A violet mist instantly permeated the alley. This was now Erin’s domain.

  “Get out of my way,” she said. Her voice was calm and her tone was steady. To anyone who had breathed in the mist, her voice would be a sweet and melodious command that couldn’t be defied. Yet, the man who was guarding the frail girl remained unswayed by the mist.

  The man left the frail girl’s side and met Erin’s lunge with his own. He wielded no weapon. He threw his bare fist instead.

  Erin took a whiff of the air as she swung her sword in response. There was a strange scent in the air, one that she couldn’t identify, and it came from the man.

  The man’s fist met with Erin’s bde. Instead of having his hand sliced apart, there was a sharp shrill and cngour between the cshing of steel. Both the bde and the fist bounced off of one another.

  “Metal?” Erin excimed in surprise. She had an excellent nose. She could discern if a person was flesh and blood or steel and metal, or she had believed. The man before her had the scent of flesh and blood, and yet, that sound was without a doubt of metal origin. “What are you?”

  The man tilted his head in wonder as if asking himself the same question. However, he did not answer. He flicked his wrist, cocked his head, and came at Erin with another fist swinging.

  Erin twirled her sword and parried the man’s punch. Another punch followed closely behind. The gap was small. The window was short. Still, Erin moved faster than the man’s offence. She retreated a step and riposted the man’s punch. All the while, her bde left only scratches on the man’s hands and arms. Her counter struck the man’s neck. It was precise, but her bde slipped off from its original point and grazed the man’s neck.

  The man threw himself at Erin without giving her the chance to recover her stance.

  Erin leapt backward,s and the man followed. Erin flippe,d and the man lunged. Their bde and fist collided once more, but it was a ruse on Erin’s part. Her bde veered off from the fist’s contact and went for the man’s eyes.

  The man stayed on his path. The bde dug into his left eye and tore it right out of its socket. The man neither screamed nor howled in agony. It simply swung a fist into Erin’s belly. The punch would have done its job if Erin had been alone.

  “Mistress!” Siv thrust forward along with her sword. Her bde failed to pierce the man’s arm but she deflected the punch.

  Erin recovered and drove her foot into the man's chest. There was a distinct noise of bones shattering and cracking.

  The man stumbled, but there was no trace of pain. He shrugged, that was all he did in response to the supposed devastating attack. He lunged at Erin once more. This time, his arm was outstretched with a readied grasp, reaching for Erin’s head.

  Erin clicked her tongue. Her bde glowed a faint violet. She brandished her sword against the man who was aiming for her head. Instead of cngour this time, there was a clean and swift sharp whistle. The man’s arm flew from his shoulder. Blood spurted from its sliced flesh.

  The man gnced confusedly at his severed arm but he showed no sign of pain or agony.

  Erin noticed this odd reaction, but she did not allow it to impede her action. She pressed on with a short dance of death, slicing the man into two halves. Though she carved the man like a cake, she felt the slight resistance in her swings. The man was only partly flesh and blood. With his body in pieces, she could now see its innards and bones, which were cogwheels and metal pieces. The man was essentially a machine underneath his human appearance.

  “It’s a golem,” Siv muttered. “But why the disguise of flesh?”

  “We can ask the ss in front of us.” Erin flicked the blood off of her bde and began approaching the frail girl.

  “Stay back,” the frail girl warned.

  Erin continued approaching the girl.

  “This is your st warning.”

  “Or else what?”

  The girl scowled and stepped into the runic circle on the ground. “Do you know what this circle is?”

  “.A teleportation circle?”

  “...Damn it,” the girl uttered under her breath. She had intended to bluff her way out, but that was a futile attempt.

  “And you will need a few seconds to activate the circle. So, just come quietly with us and no harm shall come to you.”

  “...I will be dead if I surrender.”

  “You will be dead if you don’t. There’s no way out for you, ss.”

  “My name is Genna, not ss.”

  Alright, Genna, what is it going to be? I strongly encourage you to choose your options carefully.”

  “...I have no options. I have only one.” Genna took a step back and stomped her foot.

  “Behind!” Siv shouted.

  Erin turned around and saw a ghastly creature lunging towards her. Her sword fshed and the creature colpsed to the ground with its head severed.

  “A Serk?” Siv muttered.

  “A translucent one. Is it a variant?”

  “I have not heard of any translucent variant of a Serk, Mistress, but I don’t believe we should be concerned about this for now.”

  “Oh, right.” Erin turned to Genna, or at least where she was supposed to be. It didn’t take Erin long to find out where Genna went. “She’s on the roofs.”

  “She just disappears and reappears on the roof?”

  “She has tricks,” Erin said and chased after the frail girl.

  Genna hadn’t gone far. She was one-tenth of a mile away from Erin. Furthermore, she merely had a head-start but she didn’t have much speed to her. It wasn’t long before she was cornered once more. This time, there were others.

  “You’re having trouble with such a girl?” Aedan asked. He was standing in the girl’s path, fnked by Lyra and Amyra.

  Aera was there too but she was standing behind Aedan, as if she feared being seen by strangers.

  “Kyu~!” Ruri cried. She was perched on Amyra’s shoulder.

  “Shush,” Erin responded. “She has some interesting tricks up her sleeves. Don’t underestimate her.”

  “We got her surrounded, m’dy. She ain’t going anywhere.”

  “She’ll get it in her leg if she tries anything,” Lyra warned with her bow drawn and trained.

