The battle between Arc and Zaragan had been savage beyond measure.

  Zaragan—still clamped in Arc’s jaws when the claws pierced his heart—went rigid, his limbs splayed wide. Then he went limp. Arc, meanwhile, had lost his right arm and been slashed across every inch of his body. He couldn’t even pull his claws free from Zaragan’s chest. He hung there, utterly spent.

  The water around them was stained red with both their blood.

  After a while, Arc released his bite on Zaragan’s neck. He went slack and drifted slowly toward the surface, his body shifting back to human form as he rose.

  *Can’t… breathe…*

  Blood loss and pain had left his consciousness hazy. He was using gravity magic to increase his buoyancy, but they’d been fighting at the bottom of the pool. Surfacing would take time.

  *Someone… air…*

  The light orb from his spell reached the surface first. Just a little more—just a little further and he’d break through. Arc writhed and paddled with his remaining hand. His awareness was fading.

  Then someone grasped his outstretched arm.

  “Who…?”

  Before he could wonder further, he was hauled above the surface.

  “*Gah*—HAAAH!”

  Arc coughed up water violently and gulped in air.

  He found himself lying on a flat surface about the size of a small room, floating on the water. A little girl—perhaps six years old—was rubbing his back.

  “Arc… hang in there.”

  Hearing his own name through the fog of consciousness, Arc looked up in surprise. There was something strangely familiar about her. And this child was wearing bright red lipstick and a black combat outfit.

  “Could it be… Lady Lilisia?”

  The little girl smirked.

  “Sharp of you.”

  For reasons unknown, Queen Lilisia was here in the body of a small child.

  Arc had a thousand questions about why she was here, but his mind wouldn’t cooperate. He’d lost a dangerous amount of blood; his face was ashen. Even Lilisia could see he was in critical condition.

  “I’m stopping the bleeding now. It’s going to hurt, but bear with it.”

  She cast healing magic while administering first aid. Lilisia—who normally did nothing but bark orders—was tending to his wounds with her own hands. Arc felt tears welling up.

  “Lady Lilisia… I lost an arm. I can’t protect Mina anymore…”

  He’d been holding back, but now the tears spilled over. Lilisia stroked his hair with her tiny hand—the gesture of a grandmother worried for her grandchild.

  “What are you talking about? You know I work people hard.”

  She looked him in the eye.

  “Mina can’t make it without you.”

  Arc covered his eyes with the sleeve of his remaining arm, his shoulders shaking as he wept.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “But even high-level healing magic can’t regenerate a limb. Like this, I’ll just be holding Mina back instead of protecting her.”

  As he cried in frustration, Lilisia gave a sharp snort.

  “Listen, Arc. You dug deep at the very end and took down an incredibly dangerous opponent. I’m genuinely impressed. I value what you did.”

  Arc groaned and raised his head.

  “But I still can’t go help Mina like this.”

  Lilisia let a smile creep across her lips.

  “Arc… do you not understand why I’ve shown myself to you?”

  In the child-Lilisia’s hand was Arc’s severed right arm.

  “Lady Lilisia… what are you—”

  She pressed the arm against Arc’s torso, then drew a marble-sized orb of magical energy from within her own chest and held it against the point where arm met body.

  “Great Heal!”

  Arc’s body blazed with golden light. Every cell in his body surged to life. Nerves and blood vessels at the severed surface began reconnecting. Arc stared in disbelief.

  “This is possible?! My right arm—!”

  But the technique came with excruciating pain. Arc groaned as wave after wave tore through him. Cells were being destroyed and rebuilt in rapid succession. Pain and vitality surged through his body in equal measure. The restoration continued for some time before the glow at the wound gradually dimmed.

  “Almost there—hang on, Arc!”

  “AAAGH!”

  When the light finally faded, Arc’s right arm was whole again. He was drenched in sweat and gasping for breath, completely drained.

  “Hah… hah… I’ve never seen healing magic like that.”

