Around an hour to midnight, Liliya’s eyes snapped open.

  She left her enchanted tent as quietly as possible, taking care not to rustle the tent flaps. They had set up camp within a nearby forest. They were technically within monster territory right now, but it had taken Qorbin approximately five minutes or so to clear out every foe within a half-kilometer radius. The rest of the forest’s denizens had taken the hint after that and given them a wide berth.

  Qorbin had then told her and Levi to get some rest while he and Syto remained on watch through the night. While the vampire and the assassin had mostly stayed within the camp while maintaining their respective sensory techniques, they still got up and vanished every half an hour or so to perform a manual sweep of the town’s perimeter.

  They had just left again a minute ago. Judging by how long it’d taken them previously, they wouldn’t be back for another few minutes.

  This left only Levi. Liliya cast her gaze across the clearing. Just like before during their Ascension Trials, he was sleeping upright, leaning back against the trunk of a tree. Liliya frowned slightly; it couldn’t possibly be comfortable for him to sleep like that. Her neck muscles hurt just thinking about it.

  Well, to each their own. After double checking that he was still asleep, she turned to leave the camp–

  “Headed off somewhere?” a voice said from right behind her.

  A strangled noise escaped her as she whirled around in surprise. Levi was standing there, having somehow traveled the clearing’s distance in the blink of an eye without having made a sound.

  “You’re awake?” she asked, regaining her composure.

  “I was never asleep.”

  “But your breathing…”

  Levi shrugged. “Meditative exercises. So, where are you going at this time of night?”

  “... bathroom break?”

  Liliya winced even as she said it. The corners of Levi’s lips twitched as he no doubt recognized her recycling the same excuse he himself had given her back when she’d caught him disappearing during the Ascension Trials.

  “You’re headed back into the village,” Levi said. It wasn’t a question. “You’re going to warn them to evacuate?”

  Liliya hesitated, then nodded. She refused to look away, instead meeting his grey eyes evenly.

  Instead of condemning or judging her decision, Levi only tilted his head. As usual, she couldn’t read him at all; his expression remained placid and mild. “Why?”

  Liliya was silent for a long moment. Why was she disobeying Qorbin’s orders? Why was she going to risk scaring away the cultist or letting them escape?

  …

  It was simple, wasn’t it?

  “Because I don’t want the people of this town to die,” she said quietly.

  A silence fell over them as Levi looked at her with an indecipherable expression.

  “They might not,” he finally said. “There’s a chance we manage to take down the cultist before they’re able to use their skill.”

  Liliya smiled humorlessly. “Do you truly believe that? We’re up against a Hollow cultist strong enough to instantly kill an entire town with orichalcum-tier adventurers inside. It’s obvious Qorbin and Syto don’t actually intend to prevent the cultist from killing this town – they’re just using it as bait to draw out the cultist and take them down right after they use their skill, when their guard would be at their lowest and the magical backlash from channeling the Hollow’s power would be at its highest.” She paused. “But you already know that, don’t you?”

  “I do,” Levi said after a moment. “I saw it in Qorbin’s eyes the moment he told us. It’s a standard strategy.”

  “Then there you have it. I refuse to sacrifice the people of this village like that.”

  “Even if their sacrifices will let us take down the cultist and prevent countless more deaths?” Levi asked, his eyes suddenly filled with a frightening intensity as they pierced into her own.

  Liliya didn’t back down. “Even then,” she said, her voice unfaltering. “I refuse to believe that this is the only solution. There must be some other way where nobody needs to die.”

  “What if there isn’t?”

  “Then we’ll just have to find one.”

  “There’s no guarantee that we will. We might fail.”

  “Then at least we’ll have failed knowing that we gave it our all.”

  Levi’s eyes flickered. For a second, it felt like he was staring right through her, his expression clouded over as if he was recalling a distant memory.

  Then, he smiled. “Well. Alright, then. Let’s go.”

  With that, he extended a hand.

