Rattling chains, echoing in the darkness.

  Cold metal tightening against my throat, choking me, dragging me ever closer to death.

  The feeling of my mana seeping away from my fingers.

  Nullified by black. Frozen by white. Burned by red.

  Indifference and hatred, alternating, then swirling, then combining.

  Then swelling and expanding. Growing, boiling, bubbling. Heavier and heavier until the feelings smothered me.

  The searing pain in my stomach woke me up.

  I groaned weakly, barely managing the strength to lift my eyelids.

  I could not even toss or turn, merely just twitch in place.

  A voice – familiar, I think? – murmured distantly, incoherently.

  “...! …stel…! …-ld on…”

  A sharp noise. Like a bell ringing.

  Footsteps.

  The voices increased.

  Hushed mutterings between themselves.

  I couldn’t understand what they were saying.

  I couldn’t think about anything other than the pain in my stomach.

  My eyelids slowly peeled open.

  Blurry forms solidified.

  There was Luna and… a… doctor, I… think?

  What was I…?

  The blood began to flow back into my brain.

  Feeling started to return to my extremities.

  My legs twitched.

  I tried to pull myself up.

  It was hard. My back was heavy. I felt sluggish.

  I planted my arm down for support. My elbow wobbled feebly.

  Even that small action was enough to make me feel light-headed.

  I groaned, desperately trying to capture the stray thoughts fleeing my mind.

  I needed to remember…

  There was-... there was something…

  Where was I?

  This was… a hospital in Arden, right?

  Arden… home?

  No, that was Vertandhi.

  Vertandhi… Yrd-

  A small moment of clarity.

  I jumped up, almost toppling over immediately.

  Small arms caught me, bringing me into their embrace.

  “Estelle!”

  Luna held me tightly, slowly pushing me back to an upright position in the bed.

  Dry lips parted.

  My voice was weak, flickering in and out of life.

  “Y-Yrd, I-I need to go-...”

  “It’s okay… everything’s fine. Yrd’s okay… you did your best. It’s safe… Setsuna is okay. All the animals are okay, the rivers and the mountain… they’re all okay.”

  The trembling calmed a little.

  The burning pain in my stomach did not.

  As my nerves came alive again, the pain only intensified.

  I groaned, clutching my stomach.

  It was bandaged.

  Shit, was I still injured?

  Ah, whatever.

  I’d just heal it myself.

  My finger twitched.

  I tried to summon a small wisp of mana.

  My nerves screamed at me.

  “Miss!”

  I think I lost consciousness for a second.

  A second, older hand quickly pulled my finger away in a panic.

  “Listen to me, Miss Symphonia. Can you hear my voice?”

  I looked up, meeting the eyes of the vaguely familiar middle aged man.

  I think I might have talked to him once before.

  He was a doctor, maybe?

  I nodded slowly.

  “You’re in no condition to use even the smallest amount of mana. Your circuits are almost completely fried at the moment. Please refrain from trying to cast any spells for at least a few days. I would also recommend staying away from any magic tools. Even accidentally activating one might cause you great pain.”

  Why couldn’t I use my-...?

  Oh, right.

  I remembered now.

  The coldness in my fingers. The emptiness in my gut. The feeling of my soul slowly being ripped away as I pushed myself into dangerous territories of mana exhaustion.

  The corruption of Yrd, the confrontation at the mountain’s heart.

  The faceless man. A world of ice and fire. Black chains and silver swords.

  And the inescapable stench of death and rot.

  I groaned again, trembling as I cradled my stomach.

  I remembered this pain.

  I fought through it at the time, able to somewhat ignore it with the amount of adrenaline in my system, but there was nothing to distract me now.

  The phantom sound of a rattling chain echoed in my eardrums.

  I was struck by that thing.

  Luna gently pushed me to the back of the bed.

  Why is she treating you like you’re made of glass?

  The doctor sighed as he watched me clutch my stomach uncomfortably.

  “That wound… it probably won’t heal for weeks, if not months. It’s… it’s a strange one. Going by the report of your elven friend, that was inflicted by those strange chains, no?”

  I nodded weakly.

