"We are very sorry..."
Melty could listen to those words numbly as she stared at the remains of the church.
Part of the chapel had collapsed entirely. Rubble and shattered stained glass littered the courtyard, while smoke still drifted upward from broken beams that had yet to stop smoldering. Chunks of stone lay scattered across the prayer hall, crushing benches beneath them.
Cold sweat slid down Melty's spine.
Just hours ago, this place had still been standing.
"Sister, we need a favor. We need a place to hide James tonight."
The memory replayed clearly in her head.
The one who had asked was the red-haired little girl Nora. Her voice had been urgent, considering everything they had gone through together recently, Melty had found herself unable to refuse.
Even when she saw Tristan carrying James over his shoulder with a sack covering his head, she had chosen not to pose her questions immediately.
At the time, she had still been busy handling her duties as a nun. She told herself she would hear the explanation later.
Looking back now, Melty deeply regretted that decision.
"Melty-chan…"
The elderly priest's exhausted voice pulled her back to reality.
"Yes, Father…"
"This may sound rude," he said carefully, glancing at the wreckage behind them, "but we cannot continue sheltering your friends anymore."
A heavy silence followed.
Then the priest sighed.
"This is the second church that has been destroyed."
Melty flinched.
"I-I'm really sorry…"
She lowered her head instinctively before turning toward the three individuals standing nearby.
The moment their eyes met hers, all three awkwardly looked away.
Seeing her troubled expression, Tristan stepped forward.
Despite the blood covering his body and the injuries he had sustained earlier, the large cat-person knight maintained a perfectly straight posture. Then, without hesitation, he bowed deeply before the priest.
"I offer my sincerest apologies," he said solemnly. "This incident occurred due to my failure to properly assess the enemy's capabilities. Please allow me to take full responsibility."
His tone did not waver.
"House Priam will compensate the church for all damages."
The priest's brows lifted slightly.
"House Priam…"
The name itself was not particularly prestigious.
The man standing before him, however, was.
Tristan was a veteran soldier before he became a knight, he fought when he was a child during the demi Human war and he earned enough military accomplishments to be granted nobility and establish his own household.. However, he had no intention to enter the political world so he handed the position to a sibling of his as he only desired to continue the path of knighthood.
He was the one who needed to take responsibility for this incident.
Especially now.
The relationship between the Dragon Church and the Kingdom of Lugunica had already become fragile after the Royal Selection began. The Council of Wise Men had specifically requested that the church avoid favoring any faction to preserve neutrality between candidates.
If a royal knight caused destruction within church territory and failed to handle matters properly—
the consequences could easily spiral into political conflict.
Tristan understood that.
Which was precisely why he lowered his head without hesitation.
"That apology," the priest finally said, "along with the compensation, will suffice."
The old man rubbed his forehead tiredly before continuing.
"After speaking with Melty-chan, I understand you are carrying out some kind of mission. Under normal circumstances, we would gladly offer assistance…"
His eyes drifted toward the collapsed chapel.
"But I cannot allow our sanctuaries to become battlefields."
"That is completely understandable," Tristan answered immediately. "Thank you for your understanding."
Even after saying that, he remained bowed for several more seconds.
Behind the massive knight, two figures were still kneeling awkwardly on the floor.
At least, one of them looked awkward.
"Why do I have to apologize?"
The complaint came from a beautiful woman with white hair and golden eyes.
Zarestia crossed her arms irritably, visibly dissatisfied with the entire situation.
Melty stepped closer and managed to overhear her muttering under her breath.
Beside her, Nora immediately panicked.
"Shhh! Lower your voice!"
"Don't 'shhh' me," Zarestia shot back. "Tristan already handled everything. Besides, I didn't even do anything wrong."
In truth, Zarestia wasn't in the one that caused this damage, mostly...
The destruction itself had not been directly caused by Zarestia.
Not intentionally, at least.
But even if she had not physically brought down the church, she still stood at the center of the chaos surrounding it.
Understanding that and admitting fault were two completely different matters to someone like her.
As a Great Spirit, apologizing scratched her pride.
Nora grabbed her sleeve desperately.
"Please stop talking…"
"I refuse."
"You are making this worse!"
"I'm being forced to kneel for something I didn't even destroy."
"You absolutely contributed!"
"I contributed magnificently."
Melty covered her face with both hands.
A headache was rapidly forming.
The priest stared at the bizarre exchange silently for several moments before ultimately deciding he no longer had the energy to be a part of this conversation.
"…I will leave the rest to you, Melty-chan."
"Yes, Father…"
With one final exhausted sigh, the old priest turned around and slowly walked away through the ruined corridor.
*********************************************************************************************************
Finally left alone with enough privacy to speak freely, Melty let out the breath she had been holding and turned sharply toward the others.
"What in the world happened?"
Her voice was no longer calm.
