WIEDERGEBURT Act III: Chapter 52

I had been worried that I wouldn’t make it in time. Having rushed straight here using the Flash Step Version 3: Lightning Step, I had propelled myself through the forest like a flash of lightning and arrived to find the clearing where the Nevarian Spiritualists were stationed in chaos.

The first thing that hit me was actually the smell, an acidic scent derived from the incredible toxic poison of the Basilisk, which reminded me vaguely of sulfur. After the smell came sounds. Screams and cries of pain and rage filled the clearing, along with the clash of weapons and the roar of Spiritual Techniques. Finally, my vision was filled with scenes of death.

There were so many corpses already littering the clearing that I didn’t know how many had died, though it was technically a relatively small number. There more far more alive than there were dead. Small or not, there were corpses strewn all over the battlefield. Some were crushed, some were mangled, and some were just dead. There were no wounds on their bodies. It looked like they had just keeled over.

Two battles were happening simultaneously when I arrived. The largest one was between the Basilisk and the Nevarian Spiritualists. They were being led by Hellen Brynhild, who was doing her utmost to keep the giant snake distracted, but while she could draw its attention and avoid its attacks, there was nothing she could do about that tail.

Every sweep of the thing’s tail sent someone flying, their bodies breaking against the ground. Sometimes they would land on their head. Other times they would simply tumble across the forest floor. A few were even thrown so far they smashed through a tree. Those ones didn’t get back up.

Six Nevarian Spiritualists with a fire affinity performed a synchronized dance, swinging their swords as they swayed and spun to an unseen beat—only to roar and unleash several crescent waves of fire from their swords. The six crescent waves slammed into each other, increasing the size and potency of the fire. Even I could feel the heat from where I stood.

The crescent blade slammed into the Basilisk with a powerful detonation. Heat and wind blasted every which way, and then all of that wind was suddenly sucked back. A suction force pulled on me, though it wasn’t so bad that I had to be wary of it. The others weren’t so lucky and many Spiritualists were forced to dig in their heels. It was a powerful attack. Even a B-rank Demon Beast would have been done in by that.

The Basilisk was barely even singed.

Basilisks were classified as S-rank Demon Beasts. They weren’t the most powerful among the S-ranks, and in fact, they were considered rather weak compared to some. The reason for their S-rank was actually because of their death stare. Simply by looking into someone’s eyes, a Basilisk could kill a person just like that, and there were only a few ways to defend against it.

While the battle with the Basilisk was continuing, another battle was taking place between Dante and a Sekbeist Shaman. I was almost positive this Shaman was the same one I had fought in Bucharest. He laughed the same at least. I watched as the Sekbeist Shaman shoved his staff in Dante’s chest, shattering his armor and sending the man flying into a boulder. Then the Sekbeist Shaman walked toward Kari’s third father with a languid and arrogant strut. He said something and raised his weapon.

That was when I acted.

Not even a second had passed when I appeared behind the Sekbeist Shaman and speared my lightning-covered hand through his chest. My hand wrapped around his heart, still beating, which now appeared outside of his ribcage. Blood dripped from my hand and fluids covered my arm, but they were burnt away by my lightning.

“Sorry, but the person who is going to die today is you,” I said before yanking my hand—and the heart I was holding—out of his enemy’s back.

The Sekbeist Shaman was already dead, but he didn’t seem to realize it right away. He stood there for several seconds. Then he began teetering before finally falling onto his side. The two gaping holes, one in his chest and one in his back, leaked so much blood a puddle expanded underneath him.

“You okay, Dante?” I asked.

“I’m… yeah, I’m fine,” Dante said.

“Good. Hold there a moment. I’m going to take care of the Basilisk now.”

“Uh…”

Dante looked rather stupefied, but I didn’t have time to deal with him right now.

Channeling water into my eyes, I created a very thin layer and then hardened and condensed that layer. The water would distort the Basilisk’s gaze if it looked at me. This would, in effect, protect me from being killed by the creature’s gaze.

“EVERYONE GET BACK!!!”

I shouted so loudly my voice echoed across the clearing. While some people didn’t seem to understand where the shout had come from, Hellen quickly leapt away from the Basilisk and ordered the Nevarian Spiritualists to do the same.

The Nevarian Spiritualists weren’t the only one who reacted to my voice, and I soon found the Basilisk turning in my direction, which consequently gave the people fighting it more time to get away. Either way, this could only be a good thing for me.

