As night fell upon the Derelict Outpost, Tristessa watched with satisfaction as the mercenaries' opinions were set aside, and they were allowed some interaction with the Mercer-Archeos.

Her slow walk around the place led her past the pack of aracrosses. With patience and discipline, these hornless demonic beasts waited their turn to eat a large piece of raw meat that Lufreya gave them. Lucahn and Gaal accompanied her; the little boy shy and cute as always, while the great dog was too scared and weary to interact with those beasts.

"Come on, don't be afraid!" the mercenary encouraged him, guiding his hand with hers toward one of those monstrous snouts. "These guys are very friendly. Haven't you read about them?"

"Y-yes, but I left the book at home... Ah!" Lucahn jolted when the aracross's tongue poked out from between its hundred teeth, sloshing saliva over his small hand as it released the meat into its jaws. "It's sticky and warm!"

The gray-eyed girl stifled the giggle that tried to escape her lips and continued on her seemingly indefinite path, dodging debris and areas where wild vegetation had overgrown the layer of cobblestone floor.

As she passed by the two carriages filled with merchandise and the bonfire, she saw Madame Luchie showing Tiara and Melian a small book with a cover battered by the passage of time.

"It's a financial record of the Lord of Coin from the old Hollow Bastion. A fortune for an object from the heart of the Shadow Realm, and no one knows how to appreciate it!" the old woman exclaimed, stroking the spine of the book as if it were a pet.

"Who would want an object that could be considered unholy? If it really comes from there…" Tiara opined, looking at it with disgust. "It would be better to throw it into the fire. Now."

"Are you crazy?! I paid a black gem for this!" Karla retorted, scandalized.

"No offense, Madame, but for that price you seem to have lost your mind…" Melian commented, earning a sour look from her.

"You just lost a quarter of your salary."

"Huh?!"

Passing on and ignoring the pregnant woman's glare, Tristessa focused on Jin, talking with Bran and Dom. They were standing by the campfire, the hunter helping them cook three large slabs of ribeye skewered on iron spears while sipping wine from tankards.

"Since it's legiana meat, you should take advantage of your fellow thaumathurgical fire magic to cook the tough parts around the bones. And don't add too much salt, if you're already preserving it in a salty mixture with ice magic. See those stains?" The hunter took a sip from his tankard and then pointed at some corners near the ribs. "That's excess salt that the fat absorbed. If you're not careful removing it, it'll spread to the juicy parts and it won't taste good."

"Wait, wait! I need to write that down!" Bran exclaimed, digging into his pockets, while Dom had put his face close to the raw ribcage, the sparks from the campfire burning his chin. "Hey, keep your snout away from the meat!"

"How many years has it been since you've had so many people around? A conversation with unknown people who don't want to kill you?" she wondered, locking eyes with Jin. He raised his tankard in her direction, making her smile more than contentedly. "Small victories, huh, Jin? I think I finally got something right… Ever since I came into this world, I've failed nonstop."

It was a cause for celebration, even if only for a moment. She knew she couldn't rest on her laurels, especially knowing what was approaching as darkness fell.

"It's time..."

She inhaled a breath that didn't soothe the terrible chill that was beginning to emanate from her Baptism in the Ruins. With the utmost discretion, she moved away from the center of the Outpost. Jin and Tiara were aware of what she was doing, having given them a general explanation that she couldn't stay with them overnight due to a life-threatening side effect of her Divinity.

There was no need to go into details, and even if they had asked, she would have lied more. Just to leave them safely in the dark.

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Taking advantage of the shadows of the ruins, Tristessa slipped out through one of the holes in the northern wall. In that direction, resuming the uneven road and after perhaps fifteen minutes of walking, the first forests began to appear, which would later become a constant landscape before reaching Entrana.

"I know what it's like to sleep there, in the cold, alone…" she thought, rousing herself and taking the first steps in that direction. It was pitch dark, with only the light of the Twin Moons illuminating her path. "…when will you appear?"

