Horror seized Alma as Drifter crumpled to the ground before her eyes. Her scream shattered the air, raw and desperate. Through the curtain of rain, she watched the blue-pink-haired girl position her dagger at Drifter's exposed throat.

  Ag on instinct, Alma and Nadia lunged forward. Pink streaks of energy - Alma's Exalt Missiles - cut through the air alongside the golden ripples of Nadia's Seismic Pulse. But their target was too quick, twisting away with a smile that spoke of madness.

  They reached Drifter's fallen form, their hands trembling as they k beside him. A pink magic circle bloomed beh Alma's palms as she cast Exalt Healing. Nadia's Healih followed, weaving threads of gold and green around his wounds. Though the bleeding ceased and torn flesh kogether, Drifter's face remained ashen, his breathing shallow.

  "Please... don't go," Nadia whispered, tears trag down her cheeks.

  The girl's maniacal ughter pierced the rainfall. "Hahahaha! Dieee...!!!" Her voice dripped with unhinged glee.

  Wiping away tears with shaking hands, Alma rose to her feet. Behind her, Nadia gripped Drifter's cold hand, monit his faint pulse.

  The girl charged, but Alma met her advah a barrage of Fireballs. Their explosions melded with the thundering downpour. Yet their attacker closed the distah inhuman speed, the blue-fmed bck dagger Chereveilim aimed for Alma's throat.

  "Exalt Barrier!" Alma's intation maed just in time. A transparent pink dome materialized, meeting the dagger's blue fmes in a collision that sent shockwaves through the air. Their eyes met across the barrier—

  In that instant, madness drained from the girl's face, repced by childlike innoce. fusion flickered in her wide eyes, as if waking from a trance.

  "Big Sister...?"

  Alma's breath caught. "Mara?"

  Without hesitation, Mara flung herself at Alma, ing her in a tight embrace. Alma stood frozen, arms suspended in disbelief.

  "I missed you so much, Big Sis... it's been too long," Mara murmured, voice thick with emotion.

  From her position beside Drifter, Nadia's wary gaze shifted between them. "Alma?"

  Mara's eyes hardened as they fell on Nadia, who visibly tensed. "Still following those hypocrites, pretending to care about justice... How quaint. Did you fet what they and our dear Father did to us?"

  Her voice softeo silk. "e with me, big sis. Mother's waiting for us."

  Darkness crossed Alma's features as she drew a sharp breath. "Enough, Mara... Just leave," she anded, her tone gcial.

  She pushed Mara away with gentle firmness, refusing to return the embrace. Disappoi fshed aara's face before morphing into a child's smile that sent chills down Alma's spine.

  "Don't worry, Big sis... I'll save you," Mara promised, her sweet tone belying something far more sinister.

  Before Alma could react, Mara vanished in a burst of blue fmes, materializing with her dagger at Nadia's throat.

  Nadia sprang away from Drifter, her brown sigil fring as she summoned a t wall of earth with a forceful stomp. The dagger struck, its fmes leaving molten cracks across the barrier's surface. In a fsh she casting Cerulevia Blink, Mara dissolved into azure embers, reappearing beside Drifter's prone form with her bde poised above his heart.

  Alma's pink sigils bzed as she unched a barrage of Exalt Missiles. Their luminous trails cut through the rain, but Mara deflected each with fluid grace, her dagger dang through the air as dark energy sparked with every collision.

  "Stop, Mara! Don't! Please, don't kill him... I... I'll go with you," Alma cried out.

  A triumphant smile spread aara's face, though something else flickered beh it. Without a word, she seized Alma's hand and began walking away with an almost childlike skip iep.

  Alma cast o desperate look at Nadia, who responded with a tight-lipped nod. Then they were gone, swallowed by the storm.

  Nadia remained frozen beside Drifter's barely breathing form, her trembling fingers finding his ulse. Through rain-spattered gsses, she watched Alma's silhouette fade into the mist. Her teeth dug into her lower lip until she nearly drew blood, her body wavering with indecision before she steeled herself with a deep breath.

  "I'm sorry, Drifter... but Alma is in danger." Nadia said.

  She straightened, eyes fixed on their vanishing trail, and pushed forward through her fear. But as she closed the distance, blue fmes erupted before her. Mara emerged, her dagger sshing through the rain.

  Nadia's natural barrier flickered to life just in time, a faint brown light pulsing from her skin to block the strike.

