The Second Time

"Quite a nice technique you have there."

Sylias stood up from the ground, her clothes dirtied because of the impact, she brushed it off for a bit before looking towards the cave entrance once again.

Even though she just received a really strong attack from Carfeld, she seems unfazed by the aftermath, there was no visible injury on her body, let alone blood.

'I thought he's just a weak knight, but that attack earlier, if it were to directly hit a Chimera, it would most likely be fatal.'

Back to the cave, Davira and everybody else that is still alive quickly rushed to Carfeld after he used that skill from earlier, as soon as the skill has worn out, Carfeld suddenly fell on his knees, he seems exhausted, and for some, they knew that Carfeld had used all of his energy to use that aura skill.

"CARFELD! CARFELD!!"

"CAPTAIN!'

Both Davira and Rezio helped Carfeld stands up, they placed his hands around their shoulder and guide him to the cave walls so that he can have something to lean on.

"He used all of his energy, is that demihuman girl really that dangerous?" Deter asked.

Those that used Aura earlier, now have deactivated them, all of those flames on their blade disappeared gradually with a sound similar to fire being put out with water.

"W- what should we do now?" Lyra said anxiously.

"Can we transfer some mana to captain's body?.."

"No, Aura and Magic are two different things, although they work quite similarly, they both used a different type of fuel for it to be used, while magic uses mana, Aura can only be activated using one's energy that is accumulated through harsh training." Deter answered.

"That's right, and unlike mana, Energy cannot be transferred, we just need to let Captain rest for now, he will regain his energy after a while.."

"How long?.."

"W- well, it all depends on who the person is, i can't guess the exact time, but on average it would take 5 hours.."

"5 HOURS!?.."

"Everyone— Im fine, really, just give me 20 minutes.." Carfeld suddenly said.

"But..."

It should be fine to wait 20 minutes, that's what they thought, but what they didn't thought is expecting whether Sylias survived the attack or not and would reappeared at the cave entrance.

"Looks like your captain is not on a great condition."

Just when everyone in the cave thought that everything would be fine, the lingering feeling of anxiety that they have been burrowing deep inside their mind turned out to be true, at the cave entrance, they saw Sylias, standing like a statue, staring at them with her crimson eyes, her tail wags like a slow moving swing in the park, and her face were engraved with an evil smile that would scare even a pack of wolves.

"A- ah.."

"That bitch actually survived?— No, not only that, she is unharmed!"

"All of you be careful, we're not going to let the same situation happened twice, protect our captain and use everything you have to kill that demihuman!"

"GO!"

Everyone began charging towards Sylias, they lifted their weapons, use their aura, and is preparing to attack, it's a 7 against 1, with just number alone, the expedition group shouldn't have a hard time fighting Sylias, after all they've only seen her using < Imperceptible Boundary >.

On the other hand, Carfeld who is sitting down and is trying to gather as much Energy as he could within such a short amount of time, felt a strong headache in his head, while he was focusing on gathering Energies, he had a few moments where a split second of his memories when he was at the forest 3 years ago appeared in his mind.

Each fragment of those memories slowly filled the blank puzzle that he had been dying to know the answer, he saw the Two-Headed Giant Snake, when he was about to get eaten, the mysterious wind slash, and also a familiar voice that sounded feminine.

'Urgh, w- what is this.. Stop, stop it, come on.. Focus, focus..'

"STOP!! WHO ARE YOU!?! HEY!!"

"You're not supposed to be here."

"W- what are you trying to do.."

"— This poison also has the capability to wipe out memories."

"𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓗𝓗𝓗𝓗𝓗𝓗𝓗𝓗𝓗"

Suddenly, Carfeld's eyes opened in shock after all of the locked memories that he once have came back to him.

"GAAHH!!?"

