One Year Later

Yeah.

An entire year had passed since Tyler, Tansy, and Rose officially joined the Embers.

Time moved strangely during the Hibernation Period.

The Capital continued hunting the Rebels relentlessly for nearly half a year after the Capital Games incident. Patrols increased across Libria while several hidden routes and smaller safehouses were destroyed one after another.

Only after six exhausting months did the situation finally calm down slightly.

Even then, nobody inside the Embers truly relaxed.

Life underground continued cautiously.

And during that one year, the waterfall hideout experienced many major changes.

Especially because of one particular girl.

Tansy.

Her cloning ability quickly became one of the most valuable assets inside the hidden base.

At first, most people viewed her power as strange but harmless.

That opinion changed after the water crisis.

One of the hidden water supply pipelines connected to the underground city had broken several miles away from the base. The damaged area was located deep inside an abandoned tunnel system near the Dark Forest region.

Repairing it sounded simple.

The problem was what lived there.

Large Shadow Mammoths.

Massive creatures resembling ancient mammoths covered entirely in black fur. Their bodies blended unnaturally into darkness, moving silently despite their enormous size. In low light, they became terrifyingly fast, almost like living shadows.

Several previous repair teams had already disappeared trying to restore the water line.

Nobody returned.

The situation became serious quickly.

Without repairs, the underground city would eventually face a major water shortage.

The mission was considered nearly suicidal.

Even the experienced Rebel soldiers avoided volunteering for it.

That was when Tansy became interested.

Naturally, Elder Veena immediately rejected the idea.

Absolutely rejected it.

"No."

That single word ended the meeting instantly.

Unfortunately for Veena—

Tansy had already learned several bad habits from Tyler and Rose over the past year.

So instead of listening obediently...

She sneaked out.

And somehow dragged Ariel along with her.

When Veena later discovered this, she nearly destroyed an entire table in anger.

The mission itself happened deep during the artificial night cycle.

Ariel handled movement and distractions while Tansy secretly approached the broken pipeline system.

The moment she saw the Shadow Mammoths wandering nearby, even she felt nervous.

The creatures were enormous.

Each step they took shook the ground faintly.

Their glowing eyes constantly scanned the darkness like predators waiting for prey.

A normal repair attempt would have guaranteed death.

But Tansy wasn’t normal anymore.

She created a clone.

Then another.

And another.

One clone handled the repairs while the others distracted the creatures from different directions.

At first, everything went smoothly.

Until the final valve wheel needed to be turned manually.

The moment her clone rotated the wheel—

The Shadow Mammoths immediately noticed it.

ROOOOAR!

The entire tunnel shook violently.

Tansy watched in horror as one massive mammoth instantly crashed through the darkness and crushed her clone apart with terrifying speed.

Another clone was torn apart moments later.

The creatures moved like black lightning in the dark tunnels.

Even Ariel felt chills watching them.

But the mission succeeded.

Water immediately began flowing back toward the underground base once the repaired systems activated.

And most importantly—

The real Tansy remained completely unharmed.

Neither she nor Ariel received even a scratch.

The operation became a huge achievement for the waterfall hideout.

For several days afterward, people constantly praised Tansy’s bravery and usefulness.

Then came the punishment.

Or more accurately—

The lecture.

Elder Veena and Elder Alan Runner both gave Ariel and Tansy the biggest scolding of their lives.

Especially Ariel.

"You are supposed to be the responsible adult!" Veena shouted furiously.

Ariel lowered her head obediently while Tansy stood nearby pretending to look guilty.

Unfortunately, the corners of her mouth kept twitching upward.

Because despite the terrifying lecture...

The mission had been a complete success.

---

Next was Rose.

To be fair...

Nobody actually realized Rose had been using her powers on them.

Not even the people affected themselves.

During the Hibernation Period, many members of the hidden base would "accidentally" run into Rose. Sometimes in the canteen. Sometimes in the hallways. Sometimes while on patrol duty.

And after every interaction, they somehow walked away feeling unusually relaxed around her.

Rose’s charm ability wasn’t direct mind control.

It simply lowered hostility and suspicion while making people unconsciously trust her.

At first, Rose only used it casually.

But eventually, she and Tyler noticed something strange.

Certain people became nervous whenever the topic of Rose or Tansy came up.

Especially after the Capital publicly announced that the two girls possessed supernatural abilities.

The hidden base had already entered emergency Hibernation Period by then. All communication with the outside world was strictly locked down.

No radio signals. No transmissions.

Nothing.

And yet—

Some people were desperately trying to send information to the Capital anyway.

Information about the Embers, military routes and hidden tunnels. But most importantly, Their main priority was revealing the existence of Tansy and Rose.

One night, Rose quietly followed a man.

The man nervously moved through an abandoned storage tunnel near the outer cave systems.

When Rose secretly peeked inside—

She discovered him holding a small pigeon cage.

"...Seriously?" Rose muttered blankly.

The man froze after noticing her.

His expression instantly turned pale.

Back in ancient times, people used messenger pigeons to deliver information secretly.

And somehow...

This idiot was trying the exact same thing.

"You were going to expose us to the Capital?" Rose asked softly.

The man immediately panicked.

Without hesitation, he grabbed the letter attached to the pigeon and released it.

FLAP! FLAP! FLAP!

The bird instantly flew upward toward the forest tunnels connected to the surface world.

The man’s face became filled with relief.

Then—

FWOOOSH!

An arrow shot through the darkness.

THUD.

The pigeon dropped from the air instantly before crashing onto the rocky ground.

Silence filled the tunnel.

The man slowly turned around with despair written across his face.

Standing near the tunnel entrance was Tansy.

She calmly lowered the bow in her hand.

Behind her stood another Tansy clone already holding the dead pigeon.

The man’s shoulders trembled.

His final hope had disappeared.

"How did you find out?"

The spy stared at the two girls silently for several seconds.

"You were the one who told me darling." Rose crossed her arms smugly.

The man collapsed onto his knees in defeat.