Chapter 11: The Golems' Dark Vengeance

After our break, the tools and weapons brought back from the old military post occupied the center of our camp. Binoculars, pieces of metal, and open bags formed an unusual mess among the ruins of Dolmaryth. Taron, on the other hand, still hadn't gotten over our demise. He was handling an iron bar with excessive brutality, as if the object was responsible for his anguish.

"Don't disappear like this anymore," he said, putting the object down. "We thought something had happened to you. Ffrouuu... »

His voice retained that heavy gravity which made his reproaches difficult to take for mere reprimands. He had been afraid for us, and it was clear that he did not appreciate having to admit it so frankly.

Milo raised his head from the box he was examining. His gaze passed from Taron to us with a curiosity more anxious than light.

"What exactly were you doing?"

I was looking for an answer that would not require me to explain that Opaline had attacked me to cause the awakening of an invisible force. She perceived my hesitation before the others.

"We were reviewing the plan for the raid," she replied with perfect calm.

"Yes," I added, a little late. "Exactly."

My eagerness did little to improve his lie. Kellan raised an eyebrow. Silas gave me a look that I preferred not to analyze too much. No one asked for an explanation, however.

"Thank you for bringing this out, Aria. The old post had more tools than I imagined," Taron continued.

I remained silent, but protest immediately erupted in me.

Well, no, Taron. Aria ordered me to do her job. Technically, I'm the one who deserves the thanks.

I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. Aria didn't seem in the least troubled by the blatant injustice of the situation. On the contrary, she received the thanks with an almost insulting casualness, as if the merit was rightfully hers.

"I couldn't take everything," she replied. "Milo and I prioritized what could be useful."

Silas lifted the binoculars, raised them to his eyes, and then lowered them almost immediately.

"There are even weapons. For once, people had the decency to give up something useful before they died. »

Taron's look clearly hinted that the choice of words was perhaps lacking in delicacy.

"What are we going to do with all this?" asked Kellan, pushing aside several metal plates.

"Weapons that can withstand golems," Taron replied. "Iron alone will not be enough. The crystals will have to absorb some of the impacts. Chloup... »

My gaze fell on the dagger hanging from my belt. Briana had spent days working on her blade, adjusting her balance, and adjusting her weight to my hand.

"I can't replace him. Briana went to too much trouble to make it. »

"There's nothing stopping you from owning a second one," Taron replied.

"I can't carry several weapons without them bothering me."

Milo stopped examining the till. His surprise was so visible that I remembered how much attention he had already paid to our watches.

"But, Casimir... "Do you know that we can store weapons there?" »

"Am I sorry?"

"What do you mean?" asked Aria.

"Bring your bow close to the screen," Milo explained, pointing to his watch. "Hold it right on top."

Aria unfastened the gun she was carrying on her back. Opaline and Taron backed away, suspicious of this unknown technology. As soon as the bow passed over the screen, a faint glow followed its curves, and then the weapon disappeared through his fingers.

A new interface has appeared.

Weapons: Vine-Iron Bow

Aria's now bare back was a real eye-catcher.

"You've been doing this since we met?" she asked.

"Yes," Milo admitted. "I thought you knew that too."

"Well... I whispered. "We really missed it the whole time."

Milo showed him the icon that had appeared under the name of the bow.

"Hold your finger on it to make it come back."

The light reformed and the weapon reappeared in his hand. Aria repeated the gesture a second time, as if to make sure she hadn't damaged anything, then turned to me.

"Try with your dagger."

"How should I hold it?" I asked, taking it out of my belt.

"Give me your hand."

She closed her fingers on my wrist and tilted the blade until it was exactly above the watch. I felt the warmth of his palm with a precision that had nothing to do with the discovery in progress.

The dagger has disappeared.

Weapons: Dagger made of vine ore

"We really should have sorted this out sooner," I whispered.

"In our world, putting a gun on a watch is usually not a method of storage," Milo pointed out.

Taron approached, keeping a careful distance from the light.

"How did you discover this mysteriously magical incantation? Tchac-tchac. »

"I found a pocket knife among the rubble long before the collapse," Milo replied. "My watch recognized him when I approached him."

