CHAPTER FIVE: SINNED

Mika stirred. Shinji turned to see her blinking groggily, confused, disoriented.

"You’re awake," he breathed, voice low with relief. "Good. We don’t have time."

“Who are you..?”

Shinji didn’t reply. He’s reloading his gun without even looking at her. “Stay low.”

He crawled from the pit and ducked behind a collapsed wall. Shinji took an aim at the three winged Spirits in the air. And he fired perfectly twice.

"Two down," he muttered. "One to go."

Provoked by the deaths of its friends, the Spirit leashed out insults at Shinji in Ancient Aspaniac. Ignoring the Spirit’s insults, Shinji took another aim at the last Spirit when all the sudden, he heard painful moans behind him. He turned around quickly and found Mika was on her knees, hands on her head.

“Hey! What’s wrong?” Shinji asked demandingly.

“The Spirit— it said something— it’s— AH!!!”

Pieces of memories that she had long forgotten flashed before her eyes in mere seconds. Mika screamed loudly in agony.

“Mika!”

Shinji in the middle of rushing over when all the sudden, the flying Spirit attacked him from above. He fell back, finger slipping on the trigger as he sunken to the ground, before landed a powerful kick on the Spirit’s stomach and managed to escape from its’ grip.

The bullet that Shinji accidentally pulled, grazed on Mika’s right wrist and hit directly the illuminating glow moonstones of the bracelet. It cracked and shattered to million pieces.

The atmosphere between them changed immediately. Shinji was not the only one who noticed the change. The winged Spirit felt it too.

A mysterious scent filled in the air. The winged Spirit sniffed, completely oblivious or forgotten to the presence of a human who had shot two of its companions. The scent was highly addictive to Spirits in particular.

A scent that they have been waiting for and longed for many, many years — the scent of Salvation.

The winged Spirit sniffed harder and couldn’t get enough. It was trying very hard to remember when was the last time it smelled a very familiar scent, and whom it belonged to. Too long…

A long and loud shrill suddenly broke the Spirit’s deep thoughts. It turned to look at the source: a figure floating in the air while being surrounded by an incredibly powerful force field.

Shinji clenched his teeth, sweat dripping on his cheek. How could he’d be so careless?! On top of dealing with the Spirits, this should be the last thing he wished to deal with.

Mika’s fiercely mid-length hair grew waist-length and unkempt. Her bright Emerald eyes changed to deadly Amber with slitted pupils. Her claws — once neatly trimmed — curved into talons that caught the firelight.

***

The devastation in Andania deepened with each passing second. The second wave of Spirits, larger and more vicious than the first, erupted from the Forbidden Forest like a dark tide. The protective barrier over the Safe House shimmered violently with each assault. Knights, already bloodied and battered, were pushed to their limits.

Commandant Grants Rogue and his Rescue Brigade arrived at Andania’s crumbled gates expecting chaos—but nothing could have prepared them for the reality awaiting inside.

The town — or what remained of it — reeked of death, smoke, and scorched stone. Buildings once proud and sturdy had been reduced to skeletal husks, shattered walls clawing skyward. Smoke rose in thick, choking plumes. Blood soaked the cobblestones, smeared in erratic arcs and long-dried puddles, as though the very earth wept for its people.

“Dear Gods,” muttered one of the knights, his voice hollow as he stepped over a charred corpse, its limbs twisted and unrecognisable. Grants said nothing. His jaw clenched as he marched forward, his cloak snapping behind him in the wind that carried the heavy, metallic scent of blood.

Every lifeless body they passed was a silent accusation. These were not faceless victims—they were soldiers. Comrades. Men and women who had once laughed with him, trained with him, stood at his side.

A sudden, piercing scream tore through the silence.

Grants raised a clenched fist. The entire brigade froze, weapons drawn.

Gunfire cracked nearby — sharp, frantic, and close. Then, a blur.

A streak of red bolted across the debris-laden street. Its claws were soaked in blood, its movement animalistic and terrifyingly fast. Grants barely had time to react before his breath caught in his throat.

Mika. But not the one he knew.

Mika moved like a beast unbound. Her posture was no longer that of a knight but a predator. Her once-warm emerald eyes now blazed with golden amber slits. Her armour, still clinging to her frame, was torn and slick with gore. Blood — not her own — splattered her cheeks and lips.

“No,” Grants whispered, heart pounding in disbelief.

Another scream rang out. A young soldier, struggling to reload his rifle, met Mika’s gaze.

Too late.

