It was better for Malik to leave now; he knew that. This was way above his pay grade, but he didn’t care. He wouldn’t forgive himself if his playing it safe resulted in the death of a child!

Dunya nodded at him and looked back.

Her people were already done with their work.

The wounded were tended to, the dead covered, and the survivors comforted.

Once their eyes met, groups of two spread out from the square, rushing in different directions towards their target.

Meanwhile, Dunya slowly raised a hand.

...Death spread to the ground.

Malik felt absolute dread from its mere presence.

The air grew surprisingly cold, despite the Suns above, and the shadows deepened as the sand beneath her feet turned a deeper gray, losing its very life.

He had never equated this little girl to be the bearer of such an Element.

She looked so small, with that scar across her throat and those pretty purple eyes. But the power radiating from her palm was anything but fragile.

Again, he didn’t let his surprise show.

Though he didn’t know much about her or his family in general, he knew the most basic things about them—their appearances and, very vaguely, the base of their personalities. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Dunya, even in that vagueness, was incredibly obsessed with him.

He couldn’t allow anything to slip.

Otherwise, she would clock him in moments.

"Hee!"

Dunya pointed at the ground in front of them.

A tombstone grave had sprouted from the sand, black stone etched with what appeared to be Arcane, the language of old, the very building blocks of all Runes.

She softly held his hand and walked towards it.

Noting her fingers to be cold, Malik let her lead.

Once they stepped before the grave, both of them disappeared.

The world twisted, stretched, and snapped back into place.

In the next instant, they reappeared in a graveyard beside what appeared to be a... town in the distance.

Malik barely stopped himself from wretching. The insane amount of Rukh that had just passed through his Soul squashed whatever disorientation he had from the teleport.

His stomach churned, and his head spun, but he somehow held it together.

Dunya, once checking that he was fine with a glance, proceeded to walk forward.

Honestly, Malik didn’t understand why she had brought him with her.

If she hadn’t caught on to his identity, then she would know that he was only as strong as the weakest soldier in their army.

So why bring him along on such an important mission? Had she figured him out and was staying quiet for some reason? Or was she keeping him close until she made up her mind?

Again, he didn’t know.

But either way, that wasn’t going to stop him from righting this wrong.

Malik was intent on saving his little owl niece, even though technically speaking, she hadn’t been his niece for more than a day.

The two walked through the graveyard and onto the main road leading into the town, or rather, the White Bear’s faction base.

From the outside, it looked like any other town with the same guarded gates, the same houses, and the same paved roads. But once inside, the White Bear’s foreign influence was immediately noticeable.

Yes, they mimicked how the locals lived, but not all the way through, for they were military-oriented.

There were no shop stalls or any kids playing in the streets. There didn’t seem to be any kids here, for that matter.

No merchants hawked their wares, and no mother hung laundry from windows.

It was mostly battle-hardened men and women, or young ones still in training.

They marched in formation and ran drills in open courtyards.

Another difference was that there were what appeared to be slaves amongst them, being dragged around by chains. A sight that seemed to disgust Dunya, if judging by her scowl.

The last thing that stood out was how their squadrons recruited the people coming and going.

Each squadron had its own booth, its own recruiters shouting at passersby, selling their squadrons to the youngins, wanting more fresh blood.

Since this was still happening, there was no doubt that the squad leader whom Malik let go of remained deep in hiding and hadn’t announced the death of the faction leader.

All of these people didn’t even know that they had lost their strongest Magi.

’...so how do we find her?’

Malik scanned the streets, looking for any building where they might be holding Isha. But the faction base was surprisingly large, a maze of identical buildings and winding alleys.

Before he could begin to identify a lead, one of the recruiters joined the trend.

"Hey! You little girl!"

A large man with a thick beard and a White Bear insignia on his chest stepped in front of them, blocking their path.

"I see that you’re not in uniform, so you aren’t in a squadron yet, right? How about you join us? I can sense how talented you are. We’d love to have you!"

Dunya slowly glanced at the recruiter with eyes that held no interest.

Not taking the hint, the recruiter grinned wider, revealing yellow teeth.

"I don’t know why you’ve brought your old man here, but don’t worry. We can take care of him as well! Trust me, we’ve got the best accommodation out of all the squadrons here!"

’Old man?’

Malik’s eye twitched.

That word really annoyed him more than he expected.

He wasn’t the only one. Dunya would have ignored the recruiter, walked right past, and continued on her mission. But something about his words seemed to have ticked her off.

Quite greatly at that.

"Hee."

Slowly, she walked up to the recruiter, her small feet making no sound on the stone.

"Oh, are you interested?"

The recruiter leaned down with a smile.

"You definitely won’t regret this!"

Dunya raised a hand.

"Hee!"

And slammed it down.

Bang!

The stand exploded, wood splintered, and papers flew. At the same time, the recruiter was blasted off his feet by the wind pressure alone, his body tumbling across the street before crashing into a fountain.

"Aaaahhhhh!"

While he screamed and clutched his arm, around them, the people didn’t react much.

A few glanced over, but most continued their business. As if this weren’t that unusual a happenstance.

As if people getting blown across the street were a regular day in the White Bear faction base.

"Hee."

Dunya casually looked back at Malik and smiled sweetly.

Her expression remained innocent, almost angelic, as if she hadn’t just utterly destroyed that man and likely traumatized him.

That seemed to have stopped some of the passersby. With pale faces, they stared at the small girl with the scarred throat and the sweet smile.

"It’s Dunya!"

"She’s that bastard’s little sister!"

"Why the Hell is she here?!"

"Everyone! Get into position!"

Their cries spread through the street, prompting soldiers to emerge from nearby buildings, alleyways, and training courtyards.

They quickly circled Dunya and Malik with their weapons drawn.

But, of course, they... knew.

Malik could see it in their eyes.

They knew the futility of fighting someone as strong as Dunya.

No matter how brave they tried to seem, their trembling hands said enough.

They were cannon fodder, and there was nothing they could do about it.

Whooosh!

Just then, the same maid who had been with them earlier returned, falling from above right into the middle of the chaos.

On her shoulders sat a small crimson owl.

Isha.

The little one blinked her pink eyes and looked around.

When she spotted Malik, she cooed softly, perhaps recognizing him.

Malik couldn’t stop himself from smiling, despite the tense situation.

"It’s good that you’re safe."

It seemed that they didn’t need his help after all. Dunya’s people had already found Isha.

The mission was complete.

They could leave now, teleport back through another grave, and—

CRACK!

Out of nowhere, a concentrated blast of lightning tore through the maid’s head.

The poor maid crumpled, her body hitting the ground before anyone could react.

In the same moment, the lightning spread out from her, arcing across the ground, threatening to leap onto the rest of them.

’No!’