*Interlude*

"Now that we found him, let's go back."

Erkimi, the dyrad receptionist, says that while looking at Antarea, the dark elf blacksmith.

"!? NO! I want to go to where Shion is!"

Miika shouts that in front of Erkimi.

"Sigh... Look here. We're told to bring you back. Don't make things bothersome for me..."

Erkimi says that while touching her forehead.

"Then I'll go alone."

Miika turns his back to walk away, but Antarea holds his right arm and starts talking.

"Wait! It's too dangerous. We don't know when that pillar of light will appear again."

Griselda, who is wearing a witch hat, starts coming up with an excuse to stop Miika from going.

"Maybe Shion already went away from the town. You know how capable she is. She will be alright."

Knowing Griselda's intention, Antarea follows her lead and starts talking again.

"That's right. So, let's go back and wait for her return. Okay?"

Miika pauses upon hearing their words.

He remembers the time when Shion cried in her sleep.

"But Shion..."

Miika says that while his hand is still being held by Antarea.

"Hm?"

Antarea says that as she does not hear Miika's words clearly.

But Erkimi suddenly talks with a concerned voice.

"Wait. What is that...?"

The other three people around her look at the sky where Erkimi is looking.

They see a dark sky that is being lightened up by falling fiery stars.

They are not the only ones who are stunned by this sudden development.

"R- RUUUUUUUUN!!!"

The short bandit screams that while looking at the brightened sky.

The bandit trio, who has been completely woken up, starts running away, leaving their belongings behind.

The people in Aegandr battleship can't seem to think straight looking at the bizarre scene.

Victorius' advisor, Elbehnna Orarorio, immediately stands up and shouts his order.

"Casts the Omni Barrier now!"

Despite being confused, the subordinates followed his order and cast a barrier around the flying battleship.

*BOOM!*

Not too long after, one of the fiery stars hit the barrier. The people inside feel a slight impact, but they maintain their composure.

Meanwhile, Nelsia is running in the forest using her Accel magic. Her right hand is holding the chainsaw relic.

Behind her, the masked female named Bion is flying across the trees with the help of a white eagle familiar on her back. She is holding the shield relic on her left hand. She is following Nelsia while maintaining altitude low enough to not go above the forest.

Both of them are heading towards the flying battleship despite the fiery stars slamming down to the ground and gradually burning some parts of the forest.

At the other part of the forest, Pepprica the Halfling pauses his preparation with Topology Mana Denser as he looks at the descending fiery stars.

"What the..."

He says that while the other Liasr Town people start panicking.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Stephanie, the Orc Guild Master quickly shouts his order.

"Adventurers! Prepare to intercept! Everyone else must stay within the group!"

Thanks to his loud shout, the crowd doesn't completely fall into chaos.

Meanwhile, Veylene, the Black-Haired Elf, looks at fiery stars and then looks angrily at Victorious.

"Is this... what you're aiming for?!"

However, much to Veylene's surprise, she looks at Victorious' shocked face looking at the night sky. In that instant moment, she instinctively knows that Victorious does not plan this at all.

*BOOM!*

"!?"

Veylene is surprised by the sound of fiery star crashing not too far from the town.

Instant flashbacks of burning forest appear in Veylene's mind right after she heard the sound.

"... DAMN IT!"

Immediately after she shouts that, she runs and jumps towards one of the descending fiery stars.

"HAAAAA!"

She swung her sheathed sword with both of her hands while shouting.

*BOOM!*

The fiery star is destroyed to small pieces by Veylene's attack. Immediately after, she jumps mid-air and goes for another fiery star to destroy.

Victorious looks at the fiery stars and remembers the light that comes out of Signal Anchor magic circle.

(Perhaps... Mriento was...)

However, before he can think further, he senses someone moving.

He looks at the front, only to find Shion standing up right after she finishes drinking potion.

Shion runs towards the blue horse wearing gold armour lying on the ground.

"Gazelott!"

She shouts the horse's name just as she arrives near it. Then she touches its head, trying to wake it up.

"Hey! Gazelott! Hang in-!"

Before Shion can shout further, she feels intense pain from both of her ears.

"Ugh...!"

She remembers Veylene's shout, which caused her to collapse to the ground.

(The potion is not enough...?)

She also feels a small headache, but she strongly shook her head to ward off the headache.

