Yet anger flares like wildfire, and guilt sits like a stone in my chest; I kept believing that with Xinuo beside me, danger would never find us.
If Hill hadn’t stepped in a moment ago, I’d be the tree cut down, and my life would be bleeding into the dirt.
"This is ridiculous—I'm weak and naive, thinking Xinuo makes everything safe. Carrying that belief, I’m just pathetic."
Cradling Hill like a fallen bird, my tears slipped down like cold rain I couldn't stop.
"Servant, it’s good you can think this way."
Xinuo’s voice drifted in like sky-borne music, clear as a bell in the mist.
At that sound, I lifted my head like a flower finding sun, and saw Xinuo walking toward me, moonlight steady on water.
"Honestly, I left your side for a breath, Servant, and the storm already rolled in."
She crouched before me and pinched my cheek, a breeze-light touch, then sighed like wind through pines.
"I—"
Before I could finish, the one who hurt Hill—Nareinya—laughed and said, "Sorry, I’ve got no grudge with you. Lord Blackflame ordered the attack, so don’t blame me… ah! Fine, I’m wrong—stop glaring at me with eyes like knives."
She giggled, a chime in the dark. "So, Yumigawa Sumeragi, if you want payback, meet me in the woods behind this plaza. See you."
Her figure thinned like morning mist, then vanished like dew under the sun.
"Damn it."
I wanted to chase her into the trees, but I couldn't drop Hill like a broken kite.
"Servant, leave Hill to me and go. The other side likely laid snares in the grass for you—but you must cross this ridge. Otherwise your realm won’t move for life. For a Sword Wielder, the heart can’t carry cracks; to reach the utmost, your heart must be a full moon."
Xinuo said this as she took Hill gently from my arms.
"Yeah. I know."
I wiped my rain away, nodded hard to Xinuo like iron set, then rose and sprinted for the woods like an arrow.
"Wait, Emperor, I’m coming with you—"
"You, young lady of the Mizumi Clan, can’t. Your opponent is me—Tisia."
"Fine. I’ll cut you down, then I’ll go find Emperor."
Qianji Sister tried to run with me, but a shadow bent the path like a fallen log and blocked her.
Forget it—no more clinging to Xinuo. I’ll stand like a lone pine and beat that woman Nareinya myself, and avenge Hill.
With that thought burning like a torch, my stride quickened, feet skimming leaves like wind.
...
"Hey, Eastern Moon Aixue, Yuyi Mengliu, and Faya—don’t just stare. Go wipe out those filthy things."
After a Sacred Realm spell scorched the undead, demons, and beasts nearby, Stellar Rosa shouted across the dust like a bell.
"Ah—yes!"
"Let’s move."
"Right."
Eastern Moon Aixue, Yuyi Mengliu, and Faya answered in chorus, then plunged into the fray like diving hawks, blades and spells against undead and demons.
"Xiaoya, let’s help too."
"Mm. I know."
Rain-bright resolve in their eyes, Yumigawa Nozomi and Elyar had barely stepped when a woman slipped in front like a curtain of night—Di Yue’er.
"Sigh. You’re too strong. If you join, those ugly things will be swept like leaves in a gust. So I’ll be your opponent."
Her tone sounded helpless, but power gathered around her like a tide at dusk; with Elyar, the Elf King, here, she dared leave no slack.
"...Littlesky, leave this to me. You go on."
Elyar stared at Di Yue’er, displeasure dark as a storm. A Holy Peak dark elf blocking an Elf King, and in front of Yumigawa Nozomi—what an insult.
"Hey, Haidir, get over here! Holding off an Elf King is already a cliff’s edge. Add a Sacred-level elemental spirit too, and you want me dead?"
"Understood. I’ll help."
Even as Di Yue’er complained, Haidir received Lord Blackflame’s command and answered like a hammer on an anvil.
So the field set like a board: Yumigawa Nozomi, Elyar, and the Aerucia Bird versus Di Yue’er and Haidir.
"Ugh, what a pain."
Grumbling like thunder under breath, Yumigawa Nozomi wrapped herself and the Aerucia Bird in layered sigils, attack and defense glowing like frost.
Elyar was the Elf King; she needed no support, her own spells fanned out like a forest, more than Nozomi by far.
...
"Mina, you go too. Those three girls—Eastern Moon Aixue, Yuyi Mengliu, and Faya Tila—are strong. Low-tier summons are wheat to their scythes. Keep the war balanced; stall them. I’ve already sent Sacred-level summons to the teachers. As for me, I’ll try to draw out a Divine Realm summon. I must hold the Gate of Hell with both hands, or the backlash will bite like a serpent."
Watching the thousands of undead, beasts, and demons already cut down like harvested grain, Lord Blackflame spoke to Mina at her side.
"Yes, Lord Blackflame."
She nodded, space shook around her like rippling water, and she vanished like a stone through the surface.
When she reappeared, she stood before Eastern Moon Aixue, Yuyi Mengliu, and Faya, blocking them like a cliff.
"That’s far enough. Your next opponent is me. Summon—Evil Undead, Rexdore; and Great Demon, Ophicoya."
With a sweep of her hand, sigils bloomed like blood roses, and Holy Peak undead and demons stepped out, cold leaking like winter.
"Aixue, this is trouble," Faya said, a wry smile thin as a blade, eyes on Rexdore and Ophicoya’s freezing malice.
"Don’t worry. We’re still here."
"The President’s right. We may not win, but we can keep our bodies whole."
Their words were calm, but Eastern Moon Aixue and Yuyi Mengliu wore faces set like carved stone, heavier than ever.
...
Speaking of which—what is that power inside me? Why does the Shattered Light Sword hum like cicadas on a blazing noon?
The woods drew nearer, and I felt that force coiled in me like thunder trapped under skin, ready to crack the sky.
No matter how I think, I can’t find the thread. I can feel its strength like a river, but without a channel, even a flood spills uselessly.
Maybe the fight will strike sparks. At least let it wake this power fully.
With that hope like a lantern in fog, I stepped into the woods Nareinya named, leaves whispering like old secrets.
