Charlotte drew her sword.

  The woman took a step back, startled by the blade's gleam. Perceiving the tension in the air, she slowly backed away.

  Although she didn’t know the reason for the enmity between the girl who fell from the sky and that man, she decided it was better to leave the scene. It didn’t seem like the girl was here to defend her.

  Charlotte felt something strange about the man. A faint red glow surrounded him, but when she tried to look closer, the light vanished.

  Her heart pounded, not from fear, but as though propelled by the blood in her veins. It was as if that blood was responding to a call.

  Yet the call wasn’t external. It lay hidden within her blood, within her soul, in the essence that makes someone human.

  “You... what are you?” Charlotte’s voice trembled slightly. She took a few steps back, moving away from the man, almost slipping into an open sewer grate.

  [Do not repress me.]

  A voice echoed from the depths of her soul.

  The man opened his arms. His limbs were prosthetics made of a translucent red crystal.

  Charlotte could see every detail of the components, understand their former functions, and identify the type of metal from which they were crafted.

  But that red crystal didn’t resemble any alchemical material she knew. The components didn’t even appear to function, they were purely decorative, merely assembled to form the prosthetic limbs.

  Yet, the red crystal felt strangely familiar to her, like the light of a... red moon.

  Every celestial body is divine, and every moon celestial.

  Gods never die, but they cannot escape death either. And when a god dies, they leave their remains.

  Charlotte finally understood.

  She knew what she was about to face, but she refused to believe it. The mist had long cleared. Something like that shouldn’t exist anymore.

  “Child,” the man spoke, extending his palm with a candy.

  “Would you like some candy?”

  When the man lifted his face, it had no features. Only a hollow void, with bright red light radiating from its edges.

  “You’re not that thing... There’s no mist here! You shouldn’t exist!”

  Charlotte shouted, trying to deny the entity before her.

  She wanted to be wrong. That thing couldn’t possibly be...

  "A Divine Relic."

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  Charlotte had seen one before in Kaihaide.

  She had seen such a relic turn thousands of people into pillars of salt and witnessed her kin and their enemies fight against them. She knew she couldn’t possibly defeat one.

  Even the official knights of the Order wouldn’t dare to face a Divine Relic alone.

  It wasn’t a sorcerer. Its power didn’t come from spells, and the knights’ magical immunity was useless against it. Worse yet, the Divine Relic nullified most human attacks.

  "Should I flee?"

  Against an invincible foe, retreat seemed the wisest choice. The Knights of Wenze didn’t have a tradition of dying in vain, and the Empire’s noblest blood wasn’t to be spilled recklessly.

  The Divine Relic hadn’t shown its true form yet.

  There was still time to flee. Solvellon had its own order of knights. A city that had endured for centuries within the mist surely knew how to handle such threats.

  Yet the Divine Relic remained still, offering the candy, with a sacred white halo emerging behind its head.

  Charlotte heard the first note resonate in her blood.

  As if accompanying the melody within her, the halo began to pulse, amplifying the music so everyone on the street could hear it.

  The melody was gentle but carried immense sorrow beneath its beauty.

  Those who heard it wore expressions utterly opposite to its tone. As if enchanted, they raised their faces skyward, smiling with deep satisfaction.

  "Flee? And leave these people?"

  Solvellon wasn’t Eiberg territory, and these people hadn’t sworn fealty to Charlotte’s family. Technically, she wasn’t obligated to protect them.

  "To hell with obligation! Protecting the people is a knight’s duty!"

  One reason to stay was all she needed. Charlotte’s blood silenced the melody. She abandoned the thought of fleeing, raised her greatsword, and struck at the crystal prosthetic.

  She felt no resistance. The limb was severed with ease, and the candy fell to the ground.

  The halo behind the Divine Relic froze. The music stopped. The people began to wake, their expressions turning to panic. They remembered everything, the sound, the light. Screams erupted as they fled in all directions.

  The Divine Relic’s empty eyes followed the candy. Ignoring its severed arm, it staggered over, picked up the candy, and, carefully wiping off the dirt, said to Charlotte in the tone of a father scolding a child: “Don’t waste candy.”

  The voice of the Divine Relic was eerily similar to her father’s. But Charlotte knew her father could never become that. A chill ran up her spine. Being stared at by a featureless face would terrify anyone.

  “Hey, miss, put down the sword!”

  Charlotte turned to see the four police officers from before. She was grateful they weren’t like those in novels, showing up only after everything was over.

  She didn’t expect them to help defeat the Divine Relic, but they could evacuate the civilians while she held the creature at bay. The rest would be up to the knights’ order.

  Suddenly, the Divine Relic began to change. Scars appeared all over its body, red light seeping from the wounds. The prosthetic limbs fell off, replaced by new ones, their skin resembling pristine marble.

  The red light concentrated, transforming the scars into exquisite patterns. Its fingers grew long and sharp. It now resembled a divine statue—beautiful, imposing, eternal, and sacred.

  “Wow,” one officer murmured. “This is knights’ business, isn’t it?”

  “I’d say so,” another agreed. And the four bolted.

  “COWARDS!” Charlotte shouted in fury.

  The music began again, serene and melancholic. This time, however, it wasn’t guided by Charlotte’s blood. The halo of the Divine Relic pulsed rhythmically, spreading the sound.

  The music brought Charlotte only fear.

  Her hands trembled so much she could barely hold her sword.

  She retreated, step by step, until her heel touched something. It was the storyteller woman from before.

  Paralyzed by fear, the woman had collapsed on the ground, a satisfied expression slowly spreading across her face.

  Charlotte knew she couldn’t retreat any further. If she fled, it wouldn’t just be this woman. Everyone on this street would die before the knights of Solvellon arrived.

  "Protecting the people is a knight’s duty."

  Her resolve returned, and her sword glowed with white flames and radiant runes. Charlotte prayed to the Eternal Queen, her sovereign:

  “May the Queen grant me courage. May she allow me to protect her people.”

  Taking a step forward, she charged against the Divine Relic’s sharp claws, swinging her blade.