From the center of Selis, everyone saw the signal.
It rose above Nursery Wood, tracing a sharp line across the gray morning sky, then burst into a green light that glinted faintly off the palisades, the damp rooftops, and the mana crystals attached to the posts. A green cloud then hung motionless in the sky.
For a second, no one spoke.
Then the atmosphere in the village shifted.
It wasn't joy yet. Not quite. But it was close enough for everyone to feel it. The first stage of the plan had gone as planned. The monsters had indeed followed the group. A window had just opened up.
Brann immediately turned to Jarek.
"Now's the time. Good luck, my friend."
Jarek didn't need to be told what to do. He looked for the last time behind him. He was already beside the horse, one hand on the bridle. His face remained tense, but he didn't hesitate. Sella, standing nearby, pressed her lips together briefly without saying a word. Their son wasn't there. He had been kept inside the main building.
Nao watched the scene from a few steps back.
Jarek mounted the horse, grabbed the small bundle of letters prepared in advance, then cast one last glance at Brann. The former adventurer nodded just once.
The horse set off immediately toward the northern road, hooves clattering on the damp earth before disappearing behind the trees.
Around Nao, several villagers finally let out the breath they'd been holding since his group's departure.
But something caught his eye to his right.
Nao frowned slightly.
⸻
Elsa hadn't even tried to think.
The moment the wolpertinger leaped out of the ferns behind the small black figure, she was already sprinting.
"No!"
Towa had had almost the same reflex, but he was quickly left behind.
Her scream tore through the air just as she threw herself forward, abandoning all caution. She didn't even raise her sword to kill. Her only instinct was to place herself between the beast and the cat.
Everything then happened with such absurd speed that Kai felt, for a split second, his mind refuse to accept what he was seeing.
The cat wasn't fleeing.
It wasn't backing away.
It simply raised its head toward Elsa, who now had her back to it.
And its body changed.
It wasn't a clean transformation, like an invocation or a materialization might be. It was something false. Disturbing. A form far too large was suddenly trying to break out of a skin that was too small.
The cat's back twisted as it stood up. Its limbs lengthened with sharp cracks. The white patch on its chest tore into a pale line that seemed to split the black fur all the way down to its abdomen. Its mouth opened far too wide, revealing disproportionate fangs. Then, at the center of this now monstrous face, a single eye opened.
A paw that had become a giant arm now rose higher than Elsa herself, poised to strike her. Its black claws were almost the size of a small dagger.
Elsa was the only one who didn't see the threat, parrying the wolpertinger with her claymore.
Towa dove forward to catch up.
The claws came down, accompanied by a scream of pain. Blood spurted for the first time.
Kai blinked and time froze.
The scream was muffled but still echoed in his head. The branches stopped moving. The ferns froze. The drops of blood that had just been torn from the creature hung motionless in the gray air.
Kai didn't move right away.
His eyes remained fixed on the monster, on its single eye.
Kai looked away. Watching the reactions around him.
Elena had raised her arms. The air around her seemed to be starting to condense.
Rin and Peko, however, weren't watching the scene. They were looking at something else. In the trees, and behind the trunks, movement had resumed before time froze it in turn.
This time, none of them were content to just watch. Whether it was the scorpion's tail or the blazing claws, both were already charging, while the shelled hare took its place in the heights.
But Kai frowned at something else.
A dozen? Only?
His thoughts raced as his stomach churned.
The cat. The village. The plan. The pack's reactions.
Peko targeted again. Elena's spells anticipated.
Their desire to lure them further without overwhelming them.
It all came together at once.
Kai took a brief breath and tried to gather his thoughts. The diversion, the plan, the cat, the single eye, the true leader, the true messenger. Warning Nao. Leaving him the essentials.
Then a pressure fell on his shoulders. Not a physical weight. A presence. A reminder.
Kai looked ahead again.
The presence was there, behind that scene. As if to force him to watch it.
Elsa was falling toward the ground. And above her, Towa had just pushed her. The shield was drawn at his side. On it, only a claw was stopped. The rest of the disproportionate paw had landed on his back. His armor wasn't enough to stop the force and sharpness of the claws. Two long gashes now marked his back, causing his blood to spurt.
His axe, which had been on his back, was now flying in several pieces. The handle had been sliced clean off by the attack.
