A sharp crack accompanied by a spark, with the high-pitched sound of shattering glass, shone intensely. The dagger that Oswin had thrown at the masked woman squarely hit the weapon she was using. The mana crystal was struck dead center and exploded, hurlng the woman backward with a piercing shattering sound.
— Good aim! — said Elyandra, giving a small hop in celebration.
Noticing that he had landed the attack, Oswin broke into a wide grin. He looked at Elyandra, who was facing him with a smile and a nod of approval.
— ...Damn it. — The masked woman stood up with effort, visibly annoyed. — Vargas! How much longer are you going to take to do something?!
The man stopped that very minute, hearing the woman's shout. Without giving time for reasoning, he dashed toward them with his blade turned backward, charged with a high amount of magic.
Vargas's shot did not go unnoticed. Elyandra noticed his approach almost instantaneously. She turned to warn Oswin; however, as soon as her eyes turned to the boy, she found Vargas already in front of him, as if the man had teleported.
— I'm going to split you in two, kid!
The man's strike was swift. Oswin threw himself to the side with a startled look, but the blow was too fast. He felt the tip of the blade pass through his abdomen, and the heat that followed quickly exploded into a wall of fire that pushed him back, covering him in flames.
— Oswin! — Elyandra screamed upon seeing the boy catching fire after being cut.
She ran quickly toward him, as he struggled on the ground. Seeing the fire spreading across his abdomen, Elyandra quickly reached his side and knelt, trying to put out the flames. Meanwhile, Vargas stared at the two of them with a serious gaze.
— Are you alright? — Vargas asked, while glancing sideways at the masked woman who was standing up, fixing her hair.
— If you had any basic sense beyond those muscles, we would have already solved this problem...
Elyandra noticed that the flames were created from Oswin's mana, serving as a kind of fuel. The fire would not go out, even with the girl doing everything possible to extinguish it.
— It's no use. This strike will consume his mana and become even stronger. In the end, he will burn to death.
Elyandra looked on stunned, her eyes wide at Vargas's statement. She then turned her gaze back to Oswin, who was thrashing as the flames began to grow more intense in his chest wound.
"Damn it! At this rate, he really is going to die, what do I do?! What do I do?!" Despair began to take hold of both of them until Elyandra remembered something. Her face went neutral for a moment, but she knew there was no other way; she would need to test if it would work or not.
Taking a deep breath, Elyandra extended her hand over Oswin. This caught the attention of Vargas and the masked woman, who stared at her without seeing what she was doing, as they only saw her back.
— It's no use trying to heal him, Valemortis. Divine healing magic only reconstructs tissues, unlike assisting them to reconstruct themselves like water magic. But Vargas's magic will keep burning until the boy's mana runs out; it's no use trying to heal him — the woman stated as she finished fixing her hair.
Even hearing that, Elyandra held firm, especially since her goal was not to heal Oswin.
"If I isolate my attention solely on the magic, I can separate it from Oswin's mana as if separating water from wine, but that wouldn't make it stop burning... But I only need to know where it starts and ends." Elyandra's hands began to generate a kind of transparent aura. It descended over Oswin like a dense mist. Fortunately for her, everyone's attention was not focused on what she was doing.
— Very well... I'm going to give him the final blow — the man then began to walk, which made Elyandra nervous.
— ...Why don't you let her fail, Vargas? It was about time she noticed that the nobility makes the same mistakes as the gutter — the woman said, stopping Vargas's intervention.
He then stopped and sheathed his sword. Both stood watching Elyandra. She then turned her eyes forward and continued. The aura she bathed Oswin in preserved itself only at the root of the problem: the flames that were forming. Oswin's injuries were already severe, but he would have to endure.
It was like trying to hold water in a sieve, complicated and even impossible. Even so, at that moment, Elyandra was managing to do the impossible.
— If you can use a cheat to achieve something, you shouldn't hold back, right? — the girl whispered to herself. — I am not like you... I refuse to lose!
Elyandra then absorbed her own magic, grabbing onto Vargas's magic and pulling it along. To those present, they glimpsed the flames being absorbed by Elyandra's palms, nullifying the magic.
"Yes... If I have a way to cheat, then that is what I will do, after all... I am not a heroine."
The man looked on incredulously and sought to understand how the girl had nullified his magic.
— What the hell... just happened? — said the masked woman, completely stunned. — Vargas, did you nullify your magic?
— It's logical that I wouldn't do something like that.
— Then she nullified your magic.
— No... that's impossible... — he said while drawing his sword again.
Noticing the imminent danger, Elyandra did not give herself the luxury of resting. She quickly turned to the two of them, charging a sphere of divine magic, and hurled it toward Vargas who, upon noticing the sphere, cut it in half, creating an explosion of light that left them blind for a moment.
— This won't take care of them... We need to get out of here — said Elyandra, while grabbing Oswin's arm, trying to lift him.
The boy, even with his wounded chest and the damage the fire had caused to his body, stood up with effort and picked up a sword from the ground. Elyandra noticed him entering an attack stance and this left her surprised.
— What are you doing?! — the girl confronted him while he panted, facing the blinded Vargas in front of him. — You are in no condition to fight him!
— ...I know that well, but if I retreat now, all those people fighting will suffer — the boy coughed and panted again. — While I was taking others like me out of the cages, I realized how precarious our situation is and that I want to help those like me, so I couldn't forgive myself for leaving them behind.
Elyandra then noticed that the other kidnapped people were returning to the fight. She saw in their faces the marks of despair and a hope for escape. They were fighting for their freedom. Even the wounded rose against their aggressors, and even those who could not fight did everything possible to help. She knew that the suffering these people had gone through was real, and not the kind created for a game.
— I'm sorry, but you can't stay here...
The boy then took a few steps forward, and Elyandra saw the imposing countenance of a wounded boy who looked more like a warrior.
— I can't leave our Saint in danger; I'm going to give you time to flee, even if it costs my life, it will be worth the risk.
The boy prepared to fight, his body weakening, but then he was surprised: he saw Elyandra position herself beside him with a determined look.
— What are you doing?
— Well... how can I say it? I like difficult games.
— No... You need to get out of here, don't put your life at risk, you are the Saint, we don't know what they might do to you, don't put yourself at risk for people like us.
The girl then turned her face, and her serious look silenced Oswin.
— People like us, you say... I don't need to remind you that I am also a bearer of the ancient blood, do I? — the girl said, showing her ear with the black earring, which Oswin noticed instantly. — I won't lie, this isn't going to be easy, so I'm going to help you, regardless of what happens, we're going to give it our best.
The girl then prepared for the conflict that was to come. Oswin now saw the girl in another way; that serious face and sharp gaze were a glimpse that made that little girl seem like something else.
— I don't think it's very advantageous to fight alongside a child.
— Child? — Elyandra gave a light laugh. — Don't think I don't have what it takes to give you a thrashing.
They then saw Vargas regain his vision and prepare for the fight.
— Well... if fear speaks louder, you can leave him to me and go home.
"Yes... That's how things should be." — thought Elyandra.
— Fear? — the girl asked, snapping her fingers. — Don't make me laugh, my parents raised a Valemortis — Elyandra affirmed, focusing her magic in the palms of her hands and creating golden-colored orbs. — Not a coward.