The little girl sobbed uncontrollably, utterly incapable of making a choice.
After waiting a short while, the young woman grew visibly impatient.
Just as she prepared to stomp Ron’s head, a voice rang out, stopping her.
“Release him!”
Her gaze, filled with newfound interest, followed the sound.
She saw an armored soldier, gun raised, its dark muzzle aimed directly at her head.
Raising an eyebrow, she spoke with a dismissive sneer.
“How utterly foolish,” she scoffed. “Surely you don’t believe such a crude weapon could ever harm me?”
The soldier remained silent.
With a chilling calm, he simply pulled the trigger.
Bang—
The magic bullet fired, streaking forth at a speed nearly imperceptible to the naked eye.
Yet, the young woman merely tilted her head, effortlessly evading the projectile.
“Seeking death.”
With a flick of her hand towards the soldier, raw magic surged forth.
It manifested like an invisible whip, lashing out fiercely at its target.
Had it connected, the soldier’s body, for all its training, would have been torn to shreds.
Yet, he found himself utterly unable to react. Beneath the gleam of his silver helmet, his resolute eyes were now consumed by despair.
Still, he harbored no regrets. Even if granted another chance, he would unhesitatingly pull the trigger once more, unleashing his utterly harmless bullets at this human, a creature more cruel than any demon.
In that critical, life-or-death moment, a dark silhouette materialized directly before him.
A pale, slender hand emerged from within a black robe. With a seemingly simple gesture, the newcomer grasped the whip of pure magic, holding it firmly.
The soldier stared, utterly dumbfounded. Though the invisible magic whip remained unseen by him, he knew, with chilling certainty, that he had just narrowly escaped death.
His surprise only intensified when he finally saw the newcomer’s face.
‘Wasn’t this the very young woman I had just reprimanded?’ he thought, bewildered. ‘She can actually catch magic with her bare hands?’
‘No wonder, then. No wonder she showed not a hint of panic when facing the magical beasts…’
‘I was truly meddling where I shouldn’t have.’
As the young woman’s gaze sharpened, taking in Dorothy’s features, a strange, unsettling smile bloomed across her face.
“You’ve finally appeared, Silverbloom Sword Princess.”
The appellation caused Dorothy’s gaze to darken considerably. Now, anyone who knew her true identity was either a friend or an enemy.
And the young woman before her, by all appearances, was certainly no friend.
“Are you looking for me?”
“Of course!” the young woman chirped. “I even went to the Hero Guild earlier, but alas, you weren’t there. Still, it hardly matters; meeting you here serves just as well.”
The young woman bent her knees, performing a simple, yet elegant, bow.
“You may call me Black Sun,” she announced, introducing herself. “Once a Sixth-tier Hero, now a Seventh-tier Apostle.”
“Apostle?”
The name Black Sun held no particular significance for Dorothy. What truly captured her attention was the mention of an ‘Apostle.’
Noticing Dorothy’s confusion, Black Sun herself appeared slightly perplexed.
“Oh?” she questioned. “I heard a low-tier Apostle sought you out some time ago. Did they not inform you about our organization’s existence?”
Before Dorothy could even formulate a reply, Black Sun continued, seemingly talking to herself.
“But then again,” she mused, “it makes sense. Once you join us, everything will be revealed.”
“Join you? In your dreams.”
“Is Silverbloom Senior still unwilling?” Black Sun pouted. “That truly wounds my heart.”
Black Sun pursed her lips into a small pout.
“I was originally planning to protect these humans in the shelter during the beast tide,” she continued. “But if Senior isn’t willing to join us, then…”
Her sentence hung unfinished as someone from within the shelter abruptly interrupted her.
“Nonsense!” a voice cried out. “She just threatened to slowly slaughter us all, to force Senior out! Knight Ron only stepped forward to stop her!”
The speaker was Alisa, the flower shop attendant. Beside her, Anna, noticing Black Sun’s displeased glare, quickly clamped a hand over Alisa’s mouth, then pulled her swiftly back into the anonymity of the crowd.
