“I-Uhm-”

Should I tell him who I am? Would that even hel—

“Your hesitation begets my suspicion. Die.”

“Woah!”

And a blast of concentrated mana struck my barrier, sending the ball I was in flying as it took on the full force of that attack. I was safe, but I still had to deal with all the rolling, like I was being tossed around inside of a hamster ball. Thank goodness I managed to protect my head, otherwise this would have hurt.

[“Asaka!”] The onnikais’ voice entered my head.

“Urgh… yeah, I’m alright,” I groaned, holding my head as I struggled to stand up.

My vision was slightly blurred, shaking even. The [Light] I had floating in front of me illuminated the area, but I had absolutely no idea where I was. Well, outside of knowing I was still inside this onnikai forest.

“Fascinating.” A cold, monotonous voice appeared again, drawing my attention in the direction of a figure slowly walking into the light. “Something was able to endure my miniature mana cannon. Intriguing. I must see how much longer you survive this.”

And his arm opened up again, revealing the blue glowing metal barrel from before. A chill ran down my spine as it grew brighter, but I couldn’t do anything but take the hit again. And another. And another!

“Arghhk!”

My body felt bruised. The barrier might still be standing, but my Health still suffered from being thrown around by the projectile’s force. I tried to cast [Moderate Heal] on myself to get rid of the pain and injuries, but my [Danger Perception] warned me only seconds before my spell was undone.

“Uwarrrk!”

What the hell is happening?! Argh, this fucking hurts!

I have to move.

The moment my barrier landed safely on the floor, I grit my teeth through this god-awful headache and had my onnikai bring down the barrier. Forcing my tired body forward, I dispelled [Light] and ran in the opposite direction of where that man was, hoping he wouldn’t find me.

But, only moments later, my onnikais jumped in front of me, projectile their barrier in front like a shield and covering me from an incoming blast of mana.

“Unique. A faemancer?” That same abominable voice entered my ears again. I wanted to puke. “Then, your survival is even less desired. We cannot afford to let any of this information escape this area.”

“Stop!” I pleaded in desperation. “I have no intentions of doing anything with all of this! Please, believe me!”

It was a lie. I hated lying. It reminded me of my parents. However, this was the sort of information I couldn’t just keep to myself if I were to get out of here, but telling him the truth here was the worst.

“Impossible.” However, in that same — almost robotic — voice from before, he rejected peace. He saw through my lie and chose violence. “Your existence will prove to be nothing but an obstacle for our future. You must be erased to ensure our safety. May you rest in peace.”

Shit! Psycho!

[“Asaka, we’re draining through our mana! We need your help.”]

This couldn’t have come at a worse time. As I was distracted by the words of my onnikai, another blast crashed against the barrier, causing dust and dirt to fly around me. Sure, having the mana barrier in the form of a shield prevented the force of the projectile from pushing me away with it, but my ears rang so much more from the loud noise, compared to when I was still inside the ball version.

Another advantage of the ball was also an omnidirectional protection, meaning it was impossible to hurt me if they were to flank me. Now? I was vulnerable from the sides. And this was exactly what this man took advantage of.

Shit!

My onnikais moved just in time to block another hit, but I was beginning to see the cracks in the barrier. The onnikais weren’t kidding when they mentioned they were using up their mana. At the end of the day, they might have been A rank fenrirs in their lifetime, but now they were only dead spirits with a little more mana than the average onnikai.

And I was learning that the hard way.

“What?! My mana!” I looked in horror at my dropping Mana pool, seeing the number drop down to half just to repair the barrier up again. “How much are you using to keep this barri— Woah!”

And the crack reappeared. Half of my mana, gone. For a single use of the barrier to stay up. I could feel sweat drenching my face as I stared in despair at what was happening.

I’m gonna die!

[Fear (Moderate)] inflicted on [Human, Asaka Hanazawa]

“Shit!”

I couldn’t control my body anymore. Fight or flight. Every single cell chose the latter without a single hesitation. The endless parade of thoughts about my death was killing my brain, clouding it to the point I was auto-piloting through the forest.

[“Asaka!”] The onnikais shouted as they darted in front of me, blocking an explosion a few feets in front of me.

I was knocked onto my butt from the wind pressure, as the shield materialized too hastily to block everything. Before I could make do with what was around me, the onnikais moved again, blocking something from hitting me. However, this time, it wasn’t a blast, it was a sword.

