“Argon Raze…” Marsh gasped, musing on the name. “Is this a joke?”

  “It is not, Ivan. I know it might be a little bit too hard to believe, but I am Argon Raze. Or rather, I was. Now, I go by the name Erynthea.”

  “Impossible… How are you—”

  “Why do you deny the possibility? You and Katya were reborn as someone else. Why is it so hard to accept that my circumstances were the same, albeit with some minor differences?”

  “Argon was a—”

  “—pensive and dour man. I know. I have changed a great deal.”

  “...If you truly are Argon Raze, then you should know that it is unwise for you to appear before me.”

  “I know… I’m truly sorry for all that I have done.”

  “Sorry?” Marsh scoffed in derision. “You’re sorry?! Don’t make me ugh.”

  Katya looked at Marsh with a concerned and confused expression. “Ivan, why are you so— You two are friends, aren’t you?”

  “Friends?” Marsh snapped his gaze to Katya. “Are you kidding me? Have you forgotten what happened? Have you forgotten what he did to you? He killed you! He murdered you!”

  “Ivan. It was no murder. It was a duel, which he won fair and square. Argon and I both went into the duel knowing the fate that would befall us should we lose.”

  “Katya…”Marsh stared with an incredulous look. “How can you say that? For the sake of power and status, he would kill his friend.”

  “Was I not the same, Ivan? If I had won, Argon would be dead. Will you be so distraught as you are now?”

  Marsh couldn’t reply. He hadn’t thought this way, but he already had an answer, which he didn’t give. He stayed silent, keeping his incredulous stare on Katya.

  “Ivan, you told me you ended up in this world the same way I did, by dying. You told me that you were killed in action. Is that the truth?”

  “...”

  “Do you want me to answer for you?” asked Erin.

  “Silence!” Marsh growled.

  “Ivan, answer me. Is that the truth?”

  “No,” Marsh answered begrudgingly while lowering his gaze. “It wasn’t.”

  “You took revenge for me, didn’t you? You challenged Argon, and you lost. Is that how you died?”

  “Yes, that’s how I died,” Marsh admitted.

  “Oh, Ivan. You poor fool. Why?”

  “Katya, do you honestly expect me to just keep on living like always after that?”

  “Ivan, you know the ways of our cn. The weak perish. The strong thrive. Even if Argon didn’t kill me, I would be dead at the hands of others. I was the weakest there.”

  “What’s done is done. I can’t change the past, but the future has yet to be decided. I will make sure that we will be together once again. And you, Argon, shall not stop me.”

  “I’m afraid I have to,” Erin said. “I can’t let you do this.”

  “Ivan, what are you two talking about? Why would Argon stop you? What have you been doing?”

  Marsh ignored Katya’s questions. His gaze turned to Erin, and he snorted. “You figured it out?”

  “It’s not that difficult a guess after coming this far. Katya may be a Fae now, but she isn’t exactly extremely favoured by the Spirits. Yet, Spirits are flocking to her, or at least they were flocking in her direction. She was not the beacon. These runes are, but these runes needed to be constantly imbued with Mana. Where would one get a retively endless amount of Mana? The answer is quite simple, but… I just can’t imagine that you would fall so far, Ivan.”

  “As if a heartless, power-hungry maniac like you would understand.”

  “She does understand,” Lyra spoke up. “I don’t know what kind of person she was, but now, she has more heart than the likes of you, High Lord William Marsh. Even if she’s heartless before, at least she doesn’t kidnap a bunch of people and use them as fuel for her power.”

  Katya widened her eyes. “Ivan, is this true?”

  Marsh didn’t respond, but the answer was clear as day just from his expression alone.

  Katya paled. “Ivan…. What have you done?”

  “Once again… you just have to ruin everything…” Marsh muttered, gripping his fists tightly.

  “Ivan, answer me!”

  “Shut up!” Marsh roared. He waved his hand, and the gss panes of the tank darkened as if a bck cloth was draped over. Even Katya’s voice could no longer be heard. “Argon! You’ll pay dearly for this. I could have— I could have…”

  “Well done, Lyra. You just pissed him off.”

  “I was just being ahead of you, Erin.”

  “Enough from the two of you! Kill them!”

  The two colossal men behind Marsh finally made their move.

  “Get behind me, Lyra!” Erin shouted as she positioned herself in front of Lyra and manifested another sword. She studied the two men charging at them. They were humans, or at least there was nothing Erin could perceive that suggested otherwise. Their state of mind was questionable, but they weren’t the first ones Erin had encountered who would sacrifice something of themselves in exchange for power. Although she slightly doubted these two were the same case, she didn’t have the luxury to discriminate.

  The two men wielded conventional weapons. They both have a greatsword in their hand, but that was not all there was to their threat. One of them had Wind Magic. The wind blew and rustled around the man, lifting him off the ground. The other had Ice Magic. Ice encased his sword, turning it into something sharper and deadlier. Ice also encased him in the shape of armour that resembled that of a knight.

  Lyra fired an arrow at the Wind-User, who had leapt high into the air. The room had a very high ceiling. The arrow travelled straight to its mark, but the wind around the man swatted the arrow away.

  “Bollocks!” Lyra cursed. “That’s not fair.”

