!"

  Nelg drew a deep, long breath. "Milena, I have strictly no idea as to how to do that. What even is a spatial barrier? What am I supposed to do, turn into a sword and cut through it?"

  Milena opened her mouth only to close it the next second. They looked at each other for a moment, the sound of explosions in the distance growing more and more violent.

  "I have contacted Lina with this," finally said Nelg as he pointed at the communication wristband. "She's working on getting us out from the outside, or at least clueing us in. What were you guys even doing in Satidipug, anyway?"

  "We were looking for you guys, but found Glenn and Lina's mother instead." Milena brushed it off, ignoring the look of absolute bafflement on Nelg's face. Her mind raced as she tried to find a solution.

  "You found who? Wait, no, this simply doesn't make any...!" Nelg's voice faded into the background as Milena concentrated. The same sensation she felt back when she avoided Stormblade's attacks took over her, calming her mind and guiding her.

  'We can get into contact with the exterior of the sealed area...There's a good chance whoever set up this spatial domain is outside it... We need exterior interference, someone to breach through or break the isolation, kill the medium for the spell... Lina can't do it, she's only a kid...'

  Her eyes widened, and she seized Nelg's wrist, shutting him up.

  "Nelg, call Lina again."

  Nelg gulped. "Y- Yes, M'am." He obliged without waiting, feeling the weight of her gaze on the back of his neck. Lina answered almost instantly, chewing on her nails and tears streaming down her face.

  "N- Nelg, sniffle, I- I can't do it! It's too much pressure! I-I know I'm going to mess up!"

  Milena shoved Nelg away and grabbed his wrist, practically shoving her face into the screen. "Lina, can you hear me?"

  "Milena?"

  Milena took a scant breath. "Lina, listen carefully. I think Lucian and Tuleam escaped before the seal was up. The only thing you need to do is find them and force them to come help us. They need to create a hole in the barrier or destroy the medium keeping it together. There's probably some sort of anchors, statues, anything where a spell could have been cast."

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  She breathed and resumed. "I have good reasons to think that Tuleam is going to try to flee using the boat we took here. Go there and wait for them. Break the boat. Do anything to make sure they can't flee and are forced to help us. Okay?"

  Lina gulped heavily and instinctively made a military salute. "Y- Yes, M'am!"

  Milena nodded. "Good. We'll be trying to find a way to break through from the inside. Stay safe."

  She closed the communication and sighed heavily, wiping the sweat off her eyebrows. She stumbled to the side, suddenly feeling a little tired.

  "You alright?"

  Milena pushed Nelg away, sitting on a trunk nearby. "Y- Yeah, just a bit of vertigo."

  Sahro dangled off her robotic arms, his chestnut-gold hair drifting over his pointy, elven ears. She suddenly raised her head in confusion.

  "Why the M'am?" She asked, trying to get her mind off the increasingly closer explosions in the background.

  Nelg shrugged tensely. "It just felt like the right thing to say, I suppose? You felt like twice your age and thrice as scary as usual."

  Milena's face darkened, and she rose to hit Nelg when she saw the look on Liara's face.

  "Lay her down."

  Nelg obeyed without complaining, carefully laying Liara down on the ground. She was becoming paler and paler despite the early treatment Glenn gave her and the energy Nelg transferred to her. Milena shamelessly pushed her palm against her stomach, sending pulses of Mana through her friend's body.

  A black, broken circle appeared on her stomach. The circle was consuming itself slowly.

  "M- Milena, what is this thing?" Nelg asked worriedly.

  Milena clenched her fists tightly. "A curse. We're running on a timer, Nelg."

  ***

  Lina ran through the devastated streets of Satidipug, trying not to think about her mother, whom she left behind, and how the lives of everyone basically depended on her.

  'No need to add more pressure, Lina. It's fine. Everything is fine.' She jumped above a destroyed house, dexterously using the terrain to her advantage and quickly progressing through the city. The ramparts had crumbled, and there was practically nothing left of the main gate.

  "There isn't much left of the city at all, actually," she remarked under her breath, trying to keep her mind off the fact that Glenn might die if she did not get this done correctly.

  'Milady, you need to breathe. Stay calm—'

  "I'm perfectly calm, Tiamanes!" Lina snapped at her right hand, instantly regretting her words. She shook her head and sped up. "I can't waste any time. I need to get there before this dumb, cowardly teacher flees without us!"

  Tiamanes pondered on his words for an instant before choosing a new approach to the problem.

  'You can do it, Milady. You are the number one in your class, one of the strongest and most special mage of the University, even receiving training from the greatest Black Heirs warriors!'