“You are tiring to kill, woman.” The foxian’s eyes and mine met each other, making me want to puke at how lifeless and uncaring he looked at me. His aloofness was nauseating. “Once I’m done, please wait for O—”

I could tell he was saying something, but my ears didn’t register any of his words. My attention was fully focused on the widening crack of my barrier. It was about to break, and that meant my last defense was about to go. Without the others around, all I had left was my spells and this dumb mace from the church.

[“Asaka, RUN!”] The onnikais ordered me and my body stood up as if I was possessed. My legs didn’t stop…

… which left me unaware of the foxian’s next move.

“Got you.” And at that moment, he was flying right above me, casting no shadow as the light of the moon barely got through this thick forest.

I stepped my heels onto the ground as he landed right in front of me, trying to stop my acceleration but I wasn’t in time. Nor did I have the room nor space to dodge his sword strike

Death flashed right before my eyes.

“No! Ugok!”

Blood splattered right onto my face, covering my nose in that pungent iron smell. But there was something else among the stench, something foul like rotting meat.

As I came back to reality, I saw two things suddenly drop onto the ground. Guts spilled, flesh sundered, and red liquid drenching the grass and ground. A black robe covered the wound, the bisection of a torso, but I still found it gut-wrenching from how the man who just saved my life was still wriggling around on the ground.

“Emil!” I shouted, realizing who it was.

“Get out of here! I’m fine!” he stated as a black magic circle appeared from his arm, only for hands to sprout out from the ground in the next seconds. “Get out here!”

“So you were the one to hide the corpses of our recent intruders. Resourceful, necromancer.” As the zombies attacked the man, he used his sword to ward them off easily, but from the horde of bodies Emil summoned, it should still buy enough time for me to escape.

Still…

Why isn’t he using that cannon of his? That arm thing.

“Hey!” Emil drew my attention. “Run away, already! You cannot die!”

“W-What, how can you still speak?! Here, let me—” I was about to instinctively heal his wounds, despite knowing it would be impossible to do with [Moderate Heal].

“I’m an onnikai!” He stopped me. “This body is one of many. I can repair it, but you? You cannot die! You were chosen by Goddess Death for an objective! You cannot die! Escape from here!”

“What?! That’s impossible! That person can outrun me and all of that! I cannot do anything!”

Moments of that man shooting his cannon and almost slashing me with his sword flashed before me. I could feel my hands drenched and my heart dropping from the fear I felt from him.

“You were chosen by Goddess Ilsaphone! I do not care if you are a priestess of the Light Goddess or not, but you were chosen! You received her boon in the form of that amulet. You are a onnikai faemancer and elementalist now! Use us! Use our powers with your mana! Cast dark magic and escape from here!”

My eyes widened and it felt like time slowed down. I took out the amulet, realizing I had it the whole time. I wasn’t wearing the amulet of Aurena, the one I received from the Holy Capital which marked me as a priestess and follower of their church. Neither was I wearing the robes of a saint candidate; instead, this black robe I wore was made from Segawa’s mana threads.

Was it truly fine for me to use dark magic when I was supposed to be a holy priestess?

Emil suddenly went silent, dropping onto the floor as a black cloud seeped out from him. [“Use me, Asaka. Channel your mana into me, and I will transform its element into dark. Use that to cast whatever spell you wish.”]

“… Don’t you hate humans?”

Emil was an onnikai from the time of the War for the Faefolk. He was one of the spirits who died in pain from having his mana drained for a battery. The whirling emotions he had at his time of death brought him back to life in the form of a vengeful onnikai. He didn’t specify who killed him, but from what I could guess, it had to be a human or beastman.

[“This is not the time for that! Dodge!”] I did what he said as my [Danger Perception] agreed with him, avoiding a zombie’s decapitated head.

That foxian man wouldn’t be occupied for too long anymore.

[“Asaka. Use us. We can handle the chants and magic circle construction,”] my onnikais offered to me, but I still felt apprehensive of this idea.

The one who didn’t want others to rely on her, but who was always reliant on others. I felt lost when my brother died. Lonely. And now I was relying on people like Yorshka, Hestia, my onnikais, and…

Elrick… Grk! That baaaaastard!

I clutched the [Amulet of Blessed Spirits] and reached my hand for one of my fenrir onnikai and began pouring my mana into him with [Mana Control]. I could feel my body losing it, only for it to return back into my body, however, something was off about it.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

[Saint Candidate] has rejected the usage of this type of magic. Reason: Dark elemental mana

It felt like my body was treating the dark mana like a virus. Rejecting it. And I learned this truth after a system message appeared before me. My own title was the culprit behind this nausea I was feeling? This wasn’t an allergy, this was my ticket out of here!