  “Thanks to her efforts, we managed to recover the length that she severed during your battle, and we’ve been trying to study it since. We’ve never seen anything like it. It has a strange effect. It inhibits any and all magic from flowing through wounds it inflicts, and in some instances, seems to be capable of nullifying mana in its entirety. Additionally, it seems to stop even natural healing processes, almost like the injury is… completely frozen, or held in place.”

  He frowned.

  “The only thing or creature recorded to have a similar effect that I could find was the King of Yrd, Fenrir. There are ancient tales of adventurers who survived an encounter with that wolf, and it’s said the scars of those battles never healed. But it’s hard to know exactly how reliable those tales are, given how old they are along with adventurers’ habit of embellishment, especially in olden days.”

  He shook his head and shrugged.

  “And it’s not like the wolf was particularly keen to be studied either, after your battle. The moment his injuries recovered, he snapped up and ran away to the wilderness. Going by the report, there appears to be some history and connection between the wolf’s own shackles and the weapons of that cultist, but… it appears we’ll never know for certain.”

  He sighed.

  “Our only hope at uncovering their origins at this point is with the Church. Fat load of nothing from that front so far. All they got is mentions of the Seventh Legion of legend. Anyways, there was a small bit of progress observed with the wound’s closing, so it likely won’t last forever, but… well, there’s no telling how long that injury will last.”

  I stopped shaking.

  Small remnants of energy, carried by pumping blood, filtered through my body, slowly rousing me awake.

  My disjointed memories pieced themselves together.

  “Y-Yrd…”

  My mouth was dry.

  The doctor blinked, before looking off to the side and making a silent gesture towards a nurse on standby for nourishment.

  Luna held onto my hand tightly, almost crushing my feeble digits.

  Look at you.

  You’re not even stronger than her.

  “The mountain’s stable. The tide of corruption has been quarantined and its slowly recovering. There’s a small contingent of priests actively working on purging and purifying the remaining corruption. Everyone will be safe. You did well.”

  She’s treating you like you’re the child.

  “W-what… about Setsuna?”

  “S-she… she went back to Yrd. She’s acting as its temporary warden.”

  Feeling came back to my legs.

  I wriggled my feet around.

  I immediately wobbled to the side, trying to dangle my legs over the edge.

  “I-I need to g-”

  Luna pushed me back.

  “Sister, no! You have to rest!”

  Why is she telling you what to do?

  You’re just trying to do what’s best for her.

  I tried to push her arms away.

  I was too weak to do so.

  “Y-you don’t understand, I-I need t-”

  “I don’t understand!? You’re the one who doesn’t understand, look at yourself, you idiot!” Luna snapped at me.

  She was looking at me with heartbreak and anguish on her face.

  “Your mana pathways have basically been burnt into nothing. There’s an irrecoverable wound on your chest. Your body has basically atrophied itself just trying to keep you alive, why don’t you listen to it!? You can’t do anything like this, why are you trying to get up and kill yourself!?”

  I flinched.

  “Why are you always like this, Sister!? Just please… stop worrying, for once. Just… just let someone else take care of it. I-I just… please, just look at yourself. Just rest. I just don’t want you to die. I just want you to be healthy. Just look.”

  She waved to something off to the side.

  It was at that moment my sense of smell returned to me.

  Flowers. Herbs. Spices. Fruit. Earth.

  “Look at how many people cared about you. Look at how many people were worried by your state. Please, just one time… just listen to us. Let us handle it for once. You’ve done enough.”

  I looked away from Luna’s face, unable to look at her any longer.

  A strange feeling began to course through me.

  My eyes settled on the mountain of gifts spread across the room.

  I recognised who sent them just by looking at what they had given.

  Those were the flowers that the widow was growing in her husband’s memory.

  The flowers on the other side… were those from the florist who wanted to confess to one of the homecoming knights?

  That peppercorn shrub, that was from the lonely old man who migrated from the Eastern Continent to make a new home for his family, only to be cut off from them by the Infinite Dark.

  Did-

  Did they-

  Did I…?

  Did you deserve this?

  I flinched with shame as I tried to drive the intrusive thought away.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  I uncomfortably patted my neck.

