Charlotte carried a delicate little wand, a big red bow blooming atop her head like a camellia.

Her twin ponytails bounced with her skipping steps, lively as twin ribbons flicked by the breeze.

Amusement bubbled first, then the thought came to Shelika like a spark: What magical girl wandered in here?

Charlotte’s small eyes set like pebbles in a stream. "I want to protect Elder Sister!"

"So please let me come with you!" she pleaded, voice ringing like a silver bell.

She pressed close and swung Shelika’s right arm back and forth, like a kitten kneading for warmth.

Overwhelmed by the clingy little sister, Shelika sighed like a leaf in wind and relented. "Fine... this humble one will let you come along."

"Yay!" Charlotte chirped, doing a tiny hop on the spot like a sparrow.

The bright innocence warmed Shelika like sunlight, yet it pinched her chest with worry like a cold draft.

So she cautioned, voice steady as stone. "But don’t act rashly. You must follow this humble one’s orders, understood?"

Charlotte answered with springtime vigor. "Got it~~!"

She waved goodbye to the boys, and they waved back like flags in wind. "We’ll watch the shop, Boss. Safe travels!"

"Bye-bye~!" she sang, like a lark.

"Sigh," Shelika breathed, the sound a small cloud.

And so, Shelika set out with Charlotte, their steps like two beads rolling on a string.

Charlotte clung to Shelika’s arm and skipped down the street, like a grade-schooler on a field trip.

Affection rose in Shelika like warm tea, but unease rippled beneath like hidden currents.

Regret nipped first, then the thought came: Maybe I should’ve said no.

Fulin, wearing Shelika like a mask, felt cold reason settle like night fog.

If the Crimson Winged Wyvern was truly that lethal, if Shelika alone couldn’t handle it, then when all roads closed, Fulin could reveal her true form.

She’d crush the beast with cheat-like might, like thunder felling a tree.

That path was open like a hidden door, but with Charlotte along, Fulin couldn’t step through it without tearing the veil.

Regret pooled in her heart like rain in a stone basin.

A shadow crossed Shelika’s face, thin as a cloud over the moon.

Nestled at her side, Charlotte noticed that moon-shadow of gloom.

She tilted her head up, worry soft as cotton. "Elder Sister~~ are you unhappy?"

"I’m fine," Shelika said, a calm stone dropped in a pond.

"Then great~~!" Charlotte’s worry melted like frost in sun, joy returning like birds at dawn.

Seeing this guileless, straightforward sister, Shelika felt a tide of feelings rise, and memory unfurled like old silk.

In life, the Blood Clan around "Shelika" included a Mother-Queen, and other sisters and brothers, a web of scarlet threads.

Blood tied them like vines, yet hearts were distant as winter stars; words came guarded, and clan interests sparked open clashes and shadowy schemes.

Shelika loathed it like grit in the teeth, yet she could do nothing, as if bound by silk cords.

So Shelika walked in thought like a pilgrim under twilight. Charlotte hugged her arm and tugged her along like a lively stream pulling a leaf.

Together they left the Blood Clan alleys for the bustling avenue, then squeezed into a crowded public beast-cart and rattled toward the East Gate.

Oriel City’s East Gate had taken the worst beating from recent beast tides, like a shoreline hammered by storms.

Sections of wall near the gate lay cracked and patched, then cracked again, like scars reopened.

Squads of soldiers patrolled in shifts, driving off small rat-like beasts that gnawed stone like termites.

Knights traded shifts atop the battlements, standing like iron statues in the wind.

Even at this hour, travelers and hollow-eyed refugees shuffled in lines, fear fluttering like moths on their faces, and the air hung heavy.

They said nothing, moving like shadows so as not to hinder, and slipped through the East Gate, leaving Oriel City behind.

Away from that somber pressure, Charlotte’s cheer bubbled back up like a spring.

She swung Shelika’s hand like a bell-rope and asked, all trip-day sparkle. "Elder Sister~ how are we getting there?"

Night in the wild lay quiet, the moon bright as polished jade; the forest breathed with low beast-calls and insect rustles like silk.

A breeze brushed past, and Shelika drew a map, gathering mana until a pale-blue light bloomed in her palm and washed over the parchment.

She pointed to a mark that seemed a fingertip away from Oriel City, like a star close on a chart.

"To the Garel Hills..." Shelika thought as she spoke, counting distance like beads; then she glanced over. "It’s close. Shall we fly?"

Flight came natural to the Dark Blood Clan, for wings grew from their backs like night-born banners.

Even without spells, they could ride the wind for five to thirty kilometers, like swallows skimming currents.

How far depended on bloodline; Charlotte drew the short straw there, and flight sat on her like a stubborn yoke.

So at the word fly, Charlotte groaned like a cat dunked in water. "Eh-eh-eh? Fly there? That far’s too tiring, can we not?"

