In celebration of the last day of the year, Sophie and Fabio left the mansion to enjoy the festival that the inhabitants had prepared.

They strolled through the city once again, taking part in street activities.

They saw some acquaintances, drank and ate holiday specialties, and above all, had a good time.

Fabio was already getting used to his life in the mansion.

Perhaps, as people used to say, humans were creatures that could adapt to any circumstance.

Most of all, he didn't want to leave Sophie alone, now that they had distanced themselves from Hugo and Victor.

Time passed, and soon the sunset arrived.

BOOM!

A loud explosion came from Lily's mansion.

Fabio looked in that direction and saw three mages floating in the sky.

One of them seemed to have destroyed Lily's room, lifting her into the sky with some kind of magic, while the others launched lightning and fire attacks at her.

But none of them hit.

'Is it an attack from another noble?'

When the wind stopped blowing, Lily plummeted downwards, but from the mansion emerged her father, who with his reddish mana created two pairs of starry wings for both of them.

The fight had begun.

"Lily, stop resisting and release everyone right now!" Shouted the one who seemed to be the wind mage.

But Lily didn't react. Instead, she mobilized her mana, causing the lightning mage to launch an offensive spell at his companions.

The other mages dodged it, while attacking Lily, who was defended by her father's star barrier.

The fire spell was the only one that managed to pierce the barrier, though it didn't hit anyone.

'Good, maybe they can defeat her.'

Fabio looked around. The inhabitants had begun to take refuge in their homes.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

However, Sophie was summoning her spirits.

"...Sophie?"

Her body filled with spirits of wind, water, and flowers, tinting her mana with a heterogeneous mix of colors.

After reciting a chant, she rose into the air, advancing towards the fight.

"Sophie, come back!"

Fabio shouted, but he couldn't stop her.

The mages saw Sophie approaching, and the wind mage sent the fire mage to stop her.

"Go deal with her quickly."

Fabio ran silently towards them, using his magical sneakers, and saw a familiar mana resembling a volcano approaching Sophie.

It was Derick.

Derick began casting fire spells at her, knowing he had no time to waste.

The fireballs began to rain down on Sophie, who had no choice but to defend herself.

The spirits were burning at a rapid pace, disappearing into wisps of smoke.

She was completely overwhelmed, forced to descend from the sky and hide among the buildings.

'It can't go on like this.'

Fabio reached her position and supported her from the side, maintaining his invisibility while mobilizing an also imperceptible mana towards Derick's spells, greatly reducing their power.

After a brief back and forth between their attacks, Derick realized that someone was interfering with his spells, so he cast an area of effect fire magic that swept through the entire neighborhood.

Fabio couldn't avoid it, getting burned a little before his mana counteracted it. His figure became visible.

Derick looked at him and quickly launched a huge fireball, filled with a destructive mana beyond any spell Fabio had seen.

He had no way to dodge it.

Fabio invoked his mana and covered his face with his arms, waiting to endure the blow.

But it never came.

Opening his eyes, he saw Sophie standing in front of him.

Part of her torso was charred, and she now had a wound in her stomach from which blood was flowing, sizzling upon contact with the burnt flesh.

All of her spirits had disappeared.

"What a relief..."

Sophie smiled at Fabio before falling unconscious to the ground, as Fabio tried to help her.

Derick looked at both of them and muttered an apology.

"I'm sorry."

Then he flew with his fire wings towards the mansion, leaving them behind as snowflakes began to fall.

It had started to snow.