  "Well, well, look who's here. Are you lost, Four Eyes? Or are you just here to die?" Mara's voice cut through the downpour, her crooked grin gleaming with predatory delight.

  Ahead, Alma's jaw ched at the se. Her red sigil fred as she hurled a fireball that exploded near Mara, sending steam hissing from the scorched earth. But Mara danced away, the fmes shattering harmlessly against stone.

  "Big Sister, really? Trying to kill your adorable little sibling?" Mara's voice dripped with mock sweetness.

  "Enough, Mara! Stop this madness—stop killing like it means nothing!" Alma shouted.

  Mara's soft chuckle held no warmth. "Not my problem, is it? They brought it on themselves."

  Without warning, Chereveilim transformed in Mara's grip, the dagger elongating into a massive scythe wreathed in blue fmes. She struck at Nadia with lethal precision, f her to summon a desperate defense.

  Stone pilrs erupted from the soddeh as Nadia stomped, her magic wavering through trembling fingers. The scythe tore through her defenses like paper, redug the stoo rubble that scattered in the rain.

  "See you ierlife," Mara sang, her sweet tone dripping with malice.

  Alma's hands bzed as she unleashed an Inferno Tornado, followed by a volley of Exalt Missiles. The collision of her magic against Mara's blue fmes lit up the stormy sky with thunderous explosions.

  "Go, Nadia... I'll hold her off!" Alma shouted above the chaos.

  Nadia bolted toward the hilltop Translocator, her feet slipping in the mud as rain obscured her vision. Behind her, Mara closed the gap with inhuman speed.

  The air crackled as Mara spun her scythe, releasing Cerulevia Edge in a widening arc of blue fire. Though Nadia dove aside, the bst's edge caught her, shattering her natural barrier and sending her sprawling into the mud. Blood trickled from her arm as her gsses nded in a nearby puddle.

  Mara approached with deliberate steps, crushing the fallen gsses beh her heel. Her satisfied smile turned predatory as she spotted Alma rushing toward them in panic.

  Dark fmes swirled around Mara's fingers as she summoned Cerulevia , its burning links ensnaring both women. As they fell, heavy footsteps thuhrough the rain. Shadowy figures emerged—Graklings and Graklors, their gray forms and glowing red eyes advang like an unstoppable tide.

  "Well, looks like you're out of moves," Mara taunted, her ughter sharp as ice.

  Nadia y motionless, trembling, while Alma thrashed against her bonds, despair filling her eyes as the creatures encircled them.

  Meanwhile, Drifter stirred, his sciousness slowly returning. His eyelids fluttered open, and a dull ache pulsed through his body. His head felt light, but his thoughts immediately raced to Alma and Nadia. Were they safe? Had help arrived? He g his Lumina Core, the dispy reading 13:45. Nearly 20 minutes had passed siheir battle with the Graklings began.

  With a tap on his Lumina Core in his wrist – Apps –EO Missions - Mission: Prevent Grakling attack, a visual holographic map of the Verm Pin materialized, dispying a blue dot with small portraits of Alma and Nadia. He forced himself to his feet, his breaths bored, and began moving quickly toward their location. Each step felt heavy, his body protesting, but he pushed forward, his mind silently pleading.

  As he approached, the se before him made his blood run cold. A swarm of gray, monstrous creatures surrounded Alma and Nadia, who y motionless on the ground, uo move. Drifter’s chest tightened. He didn’t know if his evocyte reserve was still there, and he whispered a desperate prayer under his breath. Dear Creator, please make it work...

  "Bde Swarm!" he called out. In an instant, blue spectral swords materialized, slig through the surrounding creatures as the bdes severed the fiery s binding Alma and Nadia. Several of the spectral swords shot toward Mara, who deflected them with increasingly frantic swings of her scythe. Her posure cracked, her face twisting in anger.

  Alma rushed to Nadia's side, supp her as they rose together. "e on, we're not do!"

  "Thank you, Alma," Nadia grasped Alma’s hand weakly, her voice barely a whisper.

  Mara's eyes bzed with fury as she turo her monstrous army. "Kill them all!" she anded, her voice crag with rage.

  The Grakling and Graklor charged forward, dark energy pulsing from their cws and ons. Exhausted, Alma barely registered the attatil a Grakling's cws tore through her side. Blood flowed freely, mixing with the rain as she staggered.

