Bang— An arrow slammed into a boulder with a thunderclap and buried deep, the stone cracking like a shattered mirror, a web of fractures blooming in an instant.

“Ah!” Shock punched Sais in the gut. She twisted back into the saddle and caught the sight.

Hrrr— Even a trained warhorse panicked at that pure death note. “Enemy attack—” Medith and Haidra reacted as one, heels biting into their mounts as they wheeled hard. Boom— Dozens of arrows fanned out toward Haidra and Medith.

The ambushers had a clear aim. Rage sparked in Haidra’s eyes. She yanked a black‑gold spear from her mount’s side and vaulted up, hauling the shaft. The spear whirled and sketched a rose in the air. Thud— Arrows smashed into the rose and stopped, as if they’d hit an unseen wall.

“Meet them—” Veterans to the bone, the riders snapped to. They spurred fast and drew slim lances. Eyes locked forward. The lance heads were tiny, just spikes, yet they hummed danger, like a touch would unmake flesh.

Medith turned into a gust and streaked for the far slope.

Sais burned hotter. She snapped open the Dark Blade on her forearms. Her pink ears fluttered like wings, and she climbed into the sky. A white crescent slash arced out, flying toward the source of the arrows.

“Ugh—ah—” The Dike Guard cavalry, primed and braced, hurled their spears along that beacon-bright crescent.

Meanwhile, Haidra’s spear shivered; the rose flared, became green light, and poured into the spearhead. Haidra drove the thrust forward. Thoom— The spearhead boomed; air seemed to shatter, the mountain groaned like a wounded giant. Every arrow ahead snapped and lost strength, tumbling away. Haidra didn’t stop. Her spear danced, and a green streak shot from its tip into the distance.

Rumble—

Scrape—

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—

Haidra’s boom, Sais’s slash, and the Dike Guard’s flying spears all crossed the gap. Medith hadn’t reached the spot before their strikes landed first. Boom— The mountain ahead took the hit, then collapsed from the waist like melting chocolate, flinging rocks and trees in a hungry slide.

Medith pulled back fast. For a long breath, the rumble and mudflow roared, then fell silent. She perched on a tree spared by the slide, mouth stuck open. “You gotta be kidding me. Those two girls just broke a mountain?” Goosebumps crawled her arms like frost.

She’d seen it: Haidra’s spear spit a green pillar, Sais drew a white cut, and they met at the mountain’s waist, blowing out its insides.

Good lord… Medith dropped onto the wrecked ground. “With these two monsters here, who even dares to move?” She shut her eyes; her pink ears quivered, feeling for a thread beneath the silence. She drew her sword and pried up a stone. Beneath lay a mangled corpse, flesh and bone blended beyond recognition, though the outfit still spoke.

A shattered suit of armor. On its chest, clear as a brand, the badge of the Eastern Nation—the radiant Sixpetal Rose.