“Close your eyes, Dante,” I said without turning around to look at the man behind me.

Kneeling against the ground, I pressed my hands onto the forest floor, fingers splayed, and channeled so much Spiritual Power into the earth that it felt like something was sucking out my energy. I gritted my teeth and reached out to the earth element. Using the element, I molded the ground to my will, creating a massive hand that emerged from the ground.

It was a couple meters tall, and its palm was the same size as the Basilisk’s head. Willing the hand to grab the Basilisk, I made it close around the creature’s head and squeezed. It was not strong enough to break the snake’s skull. That said, it had a firm grip on the now thrashing creature. Once more willing my Spiritual Power into shaping the earth, I forced the hand to retract, taking the head with it and trapping it inside of the earth. Now just its body was sticking out.

The first step was done.

I quickly popped a Spiritual Recovery Pill into my mouth, sighing in relief as the rejuvenating fluids rushed down my throat and filled me with Spiritual Power.

Without wasting another moment, I released my Spiritual Aura, which exploded from my body, then took it back in, causing my skin to glow a light bluish yellow. Further condensing my Spiritual Power, I manipulated my lightning affinity and increased the output of Spiritual Power I was releasing. The ground beneath me became singed as my body suddenly transformed into lightning. I didn’t stand on ceremony. Once I transformed into the lightning element, I disappeared.

In an instant, I was hovering above the Basilisk’s still thrashing body. The ground around its head had cracked, showing me that it was close to breaking free, but I had no intention of letting it do so. As the ground bulged, I created a sword made of lightning, raised it above my head, and swung it down.

My blade passed through the Basilisk. The head was severed from the body, which began thrashing around, but then I landed on the ground and created several threads of lightning that wrapped around it to keep the body from crashing into the Nevarian Spiritualists. I waited until the thrashing subsided before releasing my transformation and sighing.

The battle was over in an instant, barely enough time to blink an eye, but I had used so much Spiritual Power that I felt like I’d been fighting for years without rest. I summoned another Spiritual Recovery Pill from my storage ring and popped it into my mouth.

“W-what the hell just happened?” one of the Spiritualists suddenly asked, a young man who didn’t look like he understood the sight before him.

“Did he… just beat that thing?” asked a slightly older woman wearing the same armor.

“He did! It was so fast I barely even saw what happened!”

“Holy shit! I can’t believe he killed an S-rank Demon Beast so easily!”

As the Nevarian Spiritualists began talking amongst themselves, I turned to Hellen Brynhild, who straightened her back the moment my eyes landed on her. She didn’t look like she’d been injured, which was good. I held her gaze for a moment… and then gave out orders even though I had no real authority.

“I’d like you to begin administering first aid to everyone who needs it,” I said in a tone that I really hoped was firm and commanding. “Also, order your men to begin separating the bodies and laying them out. We need to know how many people lost their lives to this Demon Beast. Once you’ve counted them up, please give them a Nevarian Funeral Service.”

Hellen knew, like me, that I had no real authority over her. She could have refused. Instead, she snapped off a smart salute.

“At once, Lord Eryk!”

I nodded at her again before turning on my heel and walking toward Dante. The silver-haired man was already standing up now, but he was leaning against the boulder with a pained grimace. I wouldn’t be surprised if one or more of his ribs were broken.

“Don’t move too much,” I said as I stopped beside him. “At least wait until I heal you.”

“Gaaa… t-thanks,” Dante panted as I placed a hand on his ribs and began channeling the water element through my palm and into his body. I manipulated the water to heal him and felt his ribs snapping back into place and his burst blood vessels fixing themselves as if time had reversed. As I healed him, Dante continued speaking. “You really saved us back there. I can’t thank you enough.”

“You are welcome,” I said as I removed my hand.

“Also…”

“Also?”

“You’re hella strong.”

I snorted. “You’re just now realizing that?”

“I guess so.” Dante rubbed the back of his neck as he stared at me, then looked past me. “I knew you were powerful from everything I’d seen, but you just defeated an S-rank Demon Beast, and you did it so easily. Not even my dear wife can claim to have accomplished such a feat. In fact, I don’t think there’s a single living person who has done what you just did.”

