--Cinnamon--

“The situation is really bad isn’t it?” I said after surveying the state of the village from the sky. The Church had now completely broken through the treeline and the bulk of their forces were pouring into the village. The witches efforts were commendable as they kept up a hard defense, but there were simply too many enemies to defeat. Kukis, Suina and I were forced to retreat as well due to the sheer difference in numbers, and now with the momentum the church had gained there was next to no chance of defeating them. As proof, a window appeared in front of me.

[Quest Failed] - Defeat the Invaders

[New Quest] - Evacuate the Village

[Objective] - Assist the witches in escaping the village. Every witch successfully evacuated adds to your total contribution.

[Failure Condition] - None.

“You’re telling me… where can we go though? There’s no way we’re slipping past the church like this.” Kukis unsteadily floated beside me. The girl had done very well considering the disadvantageous conditions she faced for the past hour or so.

“I hope you haven’t forgotten about the fountain’s teleportation array.” Suina said as she passed by us. Her speed kept us from even responding as we could only watch her fly away. As the witches were killed her face slowly became more grim, and at this point there were even traces of... anger in her expression. I still have slight problems in discerning the exact emotions a person feels on their face, but Q told me that it’s only a matter of experience.

“The fountain! Right! Come on Cinn, let’s help out the ones still fighting!” Kukis descended into the battlefield once more. As her suggestion doesn’t conflict with Q’s earlier order I decided to follow her. All around us were witches with various injuries. I healed some of the ones with more serious and fatal injuries in an attempt to keep them alive. Q did ask me to help as many as I could after all. Kukis also used her potions without restraint. The two of us continued to fly low healing the witches, and once Kukis’ potions ran out she returned to the edge of the village to assist them.

Just as I was going to join her, I noticed a flash of red from the corner of my eyes. Turning my attention to the source of the red color, I instantly recognized it as Q. The only problem was that she was being chased by multiple flashes of golden light numbering at least twenty. Q also noticed my presence, and she began heading towards me. I flew up higher to match her elevation, then kept flying at a pace she could easily catch up to.

In no time she was next to me and grabbed my arm. “Fly faster!” She commanded. With her order received I flapped my wings with more effort and managed to match her pace. “Sorry about this Cinn, but there’s no one else I can trust with this.” She quickly glanced behind her, and I did as well. Her pursuers were a large group of Sunlight Warriors, and one priest at the back with an intricate, detailed robe that radiated immense magical energy.

“I thought pissing off the sparkly priest would disrupt the soldiers formation, but apparently someone else is giving out orders.” She said quickly with traces of impatience in her tone. “Instead he’s chasing me with a bunch of elites. Normally this would be okay since they’re not focused on anyone else, but I saw Brie and Phanos in trouble earlier. I have to help them, but I can’t get these guys off my back.”

“I understand.” I nodded with conviction. I stopped flying and turned around to face her pursuers.

“Really sorry about this Cinn!” Q said as she flew off. “I’ll do anything you want later to make up for it, so please hold them off for a while! Also, I give you permission to run at maximum efficiency. I’m counting on you!”

“Anything… anything… hehehe.” A wide smile made its way onto my face. Removing my limiters, I prepared to take on Q’s pursuers. “Will she be happier if I kill them all? Hehehe…”

--Q--

I feel terrible about leaving Cinn to deal with those guys, but I have no choice. No one else I know has the capability to hold back those guys for a decent amount of time except for Phanos and Brie, but they’re in no state to help. I dove into one of the various alleyways to break line of sight with my pursuers. From behind I could hear sounds of an amazing battle being fought. Suppressing a frown, I began to circle back towards the place where I last saw Brie and Phanos.

On the way I happened to spot Kukis fighting against some players. The way she used and combined her spells and various potions was incredible as it completely disrupted the other player’s movements and allowed her to land some killing blows. It’s pretty interesting to see how far she’s come. I can still remember the time she constantly complained in the event battle back in the town of Foria… Actually, she still complains a lot doesn’t she? That aside, I dashed up behind her and instantly pulled her back.