Go away! This is my body! You will not do as you wish!

[Individual [Human, Asaka Hanazawa] is attempting to overrule the effects of [Saint Candidate]. Denied

What?!

… [Saint Candidate] control has been usurped by individual [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]. Sending title owner’s request to the usurper… Request accepted. [Saint Candidate]’s effects were overruled by individual [Human, Asaka Hanazawa]

Hestia-san!

The swirling mana inside my body began to subside, no, in fact, it felt almost normal at this point. As if it was part of my body, erasing all the problems I had of it before.

Who would have thought Hestia usurping control over my title was this beneficial?! I thought she was trying to do something, but if it was for this, then who was I to complain?! That girl was a goddess in my time of need!

[“Asaka, what spell? We can conjure it now, so give us the command!”]

There was only one I could use at that moment.

“Light! Shadow Dash!” I snapped my head around as I conjured a new [Light] to illuminate the darkness, increasing the visibility of the area.

I identified an area as far away as I could. In the next moment, words streamed into my head and a black magic circle appeared where I was looking at. I remembered all of this. This was when I still didn’t have [Chant Revocation Lv. 10]. I had to read this chant while the system created the magic circle.

Now, I had to do it again, only this time, it was with my onnikais’ help.

“God of Shadows, consume me in your embrace as I travel under the cloak of the night. Allow me passage through your world! Shadow Dash!”

I grabbed Emil and my four onnikais and slipped into the shadows whilst watching the foxian fight through the hordes of zombies. In the next moment, the world around me turned completely black. There was no light here, as if it was actively rejecting everything.

My onnikais then tugged on my shoulders as I felt overwhelmed at where I was, understanding a bit what Segawa and Kazumi had to go through with their dark magic practice. They drew my eyes to a single light source in this whole place. I could draw myself towards it, so I began swimming.

Once I was there, I looked out of it, only to see the shine of the moon right above me. All I could of it was how beautiful it was. The sun didn’t allow me to watch it, denying me and shoving me away to do something else. But the moon… I could watch it without getting hurt.

This wasn’t time to frolick. I need to get out!

I pushed myself out of the hole, nodding at how the spell worked perfectly. This gave me the confidence to cast my next spell.

“Appendages of the dusk, reveal yourself. Horrors of the night, do my bidding! Dark Tendrils!”

Acquisition requirement fulfilled. [Dark Magic Lv. 1] gained

Spell gained: [Dark Bolt]

I didn’t have Segawa’s [Shadow Armament], meaning I couldn’t bounce around like a flying squirrel with a grappling hook attached to myself, but what I could do was emulate her mana threads. Creating a spider web was all I needed before I ran away as fast as I could.

All I could hear for a while was the sound of my breathing and my feet stomping the grass, but after a while, I suddenly heard a loud “Urk!” It seemed that foxian was actually caught in my trap. That should delay him for a bit for me to use [Shadow Dash] two more times.

I killed my [Light] after I exited the third shadow. [Shadow Dash] might mention shadows in its name, but even complete darkness was acceptable for using the spell. I could use the spell again without any light, but that affected my line-of-sight. That was the real weakness of this skill, as I needed to see my destination. My onnikais knew their spells well enough.

In any case, I had to concentrate on getting out of here. That foxian couldn’t track me that easily, so I had to find the entrance with Emil leading the way. While I ran, I noticed multiple onnikais and undead looking at me.

Emil shouted, “The monster is chasing us! Protect the chosen one of Goddess Death!” at them. They were initially quite confused about it, but that changed quickly when that foxian appeared out of nowhere, shooting his mana cannon at me only for my onnikais to block it with a barrier.

Unlike before, though, the barrier cracked. My onnikais were at their limits with their mana. Anymore, and they would die.

Shit! How did he get here so fast?!

He was once again using his mana cannon and it really showed the difference between that and his sword.

“Hey, hey, a large spell! We need a large spell!”

[“Dark magic spells aren’t designed to be offensively used. They are made for those creative enough to use them properly,”] the onnikais stated, making me wonder who the hell Marsven was for developing these shitty spells. [“[Tenebrous Magic] is what you are looking for, but even with [Dark Magic Efficiency Lv. 5] on your amulet, you yourself don’t have the mana anymore for advanced spells, Asaka!”]

“Shit!” I cursed before pulling out my amulet of Aurena and shooting a spell at my enemy. “Sacred Smite!”

