The guildhall reeked of dust and blood. Cindy Lou lay on the floor, trembling, her tears falling in faint streaks down her cheeks. James Hyde bent down low, his hand outstretched, his breath hot with lust.
A sudden wet squelch cut the moment in half. James body jerked. As a sword blade of pure light burst through his chest, the point stopping just inches from Cindy Lou's face. James eyes widened, his breath catching as he stared down at this impossible sight. Slowly, his head turned.
Behind him stood a woman, calm, steady, her hand wrapped around a radiant sword of light. Rem's gaze was cold as the blade pulsed through his heart.
James Hyde's lips barely moved. "Who… are you…"
Rem's expression shifted, not with warmth, but with a grim tone. "Your executioner."
She twisted the blade free. The light dispersed into nothing as his body collapsed with a dull thud, blood pooling across the cracked stone floor.
The two men at his side reacted too late. Steel echoed as they pulled out their swords, but Amaia was already in motion. Her hand opened, as her sword hilt formed in her hand, and in a heartbeat her black claymore materialized. With one sweeping motion, the weapon cut through both men's necks, their heads fell to the floor before their bodies even understood they were dead. The weight of the sword hit the ground with a loud crack before dissolving back into nothingness. The battle was over before it even began.
As Cindy Lou's wide eyes moved between the corpses. She pushed herself upright slowly, her legs unsteady. "Rem… Amaia… why did you save me?" Her voice broke. "You heard what they said. You should have left me behind and run. This city is doomed. They wanted to hurt me and you… you stopped them." Tears rolled down her cheeks, her shoulders shaking as she choked out, "I'm sorry. I can't believe I allowed you to join a guild this corrupt. Even after the purge, the filth remained. My own Deputy Guild Master—he took a bribe, sold my personal details, abandoned me to the hands of the Vice Adventurers Guild. They're known across the continent for their cruelty, for their hatred of women, and I thought… I thought the reforms meant something. I thought the Guild Master who led them was different. But he approved it. He condoned it. I was nothing but a pawn to be discarded once I couldn't be used."
Her body folded up in grief, but her voice carried pride beneath the pain. "I was so naive. But enough of that. You have to leave. Run, Amaia, take Rem with you. I'll stay here and defend the city for as long as I can. Maybe I can buy time for some children, for some families to escape. That's all I can do now."
Her finger nales dug into the floorboards as she forced herself to look up at them, tears glistening in her eyes. "On your way out, kill as many of those bastards from the Vice Guild as you can. They're scavengers, no better than vultures. That's why, when you arrived, this hall was empty. The Deputy Guild Master rounded up the last of our adventurers and abandoned Darkgloom with them, along with most of the soldiers. Jack Hyde's corpse proves it—this city has been sold out. A plot between the Frost Stone Kingdom and the Adventurers Guild. And the Vice Guild? They weren't even invited. They're the scraps, the talentless losers, the ones too unfit for the real work. That's why they turned to this."
Cindy Lou's chest heaved, her words spilling out in a moment of grief and anger. "The truth is clear to me now. The kingdom, the guild, all of them—they've abandoned us to die."
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