“Uki… Everyone… I hope that… I… can be remembered… as a hero…” Miki groaned out weakly.

As he spoke, Miki held his hand out towards Uki, who was sitting nearby with a somber expression on her face. His hand trembled slightly before it fell from the air, dangling limply off the side of the table he was laying on. Miki’s head fell back at the same time with a light thud, and slumped down to the side while some saliva dripped out of his gaping mouth.

Jess took her hand and clamped Miki’s mouth shut.

“Ow! You made me bite my tongue!” he shouted, immediately sitting back up.

“Quit joking around when I’m trying to bandage you! And that drool is disgusting!” Jess scolded him in response.

Jess pulled tightly on the bandages wrapping Miki’s chest, causing him to squeal in discomfort.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! At least let me breathe, Jess!” Miki complained.

“If it’s too easy to breathe, it’ll be too easy to talk. Make it as tight as you can, Jess,” Yotti said, cleaning his falchion.

“Why do I even need the bandages? Mei’s friend is gonna heal me with magic, right?” Miki asked as Jess finished up bandaging the wound on his chest.

“We don’t want you to bleed out before his bird gets back. And don’t forget that we just pissed off Inuvik Academy more than Silla ever has. Levin could get caught up in the situation over there and not be able to come back,” Takt said, his own small wounds already bandaged.

Despite the lighthearted mood from their complete victory, Uki’s expression didn’t match the smiles on the other Hunters. She sat with her chin in her hand, in deep thought with a hint of anxiety on her face.

“It’s about Inuvik, right?” Nano suddenly said, looking at Uki.

The others all jumped a little when Nano spoke. Uki looked over at him as the other Hunters grew quiet, and then she let out a sigh.

“I expected more of a response from them…” she said.

“They had to come all the way from the mountain, though. And Azaadi was already in the city, right? So we finished the fight before they could arrive,” Kana said.

“I bet they’re more worried about the traitor,” Yotti added. “Azaadi didn’t have to worry about the tower full of corpses we left behind.”

“No,” Uki said, furrowing her brow. “Azaadi took too long to reach you. I think he must have been waiting to see how the Academy would respond. They have more than enough forces to send out someone to help Azaadi and look for the traitor. So why didn’t they?”

“The Lightning Corp and Inuvik Academy are pretty far from friendly terms. They’re probably happy to let their enemies fight each other,” Takt said.

“They not forget the stuff,” Mei said.

“Right, Mei,” Uki said. “Inuvik Academy wouldn’t just let us keep all the supplies from Lethridge.”

Takt suddenly shot up to his feet. He put a hand to his chin, eyes wide, and the others looked at him expectantly. But Takt stayed silent, in thought.

“Well, it doesn’t matter now, right?” Miki said. “We’ve killed Azaadi and secured the materials, just like we planned. Even if Inuvik wanted to track us down now, we’re already safely back in our base, where–“

The earth shook. An explosion sounded out from above the cave that the Hunters were hiding in, raining dust and small pebbles down from the ceiling. It felt as if the whole mountain was trembling beneath the Hunters’ feet.

Immediately, those that were still seated leapt to their feet as everyone grabbed their weapons and began rushing towards the exit of the cave to see what was going on.

Mei’s bulky frame didn’t hamper her at all anymore in the tight tunnel as the rest of the Hunters struggled to keep up. However, just as the exit to the outdoors came into view, sunlight streaming through the crevice outside the cave, another boom rocked the mountain. This one felt much closer to them than before.

The ground beneath the Hunters shook violently, forcing everyone to a stop just to remain standing. At the same time, a wave of fire washed over the entrance to the cave, rushing by in a tremendous surge of energy.

Just as the Hunters began to regain their footing and advance forward again, a scene that dismayed all of them played out right before their eyes. The violent shaking caused a landslide to race down the mountainside, covering up the only entrance and exit to the Hunters’ base. They were trapped in this cave.

