"Ah..."
The first thing Merlin saw upon arriving at the village was Philip, who always greeted him kindly, being stabbed by a blue blade. Philip, who used to pat Merlin's head with his warm hand, collapsed to the ground clutching his pierced stomach without even a scream.
The knight who stabbed Philip wasn't treating him like a person, but rather looked at him with cold eyes as if dealing with an insect, and pulled out a black stake.
He used the stake to nail Philip's hand to the ground.
"Aaaaargh!"
Philip screamed, but the knight paid no attention and stood up. The knight immediately found his next prey. The child Philip had been protecting. He drove rusty black stakes into the child's hands and feet as well.
"Aaaaargh!"
Seeing the child who used to tease and mock her now screaming and bleeding from his hands and legs, Merlin's mind went blank. The heat engulfing the village, the blood splattered on his body - it all felt like a dream.
Merlin fell to her knees, unable to bear the dizziness. This scene of slaughter was too much for someone as young as her to handle.
The knight who had driven stakes into the child's body seemed to notice Merlin and approached with a twisted smile.
"Ah..."
Just as Merlin was trembling at the sight of the knight's thick hand falling towards her head, Mela pushed the knight away with her body, saving her.
"A-Auntie..."
"Quickly! Run away! Go to Lady Sella!"
She waved her hand, telling her to run to Sella while she held off the knight. But Mela couldn't block the blue light that burst from the knight's sword, and she was split in half. Blood pooled on the ground. Merlin never imagined so much blood could come from a person's body.
"Auntie?"
She never dreamed that Mela, who always stopped the children from teasing her and gave her dried fruit, would die like this, losing her legs.
"Hurry..."
Mela waved her hand telling her to flee even as she breathed her last. She knew people died, but seeing it happen right before her eyes made everything feel unreal.
"You fool!"
Another knight angrily gestured at the one who had killed Mela.
"Didn't I tell you not to kill them?"
He frowned, saying they must be captured alive no matter what.
"I'm sorry..."
"Hup!"
As the knight in front of her bowed his head, Merlin ran towards the center of the village. After seeing Mela's death, the only thing on her mind was Sella.
"Lady Sella!"
She called out Sella's name as she ran towards the house, but all she could see were villagers impaled on stakes. It felt like being in the midst of hell.
'Wait...'
Merlin stopped running towards the house. She sensed a familiar mana pulse from the village center.
'It's Lady Sella!'
Only Sella in the village could use such pure mana. It seemed she was fighting the knights.
'Wait. Come to think of it...'
Why aren't the others using magic? The mana is flowing as usual, so why aren't people using magic?
'No, I don't have time to think about that now.'
Merlin bit her lip and ran towards where she sensed Sella's mana. Knights were being flung back with crushed armor and collapsing. It was Sella. She was using flames, frost, and telekinesis to protect the fallen villagers and push back the knights.
"Lady Sella!"
"Where have you been!"
Sella bit her trembling lip, saying she had been searching for her.
"I'm so glad you're safe."
Sella embraced her, saying she could finally relax.
"I-I'm sorry."
As she was held in Sella's warm embrace, everything that had happened until now felt like a dream, and her racing heart began to calm. But this situation was no dream. The smell of gunpowder and blood still reached her nostrils.
"Stay back for a moment."
Sella pushed her behind and stood in front of the knights. As she stretched out her hand, formless magic activated, crushing the charging knights along with their swords. Flames blocked the knights coming from the right, while those on the left were trapped in frost, unable to move.
The sight of Sella single-handedly holding off dozens of knights reminded one of an iron wall, despite her being a mage.
"Haa..."
But even she seemed to be tiring, wiping away cold sweat from her brow with a trembling hand.
'To think Lady Sella would struggle like this...'
Sella possessed enormous magical power even among the Para. She couldn't understand why someone who could use magic all day without tiring was already sweating.
"Impressive."
The man who appeared to be the knight commander nodded as he raised his visor.
"According to the Sage, you shouldn't be able to use magic, yet you're this capable. As expected of a race that sold its soul to demons. You beasts."
He clicked his tongue, saying he had no choice but to acknowledge it now.
"Demons? What nonsense!"
Sella glared at him, grinding her teeth.
"We received information that you Para are connected to demons. I was confused when I took on this mission, but now I understand."
The knight commander nodded, saying he could now use his full strength.
"I can treat you as monsters now."
"Are you insane? Do you expect us to just stand by and let you attack?"
Sella stomped her foot angrily, telling him to come to his senses.
"...It doesn't matter either way. A knight can only follow his lord's orders."
The knight commander said he had no choice but to obey once the order was given, and pointed his sword at Sella.
"If you surrender quietly, I won't kill you."
"So that's how it is. You swindlers."
Sella bit her lip and clasped her hands together. The mana rubbed roughly like sandpaper, causing a massive explosion in front of the knight commander. But even in the face of such a powerful blast, the knight commander didn't flinch at all. He simply dusted off his blackened armor as if he hadn't felt any impact.
"Since you resisted first, I'll respond in kind."
As the knight commander nodded and swung down his sword, wind wrapped in a red aura poured down from the sky. Sella concentrated mana to form a wall, but the knight commander's sword strike was so powerful that she was forced back. Two villagers she had been protecting rolled to the knight commander's feet.
"You must be the leader of this village."
The knight commander said she was clearly different and swung his sword again. He seemed intent on capturing not just Sella, but all the Para here. Sella blocked the knight commander's consecutive strikes by forming mana into a mirror-like shield, seemingly too exhausted to respond.