Nora flinched immediately.
"You suddenly show up asking for help, saying everyone's in danger, and then I come here and find another church half destroyed!"
The nun pressed a hand against her forehead, visibly trying to process the situation.
"I-I'm sorry, Sister…"
Nora shrank slightly under the pressure of Melty's gaze.
Melty looked around the ruined chamber once more before asking the question lingering in her mind.
"…Where is James?"
A pause.
Then her eyes narrowed.
"…Was he the one who did this?"
The three of them froze.
No one answered immediately.
Not because they didn't know what to say but because none of them knew how to say it.
Eventually, their troubled gazes drifted toward the center of the room.
Toward the golden sphere embedded deep into the cracked stone floor.
The orb radiated an unnatural pressure.
"…A golden sphere?" she murmured slowly.
She stepped closer cautiously.
"But what is this heaviness…?"
"Don't bother trying," Nora warned immediately. "Neither Tristan-San nor Tia managed to lift it."
Melty's brows furrowed further.
"…What exactly happened here?"
___
____
_____
"Ol… Shamak…"
The words left Melty's lips quietly after Nora finished recounting the confrontation with the warlock.
The nun repeated the incantation under her breath once more, as if trying to understand it through sheer repetition alone.
Nora tilted her head.
"What is it, Sister? Did you figure something out?"
Melty slowly shook her head.
"Based on your description, it's undoubtedly Yin Magic…"
Her gaze remained fixed on the sphere.
"…But I have never heard of a derivation called Ol Shamak."
Shamak itself was famous.
Even among people with only basic magical knowledge, the spell was widely recognized.
A spell that interfered with perception and space.
However, the issue was the prefix.
Melty was not a legendary mage by any means, but her education within the church had given her solid magical foundations.
Enough to know something was deeply wrong here.
Normally, elemental spells followed established tiers.
No prefix.
Then El.
Then Ul.
Then Al.
Each one representing greater strength and complexity.
That was the natural structure of magic.
Ol did not exist.
At least, not in any magical books she had ever studied.
"The possibility that Nora-chan misheard the chant is unlikely," Melty continued thoughtfully. "None of the known Shamak variations create a physical seal like this."
Her eyes drifted toward the orb again.
"It didn't look like this at first," Nora added quickly. "The orb was originally black."
She pointed nervously.
"It suddenly turned golden and dropped to the ground."
Remembering that moment still made her stomach twist.
At the time, the transformation had served as the perfect distraction, just enough for her to escape with the unconscious Zarestia.
If that had not happened…
She didn't want to think about it.
"I also tried cutting it with my sword," Tristan added.
"That's too reckless!"
"It didn't work."
The nun stared at him in disbelief.
Melty exhaled sharply before forcing herself to calm down.
"…Still," she muttered, piecing things together, "I think I understand the heaviness."
"Hm?"
She looked toward the orb carefully.
"This isn't just Yin Magic."
A pause.
"The weight is likely the result of James using Yang Magic on top of it."
Nora blinked.
"…He can use Yang magic?"
"He told me he was practicing it before."
"I've been thinking this for a while," Tristan suddenly said.
Everyone turned toward him.
"…Something feels wrong."
"What do you mean?"
The cat-person crossed his arms slowly, deep in thought.
"Ever since the first church incident… and even during today's battle…"
His golden eyes narrowed.
"…I never once saw Stride Vollachia use his Authority."
Silence fell briefly.
That single observation changed the atmosphere entirely.
Based on surviving records from forty years ago, Stride Vollachia had never been described as a powerful magician.
He had seen him use Water Magic.
Yin Magic.
Yang Magic.
And during the confrontation two days ago, multiple elemental attributes simultaneously.
He was proficient...
No, it went beyond simple proficiency.
It resembled mastery.
Most people possessed affinity for only a single element.
Even using two efficiently was considered rare.
Someone capable of wielding all six affinities at a high level was practically unheard of.
In Tristan's mind, only three names existed that fit such a description.
Roswaal L. Mathers.
The Kingdom of Lugunica's greatest court mage.
A monster whose mastery over all six elements stood at the pinnacle of modern magic.
Ezzo Cadner.
A magician so skilled he could disguise one incantation as another and cast spells without revealing their true nature.
And Julius Juukulius.
Though his case differed due to his contracts with spirits.
Those were anomalies.
So if someone as infamous as Stride Vollachia truly possessed mastery over all six elements, then history should have recorded it.
Without question.
A voice rang up from behind them, "Alright! I have rested enough, now it's time to catch up to him."
The white-haired beauty pushed herself off the floor, brushing dust from her kimono sleeves with visible irritation.
Unlike the others, she had remained silent ever since the priest left.
Not because she had nothing to say.
But because she had been recovering.
The earlier battle had clearly exhausted her far more than she wanted to admit, the moment she began walking toward the exit, Tristan stepped directly into her path.