“-Ghk! What the- Q?”

“No time to explain, get on the staff!” I yelled as I began drawing a rune-circle for [Light Dash]. Kukis managed to make her way onto my staff and sat behind me. I concentrated for a moment, and said, “Don’t bite your tongue.” Then I activated the rune circle.

“What do you me-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

We sped through the alleyways of the village with incredible speed (comparable to my maximum speed when flying). Kukis kept screaming into my ears but there was nothing I could do about that. After all it looked like we were about to crash into walls multiple times but I always pulled away at the last second. For some reason when using [Light Dash] inertia gets all weird and I don’t have to put a lot of effort into changing direction. Anyway, we finally approached the area where I last saw Brie and Phanos, and it didn’t take a lot of effort to find them as there were various grunts and screams coming from our left.

Leading up to their position were countless bodies littering the ground. A few more turns allowed us to catch sight of a group of various soldiers and Sunlight Warriors cornering Brie and Phanos into the corner of an alleyway. Phanos looked battered and bruised, and at some point her eyepatch must have come off as her normally covered red eye was glowing with incredible intensity. Brie on the other hand… I have no idea what happened but it looked like she was suffering from PTSD or something as she was trembling and curled into the fetal position.

Feeling anger at the soldiers who cornered them this far I leapt off my staff and yelled “Dynamic entry!” as I hit the Sunlight Warrior at the front with a flying kick. Apparently I had enough momentum to kill the warrior as he was sent flying into a wall and didn’t move an inch. Phanos looked surprised to see me but her hostility didn’t fade as it seemed like she was prepared to attack me as well.

“Q!!!” Kukis screamed.

Oops. Almost forgot about her. I directed the staff to fly into circles and slow down while I turned around and began to bombard the soldiers with my runes. I wasn’t able to see what was going on behind me, but I felt some incredible animosity radiating off of Phanos. I was seriously worried for my own safety for a moment but when a knife flew forward and hit a soldier’s throat, I felt relieved. Phanos walked up beside me and whispered, “I’ll deal with you later,” before rushing forward to attack the soldiers.

I took a glance behind me to see that Kukis had gotten off my staff and was trying to comfort Brie who kept pushing her away. For now I focused on taking out the enemies in front of me. I had my staff fly back into my hands and used it to create a large amplify rune gate. I began charging up [Charge Spark], and once it was at full power I yelled, “Duck!” then let loose a blast of electricity which fried the soldiers in front of us. A few of the Sunlight Warriors were still standing, but a few quick slices from Phanos’ knives ended them.

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Just as I thought everything was over, Phanos quickly turned on me and pinned me against a wall as she pressed a knife to my throat. “W-woah! Let’s not be hasty here.”

“...” Phanos remained silent, but her expression told me more than enough. She seriously wanted to kill me right now. Noting that she wasn’t saying anything, I tried to reason with her.

“I don’t know why you want to kill me-” The knife was pressed harder against my throat. “B-but you should get Brie out of this place first, right? You can uh, kill me after that.”

Phanos looked incredibly conflicted for a while, but eventually she backed off. She remained silent though, which is what unnerved me the most. I let out a sigh of relief now that the knife was away from my throat, but what caught my eye almost made me choke. I always had the ‘party’ section of my HUD in the top left of my view, and for the first time ever one of the names disappeared. Cinn… I’m really sorry.

Apparently the others noticed that as well and all displayed various reactions. Before we could even talk about it I heard a shout from the distance. “The blast of lightning came from over here!”

Damn. My pursuers caught up quick. Just as we were about to leave the alleyway it was closed off by a bunch of Sunlight Warriors and a disheveled looking priest. I noticed that their numbers were significantly reduced, thanks to Cinnamon. “Cookie, cover!” I yelled as I began to create some runes and invoked a skill. Kukis followed up by throwing a large vial which made a smokescreen, and Phanos stabbed something in the ground which made our surroundings slightly hazy.

