Aubrelle opened her mouth—

CRAAASH!

The wall behind them exploded inward.

Stone, snow, and shattered wood blasted through the hall as a gigantic Void creature—a hulking brute with bone-plated limbs—smashed into the room like a meteor.

"PROTECT THEM!" someone shouted.

Too late.

The shockwave threw everyone.

Aubrelle felt the floor disappear beneath her feet.

"Aubrelle!" Evelyne's voice ripped through the chaos.

A violent gust of corrupted mana hit them—

lifting the eight-year-old off her feet, hurling her into the air—

—and Evelyne leapt, catching her mid-flight.

A burst of radiant light flashed below them as the small luminant stag Evelyne had summoned earlier reappeared, cushioning their fall. They hit the ground hard—but alive.

Aubrelle gasped, clinging to her mother.

The stag dissolved instantly, spent.

They slid across the corridor stones, away from the hall—

away from everyone else.

Behind them, the sounds were overwhelming:

Shattered skills. Screaming summons. Cries of children.

Evelyne forced herself upright, pulling Aubrelle with her. Her voice trembled—but stayed steady enough to comfort. "My child… don't let go of my hand."

Aubrelle squeezed tighter.

Her small fingers shook.

Then—

tap… tap… tap…

Wet footsteps echoed down the dark corridor behind them.

Evelyne's breath caught.

From the shadows emerged a shape—

thin, swift, nightmare-silent.

A Void entity unlike the others.

Its body was humanoid but wrong—too elongated, smooth and pale. Four long arms, two of them ending in twisting blades made of voidsteel—one glowing red like fresh blood, the other pulsing purple like poison.

Its head tilting with a crack of bone.

Two empty slits where eyes should be.

The creature responsible for the memory that scarred her life.

Aubrelle's breath froze.

"Mother… what is that…?"

Evelyne stepped in front of her, summoning mana with a single flick of her wrist.

"A nightmare," she whispered. "Stay behind me."

The Void creature twitched once—

a sharp, insect-like jerk that made the narrow corridor feel suddenly too small to hold it.

Evelyne froze, her instincts screaming louder than any alarm. She extended her senses, brushing the creature's mana with the delicacy of a master summoner.

What she felt stole the breath from her lungs.

"Ascendant rank…" she whispered, voice thin. "At least."

Aubrelle's fingers curled into her dress as if she sensed the shift in her mother's heartbeat. She didn't know what "Ascendant" meant—but she knew the terror behind Evelyne's eyes. The creature's presence radiated wrongness: a cold, empty pressure that hollowed the air itself.

"Mother… can you beat it?" Aubrelle whispered.

Evelyne didn't answer.

Because the truth was simple—

No. Not like this. Not while protecting her.

The crfeature blurred. Its body flickered between stances so fast that Aubrelle only caught fragments—an arm stretching too far, legs bending the wrong way, blades gleaming with murderous intent.

Evelyne reacted on instinct. Her hand snapped up.

Ten small familiars erupted from her mana, tiny fox-like spirits woven from white light. They formed a rotating ring around her and Aubrelle, shimmering like a constellation ripped from the sky. Each one pulsed with energy, darting ahead to blind and harass the entity.

At the same time, her radiant stag rematerialized beside them with a thunderous step, antlers burning with divine flare. The corridor brightened instantly, shadows recoiling—but the Void Stalker simply cocked its head, too calm, too aware.

Then it moved.

SHRRRING—!

A single lazy swipe of the red void-blade cleaved through three fox-spirits at once. They burst like shards of starlight, fading without a sound. Evelyne's stomach twisted.

'It's too strong… and too fast…'

"Hold on to me," Evelyne breathed—

and swept Aubrelle into her arms with a motion too practiced, too desperate.

Aubrelle gasped and clung to her neck as Evelyne sprinted. The corridor blurred around them, walls cracked from earlier impacts, stone dust falling like grey snow. Behind them, the fox-spirits hurled themselves bravely at the Stalker—distracting, biting, exploding in flashes of light.

The Stalker shredded them with contemptuous ease.

SLASH.

SLASH.

SLASH.

Each cut was precise—almost surgical—turning her summons into dying sparks.

The stag roared, antlers blazing, and charged to intercept. The impact shook the entire hall, chains of light crashing against voidsteel. For a heartbeat, the creature slowed.

Just one heartbeat.

Evelyne took it. She ran harder, lungs burning, arms trembling as she shielded Aubrelle with every inch of her body.

'I can't fight something like that. I can't— not while she's here…'

The corridor split ahead into two routes. Evelyne didn't hesitate—she veered left, toward the inner gardens where the last functioning teleport sigil might still be intact.

Behind them came a sound that pierced the bones—

a screech so sharp it vibrated the air.

SKREEEEEEEE—

The Void creature launched after them, limbs bending in horrifying angles as it climbed across walls and ceilings like an insect hunting prey.

The radiant stag leapt between them again, buying a breath of time. A single breath.

Aubrelle clung tighter to her mother, tears breaking through.

"Mother!"

"I won't let it touch you," Evelyne whispered, voice trembling between love and fear. "I swear it."

But she could feel the truth closing in behind them—

The Stalker was faster.

They were running out of corridor.

And the exit was still too far away.

Evelyne burst out of the collapsing corridor and into the inner garden passage, the sudden rush of cold night air burning her lungs. Aubrelle felt the shift instantly—the faint smell of wet stone, crushed leaves, and blood.

Ahead lay the only route to the teleport circle.

But the world around them had become a battlefield.

Summoners from their family were stationed in the garden rooftops and along the stone paths—

dozens of glowing circles flaring beneath their feet as they called forth spirit beasts, avian sentinels, and armored constructs.