"Calm down, Zarestia-Sama."
"I am calm."
"We need to think this through first and be twice as careful. If you chase him recklessly again and fall into another trap..."
"Trap?" she snapped. "That thief stole my light ball, trapped Jay inside that thing, and nearly killed all of us. What exactly is there to think about?"
Melty blinked in confusion from the side.
"…Zarestia?"
Her gaze shifted repeatedly between Tristan and the woman standing before him.
"Wait... Zarestia? As in... the Great Spirit?"
Unfortunately, nobody had the luxury to explain that revelation properly right now.
Zarestia folded her arms impatiently.
"I'm not running around aimlessly if that's what you're worried about," she said. "I memorized his smell. I can track him."
The confidence in her voice made it clear she fully intended to leave whether they approved or not.
"Then that settles it," she continued immediately. "I'll find that bastard and force him to undo whatever he did to Jay."
Tristan's expression hardened.
"But if everything Stride told us was true, then allowing Abhor to come into contact with you again is the worst possible thing we can do."
At those words, the winds around her sharpened slightly.
"Why are you still doubting him?" she asked coldly. "Everything Jay said turned out to be true."
"I'm not saying he lied."
Tristan exhaled slowly before continuing.
"Given everything that happened tonight, it's safer to assume most of what he said is true."
"Frankly his actions are confusing me. I'm uncertain if he's trying to repent on his misdeeds but regardless Don't blindly trust him."
The atmosphere stiffened.
"He is still a Sin Archbishop responsible for countless deaths. Even if his goals currently align with ours, blindly trusting him would be insanity."
Nora and Melty's gazes hardened.
They hated admitting it, but Tristan was right.
Everything about James had become terrifying in hindsight.
The strange knowledge.
The unnatural magical talent.
The fact that he always seemed to know things nobody else should.
Zarestia suddenly laughed quietly.
Not mockingly.
More like self-amusement.
"Then so am I."
The others looked toward her.
"You two live in this city, right?" she asked. "Then you should know the rumors."
Her golden eyes narrowed slightly.
"The Most Beautiful Reaper."
Tristan had heard the stories countless times himself.
The Great Spirit who lived atop the mountain known as Zarestia's Bed.
The spirit who slaughtered anyone foolish enough to approach her domain.
The government of Kararagi itself prohibited expeditions there because provoking her meant inviting disaster.
Ironically, the current catastrophe had begun precisely because someone ignored that warning and stole what belonged to her.
"I killed everyone who approached my cave," Zarestia said flatly. "Men. Women. Adventurers. Merchants. It didn't matter."
The room fell quiet.
"If Stride is a monster because he killed people," she continued, "then what does that make me?"
Tristan opened his mouth instinctively.
"That's not the same..."
But the words stopped halfway.
Because honestly...
He no longer knew if they truly were different.
The stories painted Zarestia as a calamity.
A murderous spirit.
Something closer to a natural disaster than a person.
She did not feel like a monster.
She felt painfully human.
Even now, the only reason she stood here ready to fight was because she desperately wanted to save someone important to her.
Zarestia looked away dismissively.
"Whatever you all decide to do is your business," she muttered. "But I'm helping Jay."
The wind around her intensified.
Because that was simply who she was.
She never questioned her desires deeply.
When she wanted to kill, she killed.
Now she wanted to save someone, she moved just as stubbornly. She found it weird . After all, the reason as to why she wanted to kill people was because of her white sphere but as to why she wanted to save him, she didn't know.
But for the time being, it didn't matter.
She just moved stubbornly.
The next instant, wind exploded beneath her feet.
Her body lifted effortlessly into the air.
"Wait!"
Tristan reached out instinctively, but she was already gone.
A streak of white vanished into the night sky.
"…Dammit."
Nora immediately stood up.
"We have to follow her."
"At that speed, we'll lose sight of her in seconds."
"It's fine."
Nora reached into her pocket and pulled out a thick cylindrical spool.
"I attached a thread to her earlier this morning."
Tristan narrowed his eyes.
Only after focusing carefully did he notice the nearly invisible red string extending upward into the night sky.
Nora smirked proudly, after all it was one of the tracking techniques Halibel taught her.
Without wasting another second, the three of them immediately rushed after the thread.
The chase lasted nearly half an hour.
Eventually, the red thread stopped stretching.
Nora slowed first.
"…She stopped."
The others arrived moments later.
And the scene waiting for them made all three freeze instantly.
Zarestia was crouched near the alley wall, gripping a girl violently by the collar while shaking her over and over.
"Wake up already!"
The unconscious girl's head lolled weakly with each shake.
Short dark-brown hair and a small figure.
"If you don't give my light ball back and turn Jay back to normal," Zarestia growled, "I swear I'll kill you."
