One week later.

The northern tribe of Grat was known for its ice mages and its cold temperatures. The tribe consisted of strong warriors, however, said warriors met their demises.

Countless villages in the North were destroyed and ambushed as black icicles emerged from different angles.

Not only buildings but also people were pierced by those icicles or frozen by the seemingly indestructible black ice. Among the frozen people were Arnold and Elya, the parents of Sylvia.

Unfortunately, Yarjak and some of his older siblings did not survive, including the refugees they guided from the South to the North.

"Yikes, she sure created a gruesome sight..." a girl remarked with a huff.

That girl had long azure blue hair that reached to her feet.

Wearing only a white shirt that was way too big for her, she strolled around despite the coldness.

"She may be the greatest creature I’ve ever created." the girl muttered with a smug grin.

Meanwhile, Mika and the others concluded their first meeting after everyone returned to Fuera.

However, only a few individuals appeared at the conference.

"Let’s end this here then." Mika stated.

His gaze seemed even more blank than before.

"Cindy. Take Ren, Bakil, Vasilya and some troops with you and recapture Stakew."

"Yes." Cindy replied firmly.

But she, too, had dark eye bags.

"Belian, Sara, Rachel. I grant you your wishes and leave Grat in your hands."

The three nodded sternly.

Prior, they insisted to Mika that they wanted to head to Grat.

Sara wanted to retake her nation and simultaneously take revenge for her mother, whereas Belian and Rachel wanted revenge for Harik.

"Then, dismiss for today."

Mika was the first one to leave the room.

"Mika."

Sara immediately followed him out of the room.

"..."

He turned around.

"About Hecto Togin..."

Sara appeared like she was feeling guilty about letting him escape despite his involvement with Lucio.

"It’s fine. He may be a dangerous individual who let his passion take over him which resulted in our current state. To be honest, I can’t be certain yet that he turned over a new leaf and wanted to use his skills for the better, however, I will trust your judgment for now." Mika said.

"Thanks..." Sara muttered weakly.

Mika confronted a handful of people who were victims of their own relics, thus, he internally hoped that Hecto could truly change the world’s view on relics and create tools that could replace them.

Still, he could not forgive him for his deeds as well.

"By the way... Are you heading to their graves today, too...?" Sara asked cautiously.

"Yes."

"Then... Is it alright if I com-"

"Sorry, but I would like to be alone." Mika cut her off as he turned his back to her.

"I understand." Sara replied with a sad smile as she looked down.

Mika left.

"..."

With no one in sight, he gritted his teeth as he looked ahead frustratedly.

It was their first actual move in the war.

Their group split up in three with one heading to Grat in order to protect it from Lucio’s troops, one staying here and protecting Rostanta and one group launching a sneak attack on Loogam. However, out of three battles they were only able to claim one victory while facing great losses in the other battles.

The battle in Grat took them all by surprise, especially hearing that an S-rank demon was stationed there all the time. As shocking as it sounded, it was no wonder for everyone that the Grat team failed.

Initially, Mika was eager to head to Grat as Dreyar was the only current S-rank demon in this realm but after all the losses and due to their current situation he could hardly leave his position.

"I’m back."

The wind gently caressed Mika’s hair and the grass on his feet as he looked down at the gravestones.

Harik Srong. Lisa Vonder. Cylia Tiam. Lereon Pantl. Ophelia Rostanta. Olivia Rostanta.

Even though their bodies could not be recovered, Mika and the others made graves for them in the center yard of the castle.

They lost good friends, strong assets and great leaders.

But although he lost people dear to him again, Mika did not shed a tear.

"Is it because I already went through that despair? Or is it because I’m turning into something non-human?" he muttered bitterly.

He got on his knees.

"Harik... I’m sorry that I couldn’t be a better friend to you... I left you and the others for two years instead of spending my time with you..."

"Lisa... Despite having started out as enemies, we turned into great friends... I felt reassured having someone mature and rational as you have my back during battles..."

