BANG

A small stream of smoke rose from the point of the barrel of Jin's rifle. Standing, he was pointing eastward, in the direction of the great eastern plateaus that divided the plains and the shores of the Onyx Sea. One of the two flying beasts chasing them suddenly fell from above, colliding with the pure green grass and leaving a carpet of fresh blood as it spun out of control due to its inertia.

The wagon was still moving in constant motion along the Abandoned Meridion Highway, with the sun slowly beginning to set and the nocturnal creatures emerging from their slumber. Among them was a group of what appeared to be giant bats with cement-gray fur, who had no other idea than to get up early and emerge in a group from the ruins of a watchtower from the Age of Kings they were using as a shelter.

By an unfortunate coincidence, the wagon of the Mercer-Archeos family plus Tristessa was passing near their territory at that moment.

"Only one left! There's nothing to fear!" Jin indicated, then began reloading his ancient rifle, taking advantage of the fact that the hostile beast wasn't yet within dangerous distance.

The smell of burning gunpowder wasn't as strong as the miasma of putrefaction escaping from beneath the cloak covering the undead vilecross pulling the wagon, but it nearly made Tristessa sneeze and hit her head on the wooden edge.

"What did you say those things are called?!" she asked the hunter, while she covered Tiara and Lucahn with her hands. They were crouching, their heads down for their safety.

"Terrdraks!" he replied. "Another example of creatures tainted by the Dark Lady's malice!"

With his rifle ready and loaded with a new round and fresh gunpowder, he aimed at that last giant bat, which didn't seem to want to give up even though its entire group had been shot down from the sky thanks to Jin's excellent aim.

The creature took a dizzying dive, flying almost straight ahead at a fixed angle, pointing toward the wagon. From there, Tristessa could see its eerily humanoid head, and make out four pairs of eyes and a mouth with long fangs, dripping saliva that was blown by the wind...

BANG

The lead bullet lodged exactly where the girl was looking. The creature fell sprawling onto the wagon, causing it to shake violently. By a miracle it hadn't fallen on top of them, but on the other end, slightly shattering the wooden floor and beginning to stain it with blood that flowed from the hole in its head, bubbling nonstop.

Now that she had that creature lying so close, Tristessa saw that it resembled an ape, covered in fur and no bigger than Lucahn. Its bat-like wings, attached to its arms with six long fingers, were slightly transparent, allowing even the bones and joints to be seen beneath the skin.

But its face was so...human, with a tiny nose, so gaunt and corrupted with malice in those dull red eyes that it was a little difficult not to see an agonizing existence behind the paralyzed curves of its jaws and around that pained gaze. As if the creature wanted to cry and couldn't...

"Vile, foul beast," Jin hissed, distracting Tristessa by kicking the terrdrak's corpse and throwing it off the wagon.

"..." She stared for a moment at the dead beast, alone in the middle of the dirt road, while she patted Gaal on the head several times, as the dog had come closer to sniff the bloodstain and let out a growl. "Come on, buddy. Everything's alright now."

Tristessa let herself fall against the uncomfortable, splintered, and pricked wooden backrest. A sigh escaped through her parted lips, which didn't shake the lethargic feeling she'd been carrying for the past couple of hours.

"Ugh…" She brought her trembling right hand to her mouth to contain her nausea. "…"

In one of the pockets of her trench coat was one of the bottles of spirit potion Tiara had made, but she couldn't take another dose so soon or risk intoxication.

The reality was that she was in profound pain. Not enough to faint, but enough to sweat profusely and feel like her brain was melting. She was running high with a fever and doing everything possible to keep her soul from being crushed by the strain of her [Divinity of Accursed Existence]. It was a constant struggle to keep herself from succumbing to the strain and gaining internal hemorrhages that would result in her bleeding from every orifice.

"Miss?" For the first time since that morning, Lucahn called out to her. Shy, he remained glued to his mother, who was chatting with her fretting husband, stroking her belly. "You don't look so good…"

"Don't worry about me… I'm just a little tired," she lied, forming a fragile smile that hid her pain. "Your dad is a great hunter, isn't he? He took out all those terrdraks like it was nothing."

"Yes! Daddy is the best!" the boy celebrated, his eyes shining and banishing all the fear the creatures' attack had left him with. Jin heard him and ruffled his hair, causing him to let out an adorable giggle. "Stop, Stop…! Besides, miss, it's very difficult to hit a terrdrak while it's flying! They're very agile, and when their bloodlust overwhelms them, they become so fast they can even dodge a shower of arrows! But not for my daddy, of course not…!"

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In his didactic mode, Lucahn chattered on and on, and that was appreciated. A lot, to alleviate the atmosphere of uncertainty, sickened by the miasma of the undead Vilecross.

And also…

Another component that fueled the heavy mood: Tiara's dark gaze, dedicated exclusively to her.