  Lina nodded without replying, her speed increasing progressively.

  'Think about how hard you worked. Believe in yourself, Milady.'

  The young woman ran with all her strength, using Aura to reinforce her legs and go even faster. She was practically flying above the rubble at this point. The destroyed ramparts finally came into view, but she didn't even bother slowing down. She sent a huge load of Aura into her legs and jumped above it all, floating in the air for a couple of seconds. It was only when she began falling that the stress caught back with her.

  "O-oh aaaaaAAAAHHHHHH!!!" She braced herself by sending all the Mana she could to her legs. She instinctively closed her eyes and clenched her teeth at the moment of impact, but she lightly landed on her back a few meters away from where she was aiming.

  'T- That's an acceptable result, Milady. Come on, no time to waste, like you said.' Tiamanes nudged her with a slight hint of nervosity. Lina jumped to her feet, putting away her shock and confusion. She'll deal with it later. Now was not the time.

  She finally arrived at the flying boat, barely out of breath. She was running low on Aura, though. Sprinting through an entire city was more consuming than she would have thought.

  'You're doing well, Milady.' Tiamanes didn't stop encouraging her. Lina slapped herself on the cheeks and jumped on the boat. She gave half a thought about trying to convince Tuleam Manalok.

  "Do I have food to bait him?" Lina checked her dimensional pouch and cursed. The jerky and meatloaf wouldn't be enough to stop Manalok from fleeing back to King's Rise.

  "No matter." Lina rolled up her sleeves and channeled her Mana. The flying boat was resistant by its conception and would require more than a simple Magic Bullet to become non-operative. She aimed at the mast and released her spell.

  Her Wormhole Mana Heart specializes in spatial movements. Lina even specialized in making her spells explode in her opponent's face. Nobody was able to defend against it because her Mana naturally disrupted others' spells. Adapting it to become more destructive was hard, but she succeeded during the journey from King's Rise to Satidipug, ironically.

  She pulled her hand down, shredding the wood with her spell. It was like a giant claw had just carved through the mast, ripping through the timber. She took a step back, feeling the effect of spending too much Mana at once.

  "...It isn't enough, Milady." The entity said aloud.

  "I know, Tiamanes." Lina concentrated and used her spell once again, resuming her destructive work.

  "If I may be so bold, I would recommend "Rift Shred" as a name for this spell."

  Lina smiled weakly. "Rift Shred... Yeah, I'll take it. Almost as cool as Blackhole, don't you think?"

  "Even cooler," Tiamanes says, adding. When Lina finally ran out of Mana, the boat had been shredded through so many times it looked like a random pile of abandoned timber that had been smashed apart by some very violent bear.

  "Excellent work, Milady."

  "Thank you, Tiamanes. You too."

  "Of course, Milady."

  Lina wiped the sweat off her eyebrows and leaned against the boat's debris, waiting patiently. If what Milena said was correct, Tuleam and Lucian should be arriving any moment now—

  "WHAT?!?" Tuleam's indignant voice rang from the distance. The researcher flew closer to the wreck, mortified. "W- Why would you do that? This was our ticket back to King's Rise!"

  "Because you thought I would abandon my brother and teachers here?" Lina pointed a scornful finger at Tuleam. Lucian was floating beside him, unconscious. "Besides, I'm sure the Prince here wouldn't have agreed to give up on the others!"

  Tuleam suddenly went and grabbed Lina by the collar, raising her from the ground. "Listen, you little brat. I am not paid to play the hero, and I will not be beheaded because one hot-headed prince went on a suicide mission."

  The researcher cursed and dropped her back on the ground. "No matter. I will fly there manually. It won't be comfortable, but I've already done it. It's fine."

  Lina's eyes widened. "N- no, you need to help them! Everyone is blocked by a...a spatial domain! They need someone to help them from the outside!"

  Tuleam looked at her shamelessly. "Why don't you do it, then?"

  "I have no idea of what I'm even supposed to be looking for!" Lina's face darkened, and she tapped the black band on her wrist. "If you abandon us, I'll ask my brother to hunt you down."

  Tuleam opened his mouth to retort mockingly, only to ponder for an instant. "Wait, if it's that crazy bastard, he might actually do it..."

  "The decision is already made, Sir Manalok." A voice rose beside them, pained. Lucian shook off the levitation spell and stumbled to the ground.

  "We will help them. This is a royal command. Obey, or be declared a traitor to the Kingdom."

  Tuleam hid his face in his hands and sighed heavily.

  "I knew I should have stayed at home..."