Her question wasn't directed at her black-armored supernatural pursuer, but at someone who was almost certainly spying on her and following her every move. Someone she hadn't seen inside the Outpost for a couple of hours.

"I know you're there, Reiden!" she exclaimed, into the darkness of the grasslands around her. "Show yourself!"

Materializing from the shadows of the ruins, where the moonlight couldn't reach, the mercenary leader appeared. Always on guard, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword and a stern expression on his elderly face.

"That's surprising. Not many can detect me while I use my [Divinity of Shadowstep]," he commented, his iron gaze blending suspicion with honest curiosity. "In fact, you're full of surprises. You seemed quite calm when Madame Luchie judged your fortune. As if you knew about the outcome of the negotiation, and about my contractor's blind faith and how to use it to your advantage."

"That's a thing about merchants, Reiden: they are too Valdrek's dependent," she replied, smirking as she saw the mercenary gave a slight nod, truly unable to deny it since his contractor was the perfect example. "You do a good job by observing the results of the decisions your boss makes based on her faith."

"Don't sweet-talk to me, girl," Reiden warned her. "Do the Mercer-Archeos know you're leaving them behind?"

"They do, but not the misconception you have," she replied, her hands in her pockets and her manner calm. Ignoring the constant warnings in the form of icy pulses coming from the dark mark on her chest. "There's a problem with my Divinity, a side effect that kicks in when night falls. I can't stay here. All of you will be in danger if I do."

"…" From the way Reiden strode toward her, his brow furrowed, he didn't seem to trust her words. "How about you explain it to me? Maybe I can help you."

"No, you can't. No one can."

From the sharp, rapid-fire way she spoke, Tristessa thought some of her pain had seeped into her words. The pain of knowing what would happen if anyone dared to help her… She couldn't allow it.

"Seriously, you must go, Reiden. I'll be back at dawn, I swear. I didn't come all this way to abandon the Mercer-Archeos now…" Her voice was betraying her, choked and shaky from the unnatural cold. "Watch over them for me until I return!"

She turned and, without looking back. And ran. Without listening to see if the mercenary leader said anything to her, or if he had started chasing her. She didn't know, nor did she care to know, now that she felt the Dullahan approaching.

She couldn't be around. She couldn't let anyone else die because of her.

"I'll run and hide. For hours if necessary. And if I must die… At least it'll be me alone," she thought, though those words hid an implicit fear she couldn't admit now. She couldn't, in that situation. "Come on, run…run…Run!"

She couldn't tell the truth that flooded her heart.

I don't want to die.

"Stop, Miss Irandell!"

A male voice echoed in the darkness, and Tristessa saw out of the corner of her eye the ghostly figure of Reiden, one with the shadows, gliding like a ghost. Extremely fast, enough to materialize meters in front of her and cut her off on that deserted road with no one around, only the grasses blowing in the wind toward the forests to the north.

"Damn it, Reiden!" the girl bellowed, now clutching her chest, and not from lack of oxygen. Breathing was painful now…

"Tell me what's wrong! I can help!"

"Why the hell do you want to hel…?"

She couldn't finish the question, as the answer was obvious.

"Of course… Of course! How did I not see that before?!" she wailed, a sigh laden with pure terror leaving her throat. "Why, Reiden? Why… Why do you have to keep being a damn hero?"

A question that unsettled the dark-skinned man. His confusion was synchronized with the ill omen Tristessa had been feeling for hours… He was forced to look around, feeling that same sense of imminent danger.

"W-what is that…?"

"Run, Reiden… Run!"

Guided by her instincts, Tristessa took the mercenary by the arm and forced him to flee with her, heading north, leaving behind the darkness that rose from every corner. Darkness that gathered in the middle of the road, and from within it emerged that headless, black-armored invader…

"My Nemesis… The cycle begins again." Tristessa heard her voice, quite a distance behind her, and yet so close. As if she were speaking inside her ear, her dark words caressing her soul with the delicacy of a knife. "Defeat me!"

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