Umara stared, her eyes wide and her mind going blank as John was hit with that laser.

She didn’t know what his coat was capable of. It had only ever defended itself against Authority 4 beasts, and even he didn’t know how expensive it was. But there was no way it could defend against an attack that melted through both the armor of an APC and Vetsmon’s personal armor, which was undoubtedly of extremely high quality.

How could that soft leather possibly compare?

All she saw was the flash, and then, he fell back over some cover, disappearing from her view.

She wanted to run over, but Feiden grabbed her before she could, pulling her behind some trees.

After that, several seconds went by. And each second, she felt like she was screaming inside of her head, desperately trying to get John to respond.

The fact that his Telepathy, which was supposed to be constantly connected to her, was silent made her realize that this time, he really might be dead.

The last time, he had almost died due to circumstances that had been entirely preventable. Now, it was like fate had simply decided to take him from her, leaving no room for contest.

It was unfair. It was damnable!

She felt overwhelming hatred. It was unacceptable for something like this to happen. The Scourge wasn’t allowed to hurt those she cared about, let alone kill them without consequence.

It was a cancerous tumor that needed to be excised from this world, yet doing so demanded a price in blood.

And she was suddenly willing to pay it.

Mana exploded within her body as she pried herself from Feiden's grasp. The air under her feet then carried her forward, ready to shoot her toward that Scout.

The elements around her began to respond to her hatred, priming themselves to explode forth with power backed by her Mana. The very atmosphere bent to her will.

It didn’t matter if it would cost her life, she would kill that beast.

But then, just as she made her conviction, she saw John dash out from behind his cover.

She froze, watching as he ran over to the Scout and pulled out a grenade.

She could sense his Psyka fill it to the brim as he pulled the pin and threw it. And she saw as the scout did little to defend itself against the odd weapon it couldn't recognize.

And as if they didn’t exist, her worries faded away.

*BANG*

The grenade exploded, and John pulled out his Trench Gun.

She watched from the side as he dismembered the Scout, watched as it writhed on the floor after he blasted off an arm and a leg, desperately trying to flee.

And it let off another laser, making her panic once more. Yet John did nothing to dodge it, simply letting it hit him.

And the laser landed on his coat for several seconds, the beast screaming in anger, yet not damaging even a single hair on his body.

He was completely immune to its attacks.

After that, she simply stood there as he killed it and took its head as a trophy.

How simple. It was almost effortless. Its head was removed from its body as if it were never a threat in the first place, like it hadn’t killed 10 other soldiers before it.

She didn’t know what to say. Even when he ran back, giving them the order to start running again, she remained silent.

Was she shocked? Was she relieved? Was she scared?

The emotions within her rampaged. From having lost her boyfriend, her lover, to watching him kill that beast like it was a chicken sent inexplicable waves throughout her mind.

The sorrow, the hatred, the happiness. All of it coalesced as she was carried.

And when she felt his telepathic connection reappear in her mind, when it spurred the memories of his figure as he killed what should’ve been a lethal threat to their entire convoy, she seemed to realize what she felt.

Yet it felt so natural that she almost didn’t acknowledge it, as if there was nothing to acknowledge since it should have always been there.

She turned her head, seeing Vetsmon strenuously carry John on his back. It was putting the big man through a lot of pain, but it was still faster than if John ran himself.

She watched John, seeing his green eyes through the narrow opening between his hood and mask.

He didn’t look back at her. He was too focused. He always seemed to flick a switch whenever they entered combat. There was no room for any romance during that time. He didn’t even have sympathy for the guy carrying him, simply ordering it since that’s what they needed, and since he knew Vetsmon could do it despite the pain.

And when she calmed down and thought about it, she decided to save her words for later.

It was something that she wouldn’t regret no matter when she said it, but it might still place John into a bit more of a precarious situation. But it didn’t matter to her when she did. All that mattered was that they were together, and that the time would come in the future where she wouldn’t ever have to worry about the thoughts or opinions of others.

