"To kill a monster, we need another monster."

These were the exact words Asher had told them.

It was baffling and dreadful to even think of such words as the beginning of a plan to bring a calamity out in the open.

But they sadly were doing it.

Chris looked at the black land with white lines running over it.

They had chosen to draw this rune. An intricate circle spanning several meters—it had taken more than a few hours to complete this. Even then doubts had taken root deep within them.

"Are you sure this is the correct way?"

Chris asked.

Anny and Summer paused and looked up from the ground as they were finishing the circle.

"I honestly don't know. This one is bigger than last." Summer answered with a spiteful voice.

Then, like the drop of an ink, something fell on the ground, causing a ripple of shadows to come out of the cracks present below.

It was a man with dark black hair falling till his neck and a scarf wrapped over him. His gaze remained dull and his face expressionless as he looked at the floor with complex lines running in circles.

"I have marked the places."

Enzo said with a low voice.

"Good work."

A calm voice added. Enzo swept his gaze from below and looked at the source of the sound. Liber, with a thin smile, walked closer and stopped only a few meters away. Looking closer, one could see blood stains covering his boots and his sword hanging loose, as if it had just been used to do something unspeakable.

"Monsters?"

"Yes, it looks like our smell still brought some of them." Liber nodded and glanced at the darkness inside the deeper portion of the forest.

"Even though we are so close to it… Some creatures seem to have gathered the courage to come closer and trespass on the Avengers' territory."

"It is dormant right now. That's why we could even come this close; otherwise, I fear we would be dead by now."

Enzo said with a dry voice and continued.

"The last time we came here must have left our stench; even a little blood is enough for such creatures, especially since it's uncommon here."

Liber mused and didn't deny his claims. Rather, he thought that if the situation permitted, they both could have shared their own experiences regarding monsters. Liber was sure it would be an interesting conversation—even enlightening in some ways—since Enzo had seen much more than he himself had. An amused smile formed on Liber's lips as he shook his head.

"Are we done here?"

Liber asked.

Enzo didn't answer at once. He kept his gaze down and looked at the rune marks. His gaze remained fixed on the spot where Anny and Summer were drawing the final lines as he assessed the situation.

"It's almost done. We just need to recheck it and make sure it has no issues."

The words left like whispers traveling through winds. Everyone present instinctively tensed up, knowing the hour had arrived where they would need to make a choice.

A choice that could change everything.

Anny drew a cold breath and inhaled deeply with her eyes closed. Her yellow hair bounced with the chilly winds, making her shiver as they traced her exposed neck.

Asher had told them things that had shaken Anny to her bones. She has never imagined the young boy she helped in a ruined village, someone who was as cheeky as her little brother and reminded her of him so much, would grow up like this in just a few months of time. She almost sighed heavily as the conversation between the group started to get heated over the use of this rune.

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"Will this truly work? Asher had said the rituals are dangerous. Not only that, but the chances of their success are considerably low as well." Anny muttered to herself. However, when she looked up, her face stiffened.

Chris, Summer, Enzo, and even Liber were staring at her. Anny took a step back as if to not lose her composure.

'Everyone is working hard and here I am complaining?'

"I—"

A sudden feeling of guilt flushed her face in embarrassment as she opened her mouth but stopped.

"Pft—"

A laugh slipped from Summer's lips—sharp and brittle, like glass cracking under pressure.

It had stopped Anny from saying anything further.

"Huh?"

Summer, who had laughed, suddenly started to walk forward with calm steps.

She patted Anny on her shoulder shortly after saying.

"We all feel the same, don't worry. We are just scared to voice it out."

"Oh."

Anny's shoulders relaxed as Summer's hand lingered, warm against the chill. The tension in her chest eased just enough to breathe properly again. Summer's smile was thin but genuine, a crack in the armor they all wore. Chris shifted his weight, boots crunching faintly on the frost-stiffened grass near the rune's edge. He didn't speak, but his knuckles whitened where they gripped his worn leather belt—a tell Anny recognized from countless skirmishes. He was scared too. They all were.

Anny didn't voice her thoughts out any further and just nodded slowly.

"We are not creating a charm, so the chances of failure are low. But still be prepared in case things go wrong. The last time we did it, the scale was smaller and on a different target."

Enzo warned with a cautious and low voice. His brows furrowed up as they went through the ruinic circle one last time. The intricate and complex drawing on the floor stretched far and wide. A strong stench of sharp marigolds and crushed bones lingered in the air along with several dried pieces of flesh and other things that seemed to have been gathered after a long search.

"Is the escape route ready?" Liber asked.

Chris lingered on the question asked and nodded after a moment of thought.

"Yes, I have checked it twice; no, even thrice actually. We can start anytime now." He replied with a grin.

Liber nodded.

"Then let's start now, shall we? We are running out of time; they should be close."

Liber's voice cut through the still air like a sharp knife. The group held their breath and nodded their head twice.

Liber took a deep breath and stepped forward toward the ruinic circle. He looked at two edges shaped like an arrowhead and licked his lips, going closer towards the center.

The forest went unnaturally chill, as if the forest held its breath. The dark forest was an unnatural place with many mysteries and conspiracies that had been buried deep here with time. Now one of them was to be pulled out and guided to somewhere else.

Liber took out a large pouch hanging on his waist and opened it. Inside, a large number of clear blue origin shards rested and shone with an eerie glow. This amount was enough to make anyone considerably rich. However, it was now to power something else.

With a small and swift movement, Liber let the shards fall on the ground. With a loud thud, one by one the shards hit the center, then with a mystic, almost unreal speed, started to break, dissolving into nothingness.

The others watched it happen with stern gazes, too stressed to let out any sound. Liber then glanced at them one last time before taking out a paper on which twisted letters had been written by hand. He looked at them and started to recite them one by one. In the end he prayed to the goddess, asking her to be a witness for the ritual, and took a fast step back before the intricate pattern on the ground lit up.

The dark forest, which was always covered with a curtain of darkness, for the first time witnessed a light, an otherworldly light, that seemed to hold all possible colors there ever could be. They twisted and distorted into something even more. The arrowheads, meanwhile, seemed to have come alive as they stretched in the directions they had been pointed to.

One of them moved to the Far East, deep into darkness, while the other moved in a straight line where small runic marks had been planted on the tree for arrowheads.

Liber and the others watched in awe as they witnessed the mystical scene unfold before them. The colors danced in the air, almost tempting them to join them, but they prevailed as a loud scream echoed through the darkness.

A white line was suddenly shot in the air from the depth of the curtain of darkness, and an ancient, very fierce voice pierced through the atmosphere, making the group's hearts sink deep in fear.

The string that had come out split into many, then pulsed faintly before piercing through several beasts dwelling deep down and pulling them inside. The horrific sight of monsters dying in a few moments was enough for Anny and the others to come out of their dazzled look.

The mystical light soon dissipated as they turned their heads toward the escape route they had prepared with some horses tied at the corner.

They ran and ran till all they could hear was the destruction that they had awakened.

As Anny held Liber's waist tightly in her grasp as they fled, her mind couldn't help but again think of what Asher had said. To kill a monster, bring another monster. To save some, we need to risk others. She didn't agree at first, but now being aware of what was going Asher's way was still weaker compared to the being he has made an enemy of, her heart trembled.

So, she prayed for him to return back; that's all she could do. That's how powerless she and the humans were in the face of dread.

As her prayers were to be completed, the land trembled and trees were torn away, vanishing instantly. Anny's mind seems to stretch into the unknown, as the last thing she saw was light.

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