Chapter 983

Viola planted one foot, raised her hand toward them, and despite the trembling in her body, her voice came out clear and hard.

“You won’t escape.”

Earth mana surged downward.

The soaked ground beneath the runic golems rippled first, then collapsed into sucking, unstable quicksand. Mud, pulverized soil, and water lost all firmness at once, turning into a swirling trap that swallowed their legs the moment they tried to move.

The first golem sank to the knees instantly. The second tried to wrench itself backward and only buried one leg deeper.

A third reacted more intelligently and attempted to jump clear… but that only made it worse.

The moment it pushed off, the unstable ground gave way beneath the other foot and dragged it down harder. The heavy armor worked against them now. Their weight, which had been useful for recoil control and close-range stability, became an anchor. The more they struggled, the faster they sank.

One of them fired a desperate volley into the ground to blast itself free. Mud exploded. It sank deeper anyway. Another twisted its torso and tried to swing both arms toward Viola, but the unstable pull ruined the angle and the shot went wild, streaking uselessly into the rain-dark distance.

Their movements became erratic. That was when Luna moved. She flashed forward like lightning finding metal.

One burst of Storm Overdrive sent sparks crackling around her body, and then she was in the middle of them. Her first target had only managed to free one arm before Luna landed on its shoulder, drove a knife into the seam at the side of the neck, and ripped it across with savage precision.

Blood sprayed. The golem spasmed and went limp. Luna kicked off it before the body even finished sinking. The second tried to turn, trapped up to the thighs in the quicksand. Too slow. Luna appeared beside it, stabbed one blade under the arm, the other through the gap below the helmet, then twisted both and tore them free in one clean, murderous motion.

The construct shuddered. Then fell face-first into the churning mud. The third managed to get one leg almost free.

Almost.

Luna was already there. A blur. A flash.

Her knife plunged into the back seam of the armor and reached something vital inside. The golem convulsed, gave a garbled scream through its speaker, and then collapsed half-submerged with its mana lights flickering out.

Silence hit the battlefield in pieces.

First the gunfire stopped. Then the mechanical movement. Then only the rain remained.

For half a breath, Luna stood there with bloodied knives in hand, chest rising and falling hard while the bodies of the runic soldiers sank slowly into the ruined ground around her.

Then she turned… just in time to see Viola falling forward. Luna moved instantly.

Storm Overdrive flared around her boots again, and she crossed the distance in a single blur before Viola’s face could hit the mud. One arm caught her around the shoulders, the other braced her weight as the Torvares girl sagged heavily against her.

Viola’s sword slipped from her fingers. Her whole body was trembling. Her eyes had turned white.

Not literally without pupils, but unfocused, glazed, the look of someone whose mana, body, and mind had all been pushed too far at once. The quicksand spell, the running, the tension, the repeated Healing Touch on Torvares, the lack of sleep, the pressure of the fight… it had all finally taken its price.

“Viola.”

No response.

Luna lowered her carefully to one knee, keeping her upright enough that she didn’t collapse face-first into the wet ground. Viola’s breathing was shallow and uneven. Her body still tried to tense for battle even as it shut down, like some stubborn part of her had not accepted that the immediate threat was gone.

Luna frowned and tapped her cheek lightly.

“Hey.”

Viola blinked once. That was enough to prove she was still conscious, at least in the loosest sense.

“You idiot,” Luna muttered, though there was no real heat in it. “You were about to crack your skull open after winning.”

Viola’s lips moved faintly, but no proper words came out. Luna let out a long breath and looked toward the rain-dark north. Silva was still moving. He had to be. Which meant there was no time to waste.

The enemy outpost was dead, but backup could still come. And now she had an exhausted noble girl barely able to stand, a poisoned old lord somewhere ahead on a direwolf, and a battlefield waiting near home.

Luna clicked her tongue.

“Of course,” she muttered. “Why would this get simpler?”

She slid one of Viola’s arms over her shoulder and pulled her up, steadying most of the weight herself. Viola’s head lolled slightly, then she forced it upright with visible effort.

“Luna…”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“I know.”

“We have to…”

“I know.”

Luna tightened her hold and looked ahead.

“Save your strength.”

Then, with rain pouring down, dead enemies sinking behind them, and Lionfang somewhere ahead in the dark, Luna dragged Viola back into motion.

Luna broke apart two of the fallen runic golems before they left.

Not gently.

She jammed a knife into the seam beneath one shoulder plate, twisted until something inside snapped, then ripped the outer section open with a grunt. Rainwater mixed with blood and dark oil as the old armor split apart enough for her to look inside.

Viola watched from a few steps away, still pale, still leaning too much on her sword to pretend she was fine. Luna didn’t like what she saw. Or rather, she didn’t see anything worth liking.

The internal runic circuits were crude. Functional, but crude. The mana conduits were half-burned from the fight, the storage cores were either empty or cracked, and the barrel mechanisms in the arms looked like they had been repaired too many times by men who cared more about keeping them firing than keeping them stable.

Old models. Very old. Luna clicked her tongue and moved to the next one. Same result.

