[ Leo's POV ]

"Princess Cecilia, how is the search going?" I asked telepathically as I fiddled with the unsheathed artifact, frowning. "Have you made any progress so far or...? The sky above is slowly turning more and more fiery orange so I'm starting to worry..."

I heard a tired sigh from her side before she responded back. "Despite Ignifera currently being in disarray due to the demon attacks, my soldiers and I managed to find and destroy some spell anchors. However, at the rate we're going, I don't think we'll make it in time to completely halt the nuke," she answered, causing me to tightly clench my weapon in frustration. "With the anchors possibly being scattered far and wide in this kingdom, on top of needing to protect the people and exterminate the monsters, it's just not realistically possible. Sorry, but the best we can do at this point is significantly weaken it."

"...so that means we'll have to stick with Plan B then..." I muttered to myself, then anxiously glanced at the horde of supplies nearby, worried that it might not be enough. "I'll be honest, I was kinda hoping we wouldn't have to resort to that but in the end, I guess that was just wishful thinking on my part, huh? Guess I'll have to prepare myself and get ready to intercept the nuke..."

"Sorry for not being able to do much," Cecilia apologized, catching me by surprise. "I feel bad leaving this to an esteemed guest of ours to deal with our problems but I'm not so radiant like my older sister when it comes to protecting and fighting. I try to do what I can but..."

I couldn't help but frown as I looked down at the ground, immediately understanding what she was getting at. "It's fine, it's fine! You weakening the attack to some extent is pretty helpful as is, you know! Every little thing counts!" I hurriedly exclaimed. "And besides, you don't need to feel bad about having to rely on us! Stella, Vin, and I came here with the intention of helping out, after all!"

The girl let out a small laugh at that. "...to think that you three would be this kind. It makes me wish that I was capable of doing so much more..." she admitted with a remorseful sigh, but her tone of voice soon changed to determined and resolute. "...no, scratch that. I shouldn't leave it as just a wish. If outsiders are willingly fighting for Ignifera despite knowing so little about us, then I, as one of the royal princesses, should pull it together and do what I can. I'm a pacifist by nature so I'd rather not fight but...I can't stand by and let my home get destroyed either."

Upon hearing her say that last sentence, I immediately felt my heart ache, suddenly reminded of my past. "...sounds like you made up your mind," I remarked, trying my best to not sound depressed. "Just don't die on us, alright? You can't protect anything if you're dead, after all..."

"Don't worry, I have no intentions of dying," she replied. "Besides, most of my guards will probably be too overprotective of me so at most, I'll probably be fighting from a distance with some fire magecraft and a handgun that can be used by beginners like me."

Before I could make a witty response to that, I heard some shouting coming from her side of the communication spell. "Guess that's my cue to stop our conversation. My group and I need to get moving since we've done all we could in this sector," the princess said, then paused a bit before continuing. "...and...please make sure you three come out of this alive. Despite knowing so little about this kingdom and its people, you three are putting your lives on the line to protect us. If such kind people like you were to die while fighting for our sake, I..."

Her voice broke, finding herself unable to finish that sentence. After apologizing profusely while holding back the tears threatening to spill, she turns off the magecraft.

All I could do was stare down at the ground, the facade now gone. Right, we're just outsiders that have no connection to Ignifera. I thought to myself with a sad smile. Must be strange why we're so keen on protecting this kingdom, huh? I don't know about the others but for me... I paused, my mind quickly thinking back to that painful massacre. That scenery of seeing my hometown in ruins, the corpses of everyone I knew scattered about so...indifferently. I refuse to let something like that happen again. Not only that, I...need to atone for my failure...

As I got up from where I was sitting and made sure the magic circles that Vin helped set up were ready to go, I couldn't help but suddenly doubt myself. ...I say that but can a failure like me really protect them? What happens if I die like before, unable to protect or achieve a single thing in the end? No matter how hard I try, I...

I swiftly shook my head, desperately trying to pull myself away from falling into this all-too-familiar despair. Damn it, get a grip, Leo! This isn't the time to be doubting myself! I'll only know if I'm capable of doing this until I try! Besides, things are different this time! There's strong people like Rex, Stella, and Vin here, after all! If I'm struggling that badly, they'll probably pitch in and help out! ...if their circumstances will permit it but still!

With a nod, I forced myself to continue checking up on the preparations we've made, not daring to think any further. After all, if left alone with my thoughts, I knew that I'd be stuck in a stalemate, perpetually trapped in trying to get past this suffocating feeling of inadequacy and guilt. I would be paralyzed by it, finding myself unable to do anything at all.

