Blood filled my vision as my shoulder erupted with searing heat, the arrow buried deep and my whole arm screaming in pain.

My expression twisted immediately, a sharp grunt escaping through my teeth as the pain tore through me.

"Your Majesty!"

Mia’s horrified cry preceded her appearing at my side in an instant, her sword swinging in a wide arc, and immediately, ironsand gathered and rose around us, sealing us both within the sturdy shelter of her dome.

I pressed my left hand firmly over the wound to slow the bleeding and raised my right, though just moving it sent a fresh wave of agony up through my arm, conjuring a small flame to light the darkness inside.

Mia dropped to her knees before me, her eyes fixed on the arrow shaft jutting from my shoulder, and the composure she had worn so easily throughout the battle cracked all at once.

"Y—Your Majesty, please do not move..." She breathed, reaching toward the arrow with trembling fingers.

My face had gone pale, my expression hard with restrained pain.

Damn.

So this was what taking an arrow felt like.

It was agony, a deep burning that radiated outward with every breath, and my entire right arm had gone half-numb, the slightest attempt to move it rewarded with a fresh surge of searing pain. Blood seeped steadily past my left hand, dark and warm against my fingers.

Mia reached into the ring she wore and pulled a small vial filled with a greenish liquid, setting it carefully on the ground beside her.

"I—I will remove the arrow, Your Majesty," she said, her voice carrying the faintest stutter.

She had been a picture of calm through every exchange of the battle, blades, arrows, essence. But now, kneeling before me with blood on her hands, the panic she had suppressed came rushing to the surface. I was the King she had sworn to protect, and she had failed to stop this one.

Well, it was on her truthfully.

No matter how good she was, in an open field like this where arrows could be shooting from everywhere, it was already amazing how she reacted fast and pushed me away from death’s grip.

"Are you quite certain this is the moment to turn your back on the fight and play the physician, Mia?" I asked her.

"Your Majesty, please do not move!" She snapped, her voice rising before she could stop herself.

"If the tip was poisoned," I said, "I rather suspect I am already done for."

"Do not say such things!" The colour drained from her face entirely.

She steadied herself, grasped the shaft of the arrow, and drew it out in one motion.

I grunted, jaw clenched hard against the pain.

The wound wept freely the moment the arrow cleared, blood running in a dark rivulet down my arm. But Mia moved without hesitation, uncorking the vial, tearing a strip from the hem of her tunic, and splashing the liquid directly into the wound.

The effect was not unlike the crude sting of strong spirits poured over a cut, a sharp, biting burn that made me exhale through my teeth but this was no ordinary concoction. Within moments, the bleeding slowed noticeably. The wound did not close cleanly, not the way magic might have sealed it, but the flow stopped, leaving behind an raw and ugly open scar. She pressed the torn cloth over it and wrapped it around my shoulder in a tight bind.

Then she rose to her feet.

"Please stay here, Your Majesty," she said, pressing her hand to the wall of the dome and parting it.

She meant to leave me enclosed inside it. I stepped out directly behind her.

"Your Majesty?!"

"Do not trouble yourself, simply cover me. That is what you are here for, is it not?" I told her.

She exhaled through her nose, something between a sigh and a resigned laugh, and nodded while making sure I was behind her.

Outside, we took stock of the situation quickly. Our attention settled almost immediately on Oliver, who stood facing the tall, broad-shouldered man from before, the one who had driven me sliding back with that burst of essence.

"It seems the King of Helios surrounds himself with capable people," the man said, his voice low and muffled behind his mask.

Oliver said nothing, holding his sword in a two-handed grip, his gaze cold and still.

Mia, for her part, swept her eyes across the surrounding rooftops and alleyways, searching for the archer who had put that arrow in my shoulder.

The difficulty, however, was one neither she nor Oliver could simply ignore. We were in the middle of a populated town. Inhabited buildings rose on every side of us, and behind their shuttered windows and barred doors there were almost certainly people, ordinary people who had nothing to do with any of this. Both Oliver and Mia were forced to temper every strike, to think twice before unleashing their essence power, lest a wall come down on someone inside.

The Black Sun, on the other hand, suffered no such restraint. They had already collapsed buildings at either end of the passage without a moment’s hesitation, and they would do so again without remorse.

Truly, they were pieces of shit.

I turned away from Mia, leaving her at my back, and fixed my gaze on the masked man.

The clash of swords echoed through the street.

Oliver was clearly holding the advantage.

I was no expert in swordsmanship, of course, but even I could tell that Oliver was leagues above that man. He was pressing him back with every exchange.

But...

Even though the bastard wore a mask, I could still make out the wicked smirk stretched beneath it.

Right behind the collapsed building, a crowd had gathered, staring on in shock.

And then, in the very next moment, the man stepped back and aimed his dagger toward the crowd, essence gathering around it.

Oliver’s eyes widened, and he moved at once, stepping in front of them without hesitation.

"Dumb idiots from Helios never do change, do they?" The man laughed with a smirk, pulling out a glowing red stone.

This fucker...

It was a condensed fire-essence stone.

Basically working like a bomb, or maybe grenade was more accurate.

He threw it immediately.

Oliver swung his sword at once, summoning a great wall of earth before him.

KA-BOOOM!!

The stone detonated on impact, shattering rock apart and sending fragments and dust exploding through the air.

"Your Majesty! Stay close to me!"

Mia shouted, knowing exactly what that bastard had intended.

It had all been to draw Oliver’s attention away and get to me. Mia had been ready to intercept him, but I was no longer behind her.

"Your Majesty?!!" She cried out in panic, looking around.

At the same time, the man who had rushed toward where I had been stopped dead, his eyes narrowing as he searched for me.

"What an idiot," I called.

He flinched and turned around.

I unsheathed Hyperion and poured essence into it. At once, the runes along the blade flared to life.

Then I swung upward.

The ground shook and split open, gouged apart as golden-amber flames burst from below, racing along the path of my essence and reaching the man in an instant.

His eyes widened in shock, and he thrust out a hand, gathering essence to defend himself.

But in that same instant, a sword pierced straight through his back.

"Nghaargh!" He spat, blood bursting from his lips with a choked groan.

Mia stood right behind him. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Yet the moment she saw the flames rushing in, she sprang back without hesitation.

Then my fire struck him.

KA-BOOOM!!

His entire body was set ablaze in an instant, swallowed within a magnificent tower of flame.

An inhuman scream tore from him as burns spread across his body.

He thrashed about for barely a few seconds before collapsing to the ground, my flames still consuming him where he fell.