Mika lunged. With a savage snarl, she knocked the weapon from his grasp and slammed him against a broken wall. Her claws pierced his chest, twisting mercilessly. Bones crunched. His gasp was wet and cut short.

Grants stepped forward, shouting, “Mika!”

She turned. Her lips curved into a smile, but it wasn’t hers. It was cold. Unfeeling. Older than her years. Something ancient and cruel now wore her face.

Mika bolted toward him.

Grants moved for his blade, but he was too slow.

BANG! A gunshot echoed.

Mika twisted mid-leap, dodging the bullet with inhuman grace. She landed in a crouch, low and feral. Shinji raised his gun at her. His gaze unflinching.

More shots rang out. Mika blurred between them, flipping and spinning. One grazed her ribs, the others missed—but the last struck close to her feet, forcing her off balance.

Mika stumbled. Her hands clutched her head, groaning as something inside her cracked.

Grants called out to her again — but his voice was drowned by another gunshot.

The bullet was aimed straight for Mika’s heart.

He didn’t have time to stop it.

But something else did. A massive shadow descended.

The winged Spirit spread its’ wings wide like a cathedral’s roof — swooped between them. While it wrapped its body around Mika just as the bullet struck.

Blood sprayed everywhere. The Spirit jerked.

Shinji stood from his place with his gun pointed outward in shock at what was happening. His ears picked up the soft whispering mother-tongue language came from the Spirit’s mouth, in its’ mother tongue, Ancient Aspaniac.

“Restore our future,” it’s voice faltering like rustling leaves. “Fulfill the forsaken prophecy... Your Highness...” Then it crumpled to the ground.

Silence blanketed the battlefield.

Until came a laughter.

Soft. Childlike.

But it grew. Louder. Darker. Twisted.

Mika rose slowly, her eyes wild. She grinned, teeth gleaming, pupils thin and cat-like. She stepped over the Spirit’s body, lifted one leg high, meant to desecrate the one who just saved her.

BANG!

A bullet shattered the stone beneath her foot.

“Enough! You brat,” Shinji roared.

Mika snarled, vanished then reappeared inches from his face. Claws lunged.

Shinji blocked with his forearm and delivered a crushing uppercut to her abdomen. She grunted, slid back, then charged again.

***

Grants Rogue observed the battle between a mysterious and brave young man and the Spirit from afar. Many thoughts ran through his mind, one of which made him realise all this while that Mika was indeed a Spirit — a dangerous one, as he had witnessed earlier.

Though he denied it often when asked by his colleagues, Grants had always been very aware of Mika’s origin even before she’d joined his Brigade. What made it harder for him to admit the fact, was due to the fact that the little whom he’d trained and cared for as a knight grown up into a kind and caring individual while acted very much like a normal human being, could brutally murder his men cold-bloodedly in a blink of an eye and without any conscious.

Grants exhaled deeply, knowing the fate that awaited the young Spirit should they survive after this battle.

Mika screamed, thrashing under Shinji’s weight as he pinned her face down beneath him, He applied some pressure on her spine using his left knee and began chanting—low and urgent. A sigil, glowing green, burst to life around them. Mika struggled and fought like a trapped animal as hard as she could to break free from the heavyweight of a man on top of her.

In her struggles, her claws raked across his shoulder. Blood seeped. But Shinji kept chanting. A bright green light emitted from his hand began to bind itself to the aggressive Spirit and illuminated her entire being.

Mika tried once again to break free her other hand from Shinji’s tight grip. She made an attempt to overthrow the man above her, but the bind from the light kept her body paralysed. Hissed in frustration, Mika lifted her freed hand, hoping to land another strike at the man on top of her when a pair of strong hands held her hand and pressed it firmly on the ground.

Grants did not know what had possessed him to come over and helped the young man. One moment he was observing from afar, and the next, he was on both knees, holding down his aggressive subordinate on the ground while waiting for the young man to finish up with whatever he was doing.

“Tiiviste!” Shinji bellowed.

The spell surged. Light coiled around Mika’s right wrist, forming into a jade bracelet. Her body seized. Her limbs froze. Her claws retracted. Her hair shortened. Her golden eyes dimmed back to emerald.

Mika collapsed onto the ground, unmoved.

Shinji eased off from her, panting hard. He turned her over, brushing a bloody strand from her face.

“I’m... sorry,” Mika whispered faintly as her eyes closed and her body went limped.

Grants quickly checked her pulse. Still alive. But very faintly.

He then turned to the young man gave a faint nod before his own eyes rolled back, and he dropped beside Mika.