  Erin confronted the Ice-User, who swung his giant sword of ice. With ease, Erin cut through the sword and countered with a wide ssh. She saw her bde slicing through her target, but it didn’t feel like she was cutting flesh. When she looked closer, she saw it was ice her bde was cutting. The man in front of her turned into ice before crumbling apart into pieces, but that wasn’t the end of it. Erin could quite put it, but she knew the man lived.

  “Erin, a little help!” Lyra called out.

  Erin turned around and leapt towards the Wind-User who was falling towards Lyra. Her Mystic Bde cut through the winds that could swat arrows away, but before her bde could reach the flesh, her bde was encased in ice. She immediately dispelled her sword and tossed herself away from the man.

  Lyra had also moved out of the way as the Wind-User nded between her and Erin.

  “Did he just use Ice Magic? Am I seeing things?” Lyra questioned her eyes.

  “He did just use Ice Magic,” Erin confirmed.

  Suddenly, the winds around the man grew fiercer and hail appeared among the turbulence. Then, from within the raging winds and hail, the Ice User from before manifested.

  “They are one,” Erin surmised.

  The Ice User lunged at Erin as soon as he appeared, while the Wind User strode towards Lyra at a leisurely pace.

  “Lyra, run!” Erin shouted as she cshed swords with the Ice User.

  “Like hell I will!” Instead of running, Lyra nocked the next arrow and shot it at the Wind User.

  The result was no different from the st time. The arrow was swatted away by the rushing breeze protecting the caster.

  “Great. Now what?”

  The Wind User lunged at Lyra once he was close enough. The winds gathered around his bde.

  At the same time, Lyra noticed how the winds left the man’s body. Lyra hurriedly readied her next shot. The Wind User was upon her. She had no choice but to dodge the bde that tore through the ground it cshed into. She shuddered to imagine how she would fare. She released the arrow on her bow the moment she rolled to her feet. This time, the arrow struck the Wind User’s shoulder, causing him to stagger.

  “Got you now!” Lyra cheered.

  Instead of wincing in pain, the Wind User simply pulled the arrow out of his shoulder without even a shred of hesitation or a wince of pain.

  “Oh…” Lyra muttered. “Damn it.”

  Raging winds enveloped the man. In the next moment, he was sent propelling towards Lyra like a cannon.

  “Fuck!”

  Lyra tried to dodge, but she was no faster than an arrow, much less a projectile from a cannon. Fortunately, she wasn’t alone.

  “Stay back, damn it!” Erin had rushed to her aid and parried the projectile from a full-grown adult. She went stumbling backwards. She nearly fell, but she caught her bearings and kept herself standing. “That hurts,” she winced, flicking her wrists to alleviate the pain.

  “T-thanks,” Lyra said in between her breaths. “That was close.”

  “You’re a ranger, Lyra. Stay that way. If you want to fight, at least try not to be so close to your enemy. Range is your ally. Use it.”

  “I was using it, but you saw what happened. He unched himself at me like a cannon.”

  “Then, we will do this together. I’ll be the vanguard and you will support me. I will be leaving my vulnerable sides to you. Can you do it?”

  “Of course, I can, Erin.”

  “Then, let’s do this,” Erin said and charged at the two colossal men with her twin swords.

  Once again, the Wind User propelled himself forward using a strong gust of wind, and the Ice User simply charged at Erin like a bull that had set its sights on its target.

  Erin met the charge of the two men. She could barely handle one of them, let alone two of them. However, she was not the only one fighting these two men.

  From behind and some distance away, Lyra fired an arrow at the Ice User. The arrow bounced right off the man’s ice-armoured skin, but it was enough to make him lose his bance. He slowed down in his charge to prevent himself from toppling.

  Meanwhile, the Wind User was unfettered by the difficulties of his colleague. He was unfazed by Erin, who was meeting his charge. When they were close enough, he swung his sword, unleashing a devastating wave attack that shredded everything in its path.

  Erin flipped over the devastating attack. When she was directly above the Wind User, she sliced his arm off, and the weapon flew off from the detached hand. She grabbed the sword that was still imbued with the winds and threw it at the Ice User, who was just recovering his bance. He saw the sword of his companion just in time. He moved, but not fast enough. He moved fast enough to save his life, but not his arm, which the sword shredded away like a cabbage.

  Without missing a beat, Lyra shot an arrow at the face of the Wind User who was still bewildered by the lost of his arm. The arrow grazed the man’s temple. It would have found its eye if he hadn’t dodged at the st second, but the mere and brief second of distraction was all that Erin needed.

  When Erin nded on her feet, the Wind User was distracted by the arrow that nearly took his eye and the Ice User was struggling with the lost of his arm. They were both vulnerable and open at the same time. She unleashed her Aura Domain and brought her swords in a full circle. When her swords returned to the beginning, the two men colpsed to the floor in halves.

  “You have truly fallen so low, Ivan,” said Erin. “Since when were you the type to have other people do your work for you?”

  “Since when were you the type to work with other people?” Marsh retorted.

  “Oh, this? This isn’t common. I still fight most of my battles alone, but… help’s nice. Having friends is nice. I learned.”

  “You sickened me, Argon. If only you had such compassion as you have now, then Katya wouldn’t have…” Marsh stopped himself. “—Well, not that it matters anymore. I would love to take my time with you, but Katya takes precedence.” Marsh produced a card from his breast pocket. As the card began to burn bright blue, the space swallowed him. And he was gone.

  The darkness on the tank was lifted the moment Marsh disappeared, but Katya was nowhere to be seen.

  “Fuck,” Erin uttered.