But not for long, if Mei had anything to say about it. She gritted her teeth, preparing to use her body to charge through the tumbling rocks and open up a path by force. But while Mei was sure she could get through herself, she wasn’t sure she could get the other Hunters through.

However, the course of action was quickly decided for Mei as another explosion detonated right outside of their cave. Worry and indecision quickly turned into panic, as the opening of the cave began to violently collapse!

The entire tunnel the Hunters were in caved in starting from the entrance and moving deeper. Everyone began frantically scrambling backwards, trying to avoid being crushed by the falling stone. Fortunately, the collapse stopped before it reached the innermost cavern, its depth in the mountain fortifying it against the outside disturbances.

However, as the booms continued to rattle them, shaking down more and more dust and pebbles into the cave each time, looks of despair began to appear on each of their faces, illuminated in the soft white light given off by the minerals embedded all around.

***

Cho soared through the air, a vial of ink in its beak. Levin was in a good mood as he stroked Kirima’s medallion in his hand, piloting the bird towards the Mage Hunters. He had managed to succeed at his first revenge. Andrew could rest in peace. Soon, so would Kirima.

And then the mountain erupted in fire.

Levin gasped, immediately scanning the surroundings with Cho's eyes. It wasn’t hard to find the culprits. Standing at the head of a column of a dozen battlemages, all dressed in flaming red robes, was Lord Eliya, early-stage Smoke rank. With Cho’s sensors he could overhear the mage’s words even from the sky, and he seemed to be unnoticed.

“That Azaadi is an utter fool! This is how to deal with pests!” Eliya laughed loudly before quieting for a second.

“Burning Cannon.”

Eliya held his arms out, a ball of flame springing to life between his hands. The ball quickly grew in size, engulfing his arms up to the elbows, before he pushed his hands up as though he were shooting a basketball. The giant ball of flame flew up from Eliya’s hands, arcing through the air before coming down in a massive explosion near the entrance of the Mage Hunters’ base.

“You must be disappointed, Captain Kodan. I know you wished to join Azaadi in rushing headlong into an obvious trap,” Eliya said with a smirk, standing together with the Captain at the head of the column.

“I’m just a battlemage, Lord Eliya. I can’t compare to the genius of Inuvik’s Lords Magi,” he said with a wry smile.

“Indeed. Leaving Azaadi to his fate means our Inuvik Academy will face no resistance on our rise to the top in Trurok again. And tracking them to their base instead of fighting in the forest means we can stop them from running away, and catch anyone who wasn’t a part of the ambush,” Eliya said boastfully before chanting and launching another Smoke rank fireball at the mountain in front of them. “Even Takt can’t stop a cave-in!”

“It’s a brilliant strategy, Lord Eliya,” Kodan responded. It sounded like the man was forcing the words out.

Eliya paused for a moment, enjoying watching the mountain steadily crumble before him.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“This is the most fun I’ve had in a while. I think I’ll keep going until I run out of Force, then you battlemages can go dig through the rubble to find their corpses. Hopefully some clues to where they’ve left our supplies, as well.”

“Burning Cannon.”

Seated back in Pilip’s lab, Levin wore a deep grimace on his face, but fortunately, no one else was there to see it. Master Pilip was probably off preparing for the final recipes.

“This was my failure! How did I not see Inuvik’s battlemages following us!? I was too hasty trying to get this healing ink, thinking it was all over! Even if I’ve gotten Lethridge’s ingredients, it’s not worth the death of Mei and the Hunters! Nothing would be worth their sacrifice! Isn't there anything I can do to help them!?” Levin thought frantically, as he bit his lip hard enough to draw blood.

But despite desperately wanting to help, Cho only had two acolyte-level runes engraved on it. Those wouldn't be effective against even the weakest battlemage down there, much less Eliya himself. Once again, there was nothing Levin could do. Kirima’s clan medallion hung around his neck like an anchor.

“Mei…! It’s all up to you now!”

