The Path of Ruin

'First of all... objectives.'

The woman turned around, quickly checked on the baron being held captive.

The man was scared shitless. He could probably guess what was happening because he had seen everything around him. And, well... he seemed to have lost his mind as a result.

Still, she was sure that if they could get out of here, he could still be used for their purposes. He was a man with a high survival instinct and he was also not that stupid.

He would do everything just to be alive.

So, she left him as he was. She walked towards one of the carriages. And what she found when she got inside was... simply a chest. There was nothing inside except this chest.

She opened it, checking the contents.

There were all the letters that Feria Lockhend had sent to the baron.

Nothing seemed to be missing.

In short, whoever the traitor was, he or she hadn't found the letters yet, or if they had, they had chosen not to take them.

She got out of the carriage and, to be deceptive, entered all the others. She stayed in all of them for a certain amount of time and then got out.

There was nothing they could do, at this point.

Only...

"We keep moving forw-"

Her eyes suddenly widened. All her senses expanded to their fullest and after a long time, finally... she felt an abnormal eon fluctuation.

She instantly grew taller, her skin color slightly greened, and her eyes sparkled with a lush green glow.

She ran as fast as she could.

She was furious. Both she herself and her ability had made her so angry that she had only one target, the spot where she felt the eon fluctuation.

And it took her a very short time to reach that spot. What she found in front of her as a result was, though... nothingness.

Literally nothing.

The trace of eon was here. And it was quite clear.

It felt... destructive. It made her feel like she was walking cold through the ruins.

But there were no people.

No creatures or animals.

'It could be playing with my senses.'

Thinking this, she did not deactivate her ability. Remaining alert, she studied her surroundings, and after a few moments... she realized something.

'This... is a decoy.'

No one was here, she was sure now.

This was just a move to lure her here.

She ran back at the same speed, almost even faster than before. She turned back towards her group, thinking that whoever had done this... she would find each and every one of them and tear them to pieces.

It was absolutely unacceptable... to be tricked like this!

She was a noble, a proud one, nonetheless.

And even she had her limits.

This was enough!

But when she turned back, she couldn't help but freeze in place at what she saw.

"What... is this?"

There was literally... chaos in front of her.

"S-s top! You idiots!"

She screamed at the top of her lungs. The sound she could make in this form was quite wheezy, so she usually didn't speak.

But, this time, she didn't care.

His men were fighting each other.

They were attacking each other like they were crazy, despite their exhaustion.

"I- it's you, right?! You've been acting suspiciously for days!"

One of the scouts said, his hands on the throat of a guard he had subdued.

"I've found the traitor! It must be him, he just disappeared and reappeared out of nowhere!"

A guard was literally tearing apart a carriage driver who had done nothing wrong.

"Hahahah! Did you think you'd never be found, idiot!"

All of them...

"Die, die, die, die!"

They were all out of their minds.

"COME TO YOUR SENSES!"

The gray-eyed woman roared as loud as she could. It was her Pursuer ability, which increased the physical and mental strength of everyone who heard her voice, including herself.

And with this ability, everyone who had gone mad slowly paused. The lips of those who laughed slowly pursed, some of those whose hands were covered in the blood of their comrades could not help widening their eyes.

"Ah... A- AAAGGHHH!"

In the end, someone let out a scream of horror.

But before he could utter a sound, the gray-eyed woman suddenly appeared at his feet, smacked him lightly on the head with her hand, and knocked him unconscious.

"Listen to me, you idiots!"

She roared again, drawing all attention to herself.

"You have all been poisoned, calm down and use your logic! We must stick together!"

Fortunately, her words managed to register with her men. With her Pursuer ability, those around her swallowed and focused on her, waiting for her next orders.

The woman first counted how many were alive.

There were only eighteen.

Their group... almost all of them were gone.

'Damn it... damn it!'

How could they... end up in such a situation?

How... when almost everyone was a professional, how had they managed to be defeated, to be so humiliated, against an enemy they had never even seen once?

'More careful, more careful...'

They still had a chance.

As long as the mission succeeded, the rest didn't matter.

They could still succeed...

"Stand up!"