"A knife? I don't remember that there is one left here. Shhh... »

Something in his answer bothered me. When we first met, Milo, Kellan and Silas had made it clear to us that they had nothing to defend themselves. A knife stored in his watch could very well have escaped me, but not the fact that he now claims to have found it before the landslide.

Either he had forgotten what he had told us at the time, or he had deliberately changed his version.

"It was in a partially collapsed gallery. I can't tell you which one. »

Argemira had enough abandoned passages for the explanation to hold up without difficulty. Taron did not insist. The discovery immediately changed our preparations. Taron could now craft heavier weapons without fear that transporting them would slow us down. Aria and Kellan accompanied him to the old forge, while Opaline and Milo cleared a training area. Silas offered to check the bags and provisions, which mostly meant that he intended to keep an eye on everything he already considered his own resources.

For the first time in several days, no one has turned to me waiting for a decision.

I sat out on the edge of a collapsed structure and opened the White Knight tab.

The name was still there. Nothing else.

I saw Opaline's foot hit the only stone capable of bringing her back to the path of my fist, then Albert leaning towards my dagger when the distance should have condemned me. The watch had given a name to these events, but that didn't explain anything.

"What are you doing here all alone?"

I recognized Silas before I even looked up. He approached with unusual seriousness.

"I'm trying to put things back in order in the last few days."

Silas sat down next to me. He played for a few seconds with a thread hanging from his bag before speaking.

"I wanted to talk to you about Kellan."

"About his sister?"

"Yes. At first, I wanted to prevent him from going alone. He listened to me, he said he understood, and then, when he heard about that damn north gate, he kept preparing to leave as if I hadn't said anything at all. »

"He will leave with or without our agreement."

Silas finally pulled out the thread. He held it between his fingers for a moment, as if this tiny piece of cloth perfectly summed up what he had had to accept against his will.

"That's what I ended up accepting. Milo and I have decided to stay with you and Aria for as long as possible. Kellan will meet us when he has his sister. Until then, we must become strong enough not to slow you down. »

The tone was pragmatic, almost cold, but he had prepared it before coming. On the essential words, he did not hesitate.

"You don't slow us down. Without the three of you, Aria and I probably wouldn't have gotten this far. »

"I know. That's why this investment is interesting. »

"Invest in what?"

"A group that has already liberated two territories and has made money individually. The figures speak for themselves. »

"We still don't know what this currency is for."

"There is always a use."

His reasoning still ended up making me smile.

"What if point A was the final destination?" he asked.

"That would be too simple. We will probably find a new direction, but not a way out. »

"As long as a mountain of gold awaits us, then I will begin to forgive the price of the journey."

The conversation seemed to be over. I stood up, and Silas did the same before reaching out to me.

"We will remain with you until Kellan returns. After that, we'll see. »

I slammed my palm against his.

"I'm counting on you."

"Try not to say it like you're still the boss. Aria could hear you. »

In spite of myself, my gaze fell on the place where the forge should have been. I couldn't see it from there, but the mere thought was enough to make my reaction far too revealing. Silas smiled contentedly.

"Go and watch your provisions," I told him.

"That's it. It's much better. »

The next few hours were spent at the forge. Taron's hammer echoed for a long time in Dolmaryth, bringing back to the ruins a sound of work that they had probably not heard in nearly thirty years.

When the Teronides finally called us, two swords were resting on a stone table. Their steel was crossed, near the hilt, by fine blue inclusions. A crossbow lay next to it, as well as several bolts whose heads were adorned with the same crystals.

Kellan took the first sword, checked its balance, and had the blade make a precise circle. His expression changed almost instantly.

"It's incredible. It's way too good. »

"The crystals absorb some of the impact before it reaches the blade's structure," Taron explained, without hiding his satisfaction. "These weapons are not indestructible, but they will resist the stone better. Ffrou-ffrou... »

He handed me the second. Longer than my dagger, it forced me to change my guard, but its weight was still comparable to that of the weapons I used in my training with Brad.

Aria approached the crossbow and stroked the mechanism with her fingertips.