She broke open the back plating, checked the spine assembly, then tore out a small rune cartridge and studied it for half a breath before tossing it into the mud.

“Nothing?” Viola asked.

Luna shook her head. “Nothing worth carrying.”

“There has to be something.”

“There isn’t.”

Luna wiped one knife against the wet grass, though the rain was already doing most of the cleaning.

“These are too old. The good parts are either spent, damaged, or useless without the rest of the frame.” She glanced toward the direction of Lionfang. “The Regent is throwing everything he has at this. Even some ancient relics.”

Viola’s eyes tightened.

Luna continued, voice low. “Old weapons. New weapons. Soldiers. Mercenaries. These runic suits. Probably things we haven’t seen yet.” Her gaze flicked over the ruined machines. “He isn’t conserving anything anymore.”

“Because he wants Lionfang to fall.”

“Because he wants to make sure it falls.”

That landed harder. Viola looked down for a moment, rain dripping from her hair and jaw. Luna hated how exhausted she looked. Not weak. Just worn down past the point where pride could cover every crack.

After a few seconds, Viola lifted her head again. “Can’t you use that technique?”

Luna narrowed her eyes slightly. “Which one?”

“Storm Overdrive.”

Luna’s expression already began turning into a refusal.

Viola saw it and pressed anyway. “To move Grandfather back to Lionfang as fast as possible.”

“No.”

“You didn’t even think about it.”

“I did. The answer is no.”

“Luna…”

“I can only move in straight lines with that kind of burst,” Luna said, sharper now. “Short, violent bursts. It’s not a real flight. It’s not a proper transport spell. It’s me forcing my body through space faster than it should move and hoping my bones agree with the decision. Only someone as tough like Ludger could move so fast without rebounds.”

Viola’s mouth tightened, but she didn’t interrupt. Luna pointed one bloodied knife vaguely toward the dark path where Silva had gone.

“Carrying another person while doing that is already a terrible idea. Carrying your grandfather, wounded and poisoned, at those speeds? It could tear something open inside him. Break his neck if I misjudge the angle. Make the poison spread faster. I don’t know.” Her voice dropped. “And I’m not gambling with his body just because we’re scared.”

Viola looked away. Luna exhaled slowly through her nose.

“Even I suffer a bit when I move too fast,” she added, quieter this time.

Viola glanced back at her.

Luna gave a humorless smile. “You think I look this miserable for style?”

For one second, something almost like a smile passed across Viola’s face.

Then the rain swallowed it. They began moving again. Away from the ruined patch of battlefield. Away from the sinking golems and churned mud. Away from the place where their distraction had worked too loudly.

Night had fully arrived now. Not that the day had ever been bright, but darkness settled differently once the sun was truly gone. The heavy clouds smothered the sky, the rain kept falling, and the world became a blur of black shapes, wet ground, and cold air.

They pushed forward carefully. Too carefully to be fast. Too tired to be quiet. Viola leaned on Luna more than either of them liked. Luna kept one arm around her when needed, but her eyes never stopped moving. Every ridge, every tree line, every patch of broken stone became a possible threat.

Then the ground shook. Once. Low. Distant. Both of them stopped. Another tremor followed. Then another. Heavy movement. A lot of it. Luna slowly turned her head. Viola’s face had gone still.

“They’re searching,” Viola whispered.

Luna didn’t answer immediately. She listened. Through the rain. Through the mud. Through the pounding of her own tired pulse.

The tremors were not coming from one direction. That was the problem. One group ahead. Another to the left. Something heavier behind them. More movement farther right. Luna’s fingers tightened around her knives.

“A larger number this time,” she said.

Viola swallowed. The tremors kept spreading. Runic golems. Searching somehow. Maybe tracking the fallen units. Maybe following mana traces. Maybe using some method neither of them knew enough to counter. It didn’t really matter. The result was the same.

They were surrounded. Viola’s eyes flicked toward the direction Silva had gone.

“If they find us…”

“They won’t,” Luna said immediately.

Too quickly. Both of them knew it. Another tremor rolled through the ground. Closer this time. Luna lowered herself slightly, listening harder.

“If we fight here,” she said, “we’re in trouble.”

Viola nodded. “The noise will attract the others.”

“And if we try to break through, they’ll collapse on us.”

“Can we hide?”

Luna looked around the open, rain-soaked terrain and gave her a flat stare.

Viola grimaced. “Right.”

They stood in silence for a moment, the rain beating down around them while the enemy net tightened in the dark.

Viola tried to straighten. Her knees almost failed. Luna caught her before she could slip.

“Don’t,” Luna said.

“I can still fight.”

“I know. That’s the problem. You’ll fight until your body shuts off completely.”

Viola said nothing. Because there was no useful lie left to tell. The tremors continued. Closer. Luna looked toward the faintest dip in the terrain ahead. Not a road. Not even a proper path. Just a shallow lowland filled with rainwater and tall grass beaten flat by the storm.

“Maybe we don’t fight,” Luna said.

Viola followed her gaze. “What are you thinking?”

“That I hate every option.”

“That isn’t a plan.”

“It’s the beginning of one.”