Her skilled combat techniques suggested this wasn't her first time fighting knights.
She continued to block not only the knight commander's attacks but those of the other knights as well, protecting the villagers until the end.
"Wouldn't it be better to give up now?"
The knight commander shook his head as he placed his foot on the heads of the villagers collapsed at his feet.
"It's not just you who will get hurt, but them as well."
"Don't worry."
Sella calmly shook her head and clasped her hands together.
"No one else will get hurt now!"
As she spread her mana, a blue light enveloped the entire village and the bodies of the fallen villagers began to glow faintly.
"This is..."
The knight commander's jaw trembled as if he had realized Sella's plan.
"Next time, I'll be the one to find you."
Sella bit her lip as she activated a mass teleportation spell. But just before completion, the magic circle lost its light and faded away uselessly.
"Huh?"
Sella gasped, looking at her hands where the light had disappeared, as if she couldn't have imagined this situation.
"The Sage emphasized two things as most important in preparing for this operation."
The knight commander raised his finger towards Sella.
"First is blocking your magic. And second..."
He smirked as he looked at the darkened ground.
"Completely blocking teleportation magic and scrolls."
The knight commander shook his head, saying there was no way they could escape.
"Ah..."
Sella bit her lip as she looked at the village that had started burning again.
'Damn it...'
She had barely managed to draw in external mana to use the teleportation magic, but she never expected it to fail so miserably. It seemed there was a skilled shaman among those who planned this attack.
"Now, to end this..."
Just as the knight commander was about to bring his sword down on the seemingly drained Sella:
"Lady Sella!"
The villagers who had collapsed at his feet grabbed the knight commander's ankles.
"Run away!"
"We'll be fine!"
"These bastards won't kill us!"
"Please, leave!"
The villagers shouted for her to escape and blocked the path of the knight commander and his men.
"You wretches!"
The knights trampled and slashed at the already wounded people as they rushed towards Sella.
"Ah..."
Sella looked back and forth between the falling villagers and the trembling Merlin behind her, then seemed to make a decision and leapt backwards.
"I'm sorry. I promise..."
Sella nodded as she enveloped herself and Merlin in a blue light.
"I promise I'll save you all!"
With those words, she vanished into light.
"Did she change the spell formula in that short time?"
The knight commander narrowed his eyes as he looked at the ground that had frozen solid.
"They truly are a dangerous race."
He nodded with cold eyes, as if vowing never to let his guard down again.
"Clean up quickly!"
* * *
When Merlin opened her eyes again, she saw a dim forest she didn't recognize.
"Ugh..."
Sella coughed up black blood, seeming to have overexerted herself severely.
"Lady Sella!"
Merlin approached Sella with trembling hands.
"Are you alr-"
"Were you scared?"
Sella smiled reassuringly, as if she hadn't just coughed up blood.
"I-I'm fine. But Lady Sella..."
Merlin bit her lip as she looked at Sella, who could barely lift her arms.
"I'm fine too. I just overdid it a bit."
Sella patted her back, telling her not to worry.
"More importantly, let's get moving."
She struggled to stand on weakened legs.
"What? Wouldn't it be better to rest here first and then-"
"I forcibly activated the teleportation magic, so there's a high chance they've detected our location. We need to leave this place first."
Sella said leaving this place was the priority as she cast a spell to erase their traces. She seemed a bit more at ease now that they were out of the magic suppression array.
"O-Okay."
Merlin lowered her gaze and nodded. As she breathed in the still air, she felt heavy-hearted thinking of the villagers captured by the knights.
"It'll be alright."
Sella hugged her and smiled gently.
"We'll surely meet again."
She repeated that they could live together, as if making a promise to herself rather than to Merlin.
"Let's go now."
Sella seemed to have quickly composed herself as she took her hand and walked towards the distant lights of a village. The blue moonlight shining behind the young mother and child streamed down as if shedding tears.
* * *
"Indeed..."
The king nodded as he looked over the Para imprisoned in the palace dungeon.
"Their eyes are different. They truly can be considered monsters."
He muttered about monsters while looking at people, as if brainwashed by the Sage.
"We killed some as an example, but we captured most of the people- no, Para in the village."
The knight commander nodded calmly as he looked at the people with stakes driven through their arms and legs.
"Hmm..."
The Sage narrowed his eyes as he examined a Para with a rope around their neck like a slave.
"Was there no golden-haired, red-eyed woman who seemed to be the village leader?"
He gestured towards the knight commander with his chin.
"I was just about to report on that matter."
He bowed to the Sage.
"There was a woman among the Para as you described. She..."
The knight commander told them how Sella had tried to save the people but ended up escaping with only Merlin.
"Sigh, that's not good..."
The Sage frowned and shook his head.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
The king trembled his chin as he approached the Sage.
"That woman the knight commander let escape is the most important person for us. Because she's Para royalty."
The Sage shook his head, saying they could have made up for the lack of Para numbers with royal blood, but it seemed they had failed.
"W-What are we supposed to do now that you're telling me this!"
The king waved his hands as if demanding an answer.
"There's no need to worry."
The Sage calmly shook his head.
"From what the knight commander said, it seems she'll come to us on her own."
"Come on her own?"
The king blinked his hazy eyes as if he didn't understand.
"Yes. Don't we have excellent bait right here? If we use it well..."
The Sage smiled as he ran his hand along the prison bars holding the Para.
"She'll take the bait herself. However..."
He smiled faintly as he looked at the king who seemed to have aged even more.
"I'd like you to give me some authority to move the other knights as well."