  Her trembling hands casting Exalt Healing, pink energy swirling over the wound, but the bleeding persisted. Dizziness swept over her like a wave.

  "Help... someone... please..." she whispered, her voice fading.

  "NO! Stay with me!" Nadia's panic-stri cry pierced the air. She summoone pilrs that crushed several Grakling, then jured a Stoneflower Spire. The massive n bloomed with magical flowers, releasing healing spores, but Alma's wounds refused to close.

  As Nadia erected aone barrier against the advang horde, Mara's voice thundered across the battlefield.

  "You idiots! That's my sister! How dare you!" Massive serpent-like blue fmes erupted from her palm as she cast Cerulevia Pyre, iing the creatures to ash.

  Drifter seized the moment, activating Exalt Shift to teleport beside them. He found Nadia kneeling over Alma's pale form, desperately eling Healih into her friend's body.

  "Take my hand..." he urged, his gaze steady despite his exhaustion.

  Nadia hoisted Alma onto her shoulder and gripped Drifter's hand. The first teleport was smooth, but by the sed, Drifter's strength began to fail. The third attempt barely moved them before he colpsed, blood spilling from his lips to mix with the rain.

  Though his hands trembled, he mao cast Healing Surge to heal himsel, a faint blue light emanating from his palms. When Nadia moved to help, he raised a hand to stop her.

  "Run! Now! Get Alma out of here!" he anded.

  After a moment's hesitation, Nadia clutched Alma tighter and fled into the storm, leaving Drifter behind.

  Drifter steadied himself, chest heaving as he watched the Grakling horde advahrough the rain, their footsteps a thunderous drumbeat.

  Damn it... always too te, he thought, jaw g.

  His attempts to summon a spectral sword or Exalt Bolt failed, his body too weak to el the magistead, he relied on his enviro, dodging razor-sharp cws while using Evocyte Link's blue energy threads to topple trees as barriers. His telekinesis hurled rocks at the creatures, disrupting their formation.

  Though the impacts staggered several Grakling, their natural barriers absorbed most of the damage. Some broke through, sprinting after Nadia. Doubt crossed Drifter's face as he watched them pursue her, but he forced himself to focus on the immediate threat.

  The massive Graklor emerged from the distaheir hulking forms advang with lethal purpose. Drifter swallowed hard, throat tight.

  Suddenly, crimson projectiles pierced the storm, striking the Grakling and sending them sprawling. Drifter turned sharply to see Jaxon Virelli emerge through the rain, twin bck bow guns in hand. A slight smile pyed across Jaxon's lips, though his stance remained sharp and focused.

  Drifter offered a curt nod and rushed to Nadia’s side with Jaxon, his Lumina ap guiding their steps.

  The rain poured relentlessly, their footsteps spshing through the flooded earth. As they spotted them in the distance, He saw Nadia—Alma was on her back, blood soaking Nadia's clothes. Her eyes were unfocused, coughing up more blood with each shallow, weak breath. Alma's wound tio bleed, and they were surrounded by a horde of graklings.

  His chest tightened, panic creeping in, but Jaxon pced a steady hand on his shoulder.

  "Rex... She's here. Look."

  Above the storm, a brilliant blue light sliced through the darkness. A glowing sigil illumihe hilltop, where Luna Sabriel charged her ultimate spell.

  "Clear out. Now!" Luna's and pierced the storm.

  Ice-blue sigils spun around her like steltions as she raised her hands. "Gcialis Tempestus," she intoned, a words flowing from her lips.

  Thousands of ice beams erupted from the sigils, striking with lethal precision. The Grakling and Graklor froze mid-motion before shattering into glittering shards that rained onto the battlefield.

  Luna lowered her hands as the sigils dissolved into drifting snowfkes. The field sparkled like gss beh a yer of frost. Her cold expression softened slightly as she approached.

  "You've done your best. Now rest," she said firmly but gently.

  Nadia shivered, barely standing. "Not yet... Alma still needs..." she whispered.

  Friedrich rushed forward, kneeling beside Alma with trembling hands. "Hold on, Alma. Please, just hold on!" Yellow energy flowed from his palms.

  As Nadia colpsed into Luna's arms, Drifter approached with Jaxon, exging a silent nod with Luna. Friedrich carefully lifted Alma into a h medical automaton while Luna used telekinesis to padia in aogether, they moved toward the Translocator with urgent purpose.