"Tia-Sama!" Melty shouted. "Stop shaking that poor girl!"
But before she could step closer, Tristan suddenly raised an arm in front of her.
"Wait."
His eyes narrowed sharply.
"…Look closer."
Melty blinked.
Then finally noticed it too.
"…Those are horns."
The unconscious girl slowly opened her blue eyes weakly.
Confusion crossed her face first, then hostility.
Tristan stepped forward carefully.
"Is your name Reize?"
The girl's blue eyes narrowed immediately at the sound of that name.
Those were the exact words Stride had spoken before everything spiraled into chaos.
Reize.
The one who stole Zarestia's light sphere.
The one supposedly working alongside the Warlock of Abhor.
Up close, however, she looked nothing like the terrifying conspirator they had imagined.
She looked exhausted.
Dirty.
Thin.
There were dark circles beneath her eyes, and despite the hostility in her glare, there was also visible confusion buried underneath it all.
Zarestia tightened her grip on the girl's collar impatiently.
"Where did you hide my light ball?" she demanded. "And how do we get Jay out of that thing?"
At the mention of the orb, Reize's expression hardened instantly.
"I have nothing to say," she spat, "to trash helping a Sin Archbishop."
The atmosphere stiffened.
Melty flinched slightly at the accusation, but Tristan remained composed.
"We are not helping him," Tristan answered firmly. "That man is our prisoner."
Reize laughed bitterly.
"Prisoner?"
Her gaze swept across their faces mockingly.
"You expect me to believe that Stride Vollachia is your prisoner, after I saw him roaming freely for the past week?"
Even cornered, the girl's hostility did not weaken in the slightest.
If anything, hearing Stride's name only made her more defensive.
Tristan decided to push the conversation forward before Zarestia lost patience entirely.
"Tell us where Abhor is."
"…Abhor?"
For the first time since waking up, genuine confusion crossed Reize's face.
"The thing you were cooperating with," he clarified. "Is going to the entirety of Kararagi if you don't speak right now.."
The girl's expression twisted sharply.
"You mean Abaris?"
"So that is his name," Tristan muttered.
Reize's glare sharpened dangerously.
"You people seriously believe Stride's nonsense?"
"It's not nonsense," Nora snapped back. "That thing was controlling you earlier while trying to kill us, he's planning to wipe out the entire city."
"No," Reize said immediately. "You're lying."
There was no hesitation in her denial.
Only conviction.
"Abaris would never do that."
The certainty in her voice caused even Zarestia to pause slightly.
Reize continued through clenched teeth.
"Stride's Vollachia is controlling you, isn't that his authority?"
Everyone turned toward Tristan.
The knight's expression had darkened.
"My Divine Protection prevents interference that corrupts the mind," he explained calmly.
It worked back in Pristella when he encountered the Sin archbishop of wrath and worked earlier as well when Abhor couldn't read his mind.
His gaze locked onto Reize.
"If anyone here was manipulated, it was you."
Reize's pupils trembled slightly.
For the first time, doubt appeared on her face.
Then...
Something changed.
The air suddenly became colder.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
An instinctive discomfort crawled up everyone's spine simultaneously.
Nora reacted first.
"…Wait."
Dark mist slowly spread across the ground beneath their feet.
Thin at first.
Then thicker.
And thicker.
Like black smoke pouring from invisible cracks in the earth itself.
Tristan immediately drew his sword.
"Get back."
Footsteps echoed from the surrounding streets.
One.
Then several.
Then dozens.
The group turned sharply and froze.
People were emerging from every alley around them.
Men.
Women.
Children.
An entire crowd slowly surrounded the intersection in complete silence.
Their movements were unnatural.
Rigid.
Like puppets dragged forward by invisible strings.
But what truly made Melty's blood run cold...
Were their eyes.
Every single one of them had crimson eyes.
Some stared blankly ahead without focus.
Others twitched violently while tears streamed down their faces.
A few looked terrified.
As if they were still conscious somewhere deep inside their own bodies.
The dark mist continued crawling around their ankles.
Slowly tightening the circle around them.
And then behind the crowd, a small figure appeared.
A little boy.
At first glance, he looked ordinary.
Small body.
Simple clothes.
Bare feet stepping quietly across the stone road.
But the moment he stepped forward fully, the atmosphere changed completely.
His hair was pale.
Almost milky white.
And his eyes were blood red.
Unlike the hollow civilians surrounding him, however, his gaze carried awareness.
A terrifying kind of amusement.
But what stood out most...
Was the glowing sphere resting in his palm.
Zarestia's light ball.
The moment Zarestia saw it, the wind around her exploded violently.
"My light ball...!"
The boy smiled.
Slowly.
The kind of smile that instinctively made the stomach twist.
Sinister.
Completely wrong on the face of a child.
Then he lifted his free hand.
And pointed directly at Zarestia.