"Sinis! Move! I'll use Magic Breaker. We're out of time!" Erig shouted. He looked bone-tired, ash in the wind, yet he could still break magic.

But this time only the weapon changed. That dead-black spear struck like a thunderbolt. Medith and the others were rushing in, due in under ten seconds.

Yet the three fought like a storm front. Backed by hundreds of guards, a spent bow still stings. They couldn't be met head-on.

The three shredded the line like tearing cloth. In moments they were scaling the wall with sword and spear. Oliver saw it, sprang high, and slashed at Sinis. Shock hit Sinis like ice water. He rolled midair and dodged, but fell hard.

Sinis, burning with hate, snatched his longsword and hacked at Oliver. Oliver blocked like a cornered beast. A few exchanges later, Sinis cleaved his greatsword in two. Their weapons and strength weren't on the same rung. "Die, you damned ant!" Sinis drew his blade across. A cold flare streaked by Oliver's eyes, and darkness swallowed him.

"Oliver—" Palmer cried, pain clawing his chest. He hurled himself at Sinis.

"Sinis—go! Leave them!" Erig and Manto were scrambling fast toward the center of the wall. Seeing Sinis held up, their hearts burned like a dry field on fire.

Yet as Sinis punched his blade through Palmer’s heart, Medith and her group burst into the square. Haidra arrived too, with ranks of soldiers.

"Move! No time!" Manto ignored Erig and climbed, hands and feet biting the stone.

"No! He's my brother!" Erig said, and bent to leap off the wall.

"That’s exactly why you must live!" Manto shouted, voice like a whip crack. "Haven’t we suffered enough? Sinis is doomed once he’s stopped. Don’t forget our final goal!"

"What damned goal? What meaning is left if he dies?" Tears smoked in Erig’s eyes like hot ash.

"Better that than throwing yourself away!" Manto was five meters from the top, breath cutting like knives. "After all we’ve lived through, you still don’t see it? War is this cruel."

"Erig—" Sais bit down hard, then lunged like an arrow. Soldiers and Sinis walled her off. Outmatched, she pulled back for now.

Erig looked to Sinis. Sinis answered with a small smile, thin as moonlight. In it, Erig read his intent. Two fierce tears cut down his cheeks. He ground his teeth and climbed.

"Trying to run?" Medith drew her longsword. The blade whirled, sending a slash like a flying crescent. Sinis spent his last strength and flung the crimson Bloodsword. It blocked Medith’s strike.

Steel met steel. The heavy sword snapped in two, yet the slash was canceled. With the Sage Soldiers blocking to the last breath, they bought the final seconds and reached the rampart.

"Where can you run?" Medith exploded forward, body lifting like a hawk. She vaulted high and rushed toward the wall top.

Sinis moved to stop her, but strength had bled out of him. He had no weapon, only a will like a guttering flame.

"Sinis..." Erig closed his eyes, pain first, action second. His stubbled face folded into grief. "Farewell, my dearest brother..."

Then the two leapt and dropped off the twenty-meter cliff below. Medith sprinted up the wall. For the Elf Clan, walls like this were child's play. Gather magic under your soles, and your body pins to stone. (Chakra: ???)

Medith gripped her sword and looked over the high wall. Below, a warship had moored at some unknown moment. The two fell neatly into its belly. Manto seemed to use Magic Breaker to cushion them. Oddly, no light pillar marked it. She had no idea why.

The warship scooped them up and knifed west, fast as a fleeing comet. Medith clicked her tongue. "Tsk. Who planned this so neatly? It can't be their preplanned escape route. What is this..."

...

Sinis knew he couldn’t resist. He ordered everyone to lay down their arms.

The Sage Soldiers dropped their weapons like falling leaves. Hands raised, they knelt, proud spines bent to dust.

"Medith... how did you return from death?" Sinis looked at her, fierce as dragon and tiger. A flock of thoughts whirled through his mind.

Medith curled her lip. "Rebirth? Laughable. I never died, so what rebirth? It's our Elf Clan’s secret art, called Nine-Turn Soul Heaven. It lets your body surge a hundredfold in an instant. The price is this frost-white head. Manto had his own backhand, and so do I. Otherwise, why would I self-detonate?"

Medith knew the dead leave no testimony. Manto, the only witness, had fled. The rest were cut down by her and Haidra’s legion. How could he know the truth?

"You think I’ll swallow that?" Sinis stood before the crowd like a lone pine. A few meters behind him loomed the twenty-meter wall.

"Medith, where’s the enemy leader?" Haidra called. Medith pointed beyond the wall. "Just escaped. One of your warships carried them off."

"What? Our ship?" Haidra’s shock flared and cooled. "Forget it for now. Mure! Take a thousand. Board and hunt them down. Move!"

"Yes!" Mure spurred his iron mount and tore away. Kasda vaulted onto Haidra’s steed. Medith’s Magic Breaker Circle had blown out her gear. Her warhorse looked out of place among the rest.

"I’ll go with Captain Mure. My past experience should help," Kasda said, voice cool as rain.

Haidra nodded. She knew Kasda too well. That was humility, nothing more.

Jerome’s towering frame watched Kasda’s galloping silhouette. For the first time, reverence lit his face like dawn.

...

"Rest easy. We’re not you," Haidra said, her people’s eyes cold as winter water. "I’ll escort you to the Royal Capital for trial and basic humanity. But on the road, my soldiers may be angry. I can only guarantee your life. Nothing else."

Haidra pulled out a set of restraints and clasped them on him. Suddenly, Sinis dropped to his knees. His body convulsed like a netted fish. In moments, blood seeped from seven orifices. His head slumped to the side, motionless.

"What—!" Haidra started, alarm ringing like a bell. She checked his vitals fast. "Dead... What happened..."

Medith frowned in thought and pried open his mouth. In the very back, a tooth had a hollowed pit. The upper and lower teeth showed deep bite marks. He’d bitten so hard several teeth had shattered.

"Likely poison, same as Powell used," Medith said, voice flat as stone. "It hides in a hollow tooth. In danger, you bite and die. Easier than biting your tongue, and harder to guard against. A pity. He was a key officer. He’d know much."

"Medith, can you tell me the full story now?" Haidra asked, confusion like mist in her eyes.

Medith stood. "Before that, let’s clean the rats out of this city. Too many things remain undone..."