  My clumsy fingers found a necklace.

  It was still on me.

  I calmed down a little.

  I timidly nodded my head.

  “Okay, I’ll just… I’ll take a rest,” I mumbled.

  Luna sighed, her shoulders sagging in relief.

  There was a knock on the door.

  The doctor let the nurse in, carrying a tray of food and a bottle of water.

  Luna bit her lip in worry.

  “I-I have to go now. This is the end of my break, I have to get back to work. Please… rest well, Sister.”

  She shot up anxiously and left.

  I looked at the tray of food placed on the bedside table by the nurse, my stomach growling.

  Something bubbled inside of me.

  Not the wound on my abdomen, not the hunger in my stomach.

  Something greedier, something colder.

  What did she mean by ‘get back to work’?

  I stared at the pile of gifts emptily, absently nodding to something or other the doctor was saying about a checkup.

  All these gifts.

  Everyone’s care. Everyone’s worry. Everyone’s burden.

  I felt an invisible weight drag my shoulders down.

  It was several more days before I was in good enough condition to go outside.

  Days of constant visitation from acquaintances all across Arden passed.

  Each of them breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing me awake, a big smile plastered on their faces as they tried to cheer me up.

  I listened to what they had to say, and greeted them with a smile on my face.

  But at the end of it, something felt off.

  Something continued to gnaw at me long after they left, their words burning into my mind.

  Wasn’t Arden evacuated?

  Aren’t you supposed to be at war?

  Why are they staying behind?

  …

  I tried to think nothing of it.

  As a dangerous frontier city, many of even Arden’s ordinary folk – especially those who had been around for decades, rather than those who had come from its technological and economic boom – were able-bodied and combat-trained.

  This was their beloved home too. Of course they would want to stay behind and defend it.

  But that old lady with the basilisk venom.

  Why her?

  What does she think she can do?

  I pushed the thoughts away. I couldn’t worry them.

  I had to take Luna’s words to heart.

  I remembered Setsuna’s words, the ones she spoke to me before she took me to Yrd, about how I was of no use to any one in such an anxious, tired state. About how the people of Arden weren’t sheep, and I wasn’t their shepherd.

  The people were strong. They were capable.

  They had to be if they survived Arden for so many years before Mother came.

  I had done my part. I had managed to protect Yrd.

  I didn’t need to cause anyone else stress.

  I didn’t need to cause Luna any more stress.

  I couldn’t cause Mother any more stress.

  She had visited me too.

  I had never seen her looking more tired or worried

  It seemed like the situation outside was getting worse, even though no one was all that keen to tell me what exactly was happening.

  That was fine though. I could just go and find out for myself.

  Before long, I was finally dismissed from the hospital.

  Far from the tense silence I was expecting that had plagued the city in the weeks prior, it was now filled with an endless sea of chaotic noise.

  From the window in my private room, I had caught sight of more than a few gryphons flying in and out of the city, but I was not prepared for just how many of them there truly were at any given time.

  Entire squadrons, with knights, magi, adventurers and inquisitors intermingling all at at once, entering and exiting from view.

  Supplies, armor, and weaponry constantly being shuffled around.

  From what I had gathered, a national disaster of the highest level had been declared – that of a ‘Lunatic’ level threat, under the authority of a Royal General, backed by reports and approval from three separate S-Ranked Adventurers – Mother, Selenia, and Professor Sibyl – and the Citadel of Magi itself.

  I remembered hearing about such disasters during my time at Nindo, and was forced to even learn the protocol for such events, though all the teachers doubted we would ever need that knowledge.

  Lunatic-tier disasters were a generational rarity, with one or two happening at most within the reign of any given monarch – each one signalling a cataclysm that immediately threatened an entire nation, and if uncontained, would quickly spiral to potentially destroy all of Manusyara.

  It was a declaration of a war of survival. Every single combat-trained citizen on the continent was called to the battlefield to defend their home.

  And Arden sat at the eye of the storm, serving as the central target for the cultists for a reason still unknown to us.

  An armoured shoulder collided with me.

