“Things have indeed become troublesome,” Yuri said to Alnea, reaching towards the bloody fog with her hand, after the rest of the Star Seekers had all plunged into meditation. “It looks like your guess was right.”

  “…I never thought I would wish that I was wrong,” Alnea said with a sigh, before assuming a solemn face, and narrowing his eyes at the layer of blood fog surrounding his team. “This… bloody dome…”

  “…It should be a kind of means to track our position.”

  “…Whenever I think that I know what Heterodox Wanderers are capable of, they always surprise me with something new.”

  “That is why you should never assume what Heterodox Wanderers can do,” Yuri said, withdrawing her hand from the bloody fog, before glancing back at the meditating Star Seekers. “You have already seen what those lunatics can do to achieve their goal.”

  “…Fortunately, the red light was not as potent as the Light of Heart,” Alnea said, mirroring Yuri’s action to glance back at his teammates, especially Fran.

  “…Are you worried about killing one of your teammates with your own hands?”

  “…Things should not reach that point,” Alnea said, withdrawing his gaze from Fran to look at Yuri. “But you are right. We do need to do something about him, or he will put the entire team into danger.”

  “…For now, let’s focus on how to deal with our current situation,” Yuri said, turning back towards the bloody fog, trapping their team in place.

  “…How long do you think this barrier is going to last?”

  “Long enough for them to reach our side.”

  “…Attacking it should be able to hasten its fall.”

  “And drain your Spirit Power.”

  “…How many enemies do you think we are going to face?”

  “Ten, if we are blessed by Ilea. Hundreds, if we are not.”

  “…Hundreds it is then,” Alnea said, before reaching into his storage pouch to take out a Spirit Recovery potion. Not the kind that Vestia had brought from her home, but the cheaper kind, the one found in the Lost City. Even cheaper than some of the precious treasures with similar effects. Though that was mostly because of the headache that came with drinking those potions. In effect, they were no less potent than those precious treasures. And Alnea was already used to headaches.

  “I am going to try something,” Alnea said, as he downed the contents of the vial in his hand, before putting the empty vial back into his storage pouch. “Wake me up if I do not come back in two minutes, or if something unexpected happens.”

  “…Be careful.”

  Alnea responded with a nod, before closing his eyes, and reaching out to his Domain, to the Mysteries lying dormant within its darkness. Relative darkness. Compared to when he had first begun Wandering, his Domain was not so empty anymore, housing all sorts of Mysteries, dyeing parts of his Domain in a shade of their every changing lights. Still, compared to how vast his Domain was, the small number of protypes of Mysteries he had created were indeed not enough to drive away its inherent darkness. But that was not his focus anyway. At least not at the moment.

  “In the Dark, hidden within the Light…”

  Ignoring most of the Mysteries drifting in the empty void of his Domain, waiting for his call, he reached out to one particular Mystery, one that he had only recently mastered, and bent it to his will, interpreting it according to his understanding, shaping it together with another Mystery that he had mastered some time ago. Both of the Advanced Stage, of course.

  “The Shadow that calls itself mine…”

  One from the lineage of Day, and one from the lineage of Night, corresponding to the lineages that his Roots were based upon. Even the Mysteries themselves were also closely related to his Roots.

  “I summon you to hold you to your Promise…”

  Not directly, but close enough for him to feel his Roots shudder. But that was why he was summoning them in the first place. To create a pseudo resonance of sorts. Not to kill himself, but—

  “To give unto me, your Vision of the Dark Side.”

  Darkness came to Alnea, surging out from his Domain, and seeping into his shadow, before slowly spreading out into his surrounding, hiding in the Light of the fog. Yet, it was not just Light and Darkness that came to him. The Promises that he had made… The price that he had paid… They came calling too, asking him to choose. What Promise would he use, they asked. What Promise would he give to his Shadow?

  Alnea, in turn, responded by choosing one of the many promises he had prepared in advance. A simple promise, that bore no risk. Consequently, the Promise, along with its chains, merged into the Shadow under his feet, giving it a substance that Shadows were never supposed to have. Then, and only then, did the Shadow give him the Vision it had Promised. The Vision of a Dark World, where everything was reversed. Where Night was Day, and Day was Night. A world where Shadows were bright.

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  And it was in that Dark World, that Alnea saw what he was looking for. Tens of Shadows, bright as Day, rushing towards the place where the Shadows of the Star Seekers were trapped. But they were not alone. They—

  “Alnea.”

  Alnea woke up, panting, and sweating, with one knee on the ground, as his Roots trembled, threatening to shatter from instability. Fortunately, Yuri woke him up in time, prompting the Darkness that had spread out from his Shadow to come back rushing towards him, and return to his Domain, just as it prompted his Shadow to return the chains it had borrowed, making his Roots whole once again.