“Easily, huh? Yeah, I guess it would look like it was easy since it was over so quickly,” I said.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Shaking my head, I decided we needed to get back on track. “After we get a tally of our casualties and give those who died in the line of duty a funeral, we’ll probably need to begin marching toward Demon Beast Pass.”

Dante didn’t disagree with my proposal. While we still needed to wait for the signal flare that Fay would shoot up, I wanted to be closer so we could respond to her signal more quickly.

Just as I had asked, Hellen and the Nevarian Spiritualists with a water affinity went around healing all the people who’d been injured. Meanwhile, another group separated the corpses and laid them out side by side. Several people were grieving as they realized someone they were close to had died. However, no one shed any tears. Perhaps it was the result of the their training, or maybe they had already accepted that they were walking beside death, but even those who grieved did so in stoic silence.

“Lord Dante. Lord Eryk.” A young man wearing dinged and scratched leather armor saluted us. “We’ve counted the number of dead and discovered that two thousand Nevarian Spiritualists lost their lives to the Basilisk.”

The sound of leather creaking filled the air as I clenched my hand into a fist. Two thousand Spiritualists was a lot. There had only been twenty thousand Nevarian Spiritualists to begin with, and we had already lost two thousand of them before the actual battle had even begun. That was a terrible loss to suffer.

Dante closed his eyes. “I understand. Thank you for letting me know. It’s okay if you can’t, but if possible, I’d like you to go around and help create a list of all those who were killed here. Don’t do it now. Just do it once this battle is over.”

“Sir!”

“So many dead,” Dante muttered as he ran a hand down his face.

I watched the young man walk off before turning to him. “Do you think you can still fight?”

“Of course I can.” Dante snorted. “I have even more of a reason to fight now. I’ve got to avenge the people who were killed here.”

I acknowledged his words with a nod, but then grew silent. This silence extended as we watched the others work. They dug out graves, piled the bodies inside, and then several Spiritualists gathered around the graves and began dancing. Their swords ignited as they danced. They swung their blades, unleashing a torrent of fire, which quickly consumed the bodies.

Turning my eyes away from the sight, I looked up at the sky just in time to see a brilliant ball of fire appear above the Demon Beast Mountain Range.

“That’s the signal,” I said.

Dante saw what I was looking at, nodded, and turned to his forces.

“Everyone! I know we’re all hurting, but Nevaria is still in danger! We’ve just received the signal that our enemies are now inside of Demon Beast Pass! Let’s head over there and avenge our comrades who died! Let’s show the monsters why you shouldn’t underestimate humanity!”

A loud roar went up. This sound was followed by the stomping of feet as everyone began marching toward Demon Beast Pass. I joined the Dante at the front of the group. I looked back up at the dying flames in the sky and hardened myself for the battle to come.

The images of Kari, Lin, Fay, and Siv appeared within my mind. I prayed for their safety.

***

In the wake of Eryk’s disappearance, the mood turned suddenly somber. Members of the Nevarian Braves glanced at each other as if wondering what they should do now. A few looked at Kari, Lin, and Fay, but no one actually had the courage to say anything to them, especially to Kari.

“I am certain Eryk will make it in time to save Dante,” Empress Hilda said. Her positive outlook was a bit odd for a woman of her stature, especially when she tended to have a more realistic outlook than most, but Kari was grateful for the words.

Even Valence nodded along with them. “Dante might act lazy and unmotivated, but among the three of us, he is the best among when it comes to surviving unprecedented situations.”

Valence rarely ever spoke; he was so quiet some people had even assumed he was mute, but that was also why everyone paid attention to him when he did speak. If he was actually opening his mouth to say something, it was probably true.

However, even with their assurance, Kari could not help but worry. Dante was not her father by blood. Even so, he probably had the biggest hand in raising her. Valence was a very hands off parent, Rainer was always training her brothers, and her mom was constantly busy with work. Dante was the only one who’d taken time out of his day to just be a father to her.

“Yeah… I’m sure you are right.” Kari tried to give them all a reassuring smile, but it felt stiff even to her.

Lin saw this and turned a glare on Siv, who had been standing next to Fay. When the dragon girl saw this, she froze on the spot and tried to hide behind the redhead, but it was no use as Lin slithered over and pointed at her.

“It is your fault that Big Sister is so worried,” she hissed.

“Lin,” Fay said with a tone of warning.