  Liliya blinked. “Go where?”

  “Where else? Back to the village.”

  “... wait, what?”

  “You heard me.”

  Liliya stared at him for a long moment. Was he being serious?

  …

  Of course he was. That was the type of person he was, wasn’t he?

  She smiled and took his hand. The space around them folded and twisted as the familiar sensation of teleportation overtook them.

  Though as they vanished from the clearing, Liliya couldn’t help but wonder.

  Why did his smile seem so bittersweet at the end?

  They reappeared inside the village, outside of the town hall.

  Levi watched Liliya immediately hurry up the steps with an odd expression on his face. It really was like staring into an old mirror sometimes. What she’d just said, the conviction she’d displayed, the sheer determination to save as many people as possible…

  Admittedly, at first he’d meant to stop her. But after hearing her words… How could he possibly live with himself if he didn’t at least let her try?

  There was a reason why Levi originally had chosen to team up with her, after all. With all the recent massacres affecting his mind, he’d nearly forgotten, but she’d reminded him of it just now.

  He could sense Syto’s blood winding through the streets. It wouldn’t be long before the vampire noticed they’d appeared within the village and informed Qorbin. The assassin would probably be furious once he found out, but eh. He could deal with it.

  At least Levi’s migraine was finally gone. For the first time in hours, he finally had a clear head. He thought back to the past day–

  He froze.

  Hold on a minute.

  Liliya was just about to wrench open the grand double doors and storm inside when Levi suddenly appeared next to her, grabbing her wrist.

  She tensed up, her head snapping to look at him with a fierce expression. “I’m going in,” she said. “You’ll have to attack me if you want to stop me–”

  “I think I may have miscalculated,” Levi said. Still grabbing onto her wrist, he teleported them again. The moment they reappeared, Liliya yanked away her wrist and leaped back, clearly thinking he’d changed his mind and was about to incapacitate her.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  She paused when Levi didn’t make a single move. Instead, he was scanning the exterior of the building he’d brought them to.

  The Lemonale Tavern.

  “Where are we?” Liliya asked, relaxing slightly, though still on her guard.

  “I had dinner here earlier tonight,” Levi said. “I should’ve known – the signs were right in front of me. Foolish, foolish.”

  His mind whirled agitatedly, all the facts coming together to form a conclusion:

  The monument stone covered with the names of fallen townspeople.

  The adventurers of this world generally being selfish, power-hungry individuals.

  And, most importantly…

  The way the server’s expression had darkened when he’d mentioned the reinforcements that arrived to save the town.

  Liliya frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Ten years ago, a dungeon break occurred near this town,” Levi said. “Despite the best efforts of the local militia and the adventurers stationed here, the monsters broke through the walls and rampaged through the town, killing over two hundred people before reinforcements finally arrived to stop them. A server at this tavern told me about it.”

  “A tragedy… but what does that have to do with anything?”

  “If reinforcements had arrived to save your village, then you’d talk about them with grateful, relieved tones afterward, wouldn’t you? But the server had looked angry, even resentful when he’d mentioned them. Why?”

  Liliya looked confused for a second. Then, her eyes widened. “You don’t think…”

  Levi nodded.

  A silent Sever later and the door to the tavern swung open. Thankfully, the server lived on the premises. Levi quickly located the server’s room, breaking open the door without a sound.

  He woke the server up with a minor gust of wind. The server’s nose wrinkled, his eyes opening blearily – then he swore loudly in shock when he saw Levi and Liliya standing over him. Fortunately, Levi had already cast a sound-cancelling field over them, so no sound escaped to alert the other people in the tavern.

  “Good evening,” Levi said. “I am not here to hurt you, so please don’t scream.”

  The server screamed.

  Levi gave a long-suffering sigh and looked over at Liliya. “They never listen for some reason.” He cast another localized sound-cancelling field over the server’s vocal cords. The server froze as the sound of his screams suddenly cut off. “I do apologize for the sudden intrusion, but I just need to ask you a quick question. After that, we’ll leave. Okay?”