“I felt them run by! This way!” One of the warriors yelled. I heard footsteps retreating from our position, and when they faded into the distance I let out the breath I was holding.

“I can’t believe that worked…” I looked around myself. Right now we were all crouched down around the object Phanos put in the ground. According to my status screen it had the effect of erasing presences and impairing vision. That’s a pretty amazing buff. I then scratched the ears of the animal which snuggled up to my side. “Thanks Wolfy. Will those other wolves be okay?”

*Growl*

“If you say so.” The skill I used earlier was to summon Wolfy, and I had some of the extra wolves brush by the Warriors and run in some other direction. There were two other wolves left behind for extra protection. “Phanos, let’s fly out of here?” I suggested.

“I’m not letting Milady near you.” Phanos finally spoke, but her words were laced with venom.

“Well I can’t fly that well by myself, so other people joining me is a no-go.” Kukis spoke up. “That leaves…” She trailed off as she stared at Wolfy.

“Will you be okay with two people riding you?” I asked Wolfy. He was large enough that he could even carry three people of my size, but it might impact his speed.

*Growl*

“Okay. You’re fine with that right Phanos?”

“...Fine.” Phanos made her way to Brie and slowly coaxed her onto Wolfy’s back.

Now that we were all ready to move we slowly made our way to the center of the village. On the way I kept checking on Brie, but Phanos’ evil glares made me look away. The sounds of conflict gradually became louder, and at one point we even heard a large explosion somewhere in the distance. I flew a little higher to check on it and it turned out that the experimental district was on fire. Various chemicals and other items were still left back there which caused a huge mess once the fire reached it.

From my height I also noticed that the witches were now pushed to the village square, and made an effort to repel the church’s forces who were now advancing through the main streets. At the village square were many witches who went into the fountain, teleporting to wherever it lead. There was also a large barrier surrounding it, and I noticed quite a few of the Grand Witches struggling to maintain it as players and soldiers alike bombarded it with long-ranged attacks.

“Q!” Kukis yelled. I looked over to where she was pointing and saw some players and soldiers closing in on Brie and Phanos. I took one last look around and realized that there were no longer that many soldiers on the outskirts of the village as most of them occupied the streets and alleyways. This meant that trying to break through to the center of the village would be incredibly difficult, and we couldn’t possibly manage that with Brie in her current state. Making a split second decision I threw Schorl (who until now, remained coiled around my ear) and ordered it to protect Phanos and Brie.

“Wolfy, run outside the village, and don’t stop!”

*Awoooooo!* Wolfy howled and dashed away with its other wolves following closely.

“What are-” Phanos words were cut off as she finally noticed the players and soldiers pursuing her. Kukis and I grabbed their attention by attacking with some powerful spells, and they eventually stopped following the two girls. I no longer paid attention to Phanos as I had to deal with the attacks which were now directed at me. Please make it out safely. I prayed in my heart.

While those two ran off, Kukis and I struggled to get past the mass of soldiers who began attacking upon spotting us. I had to burn through a lot of the mana potions I had been saving up as I furiously created barriers and shields to get us through this. We were somehow able to get through the attacks, but now the barrier the witches created kept us from getting inside. I wondered what to do when suddenly a small portion of the barrier opened up. We headed inside and were greeted by the remaining witches inside.

“Ah Q, Kukis, you’re both alright.” Pamerun wiped off the sweat on her brow.

“I wish I could say the same about you all. How many made it?” I looked at the upside-down fountain where witches were still constantly entering into.

“I would say at least half of the village’s inhabitants, maybe more. What bothers me is that three of the Grand Witches haven’t responded to any of my calls. Ooh, I feel so terrible right now.” Her lips trembled and it looked like she was ready to break down at any moment. I wasn’t entirely sure what to say at this moment, but before I could think of anything the barrier shook violently and Pamerun’s face paled as it flickered and threatened to disappear.