Dorothy, for her part, had not anticipated finding Alisa and her companions within this very shelter.
“Big sister, please save my daddy, please save my daddy…”
The little girl cried out, her pleas a desperate appeal for Dorothy to save her father. This final interruption caused the already impatient Black Sun to completely snap.
“How utterly noisy!” she shrieked. “Don’t you know children shouldn’t interrupt when adults are speaking?!”
She clenched her hand in the air, aiming to crush the little girl into a bloody pulp. However, Dorothy’s speed was far superior.
Before anyone present could even register her movements, Black Sun was abruptly sent flying, without a single warning.
She crashed directly into a nearby building, a shower of stone and debris raining down as dust billowed upwards. For a considerable time, Black Sun did not rise from the wreckage.
Dorothy seized the moment, moving swiftly to Ron’s side. She bent down, offering him a rudimentary magical healing.
Unable to speak, Ron could only stare at her, his gaze utterly bewildered.
His eyes slowly welled with tears, a mix of relief and overwhelming emotion. The little girl, too, broke free from the woman’s embrace, scrambling forward to throw herself onto Ron.
“Thank you, big sister…”
Still sobbing, she haphazardly wiped away her tears and snot, yet her thanks to Dorothy were utterly sincere.
As Dorothy gazed at the child, she was momentarily lost in a haze, as if transported back to the past.
In her days as a Hero, all those she saved would offer their tearful gratitude, just like this little girl.
The suffering inflicted by war would be gently assuaged by her touch. Even those who had lost loved ones would, in time, emerge from their despair under her unwavering care.
She cherished the smiles that blossomed on their faces—a sight more beautiful and precious than any flower. It was, she knew, the very essence of her purpose as a Hero.
Squatting down, Dorothy gently stroked the little girl’s head. A faint sense of helplessness washed over her, directed at herself.
‘Honestly,’ she mused, ‘it’s been over twenty years since I abandoned the mantle of a Hero, yet I still chose to save that soldier without a second thought. And I still feel a warmth spread through me from a child’s simple thank you.’
‘I believed I had fundamentally changed over these past decades,’ she reflected. ‘Yet, it seems some parts of me remain, stubbornly etched deep within my heart, impossible to erase.’
‘Very well then,’ she decided, ‘for today, I shall be a Hero once more.’
Rising to her feet, she turned to face the direction where Black Sun had been hurled. Slowly, deliberately, she lowered her hood, revealing her true features.
A gentle breeze stirred her silver hair. In her golden eyes, a rare, long-dormant spark of battle intent, absent for over two decades, finally ignited.
****
The swirling dust had begun to settle, revealing a dark figure clumsily clambering to its feet amidst the wreckage.
“Cough, cough…” a voice rasped. “Truly worthy of Silverbloom Senior. Even with your strength so diminished, I still couldn’t discern your movements.”
She drew a deep, ragged breath, her lips trembling uncontrollably. Her features, contorted by agony, seemed to twist grotesquely.
Then, to the horror of any onlookers, a pair of scarlet demon horns erupted from her forehead. The whites of her eyes turned entirely black, and her hands elongated into menacing claws, shedding half of her human form.
Simultaneously, her magic tier surged from Sixth to Seventh, now matching Dorothy’s own power.
“Now I can finally discern your movements, can’t I?” she snarled.
She licked her cracked lips, her purely black eyes now devoid of anything but bloodlust.
“A demon?”
“Hehe, you may certainly call me that,” Black Sun chuckled darkly. “It’s simply a pity, Silverbloom Senior. You squandered your chance at survival, and you also squandered your opportunity to become a demon yourself.”
“After twenty years of neglect, how much of your former power could you possibly retain now?” she taunted. “Or perhaps, you’ve become utterly fragile, a mere shadow of your past self?”
On the verge of personally slaying the strongest Hero of a bygone era, Black Sun felt every cell in her body tremble with an intoxicating thrill.