***

As Levin stewed in his fear and anxiety, the Hunters were being boiled alive in it. The continued bombardment had created cracks that snaked ominously through the roof and walls around them. As more rubble and dust floated down, the light-giving stones became caked in a layer of dirt, dimming the Hunter’s tomb with each passing second.

Jess sat whimpering on the ground, holding her knees to her chest, and Kana stood over her with a hand on her shoulder. Miki still held his spear in hand, looking furiously around as though an exit or enemy might suddenly appear. Nano sat in a meditative position, eyes closed. Yotti huddled with Uki, clinging to her as the woman held him protectively like a mother. And Takt’s eyes were blank, staring up at the ceiling.

“It’s okay, everyone,” Uki said quietly. Somehow, just like the times Mei could understand Uki too well, the words she spoke seemed to have a visceral effect. It calmed everyone's nerves.

But it couldn’t wipe away the despair across every one of the faces Mei saw. The smiles and laughter from before were long gone as the Hunters waited in a silence punctuated by booms and ominous cracking noises.

The only one not either praying or accepting their death was Mei, who stood looking around in quiet resignation for a different reason.

“Even if this cavern implodes, it won’t kill me. All I have to do is take a real deep breath and then dig myself out. Getting tossed into the vacuum of space is much worse than being buried alive,” Mei thought to herself. She knew from experience there wasn’t enough stone above them for her to be worried for her own life.

“And once I’m out, I bet I can get away from the mages in the worst case. Even Azaadi wasn’t that fast, and he’s supposed to be one of the strongest in Trurok. And I bet bringing down this mountain is pretty tiring – I could probably kill whoever is doing this once I get out of here.

“If there’s multiple Inuvik Smoke ranks out there, then I may be in some trouble. But I’m a good runner, and my defense is tough. They won’t be expecting someone to climb out of the rubble, either, so I bet I can get a good head start on them, or a surprise attack. And the rough terrain around here should work to my advantage.

As Mei finished forming her battle-slash-getaway plan, the cavern roof finally began to give way. The cracks above Uki and Yotti suddenly expanded rapidly as another rumble echoed out, and then a cascade of rocks came pouring down above her head.

“Uki!” shouted Miki frantically, tackling her out of the way as Yotti jumped the other direction.

They came to the ground with a thud, and Miki quickly helped Uki to her feet as they ran to the other side where the cave was still holding steady. As he came to a stop, Miki began to violently cough, the blood seeping through his bandages just barely visible in the dim light as his deep chest wound reopened.

An instant later, half the cavern collapsed, leaving the Hunters huddling together in the cramped space. It was pure luck that some of them didn’t die from that. Even in the weakening light, Mei was close enough to the other Hunters to make out each detail on their faces, to see the fear and unwillingness on their faces, to see the imminent death of the people she had lived with the past month.

“I can survive the collapse, but they can’t…” Mei thought. Why did thinking that feel so much worse this time, though? It would hardly have been the first time her incredible body had let her survive accidents that left others dead all around. Normally it was explosions, though.

“I haven’t even been with them for more than a few months! I killed people on Pandorium that I’d known for years, and never felt anything!” she thought, her vision starting to swim.

Next, her eyes settled on Uki, and Mei suddenly heard this motherly figure’s words clearly inside her head.

“I consider all of the younger Hunters here my children. And Mei, that includes you,” was what Uki had said to Mei.

And it wasn’t just Uki. Only now did Mei truly realize it, but each of the Mage Hunters considered each other their family, a group of people who had lost family and friends to the mages all coming together to find comfort in each other. In that regard, each of them considered Mei to be exactly the same as them.

“They would never leave me, even if we’ve only known each other a short time. That’s just who these people are. They accept me just because it's in their nature.” Mei felt like she suddenly understood the way they looked at her.

And she realized her feelings were actually quite simple. She just didn’t want to see them die.

She wouldn’t let them die.