And so they did. Even if they were weak, exhausted... her men slowly stood up.

"Come on, let's go-"

But she couldn't give the next order.

Because... in front of her eyes, one of those who stood up suddenly collapsed, foaming at the mouth.

"H- huh?"

Right next to him, a guard who had only just regained her reason and sanity... lost it again as her eyes widened.

When she heard the sound of collapsing behind her, she turned around to see another friend collapsing, foaming at the mouth, just like the one next to her.

Then... she too collapsed.

In front of the grey-eyed woman's eyes, in mere seconds... almost all of her men collapsed unconscious, all foaming at the mouth.

And all she could do was watch, her eyes wide.

Despite her strength, unable to do anything.

With trembling steps, she approached the only one who hadn't collapsed yet.

This was the Follower who was immune to any kind of poison.

He was literally terrified as he watched what was happening around him.

He was so frightened that he was shivering all the time.

He was not even in his right mind, even though he was not under the influence of any poison.

"H- hey, calm down..."

She was about to go to him and calm him down, to tell him that they should continue their mission... but she paused again.

'No... no... isn't this enough already...?'

For the second time in as many days, she caught an abnormal presence of eon.

It was the same eon she felt the first time when she ran into the decoy. She felt like she was wandering through the ruins, cold and chilled inside.

The only difference was... this time... this eon was everywhere.

"I- I beg you, let me go! P- please... I will make you live like a king in Dolcan!"

Suddenly, she was stunned by the voice she could hear. She slowly turned around, and there before her was... the sight of their captive, Baron Dolcan, on his knees, his forehead pressed against the floor, crying and begging.

There was a young person in front of him, one who seemed to be separate from everything else that was going on around him.

But it was not so, she knew it well.

Because... this youth was the source of the eon that enveloped the surroundings. His black hair fluttered in the breeze and his eyes sparkled with a silvery glow. He held two daggers in his hands.

The youth simply threw his dagger at the baron's head. And as the dagger pierced his skull, the baron's voice suddenly went silent, his body shook violently as he fell sideways.

The man she was supposed to protect... was slaughtered in front of her eyes.

The gray-eyed woman suddenly felt the whole world stop.

All her thoughts were erased from her mind. The only thing she could see... was the youth in front of her.

It was him.

He was the traitor.

He was the one who had ruined the whole mission, who had caused everything to fall apart.

She felt her anger rise to immeasurable heights. Or rather... she couldn't feel it. Because she was that angry.

The moment she felt her feet leave the ground, she found herself in front of this youth. She was so fast that no one should have been able to see her.

But the youth he attacked saw.

Her hands, greenish in color, were about to grab him and tear him apart... when she suddenly found his silvery eyes staring at her.

They were cold, calm.

But then, suddenly... they disappeared.

Along with the youth's whole body.

No, he wasn't too fast.

He had simply disappeared.

The woman, suddenly finding herself in the middle of the forest, alone, didn't know what to do.

She looked around, threw her hands behind her back, trying to block a possible attack... But she was met was just... nothing.

"I- impossible!"

She could more or less sense the presence of even Seekers in this form. Not even they could use their abilities so flawlessly, so precisely in front of her.

"W- what would a Savant want with us?!"

But then, she felt the presence of cold metal in her throat and was suddenly speechless, as if she had swallowed her little tongue.

The world was spinning, strangely. At the same time, she felt nauseous, almost vomiting.

"I'm not a Savant, I'm not even sure what stage you're talking about."

His calm voice entered her ears. Eyes widening, she quickly reached for her Pursuer ability and even her blessing at the same time.

But...

"You were just poisoned."

The coldness in her throat slid aside as her eyes widened, slowly giving way to warmth.

Being a Pursuer, she naturally had a certain immunity to poisons. It wasn't impossible to be poisoned, just a bit difficult. That was why she had been able to stand so far, to remain unaffected as his men writhed from the poison.

But there was a limit.

And it seems she had already crossed that limit.

'Ah...'

She realized too late that her head had been separated from her body as her world turned upside down.

She... had lost and died in such a humiliating way.

Even when she died, her face was one of incomprehensible stunned confusion, disgust with herself... and disappointment.