Warriors from allied households clashed steel against monstrous limbs.

The once-serene Rosenthal inner gardens were unrecognizable.

Corpses of Void creatures lay in heaps—faceless humanoids twisted like broken dolls, canine abominations cut clean in half, shadow-masses evaporating into smoke.

Some Rift tears were finally closing—thin cracks in the air sealed shut with a shuddering hum, disappearing into nothing.

But others still pulsed, spilling more horrors into the estate.

Evelyne staggered to a stop for a heartbeat, chest rising and falling too fast. The radiant stag appeared beside her again, its light flickering—weakening.

She'd never been this exhausted.

Never.

Aubrelle clung to her, trembling, her small hands gripping her mother's dress tightly.

"Mother… everything looks… blurry…"

Her voice broke on the last word.

Aubrelle blinked, but the world was dissolving—smears of gold, shapes of crimson, shadows that stretched like ink. The pain in her eyes radiated deeper, crawling behind her skull.

Her vision—what was left of it—was slipping.

"Aubrelle, stay with me." Evelyne tried to sound steady, but her voice came out cracked. "Just a bit further, my love. Just a little further—"

A scream tore across the garden as a Rosenthal summoner was struck down by a void-hound. Another warrior leapt in to intercept it. Even as they fought, some looked toward Evelyne and Aubrelle—desperate, exhausted, but unwilling to abandon them.

"Lady Evelyne! Run!" one called out. "The gate still holds!"

Evelyne pushed forward, legs buckling from the strain, cradling Aubrelle against her chest. Sweat and blood stained her dress; her breath came in harsh, shaking gasps.

Behind them—

SKREEEEEEEE—

The nightmare that hunted them slipped into the garden, its pale limbs slicing through the vines as if they weren't there. Voidsteel blades trailed in its wake, dripping with an energy that seemed to devour the moonlight.

It didn't care about the other defenders.

It only cared about them.

Aubrelle, nearly blind now, could only see a smear of darkness moving where it shouldn't.

"Mother…" she whispered weakly. "Is it still… behind us?"

Evelyne didn't answer.

Her arms tightened protectively.

And she ran.

They burst into the heart of the inner garden—

the final courtyard before the gate circle.

The gate was a way out.

A chance for Aubrelle to live.

But the Void Stalker landed behind them with a bone-rattling crack, its four arms spreading like a spider preparing to strike. Pale mist rose from its blades—one crimson, one violet—eating the grass beneath it.

Evelyne backed into the garden's center, her radiant stag limping beside her. Its once-blazing body was almost transparent now, each breath of light flickering weaker.

She knew.

It couldn't protect them anymore.

And she…

she couldn't run any further.

Aubrelle felt her mother slow, and panic surged through her blurred vision.

"Mother—why did we stop—?"

Evelyne lowered herself onto her knees, bringing Aubrelle gently in front of her. Despite the chaos around them—screams, roars, collapsing stone—her touch was soft, trembling.

She cupped Aubrelle's face with both hands.

"My little star…" Evelyne whispered. "Forgive me… for not giving you a safer world."

Aubrelle's lip quivered. She couldn't see clearly, but she felt every tear rolling down her cheeks.

"Please… don't… leave me…"

Evelyne pressed her forehead against Aubrelle's.

For one final moment, warmth shielded her from the cold.

Then Evelyne stood.

She didn't look back.

Around the garden, other Rosenthal summons—beasts of fire, wolves of marble, thorn-vines shaped into guardians—rushed in to help. Their summoners, bleeding and exhausted, shouted commands.

They tried.

They truly tried.

They tried.

They truly tried.

But the creature moved like death given form.

It cut through a marble wolf in a single swipe.

It split a vine guardian with no resistance.

It sidestepped the fire-beast's charge and tore it apart mid-leap.

Each strike echoed like thunder.

Evelyne raised her glowing hand again—calling forth the remnants of her light magic. The stag stepped beside her, horns dim but proud.

Together, they met the Stalker head-on.

The clash was blinding.

Voidsteel collided with light, sending arcs of energy whipping through the garden. The stag lowered its antlers and charged, ramming the Stalker into a flowering stone archway.

For a heartbeat—a single breath—

it looked like they might prevail.

Evelyne leapt forward, driving a spear of light straight into the creature's chest.

The Stalker shrieked, reeling back, ichor dripping from its wound.

A mortal wound.

But not enough.

The Stalker's remaining arms lashed forward in a blur.

SHLACK—

The sound was wet, final.

Evelyne froze—eyes wide, mouth parted.

Two void claws protruded from her back, impaling her through the ribs.

Aubrelle screamed, stumbling blindly, knees hitting the earth.

"Mother!! MOTHER!!"

Evelyne's legs buckled—but she did not fall.

She forced herself upright on sheer will alone, body shaking violently. The Stalker lifted her like a trophy, void energy burning through her chest.

Her last act was not to scream.

It was to spread her arms, shielding the garden's exit—blocking the Stalker's path deeper into the estate.

Protecting her daughter.

Even now.

With a final breath that was almost a whisper carried by the wind—

"…Aubrelle… live…"

The Stalker tore its claws free.

Evelyne collapsed.

The light in her eyes faded before she hit the ground.

The radiant stag flickered once—

twice—

and shattered into motes of silver.

Aubrelle fell forward, hands clawing at the dirt, vision nearly gone.

Everything was smeared red and black.

She couldn't breathe.

Couldn't move.

"M-Mother…" she sobbed, voice breaking.

Her world—once full of color—was collapsing into darkness.

And the Void creature, wounded but alive, turned its head toward her.

Step by step—

it approached.

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