[Realm: Uhorus]

[Location: Galadriel]

[Capital City]

Agatha stared almost dryly at the small figure floating only inches away from her face.

Cor’nella hovered unevenly in the air, breathing heavily as though she had just run across an entire continent instead of flown through the skies. Her tiny shoulders rose and fell rapidly with each breath. The small green dress she usually kept surprisingly neat was now wrinkled and slightly twisted from hurried movement, and her wings twitched sporadically behind her as if even they were exhausted.

Her golden hair was entirely disheveled.

Several strands stuck awkwardly to her forehead while the rest puffed outward from the sheer speed she must have flown at.

For someone usually so energetic and noisy, she looked genuinely worn down.

Agatha’s eyes narrowed slightly as she observed her.

"I was under the impression fairies possessed some form of teleportation," Agatha stated flatly after a moment, one brow lifting ever so slightly. "Why are you exhausted?"

Cor’nella immediately gave her an offended look.

The fairy inhaled deeply before releasing one long, dramatic breath.

"Our transportation abilities are a lot more difficult to use when the world is in disarray like this," she huffed irritably, folding her tiny arms beneath her chest despite still panting. "The leylines are being affected too. Everything’s unstable right now. Maybe you’d know that if you actually paid attention once in a while."

Agatha blinked once.

"Pay attention to something I have never even heard of?"

Cor’nella clicked her tongue.

"You really are hopeless sometimes."

Agatha shook her head lightly.

"You are remarkably similar to Mirabella when you get irritated," she remarked calmly. "Equally loud as well. Though perhaps slightly more foolish."

"HEY!" Cor’nella cried out instantly, floating upward several inches as she pointed an accusing finger at Agatha. "Do not compare me to that brutish girl!"

Her tiny fist wagged threateningly afterward.

Agatha remained entirely unmoved, not even slightly threatened.

The fairy looked more like an angry doll than an intimidating entity. Still, Agatha quietly noted something important beneath the theatrics.

Cor’nella’s mana felt odd.

Usually, the fairy’s energy buzzed constantly, bright and almost overwhelming in its liveliness. Now though, there was strain beneath it. Fatigue.

Which meant she truly had pushed herself.

Agatha’s expression shifted into something marginally more attentive.

"Right," she said after a moment. "I gather you are exhausted for a reason. And you are rather pale as well." Her emerald eyes studied Cor’nella carefully. "Have you discovered something?"

Cor’nella blinked.

Then her eyes widened suddenly as realization visibly struck her.

"R-right!" she exclaimed, posture straightening immediately despite her exhaustion. "That’s why I came looking for you!"

Agatha waited silently.

"There’s major trouble in Verdantis!"

Agatha’s brows furrowed almost immediately at the sharp urgency in her tone.

"...What?"

"Verdantis," Cor’nella repeated quickly, floating lower now as the earlier irritation disappeared completely from her face. "There are a lot of Abyssal Creatures there. Like—way too many."

Agatha’s attention sharpened further.

Cor’nella continued before she could respond.

"It isn’t like the attacks happening around the other nations," the fairy explained rapidly, hands moving animatedly as she spoke. "This is different. The concentration there is ridiculous. I don’t think an attack was ever this huge before."

To emphasize her point, Cor’nella threw both arms open dramatically.

Unfortunately, given her size, the gesture failed to convey much scale.

Agatha stared at her for a moment anyway.

("Cor’nella exaggerates frequently,") Agatha thought calmly. ("But she does not lie.")

That alone made the report concerning.

A heavier silence settled between them briefly as Agatha processed the information. Verdantis already struggled enough maintaining its borders because of its terrain and sheer size. If the Abyssal Creatures were truly concentrating forces there...

Agatha folded her arms lightly across her chest.

Another thought entered her mind almost immediately.

"Why were you in Verdantis at all?"

Cor’nella visibly stiffened and Agatha caught it instantly.

The fairy’s hovering form faltered slightly in the air before stabilizing again. Her earlier urgency dimmed into sudden awkwardness as she avoided eye contact.

"I was under the impression you were only studying the situation in Galadriel," Agatha continued evenly.

Cor’nella immediately began fiddling nervously with her thumbs.

"Well..." she started weakly.

Agatha waited.

The fairy looked even guiltier under the silence.

"I had some time," Cor’nella mumbled vaguely. "So I just... went to look at something."

Agatha slowly raised a brow.

The hesitation itself was more suspicious than the explanation; Cor’nella was terrible at lying. Not because she was morally incapable of it, simply because she panicked too quickly.

"You ’went to look at something,’" Agatha repeated flatly.

"...Yes."

"In another nation."

"...Maybe."

"During a calamity."

Cor’nella puffed out her cheeks immediately.

"When you say it like that it sounds irresponsible."

"Because it was irresponsible."

The fairy groaned loudly.

"You sound exactly like that Victoria woman right now."

"That is likely because Victoria is correct most of the time."

"What a traitor."

Agatha ignored the comment entirely.

Instead, she studied Cor’nella more carefully; the fairy’s nervousness did not feel connected to fear.

Embarrassment perhaps, or hesitation.