When I noticed everything was ready to go, I then walked towards the door leading outside. Though, as I got closer and closer to the exit, I couldn't deny that I was scared and worried. Even when I stopped right in front of it and put my hand on the doorknob, those feelings refused to go away.

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Yet, even so, I still have to go forward and do what I have to do. I thought to myself, frowning. I don't know why all of them decided to trust me with this job but...I can't disappoint them. Guilt-driven as I may be, at the very least, I can't let their trust in me go to waste. ...even if I think I have no right to be receiving their trust for things like this but still...

With a sigh, I opened the door and stepped out into the outdoors with my weapon at hand. I warily checked out my surroundings, ready to fight back in case a demon suddenly appears out of nowhere and tries to ambush me, but to my surprise, nothing happened. In fact, for a kingdom that was currently under attack by monsters, it was too quiet.

Were all of the monsters in this area killed without me realizing it? I didn't really hear any sounds of fighting while I was in the store so... Before I could think about it any further though, I paused, as if realizing something. ...unless they're all in that headquarters that Stella went to earlier ago. After all, before I disconnected myself from the communication spell, they stumbled upon someone incredibly strong there.

I casted a detection spell that Vin taught me to make sure and as expected, all of the readings seemed to be in the direction of where everyone else was. Though, there was one that seemed so overwhelmingly strong that it almost drowned out everything else but I thankfully noticed the others, albeit barely.

...let's assume I'm safe for now but the instant I attempt to counter the nuke, something might come and attack in an attempt to stop me. I thought as I tried to find a good spot to deal with the fiery spell and any possible interferences. That said, I wasn't really taught any protection magecraft due to the short time constraint so I'll have to rely on my Artifact for that. Then again, I'm not really hiding it right now so there's no harm in doing so, huh?

With that in mind, I channeled magical energy to the Artifact and used it to get on top of one of the buildings. After landing on a roof of a nearby house, I once more examined my surroundings and jumped off to other ones when I saw that spot wouldn't work so well. I eventually stopped at the store that I was in earlier ago. Guess in the end, I'm back here. Probably for the best anyways since all the supplies I need are in here...

I swung my weapon and cast some magecraft to protect myself and the building I'm on, all the while making sure there was no way for the attackers to enter the store or get close to me. On top of that, with the help of my weapon, I also made a radar of some sort to detect any monsters coming towards me. When I was done with all that, I then stabbed my spear into the roof, causing a magic circle identical to the one below the supplies in the store to appear right underneath me. In an instant, I felt myself being connected to the spell and the mana replenishment items that are interlinked with it.

After pulling my weapon out, I glanced up at the sky, noticing that it was now red due to the sheer amount of fiery energy gathered high up. I couldn't help but tightly clench the spear as so many thoughts raced in my head.

Will I truly be able to stop this nuke from completely incinerating Ignifera into oblivion or will I fail like how I failed to protect my hometown? Is this enough preparation to deal with it or am I going to fall short? Will I be able to forgive myself to some extent if I successfully stop this or will I still hate myself, unable to go beyond this guilt and inadequacy? Will this be the first step to reaching the future they wanted me to reach before life cruelly ended it all? ...even though I don't think I deserve that radiant future?

I hurriedly shook my head, desperately trying to free myself from these never-ending questions. At times like these, I need to be calm and collected just like Vin and perhaps Stella. I thought to myself in an attempt to calm my nerves. Besides, there's no point in asking these questions at this point in time. As I said before, I'll only get the answers that I'm looking for by going through with this. I'm scared about what kind of answer I'll get but...

I breathed in and breathed out. Once I was finally ready, I turned my attention back to the sky and noticed that the spell was on the verge of completion, the flames quickly becoming more and more noticeable.

...I'm tired of being in the dark for so long, left with these depressing thoughts and questions. I need an answer or a verdict of some kind to end this torture.

As magical energy gathered around the Water Artifact at an alarmingly fast speed, I got myself into position to counter the incoming nuke. The agonizing wait that I had to endure as I constantly tried to improve myself will finally come to an end. Here and now, I'll finally see for myself whether or not I improved enough to get past the failure haunting me. While the entire area around me quickly became flooded with watery mana, I aimed the spear straight at the fiery projectile above, causing several gigantic magic circles to appear right in front of the weapon.

When several similarly huge circles suddenly appeared high up in the sky, I immediately shot as the one above did the same. The two attacks immediately collided with each other, blotting out the sky with an intense red and blue.

As I felt the magical supplies being consumed by the spell at a rapid pace, I soon noticed the radar picking up demons coming in my direction. Of course it wouldn't be this easy!