She heard it clearly. It was like Vierna’s voice—exactly like hers. If she hadn’t seen the grotesque source of that sound, she would have run straight toward it.

  She shut her eyes, her eyelids trembling violently. Her hands clamped over her ears, as if she could block out the sweet, beckoning voice rising from that nightmare. She turned her body, hoping somehow that turning away would make the monster disappear.

  From its mana, Lina knew, fighting it would be most idiotic. Yes, Lina had train a lot and in a way was a combat mage drilled by one of the best mentor in Einhartturm but she had never faced something that truly meant to kill her. In the salle she always knew her opponent would pull the blow. This thing was beyond anything she had seen or even heard of. She knew Schattwald held mana beasts, but could this even be one of them?

  They said mana beasts were mana given form—stagnated natural energy that evolved into something half-living. But this thing? It was born from hell itself. In Lina’s mind, there was no way mana, the same current that flowed through her body, could ever breed a monstrosity like that.

  Please go away. Please go away. Please go away.

  Suddenly the creature’s lantern arm began to glow brighter, the light pulsing with each word it spoke. Its voice grew even sweeter.

  “Please… stay for me, Lina.”

  That voice came like a taboo. A sweetness she could almost taste on her tongue. It used the same words that had once sent Lina down the slope into madness, the words that made her choose to go to hell so long as she went with Vierna. That was the day her scars became sacred, holy, revered, a single word making her set her soul on a platter and offer it to Vierna to own as she pleased. And she wanted to feel that bliss again, that acceptance, that vow, even though she still had it.

  Lina’s eyes snapped open. The image of Vierna’s smile flickered before her vision like a mirage. Her gaze lost focus, her hands dropped limply to her sides as she began to turn back toward the monster.

  “For fuck’s sake,” the boy hissed. He stretched out his arm; pale white runes flickered to life, and the carvings inside the hollowed tree blazed brightly, snapping Lina out of her trance just before she stepped into the open.

  The flash shock Lina back. She quickly shook her head and opened her eyes. She saw the creature noticed. Slowly it crawled toward them, its many arms groping through the air. The lantern swung wildly as it searched the ground, its movements desperate and furious, like a predator that had just found its lost prey.

  “Onee-san, you need to fight it! I’m dying here!”

  “But… but could I even kill it?”

  “There is no other way Nee-san!”

  Lina snapped out of her paralysis and steeled herself. The thought of never seeing Vierna again drowned her fear and helped her muster every ounce of courage she had. Whatever that thing was, she refused to let it be her end, to let it consume her now when she was so close to helping Vierna.

  “Nee-san, that Majū can eat mana, so use some solid spells like earth or ice!”

  “What? But my element is fire!”

  “Shit, then we’re fucked!”

  But Lina remembered something. She might not be able to hurt it, but she could distract it. She summoned her storage rune and pulled out her flash grenades, as many as she could carry.

  From the way the creature moved, it hunted by mana. It had zeroed in on them the moment the boy’s runes flared. Her flash grenades converted raw mana into blinding light and noise, but beneath that they were still mana in a sense. So maybe, if she dumped enough of it to the creature at once, she could flood its senses with the sudden burst of mana or even the noise then surpress her own mana and run.

  She poured a surge of mana into the grenades until the runes etched across them flickered white and unstable. She surpress her Grace so that the boy wouldn’t question here. Only using her mana entirely.

  She shouted. “Boy, cover your eyes and ears!”

  The boy did just that. Then she shot her gaze towards the approaching beast while saying. “Eat this, you half-stitched bastard!”

  She threw the grenades toward the creature, turned her body, and covered her ears.

  PIIIIIING!

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  The explosion lit the forest like a newborn star. A blinding flash and a shriek of sound tore through the air. Whether it was the noise or the sudden surge of mana from the blast, it worked. The creature recoiled, screaming, its many arms thrashing and tearing at the ground.

  Suppressing her mana as best she could, Lina grabbed the boy and bolted. Albrecht’s endurance training finally paid off.

  “Nee-san, we’re going the wrong—”

  Lina didn’t hear him. All her senses were locked on escape. She jumped over vines and roots, weaving between trees and branches as fast as her legs would allow.

  She ran until she no longer knew which direction was which. Everywhere looked the same: umbral leaves and black wood that swallowed the sunlight, making it feel like nighttime. Her soles burned as if the ground were made of spears; a stabbing, throbbing pain drove through her shoes into her skin. Sweat drenched her back, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t stop.

  She wasn’t sure, but it felt like the forest itself was hunting her. The air crawled with hostile mana. Shapes slipped between the trunks, low snarls rumbling through the roots. Something brushed her leg. Another presence gathered behind her. Whether it was real or just her imagination, Lina could feel hot, foul breath against her neck.