A sharp, burning pain pierced all through Mei’s body, rushing through her and filling her up like a dam breaking in front of a drained river. This was no mental agony – her body spasmed beyond her control, and she dropped to one knee, placing a hand on the ground as her head spun with dizziness.

Despite everything, the others looked at her with worry. They were about to die, and still they worried for her. It was simply their nature.

Mei scolded herself. How could she have even considered accepting their deaths!?

Everything clicked. Mei found something, beyond the thrill of the hunt, beyond the exhilaration of battle. It was the desire to protect. It had always been there, she realized, influencing her decision to pursue criminals as a bounty hunter.

She wanted to fight to protect this new life she had been given. No longer did she have to let the traumatic shackles of Pandorium hold her down. Only now did she truly recognize them for what they were.

And, oh, the power. It filled Mei, expanding into every cell of her body. She felt awakened, alive to a degree she never had before.

She rose to her feet, her hand balled in a fist, throwing it in defiance to the ceiling. The power followed, flowing along with her movement, a simple punch she had repeated tens of thousands of times. Perhaps it was even her body following along the flow of the energy, the move felt so instinctual.

Above them, the ceiling was about to collapse. The rock sagged, bowing down like a balloon about to burst. Or like a dam holding back a flood.

And then the dam above them broke – in the wrong direction. An unbelievable surge of Force flowed out of Mei, charging upwards like a million rampaging bulls. The Hunters around her struggled to remain standing merely from being in the proximity of the weapon art, so what chance did the rock stand?

None. The mountain erupted, its top blowing open like a volcano.

The collapsing cave exploded outward in a spray of rock that stretched high into the sky, carried up and out on the wave of Mei’s supreme power. Bright sunlight poured into the eyes of the trapped Hunters along with a rush of fresh air as the sky, oh the glorious sky, appeared before them.

“Overdrive."

Takt was the first to regain his senses, immediately activating his own weapon art, scooping up Miki and Uki in one arm each, and carrying them out of the hole in a burst of speed. The rest of the Hunters snapped back to attention as he did, coming to the same realization that Takt had a moment later.

The falling rocks still posed a threat, and the cavern was now at the bottom of a deep and skinny hole. It would only take one boulder coming down in an unlucky spot to squish them. Trained by years of running up the steep mountainside while trying to keep up with Takt, the uninjured Hunters immediately began to agilely leap up the walls of the hole to reach higher ground where they would at least have the space to dodge the falling debris.

Mei recovered slowest of all, looking down at her hands in stunned disbelief. But as she looked back up at the companions she had just saved, the most intense feeling of joy she had ever felt welled up inside her, and she began laughing uproariously.

She jumped up with all her strength, soaring high out of the cave and into the air above. She felt free, breathing in the fresh mountain air whipping by her face, and staring out at the landscape that unfolded below her.

Mei’s laughter only grew in intensity as the other Hunters clambered out of the hole, rocks raining with devastating thuds all around them. Mei hurtled back down to earth with them, landing and immediately locking eyes with the red-robed individual far below.

“Takt! Help others! I fight,” Mei said, her laughter dying out.

Then she was off, before Takt could voice his objections. She felt tired, wrung out like never before. But the feeling was purely physical. Mei had never felt this good.

Down below, Eliya had an ugly expression on his face as he watched the gigantic warrior descend in his direction, a vicious smile on her face. He obviously hadn’t expected this.

As Mei raced down, another joined her. A large metal bird touched down on her back, one talon on each of Mei’s shoulders. Mei nodded in satisfaction. Levin had finally started abandoning his wimpiness recently, though he wouldn’t tell her why.

“Mei, that’s one of the Smoke ranks of Inuvik Academy, and a battalion of their battlemages. Even for you, that’s a difficult opponent. We should retreat with the others.”

“Or not,” Mei thought to herself, but she did slow. He did have a point.

But in the end, the decision was made for her. Eliya shouted to the battlemages behind him, waving his arms, and they began to quickly fall back. As they did, Mei came to a stop. It was over.