[Realm: Álfheimr]

[Location: The Deathless Fortress]

Ivan looked at Ella, her dismissive words landing sharper than he expected. He hadn't walked into this conversation expecting kindness—Ella's attitude alone warned against that—but hearing such outright indifference still made something inside him twist uncomfortably. It wasn't cruelty she spoke with. It was worse—complete, unshakable certainty. A certainty that left no room for disagreement, no crack where empathy might slip through.

He could have stayed quiet. Maybe he should have. But the picture of the people still outside—terrified prisoners, wounded guards, desperate survivors scrambling away from the Deseruit Beasts—kept forcing itself into his mind, refusing to let him stand still.

"It's just…" Ivan's voice wavered before he steadied it, his fingers tightening around the talisman until his knuckles whitened. "There are still so many out there. If we move now—before we lure the Deseruit Beasts—we could still help them. We still have a chance to pull them out."

Alexander swallowed hard beside him, shifting as if bracing for Ella's response. Robert merely exhaled—a long, low sigh that held neither mockery nor agreement. It sounded more like resignation, as though he already knew Ella's reaction and understood the futility of reasoning with her.

Ella blinked once, lazily, before tilting her head to the side. "And?" Her tone didn't rise or fall; it remained flat, almost bored. She swept her hand in a small, unimpressed circle around the cavern. "Everyone worth saving is already here."

Ivan's chest tightened at her phrasing—worth saving. He was immediately reminded of what Robert had told him earlier. That Ella chose who lived based on her own judgment. That she only saved those she believed deserved it. Ivan had tried to accept it, or at least understand it, but the moment he heard her say those words aloud, he felt something rebel inside him.

Who decided the value of a life? Who had that right? No human—no matter how powerful—should.

"Still—" Ivan began, pushing past the unease building in him.

Ella cut him off with a sharp look in her eyes. "Let me guess," she said, leaning back slightly as if settling into the role of someone who had already solved the puzzle. "You're about to say something like, 'One person shouldn't decide who gets saved,' right?"

Alexander winced. Robert mouthed something that looked suspiciously like don't.

"You're so damn naïve, blondie," Ella continued, shaking her head. "It's almost comedic."

"Ella—" Robert attempted, stepping in out of habit, but a single glare from her silenced him instantly. He lifted his hands in surrender, muttering, "Alright, alright…" under his breath.

Ella shifted her attention fully back to Ivan, eyes narrowing sharply. "Let me guess something else. You're one of those hopeful types, aren't you? The kind that wants to believe most people can change if you just give them a chance. That deep down, there's some little kernel of goodness waiting to sprout." Her smirk deepened—not rude but cutting. "Am I right?"

Ivan met her stare. "Is that… is that so wrong? Wanting to believe that?"

"It's not wrong," Ella admitted easily. "Not entirely, anyway. Humans are a worthless lot, sure, but they're not as stuck as people think. A monster of a criminal can become a decent person. A thief can become someone honorable. And the saintliest fool in existence can become something worse in an instant." She shrugged lightly. "Humans flip sides all the time. They rot and renew and rot again. That's just how your kind is."

Her words, oddly enough, didn't sound hateful. They sounded like observations she'd made too many times to count.

"Then why?" Ivan pressed, despite the small spark of fear pushing at the back of his throat. "Why leave some of the prisoners and guards behind? Why save only the ones you chose? You just said people can change. That they aren't fixed in one path."

Ella stared at him for a moment, then snorted softly. "What? Were you expecting me to give you a long, dramatic speech about my trauma?" She made a vague swirling motion with her hand. "Or some deep philosophical manifesto about good and evil?"

"…" Ivan stiffened, unsure what she wanted from him.

Ella leaned back on her hands, one leg crossing over the other as she regarded him with unsettling calm. "It's nothing like that, blondie. Relax." She paused—just long enough to build tension—before continuing. "Do you know the type of person who gets to judge scum?"

Ivan wasn't sure if it was rhetorical, but he couldn't answer. His silence seemed to amuse her further.

"The answer," Ella said quietly, "is an even bigger scumbag."