  “Do you see now, ss? Just be obedient and surrender, please?”

  Genna slowly turned her gaze to Erin, who was standing behind her. “Do you take me for a greenhorn?”

  “I take you for a wise dy who knows her limits.”

  Genna smirked. “I do know my limits, do you?”

  “...Lyra, if she tries anything with her feet, shoot her.”

  “What?”

  “Just do it.”

  Lyra shrugged. “If you say so.” She lowered her bow slightly.

  Genna chuckled. “You have no idea what a master of Spatial Magic is capable of, do you?”

  “Oh, shit,” Aedan muttered.

  Hearing Aedan’s crude expression of an epiphany, Erin darted towards Genna. The girl was too dangerous to be left alive.

  “Too te.” Genna smirked. In the next instance, she disappeared from all of their sights.

  “She’s gone!” Lyra shouted. “Where did she go?”

  “She didn’t go anywhere,” Aedan said. “We did.”

  “Oh…”

  Erin widened her eyes. She looked around her. Everything looked the same… at first gnce. The colours were a tad faded and the breeze was absent. “Are we in Limbo?”

  “Thankfully, we’re not. This is the inverse dimension.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “A dimension where time flows the same as the overworld and whatever you do with the environment of this world, it will have no impact in the real world.”

  “Sounds… tame?”

  “This is essentially a prison, albeit a very poor one. Only the caster can dispel this.”

  “Wait. Are you saying that we’re trapped here? With no way to escape?” Lyra asked.

  “It’s nothing dire. It’s just tedious. We will need to wait. Maintaining this world requires constant focus and Mana. Even if she had an indefinite amount of Mana, she would need to sleep eventually. Also, if the caster strays too far away, this world will also be dispelled.”

  “How long do we have to wait?” Erin inquired calmly.

  “A few days, usually.”

  “A few days? We will starve!” Lyra excimed.

  “I said usually. Spatial Magic is tasking on not just one’s Mana but also their physical constitution. That girl, she can barely walk. Years of practicing Spatial Magic intensely has taken quite the toll on her.”

  “Well, how long do you reckon we will have to wait?”

  “A few hours, given her constitution.”

  “That’s still a long time. We will lose track of her in a few minutes, let alone hours.”

  “We won’t be waiting that long.”

  “We won’t?”

  As soon as the question left Lyra’s lips, they were all expelled from the inverse dimension.

  “That was short,” Amyra mused. “But of course, we have her to thank for.”

  “Kyu~!” Ruri squealed proudly with her head held high, letting Amyra rub under her chin.

  “Very convenient,” Siv remarked.

  “We still have a ssie to find. She can’t be far,” Lyra said. “Let’s go get that bitch. Where did she go?”

  Erin sniffed. “...I lost her scent. She couldn’t have gotten far. She must be concealing herself with another trick of hers.”

  “Kyu!”

  “No worries there. We have a reliable pet,” Aedan said.

  “Mrr~!” Ruri growled angrily at Aedan.

  “I don’t think she likes being called a pet, Your Grace.”

  “Um, hello? We’re not out on a leisure walk here, you know?”

  “Of course, of course.” Aedan shrugged. “Well, Ruri, will you do us the favour?”

  “Myu,” Ruri huffed. She was reluctant but she helped, regardless.

  “Amyra, hold her tightly.”

  Amyra nodded.

  Ruri began to glow a faint blue and her gaze shifted into a sombre mood.

  “Whoa, she’s turning… light.”

  “Just hold her tightly and don’t let her fly off.”

  The glow on Ruri began to leave her body. It took the form of a faint smoke and began drifting in a certain direction.

  “She has gone to the streets,” Erin said. “She intends to blend in with the crowd.”

  “She wouldn’t blend well,” Lyra snorted. “She limps. She would be easily spotted.”

  “Even so, it would be unwise for us to confront her amongst the crowd. If she pys ignorant of the confrontation, we would seem like a bunch of bullies to the crowd.”

  “So, what? We just let her go?”

  “We simply need to keep our distance and follow her.”

  “Easier said than done…” Aedan muttered. “We got company.”

  The group turned behind them and saw a hulking man approaching them in strides.

  “Ain’t he one of the two guards of that girl?” Amyra questioned.

  “He is,” Erin answered. “I cut him down.”

  “And he’s back up and rger,” Aedan retorted.

  “I will be his opponent,” Erin said. “The rest of you, tail the girl. Don’t lose her. This is not a discussion. Go, now.”

  They didn’t argue. There was no time to waste and they had promised each other to trust one another.

  “Be safe,” Lyra said before disappearing with the rest to pursue the frail girl, except Aera, who stayed behind.

  “Aera… are you sure?”

  “I’m bad at being subtle… and I don’t want to drag others down. I will pull my own weight.”

  “Well, Aera, if that’s your wish, I won’t stop you.” Erin smiled at Aera before turning her attention to the hulking man. “Sorry about that. How awfully nice of you to wait. If I were you, I would have struck when my enemy had their back turned.”

  “You don’t fool me, fox,” said the hulking man.

  “You speak…. Interesting.”

  “Your back is turned but your guard isn’t. This ruse fools only the ignorant and novices. I am neither.”

  “We shall see.”

  The man began to tremble. “We will see.” His muscles began to bulge and his skin was turning into a deep shade of red.

  “Erin… I might have made the wrong choice.”

  “...Yeah, I agree,” Erin mumbled in agreement as the hulking man grew beyond his already hulking size.