Aelric stood with his hands raised, sharp eyes locked onto the girl.
“I surrender,” he said calmly. “We just want to talk.”
The girl didn’t react.
Veyne stood beside him, tense, every muscle ready to move if needed. The air was thick with the weight of the unknown.
For a long moment, the silence stretched between them.
Then—she moved.
Aelric recognized it instantly.
Too fast. Too precise.
His mind barely had time to process before his voice shot out like a blade.
“Veyne!”
But even if he hadn’t called out—
Veyne was already moving.
The girl’s foot lashed toward him like a whip. Veyne shifted, reacting purely on instinct.
But it wasn’t enough.
The impact crashed into his ribs, and for the second time, Veyne was sent flying.
His body smashed through a cracked stone wall, debris scattering around him. He gasped, coughing up dust—but this time, he didn’t stay down.
He planted a foot into the dirt, fists clenched, breathing hard.
He had seen it.
For the first time, he had recognized the attack before it hit.
Aelric’s sharp gaze flickered. He saw it too.
Veyne wasn’t just taking the hits now. He was learning.
The girl landed lightly, her stance unchanged, but her gaze flickered—just for a second.
She had noticed, too.
Veyne exhaled, rolling his shoulders. He didn’t speak.
He didn’t need to.
The girl moved again.
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This time, Veyne saw it—just barely.
The step, the shift in weight, the angle of her foot—he read it.
The kick came, just like before. Veyne blocked it.
Not perfectly. Not cleanly. But he didn’t get sent flying.
For the first time, the girl’s eyes narrowed.
She adjusted instantly. A second kick, aimed lower—Veyne barely dodged. A third, lightning-fast toward his ribs—he twisted, just in time to reduce the impact.
She was pushing him.
She had seen that he was learning.
And she was escalating.
Aelric’s mind raced. Why was she still attacking them after they surrendered?
Then, he understood.
She wasn’t fighting them to kill.
She was fighting them to see.
She was testing them.
How they would react. If they were weak. If they were a threat.
Aelric’s heart pounded. This wasn’t about whether they wanted peace or not.
It was about whether they deserved to be here.
Aelric knew Veyne couldn’t keep up forever. The girl was just too fast, too skilled. But that didn’t mean they had to lose.
Aelric moved.
He didn’t throw a smoke bomb this time.
Instead, he scanned the ruins in seconds. His mind broke down **everything—**the angles, the weight distribution, the weak points.
There.
A single loose pillar supporting part of the ruins.
Aelric acted.
He kicked a precariously placed stone, setting off a chain reaction.
The moment the girl stepped forward to finish Veyne—
The wall beside her collapsed.
She twisted midair, flipping away as tons of stone came crashing down. Dust and debris erupted, forming a thick cloud between them.
Veyne blinked through the dust, breathing hard.
Aelric grabbed his arm. “Move. Now.”
They ran.
The girl emerged seconds later, untouched.
She landed lightly on a broken rooftop, watching them retreat.
She didn’t chase immediately. Instead, she tilted her head, watching them disappear into the ruins.
And then, quietly—she smirked.
Aelric and Veyne ran deeper into the city. The winding pathways of the ruined streets blurred around them as they darted through shattered alleys, leaping over broken walls, moving purely on instinct.
Veyne’s breathing was ragged, but his grip on the short blade never loosened. His body still burned from the impact of the girl’s attacks, but his mind was sharper than before.
Aelric glanced sideways at him, reading his expression.
“You saw them coming that time,” Aelric noted.
Veyne grunted. “Barely.”
“But you saw them,” Aelric said, a smirk forming. “That means you’re improving.”
Veyne exhaled. “She was holding back.”
Aelric nodded. “Yeah. And she’s still testing us.”
“Then what the hell do we do?” Veyne snapped. “Just let her?”
Aelric’s smirk widened slightly. “We don’t have a choice. We need to see where this goes.”
Ahead of them, the city twisted in unnatural ways.
This place wasn’t built like any normal city—it wasn’t meant to be found. The deeper they ran, the more the ruins felt deliberate.
Like a labyrinth designed to trap outsiders.
Then, as if on cue—they hit a dead end.
A collapsed bridge stretched before them, leading into a deep abyss. Below, darkness swirled, the ruins fading into the unknown.
Aelric clicked his tongue. “Huh. That’s inconvenient.”
Behind them, a shadow moved.
Veyne turned sharply. “She’s here.”
From the dust, the girl emerged.
Still composed, still unreadable. But this time, she wasn’t alone.
Figures moved in the darkness behind her. More people. Hidden in the ruins, watching.
Veyne stiffened. “She wasn’t alone.”
“Of course not,” Aelric murmured. “This place isn’t abandoned. It’s alive.”
The girl stepped forward. “You run well,” she said.
Aelric chuckled. “And you kick well. I assume we’re even now?”
Her gaze didn’t waver.
Aelric noticed her grip subtly tighten at her side. Not a threat—a signal.
To the others.
Aelric lowered his hands. “Let me guess—if we failed, we wouldn’t still be standing here, would we?”
The girl’s lips twitched slightly. “No.”
She glanced behind her. The watching figures stepped forward.
Aelric’s pulse quickened.
Finally.
Answers.
The figures revealed themselves—warriors. Rebels. Their eyes weren’t blank like the villagers.
They were sharp. Alive. Defiant.
The girl looked at Aelric. “Why are you here?”
Aelric grinned. “Because I want to destroy the Order.”
The warriors behind her stiffened.
Veyne sighed. “You really just say things like that without thinking, huh?”
“Always.”
The girl studied him for a long moment. Then, she turned.
“Follow me.”
At the ruined temple above, Renard Varos stood in silence.
One of his men approached. “Captain. They’re gone.”
Renard exhaled slowly. “No. They’re hiding.”
For a moment, he stood perfectly still. Then, he smirked.
“Bring the others,” Renard ordered. “We’re going deeper.”