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From far away, Erin had perceived a chapel of sorts atop the hill. But now, even when she was already halfway up the hill, she could no longer see the chapel. There were only ropes of smoke trailing into the sky. The heat was intense. It scorched her even though she was still some distance away from the smoke. Whatever transpired while she was unconscious, it was a dire change.

Aera had run on ahead. She should have reached the top of the hill by now and there was where the smoke was coming from. She did not hear any loud noises from atop the hill. Given Aera’s berserking nature, there should have been a lot of noise or at least hints of movements. However, there was nothing. Not a sound or a hint of movement. Erin had a bad feeling about it.

Erin picked up her pace but without her Lightning Magic, she could no longer run as fast as before. However, she was more agile than before as if her body had become lighter. Overall, she was slower in terms of raw speed but faster when it came to making quick and sudden movements.

A bizarre sight greeted Erin once she reached the top. The chapel was no longer there, reduced to ashes. In the centre of the burned-down structure, there was Aedan, lying unconscious in the midst of all this scorching heat. At the very least, he looked to be unharmed, unlike the two charred corpses that lay near him. Erin didn’t know who they were and she didn’t care.

Erin heaved a sigh of relief. Then, her attention turned towards Aera who was kneeling in front of a girl with dark red hair that cascaded down her body until her waist. Aera seemed to have exhausted herself fighting the girl. She was no longer in her Wrathmonger state. Burnt marks riddled her body. The girl, donned in armoured battle robes, looked up from Aera.

“Lady Erynthea, I presumed?”

Erin tightened her grip on her sword. “And you are?” Erin didn’t know the girl’s name but she knew what she was.

“Shauna.”

“Well, Shauna, fuck off. Make yourself scarce.”

“I will after I deal with the two of you.”

No more words were needed. She was an enemy, plain and simple. Erin raised her sword and charged at the girl.

“Hmm. You’re more foolish than I expected,” Shauna muttered dryly and waved her hand.

Flames burst forth from the ground and rushed towards Erin. Instead of leaping over the flames, Erin slashed her way through the flames without her blade turning a single shade of colour.

Shauna’s hand danced in the air once more and flames erupted around Erin.

“Parlour tricks,” Erin scoffed and twirled with her sword lashing out. The flames that surrounded her were dispersed with a single slash that encompassed a complete circle.

“Impossible. That’s no Magic Art. How are you—”

“Who knows?” Erin shrugged. That was no magic nor any sort of Arcane Art. She could no longer use them. Mystic Blade, unfortunately, was one of the many Arcane Arts that she had lost access to. However, all was not lost. She could cut air, sound, and energy when she was still Argon Raze. Now, she had regained the strength of her prime, cutting flames was nothing to her.

Shauna clicked her tongue. “It’s a shame that I’m pressed for time,” she said and turned her back to Erin before walking towards Aedan.

It was a wonderful opportunity and Erin couldn’t just ignore it. She lunged at the window— but the appearance of four individuals snatched that opportunity. The four were all fully-armoured and dragon motifs were engraved all over their armour.

“You know what you have to do,” Shauna said and hoisted Aedan onto her shoulders before taking off.

Erin tried to give chase but the four Aerysians stood in her way. “Get out of my way!” she growled as she emitted a dark pink mist.

“Avoid it!” One of them shouted and they hopped away from the spreading mist.

Erin dashed through the gap that they inadvertently created momentarily.

Realising their mistake, the four tried to regroup and stop Erin.

Instead of continuing to run, Erin stopped and turned around suddenly, brandishing her sword.

“A ruse!” One of the four realised but it was too late for two of them.

There was still some distance between them and Erin’s sword but the reach of her blade was deceptive. She lopped off the heads of two Aerysians while also shattering their swords in which they raised to defend themselves.

Erin couldn’t help but be impressed and also baffled at the same time. Despite losing the System, she could still use Bespoke or an ability similar to it. It was nothing short of a miracle and a mystery. What was even more mysterious and amazing was that the quality of the weapon she crafted through this means was better than ever before. She had two speculations about this phenomenon. The first one was that this was a Divine Gift but if it was, Nyx would have surely let her know. The second guess was that losing the System didn’t mean losing the ability to use magic or any sort of Arcane Art. Perhaps with enough practice, she could regain the Arcane Arts she lost.

While entertaining such thoughts, the two remaining Aerysians decided to avenge their fallen companions. To them, Erin seemed to be in a daze after decapitating their siblings in faith. There was no better time than now.

Erin glanced at them, seemingly snapping out of her daze. “Slow and rough,” Erin muttered and let her sword flourish. She parried both of the attacks, penetrating their guards, and slit their throats through the gaps between their armour pieces.

Out of the two, one immediately collapsed to the ground while the other one remained standing but staggering.

“Oh? You’re more resilient than your friends.”

“Curse you!” the Aerysian growled, clutching his throat but his armour was in the way.

“Curse yourself for making me an enemy.”

The Aerysian screeched incoherently and threw himself at Erin in some kind of a final act of desperation.