  “What did you do?”

  “…Confirm our enemies,” Alnea said, taking a deep breath to calm his racing heart, as he pushed himself back to his feet. “There are—

  “That’s not what I am asking, and you know it,” Yuri said, staring at Alnea with crystal blue eyes shining in a dangerous light. “What did you just do?”

  “…This is not the time to—

  “I will not ask again. What did you do?”

  “…I used my shadow to peek into the world of shadows.”

  “That should not be enough to reduce you to your current state.”

  “…I may have inadvertently created a pseudo resonance with my Roots.”

  “…Inadvertently?”

  “I was careful! I swear. I used the weakest Oath I could imagine, and I even asked you to wake me up if anything went wrong.”

  “…That’s not what you asked.”

  “It’s the same thing.”

  “It is not.”

  “…Maybe, but that’s because I trust you with my life. I know that you would not let anything happen to me, just as I would not let anything happen to you.”

  “…Do not think that you can gloss over what you did with just a few words. You—

  “We can discuss this later, Yuri,” Alnea said, turning towards the depth of the forest. “Right now, we have other things to worry about.”

  “…This is not over,” Yuri said, and paused for a few moments, following his gaze to turn towards the depths of the forest, before continuing with her words. “How many of them are there?”

  “Around twenty. But seven of them seem to be injured.”

  “It looks like we are not the only ones who figured out their true colour… Can you tell if their injuries are recent?”

  “…Maybe if I had spent more time in the shadow—

  “No need,” Yuri said, cutting him off before he could even complete his words. “Knowing that they are injured is enough… Did you see any other Wanderers around us?”

  “…I did see some Wanderers, but they were a little farther off, and were moving away from us.”

  “Were they injured?”

  “It seemed so. Their speed was slow, and a couple of them were limping.”

  “What were their numbers?”

  “Around seven.”

  “If you trace back the direction they are running from, and the direction that the Dark Priests are coming towards us from—

  “They would come from the same origin,” Alnea said, understanding what Yuri was trying to say. “But that does not make sense. If they were fighting, then why did the Dark Priests give up their overwhelming advantage?”

  “They dare to sneak into a city guarded by several Grand Wanderers, just on the possibility that you might also be in the city. Giving up a winning battle after they finally found your clues should not come as a surprise.”

  “…The ritual…”

  “…Are you thinking that maybe you should not have asked Vestia to destroy those statues?”

  “…I would be lying if I said that I did not doubt my decision…”

  “Look at the bright side. By triggering their Ritual in advance, we are forcing them to face us with nearly half of them injured to some extent, and the rest, exhausted to various degrees.”

  “So are we. Besides, twenty Wanderers is not a small number. Especially when it is Heterodox Wanderers we are talking about. With how weird their means are, fighting twenty of them might be more difficult than fighting fifty Orthodox Wanderers.”

  “…Aren’t usually you the reckless one? Why are you suddenly acting so cautious.”

  “…Because it is not just my own life that I am responsible for. As their Captain, it is my duty to keep everyone safe.”

  “…What about me? Are you not going to be responsible for me?”

  “…Of course, I am going to be responsible for you too. I am going to make sure that nothing hurts—

  “That’s not what I am talking about.”

  “…Then—

  “Your promises. I am talking about the promises you made for me. Are you not going to fulfil them?”

  “…Is there even a need to ask that question?”

  “If you keep doing things like what you did a few moments ago, then yes.”

  “…I am Alnea Oathkeeper. Of course, I am going to keep all the promises I made. Especially the ones I made for you.”

  “Then you better take care of yourself, or I will drag you back from the Origin Sea to give you an earful if I have to.”

  “…That’s not—

  “Don’t try to be cheeky with me right now.”

  “…I understand. I will be careful.”

  “…I am finding it hard to believe that you will,” Yuri said, and let out a sigh, before glancing at the cage of bloody fog trapping them in place. “Fortunately, our situation is not too grim. As long you do not seek death on your initiative, we should be able to tide over our current predicament with just a few injuries.”

  “…Maybe. But it is still going to be a tough battle,” Alnea mumbled. Though given how the Curse of his Fate usually played out, he should be thankful for not facing hundreds of Wanderers at once. Maybe Yuri was right about their situation. Still, twenty Wanderers…

  “How long do we have before they reach us?”

  “Around five minutes.”

  “…Just when the cage will dissipate on its own.”

  “That’s probably how they designed their ritual to prevent their prey from escaping.”

  “But we are not the prey.”

  “No, we are not,” Alnea said, Clearing away the haze covering his Heart, before glancing towards the rest of his teammates, just as they opened their eyes, shining in a determined light. “Are you ready to hunt?”