"First target is confirmed Null. I have to kill him before they decide to attack Darry," Sarina thought, eyes narrowing as the Null lunged at her with his rapier.
She moved—not back, but up.
One leap, light as wind, launched her over the incoming blade. It sliced through the air beneath her. She landed just beyond its reach, boots grinding into the soil, her flaming sword raised high.
She pivoted instantly and drove her blade toward the lead guard's chest.
He reacted fast—brought his longsword up to block. But the moment Sarina's flame-coated steel touched it, the weapon screamed. Metal melted, twisted, and drooped in his grip like molten wax. His hands sizzled on contact, and he dropped what remained of the blade with a howl.
"What the hell is this!?" barked a second guard, charging with a dagger.
Sarina dropped low, her black top clinging to her back, her gray leggings flexing with the motion. The dagger arced overhead. She swept her flaming blade wide in a deadly circle.
Two guards screamed as their legs came off in a flash of white fire and searing pain. Flesh sizzled. Bone cracked. Burnt meat hit dirt.
The Null came from above.
"Die, you seductive bitch!" he roared, slamming his sword downward toward her head.
But Sarina wasn't there anymore.
She twisted, rolled forward, came up behind the guard still trying to stand on his stumps—and brought her sword straight into the Null's rapier mid-strike.
The blade met flame. It melted instantly.
Sarina rose to full height, her chest heaving from exertion. Her face was flushed, but not with fear.
With purpose.
Screams echoed through the Scarlet Forest—pure, guttural terror. Metal rang. Fire hissed. Flesh cracked under heat.
And then—quiet.
Sarina stood tall, surrounded by five enemies who had all been so confident, so full of threats and sick fantasies.
Two now lay on the ground, moaning, their legs severed and cauterized black. The Null knelt beside them, hands glowing red as he tried to heal them.
The other two—dagger and leader—stood frozen. Swords drawn. But the hunger in their eyes was gone.
Now, only fear.
Sarina took a long breath. Her body ached, sweat clinging to her brow, her back damp beneath her top.
Cutting their legs… was a mistake, she thought, annoyed with herself. Left my head wide open. If I wasn't this fast… I'd be dead. Only good thing—I know what that Null can do now. Healing. Which means their deaths are inevitable. Just depends on how much trouble they want to be.
The lead guard, still trembling, stumbled over to one of the downed men and snatched up a broader sword.
"J-just let us go!" he shouted. "We'll spare you!"
Sarina raised an eyebrow. She didn't lower her sword.
"Alright," she said flatly, voice tired and mocking. "Tell us the way out of this forest… and why you were here."
The guard smiled again. That same smile.
"We were just here to have fun," he sneered. "Keep walking that way. You'll hit Lucia Kingdom."
Sarina walked forward slowly, blade still glowing, steps quiet and deliberate on the forest floor.
Idiots. Either they're not real guards… or the Azure Empire has a terrible recruitment team, she thought. Then asked, "But earlier you said—you're guards of the Azure Empire?"
The lead guard puffed out his chest slightly, smugness returning. "This forest's a bridge between nations. No one's watching. We do what we want."
Sarina stopped a few steps away.
She looked him straight in the eyes.
Her expression went cold.
Her lips curled in disgust.
"You're dead," she said calmly. "Weaker than dog shit. Dumber than a rock."
The words hung in the air—sharp, final, venomous.
The next moment, she moved.
Another scream split the air.
Then another.
Then another.
And another.
And then—silence.
The silence of the Scarlet Forest returned.
---
Darius opened his eyes. His blurry vision was searching for one person: Sarina.
His eyes were perfectly fine—it was just that his mind couldn't process the information given to him by his eyes. At least, Darius thought so. Biology wasn't his subject.
He felt like his mind was being pierced by countless needles.
"I'm more useless than I thought," Darius reflected, remembering how he disintegrated all the trees inside his soul space.
> [Fire Essence: 1087]
Just as Sarina had said, this Fire Essence was useless for now.
His mind couldn't control this much Fire Essence currently. Even if he recovered, the maximum amount he could handle without straining himself was 100.
"Disintegration is too addictive! I couldn't stop until I realized I'd lost…" Darius paused mid-thought.
Then continued, "...anyways. At least I'll be able to create more things for Sarina!" he thought.
Creating something permanent was easy—at least mentally—but it cost too much essence. Imbuing it with will made it even more difficult.
There's an irony: Darius's flames were useless without will. Even his flame constructs were just normal blocks without it.
But imbuing will into constructs was harder than shaping them—unless he had a perfectly clear image of what he wanted.
The disintegration process was addictive despite causing casual mental strain.
Was there any logic to that?
Don't know—and he didn't care.
Then, he heard a soft voice in his ear.
"Darry! Are you okay?" Sarina asked in a soft but tired voice.
"Yeah! I'm completely fine. What about you? You don't look fine at all!" Darius said.
In reality, he didn't know how she looked—because for him, she was just a blur.
She sat beside him and said, "Did you have names for my fuel and the different types of shadows?" she asked softly.
"Why not?" Darius said with a wide grin.
"Give me your tracking ring!" he added, showing his palm and gesturing.
"You lost your vision," Sarina said, concerned.
Darius didn't say anything for a while. Then he asked, "Did you kill those monsters?"
"Yes. They were really guards of the Azure Empire. They're now my shadows—or whatever you want to call them," Sarina said, placing her tracking ring on his palm.
After a few moments, Darius returned the ring and used it.
> [Shadow Essence: 250/250]
[Shadows: 0]
[True Shadows: 5]
"So... you made Shadows devour their original bodies?" Darius asked in a neutral voice.
"Because we needed knowledge. And I know who was—and is—watching us," Sarina said.
"So… what's the plan?" Darius asked as he felt Sarina's head rest on his shoulder.
"We're safe until night. We need to reach Lucia Kingdom before then," she said.
Darius smiled.