Erin complied with his wishes and swung her sword.

The Aerysian, to her surprise, caught her blade. “Foolish bitch! You’re so simple.” He gripped her blade tightly. “I will kill you if it’s the last thing that I—”

Erin didn’t let him finish. Her sword was stuck but not her tails. She stabbed three of her tails into the Aerysians. His armour did little to protect him. Considering his last expression was that of extreme shock, Erin wondered if it was uncommon for Fox-kin to use their tails in such a manner.

“I suppose I’ll find out in some other time.”

With the last Aerysian dead, Erin rushed over to Aera. She gently nudged Aera and she stirred.

“E-Erin…?”

“Aera, you’re alright.”

“Aedan… he—”

“I know. I will rescue him. Just stay here and rest. You’ll be fine.”

“I-I failed…”

“It’s fine. Everyone fails. You have done your best. You have done more than I could hope for. For now, rest.”

Aera nodded weakly.

Since Lyra and the others would be here soon, Erin could rest assured and leave Aera here while she continued her pursuit of Shauna.

As Erin chased after Shauna, she noticed one thing in particular. The faint glitters in her vision did not disappear. These glitters were none other than Spirits. They were still flocking around her. She lost her Arcane Arts but she did not lose her affinity with the Spirits, or so it seemed. She tried calling out to them and they responded. Erin was hopeful… but only for a short second. The Spirits responded to her but that was all they did, a response akin to a return greeting. She didn’t lose their favour but she did lose the ability to control them.

“Damn it,” Erin uttered as she struggled to catch up to Shauna. At this rate, she would lose sight of her. She still had her connection with Aedan as his mate but there was no telling if the Aerysians wouldn’t use some tool to temporarily sever that connection.

“This is as far as you will go,” a man said, standing in Erin’s path. Donned in full-plated armour like all the others with the only difference being the absence of a helmet.

Erin thought about simply circumventing the man but she immediately realised she was surrounded by a dozen other individuals on all sides. “Shit,” she muttered under her breath.

“To think that you would chase after your lover all by yourself. A Fae of all races, at that. No matter, this shall be your end, unless of course—”

Erin raised an eyebrow.

“—you submit yourself to Lord Dorvus.”

It took Erin a moment to recall. Dorvus was the head apostle of Aerys. The Aerysians’ leader. “Submit myself to Dorvus… What?”

“It is as you heard. Become his and you shall be spared. You are more fitting to be the consort of the true heir rather than the false heir. I have no doubt you will find more pleasure in bed with Lord Dorvus than the false heir.”

Erin winced in disgust at the mere thought of it. She even visibly shuddered. “Shut the fuck up,” she snarled. “Don’t put such a revolting notion in my head.”

“Revolting? You dare slander Lord Corvus so blatantly in my face? You should be honoured!”

Erin rolled her eyes and rushed at the man. There was no trace of panic in the man’s eyes. He anticipated her move but that meant nothing to Erin.

The man, whose name she had yet to know, brandished a large axe and swung down at her.

Perhaps he had absolute confidence in his defence or his armour to protect whatever kinds of attacks Erin could throw at him, the man left himself quite open with that attack. Instead of aiming for his seemingly defenceless head, Erin aimed for the man’s hands which were holding the axe with a thrust. The blade struck the least armoured part of the man’s hands. Though the thrust didn’t pierce through the armour, the man still winced from the pain and loosened his grip on his axe.

Erin snatched the axe for herself and swung at the man. Ethereal shields covered the man’s side where Erin aimed to strike. Arcane Aegis, Erin recognised the Combat Art. The axe bounced off of the multiple shields but Erin didn’t relent. She swung the axe again and this time, it broke through the Arcane Aegises. Of all directions, the man dove at Erin to avoid the axe.

Erin merely snorted and flipped over the man. While she was directly above him, she thrust her sword into his defenceless head. She expected the man to block her strike with Arcane Aegis or some other skill or spell… but he didn’t. Her blade tore into his brain and that was the end for the man. Only after she pulled out her sword and landed on her feet did an Arcane Aegis manifest above the man’s head before fading away immediately.

Erin realised then that the man didn’t forget to cast Arcane Aegis, but rather, the conjuration of his skill was slow. No, it was more apt to say that Erin herself was fast with the conjuration of her skills and spells.

“She killed the captain!” shouted the Aerysians that surrounded her.

“I did. So what?” Erin challenged. “Who’s next?”

“The captain was level seventy-three. She’s supposed to be in her lower sixties at best. How did she kill him?” The Aerysians continued to clamour.

“Hmm, that’s true,” Erin agreed. She was not in her Lust Deviant state. She should not be able to significantly harm the man but that was only if she was still bound by the system. If she was still bound, her thrust wouldn’t have hurt the man enough for him to loosen his grip. Her thrust would have merely grazed the man’s head. But of course, she herself had also become vulnerable to a mere level one. It was a double-edged sword but she gladly wielded it with all the confidence she had.

“Come now. Don’t make me repeat myself.” She grinned. “Who’s next?”