What was that light?

That was the first thought that came to Vath's mind as he was brought to a world of white.

***

'Dunnford!' Elaine shouted. Guilt drowned Elaine upon the sight of Dunnford being swallowed. It was her fault for falling, it was her fault that she needed to be rescued, and it was her fault that Dunnford was swallowed in her stead. She was suffocating in guilt.

'It's fine!' Ray said. He had caught her and understood her troubled expression. 'It's Dunnford!'

It's Dunnford, the words echoed in Elaine’s ears and it calmed her down. Dunnford wouldn't die from being swallowed. He had his special magic. He isn't dead.

After it swallowed Dunnford, the burning beast seemed to be disturbed. It kept tapping on its throat with its front limb. Dunnford is resisting. He's still alive. But...

'He still could die,' Elaine said to Ray. Dunnford might have survived being bitten by the Cerberus with his invulnerability, but if he got himself drowned in the beast's stomach acid, if he couldn't breathe, then it would be the end for him.

'Yes. That's why I need to save him.'

'"I"?' Elaine asked. 'You're not saving him alone.'

'The situation calls for it.'

'You're already in a bad shape.' Elaine looked at Ray's current state. He was keeping himself together with first aid magic treatment after receiving wounds from three enemies: Horus, Vath, and Cerberus. His right arm had been receiving damage, and the impact from the Cerberus' blow must had affected him. Wherever Elaine look, Ray's gesture was screaming exhaustion.

'I have to do it myself, even in bad shape,' Ray said.

The burning beast was currently being bothered by the resistance Dunnford was giving inside its body, allowing Elaine and Ray the time to discuss their strategy to deal with the beast.

'You intended to handle the beast together with Dunnford. Now that he's swallowed because of me, I should replace him.'

'I'm still going with the same plan, Elaine. If you're around, I can't risk activating my Bloodline Magic.'

'If I'm not around, you're not going to make it into the hill!'

'We're already this close, I won’t fail.'

'Close, but not far enough.'

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Ray couldn't deny what Elaine said; she spoke the truth. '... I'll make it.'

'You won't.'

'Then what do you propose?' He asked with irritation in his voice. 'Dealing with the beast alone by myself, is the only option left!'

'I can—'

'You can what? What can you do when you're running out of mana?'

'I—' Elaine couldn't find the words.

The three headed hound, understanding that Dunnford was an unscratchable itch, decided to ignore the disturbance it was getting from Dunnford's resistance. Its 3 pairs of eyes immediately went to Ray.

'Just clear the vicinity,' Ray said. He then tossed Elaine to the side roughly and made a run from the Cerberus. It chased him into the hill.

Elaine bit her lips, cursing her weakness. Hating how useless and powerless she was to help.

***

As Ray ran away from the beast, he was glad to have experimented his Bloodline Magic on Dunnford's Special Magic. They had tested it once before and the result they got was: Dunnford wouldn't die from Ray's Bloodline Magic. Meaning that he could unleash it to the burning beast without worrying about Dunnford.

As he stomped the grass below him and evading the trees on his path, he wondered how Freya had dealt with the beast alone by herself. Put in the same situation, Ray doubt that he could deal with the beast without his Bloodline Magic.

He looked over his shoulder to see the beast ascending the hill behind him. It slowed down uphill and seeing that it was his last stretch, Ray enhanced his running speed with wind magic.

Elaine had underestimated him. He might be wounded, but he was capable to deal with the beast by himself. While she was experimenting with magic, I train with Dunnford on a daily basis, Ray thought. Her worries was uncalled for. But, without admitting it, he was grateful for her concern.

Thinking that he had led the beast far enough, Ray stopped running and turned to face the beast. 'Beating you here by myself,' he said to the beast, 'would give me bragging rights for future arguments, won't it?'

When the beast was close, Ray activated his Bloodline Magic.

***

The Cerberus had been burning ever since a guard threw a torch at it at the library. Its fur caught on fire and kept on fueling the flame. With its regeneration, new furs kept growing, feeding the fire at a constant supply. Although the regeneration healed the burn, it didn’t mean that it wasn’t in pain. For a while now, the three headed hound had been enduring the heat, and it was getting used to the fire.

Because of that feeling—of getting used to the heat, the burning beast didn’t realize what was happening to it. As it chased Ray into the hill, it thought that Ray finally had enough of running when he faced it. Recklessly, with its sense of touch being numbed by the flame, it charged on.

Not realizing that after Ray had stopped, the temperature had rose sharply. Not realizing that the warped sight he was having was caused by that rise of temperature in the air. Not realizing that the leaves had caught fire, and not because of the fire it was carrying. The beast continued forward to Ray.

Toward its demise.

***

When a side lost their will to fight, then it could be said that the battle was lost; for there could be no winning without the intention to.

'We can still win!' Lance encouraged the other guards, but it went in vain. The other guards, losing their will to fight after the appearance of the mercenaries, had lost the will to fight. They fought only to make a last stand, without aiming for victory. They wouldn't win if they accepted defeat in the back of their minds.

After miraculously being able to defeat a mercenary—he landed a good spear stab that went through the ribs—Lance turned his head to see a guard giving up. That guard had thrown his spear and was sitting on the ground with his legs crossed. As a bandit approached him, Lance went to defend him.

'Why aren't you fighting?' Lance raised his voice.

'It's pointless Lance, it's a losing battle.'

'You can still fight.'

'So what? You need to know when a battle is lost! Be a man, and accept it Lance! Just like how the sun is never going to rise from the west, some things are impo—'

From their side, from a distant hill which happened to be from the west, came a light that was as bright as the sun. It was painful to stare, but the guards had been seeing burning torches that night; the dazzling light was of no surprise to their eyes.

The guard’s jaws dropped. He snapped out of it soon enough; then grabbed his spear and stood up. He continued fighting against the mercenaries along with Lance.

'The sun do rise from the west...’ Lance said. ‘Huh...'

***

All of it was a big coincidence.

In Freya’s desperate moments, it wasn’t as if she had awakened her light healing magic and made use of it to blind Vath. Far from it.

It just so happened that during Vath’s decisive moment, Freya was standing in front of the hill's direction. It just so happened that Ray’s Bloodline Magic produced a bright light as a byproduct. It just so happened that the timing for Ray's activation of Bloodline Magic was at that exact moment. By sheer coincidence, without any planning from Freya’s part, she was saved by that chance occurrence which was as miraculous as the stars lining up together.

Was a miracle something to be created or waited upon?

Mayhap it was true that a miracle required a great amount of luck, but without the effort miracle would not even come to Freya. Had she given up, had she refused to keep on fighting, then this outcome—would have never happened.

Therefore: miracle must be something that is not created or waited upon, but claimed. And Freya did that. She claimed miracle.