Lin ignored her. “You turned tail and fled the moment the Basilisk appeared, didn’t you? Aren’t you a Dragon?! This princess has always heard stories of the legendary Dragons and how powerful they are! You should be strong enough to save Big Sister’s dad! You have more than enough power! So why didn’t you save him?! Why did you run away?!”

With each word Lin spoke, Siv flinched and hid further behind Fay, whose expression suddenly turned angry.

“That’s enough, Lin!” Fay barked.

Lin reared back as if struck. “But she ran away! She fled with her tail tucked between her legs! What if Dante dies because of her?!”

Fay looked like she wanted to say something to defend Siv, but with the potential of Dante’s death thrown in her face, finding the words to defend someone was difficult. However, it was at this point that Kari had enough.

“Lin, please stop it. It isn’t her fault.”

“But Big Sister!”

Kari smiled and placed a hand on the Lamia’s shoulder. Her hand was much warmer than Lin’s skin. While Kari didn’t feel like smiling much because of how worried she was, this time, a natural and warm smile made its way onto her face.

“Thank you for worrying about me, Lin.”

“O-of course! This princess will always worry on Big Sister’s behalf!”

“That makes me happy to hear, but you know, we can’t blame Siv for what happened.”

Lin bit her lip like she wanted to protest, but Kari shook her head. Removing her hand, she turned to Siv, who eyed her warily like a rabbit staring at a Dire Wolf. However, her eyes widened when Kari bowed to her.

“I am very sorry for Lin’s words. They were not said with malicious intent. She is just worried on my behalf. Please forgive her.”

By this point, their actions had drawn a huge crowd. Members of the Nevarian Braves were surrounding them and muttering about what was happening. Much of the commentary was completely unnecessary like, “Whoa, is a cat fight about to break out?!” and even, “think we’ll get to see these girls ripping each other’s clothes off?” While Siv seemed nervous about being suddenly surrounded like this, Kari, Lin, and Fay ignored it.

Siv looked between Kari and Lin. While Kari was bowing to her, Lin had crossed her arms, looked away, and was huffing as if she wasn’t even worth the snake girl’s time. After looking back and forth for several seconds, Siv nodded.

“It is… okay.”

Kari, who had moved from her bowed position, saw this and smiled. “Thank you.”

“This princess doesn’t know what you are thanking her for,” Lin muttered.

Since it looked like Lin was not a fan of Siv for whatever reason, Kari decided to draw her away from the Dragon girl. While she was leading Lin off, a hand placed on the small of her back, she glanced over at Fay, who correctly interpreted the look and sighed.

“You know…” she began to Siv as the Dragon girl continued to hide behind her back. “Lin isn’t really angry at you for running away like that. I’m sure she understands that you’re not really a fighter, and she realizes that you’ve suffered greatly at the hands of the Sekbeist.” She paused. Without being able to see Siv’s face, she couldn’t tell if the girl was even listening. “Lin… has always admired dragons. She grew up hearing stories about how strong, powerful, and wise dragons are, which is why she’s so disappointed that you left when Dante and the others were in trouble. I think… she was hoping you’d be able to display your prowess as a Dragon.”

“… I don’t know anything about that,” Siv admitted. “I do not know… know? I do not know much about dragons. I only knew… him. My… my Dad. He… raised? He raised me.”

“I see.” Fay pondered that for a moment. “I guess if you don’t know much about other dragons except for your dad, you wouldn’t really know how they act. Then again, none of us have even seen a Dragon. All we have to go on are the stories we grew up with.”

“Even you?”

“Even me. I also grew up hearing stories about the strength and power of Dragons.”

Siv did not say anything, and Fay was loathe to interrupt the girl when it looked like she was thinking. However, the silence was soon disrupted when a loud cry came from the front. At first, Fay thought someone was screaming something, but then she realized that what she heard had not been the shouts of a human.

It was the roar of a Demon Beast.

“Saber-Toothed Tigers! Incoming!” someone standing on the rampart shouted.

With the sudden shouted, everyone soon became worked up and looked to be on the verge of panicking. Siv squealed in terror and tried to hide behind Fay. However, Fay needed to get up to the front.

“Siv, move near the back of our forces! You’ll be safe there!”