"Since you're already proficient with ranged weapons, I designed it to increase the power of each shot," Taron explained. "Crystal projectiles should penetrate the protection around the cores better."

"He's heavier than my bow."

"And the reload is slower. You will have to choose your openings carefully. »

Aria shouldered the weapon, pointed it at the wall, then made it disappear into her watch with a smile still slightly incredulous.

Taron then lifted an object wrapped in a cloth.

"Here is a weapon of Argemira's own: the Jewel."

The fabric slipped and revealed a crystal cut into a polyhedron. Its surface reflected light back in unstable fragments. Milo took it carefully.

"It shoots a beam of energy that causes a small explosion on impact," Taron said. "Never shoot if someone is too close to the target. Klank! »

"You can thank me. This is your reward for having borne my demands," said Opaline.

"If I had known that friendship was paid for in hours of servitude, I would have negotiated before coming," Milo replied.

"I'm not that cruel. But that's the last time you'll call me a little girl. »

"Understood."

Opaline then scanned the group with her eyes. Her expression changed slightly, as if the natural order of things had just been disturbed by an absence she should have noticed earlier.

"Wait. Someone is missing," she added.

"I'm right here," Silas replied from the entrance. "I've been waiting to see how long it would take you to remember me."

Silas still hadn't taken his eyes off the Gem when Taron presented him with a pair of dark gloves, reinforced with engraved plates.

"They can neutralize magic attacks."

Silas took them without concealing his disappointment.

"He gets a crystal that projects rays and I get gloves."

"These are gloves that can disperse anything that is not made of matter," Taron repeated. "Yum-yum... »

"They're just gloves. Nobody ever respects me, right? »

"Would you prefer me to take them back?" asked Opaline, crossing her arms.

Silas immediately drew them against him.

"I never said that. I simply note that the distribution lacks fairness. »

He put them on, looked at his hands, then added:

"Very well... They may not be as bad as they seem. But if we find another gem, it's mine. »

"Let's start by testing what you already have," Opaline suggested.

The training area occupied part of the cave. The rock had been cut into crevices, platforms and several shelters. Marks painted on Taron's wards indicated the golems' weak spots.

"Taron will play the role of a guardian," Opaline explained. "Ten blows will be enough to complete the exercise. Your goal is not to defeat him by force, but to learn to synchronize. He too will have his own gem. »

She then explained to us that Milo's gem, the Nuclear, was only one form among others. Each gem had its own unique appearance: the Eruption, red and bristling with spikes; the Ocean, turquoise blue and oval; the Tornado, green and spiral; the Earthquake, amber and rectangular; the Cataclysm, yellow and diamond-shaped; and the Snowstorm, white, hexagonal in shape.

They all came from the same ore, the Chrysalis Prism, an extremely rare resource in Argemira. In its raw state, it did not possess any of these properties. He had to interact with a particular territory to take on a specific form and develop the power that corresponded to it. Milo's had found its resonance in Argemira, in a gallery specially designed to transform it into a Nuclear Energy. For the others, it remained to be discovered which territory they were associated with.

Taron had recovered three of them during the excavation of Dolmaryth: two Nuclear and a Tornado. The latter had ended up disappearing into the galleries.

Kellan and I took the front row. Milo stayed in the center with his gem. Aria placed herself in the back with her crossbow, while Silas took the side with his gloves.

Before I could reach my job, Opaline held me back.

"I told Taron what happened yesterday. He only knows that your aura reacted when I stopped seeing you as a threat. He won't deliberately underestimate you during training. »

"You could have warned me in advance."

"I just did it. Above all, don't forget that anyone here can get hurt. Aria included. »

Further on, Aria was checking the mechanism of her crossbow, fully concentrated.

"Okay."

The first exercise was a disaster.

Taron broke our lines in just a few movements. He did not even need to force; he just had to find the flaw, hit the right place, and our whole device collapsed instantly. Silas intercepted a beam, but, so busy watching the flanks, he did not see the mass coming. Milo fired the Gem too early, and the explosion knocked us all back. Aria hit her target with two bolts before having to give up the third one to avoid hitting Milo.

We started again. And again.