  They returo hia City, the rain still casg from the darkened sky. Drifter’s eyes flicked toward the Lumina Core’s clobsp;“13:57.”

  As they arrived, a rge white Alcherider, regur and marked with a blue medical emblem, sped toward them. Uhe others, it flew rather than hovered. Behind it, medical staff in blue uniforms carried automatons holding Nadia and Alma. Friedrid Luna stepped inside, and the Alcherider took off with a soft hum.

  Jaxon signaled for Drifter to follow him. His Alcherider, Efrenza, a striking red blend of curves and teardrop shapes, hovered nearby. They made their way to hia Hospital, its t white H-shaped structure looming ahead. After exiting the underground parking lot aering the building via the elevator, they walked side by side in silence. Jaxon was the first to break it.

  “Not pnning to get those injuries checked?” Jaxon asked lightly.

  “No, thank you,” Drifter replied ftly.

  Jaxon offered a faint smile, and they arrived at their room oh floor—Room 74. The door creaked open slowly, and Luna stepped out, her movements deliberate.

  “How are they?” Drifter’s voice was hoarse.

  “They’re… stable. For now,” Luna answered evenly.

  Luna waited outside, her expression unreadable as she sat quietly. Jaxon and Drifter ehe room. The walls were painted in a ral cream, with por tiles underfoot. Alma y in one bed, her plexion pale, a faint smile curving her lips despite the situation. Beside her, Nadia rested with her back turned, her form still. Friedrich sat in a chair o Alma, his gaze steady and watchful.

  Drifter lowered his head, a heavy unease filling his chest. His fists ched at his sides.

  “I’m sorry… I uimated them,” he murmured.

  “You all did your best. Everyone survived—that’s what matters,” Friedrich said, his voice calm and steady.

  Alma’s faint smile faltered, her lips trembling as she bit them, l her gaze.

  “No… I’m the one who should apologize... This happened because of me…” Alma whispered.

  Nadia remained silent, her face still turned away from them.

  Alma clutched the bightly, her knuckles turning white, trying to hold back tears. Her chest rose and fell in shallow breaths as her eyes stayed focused on the bed.

  Friedrich rose from his chair, pg a steady hand on her shoulder.

  “That’s enough, Alma,” he said, his voice calm but firm.

  Alma’s posure finally broke, her face crumpling as she began to sob, her shoulders shaking with the force of her tears.

  Drifter’s chest tightened, a wave of sadness sweeping over him. He shut his eyes for a moment, the guilt settling deep within him. This mission had nearly cost Alma her life. She must be terrified… If only he had brought an evocyte restoration potion, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. Frustration bubbled up inside him, his hand curling into a fist. Damn it…

  Beside Alma, Nadia turned her head slowly, her weary eyes meeting Alma's. Her lips parted, as if she wao speak, but no sound came.

  Jaxon watched the se unfold, his expression unreadable behind his aviator sungsses.

  Friedrich then politely told them to rest. Drifter gnced once more at Nadia and Alma, his hand h as if he wao wave or say something. But seeing Alma cry, he chose silenstead, turning to leave. Jaxon followed without a word.

  Outside, Jaxon turo Luna, waving casually toward her.

  “Luna, we’re heading back. How about you e with us?” he asked.

  Luna hen began following them. They boarded Jaxon’s Alcherider, Efrenza, which hummed softly as it hovered into position. The journey back to the academy was quiet, the sound of rain filling the air, apanied by the soft strumming of a male void guitar in the background. When they arrived at the academy, they walked toward their quarters in the residential plex.

  The only sounds were the uing storm and the occasional rumble of thunder.

  But Drifter’s thoughts were elsewhere—on the girl with the blue and pink hair. How she—how a human trol monsters? He’d never seen anything like it before. How Graklings evolve into something stronger? And what’s their goal? Why attack a city? It didn’t make sense... they’d be wiped out by golems, and skyships. Why target vilges… and for what?

  The thought lingered, but the st image in his mind as he reached his door was her fabsp;Why does she look so much like Alma? Are they reted?

  Drifter stepped into his quarters and flicked on the light. His bck suit was drenched, ging to his skin. He rubbed his arms, trying to warm himself, but the cold of the rain and his thoughts sank deeper with every breath, biting into him like a relentless chill. Eventually, he ged clothes, washed up, and colpsed into bed, sleep taking him before he could fight it.