"Fuck." Mynes said as the runes that were around her flickered and faded one by one, like candles snuffed out by an unseen hand.

Her breathing hitched as the reality of their situation settled into her bones. "Wendy sets traps for her victims… covering them in shadow so they won't escape while she feasts on them."

She struggled instinctively, trying to wrench her leg freebut the dark water only pulled her deeper, swallowing her all the way to the stomach. It felt like being submerged in cold ink.

"Oh?" Azel exhaled, rolling his shoulders as if mildly inconvenienced. "It seems like she's splitting herself into multiple shadows to stop us from coming…"

In front of them, the shadow creature… Wendy's fractured manifestation pulled back. Her twisted jaws opened wide, revealing rows upon rows of jagged, uneven teeth.

Not just in her mouth… deep into her throat too, layered like the gullet of a beast designed purely to devour. She looked less like an animal and more like an abomination wearing the vague silhouette of a dog.

"I see." Mira said, trying her best to remain calm as she raised her sword. Her hand trembled visibly, vibrating in the darkness.

With enough brute effort, she managed to drag the blade upward into a thrusting stance aimed at the back of Wendy's head only for the shadows below to surge upward, wrapping around her wrist like black ropes.

They coiled, tightened, and froze her in place.

"Fuck…" she growled through her teeth. She tried to yank the sword free, but the shadows pinned her arm in place like a vice.

"It's fine." Azel said, as casually as someone about to swat a fly. He could've broken the dark water with Divinity at any moment but that wasn't the point. "I have a spell I want to test out…"

The Holy Grimoire appeared in front of his face, glowing.

Pages fluttered on their own, flipping wildly as streams of holy energy burst out in bright waves. Each pulse made the shadows shrink with a panicked shriek, recoiling from him like darkness fleeing a sunrise.

"Let there be…" Azel whispered, drawing a deep breath.

He had been meaning to test this spell ever since Nyala had put it in the grimoire. "Light."

The world responded.

A shockwave of holy radiance burst outward from the book, expanding in a perfect radial wave that swallowed everything… shadow, water, the ground, even the air. The light tore through the darkness like a cleansing storm, dissolving the shadow trap in an instant.

The watery ground beneath them evaporated; Mynes dropped flat onto solid ground with a squeak of surprise.

Small flecks of glowing dust floated in the air, shimmering like fireflies made of starlight. The shadows Wendy had used for the trap scattered like wisps of smoke, fleeing desperately back toward the direction of the original body.

"Damn." Mira breathed as she wiped sweat from her forehead.

She turned to Azel, who was standing with his hands in his pockets, as if the entire thing had been a mild workout. "Nice spell."

"Thank you." Azel said simply.

But before they could react further, something else stirred.

Behind them, another glob of blood rose into the sky… it was the familiar bead and it looked to be preparing to expand once more.

"Is the trap attacking again?" Azel asked.

"Traps don't usually stop until they're dead or we hit the counter switch," Mira replied, stepping forward. "It's impossible to destroy them completely because the whole forest is made of blood. Even if they shatter, as long as the forest remains, they'll regenerate."

"Even if they're destroyed down to the last drop?" Azel pressed, squinting up at the bead.

"Yes. Grand Mage Luke tested that extensively," she said. "If the forest still stands, the trap will always rebuild itself."

The blood bead pulsed violently then shot downward at blinding speed.

Mynes raised her hand, a complex rune already glowing over her palm.

Just before the bead could expand, the rune swallowed it whole.

"Hehe… I sealed it." Mynes said with a self-satisfied smile as the glowing mark faded into her hand.

Mira and Azel both stared at her for a second, they were impressed.

"Where's my thank you?" Mynes asked smugly. "I'm telling you… runes are superior to these spells and aura sword styles you two keep doing."

With that confidence, she spun on her heel and stretched her hand out dramatically… touching a patch of suspiciously red grass.

"Don't—" Mira started, but…

PFFFTTT!!

The grass puffed like a blood-filled balloon, exploding a spray of dark red liquid directly into Mynes's face.

She froze, her eyes wide before slowly using a trembling hand to wipe the blood off.

"What the fuck?" Mynes muttered flatly.

"You've triggered another trap," Mira sighed. "Not that I'm surprised. And this time, I know what trap this is."

A sharp thwip sounded. She dodged as a crimson arrow of liquid blood slammed into the ground, forming a small smoking crater.

"We're being hunted by Blood Arrow…" Mira said with a sigh.

"Blood Arrow?" Azel asked.

"During the war," Mira explained, stepping back to avoid another arrow, "there was a legendary bowman known for never missing his mark. When he died, the Grand Mage of Blood reanimated his spilled blood in an attempt to preserve his technique."

A third arrow flew… Mynes deflected it and redirected it skyward with one clean motion.

The arrow collided with something invisible.

A humanoid shape fell from the sky, made entirely of blood, crashing into the dirt before dissolving into a puddle.

"It's pretty weak." Mynes said with a sigh as she shook her sword dry and sheathed it.

…

They continued deeper until the forest thinned. The dark atmosphere grew heavier…

They reached a small hill and in front of the cave a little bit away from the hill, there she was.

The real Wendy.

She was massive...far larger than the fragments they'd seen before.

Her body was shaped vaguely like a dog, but elongated, stretched unnaturally thin in some places and swollen in others. Her head was horrifying… a wide maw of crooked teeth with shadows spilling from the corners of her mouth like smoke and her eyes glowed white filled with hatred.

"Ah… so that's Wendy." Mynes whispered.

She immediately turned around to sneak away silently only for Mira to grab her shoulder.

"Wh-what…?" Mynes whispered. "Are you trying to let me die? I can't face her. She's an urban legend from wartimes!"

"That's exactly why we're fighting here," Mira said firmly. "Wendy is killing innocent soldiers. We're here to stop her. And besides…"

She leaned in slightly.

"…are you really going to run away and leave the man you love alone to face Wendy with another woman?"

That struck Mynes like a stab.

She stiffened, then immediately darted behind Azel. "I'll help you guys from here!"

Mira chuckled…

And then the world turned pitch black.

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