## CHAPTER 42: Turning Up the Heat
The canopy of the Forbidden Sector hung heavy with the humid breath of noon, but for Edna, the atmosphere was suffocating for an entirely different reason. She walked ten paces behind her group—a trio of high-born boys who treated the forest like a playground and her like the dirt beneath their polished boots.
Edna wiped a bead of sweat from her brow, her chest tightening with an exhaustion that was more mental than physical. They had only found two rubies, and the pace was agonizing. The boys moved with a staggering lack of tactical awareness, pausing every few minutes to bicker over the map or, more frequently, to sharpen their tongues on her.
"Isn't she a beauty?"
a black-haired boy with a jawline as sharp as his ego. Edna paused, her heart skipping a beat. She looked up, her large eyes brightening with a flicker of hope. Were they finally being nice? Were they finally seeing her as a teammate instead of a burden?
"Yeah," the brown-haired one, replied with a sly, sidelong glance.
Edna felt a scream of excitement bubbling in her throat. A smile began to bloom on her face, the first genuine warmth she'd felt all day.
"A beautiful monkey," the third of the trio.
The laughter that followed was jagged and cruel, a communal roar that echoed through the ancient trees. Edna's smile didn't just fade; it died. She stood frozen on the path, the sound of their mockery piercing through her like a serrated blade. They walked away, high-fiving and patting each other on the back, leaving her in the dust of their arrogance.
"That was amazing," she heard one chuckle.
"It was like you guys knew exactly what I was thinking."
Edna stared at their retreating backs. The pain was sharp, but it was a familiar guest. She had survived far worse than the taunts of spoiled children. Her gaze dropped to her palms, and for a moment, the green of the forest vanished, replaced by a haunting, crimson stain that only she could see.
"I've done so much destruction," she whispered, her voice cracking as the first tear fell. "So much blood."
The memories rushed back like a rising tide—the screams of the fallen, the desperate choices made in the dark of night. "But it was either me or them," she sobbed, falling to her knees on the mossy floor. "And I chose them."
She wept for the girl she used to be, for the lives she had snuffed out to preserve her own, and for the hollow shell she felt she had become. The past played behind her eyelids like a tragic film, a loop of fire and shadows that threatened to swallow her whole.
---
A low, rhythmic rumbling shook the earth, snapping Edna out of her spiral of grief. She wiped her face with her sleeves, her expression hardening into a mask of dull, scary intensity. The sound was coming from the direction the boys had gone.
"What are those morons up to now?" she muttered, her voice devoid of its earlier softness.
She followed the sound for a few minutes until the trees opened into a wide, scarred clearing. There, rising from the earth like a nightmare made of muscle and slime, was a Great Earthworm. It was gargantuan—a thick, brown-mottled body that pulsed with raw power. A single, colossal eye sat atop its blunt head, swirling with a prehistoric hunger. It had no limbs, but its massive tail swung with the force of a falling mountain.
The boys were already engaged, though "struggling" was a more accurate description. The first , his black hair disheveled, stood at the front, firing twin beams of white mana from his palms. The second followed suit, his hands glowing with a dark blue energy that hissed as it struck the worm's thick hide.
"Now to end this!" The third yelled, stepping forward with a manic glint in his eye. "To show the true result of my training!"
He took a wide stance, his hands weaving a complex pattern in the air. "I command and bend the element of flame to my will! Bring forth onto me...
**FLAMING DRAGO!**"
A roar of heat ignited the air as a dragon composed of churning orange fire erupted from his outstretched hands. It was impressive work for a student, but as the dragon slammed into the worm, the beast merely wiggled in irritation. The dragon was barely the size of the worm's head, and its flames licked harmlessly against the creature's body.
Edna watched from the edge of the clearing. She didn't rush in. Instead, she spotted a flat, grey rock tucked beneath the shade of a weeping willow. She walked over, sat down with her legs crossed, and rested her chin on her hand, looking for all the world like a queen observing a particularly dull gladiator match.
"Unfortunately, this isn't as comfortable as a real throne," she thought, shifting her weight.
---
"Why isn't it working?" One screamed screamed, his dark blue beams flickering as his mana began to dip.
"We need more power!" Another shouted back, ducking as the worm's tail whistled over his head, snapping a nearby sapling like a dry twig.
The final turned his head, his eyes scanning the perimeter until they landed on Edna. His face twisted in a mixture of relief and fury. "Hey! You! Join us! We need more power!"
Edna stared at him, her gaze blank and distant. She picked at a loose thread on her sleeve, behaving as if he were nothing more than a buzzing insect.
"Monkeys don't help human beings," Edna said coldly, turning her head away to admire the scenery.
"You are just useless!" He screamed, his voice cracking with frustration before he turned back to the beast.
The tables turned with brutal efficiency. The worm, fed up with the stinging light shows, coiled its massive body and snapped its tail in a horizontal arc. The first boywas too slow. The tail caught him in the chest, launching him fifty feet through the air until he slammed into an ironwood tree. Their formation shattered. The second and third boy scrambled backward, their faces pale with the sudden realization that they were outmatched.
*Sigh.*
Edna stood up, the rock beneath her feeling cold now. Her conscience, that annoying, nagging voice in the back of her head, was finally winning.
"Fine. I'll help them... just this once."
She stepped out of the shade, her presence shifting the air in the clearing. She raised her hand, forming her fingers into the shape of a gun—thumb up, forefinger leveled. A large, crimson cube of translucent energy flickered into existence before her.
"Wait... damn it," Edna muttered, dropping her hand as the cube faded. "Those idiots are in the way. If I fire now, I'll cook them along with the worm."
She paced back and forth at the edge of the tree line, her brow furrowed. "What to do? What to do?"
Suddenly, a silly, mischievous smile broke across her face. "I got it. Silas isn't the only smart one in this group."
She vanished into the dense foliage, circling the perimeter like a predator seeking the perfect angle.
---
In the center of the clearing, The boys stood gasping for air.
"I'm tired out!" One yelled, jumping back to create distance. He extended his arms to his sides, his palms glowing with a fierce, unstable blue light.
"DESTRUCTO DISK!"
He hurled the energy, the spheres flattening into razor-sharp spinning saws of mana as they hurtled toward the worm. They struck the beast's flank, causing a series of small explosions that sent bits of brown flesh flying, but the worm merely shrieked and began to burrow its head into the soil, preparing for a devastating subterranean strike.
The three boys regrouped, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, their breath coming in ragged gasps.
"You okay?" One asked, not taking his eyes off the spot where the worm had vanished.
"Couldn't be better," he said.
"So what do we do? It's basically invulnerable to our individual strikes," Sthe other said, his hands trembling.
"What if we combine our attacks?" One suggested. "A triple-elemental surge. It's the only chance we have."
The three of them turned toward the center of the clearing, their expressions hardening into a look of dramatic, last-minute heroism.
"Ready when you are," He said, his hands beginning to glow once more.