  The smell of rot and decay hit my nose, followed quickly by the smell of cold steel, then the pungent iron-like smell of blood.

  “Sorry, let us through! We’ve got several injured!”

  There was an injured body on a stretcher, blood leaking from wounds that appeared to pulse with rot.

  The stench was putrid.

  Even as the injured knight grew distant, the smell lingered.

  Even the inner parts of the city – far away from the walls where most of the fighting was happening – were busy.

  Everyone was doing everything they could to help the war effort.

  Almost all of Arden’s districts had been hastily transformed to serve another purpose.

  Its forges and foundries were turned into weapon factories, there was always a constant hum in the distance as the generators were forced to run constantly at maximum capacity, the inner spires became filled with unfamiliar magi as they laid the groundwork for grand runic compositions and magical defences. Tired and injured troops were shuffled back while fresh ones ran forward to take their place.

  Even the recreational and residential areas weren’t free of commotion. Those too had been recycled into massive communal kitchens and barracks that further fueled the war effort.

  My eyes lingered on that stretcher even as it faded from view.

  I uncomfortably fingered my wrist, my nerves still tickling back as my mana circuits flickered with life.

  Before I knew what I was doing, I was following it.

  I-I know.

  It was stupid.

  I was trying to listen to everyone’s warnings not to strain myself, I really was.

  I promise.

  I wasn’t going to do anything, I wasn’t going to use any of my magic, I promise.

  I remember what the doctor said.

  Even trying to do something as simple as activate a magical tool with my own supply was risking permanent damage.

  I heeded the warning and I took it to heart, I mean it, really.

  I didn't even rot in my bedroom and study like I did before, wasting away as I mindlessly tried to crack the secrets of Samsara.

  But are you really just going to watch?

  Are you really just going to let it all go?

  No matter how much it made me shake with anxiety over the last few days, I really, really tried to sit aside.

  But I just couldn’t help it. Despite what everyone was telling me, I just... couldn't.

  Even if I couldn’t do anything, I wasn’t going to just… look away from whatever was going on.

  I needed to see.

  I needed to know what was going on with my own two eyes.

  I followed behind the stretcher, already knowing where it was being taken.

  The hospitals had long since ran out of room.

  The cathedrals were turned into makeshift infirmaries and medical bays in their place.

  I walked into the cathedral.

  Hundreds of small beds, each holding an injured body.

  Priests, healers and doctors ran from wall to wall, nursing patients and blessing them with their magic, granting them a small bit of relief before continuing on to the next.

  People shuffled in and out, carrying new arrivals to empty beds.

  Commanding officers and magi stood off to the sides, talking amongst themselves, reporting and exchanging information.

  And amongst them all, I stood alone off to the side, wearing my white witch's robes.

  I walked through.

  I passed by a few of the resting knights, observing their wounds, all infected with a sickening black rot.

  I looked to the side.

  There was a woman with no flesh on her arm. Instead, from the elbow down, there was only bone.

  The smell grew worse.

  I saw a few bedbound soldiers look towards me as I passed, looking at me with desperation in their eyes, reaching out to me for aid.

  I flinched in shame.

  A nurse came by, and gently lowered the pleading arm of the injured man, smiling sadly and reassuring him, before looking at me with regret and pity.

  The whispers passed by.

  “That’s the Young Lady, isn’t it? I heard she nearly gave her life on Yrd.”

  “Yeah, if it wasn’t for her, we wouldn’t even have had any heads up. She’s the only reason the samples were brought back and we had time to prepare.”

  "The Young Lady was an expert in healing magic, right? Think we're getting lucky today, and the miss is gonna bless us herself?"

  “Don’t bother the White Maiden. She’s sacrificed enough. Haven’t you heard? She burned out her mana reserves down to five percent. Five. Percent. It's a miracle she's even alive. Don't ask for any more.”

  “Please… help…”

  I bit my lip and lowered my head.

  I felt my helplessness start to choke me.

  It was a mistake to come here.

  You need to run away.

  A few of the medical staff looked towards me, nodding solemnly as they offered their respect.

  “Thank you for your sacrifice, Young Lady. We’ll work hard to make sure your efforts are not in vain.”