This spell too was from an advanced magic skill, but at least I had a lot of skills to reduce mana for that element. Also, at this point, I’ve been casting holy spells in front of this man twice now. He probably already knew I was a holy mage, but he still didn’t stop his attack. Nothing to hide anymore but my name and appearance.

The man easily avoided my attack and readied his cannon again, causing me to flinch back. As I tried to [Shadow Dash] away, I stopped when I heard an ear-piercing cry around me.

“Gruuooooooooeeeeeek!” The onnikais, both the clouds and those possessing bodies, charged at the man with feral war cries. Far more viciously than the undead from before.

The man jumped back and shot a cannon at the incoming onnikai, blasting a few of the bodies into a bloody mist. However, none of them were scared. None of them stopped their cries. They raged on like berserkers hungry for the deaths of their foes.

[“This is the true nature of us onnikais, Asaka. You were lucky Goddess Death chose you. Our wrath would have been indiscriminate towards humans and beastmen, regardless of their gender or age. The pain we suffered cannot be appease outside of the deaths of our offenders.”]

I gulped. Was this what Hestia, Tasianna, and Segawa experienced when they met the onnikais inside that ruin? Endless waves of zombies, uncaring of the danger and threat? Frightening.

However…

“Are you su—”

[“Don’t try to stop us, Asaka. This is our lives and we cannot die outside of them using us as batteries again. However, I won’t let any of them die. As long as I am the dungeon master, I will stop any of my companions from dying before we regain our freedom, enact revenge on those who killed us, and fulfill Goddess Death’s wish. Now g—”]

“You will go nowhere!” The foxian shouted as he sliced through three zombies before something exploded underneath him, slinging him up in the air as he prepared a cannon blast at me.

I couldn’t avoid nor block this one. Was this checkmate?

“Gruooagh!”

“Stop it!”

No. For five bodies jumped right in front of me, saving me from a direct hit, but the blast still flung me into a tree.

[Bleeding (Moderate)] [Broken Bone (Left Arm)] inflicted on [Human, Asaka Hanazawa]

“KyyyyaaaaERRRRRKK!” I howled in agony.

My left arm was broken. Twisted and bent to the point it showed my bone. My left side received the brunt of the damage, with my robe in tatters and red with my blood. I managed to survive, but I did not come out of that without substantial damage.

“Grk!” I wanted to pull out a Health and Mana potion from my storage, but the pain was almost paralyzing. I had to buy out [Pain Resistance.]

Thank you Haru-chan! Thank you for telling me to keep some for emergencies!

The pain dulled immensely. It still hurt like a bitch, but I was able to regain control of my body and pull out the necessary potions to heal myself. Sadly, my arm didn’t heal completely. It needed proper treatment before a healing potion or spell could fix it.

[“Miss!”] I heard a familiar voice.

“Imila?”

[“Miss, you need to stand up! Run!”]

“W-What!?” I looked around, noticing the bits and parts of the bodies which saved me. From four of the five, onnikai clouds escaped. “D-Did you save me? But, why? I thought you didn’t like me?!”

[“Emil commanded me, too! I won’t say no to a favor from my big brother!”]

Big brother? Are they— No, can’t be. Emil said he didn’t belong to this group of onnikai.

However, while I was occupied with that, Imila continued pleading for me to go. [“Escape! Don’t come back! I don’t care what Goddess Ilsaphone told you to do! Just leave! We don’t need more pain in this place! You will just die! Forget what Emil said and run away and don’t look back! We can handle ourselves!”]

The voice of a small girl, somebody that should have been protected, was telling me to leave them to their faiths. Was it care or her disinterest in me? I didn’t know, but her words still hurt me.

Still, I was thankful.

“… I’ll come back!” I announced as I forced myself back up, before questioning what I just spat out. Only to remember how often I had to rely on people instead of trying to have others rely on me. I felt like a loser.

[“Idiot Miss! Don’t come back! We don’t need you! We will escape soon enough! Emil knows how to do it!”]

“Yes, and I will help you when that time comes! Urgh!” Saying all of that while my arm was completely useless. What was compelling me to act like this.

[“We don’t need a human help—”]

“Shut up, kid! Let me help you! I don’t like putting expectations on myself, but I hate it even more when I can’t get rid of this guilt! You guys have suffered enough from all of this, so let me help! I have enough allies that can and will help you! We aren’t just humans, but also other races! So, shut up, kid, stop being stubborn, and let this Miss here help you out!”

[“?!”]