  After a moment, the server nodded. Levi removed the field. Slowly, the server sat up, his entire body tense.

  “I recognize you,” the server said, looking at Levi. “You ate at the tavern earlier today. Please don’t hurt me, I’ll tell you where the valuables are–”

  “You can relax, I’m not a thief. I need to find Edmund Hawke. Do you know where he lives?”

  The server frowned. “Old Hawke? Why?”

  “He’s in danger,” Levi said, the lie coming as naturally as breathing. “We’re adventurers sent here by the Adventurer’s Guild on a secret mission; Hawke’s old enemies managed to track him down. We need to find him before they do.”

  The urgency in Levi’s voice must’ve convinced the server, because the man’s eyes widened. “I see. Have you alerted the guards?”

  “No,” Levi said. “His enemies are too strong; if the guards arrive, they’ll undoubtedly be killed.”

  The server hesitated before nodding. “Very well.” He quickly stood up and walked over to his desk, taking out a map of the town. “The Hawke cottage is located here,” he said, drawing out the route. “Please, if he’s truly in danger, you must hurry.”

  Levi nodded. “Thank you. And… sorry about this.”

  “Sorry about what-?” the server’s eyes rolled up and he collapsed backward, unconscious. Levi caught him, lowering him gently back onto his bed.

  “Don’t want to risk him alerting anyone,” Levi told Liliya. “Come on, let’s hurry.”

  “Edmund Hawke,” Liliya said, her gaze sharpening. “I recognize that name…”

  “He was some bigshot adventurer back in the day, apparently,” Levi said as they rushed down the stairs. “I ate dinner with him earlier today. And… I think he’s our cultist.”

  Liliya froze. “What? Why?”

  “I don’t know. Call it a gut feeling, call it a wild guess. His entire profile fits; he’s an ex-adventurer, he has the motive to summon a daemon into the world, but above all…”

  Levi narrowed his eyes as he recalled Hawke’s words to him earlier that night. He hadn’t registered it at the time, innocuous as the statement had seemed, but…

  A paranoid one, aren’t you? At such a young age too. Careful now, you’ll strain your eyes.

  It was one thing to detect that Levi had cast the poison-detecting spells. Any mage with half-decent mana detection abilities would be capable of that.

  But that comment about straining his eyes…

  “He was able to detect that I was using my True Sight,” Levi said. “Not even Qorbin or Syto were able to do so. There’s only been one person who’s managed to sense my True Sight so far.”

  “Who–?” Liliya’s eyes widened as she recalled the memory of a certain blank mask. She turned to him. “Is it…”

  Levi nodded grimly. “Phantasm of the Crucible.”

  A silence descended over them.

  “You think Hawke is Phantasm?”

  “Maybe,” Levi said slowly. “He still has his arm, but there’s a chance Phantasm regenerated his arm since our last fight. However… I don’t think they’re the same person; they feel too different. Even if he isn’t Phantasm, though, just the fact alone that he’s able to sense my True Sight means that we should investigate him.”

  And hopefully, they wouldn’t be too late.

  The Hawke cottage was located on the outskirts of the town, nestled away within a small forest away from prying eyes. Apparently, the old man owned the entire surrounding land as part of his estate, which explained why there were no other buildings around it.

  Levi had seen the estate earlier that day, but hadn’t bothered investigating too deeply since he hadn’t detected any traces of Hollow magic. In retrospect, the traces would only be left where the Hollow magic was used. Obviously, Hawke wouldn’t use Hollow magic near his own house.

  He and Liliya made their way into the forest, only a few errant streams of moonlight shining through the dense canopy of leaves overhead.

  “This entire time, we’ve been assuming that the cultist was planning to drain more villages,” Levi said as they sprinted through the woods. “However, five villages worth of people is already plenty, correct?”

  Liliya nodded, expression paling slightly. “You think he’s going to use the summoning ritual?”