Alexander blurted out a confused, "What?" before he could stop himself. His brows knitted together, his body tensing like someone who'd just heard the first line of a riddle that made no sense.

Ella ignored him completely.

"To judge real evil," she went on, "you have to understand it too. You have to know how it works, what it feels like, what it looks like inside and out." Her gaze hardened, no longer amused—simply factual. "That's me. I get to judge those scumbags because I understand exactly how vile they are."

Robert's expression flickered—something like discomfort, maybe even worry. It was clear Ella wasn't simply posturing. She wasn't bragging either. She was stating a belief carved deep into the stone of her being.

"I'm not here to be just or noble," Ella said. "I'm not here to play saint or martyr. I'll save people unequally because I can. And because I don't care if the ones I leave behind have potential for redemption. That's not my problem. This is the way I choose to use my power."

Ivan felt his stomach twist again. ("She's… serious.")

There was no exaggeration in her tone. No theatrics. This was her conviction. This was the truth she lived by.

"But far be it from me," Ella said, flicking a stray lock of hair aside, "to stand in the way of your little hero fantasy, blondie."

Robert rubbed the bridge of his nose. Alexander looked torn between agreeing with Ella and slapping her.

"Robert probably mentioned I can't mass teleport." Ella continued, waving lazily at those gathered deeper in the cavern. "But it's not because I'm weak. Normally? Teleporting this many would be easy."

"Then why—?" Ivan began.

"Hexes," Ella said simply. "The guards and prisoners here all have a hex on them. Guards because they work in a confidential area. Prisoners because, well… they're prisoners. If my mana touches those hexes, they'll trigger. Badly."

Robert nodded grimly. "So the only option is a manual evacuation. But we're lucky you two have a way to lure the Deseruit Beast. Otherwise, Lady Ella couldn't guard everyone and fight those things."

Ella clicked her tongue. "But blondie here wants to play hero, so now we get to improvise. Yay." She rested her chin on her palm, her ruby eyes narrowing in a mocking half-lidded stare. "So here's your choice. You can waste time trying to save the trash still above—people who will probably betray you or stab you or rob you someday… or," she raised a dainty finger, "you can help save the people down here. People who actually deserve it."

Ivan swallowed. ("Those are… my only options?")

His hand tightened around the talisman—a futile attempt to steady the churning in his chest. It felt wrong. Unfair and cruel. But Ella wasn't lying. He wasn't strong enough to carve a third path. He wasn't strong enough to save everyone.

He looked at Ella. Her steely crimson eyes held no hesitation. No regret. Only the conviction of someone whose destiny bent around them rather than the other way around.

She was someone who had already made the hard choices. Someone who had always taken the path others couldn't.

He wasn't her.

He wasn't that strong.

"I'll… I'll help here…" Ivan breathed eventually, the words sounding like they were scraped out of him. Alexander shot him a look filled with pity—a look of understanding. He knew exactly what this decision cost Ivan.

Ella, however, offered no sympathy. Her smile faded; amusement vanished. If anything, she looked disappointed. But the reason behind that disappointment remained unreadable.

"At least you're not entirely naïve," she said, flicking her fingers through her bangs. "Whatever. Listen closely because I'm not repeating myself."

All three of them straightened instinctively.

"It's not much of a plan," Ella continued. "Tweedledee and Tweedledum"—she gestured lazily at Ivan and Alexander—"will use that little talisman to attract some of the Deseruit Beast. When they start coming, you run west. Not east."

"But why west?" Alexander asked.

"Because east is where a massive fight is happening. Go there and you'll die in half a second." Ella said. "So go west. And don't question me again."

Ivan nodded slowly. "But what do we do after? We don't know how many Deseruit Beast will be drawn in. If it's too many, we can't fight them."

"I'll wipe them out once they gather," Ella said simply, her voice carrying no worthless boasting, merely truth. "That's my job."

Ivan and Alexander both looked uneasy, but Robert stepped forward confidently.

"There is no need to worry. Ella is more than capable. If she wished it, she could even destroy this entire fortress."

"The idiot's right," Ella muttered. "Just do your jobs and we all live happily ever after like some fairytale." She scoffed lightly at her own words. "Now get outta my face."

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