  Her heart raced—not only from fear of the unknown, but from the blood surging through her veins as fast as her body could handle. Fear slithered around her feet like a living thing, trying to entangle her, to make her slip, just like the vines and roots that covered the forest floor. Her thoughts were frantic, scattered, focused only on the rising terror and the faint flicker of light at the edge of her vision.

  A black blur leapt from the ferns. She dropped by instinct, feeling claws slice the air just above her head. Another came from the side, and she twisted, boots skidding on damp earth. Bark splinters flew where the creature missed her by an inch. A third lunged from ahead, fangs glinting, limbs knotted with mana, but she ducked again, her pulse roaring in her ears. Whether it was adrenaline or blind luck, she kept dodging, her body moving faster than thought.

  Then more of them appeared. It wasn’t her imagination this time—Lina saw them clearly now. Eyes like burning coals lit up the undergrowth, a dozen pairs, maybe more, circling, closing in.

  “Nee-san, brace your self!” the boy shouted.

  He stretched out his arm. A pulse of white light burst from his palm, sweeping through the trees like a shockwave. The forest shook as the light rippled outward, dispersing the mana beasts in all directions. Their roars turned to shrieks before fading into the distance, leaving behind only the echo of cracking branches and the smell of scorched bark.

  Lina blinked, chest heaving. The air still shimmered faintly from the aftershock of the spell.

  At last, she stumbled into a small clearing. There, beneath a low hill, she saw a cave. With what little strength she had left, she staggered toward it. After she reach inside the cave, her legs finally gave out, and she fell, dragging the boy down with her.

  “Oh, fucking hell,” she gasped. Her knees stung, but it was only a bruise. “Are you okay?”

  The boy was panting hard. “I’m fine …”

  Lina looked around. The forest was silent again, no sign of pursuit. “Aufde—”

  “Don’t!” the boy interrupted sharply. “This forest has mana beasts react to mana!”

  He pulled a knife from his pocket and began carving symbols along the cave’s entrance. Then he cut his palm, and smear his blood to the marks. It glowed faintly as he worked. Lina watched, frowning—she didn’t recognize the script, and Albrecht had made sure she knew nearly every rune used in the Reich.

  When the boy finally stopped, he slumped against the wall, breathing heavily. “We’re safe for now…”

  “But that spell back then, wouldn’t that monster detect your mana again?”

  “No, my spell was a bit different.” the boy chuckle. The way he spoke was really peculiar. He had a weird accent not like any that Lina ever heard before.

  “But you use quiet a bit of mana, you sure we won’t get detected?”

  “Don’t worry, nee-san, you can trust me. I’ve been here for a while,” the boy said. “Did you use any mana while running?”

  “Of course! I’am a delicate girl how else do you think I ran like that?”

  “Oh god… I just hope my spell was able to hide our presence.”

  Lina didn’t reply and looked outside the cave. Right now there was nothing there, just the black grass being blown by the wind, yet she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was watching them.

  She then moved closer, placing a hand on his forehead. “You’re burning up! What were you doing out here exactly?”

  The boy didn’t answer, but his face looked weary—like someone who had been running for days.

  “Open your shirt,” she said.

  “Onee-san, you’re pretty, but shouldn’t there be… steps before we go that far?”

  “Huh?! I just want to check if you have any wounds, you damn pervert! Besides, I already have a girlfriend!”

  “Haha, relax, onee-san. I’m just joking. Besides, I’m fine. No need to worry about me.”

  “Do you want to die, boy? It’s clear that your fever is not normal. It was caused by something and if I don’t treat it now you will die.”

  “I said I’m fine!” the boy snapped. “I don’t even know who you are!”

  The playful tone vanished along with his respectful tone. His eyes narrowed, sharp and guarded. Humor drained from his face and left cold suspicion. His body coiled like a spring, ready to bolt at the slightest wrong move. One hand groped at his half-buttoned tunic, the other inched toward the knife at his side.

  Lina held her ground. Her voice went flat and hard. “Look, you damn brat. I don’t know you either, but if you die and that rune of yours stops working, I’ll die too. So I will rip your clothes and check your wound if I have to. Your choice: make this easy or make it hard.”

  For a long moment nothing happened but breathing. The cave felt smaller. The boy’s chest rose and fell in shallow, fast pulls. His pupils flicked; sweat beaded at his temple. Lina watched every micro-movement: the tick at his jaw, the tremor in his fingers, the way his shoulders hunched when he measured distance. Time stretched. The air between them tightened until it felt like a wire.

  The boy held her gaze, eyes sharp as flint, refusing to give ground. Lina did not blink. Her jaw clenched. Each second of that stare felt like a verdict being weighed.

  Finally, under the heat of her stare and the truth in her words, his resistance cracked. He sagged, the fight draining out of him. With slow, reluctant movements he unbuttoned his white tunic.