  “Of course not. The healing magic you lot use just accelerates natural recovery. Mine rebuilds cells from scratch.”

  Arc let out a long breath.

  “Unbelievable… I had no idea such magic existed.”

  He opened and closed his hand, checking his body. Everything was back to normal.

  “Amazing—no discomfort at all.”

  “But you’ve just been rebuilt. Your body is exhausted. Don’t push it.”

  Arc looked up, still breathing hard.

  “By the way, Lady Lilisia… why do you look like a little girl?”

  Lilisia burst out laughing.

  “That’s the first thing you ask after coming back from the brink? You’re a strange one.”

  “Well, you’re Mina’s grandmother. If you look younger than your own granddaughter, of course I’d be surprised.”

  Lilisia chuckled.

  “To put it simply—this body is a split form.”

  “A split form? You mean… you’ve been secretly following us with a split body, watching over us?”

  Lilisia nodded.

  “I worry about my granddaughter, you know. Honestly, I’d love to tag along to Lucariel’s ruins. But that wouldn’t help her grow.”

  Arc nodded.

  “You really do love Mina.”

  Lilisia snorted.

  “Obviously. Don’t tell Mina about this.”

  “Yeah, yeah—I know.”

  Arc got to his feet and started stretching.

  “Still, Lady Lilisia—that’s pretty harsh. If you were watching, you could’ve helped sooner.”

  The child-Lilisia folded her arms and sighed.

  “Believe me, I wanted to. But there’s a limit to how much powerful magic this small body can channel. Honestly, for a crisis beyond what you can handle on your own, I can intervene twice at most.”

  “I see…”

  Lilisia nodded.

  “Besides, if I showed up too often, you’d start relying on me. All I could do was watch. But…”

  She smiled as she patted Arc’s head.

  “I do think I should have stepped in a little sooner this time. I’ll admit that.”

  Arc laughed.

  “Hey, Lady Lilisia—is it okay if I get going?”

  Lilisia exhaled.

  “You don’t need to rest?”

  Arc looked her in the eye and shook his head.

  “Then go. Mina is at the end of this long passage.”

  “Understood.”

  “Don’t overdo it, Arc!”

  Lilisia patted his shoulder.

  “I’m rather fond of you too, you know.”

  Arc looked surprised for a moment, then broke into a smile.

  “Thank you—for watching over us.”

  He stood, kicked hard off the ground, and launched himself into the air. Then he rocketed down the passage at full speed.

  ◆

  Two hundred demons were flooding into the arena from the surrounding stands.

  Mina signaled to Nox.

  “Nox! Will you be okay on your own?”

  Nox gave a small nod.

  “Just hold out until I’ve beaten him and come back.”

  They bumped fists, then split and ran in opposite directions. Nox charged toward Balrog. Mina sprinted the other way. In a chaotic melee, taking down Balrog would be impossible. Mina had chosen to act as a decoy, freeing Nox to fight him one-on-one.

  “She went that way!”

  The grunt demons shouted. Once Mina had drawn enough of them in, she unleashed her new technique.

  “Take this! Earth Maze!”

  At her shout, the ground rumbled and earth walls erupted in rapid succession with a thunderous roar. The difference from her usual Earth Wall was that she’d adjusted the positions to form a labyrinth. This way, everyone would get lost in the maze and couldn’t reach her.

  “What the hell is this?!”

  “It’s a dead end!”

  Balrog watched from a distance, stamping the ground in frustration.

  “What are those idiots doing?! Every last one of them is useless!”

  While he bared his teeth in irritation, the thick sole of a military boot slammed into his face. Balrog crashed to the ground, wiping blood from his lip.

  “Your fight is with me. Stop looking away and come at me.”

  Nox’s cool composure drove Balrog into a fury.

  “Don’t get cocky with me!”

  He channeled every ounce of his power, wreathing his body in flames of rage. Clad in his armor of fire, he charged straight at Nox.