Kai closed his eyes for a moment. Several seconds passed.
I have to try. Otherwise, I won't have time.
The presence finally spoke.
Choose.
The word echoed all around him, without a source.
But Kai paid no attention to it. He rummaged through his borrowed inventory. He pulled out Nao's notebook.
He opened it and began to write something down.
It works! I can use it here!
He then wrote a message. He tore out the page and placed it at the front of the notebook, then put it away.
The Presence had moved forward, and with far greater pressure, began again.
CHOOSE
Kai felt a sharp pain shoot through his temple, then the back of his neck. Like a cold pressure entering his skull and slowly driving something into it.
He looked up.
Before him, the presence was blocking the scene this time, but Towa's blood still floated behind it, motionless.
Kai clenched his teeth tighter. He hadn't stopped time to hesitate over a list of Skills.
"Not now!" he said.
Silence fell.
Then the presence smiled.
Kai didn't see the smile. He sensed it.
Very well.
Something then appeared before him, pale gray.
[SPECIAL] Deal: Back. Remaining points: 11.
Kai stared at the inscription for half a second.
What? Special? And it… takes a point from me?!
The inscription then vanished, just like the presence, revealing Towa once more. His scream sliced through the air again, restarting time.
Elsa finished her fall onto her shoulder.
Towa was thrown face-first into the damp leaves, his axe shattered at his side. Blood finally flowed.
Icicles pierced the air toward the creature, which dodged them with a simple leap backward.
Elsa still hadn't quite regained her footing. Her gaze wavered between the fairy and Towa.
"The… cat…"
"That cat is a fairy," Kai cut in, screaming for everyone. "He's the one leading the pack."
The fairy opened its mouth in what almost looked like a smile.
Towa began to steady himself on his arms and knees.
But no one had time to help. The wolpertingers were already upon them.
They struck with clear, coordinated violence, as if the mask had fallen. Three leapt at Peko's summon, one with blazing claws. Two others immediately sought to flank Rin, the scorpion-tailed one first. A third darted so low beneath Rin's angle that Kai had to snap to attention and materialize a shield to block it at the last moment.
Elena stared blankly at the fairy. She murmured, "A… Cat-Sith…"
Towa finally stood up, glanced directly at Elsa, then at the overwhelmed group.
His gaze hardened suddenly, and he shouted, "HERE!"
They all felt it again. That pressure washing over them in waves.
The Cat-Sith immediately turned his gaze toward the Wolpertingers. Before long, his face seemed drawn like a magnet toward Towa.
Most of the Wolpertingers, including the blazing claws, immediately changed their target. But some, the ones less visible from the fairy, continued their attacks.
Elsa's gaze hardened as well as she watched Towa's back, already standing.
She gripped her claymore with both hands and positioned herself between him and the Cat-Sith.
Behind Kai's shield, the wolpertinger leaped out of range, straight toward Towa.
Kai understood immediately. "Elena, now!"
She pulled herself together, raised her arms again, the crystal in her bracelet glowing even through her sleeve.
The wet ground froze instantly all the way to Towa. Spikes shot up from beneath the four hares who were heading toward him. This time, none of them dodged. All were brutally impaled.
"It worked?" Elena almost asked in surprise.
Only two enemies were still on them. More precisely, on Rin, who had stepped aside from the group to dodge the scorpion's tail.
She was about to throw her chain, but was stopped immediately. A boulder rose from the ground to trap her chain inside. Her arm, halted in its movement, was seized by the eagle claws of the second attacker. The pain made her let go of her chain. And her scream instantly turned Kai's attention toward her.
Peko, freed from his attackers, was the first to react. He immediately charged at the culprit and impaled him with his summon's arm.
The scorpion's tail was about to strike again. It was intercepted by one of Kai's knives, which severed its tail. Then another that pinned it to the ground. And a final one to the head.
Rin turned her head toward him, a hand on his arm, ready to speak. But what she saw stopped her in her tracks. Kai's expression had changed. For the first time, his calm was gone.
⸻
In Selis, Nao felt the inventory return instantly.
Folded Pouch reappeared within him, feeling as heavy as a real pouch that had just been filled. He froze in his tracks, at the edge of the square.