However, for some reason, I felt the need to help. I wanted to help. I wanted to be useful. It was the same feeling I had whenever I saw somebody hurt in front of me. I had these healing spells on hand, and I knew if my spells would or wouldn’t heal them in time. I would go around healing people in need even without payment, ‘cause I felt I had to.

I hated this feeling so much. I hated becoming responsible for everything since it would most likely fail. Even now, I was questioning what I said. Why was I willing to help them this much?

[“… You better.”]

But when I heard her say those two words, something caused my heart to beat faster. In a good way. Something in my chest felt happy. Was it pride? Confidence?

“Yeah!” And that energy escaped through the tone of my voice. I just doomed myself… but it felt so correct to do.

“Not on my watch!” In the time where I had this discussion with Imila, the other onnikais distracted the foxian, but now, he was free. He had his cannon aimed at me, glowing at me with its merciless light. “Die.”

Shit, Light!

Pshewww!

Was this my death? Was the third time the charm as they say? I managed to survive that cannon gun so often now, so I was anticipating my luck to finally run dry. As such, I had no wish to die. I made a promise to this onnikai girl, and I will fulfill it!

A white magic circle appeared from my hand and a bright light shone as the cannon shot out. How would this save me, you ask? Well, I had to inform my allies where I was, right?

Not only my arm, but my party bracelet was broken. However, there was one thing I saw before it stopped working completely.

Name: Yorshka Nordor Distance: 800m

Boom!

A dust cloud exploded before me. I wasn’t harmed, thankfully.

“Good thinking with the light, girl.” I heard a familiar voice praise me. “Sorry for taking so long.”

“Thanks for the save, again… My hero.”

Cloaked and with her iconic white spear, the White-Winged Dragoon appeared before me at the last moment. My party bracelet had broken, turning the search function off. The [Light] was there to signal to my savior where I was and I was hoping she was fast enough to reach me before I blew up.

Yorshka then turned around and cast [Wind Blast] at the confused foxian before he could understand what was going on. He was blasted away, along with a few zombies. Yorshka then dashed towards me and held me up in a princess carry.

“Wait!” I called out, reaching my hand towards Imila and Emil. However, they didn’t budge.

[“We will see you again, Chosen of Goddess Death,”] Emil announced. [“We will wait here. We will hold our ground…”]

[“And when the time comes, save us!”] Imila ended his sentence.

I nodded and placed my tired onnikais back into their catalyst. Yorshka then sprinted through the forest at a speed too fast for me to comprehend. In the next second, multiple explosions were triggered at a far point of the forest. What caused it?

[“Sorry, I met some interesting people while getting the others and also had an angry aunt tell me to hurry up to rescue you,”] Yorshka told me through [Telepathy].

Hold on, Hestia?

I guessed the system message helped me get their attention in time. Still, why didn’t they save me sooner? I could have died three times already.

The explosions acted like a marker for where we had to go. Our path out of here as they occurred on the edge. After we escaped through it, Yorshka threw down her [Room] runes and told me to enter it. The other three — Tatsuya, Kyouya, and Ellaine — were already back home, and Yorshka would be taking the long way back to Gleisvale.

I accepted it and entered the subspace, where I was greeted by the other three. Ellaine ran up to me and gave me a hug before I groaned at the pain from my still broken arm. She noticed this, and let me go and helped me adjust it in time.

Looking at the three, it seems that they also faced some sorta trial. They were sweaty and covered in dirt. Not as bad as I was, but whatever we experienced today sure was a tribulation.

Ellaine sighed and then led me towards Hestia, saying she was ready to heal me. Yup, Hestia actually received that System message. No more questions.

We entered our small infirmary, a new room still in need of furnishing Hestia wanted to make in case of emergencies. When I entered it, I expected Hestia to have a bed ready for me, and it came true! The only problem was that I didn’t expect to have a neighbor sleeping next to it.

“Segawa-san?!” I blurted out as I saw Segawa on the bed, unconscious.

Hestia sighed and turned around. “O’Bloom and the Resurrection,” she stated with gloomy eyes, looking like she was on the fence at something.

“A fight happened in the warehouse Ilsaphone told you about, Asaka.” I was surprised to hear Hestia knew about the Goddess of Death, but I didn’t interrupt her. “The Resurrection and Senator O’Bloom’s gang fought inside that place, a slave auction. They burned it down and Saori tried to rescue the slaves inside.”

Hestia then turned back towards Segawa with a sad frown. “Dammit, Saori! … Thankfully, she only fell unconscious from the carbon dioxide.”

It seemed like everybody had a reason for why they couldn’t help us today. This night was too filled with conflict.