"I'm suffering for you too, bitch," she thought, returning the same unsympathetic expression. They would never be able to have a positive relationship, of that she was more than certain. Not even if she managed to save her life and the lives of her children. "Is there something on my face?"

Both father and son stared in awkward silence at the two women, openly hostile toward each other.

"You look tired, girl. I appreciate you working so hard for a family you met today… A family that owes you nothing," the chestnut-haired woman told her, making Tristessa grind her teeth.

"What can I say? I couldn't live with the guilt of knowing that Daiana Mercer-Archeos slaughtered you four and I did nothing to prevent it…" she retorted darkly, causing Tiara to swallow hard. No matter how solid and cold she appeared, a mother was always a mother, and protecting the son who hugged her with renewed fear and the baby who was about to be born was her only priority in the world. "Do you know she loves to play with children? Do you know what she does to them after breaking their minds? I'll give you a hint: your daughter is very good at craftmanship."

"…" Tiara didn't comment on the matter, but she did prevent an annoyed Jin from admonishing the girl by taking him tightly by the arm. She breathed in the air stale with Death and changed the subject. "If you want to save us so much, how do you intend to convince the Lady of the Dominion not to kill us? It's no use saving us from the Coven if we'll end up dead anyway once we reach Entrana."

"That… I don't know yet," Tristessa was forced to answer honestly. "But I'll do whatever it takes to prevent that."

The hostility between them lessened. Jin was able to sit next to his wife and intertwined the fingers of his left hand with hers, although the pregnant woman still hadn't taken her eyes off Tristessa.

"I can tell you a few things about Aurelia Eramisaptor," she blurted out, her permanent sullen expression waiting for the girl's affirmation, which soon came. "She's a ruthless justiciar who became the Lady of the Dominion after the previous Lord resigned, the day after the Massacre of the Endless Night."

"Ruthless, huh... That will make things more difficult," Tristessa thought, swallowing hard. "Even thought Sev already told me that."

"She's adept at combat with spears and glaives, but prefers to fight mounted on her longtime aracross companion, Mystia. In short, Aurelia is a natural born she-dragoon."

"She-Dragoon?"

"Yes. It's a type of warrior who is usually mounted infantry but can also fight on foot." For the first time in that loop, Tristessa saw true concern in the woman's icy expression. "I don't know how you expect to win her mercy, girl, but if you don't learn the same language that woman uses, you'll achieve nothing. You'll only end up dead... Especially if she finds out what kind of person you are."

In silence, Tristessa warned her with her gray gaze not to say unnecessary and baseless things.

"What are you talking about, darling?" Jin asked, not understanding.

"Nothing, nothing. It's something between women," she replied, resting her head on the ridge between his shoulder and neck. "Stay like that."

"R-right."

Relieved, Tristessa felt like she had just dodged a bullet. Of course, she instantly realized that the woman, whose eyes were now closed, was referring to her status as a Stranger, something that also worried her after what had happened near the end of the previous loop.

There was still the problem of the Wraiths, those Imperial Assassins who had hunted her down for that very reason, and Auron paid with his life to save her. Somehow, the Imperial authorities had learned that she was a Stranger, even though she'd never spoken to anyone about it. Not Severus, not Auron… She had no suspects in mind.

"Tiara is one thing, to whom I gave several reasons to suspect my origins… But what about the others? I refuse to believe that Severus or Auron said unnecessary things about me to the authorities, or even Astoria, who let me go even though she knew I was illegal… Perhaps Caius, or that brat Cyela? At least that tattooist knew about my exceptional number of Divinities, it could be a cause for suspicion. But enough to go against his profession and rat me out? Or could it be…?" A terrifying thought surfaced in his head. "Perhaps the Wraiths have been spying on me from the moment I arrived in Entrana!"

No proof at all to support that theory, no matter how terrifying or crazy it sounded. She still didn't have any solid evidence to understand the Wraiths' actions, or if her stop at the Sanctuary was the kickstart, but she was definitely going to have to pay close attention to what was happening around her…

"One problem at a time, Tessa. Before I worry about Aurelia Eramisaptor or the Imperial Assassins, I must try not to die from overextending my Divinity."

The girl exhaled again, as if it could expel some of the vile, dark aura surrounding her soul. An ethereal parasite, a product of the use of her Divinity and the ever-present hostility of the hooded creature's broken spirit.

"Yes, yes, keep cursing me all you want... Just don't stop," she thought, overfatigued and longing for someone to be next to her and sleep with, in the same Tiara was doing with her husband. Simultaneously, the faces of Severus and Astoria appeared from different corners of her mind, and a deep-red blush covered her face and ears. "...thank goodness we're almost at Derelict Outpost."

Sure enough, the abandoned, walled, circular structure soon appeared within her range of vision. Its central tower stood, albeit in very poor condition, a sign that the events of the last loop had been undone.

And this time, Tristessa was going to look for a better future, one in which the people who had just lit a fire inside that place would not lose their lives because of her mistakes.

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