Lea stood still and looked up at the gray sky covered in large patches of clouds. She knew that Ur was worried about her, but she didn't understand why he was so adamant about getting her to leave. Lea thought that the tribes had a good chance against the Yukretian army. After all, the enemy was only four thousand strong. On the other hand, there were over ten thousand warriors among the twenty-seven tribes living in the Cragian Mountains. That was enough to overwhelm the Yukretian army. She had fought against people who could use magic. What was so different about the soldiers from Yukretia?

Ur had started talking about sending her to the Loxearyn Empire to live with her mother a few years ago. Since then, he has mentioned it every few months. Lea didn't even remember who her mother was. All she knew was that her mother had left her with Ur and gone to live in the Loxearyn Empire.

What kind of mother is that? Lea thought to herself.

She felt like she would regret this day if she left now. Even if she didn't get to fight and would have to leave the Mountains, she wanted to see the outcome of the battle. That was something she couldn't budge on.

The tribal warriors had assembled under Ur earlier in the day and planned to clash against the Yukretian army by midday.

I’ll leave after this, she told herself. She decided to take one last look at the battlefield.

The beating of war drums reverberated through the ground. Four Thousand soldiers clad in shining armor lined up in orderly ranks on the plains between two mountains. Facing them on the opposite side were ten thousand tribal warriors holding various weapons.

Lea observed the scene from a distance. She had climbed above a tree to get a better view of the battle. She could see Ur at the front of the warriors, and two strong warriors she was familiar with were respectively leading the left and right wings of the army.

The atmosphere between the two armies was strained. It felt like any small trigger would start the whole thing. Lea unconsciously gripped her sword tightly in nervousness.

The beat of the drums changed, and the left wing of the Cragian army advanced.

"Left wing, advance!" Pera, the leading warrior on the left flank, roared, and war cries erupted from the men following him. The battle had begun.

The warriors ran downhill and crashed into the Yukretian army like a tidal wave. The leader of the left wing, Pera, slashed through the front line of the armored soldiers, and the warriors followed behind him, widening the gap in the front line of the opposing army.

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Lea felt hope rising inside her chest. As she had thought, the tribes could win.

Her hopes were crushed very quickly.

Tens of warriors who had crashed into the Yukretian army were tossed high into the air. Then they fell, painting the ground red with their blood.

Lea felt a chill stab into her spine after seeing the scene of so many people she knew dying.

The banquet of horror was far from over. Two men walked out from behind the ranks of the armored Yukretian soldiers.

One of them was a huge man, almost comparable to Ur.

He had short blond hair and was carrying a huge double-edged sword on his back.

The person beside him looked small in comparison. It was a young man with black hair who looked similar in age to Lea. The two men faced Pera.

She couldn’t hear what they were talking about from so far away, but after a while, Pera pointed his spear at two men. At the same time, the beat of the drums resumed. This time, the right wing of the Cragian Army advanced.

The blonde man held his massive sword in front of him. A glowing circle filled with complex patterns appeared in front of him.

His sword was bathed in a golden glow. The sword cleaved through Pera and the hundreds of warriors behind him. Within a matter of seconds, a huge chunk of the left wing of the Cragian army had been decimated.

Lea's hand had started bleeding from gripping her sword too hard before she realized it. She tried to calm her breathing. After seeing her fellow warriors get killed so easily, she felt a burning anger rise within her. Simultaneously, she felt true fear for the first time in her life.

What... What was that ability? It was nothing like the magic she knew about. Such a monster could take on a whole army by himself. How was it fair?

Lea finally realized that Ur had been right. She would only be a burden on the battlefield. Perhaps Ur was the only person among the warriors who stood a chance against that monster.

Lea didn’t know whether to join the battle and die with her comrades or run away in shame. She sat there for a long time, lost in a storm of emotions.

What should I do? What can I do?

While she had been frozen in shock, a rain of golden spears rained down on the right wing of the Cragian army, killing hundreds of men in an instant. Lea wondered if she should despair or pick up her sword and join the futile march toward death.

Perhaps a few minutes passed. Or an hour. Lea couldn't tell. She was jolted out of her stupor only when she saw her father joining the battle, mowing down his foes with a gigantic mace.

Wait, there is still a way. She recalled the two boys who had been seeking more power. Florence, who wanted to become stronger for himself, and Julian, who wanted to protect the people who were precious to him, had chosen to take a huge gamble to gain more power.

Perhaps they were right to do so.

Even a one-in-a-million chance to survive and become strong enough to rival these monsters was better than the predicament she was currently facing. She started running toward the place in her memory.

She arrived at the cave, which looked akin to the mouth of a monster leading to hell.

The screams and howls she could hear sounded like cries for help from her fallen comrades.

Please wait for me, Father. Lea walked into the cave. The absolute darkness swallowed her.