Forlorn

"Who are you!"

Both Carfeld and Sylias stood infront of eachother at a great distance, one, waiting in confusion and anxiety, while the other one, waiting in disappointment with buried feelings, no words were exchanged, yet those moments felt like a long conversation, at which one side overwhelmed the other.

Sylias lifted hear head up until her eyes was facing the cave ceiling while saying..

"I have never expected there would be someone, let alone an entire group– Barging into my property like that."

"And— We met again."

While her head was still facing upwards, her eyes however shifted to focusing on Carfeld, the red glows that is emanating from it is giving off unexplainable discomfort to Carfeld personally.

'!!!!'

Carfeld's body trembled as he felt goosebumps like never before.

'What?–

"Carfeld, who is that, do you know her?" Said Davira, her voice are visibly anxious.

'No, no.. No, there's no way, there is no way...'

Carfeld's heart started to beat aggressively, his face can be seen sweating, beneath that armor of his, millions of adrenaline released in his body, frantically running towards his brain, until that sense of fear kicked in.

"R- r- run.." He said with a quiet tone.

"Captain?.." One of the special knight asked, not hearing what Carfeld just said.

Thump..

Suddenly, Sylias took a step closer towards Carfeld and his group, her movement are slow, but with each step, a subtle shadowy smoke appeared beneath her legs, as if her steps was cursed by a demon.

"EVERYONE PREPARE FOR BATTLE!"

"H- Huh!? Wait Carfeld, what happened?!"

"DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE HER! FIGHT WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE!"

"SHIT, seems like we met something way more dangerous than before— Use your aura to the maximum output."

The cave was filled with bright flames and other elemental auras, all of which are burning like a wildfire, Carfeld then urges the remaining two knights to stay behind and don't come to the front under any circumstances.

"Both of you, stay behind, didn't i said that you need to survive?."

Davira, Rezio, and Deter with his mercenary group, all held their weapons tight around their hands, they were preparing to launch the first attack, their body is telling them to move, they need to strike first, yet, even after all that fiery scene, no one moved even a single step towards Sylias, while she kept on taking more steps and getting closer and closer to them.

'I- i can't see any opening at all! What is this.. Her whole body is floppy, she didn't have any weapon on her! But why can't i see myself hitting the attacks!' Deter thought.

'No matter what part i chose to attack first, its like she will either dodge or countered it with certainty!! She's dangerous, i get why Captain is acting like that now, in my 20 years of being a mercenary, i've never seen anyone like that demihuman..'

"FUCK! AAGGHH— UGHAKK?!!"

Deter was about to charge, he was ready to run and swings his claymore at Sylias's face, but at the exact moment where he was gonna move his leg, his heart stopped beating for a split second, he panicked and immediately lose control over his body, he can't move or feel his leg nor arm, at all.

Not only him, but everyone else was also experiencing the same thing, Carfeld, Davira, Rezio, the other special knights, Moseth, and Lyra, they're also frozen in place, their body was shaking, but they won't move from their place, their aura is still burning fiercely, but there was nothing to attack.

And that's when they realize, Sylias is still moving towards them, she is now infront of Carfeld, head to head, eyes to eyes.

"Your face changed— Just a little bit."

Sylias moved around Carfeld's body, circling him and also the other people behind him.

The people around Sylias are too focused on her to the point where they couldn't see the luminescent light above each of their head, the light came from Sylias's magic, it creates an almost invisible barrier that restricts movement for anyone inside, but it also had some illusionary trait, for the people inside, they wouldn't be able to see the barrier unless they look up to the luminous light that is hovering above their head.

"I can roughly guess why you're all here— The mithrils?"

As soon as she said Mithril, Rezio's eyes widen, his pupils shrinking in fear as Sylias's words was hitting him in the right spot.

She realized this since Sylias was at that time looking at Rezio, and it made her smile for a little while, although her smile might not even be categorized as a genuine smile, her lips still moved.

"I heard a lot of noises a while back, you lots are disrupting the forest right? When i checked at the location, there was a corpse of Chimera and Two-Headed Giant Snake, from the looks of it, it seems like they fought to death."

"And, you know what else i found? Corpses of knights— It must be devastating to lose your comrades like that."

"I sensed all of you even before you entered the cave, but my mind was curious you see, and im also thinking of doing something fun after living alone for so long."

Sylias then headed towards the two knights that survived the disaster against the chimera and giant snake, she moved her head close to one of them, giving him a nice and quick staredown, she also rubbed his chin, thinking that the knight infront of her is just a poor child.

"A weak being like you, forced to survive– You'll be free from now."

STAB!

Sylias pierced the knight's chest using just her arm, her palm appeared at the back of that knight as the blood and organs were splattered all across the cave floor, her hand is also covered in blood, the thought of killing doesn't matter to Sylias anymore, she had lost it years ago.

The other knight that is witnessing the murder happening infront of his eyes can't help but cry silently, his tears gushed out from his eyes, and he could barely move his mouth, he can't scream, he can't move, all he could do is see and feel the air surrounding him.

The knight's breath became heavy, there was a vague steam coming from his mout everytime he took a breath, his head armor, stuck ontop of his head, is shaking violently with loud clanking sound as he can't hold himself from the panic.

"Are you scared? don't be scared, im merely freeing you from your suffering."

"MMFRFGHH!!"

"Huh?"

Sylias turned back to see Carfeld's head facing to her direction, he somehow managed to move his body out of anger and also hatred towards her, he also let out a sound from his mouth, but it was nowhere near a comprehensible language.

"Seriously?..." Sylias said in disbelief.

"MFFRGGHH!! GRR!!"

"Heeee.. "

Seeing Carfeld being so desperate to reach her gave Sylias new idea that she wants to try for him, she held the knight behind her on his neck and brought him infront of Carfeld, at that time Carfeld immediately screamed even louder, his voice kept uttering nonsense that should not be understandable, but everyone did anyway, he was pleading, his body was stuck in the exact position when he was preparing to fight with Sylias, he can't do anything other than watch, that's why, Carfeld pleads mercy to Sylias, hoping that she might spare the poor knight from her grasp.

"What's so special about this guy anyway? He's just like any other knights, he doesn't have any worth in this place."

STAB!

A pair of hand protruded out of the Knight's chest, it appeared right in Carfeld's face, dirtying him with the knight's blood, Sylias killed the last knight on Carfeld's group, it was truly a horrifying sight to see, it was her intention the whole time to see Carfeld's hopeless face, she wants to see him specifically screams in agony, and she have succeeded in doing so.

With a smile on her face, Sylias pulled her bloody hand back and snapped her finger with a loud click.

[ Sylias's 4th Class "Lumina Noctis" Spell ]

< Imperceptible Boundary >

The barrier that is restricting Carfeld and his comrade's movement has now gone and broken, due to the sudden feel of their body, many of them fall to the ground, including Davira and Rezio.

"DIE!!"

< HELLFIRE LOOP! >

Carfeld screamed and instantly attacks Sylias after he regained control of his body, a circle of flame conjured right at Carfeld's blade as he spin around like a tornado, the fire enlarged, becoming similar to a sea, however the area behind him where everyone else was located, didn't get burned by his fire, instead all of the attacks was moving towards Sylias.

BOOM!!

With a loud bang, the cave entrance was destroyed, fire spreads all around the area, almost burning the plants and causing a massive fire to the whole forest, as for Sylias's situation, she flew out of the cave and fell to the ground near the trees.

"Quite a nice technique you have there."