  “He could be. It’s also possible that he’s planning to drain this town as well, but I doubt that–”

  Levi cut off as they emerged into a small clearing. A quaint little cottage stood in the middle, with a garden off to one side and a homemade swing set off to the other. Levi hadn’t exactly been looking forward to breaking into the cottage of an extremely powerful individual; it was almost guaranteed that there’d be a plethora of traps and defenses waiting for them.

  However, it appeared he needn’t have worried, because Hawke was already outside. The old man was sitting on a simple wooden chair in front of the cottage, a glass of ale laying on the armrest. He was staring up at the stars above, and even when they approached him, his gaze never left the night sky.

  “Hawke?” Levi called, stopping a good ten paces in front of him. His magic swirled within him as he prepared for any sudden movement.

  For several seconds, Hawke didn’t respond. Then he finally brought his gaze down, looking at Levi and Liliya. “Ironwood,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting you tonight.” He looked over at Liliya, and his expression shifted slightly. “You brought a guest as well – what is your name?”

  “Liliya Volkov of House Volkov,” Liliya introduced politely, though her expression remained wary and she skipped the curtsy altogether.

  “Oh?” Hawke smiled. “Another graduate of the Institute, then. How goes the goblin slaying?”

  “I don’t know,” Levi said. “How goes the village slaughtering?”

  He expected Hawke to deny everything, so he was slightly surprised when Hawke merely blinked once before letting out several low chuckles.

  “I thought your presence felt a bit too powerful for some basic goblin clearing mission. So you’re here for the massacres of the villages nearby, aren’t you?”

  “That depends. Are you the one responsible?”

  “I’m afraid so,” Hawke replied with no hesitation, his tone almost genial.

  Levi’s eyes hardened, and Liliya drew in a sharp breath at how easily he’d admitted it.

  “Well,” Levi said after a moment. “I hope that this earns me some forgiveness.”

  “Some,” Qorbin said as he materialized from the shadows. “I’m still going to punish you for disobeying orders and making me panic when I returned to an empty camp – how dare you corrupt Liliya – but I guess your method worked.”

  Blood pooled into existence next to him before it burst up in a controlled geyser, receding back down to reveal Syto standing there. “Well, well,” he said, his tone smug. “I told you the cultist was a human.”

  “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” Qorbin said. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Hawke. “You… I know you. You’re Mythmaker Hawke, aren’t you?”

  Liliya’s eyes widened, Syto let out a low whistle, and even Levi’s eyes flickered in surprise. He’d been aware that Hawke was powerful, but he hadn’t expected him to be a known Mythmaker.

  “I am. And you must be Mythmaker Ravenbane,” Hawke said, recognizing Qorbin on sight as well. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, though I understand if the feeling isn’t reciprocated.”

  “Tell me it’s false,” Qorbin said. “Tell me you didn’t make a contract with the Hollow.”

  Hawke sighed. “I could, but there’d be no point, would there? I am curious though – how did you manage to track me down? I thought the Guild would for sure think some monster was responsible.” He paused, his eyes flickering faintly with the first signs of disgust as he looked over at Syto. “And why in the world is there a bloodsucker on my lawn?”

  “You left a body behind,” Qorbin said. “It was drained of all its blood. The Guild originally thought the vampires were responsible; that’s why they sent me.”

  At this, Hawke looked confused. “What? No, that’s impossible. I made sure to be thorough in my cleanups; there should’ve been no corpses left behind.”

  Qorbin shrugged. “Yes, well, clearly you missed a spot.”

  “Hmm…” Hawke narrowed his eyes, but then shrugged. “Perhaps so. I’m getting on with my age; these things happen when you get older. The mind becomes duller, the bones wearier… But look at me complain.” Slowly, he stood from his chair. “Let’s not waste any more time. I assume you’re here to attack me, then. Very well. How does the saying go these days? Ah, right. Let’s see if I’ve still ‘got it.’”

  6 chapters ahead!