In the dark winter forest, a bright red pillar of fire shot up into the sky. The trees burned black, emitting a bitter scent from all directions, while the remaining embers fluttered around with a crackling sound.

Kkieeek—

The ferocious beast, transformed into ash heaps by the flames ignited by Ignis, made an eerie noise. After confirming that there were no remaining beasts or assassins, he clutched his right side. Blood trickled from the torn area where the beast’s venomous claws had pierced.

“…D*mn it.”

His body, which seemed like a single needle wouldn’t pierce it, collapsed in an instant before a groan escaped from his lips. It was an attack by a large group of beasts and assassins as if they had joined forces.

Ignis glared coldly at the fog that concealed the moon.

‘A black mist that weakens the magic of transcendents.’

He blamed himself foolishly for falling into the trap laid by the Empress. A small number of knights, including the vice-captain Damion, were in critical condition due to the venom of the beasts. Unlike him, a transcendent, how long could ordinary knights withstand?

Ignis’s vision also began to blur, so he leaned his back against the tree with difficulty.

His breath billowed white in the bitterly cold north wind.

The beast’s venom swiftly coursed through his veins, and the only thing he could do was grit his teeth to endure the excruciating pain. Soon, his senses and sight faded away to the point where he couldn’t even utter a sound.

Wouldn’t it be better if he died and all this pain would end?

Ignis closed his eyes in despair.

「 Brother! 」

He thought of his younger sister, Stella, who was smiling like a freshly bloomed wildflower.

Fearing that if he died, Stella would also lose her life at the hands of the Empress, he chewed on the tender flesh inside his mouth. Even though the taste of bitter blood lingered, his body still refused to obey.

It was a moment when he vomited blood and promised himself that he had to live, that he had to survive somehow—

Rustling.

—Ignis weakly lifted his gaze at the slight movement.

The figure, concealed in a robe, was reflected in his crimson eyes. It seemed the assassins had come to confirm his death. It was at that time that he gathered his last bits of power, thinking that if he were to die here, he would make them his companions on the road to hell, that he realized something.

‘…A woman?’

The woman’s black hair, whose face was covered by the hood of her robe, swayed with each step.

The sight of her trembling at the sight of the dead beasts reminded him of a frightened, small animal. The next moment, she sighed heavily as she looked at the fallen men. She soon lowered a white object onto the knights’ bodies, and a warm white light permeated through them.

Ignis, realizing that the white light was divine power, stopped breathing.

‘Is she saving us? Why on earth… Who is that woman?’

A moment later, the woman who had approached him was wearing a mask.

Even with his blurred vision, Ignis couldn’t take his eyes off her. A familiar and nostalgic scent wafted from her—the scent of freesias, which only his mother had ever worn. In the empire, especially among nobles, the use of freesia fragrance was extremely rare. It was an unwritten rule in high society that nobody used it because Empress Christina despised the scent so much.

As if to confirm if he could see, the woman waved her hand in front of his face. Ignis swallowed a hollow laugh inwardly at her unreserved behavior.

‘It doesn’t seem that she’s a noble.’

The woman murmured in a small voice.

“…heroine… hold on…”

Due to the beast’s venom blocking his hearing, her voice sounded choppy and disjointed.

‘Heroine?’

 
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