One light step later, Oscar nearly lost his balance as his legs trembled in an attempt to stay up. He widened his stance to stay standing but did not look too pleased as he reexamined his conditions. Burns laden around 40 percent of his body in agony, a core depleted of Ein and also in pain from the destruction of his anima, and his body was so weak that there was no chance he could draw up Reis.

'I'm in worse shape than I thought. What about her?' His gaze met against Maia's, observing that she had been leaning on the tree, not as wounded as he was, but her skin had paled so much, comparable to her disheveled white hair. The imprint of his fist upon her cheek showed itself as a purple-black bruise which she desperately tried to cover up. Her hands trembled as they grasped her red whip, but despite this, the gleam of her red eyes did not lack in power or clarity.

Another step. The slight feedback of Oscar's foot touching the ground sent reverberations of pain that shivered across his bones. Flakes of burnt skin fell off as his body swayed to maintain balance.

Right then, Oscar heard a giggle, one that sounded like a response to a bad joke. He stared back at Maia, who smiled slightly and said in a low rough tone, "What is so entertaining?"

During this, he tried to invoke 'Ein Awaken' to gather even the slightest bit of Ein. Still, the violent destruction of his anima and the depletion of his core rendered him unable to absorb Ein until some time. As he struggled, he heard Maia's response.

"It's just too damn weird," Maia groaned as she moved to a better spot to lean on the tree. An act that made her breathing ragged and rushed. "Watching you try to take a single step makes me frustrated at how hard you make it seem."

"If so, why not take a step yourself?" Oscar spat more blood on the ground.

"No thanks, I'd rather do this–" Maia reached into her space pocket, pulled out two elixirs, and downed the entire solution in one gulp, not caring about how unsightly she looked.

"Grade-two heal and defense elixirs?" Oscar recognized the solutions in the vials and quickly got a single grade-two heal elixir to drink. The elixir began its work, his burns slowly healed, and his complexion improved. The same happened to Maia as the bruise diminished on her left cheek and her skin looked better from the pale white it was.

Feeling that he could move better, Oscar took a heavy step forward. Though the grade-two heal elixir did not heal everything, he didn't struggle as hard to maintain his balance. The most important part was that Oscar felt he could use Reis for one final bout, but the defense elixir that Maia drank was a cause for concern.

'She knows too much about Reis. I have to kill her.' The defense elixir was to stop his Reis attacks, which would be far weaker in his current condition. Oscar judged the distance between him and Maia and cursed himself for punching her so far away. 'A few more steps, and I'll be in the range of her whip.'

"Hmph!"

"Gah!"

Oscar and Maia turned to the newcomers with a glint of hope that someone might break this stalemate between them. Oscar saw Erik retreating to his side, his face turned blank at Erik's bad condition, a bloody uniform, gashes on his body, and a large bite wound on his shoulder. Meanwhile, Maia smiled in delight at her companion, who was sweaty and tired, but they still had some strength left in them.

"Oscar…."

"Lady Claude."

The two greeted the others.

"Take a healing elixir, Erik." Oscar clenched his teeth.

"Get rid of them," Maia ordered with a sharp gaze.

However, nothing happened as the grunts of two other people came from the opposite end to interrupt their showdown. Oscar, Maia, and the other two stared at Austin and the other Undying Flame Sect student. This time, however, Oscar smiled in relief while Maia looked taken aback and clenched her fist.

"Looks like I came in time, or else the two of you would have been screwed." Austin came over to Oscar's side, looking to be the healthiest out of their group with some wounds, but was still fit to fight.

"Yes, your timing is impeccable," Oscar laughed but soon coughed from the pain.

"Lady Claude, forgive me." The other person had horrible wounds, such as burns from Austin's acid, and could barely move. Their current condition made Maia and the other student scrunch their faces in disgust.

Oscar and Maia turned their gazes toward each other. He could see the frustration building in her red eyes, but contrary to his expectations, Maia sighed and said, "Retreat."

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"My lady?!" The other two students exclaimed.

"We're about even, and they cannot pursue us in their condition. But–" Maia lifted her eyes slightly to gaze past Oscar in the direction where his deer anima carried Susan and the others. "The others in their group should be almost recovered. We'll be fighting a losing battle. Retreat."

"Tch. She realized." Part of Oscar's hopes was to buy time for the others to join them, but Maia did not allow such an opening. Oscar wanted to give chase, but his body stumbled, having to be supported by Austin.

"Black hair." Maia stared at Oscar fiercely, a look that could kill. She rubbed her cheek, where the swelling had reduced. "I'll remember your face. Next time, I'll kill you."

The Undying Flame Sect members retreated into the forest, with Maia taking the lead and the other student carrying the wounded. As they ran as fast as they could through the forest, Maia took out a mirror and frowned at her face, seeing the mess of a bruise on her cheek. The mirror shattered as she threw it into a tree.