"Urkk.. gulp"

He almost threw up at the thought of him entering his mind where he witnessed the fall of his family and everything that he loved, he remembered that incident, but he didn't remember seeing the moment from another perspective and also after he had grown up, Carfeld saw his dead sister again for the third time, now in another vision where he could see everything that is unfolding at his sister's location, while he was shamelessly hiding from the assassin, his sister was in the garden, crushed brutally by the heavy building.

'H- Huh!? w- why did i remember that now?.. Why— That girl..'

Carfeld's expression turned to horror, his eye pupils were shaking, and his mouth kept taking heavy breaths erratically.

'She's the ruler— haha.. hahaha.. We're done for.'

He looked at Sylias who is fighting against the whole expedition group, they all used various aura skills that they possessed, barrage of attacks were thrown at Sylias continuously.

Fire, water, wind, all of those elements formed an intricate yet beautiful set of arrangement that is used as a way to attack, they're all created from energies that came from intense hard work, each one of the skill grazed Sylias, but it was not enough to injure her, with a symphonic movement she dodged every skill with perfection, she jumped, she rolled, and she spins.

"Who am i in this world, i don't understand, is it fate? or my destiny, for a useless piece of trash that is unwanted by the stars, why am i given the opportunity to shine? You tell me." Sylias said as she kept dodging all of the sword slashes.

'FUCK! WHY CAN'T I HIT HER!?'

'She is dodging our attacks effortlessly! At this rate we're going to run out of energy, just like Carfeld!'

The knight's aura skill was certainly deadly, but it would mean nothing if it didn't hit the target.

< FLAME BOMB! >

"Huh?."

BOOM!

Out of nowhere, a magic circle appeared at the cave ceiling ontop of Sylias, soon, a giant ball of red fire fall down like a meteor, hitting Sylias directly, and causing immediate explosion that shakes the entire cave, rock debris flies at every direction, Davira, Rezio Deter, and the other special knights fortunately have backed away right before Moseth casted his spell, from the looks of it, Sylias was hit by the fire ball and they didn't see her dodging or dashed away from the location, chances are she must be injured.

"Nice work, Moseth."

The cliff where the cave entrance was located got partially destroyed by the explosion, after the first destruction that came from Carfeld's aura skill, now Moseth also took part in the reason for the cliff's reformation, the cave celing is now gone, they are back outside, the stars and moon are staring at them yet again.

"We're not done yet, until we confirmed that demihuman's death, we should not, at any given moment, lower our guard, everyone keep your heads up." Rezio warned.

"A- AGGHH!! AGAGH!!"

Carfeld screamed from behind, he doesn't seem to have said any words, but nonetheless the group quickly turned back to see him, just incase if Sylias were to target him after disappering from the < Flame Bomb >.

"Carfeld! what is it?!"

"Hey hey, he's trying to say something!"

The group ran over to him, and they helped Carfeld stand up from the ground, now he was able to stand with his feet, but for some reason his face looks terrible than usual.

'Is he scared, what happened?..'

'That face— I've seen it before, that's the same face i would see when someone saw unimaginable horrors beyond comprehension, why is Captain showing that face– Don't tell me..'

"Y- you guys.. Run, run.."

"That demihuman, you don't understand it, none of you understand it, she is way more dangerous than you think, way, way more dangerous, we need to get out, please hear me, i don't want to see anyone die again.."

Everyone's face are starting to show sign of anxiety, they couldn't believe their captain would say that, but they want to believe him, if Sylias were the reason why Carfeld's expression turned out to be like that, then that means what he's saying is true.

"— Carfeld, calm down, we'll trust you.. Everyone, change of plan, we'll run away from this place, right now, don't fight that demihuman, just try to escape, if she attacks us, then one of us will buy some time before joining back, got it?"

"Got it."

"Yes"

"Nod"

***

"Hooohh, i was wondering when you'll eventually realize, but it seems like that time is now."

Sylias appeared at the top of the cliff where it hasn't been destroyed, she was sitting at the edge with her legs kicking back and forth, she stared at the group, ready to see their next action and also her next action aswell.