The Heterodox Wanderer took his hand back from the pillar of light, and stared at Yuri with a solemn light in his eyes.

“…I truly did underestimate you. Maybe I should have taken you out first.”

“Then you would have been the first to die,” Alnea said, picking his sword up from he had dropped it. “In any case, your end would have been the same. To face despair.”

“…A kid barely off his mother’s breast is lecturing me about despair?” the white robed man said, sneering at Alnea, before turning back to Yuri. “Even if you are its creator, a compound Arcana is not something that False Wanderers, especially those who have not even reached the Peak Stage, can use. How long can you maintain this cage?”

“Long enough to ensure your death,” Yuri said, and muttered a few words under breath. Moments later, white light manifested above the cage, and coalesced into a giant sword, before dropping down straight towards the Heterodox Wanderer. The white robed man, of course, tried to dodge the sword, but Yuri was already prepared for the situation.

With a flash of a grey light, she activated the Glyph she had carved on her Glyph Disc earlier, manifesting a cloud of grey fog in front of herself, which soon coalesced into ropes, shooting straight towards the Heterodox Wanderer. And though the white robed man tried to dodge them as well, the area in the cage was not big enough for him to escape the ropes.

Moments later, the rope tied up the Wanderer, and sunk into his body, freezing his movements. Only for a fraction of moment, of course. After all, the Glyphs were just of the Intermediate Stage. However, that fraction of a moment was enough for the giant sword to lock his position, and stab into his head.

“First getting your Fortune flipped, and then getting your Fate sealed… The real question is, how long can you last?”

Not waiting for the Heterodox Wanderer to reply, Yuri activated the second stage of her Arcana, manipulating the pillars of light to shrink down to the size of spears, which she then directed towards the white robed man. In the next moment, all thirty six spears of Night rained down upon the man one after another, engulfing him a silvery blue light. They were so tightly packed with each other, that all that Alnea could see of the white robed man was the blood flowing out from the range of the silvery blue glow.

“…I have not been this tired in a while,” Alnea said, walking up to the girls, who were still looking towards the Heterodox Wanderer. “Is he dead?”

“…We will know in a few moments,” Yuri said, refusing to let her guard down just yet. Even Cecilia, tired as she was, still kept looking towards the Heterodox Wanderer with fierce eyes.

“…Even Heterodox Wanderers should not be so weird to be able to live through after experiencing such grievous wounds,” Alnea said, unconsciously allowing his exhaustion to leak into his voice. “Just look at all the blood. I am sure that he—

“Never underestimate your enemies, Alnea,” Yuri said, refusing to tear her eyes away from the pulsating lights in the distance. “We took down the Dark Wind Wolf so easily, but against Heterodox Wanderers of the same strength, we were practically helpless. If not for the fact that we were underestimated, and the cat’s help, we would have had quite a hard time dealing with just the other two Wanderers. And I would not have had the time to prepare my Arcana either. You can imagine what the results would have been then.”

“…I am not underestimating them. I am just a little tired.”

“And we will rest once we have dealt with all our enemies. Till then, be alert, and do not let your guard down.”

Alnea grumbled a little, but also understood what Yuri was saying. Cecilia was too tired to even bother speaking, so he just let her be, and looked at the other two Heterodox Wanderers. Having suffered from a Transcendent Storm of Darkness, the two of them have suffered far too many grievous injuries. It was only because they were Peak Stage False Wanderers that they did not die immediately. But they only managed to delay the inevitable.

From how profusely the Wanderers were bleeding, if not treated immediately, they were bound to die. It saved Alnea from the trouble of giving them the finishing blow himself, but it also made him wonder if he should just give them a quick death. Thinking of what Yuri had said earlier, Alnea finally made up his mind, and walked towards dying men. After all anything was possible within the Origin Sea. Better be safe, than sorry.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

His movements did not escape the eyes of the girls though. And as they saw him moving towards the two incapacitated men, they probably understood what his intentions were. But neither of the girls stopped him. Killing the Heterodox Wanderers… It was something they had agreed on before forming their team. And he was sure that the girls would not have any problems with killing the scums. Alnea though…

Maybe it was one of the reasons that prompted his sudden decision, Alnea thought, only to subdue his thoughts, as he reached the men. They were still conscious, groaning, and asking for help. Just in a very low, and subdued voice. As if they did not have any strength left. Considering all the blood that they had lost, he was surprised that they were even awake. For what he was about to do though, did their state truly matter?