"Master must be crazy. How could anyone fall in love after suffering like this?" Maia reassessed her grand-aunt as a strange masochist. Recalling the image of Oscar punching her in the face, veins popped over her face as his face imprinted in her mind. "I'm not deranged like my master; I'll pay this back."

…….

Staring into the distance, Oscar dropped to his rear, took out another healing elixir from his space pocket, and drank it. The effects helped to lessen the burns to the extent that Oscar could let them naturally heal. He did not want to waste more healing elixirs, so he applied salve and bandages to his wounds.

Austin and Erik were also recuperating by his side. Oscar looked worryingly at Erik, who had suffered the worst injuries, downing multiple healing elixirs to recover. He passed the bandages and salves to Erik, who graciously accepted.

In no time, Erik had become a mummy, with his eyes the only thing uncovered. "Thanks, the salve is so soothing."

"The battle seemed harsh." Oscar drank some water to moisten his dry throat. "It's good that you're alive. If you died under my watch, I would feel guilty."

"If he died, don't let the guilt take you. You all decided to come here, so death is death. The key is to keep to the objective and move on." Austin chimed in with unkind words. However, he smiled slightly soon after. "But it is good that you're alive, both of you."

"Me too!" Erik nearly cried.

"Excuse me…." A voice called for them from behind. Oscar and the others turned to find Susan, Kelvin, Esther, and Uren had woken up and recovered. The group bowed deeply and expressed their gratitude. "Thank you for saving us. If not for your help, we would have been captured."

"Don't think too much about it," Oscar smiled. "We're fellow students. It's good to see everyone is safe."

Susan cried tears of joy. She used her waters to heal Oscar and the others more, a refreshingly cool sensation that washed over them. Kelvin took out some rations and shared them with Oscar and the others.

Oscar laughed as they enjoyed their food and talked. Susan and Kelvin could not stop thanking them while Esther and Uren embraced each other happily. Erik laid down to rest up while Austin kept his eyes focused on their surroundings.

"I admire you!" Kelvin shouted and stared at Oscar in a starstruck manner.

"What?" Oscar tilted his head in confusion; his mouth was full of bread. He gulped and finished it off with water. "What are you saying?"

"I couldn't move because of my exhaustion, but I heard everything going on." Kelvin scratched his cheek in embarrassment because he could not do anything to help. "But you stood before the grade-eight genius to protect us and even forced her back. You're only a grade-four Exolsia and so strong."

Susan, Esther, and Uren all looked taken aback, their eyes locked on Oscar in disbelief. The mere idea of a grade-four Exolsia standing up against a grade-eight Exolsia seemed impossible, but Oscar had turned that notion on top of its head.

Then Esther exclaimed, "Ah! Aren't you a part of the princess's group? I think I've seen you from time to time with them."

"Oh! He is! I recognize him." Susan nodded.

"Am I famous or something?" Oscar rubbed the back of his head, biting into another piece of bread.

"Not really, but you sometimes come up in conversations about why you were in her group. None of them acted against you because, for one, it's the princess, and for the other, you seemed to be very reserved. If you overstepped your boundaries, I have no doubt many people would come knocking at your door to trouble you." Uren seemed to be interested in the interpersonal relationships within the Pavilion.

"Of course, he isn't ordinary. He fought back that witch. If he wasn't special, then how could he be allowed in the princess' group." Kelvin defended Oscar.

"None of us are doubting that." The others responded with wry smiles.

Oscar sighed. He wondered how they would react if he told them about how he had overstepped the so-called boundaries many times with Celestina, such as being her reading partner and going on a duo mission with her. Thankfully, Celestina had been very prudent in avoiding dragging him into such idiotic conflicts, and he had worked hard to maintain a certain distance in public.

"Special, huh…." His mind turned to Kelvin's statement believing it to be false. From what he could see, Maia was two or three years younger than him. By all means, with a grade-eight Exolsia, she should have been a Middle Elite Exalt by now and not been in this region. 'But since we were about equal as Exalts, the Reis and advanced Prinstyct allowed me to even out against her. The next time we meet, though, she might be stronger than me.'

He didn't feel like he was anything special. Indeed he had unique opportunities thrust upon him, but they always came with horrific suffering and walking near the edge of death. If he were special, as Kelvin believed, he wouldn't need to do such things for power.

"The rest of you can head back and rest. We still have something to do here." Oscar stood up, feeling his deer anima had recovered in his core.

"Are you sure?" Kelvin and the others looked worried.

Oscar cracked his neck as Austin and Erik leaped to their feet. "It's nothing too troublesome. You deserve a long rest after today's ordeal."

"Ok, goodbye. But if you ever need anything, let us know!" Kelvin shook Oscar's hand and departed with the others out of view.

After seeing the coast was clear, Austin turned to Oscar. "So, what's up?"

"It's this fellow's turn." Oscar took out Gol-4 from his space pocket. The head's glass eyes began to emit a blue glow. "Wake up, Gol-4. Tell us about this region."