There would come a time when anyone who dared to challenge their relationship would be put down by her personally. And until that time, anyone who dared to undermine her position by his side, or his by hers, would be met with the full wrath that her status afforded her, the very same status that they were all trying to greedily claim for their own gain.

Now, even the tiny amount of doubt within the deep recesses of her mind had been washed out like a dusty corner.

And she smiled contentedly, staring at him as if there were no other person in the world.

……

…

I tapped my Aerial, calling the Puppet Master. And sure enough, the call went through this time.

“John!”

“Yea, it’s me.”

“We’re on our way! Where are you?”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“I’ll send you my location.”

I scrolled through the screens in front of me. Normally, without connection to a Node, an Aerial would lose its ability to geolocate since it required the Node as a reference point.

But because I regained my lost connection, it worked as if I were in a city.

Soon enough, I sent our location to the Puppet Master.

After that he hung up, saying he was only 5 minutes out.

I sighed in relief. I no longer felt any threat to my life, so my squad had stopped running and started relaxing.

Without the Scout, the rest of the beasts probably weren’t so eager to pursue us. Even if they were, they had obviously lost us.

I saw Umara casting some air magic, so she had probably dispersed our scent or scattered our trail. Regardless, I felt perfectly safe so I had no issue acting like it.

I let Vetsmon relax. That foam came in handy, otherwise he would’ve started bleeding again with all that movement.

And although it was painful, he got through it well. The man was tough as nails, as a knight should be. All of his training was paying off.

As I took a seat though, I saw Umara walk over to me.

She didn’t say a word as she straddled me, wrapping me in a deep hug.

For a while I was worried. But my telepathy told me that she wasn’t fearful or stressed. She was calm.

After a few minutes she shifted from a hug to a cuddle, allowing me to stroke her hair, which I enjoyed doing.

Her pale face underneath her ashy hair looked positively beautiful. I smiled, thinking of nothing but how pretty she was and how much I adored her presence.

The only thing that could interrupt us was our rescue.

Three APC’s rolled up to the treeline that we had stopped by. Once we saw them underneath the afternoon sky, we all got up and met with them.

“Are you guys okay?!”

Tana came running over first, checking on all of us with a worried expression. I could clearly see how tired she was. To desperately cross such a distance knowing our lives depended on it must’ve put extreme strain on her body. She already looked sickly, her legs shaky and weak.

Yet she quickly noticed Vetsmon and his wounds despite that, hurrying over to check on him.

“Oh god! What happened?!”

“The Scout got me, but I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

Tana worriedly asked about him, causing me to openly jump and cheer silently nearby.

“What the hell are you doing? That excited to see me?”

“Oh, hi.”

My mood disappeared as I turned to the Puppet Master, giving him a handshake.

“Thanks for coming.”

“Mm. Good job surviving. Those Cyclops Scouts are extremely deadly, yet they always like to linger around. They rarely show, but when they do it's usually a bloodbath. Where are the others?”

“No idea. Everyone who survived the initial assault dispersed into this forest. They could be anywhere, probably being chased by the escorts.”

“I see. A moment.”

The Puppet Master suddenly walked off, standing in an open area before taking out a staff.

After a few seconds, he raised it and tapped it on the ground, causing a ripple of light to spread out.

It highlighted every animal and creature in the forest for miles around, dead or alive. We could all see it, as if we had all been granted x-ray vision.

And it revealed some ongoing fights as well as several human corpses.

He yelled.

“Go assist our men! Move out, now!”

“Roger!”

All of the soldiers from the APC’s ran off, several of them being Authority 7, two of them being Authority 8. They disappeared into the distance within moments, assisting those who were still alive.

After that, the Puppet Master pointed to one of the corpses before waving.

I saw as the Cyclops Scout’s corpse flew over from the distance, landing before him, every dismembered limb included.

He stared at it for a few seconds before looking at me.

And I took out its intact head, causing him to scoff.

