“They’re about to meet.”

  Zeke nodded, his gaze fixed on the point where the Bloodguard would soon collide with the Ehrenlegion.

  “Young Lord,” Morris said carefully, “was it… wise to send them out without further orders? If we lose the Bloodguard, our options will be limited.”

  Zeke didn’t look up. “If we lose them with these odds, then we never had any options to begin with.”

  Morris fell silent, though the tension in his jaw made it clear he didn’t fully agree.

  “We could have at least sent the healer with them,” Linus said, clearly aligned with Morris’s concerns.

  Zeke sighed. He understood why both captains felt this way. The Bloodguard was made up of Chimeroi, after all. Chimeroi had a reputation for being terrible soldiers: directionless, broken, and unmotivated.

  But that reputation belonged to slaves—to those raised in chains, beaten into obedience, and thrown into battles they never chose. How could anyone expect loyalty or drive from people who had never been given a reason to care?

  Zelkara and the Frostscale tribe were nothing like that.

  They had never known collars or whips. They had grown up wild, fierce, and free—and even after undergoing his Ritual, they hadn’t lost that freedom. If anything, they had gained something far more powerful.

  Purpose.

  And no soldier fought harder than the one who finally knew why they fought.

  

  “Just watch,” Zeke said simply.

  Why waste words when reality could explain it better than he ever could?

  The Ehrenlegion marched with careless steps and loose formation. Relaxed, unalert. Without their commander, there was no one left to warn them of what approached. Thankfully, Akasha had intercepted every one of his distress calls during their brief confrontation.

  In stark contrast, the Bloodguard advanced with deadly purpose. They cut through the forest like a dark flood, serpentine bodies flowing between burning trunks with eerie, fluid grace. They moved more like mounted cavalry than infantry: swift and disciplined.

  The clash was moments away.

  Zelkara burst through the treeline, shrouded in her poisoned mist.

  Zeke smiled when he saw it. A simple maneuver at first glance, yet it had accomplished several goals at once.

  First, she had used her frost poison to extinguish the surrounding flames, carving a path through the inferno.

  Second, she had closed the distance before the enemy even realized she was there.

  And third, she had concealed the approach of her troops, preventing the humans from gauging their numbers or their threat.

  This wasn’t the work of a novice. It was the instinct of a commander who sensed the right course of action and acted without hesitation.

  Zelkara, without question, was a naturally gifted leader.

  Zeke watched as she casually absorbed a blazing projectile, the flames not even slowing her pace. When she finally reached the front line, Zeke felt his own heart quicken in anticipation.

  The Pureblood didn’t disappoint.

  She hit the enemy’s front line like a sledgehammer striking glass. Dismembered bodies and horrified faces marked her path as she tore through the shield wall as if it were wet paper.

  “What in the…”

  Morris’ jaw hung open, and Linus didn’t look much more composed.

  Only Zeke remained unsurprised. Zelkara’s body likely rivaled that of an Archmage. Her reflexes, kinetic vision, and spear technique were even a cut above that level.

  This was like watching a master fight a child. The humans were lacking in every regard. She had many times their strength, many times their speed, and many times their endurance and technique.

  It was simply one of the differences between Chimeroi and humans.

  A Grand Mage could still be overwhelmed by numbers, spells took time, and their Cores had limits. But Chimeroi were different. Their advantages were innate, woven into every breath and movement. Every step was empowered. Every strike, a death sentence.

  It didn't mean they were stronger than Mages, but their advantage against weaker enemies was far more pronounced.

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  “…She’s breaking through,” Linus said, his eyes locked on Zelkara’s form.

  Zeke focused as well. He had never doubted she would tear through the shield line; the real test began now, when she faced the Mages of the Ehrenlegion.

  Flamecallers, Leo had called them. Grand Mages with a Fire affinity. Most would not have developed their intent. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be serving in such a low function. Middle-of-the-road in both affinity and talent, most likely.

  Even so, a Grand Mage was still a Grand Mage.

  Zelkara was greeted at once by a barrage of spells. Clearly, these Mages were taking her seriously.

  Explosions swallowed her silhouette; the area of her emergence turned into a blazing inferno. They were so frightened they even risked hitting their own troops.

  All for nothing, as it turned out.

  Zelkara slipped past their barrage, appearing in their midst in the blink of an eye.

  The trio watched in silence as she dismantled these elite troops with scarcely more effort than she had shown against the shield wielders. Brutal, efficient, and without a shred of mercy.

  “Young lord…” Morris murmured after a moment. “Where did you find this monster?”

  Zeke smirked. “Found her lying on the ground, actually. Gravi broke her skull when they fought.”

  “Is Gravi the blue one?”

  “Yes.”

  Morris nodded without another word, but Zeke was certain he had just added Gravitas to his do-not-mess-with list.

  They continued watching the battle. Zelkara tore through the backline, while the rest of the Bloodguard shredded the human front line.

  Though the Ehrenlegion was considered an elite force, not all of its members were truly Mages. Far from it. Zeke had noticed it earlier when dealing with their soldiers.

  The regular troops of the Ehrenlegion all shared the same affinity: Earth. But their Cores were incredibly weak: barely low affinity. Even so, it was enough for their purpose. They were never meant to cast spells. They likely spent most of their training channeling raw Earth Mana into their bodies, hardening their skin like stone and enhancing their strength.