Shelika tapped the map, voice cool as a blade. "Garel Hills are mountains. Walking will drain you more."

"Eh-eh-eh? Another day?" Charlotte wheedled, voice syrupy as honey.

"Then this humble one will go alone," Shelika said, words dropping like pebbles.

Charlotte froze a beat, then her eyes set like flint. "Alright then. It’s rare I’m out with Elder Sister. Fly it is—who’s afraid?"

Her bravado wilted like a flower in heat. "Just... don’t go too fast, okay..."

At that brave-cute act, Shelika’s smile curved like a crescent moon, and she teased. "How about this humble one carries you?"

"Carry me?" Charlotte tilted her head like a curious sparrow. "How would that even work?"

"Like this—" Shelika said, and scooped her up in a princess carry, light and soft as an armful of clouds.

"Uwaah, Elder Sister?!"

Ignoring the startled-bird flutter in her arms, Shelika held Charlotte close.

She glanced at that flustered face, then sank her knees and lifted her gaze to the sky like an archer sighting high.

She gathered herself for a heartbeat, tension coiled like a bowstring.

Shelika spread her wings and beat them hard, like thunder cracking canvas.

Air churned as if stirred by a giant ladle, and a cyclone spun around her, with Shelika as the calm eye.

The vortex rose like a roaring pillar, and even the eye seethed with wild currents.

"Watch closely!" In the gale, Shelika cut a gallant figure, sharp as a blade.

She flared her tucked wings again and struck once more, like a drumbeat.

Whoosh—

In the biting wind, Shelika shot upward with Charlotte in her arms, climbing like a kite on a sudden gust, straight to a hundred meters.

Up high, the three-dimensional world flattened like a map on a table.

The view opened in a breath, cramped tunnel turning to wide horizon like curtains flung wide.

Only when their glide steadied did Charlotte open her eyes, stars lighting them as she breathed. "Amazing! Incredible!"

"That impressive?" Shelika said, as casually as a breeze.

Charlotte sparkled, her gaze bright as dew, and awe poured from her voice. "You vaulted this high in a blink. No flight spell can match that. As expected of my revered Elder Sister~~!"

In a way, she wasn’t wrong; even the real "Shelika" had never mastered this takeoff. Fulin had crafted it, a unique maneuver forged to rule the sky.

Shelika held Charlotte and glided for a while, two shadows sailing a silver sea.

Cradled the whole time, Charlotte turned her reddened face aside. "Alright~ Elder Sister, I can fly myself. Being held like this is a bit embarrassing..."

"I see. Sorry," Shelika said, apology light as a feather.

She let Charlotte go, like releasing a bubble to the air.

Released, Charlotte tilted and dropped for a moment. Then she scrambled a flight spell, checked the fall, and climbed back up like a leaf caught by an updraft.

She held the air, but catching up felt like running uphill in sand.

Panting little clouds, Charlotte pleaded. "Hah~ hah~ hah... Elder Sister, can you slow down?"

"Ah, alright." Focused on the goal, Shelika had pulled ahead like an arrow; she noticed, apologized, and softened her speed so Charlotte wouldn’t fall behind.

They flew through moonlit night, silver light pouring over the quiet earth like milk.

After about twenty minutes, the stretching plains rose into mountains like waves lifting to peaks.

Among the ridges lay a secluded foothill, and that was the Garel Hills, quiet as a tucked-away shrine.

The reports said the Crimson Winged Wyvern nested there like a coal under ash.

Shelika kept flying and watched that spot, eyes like flints.

Sure enough, a faint red glow seeped through the boughs like embers breathing.

The Crimson Winged Wyvern was there, a heart of fire in the dark.

Shelika called back, voice low as a drumbeat. "We’re landing."

Struggling to keep pace, Charlotte finally let out a breath. "Okay~ Elder Sister."

They dropped onto a nearby hill, feet kissing grass like dew.

Once steady, Shelika cast a farsight toward the red-lit slope, her gaze stretching like a spyglass.

A mirror-like plane bloomed in the air before her, and it showed the scene hundreds of meters away, like a lens drawing it close.

As expected, a wyvern-like beast crouched under the trees, and a horn on its head shed a gentle red light like a lantern.

No doubt, the glow they’d seen came from that horn, a candle in the leaves.

At this distance, the wyvern didn’t notice the two eyes on it, like a stag unaware of hunters in the brush.

On the slope, Shelika readied for battle, resolve settling like a drawn blade. "We move."

Charlotte blinked, confused like mist. "Go now? But it’s so far. How do we even hit it?"

"This humble one will handle it." Shelika took two steps and summoned two marksman drones from the Blood Armament, like hawks called to the glove.

While Charlotte marveled at the uncanny constructs, the pair had already sighted the wyvern’s horn, left and right, like twin stars aligning.

"Watch closely!" Shelika commanded, and the two marksmen loosed their shot, like thunderbolts across a quiet sky.