Salome watched the pitiful attempt to hit Toy sail off into the dark forest. After that, Ophelia lowered her shoulders and looked over toward the canyon.

Salome followed her gaze to see Diana, Alpha, Stacy, and a few other warriors pulling themselves up and over.

Ophelia grimaced as she sucked the bow back into her hand and put her back toward Salome, beginning her slow trek to the village.

'Seriously?'

Was this the girl's idea of taunting? Putting her back to Salome?

'Foolish…'

Salome didn't care about decency in a fight; such a thing was trivial and a joke. She engaged her wings and propelled herself toward Ophelia's back.

As she got closer, she noticed the brushing of roses in her path and pre-emptively changed her direction to dodge a vine pillar.

Salome shot to the side right before quickly somersaulting to the left as another pillar appeared.

Salome gripped the original pillar and spun around it, and used the centripetal force and a well-timed flap of her wings to descend upon Ophelia at max velocity and force the woman to face her.

Ophelia sneered as she summoned a sword and shield, then spun and repeated the earlier exchange where she swatted Salome's initial claw strike away, but Salome got hold of her wrist.

'She's getting quite low on Aether…'

Salome gripped and clenched, attempting to break the girl's bone in half.

At the same time, Ophelia stabbed her sword toward Salome's abdomen.

Salome jumped in the air, vaulting over Ophelia and dragging her arm with her, attempting to dislocate her shoulder. But, as she nearly completed the arc, a rose shot up from the ground behind Ophelia and batted Salome back in front.

Then, Salome was forced to let go as two thorny vines attempted to wiggle around Salome's own wrists.

The moment a modicum of separation was made, Ophelia turned her back to the demoness and began her march toward the village again.

'What do you get out of making such a show?'

Salome found her actions… amusing.

But, at the same time, idiotic.

This was no sanctioned fight. There was nothing keeping Salome fighting Ophelia other than the idea that she might turn on Toy if Salome went for the village.

But, even then…

Toy had the means to escape. Plus, she would lose out on Aether in an extended fight…

'Let's see what you have planned.'

Salome snickered as she turned her gaze from Ophelia to the village. With a flap of her wings, Salome rushed through the air and covered the distance in a matter of breaths.

Salome floated to a stop near the edge of the village only to turn around and spot Ophelia still trudging through the field of roses at a steady pace with a nasty, determined look on her face.

Turning her back to Ophelia, Salome jumped in the air and began to glide over the town, quickly making her way to the storehouses. Finding them with ease, having already seen their location before, Salome landed on the dirt road in front of the entrance.

"Now, now… where is everyone?"

They'd predicted an oracle to be hidden among them, and it appeared that guess to be true as Salome could see not a single soul… though, it didn't seem like they took the forewarning to flee.

In fact, Salome could sense groups of Aether huddled together, suggesting they'd not retreated, but prepared for them.

Salome reinforced her leg with Aether as she sent a backheel into the storehouse through the front door. Before even looking at what was on the other side, Salome dove away.

A moment later, a rose arrow shot from an unmanned balista, showing her guess had been right.

This place had been rigged with traps.

Salome, after discerning it was safe, peered around the entrance and noticed a minimal amount of provisions.

'It seems they also scattered their supplies…'

The original plan was for Salome to find a candle, light it, and then set the building on fire. However…

The entire goal of taking over this village was to steal their furniture and supplies.

She wasn't going to burn her new bed!

Salome had slept in discomfort long enough; she wasn't going to risk it… not when she could smell the oil which had been poured all over the village.

It was clear.

They were intent on either dying or winning. And this village had no use for them once dead, but could be rebuilt if alive.

As Salome thought that, standing at the entrance of the storehouse, rose petal arrows shot from a multitude of houses, each with a thin wire attached to them.

Except that these shots were not aimed at Salome directly, but aimed around the area and latched onto the walls. When Salome looked up, she noticed the thin wires were being hidden by the sunlight.

'This is their plan?'

Salome laughed as she ground her heels into the ground, then kicked off and barreled toward the nearest house, bursting through the wooden walls, snapping the frame in half.

When the sawdust cleared, Salome found herself surrounded by ten people with vines fashioned into spears, mostly teens. All of them began rushing Salome, who disconnected one quill and sent it piercing through three of their necks, killing them with ease.

Then, she killed four more with a swipe of her claws.

The last four didn't last too much longer as she used the edge of her wing to bisect one, then sharpened her tail to slice one's neck.

Finally, she dodged the remaining two's pathetic thrust, then gripped them both by the neck and drained them dry of the small amount of Aether they possessed. But right before the last one died, he dropped a lit match to the floor.

'I saw as much coming…'

Salome swatted the match to the side with her tail, putting it out before clenching her grasp and snapping his neck with ease.

Salome sighed as she turned and looked out the hole from which she entered.

Spearheaded by Ophelia, a mob wielding torches and pitchforks had appeared.

With a confident glare, Ophelia held a rose in her hand, then forcefully made it wither. The moment she dropped it, the people threw their torches and set the house with Salome in it ablaze.

***

Toy tried as best as she could to walk without stepping on the thorns, but they were just too plentiful.

Every piece of ground was hidden underneath the roses. And this trend continued even into the forest.

Toy, now accompanied by Alpha and the others, had regrouped after watching Salome and Ophelia head into the village a few minutes ago.

Knowing she had her job, and she had hers, Toy didn't dwell too long on it.

Besides, it was clear she'd be holding her master back if she tried to follow…

It was kind of disparaging to realize that no matter how much she improved, no matter how adept at battle she became, she'd always be a liability for the simple reason of her low Class.

Toy didn't always show it…

But it was the moments she had to be saved that hurt more than any blade.

The Legion marched through the roses, accruing more and more cuts from the thorns. Their goal? Getting into position to siege the farms.

As the group continued along their long arc, Toy heard a booming crash from the village…

'Master…'

A few moments later, Toy watched smoke rise.

'Ah, she's doing it…'

But something was wrong.

Toy had little doubt in her master, but that was awfully quick of Salome to have found a way to light a fire and burn the building to such a degree.

As if to show her that her initial worry was grounded, that plume of smoke soon multiplied, and the flames producing it began to flare and dance upon the village homes.

Not just a few, but nearly half of them had been set on fire, mostly in the middle.

And it wasn't just the buildings…

Soon, the budding crops were set alight. A select few buildings had not caught on fire yet, and from what Toy could see, those buildings were flooded with villagers.

Mias, a mini version of him, materialized on Alpha's shoulder.

"They gave us a nice warm welcome..."

Toy looked over at the small scholar:

"W-what's happening?"

Mias joked as he kicked his feet:

"Ah, they took the I can't have it, you can't either approach…"

After a small pause, Mias lifted his small form and stood on Alpha. Then, he continued:

"They know what we want, and they want to make us attack. If we dawdle and let the flames burn, we'll be fighting over charred remains."

Alpha calmly asked Mias:

"What do you suppose we do?"

Mias leaned into Alpha's ear and spoke in an insidious whisper:

"That's up to you, general."

Then, he disappeared as fast as he came.

'That was… weird.'

Alpha stopped her march and glanced back at the rest of the Legion. After a moment of thought, she spoke up:

"If they want to burn… we let them burn."

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