Agatha tilted her head slightly.

"What exactly were you looking at?"

Cor’nella froze, her wings even stopped fluttering for half a second before violently resuming again.

Agatha narrowed her eyes slightly at the reaction.

"Cor’nella."

"It’s not important."

"If it were unimportant you would have answered immediately." Agatha pointed out.

"That is not true." Cor’nella huffed.

"It is."

Cor’nella looked away dramatically. "You are so annoyingly observant."

"I am beginning to understand why Mirabella enjoys bothering you."

The fairy sighed. "That princess is pretty annoying."

"You say that as though you are not."

Cor’nella opened her mouth to argue before stopping abruptly, Agatha sighed softly. Even now, despite the increasingly grim situation surrounding them, conversations somehow continued like this.

Strangely normal and strangely human.

Perhaps that was necessary lately.

Without moments like these, the constant tension would suffocate everyone eventually. Still, Agatha did not allow the atmosphere to fully soften. Verdantis remained the more important matter.

Her expression became serious again.

"How bad is it?" she asked quietly this time.

Cor’nella’s face immediately lost its playfulness, the shift was instant enough to make Agatha’s gaze sharpen.

"Bad," the fairy admitted softly, far softer than before. "I saw entire sections outside overrun. The tears there are producing creatures nonstop." Her small hands clenched slightly at her sides. "And not just the smaller ones either."

Agatha’s eyes narrowed. "Stronger variants?"

Cor’nella nodded slowly.

"Yes."

The wind passing through the street suddenly felt colder, Agatha glanced upward briefly toward the fractured sky.

("Verdantis...") There were others stationed there, Verdantis possessed monsters of its own even without the Abyss interfering. If the situation there truly escalated beyond control...

Agatha’s fingers lightly tightened against her arm.

Cor’nella noticed the small motion. "You’re worried."

"I am thinking."

"That usually means you’re worried."

Agatha did not answer immediately, because denying it felt pointless. Instead she looked back at the exhausted fairy floating beside her.

"We should report this to Victoria immediately."

Cor’nella nodded quickly.

"Yeah. I was actually trying to find her too but then I spotted you first."

"That was unfortunate for you."

"Oh shut up."

A small pause followed, then Cor’nella looked toward Agatha again, expression sterner.

"Do you think things are getting worse?" Her tone carried genuine uncertainty.

Agatha looked ahead toward the empty streets of the capital.

"Yes."

Cor’nella frowned as she spoke up once more.

"They weren’t just wandering either," she murmured, her wings twitching uneasily. "And they actually managed to overrun a city."

Agatha stilled.

The abrupt halt made Cor’nella nearly jolt.

"What?"

For the first time since the conversation began, Agatha’s composure visibly shifted, her brows furrowing sharply.

"A city?" she repeated carefully, as though ensuring she had heard correctly. "Are you certain?"

Cor’nella immediately puffed out her cheeks in offense.

"Of course I’m certain," she huffed, placing both tiny hands on her hips indignantly. "My eyes do not play tricks on me, unlike you humans." She pointed accusingly upward despite Agatha not arguing further. "I know what I saw."

Agatha stayed silent.

That alone encouraged Cor’nella to continue.

"That particularly large Abyssal Creature led the charge too," the fairy explained, her earlier irritation fading into discomfort. "It was pretty strong."

Agatha’s eyes narrowed further.

"These Abyssal Creatures are typically weak individually," she murmured more to herself than to Cor’nella. "Their danger comes from overwhelming numbers and relentless pressure..."

Her thoughts trailed off as she began piecing things together.

A stronger variant and a coordinated assault large enough to collapse a city’s defenses. That was different from anything they had been handling until now. Agatha cupped her chin lightly in thought.

"Was this creature’s strength truly significant?" she asked after a moment.

Cor’nella nodded immediately this time.

"I think it’s the only reason they managed to overrun the city at all," she admitted quietly. "The normal ones were still dangerous because there were so many of them, but that big one..." She hesitated briefly. "It kept breaking through everything."

Agatha’s gaze lowered slightly.

("I have never heard reports of one like that before...")

The realization settled unpleasantly in her chest.

Verdantis was not weak, far from it. Its military forces were among the strongest across the major nations, and its defensive infrastructure was absurdly thorough. More importantly—

("The court mage of Verdantis...") Agatha’s eyes narrowed slightly further. ("In terms of magical potency, she may very well rival Guinevere herself.")

The defensive fortifications spread across Verdantis cities were famously excessive because of her influence alone. Massive layered barriers and reinforced magical works, with defensive rituals constantly cycling beneath the cities themselves.

Breaking through those defenses should not have been simple.

So if an Abyssal assault actually succeeded...

Then the situation was escalating far faster than anticipated.

Agatha slowly unfolded her arms.

"Come," she stated immediately.

Cor’nella blinked.

"Hm?"

"We must inform the others at once." Agatha’s voice remained neutral, but the tone beneath it left no room for argument. "Fiona and General Mai are still in Verdantis."

The fairy gave a quick nod.

"Right."

Without another complaint, she drifted after Agatha as the blonde resumed walking through the empty streets.