(No...! I need to get a grip!)

She takes a potion from her small bag and tries to give it to the lying horse.

"Gazelott! Drink this! Quick!"

However, the horse is lying unresponsive to Shion's statement. Then she immediately hears Victorious' statement from behind.

"It's already too late."

"!?"

Victorious' emotionless voice surprises Shion. She immediately turns around her head.

As she looks up to Victorious' face, various old emotions start appearing again as she remembers his attitude towards his wife's death.

*BOOM!*

However, those emotions get blown away by the sound of another fiery star crashing to the ground. The sound is loud enough to change Shion's emotion from anger to fear of impending doom.

(!?... This is not the time!)

Shion then stands up and looks at Victorious.

"We need to get out here. Fast!"

Despite knowing Victorious' strength, Shion decides to put both of their safety on first priority.

However, Shion senses a magic approaching. Due to her being familiar with this magic, she can immediately tell what magic it is.

(This feeling... Stealth?)

Victorious senses an ominous intent and draws his sword.

*BANG!*

Victorious attempts to block the attack but misread the attack speed, and it ends up hitting Shion's shoulder, causing her to fall back.

"!?"

Victorious can't hide his surprise when he sees Shion lying on the ground, grabbing her bleeding right shoulder.

The loud sound and immediate pain sensation reminds Shion of the time she got shot in the stomach.

"Ugh..! This is...!?"

She says that while groaning.

Then both Shion and Victorious suddenly hear a man's voice.

"Absolute Zero."

A light blue magic circle appears quite far in front of them, but the caster is nowhere to be seen.

Then, both of Victorious feet immediately get frozen. Not only that, the ice gradually envelopes towards upper body at high speed.

Victorius stabs the ice, but his sword gets frozen instead.

But his retaliation does not end there. The Crest Force on the back of his right hand shines, and golden particles start appearing near his body.

The golden particles attempt to stop the freezing ice, but it cannot slow down the freezing, and the magic immediately froze Victorious' whole body.

(That is Kaina's...)

Shion thinks because she recognises that magic from the head maid of Graize household, Kaina Silford. It is her strongest ice magic that freezes even the time of the frozen object. It's definitely not a magic that others can easily learn.

"I miss you, Shion..."

"!?"

Shion gets surprised again, hearing a man's voice with no one else in sight.

However, she remembers the position of Absolute Zero's light blue magic circle and focuses her attention on that location.

As expected, a figure suddenly appears in that same location. Shion sees Midora Jaeger pulling up his black hood, which deactivates the black mantle's Stealth magic. His right hand is holding a revolver.

"You...!"

Shion says that while still grabbing her bleeding right shoulder with her left hand. Seeing the revolver in his hand confirms her suspicion that she was just shot by him.

"You have no idea..."

Before talking further, Midora locks his eyes on Shion's face.

"How much I wanted this to happen..."

"...!"

Shion knows just how dangerous Midora Jaeger is. She immediately looks at the frozen Victorious and attempts to use Overtake.

(First, I need to undo Absolute Zero!)

*crack!*

However, when she is about to use Overtake, her vision suddenly becomes colourless and cracked. It is also followed by an intense headache.

"Guh!?"

Shion immediately grabs her head with her left hand while still lying on the ground of burning town.

(Wh- what the... what's happening...!?)

Seeing Shion in pain, Midora smirks and starts walking slowly towards Shion.

"You know, whenever I play RPG, my style is to always grind level as much as I can before fighting the next boss. That way, I can savour the taste of my party easily beating the next boss with no difficulty."

While Midora is talking, Shion shakes her head, but her vision doesn't return to normal.

"Ever since I knew your Overtake can counter my Hero System, I spend countless days grinding for experience to obtain a skill that can let me triumph over your ability..."

Then, he prepares his revolver for another shot while still walking slowly.

"And then I finally got it at level 100... the Cheat Breaker. In the Astral Maiden game, this gun was used by the protagonist to shoot the invincible story boss and destroy its ability, the Overtake. In other words..."

Midora stops in front of Shion, who is still lying on the ground suffering from headache and bleeding right shoulder. Then he points his Cheat Breaker gun at Shion's head.

"You can no longer use Overtake."

He smiles while saying that. Then, he pulls the trigger.

*BANG!*

*End of Interlude*