  It was a solid strategy.

  Combined with expert weapon skills, disciplined formations, and a seasoned commander, they could easily overwhelm regular soldiers, the same way Zelkara was overwhelming them now.

  Even Leo, an exceptionally talented fighter and Mage, had struggled to keep up with their coordination.

  But in the end, they were still human. They might mimic Chimeroi combat styles, but they could never match the raw physicality of beastkin. Only at the Archmage level, when a Mage’s Core fully fused with their body, could a human approach Chimeroi strength.

  Until then, all they could do was secure an edge over ordinary troops.

  “What is she doing?” Morris asked.

  Zeke refocused on the battle. Zelkara had just slaughtered the last opponent in her immediate vicinity. But instead of pressing forward, she planted her spear in the ground and simply stood there, watching the fighting unfold.

  “She’s probably studying their tactics,” Linus said.

  Zeke smiled. It seemed Linus had been so impressed by Zelkara that he now interpreted everything she did in the best possible light. But Zeke had a different idea.

  “She’s probably bored with the battle.”

  “…Bored?”

  “That can’t be!”

  But as if to prove his point, Zelkara looked away from the battlefield at that exact moment, seemingly trying to pry a bit of dirt from beneath her fingernail.

  The commanders watched the scene in silence.

  “I think she’s bored,” Morris said after a moment.

  Linus grimaced, unable to deny the truth now that she was even fixing her hair, which had grown stiff with blood. That lasted only a moment, though.

  “That looks like trouble,” he said. “That one is likely a captain.”

  Morris nodded. “That hair color... he’s probably a Feuerkranz.”

  Zeke had also been watching the man making his way toward Zelkara. His eyes narrowed at those last words, but even so, he made no move.

  “…I think she can handle it,” Linus said after a moment. “From what we’ve seen so far, even if she can’t win, it won’t be an easy victory for that captain either.”

  They watched Zelkara charge. But just before she reached her opponent, another figure burst from the ground. The newcomer blocked her path, allowing the Fire Mage to land a hit that sent her flying.

  “Dirty bastards!” Linus cursed.

  Morris frowned as well. “The way he moved through the earth—is that a Steiner?” He turned to Zeke. “Should we act, young lord? This woman is too talented to risk in such a fight.”

  Zeke shook his head. “Just watch.”

  The Zelkara of a few days ago might have struggled here, but after repeated use of the Mana Purifying Device, she was no longer the same. It was time to see how far she had come.

  Zelkara charged again, once more intercepted by the Earth Mage. But when their hands locked, it became clear he had miscalculated. He was forced to his knees and was about to lose his arm when the Fire Mage intervened.

  Dozens of Fireballs raced toward her.

  “That’s the Crown of Flame. He really is a Feuerkranz.”

  Zeke recognized it as well. The signature spell of the Feuerkranz family allowed them to control all fire in an area, merging smaller spells into one devastating attack. That very crown now burned above the Mage’s head.

  The dozens of flaming orbs merged into a single massive sphere and hurtled toward where Zelkara and the Earth Mage struggled. But instead of retreating, Zelkara exhaled a breath of condensed mist toward the spell. At first, it didn’t seem to do anything—but then the orb began to shrink. Rapidly.

  By the time it reached her, it wasn’t even a spark.

  “That— I—”

  Linus had no words left, too shocked by what he’d just seen.

  Even Zeke felt a flicker of surprise. Wasn’t that a bit much?

  But the surprises didn’t end there. While blocking the spell with her mist, Zelkara had also prevented the Earth Mage from escaping. It was becoming a clear pattern: One move, multiple objectives.

  With a kick, she shattered the frozen body of the Earth Mage, and the fragments tore apart the Fire Mage hiding behind him as well.

  Zeke’s grin widened.

  Zelkara was truly a treasure. Her instinctual grasp of tactics was something not often seen. Gravitas had been lucky to face her when she had. A couple of years later, their fight might have gone very differently.

  “…She won,” Morris said at last, breaking the long silence.

  Linus nodded. “With all their commanders dead, this division of the Legion is as good as finished.”

  “Not quite,” Zeke said, finally tearing his gaze from the west and turning it north, where David was locked in combat with the enemy Archmage.

  What had once been lush forest now resembled the aftermath of a catastrophe. From afar, the clash between David and the Fire Mage was almost surreal, more storm than duel.

  Shadows rippled across the scorched clearing like living ink, stretching unnaturally far before snapping back into place. David’s silhouette flickered in and out of existence, as if reality itself struggled to hold him.

  Opposite him, the Fire Mage blazed like a bonfire given legs and fury. Every gesture tore open new fountains of flame, the air warping with heat.

  Again and again, the two forces collided. When David struck, shadows folded inward, condensing into razor-thin crescents that carved through smoke. When the Fire Mage answered, swathes of remaining trees burst into incandescent pillars, their trunks popping like firecrackers.

  For a heartbeat, darkness swallowed the clearing whole.

  Then a sun-bright explosion flared, ripping the shadows apart and sending embers spiraling into the sky like fiery snow. David reappeared on the far edge of the battlefield, cloak torn, breath ragged—but standing.

  Zeke exhaled slowly, his eyes turning serious.

  “That might be a bit more troublesome.”