Siv’s eyes widened and she held out her hand as if to grab her, but all Fay did was smile before pushing her way to the front. Right now, she was the person closest to the rear formation, which meant it was her job to lead their Spiritualists. She didn’t hesitate to activate her Spiritual Aura, though she quickly sucked all that Spiritual Power back in, reaching the Second State in a matter of moments.

“Everyone near the front! Form a defensive line! Do not let a single Demon Beast through!”

The men and women beside Fay heeded her words, lining up just as the first batch of Demon Beasts arrived. They were monstrous beasts that strode forward on four powerful legs. Their bodies were covered in lustrous orange and black striped fur, but underneath that layer of fur were rippling muscles that flexed as they raced across the ground. Four large tusk-like fangs jutted from their upper and lower lips.

Fay felt her heart pounding in her chest as adrenaline pumped through her body. The sounds of ragged breathing reached her ears, and the scent of sweat filled her nose. A haze appeared within her mind as her vision zeroed in on the approaching enemies.

I need to shoot the signal.

Gathering her Spiritual Power, Fay moved her hands in concentric circles that caused the area in front of her to light up. Flames soon gathered, forming a large sphere, which she maneuvered over her head and fired into the air. The fireball flew up high—well past the mountains on either side, and then exploded in a brilliant flare of sparks like fireworks.

The signal was sent. Fay refocused on the charging Demon Beasts.

At that very moment, two large bolts fired from the ballistae on the two watchtowers suddenly struck the ground in front of the charging Saber-toothed Tigers and exploded in gouts of fire. Several of the incoming Demon Beasts roared in agony. Their bodies were struck with flames as they were tossed through the air. The more unfortunate ones lost their legs. However, the rest kept running. They dodged the bolts with their superior speed. That said, there were so many Saber-toothed Tigers that it was impossible to fire and not hit at least several.

Also…

“They have Sekbeist riders!”

Indeed, riding on top of the Saber-toothed Tigers were Sekbeists. Their longer, leaner limbs and powerful muscles told Fay they were the Elites that Eryk had mentioned to her.

The Saber-toothed Tigers and their Sekbeist riders soon reached the defensive formation. However, before the members of the Nevarian Braves could launch an attack, a massive wall of wind rose into the air between the two forces. The Saber-toothed Tigers were traveling too fast to stop. They slammed into this wall of wind head on and were torn apart.

Fay wrinkled her nose as the sight of Demon Beasts and Sekbeists being cut into blood chunks filled her vision, but she didn’t have time to complain, not even in her mind. The wall of wind disappeared and more Saber-toothed Tigers were racing forward.

As the next batch of enemies raced forward, Herleif suddenly appeared as though he had teleported there. He swung his ranseur, which unleashed a torrential storm of incredibly fierce winds that enveloped the Saber-toothed Tigers. The winds were so powerful that Fay was pushed back even though she wasn’t even close to the attack. Meanwhile, the Saber-toothed Tigers and their riders were shredded to tiny chunks of meat.

“Ho ho!” Herleif chuckled as another wave came forward, only to be similarly ripped to shreds. “So these are the B-rank Saber-toothed Tigers, huh? They aren’t much, are they?”

Fay could only shake her head in dismay. Only a Spiritualist who had reached the Third State of Spiritualism could say such a thing.

While Herleif had done an excellent job of decimating the first two batches, it wasn’t like he could keep up this pace. More Demon Beasts and riders were charging in. Several swiftly moved past him and slammed into the first line of defense, where they met with heavy resistance.

All of the Spiritualists under Fay’s command had a fire or wind affinity. Eryk had done this on purpose, so they could use their affinities in conjunction to create combination attacks. Hands were waved, weapons were swung, and the Spiritualists channeled Spiritualist Power into their attacks by moving in a dance-like pattern.

Several fireballs flew from the hands of the defenders, which were combined with bursts of wind that quickly caused the fires to increase in size and go from orange to white. The flames were fanned and swept over a group of Saber-toothed Tigers. Demon Beast and Sekbeist alike howled in agony as they were burned beyond recognition, skin blistering and crackling. Their charred corpses quickly fell to the ground.

More waves of Saber-Toothed Tigers continued to appear. Fay roared as she slammed her gauntlets into the nose of one, her arms shaking from the blunt force. She skidded across the ground, grunted under the strain of keeping this Demon Beast in one place, and channeled Spiritual Power the Runes on her gauntlets, unleashing a torrent of fire that incinerated the creature and its rider. The dying roars of the Saber-Toothed Tiger mixed with those of the Sekbeist.