I searched for the source of the attack and found the sparkly priest floating in the air above us. By now the remaining survivors were inside the barrier which was now completely surrounded by the Church’s forces. “Hahaha! Do you feel like giving up now you damn witches?” The sparkly priest said. “I will personally oversee all your bodies cleansed with Luxus’ light!”

“God I want to punch him in the face…” I clenched my fist in frustration.

“N-now’s not the time for that.” Pamerun now looked completely exhausted as she struggled to maintain the barrier. “Please head into the fountain. I need to shut it off from this side so they can’t follow us through.”

“...Are you stupid!?” Kukis suddenly shouted. “You have your people to lead! You should be the one heading into the fountain right now!”

“B-but I have to-”

“God, why do you people care about our lives when you’re the ones who can’t come back after dying!? Leave this to us!” Kukis then forcefully pushed Pamerun through the fountain (and was able to do so since she was too tired to resist). By now there was no one left around us and the barrier began to dissipate. “Okay Q, buy me a few seconds of time so I can-”

“Nope.” I pushed Kukis into the fountain as well. I grinned slightly when I saw her dumbfounded face as she passed through the teleportation array. I quickly created a Null rune and filled it with as much mana as I could, then shot it at the fountain and activated it. The effects were slow, but it eventually erased the teleportation array. For a moment I considered entering the array myself and then activating the rune, but I had no guarantee that it would work so I decided not to risk it.

Now the fountain fell the ground, and at the same time the barrier finally went down. Ignoring the glares of the various soldiers I climbed up onto the fountain and stared at the sparkly priest. “Yo Sparkles, are you satisfied with this?” I sneered.

“Sparkles!?” The sparkly priest’s face clouded with rage.

“Didn’t think so. And what about you all? Is this what you wanted?” I directed my next question to the various players who were beginning to look unsure.

“Silence! Such insolence shall not be forgiven! Feel the wrath of Luxus’ light!” The sparkly priest let out a blast of light magic which I just barely managed to dodge. It grazed my right hand though, and I held it in my left to cover it as it was in extreme pain. My health showed that the priest’s single attack was enough to shave away more than half of it. I secretly activated a skill as I continued to talk and buy time.

“Just what was your goal in this Sparkles? Complete genocide of the witches?”

“Of course!”

“Heheh… hahaha! You think that you’re any match for the witches when you had to use cowardly tricks and underhanded tactics to push them this far? You’d be beaten in an instant if you went against any of them one on one.” I began to rile up the sparkly priest.

“Grr! Kill her now!” Multiple soldiers began closing in on me while archers and mages lined up their shots.

“Listen up Sparkles!” I was running out of time but I felt like I had to say these final words. “The witches aren’t going to stay silent and take this lying down. We WILL fight back, and I guarantee that your church will be finished.” Apparently those words were the trigger for something, as a new window appeared in front of me.

[Quest Complete] - Evacuate the Village

[New Quest] - Divine Retribution

[Objective] - Destroy the Church of Luxus.

[Failure Condition] - Unknown

Before anything else could be said, I struck the ground with my right hand. “Arcane Overload!” I yelled (Yelling it wasn’t actually necessary, but it felt better to do so). It took me a while to imagine the rune circle with a configuration for [Arcane Overload], but I was able to do it and even charge it up with the rest of my mana. As soon as my fist made contact with the ground a bright light appeared and began to engulf the surroundings. My vision was dyed white and I was slightly aware of an arrow striking my heart as my consciousness faded away…

*****

Deep in the forest of fog a wolf sprinted through the trees with two people on its back. His body was covered in various wounds, and the two wolves which accompanied him had long since disappeared. With the help of the Geode Salamander on his head he was able to get out of the village and into the forest. The wolf obeyed his master’s orders as he continued to run without stopping. Suddenly, he felt a sense of loss and stopped running as he looked back to the direction of the village. From that direction a large wave of mana could be felt. The wolf didn’t have time to think about it though, as his body began to fade away. The two people on his back fell off, and the wolf looked up to the sky as it vanished from this world.

“...Let’s find a safe place to logout milady.” Phanos supported Brie and the two of them left the area.