  “Miss Symphonia, what are you doing here? Last I heard, you should still be recovering in the hospital. This isn’t a suitable place for you.”

  “The ‘Maiden in White’... was it?”

  “Oi, that’s Miss Symphonia to you, show some respect, damn Sol fanatics.”

  “Hmph. I was getting there. As I was going to say, much as the sacrilege and heresy displeases me, I must admit… her will and tenacity is admirable. To think she, as a healer, faced off the leader of those monstrosities on the frontline… perhaps even we of the Church could learn from such teachings.”

  A captain led his unit in, waving the injured over to a free corner of the cathedral, before reporting to his own commanding officer.

  The knight saluted the colonel.

  “Sir, Seventh Company reporting back! Site D16 was a negative, but there was heavy undead activity in both D17 and D18, thirteen injured, two deceased.”

  “Shit… that’s the towns of Farseval and Gosshire, Brigadier Kanshir isn’t going to like that, those are his childhood homes.”

  Two wizards conversed off to the sides, each having one arm stripped away to the bone, accompanied by other debilitating injuries.

  “So how’d it go for you? I assume none of your sites of interest were particularly pretty? What’d you get mauled by?”

  “A specimen most strange. A hulking monstrosity of bone and miasma, spewing breath of rot. Fear aside, it was most intriguing. I had never thought I would see the day that the so-called ‘Professor’s’ conjecture of ‘Death Magic’ would bear fruit. I had thought of it as merely an entertaining result of alchemic inversion. To think that indeed it was something that could appear naturally, and was once commanded by a historical disaster… curious indeed.”

  “Yeah, wow, you Citadel wizards really are a different breed from the rest of us.”

  “Forgive me for showing any interest in the inner workings and wonders in the world, unlike you dullards.”

  “Well fat load of good that curiosity does for you now, eh? Trapped in the same boat with the same injuries as me. Looks like we’re in this together, bud.”

  “Tch. To think I have to share the title of ‘wizard’ with a numbskull like you.”

  “Well at least this numbskull knows to protect their legs. Magi are as good as the distance they can put between themselves and their enemy, but it seems like you didn’t get the memo.”

  “And any mage worth their salt should know that their hands are their most important tool for channelling their mana, but I’m not the only one walking with their bones sticking out from their wrist.”

  “Yeah, cuz I had to sacrifice it to save a friend of mine.”

  “...”

  “Couldn’t even pull him out in the end.”

  “My condolences. Perhaps it would be better if we set our differences aside.”

  “Well, it’s not really up to us, is it? Just depends on how fast Professor Sibyl and his crew can narrow down the actual site of resurrection.”

  I pushed on.

  Similar such conversations echoed all around me, eventually building a clear picture of what was happening.

  It wasn’t just cultists that were attacking Arden anymore, and it wasn’t just Arden they were attacking anymore.

  Shortly after the declaration of the disaster, undead monstrosities of bone and rotting flesh started rising from the ground, terrorising the entire kingdom of Sangferrus, and if rumours were to be believed, even the outer edges of elven civilization.

  All the Royal Knights and Inquisitors of Sol were mobilised at once to stem the plague and keep the people safe. It grew to such a point that even the Citadel of Magi was forced to step down from their lofty acropolis and fight alongside everyone else directly.

  That explained why Setsuna had to leave, at least. Even if the internal corruption had been stopped, it was now beset upon by an external threat.

  Arden was where the most defensive effort was being concentrated.

  Aside from being the primary target of the enemy’s mysterious plans, it was the home of the battle’s intelligence front, with Professor Avernus Sibyl joining with both the Church and Citadel to map out every potential location for the Pale Dragon’s resting place.

  It was a race against time.

  The rising of the undead creatures across the kingdom was presumed to be a part of the resurrection ritual. Who knows what would happen if it was successfully completed.

  We had to find its location and stop it.

  If we couldn’t, then it meant staring down the face of a legendary creature banished from history itself.

  The ‘Pale Dragon’, I had come to learn its name was – an ancient relic of the past currently theorised to have been a major cause of the Lightless Century itself – a prophet of death, heralding the end of the world.