Two more Saber-Toothed Tigers came at her, the Sekbeists on their back leaping off and attacking from above. Fay raised her gauntlets and fended off their attacks. The downward slashes of their swords caused sparks to erupt against her gauntlets, but Fay held strong underneath their combined assault and threw them off. As they landed on the ground, their mounts attacked her next.

Swiftly creating a circle in the ground with her left foot, Fay stomped on the dirt, tucked her fists into her torso, then thrust them both out toward her sides.

Two beams of fire erupted from her fists and slammed into the Saber-Toothed Tigers, striking them in the face and melting right through their flesh and skulls. The beams erupted from the other side of their heads. Both Demon Beasts tumbled to the ground, skidding along the dirt, until they came to a stop at Fay’s feet.

Fay didn’t look at them as she used the Flash Step to appear in front of the two Sekbeists. Neither Sekbeist could react fast enough to avoid her attacks, a pair of powerful punches that shattered their ribs and killed them in an instant. A sigh escaped her lips as the dead enemies flew through the air after she struck them and landed on the ground several meters away.

The battle continued. For an entire hour, Fay and her Spiritualists fended off the encroaching horde, but they soon began to grow tired. They had been firing Spiritual Techniques non-stop. They were running dry.

When this happened, Lin appeared before Fay with a whip in each hand. She swung her whips, precisely striking the numerous Saber-toothed Tigers across the face. Her whips were harder than they looked. Each attack gouged out chunks of Demon Beast flesh. Many of her attacks were so powerful they even cracked open the skulls of those they struck, instantly killing them.

Alongside Lin were numerous other Spiritualists.

Because the Nevarian Braves was not a military organization like the Nevarian Spiritualists, they did not have a uniform or use the same weapons. Different styles of armor and clothing were present everywhere, and everyone used a different weapon, from dirks being wielded with two-hands to spears and swords. These Spiritualists attacked en mass, their Spiritual Auras flaring to life. Most of them were fire affinities like hers.

“Get some rest and leave everything to this princess!” Fay said.

Fay took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from her brow. “Right. I will. Thank you.”

“You are welcome!”

With her words spoken, Lin fully committed herself to the battle. Not only did she use her whips to great effect, but she slammed her tail against the ground and caused the earth to rumble. Several cracks suddenly appeared. From these cracks, dark purple snakes shot out and latched onto Demon Beast and Sekbeist alike. Howls of pain echoed everywhere as the ethereal snakes sank their poison into the enemy.

Fay quickly moved back to the rear, where many of the Spiritualists under her command were already resting. Most of them had popped Spiritual Recovery Pills and Energy Booster Pills into their mouths and were trying to regain their strength. Fay followed their example. Meanwhile, Kari and Siv came up to her.

“Good work.” Kari handed her a bottle of water and a towel to wipe off the accumulation of sweat on her body. She gratefully accepted both.

“Thank you.”

It felt a little odd to Fay that they could be so calm while a battle was happening just a few dozen meters in front of them, but when Fay turned to look, she saw that the defensive line was holding perfectly.

Lin was like a rock refusing to budge. No, it was more than that. Fay didn’t know when or even how, but it looked like Lin had learned to somehow channel the earth element. The Lamia slammed her hands into the ground and the earth turned into a thick sludge-like mud that trapped many of the Saber-Toothed Tigers within it. Then the Spiritualists fighting alongside her danced across the ground and swung their blades. Fire spread from the weapons and struck the mud, which ignited as though it was covered in oil. Anguished howls rose into the air as the Demon Beasts and Sekbeists were burned alive.

“Lin has gotten even stronger,” Kari said, also watching.

“When did she learn to use the earth element?” asked Fay.

“I think it was just recently,” Kari admitted. “Lamia have a dual-affinity for earth and darkness, but it seems they can’t use them separately for some reason. Their poison is a combination of those two affinities. However, Lin somehow managed to learn how to use each affinity separately. I think it has something to do with her nature as a Lamia…. Maybe. She mentioned before that they grow stronger just by living longer.”

“I’m so jealous,” Fay admitted. “I wish I could get stronger simply by living.”

While Kari and Fay talked, Siv turned her head and watched Lin as she ferociously defended the front line, biting her lower lip.