His gaze darted immediately toward Nursery Wood, above which a green cloud continued to hover.
Nao opened his inventory.
He made the notebook appear in his hand.
His heart sank even before he read the first line.
He scanned the message once.
Then a second time, even faster.
The black cat had been a fairy all along. He's probably the leader. He knows the plan. The north is compromised. We have to kill him to have a chance of saving the messenger.
Nao looked up.
Around him, preparations continued despite Jarek's departure for the north. Shizu had just helped Mirel into the saddle. Oden was counting something in his head. Brann kept his gaze fixed on the edge of the forest, his features hard.
Nao approached quickly, without really understanding the situation, which annoyed him. "What are you doing? I have a message, wait."
Everyone turned around, and Mirel spoke up, looking at Oden. "Should I go or not?"
Nao answered before he could. "Where are you going? The north is compromised!"
Oden frowned and said, "Only the north?"
Nao frowned in turn, then held out the note.
Oden took it, read it quickly, then looked at Mirel. "Go. Hurry, but stay on your guard."
Mirel didn't wait a second, and her horse set off. This time toward the west. The gate opened slightly, just enough to let her pass discreetly. And closed immediately.
Nao watched, almost speechless.
Had they already planned for a backup?
Nao shook his head and asked. "And for Jarek, aren't we sending a flare to warn him?"
As he asked, Nao could already imagine the answer. It hurt, but it made sense.
Brann, who was reading the note as well, lowered his head and replied. "If we warn Jarek, they'll know our plans have changed."
Nao asked another question before he'd even really considered Brann's answer. "And what about Mirel? Why weren't we told? Who else knew?"
"Everyone knows only what they need to know to carry out their task," said Oden, taking the note back from Brann and handing it to Nao. "It prevents leaks like this."
Mirel had just galloped off toward the west, disappearing between two rows of trees. Shizu watched her go at first, then stood there staring at an empty road.
After a few minutes, she turned to Brann and Oden.
"What are we waiting for?" she asked. "They fired the first shot. Jarek's gone. Mirel too. We need to call the young ones back now."
Brann didn't answer right away.
Oden, for his part, remained silent for a few seconds too long.
Nao watched the scene from a little further away, sitting on a bench.
Shizu frowned. "Oden?"
The man took a slow breath. "It's not that simple."
Shizu's expression hardened slightly. "What does that mean?"
This time, it was Brann who answered. His voice was low, but not hesitant. "According to the note, it was probably a Cat-Sith."
Shizu stood motionless. "That's why-"
"He says he wants to kill it. We might as well let them try."
"But that's too risky," Shizu exclaimed.
Brann spoke up, still with his head bowed. "Shizu, this Kai… he has Thalior's blessing."
The words weren't shouted. Yet they fell like a stone.
Even from a distance, Nao saw the immediate tension on Shizu's face.
"What?"
"We didn't say it because it wasn't necessary last night. We needed them. And we still need them now." Oden continued, glancing at a few villagers in the distance." But how will they react if Mirel and Jarek fail, just as this disciple of Thalior returns here, fleeing on our orders…"
He left the sentence unfinished.
Nao stood up. He understood enough.
They weren't going to launch the flare.
Not right away.
Maybe not at all.
Shizu shook her head gently. "The other youngs don't deserve this. They're still fighting for us," she said.
Oden didn't lower his head. "I know. Let the Gods judge them. If they deserve it, they'll make it."
Nao didn't listen any further.
He walked straight toward the crate where the rockets were stored.
Brann turned abruptly toward him. "Nao, don't."
But Nao had already grabbed one of them.
The sound of the trigger being pulled immediately filled the air.
The green flare shot up before anyone could really stop it.
It tore through the sky above Selis.
All eyes followed it.
Nao stood there, his hand still outstretched, then finally turned toward Brann, Oden, and Shizu.
His voice remained calm. "He didn't wait to see if your Nelyr would save you to help, even as you were rejecting him," Nao continued. "So don't try to shift your responsibility onto the Gods while they are fighting for you."
No one answered.
Even Oden remained motionless.
Nao looked down at the crate.
Then he took a second flare.
Oden took a step forward.
"One is enough."
Nao met his gaze.
"Not if they're convinced we have no solution."
He fired the second one.
The green light split the sky once more.