  A messenger ran by me, greeting a witch standing off to the side barking at and chastising her injured subordinates.

  “Madam Falavai! I bring a message from the eastern walls!”

  “Oh, wow, the inquisitors over there are asking me of all people for help, huh? Looks like the world really has gone to shit.”

  That explained where Luna was every day; she had been invited to work alongside Professor Sibyl to locate the dragon’s grave.

  I was just glad she wasn’t putting herself in any actual danger.

  At least she was still in Arden, where it was safe.

  It was really just the same thing as usual – she holed herself up in libraries and studied the day away.

  It wasn’t like she was going out there herself, scouting out the marked sites of interest and putting herself in harm’s way.

  That fact calmed my nerves down just a little bit.

  You’re jealous.

  I was, if I was being honest.

  Luna was still being helpful. She was doing everything she could to make the search faster, to make sure this disaster went on for as short and as bloodless as possible.

  Mother was spending every day at the war council, leading the effort to defend Arden, and when she wasn’t there, she ran straight to the spires, aiding the magi directly.

  Even the injured, those forced to retire from the frontline directly, still stayed behind and did whatever they could. Helping to smooth out the supply lines, acting as nurses, or cooks, or blacksmiths or factory workers or whatever was feasible.

  Everyone was doing everything they could to be helpful.

  Everyone except for me.

  An unfamiliar siren blared from outside, echoing across the entire city, making me flinch.

  For a moment, everyone went silent as they looked up.

  Then the murmuring started anew.

  All of the magi on standby scowled, bidding farewell to their injured compatriots before turning around and leaving in a hurry.

  “Ah, shit, that’s the air raid siren. Sorry, gotta go.”

  “Ugh, great, more of those chimeras and wyrms? Fuck.”

  “Put on a good firework show for me, yeah?”

  “Tch. Lady Symphonia better get those cannons up and running soon. I don’t know how many more of these aerial attacks we can take.”

  I blinked in confusion, following them outside.

  I watched as a tidal wave of magi ran through the streets, gathering on the city’s walls and towers.

  The peaks of Arden’s spires lit up as spells shot up into the clouds, sending great creatures made of bone tumbling towards the ground.

  Bolts of fire and lightning flew across the sky, striking down terrifying, flying visages of death.

  A storm of bony, winged creatures cloaked in black roared across the cloudy skies, clashing head on with a storm of spells.

  Energy generators flared and whirred as great beams of energy tore through the mass of monsters, parting the grey sky.

  I could even make out a few familiar signature spells.

  The clouds twisted and curled in on themselves, condensing into great tides of darkness that ruptured and quaked the sky itself, forming a great, almost cosmic storm.

  That was Selenia.

  A dozen glittering lights, exploding outwards into a facsimile of a starry sky.

  That was Mother.

  It was a maddening, blinding display of magical mastery.

  My hand started to shiver again.

  That thing started to boil and bubble in my gut again.

  I hated that feeling.

  I hung my head and gripped my wrist tightly, briskly walking through the city in a random direction.

  I was of no help to anyone in the cathedral.

  In my current state, I couldn’t heal anyone.

  The most I could do there was be a motivational figure to the staff and patients.

  A figurehead. An idol.

  A comforting lie to tell themselves as they hung onto the last threads of life.

  And I couldn’t be of help up there either.

  Even if I was at my full strength, I knew very little in terms of offensive spells, and especially not ones that functioned at ranges required of aerial artillery.

  I felt that old, familiar frenzy start to claw at me.

  I shook my head and picked up my pace.

  Remember your oath.

  I was always terrible at just watching.

  I was always terrible at just letting something happen in front of me.

  ‘At any cost’.

  Do you think you can pay the price?

  I needed to find something to do.

  Anything at all.

  Before it all turns to dust.

  Before yet again, you lose it all.

  This was originally just a 1200 word long recap before the rest of what was supposed to be this chapter, but it felt a bit off so I decided to scrap it and rewrite the whole thing.

  Technically at this point, the in-game Raid has begun, but it won’t start for the story proper until next chapter for dramatic reasons.