It was only when people lost things that they started to regret not having spent more time with them.

"Lereon... Ms. Tiam... You two couldn’t be more different from each other, however, you two were great leaders... If you were still here, I would have hoped that you could teach me a thing or two..."

"Olivia... You’re the strongest human I’ve ever seen. Out of everyone I’ve met so far, you were the most unpredictable. Maybe that’s why I wanted you in Hunters." Mika chuckled lightly.

"You have my eternal gratitude for saving me back then and being my comrade." he said with a faint smile, remembering their first encounter at the Desolated Fortress and their days as fellow members of Hunters.

His gaze shifted to the last stone.

"You’re the first person I connected with after arriving in Loogam. You, too, taught me many things. But aside from teaching, I couldn’t imagine my academy days without your presence."

"We went through a lot of things and did a lot of things questionable for a student and teacher, however, even if I could turn back in time I’d have done the same things over and over again." Mika added proudly.

"Ophelia... Thank you for being my mental support."

Then, Mika stood up.

"Just wait... I will end this war soon."

At that moment, someone else approached the graves.

"..."

Mika glanced at that person.

"He’s right. We will end this war as soon as possible."

It was Lily who did not wear her Loogam uniform anymore. She initially wore her uniform for the raid because she thought that it allowed her to sneak in easily, however, there was no need to wear it or associate with Loogam anymore.

Now, she wore tight black pants, paired with boots and a black shirt where the right arm was sleeveless while the other arm had a long sleeve. She also wore a black glove on her left hand with a small iron plate on it and her left shoulder and upper arm were hidden beneath a short robe, resembling the robe of her Loogam uniform.

She placed handpicked flowers on each grave.

"Lucio... Loogam... This time, I will finish our business there." she declared firmly.

Her eyes were swollen and reddened from all the tears she shed but they still looked determined.

Albeit being in the same place back then, Lily could not do a thing to help the Rostanta siblings and retreated.

They were ordered to retreat by Olivia, however, learning about their deaths after Lucio declared that in the newspapers hit her deeply. After all, she trained so hard the past years and even proclaimed that she turned stronger only to let people whom she could have reached die again.

"Let’s go back. We still have to make some preparations."

"Yes."

Thus, the two left the graves behind them.

Following that, another week passed.

The Grat and Stakew group departed a long time ago, leaving Mika, Lily and Zhen behind.

They were tasked with defending Rostanta once more but with the addition of Lily, they were able to observe and guard the cities near the borders more efficiently.

During that week, nothing happened. However, the newspapers caught Mika’s attention.

Since a while ago, articles containing the appearances of strange individuals have been written in the newspapers.

Obviously, there were other things to worry about in a war but Mika could not shake off that strange feeling of his.

"Missed husband returned and attacked his wife... Serial cases of people with resemblances of demons appearing in small towns across the world..." Lily muttered pensively.

"?"

Mika turned his head to her.

She was looking over his shoulders without him even noticing.

"Do you know anything about these cases?"

"Not really..."

Lily was still in thought.

"But I will take a better look at this soon..." she declared, narrowing her eyes to those articles.

She was about to take the newspapers but then, she stopped moving abruptly.

"?!"

"What’s wrong?"

"We’re being attacked..." she replied stunnedly.

"How many are there?" Mika asked.

If he was not able to detect the enemies, then it must have meant that one of the towns near the border was attacked as Lily could supervise them with her creatures.

"O-one..."

"Hm?"

"H-he is rapidly coming toward us...!"

Her creatures were ordered to prevent any enemy from getting closer to Fuera and therefore, they should apprehend the enemy.

However, Lily broke into a cold sweat as she lost contact with one creature after another.

"!"

Then, Mika suddenly got up from his seat and slammed the table.

"..."

His eyes were wide open.

The expression was calm and yet filled with anger.

"Evacuate everyone from here, Lily!"