Supressing the uneasy feeling in his Heart, Alnea steeled his resolve, and placed the tip of his sword at green robed man’s neck. The moment that his sword touched the man’s skin though, his eyes flew open, and looked directly at him. Into his eyes. The man did not plead. Rather, he did not say anything. He even stopped groaning. Only his eyes kept speaking. A curse, they said. To one day face the same helplessness as the green robed man was facing.

“…It’s alright, Alnea. You don’t have to force yourself. This attack was too sudden. We will have time to prepare ourselves the next time—

Alnea plunged his sword into the man’s neck, and watched his life drain away from his eyes. A cruse? What curse could be greater than the curse of his fate? And had the situation been reversed, his end would have been thousand times worse than the Heterodox Wanderer. Most important of all, the man had dared to threaten Cecilia, and Yuri. The man had dared to threaten his Heart.

It did not matter what the man’s reason was. Even if he had been from an Orthodoxy, Alnea still would made the same choice. Anyone who dared to threaten his Heart had to be killed. That was his path. His Clarity. But from the guilty conscience in his mind, and the nausea he was feeling, it looked like his Clarity was still some ways away from him. For the moment, all he could do was grit his teeth, and relieve the other man of his pain.

“…Don’t push yourself too much.”

“…I am fine,” Alnea said, trying his best to subdue his guilty conscience, and nausea. He did not regret his actions, but he did not wish to stay with the corpses for any longer than he had to. Especially since their lifeless seemed to be staring right into his Spirit… Turning around, he quickly made his way back to the girls, just as Yuri’s Spears of Night finally began fading away.

“…Are you alright?” Cecilia said in a deep, and hoarse voice.

“…I should be the one asking you that question,” Alnea said, returning her stare with concern. “Two Storms of Darkness were too much… You should rest, and leave the rest to us.”

“No,” Cecilia said, shaking her head, before turning her head back to the fading lights in the distance. “It will not be late to rest after we have confirmed his death.”

“…Do not push yourself too much,” Alnea said, before turning his attention back to the Heterodox Wanderer. With the spears finally fading into the darkness, all that was left was the bloodied, and tattered figure of the Wanderer. There were so many holes in his robe, that it had been practically torn into shred, leaving just thin strips hanging from his body. And even those strips had been dyed red in his blood.

And though the man was still standing, that was probably from how he had been skewered by so many spears. Even if he wished to lie down, the spears would have stopped him from moving even an inch. Coupled with the loss of so much blood… No matter how he looked, the last Heterodox Wanderer seemed to be truly dead.

“Do you still have any doubts?” Alnea asked, finally losing the last bit of tension in his Heart. “…I want to shout in joy right now, but I am too tired to do anything.”

“…Let me check first,” Yuri said after a moment of silence. She was still looking at the Heterodox Wanderer with a solemn look, and looked ready to launch another wave of attack. “He is a Heterodox Wanderer. We cannot afford any mistakes.”

“…You have exhausted too much of your Spirit Power.”

“It does not matter. I can afford—

“Let me do it,” Alnea said, and unsheathed his dagger. Since they were just checking if the man was still alive or not, his dagger should do just fine. Activating a couple of its Glyph Arrays, he threw Golden Yearning at the man—

A blood red light flashed in the distance, blinding everyone for a moment. A moment enough for the bloodied Heterodox Wanderer to appear next to Alnea with the Golden Yearning in his hand.

“It looks like you lost something, pipsqueak,” the Heterodox Wanderer said, as he stabbed Golden Yearning into Alnea’s stomach. Or at least tried to, but was stopped by the golden lights flashing on his robe. “…It looks like you are someone much more important than I had thought. Forget it. I will deal with you later.”

Without any ways to deal with boy, other than stripping him naked, the Heterodox Wanderer just grabbed him by his neck, and threw him aside, before focussing his attention on the girls.

“Now, let’s get to the main dish of the night.”