“What a fucking monster. Did you kill it by yourself?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

I silently responded by lifting the collar of my coat.

“It couldn’t hurt me.”

“Tsk, talk about buying a second life.”

“Well I gotta be able to match those rich nobles somehow.”

“No shit. Hey, all of you.”

He suddenly called the rest of my squad, grouping them together.

“I’m required to ask. Did John single handedly kill the Scout? If any of you contributed even slightly, I need to know.”

“Yes, he killed it by himself.”

“Mm.”

“We didn’t help.”

Everyone confirmed the reality, causing him to sigh.

“Very well. John, you’re about to accumulate some more notoriety.”

“Yea? How many points is this worth?”

“It’s not about the points. You’re the first person in Magisterium history to personally kill an Authority 7 while being 3 levels below it. Although this is one of the only enemies of the Scourge that have defenses so slim at such a level to even be capable of dying by your hands, that fact still remains. Not to mention that you’re a mere summoner. However, this will not go through easily.”

He grumbled, taking the head from my hands.

“At least it's completely intact. Still, you all will be questioned under Truth to confirm what happened here. I’ll be keeping the remains as evidence of your fight with it as well. Vizen! Come heal Vetsmon’s wound!”

He called, and Vizen brought Vetsmon over to one of the vehicles, inspecting and treating his leg.

The Puppet Master turned back to us.

“Go rest. You won’t have anymore missions for the rest of your time here. Once we find everyone, we’ll bring you back to base.”

“Alright.”

We all walked off, gathering around one of the APC’s.

Feiden pat my back.

“Congratulations. And thank you.”

“There's no reason to thank me.”

“Don’t be so humble. That thing might’ve been the death of us if you hadn’t handled it. Even I was scared for a bit.”

He mumbled, causing me to nod.

I had been scared too. Faced with something that could so easily kill us, that had so easily killed several soldiers, I was afraid for both myself and my squad.

I had ignored that fear as soon as we started running, but it was still there. If anything, the fear fueled my focus and determination.

And as soon as I discovered that I could fight that thing, I did so without hesitation.

If I didn’t, we would still be on the run, and we couldn’t have done that for too much longer. Vetsmon had been reaching his limits and there were wolves that none of us could kill on the way.

The fact that I could kill it was a miracle, one that I had capitalized on perfectly.

Still, I didn’t necessarily face it because I hated the Scourge and wanted to kill them. I faced it because the fear of being overwhelmed after running ourselves down to our limits was scarier than the fear of fighting the core of the threat head on when I had the advantage.

Not to mention how all of this was only possible because my life had been paid for and secured by Maxwell back when he gave me this coat. He bought me a second life, as the Puppet Master stated.

I was grateful, but also painfully aware of my own mortality and how a beast just a few levels above me could so easily kill me.

And it would take power far above even that beast’s in order to secure my life against those kinds of surprises.

The leather of my coat came from a beast that could easily defend against the attack of an Authority 7. I truly wondered what kind of monstrous creature Maxwell used to make this thing, and how much it cost to make this coat.

Millions? Tens of millions?

Either way, I owed him far more than I could ever repay.

Umara continued to cling to me as we waited for the survivors. In the process of the rescue, several of those beastly wolves were killed and brought back.

And after about an hour, the casualties had been counted.

All Elites from the Magisterium survived.

And of the 13 soldiers who left, only 3 survived.

It was unfortunate, but the stark difference was apparent.

There was a reason Magisterium students demanded respect even when they left and entered the military. This was the reason why. They surpassed those of a similar level, especially the Elites.

Only the Authority 7 and two Authority 6 soldiers had survived. Everyone other soldier, 10 Authority 5’s, had been killed. And most of them had been killed in the initial attack or while running into the forest.

Everyone was solemn as all the recoverable corpses were loaded. After that, we drove back to base.

I was glad to have Umara there with me to soothe my soul. I knew that things would only get worse as I continued down this path, but so long as I was going to walk it, I was grateful to have her by my side.