The following days were punctuated by our failures. Each attempt corrected one error and revealed two others. Taron was constantly changing his foothold, using the stalagmites as natural obstacles, and constantly forcing us to break the formation. As soon as we thought we'd found a solution, he'd change his approach and reduce our progress to another round of awkward improvisations.

Finally, our defeats almost ceased to surprise us. They became a stage of training, a painful lesson that Taron inflicted on us with far too calm patience.

After another failed attempt, Kellan dropped his sword near his sleeping bag. The sound of metal against the stone resounded louder than it should have in the camp.

"It's literally impossible. How many attempts are we at? About thirty, perhaps? »

"Our record is still four hits," Milo recalled from the field.

"Thank you, it's even more encouraging."

Opaline entered the improvised dormitory. From the state of the group—the abandoned weapons, the shortness of breath, the bodies scattered haphazardly on the blankets—she no doubt understood that the session had once again turned against us.

"I didn't think your training would take so long. But you have to succeed. Albert was a small fish by comparison. Ruberyth and Emerolyth reflect, anticipate, and adapt their way of fighting. »

Aria closed the notebook that Taron had prepared. She had spent the last few attempts noting our mistakes, our field goals and the specific moments when our lineup had broken down. In the end, its pages looked less like a plan than a detailed inventory of our powerlessness.

"We know their techniques, but we don't react quickly enough. Taron doesn't fight exactly like them. »

"Ruberyth attacks with her hands and can burst into flames," Milo recited. "Emerolyth throws the stones it is made of, regenerates, and uses a beam that can immobilize a target."

"You have to watch the beams while fighting and tracking everyone's positions. It's too much," Opaline tells Silas.

Silas had rested his head on his arms. Even lying like this, he still seemed to be performing several movements simultaneously, as if his mind was continuing the exercise while his body had already capitulated.

"Milo has a better sense of that stuff," he admitted. "It already identifies friction points before it even happens."

"I agree," Milo said. "Analyzing the terrain suits me better than throwing explosions."

Opaline looked at the Gem in turn, the gloves and the exhausted faces that surrounded her. To her, the solution seemed almost obvious; As for us, it had taken us about thirty failures before we accepted that our roles might not be the right ones.

"Change your equipment," she suggested. "You don't have to keep the weapon you've been given if another distribution improves your chances."

Silas immediately straightened up. Fatigue left his face, replaced by a much more lively attention.

"Can we really do that?"

"The jewel is not attached to Milo."

The crystal changed hands with an almost disconcerting simplicity. After all this time spent thinking of our weapons as a natural extension of our roles, seeing them pass from one person to another felt like turning the very foundations of our strategy upside down.

Milo put on the gloves, flexed his fingers a first time, then a second, as if he was already trying to get used to this new weight and to better understand the terrain. Silas held the Jewel with concentrated caution. For once, he no longer looked like someone forced to monitor everything simultaneously, but someone who had finally been entrusted with the right tool for his know-how.

We returned to dry land.

The difference was apparent from the first seconds.

"Kellan, change your position! Casimir, wait for it to open! Silas, wait for my signal! »

Taron raised his own Gem. Milo placed himself in the axis of the beam and joined the palms. The light scattered against his gloves in a shower of sparks.

"Now!"

Silas fired. The explosion struck Taron just as he was finishing his move. Aria placed a bolt in the visible target under her arm. Kellan and I hit two more areas.

Taron tried to change his strategy.

"Aim at his left leg!" shouted Milo.

A second explosion threw him off balance. Aria reloaded her weapon as Kellan deflected the mace. A few seconds later, Taron stopped.

"Ten hits."

No one reacted immediately. We almost expected Opaline to point out a new error.

"You got it right on your first attempt with this tactic," Taron added with a broad smile.

Kellan raised his sword. Milo let out a "Yes!" that echoed through the vault. Silas looked at the Gem as if it had always belonged to him.

"After what I just saw, the time has finally arrived," Taron announced.

A few hours later, we gathered around the fire to choose the exclusive reward.

Defeat the Scarlet King — Ruby of the Flame [Clan]

Defeat the Eternal Jade Queen — Regenerating Emerald [Clan]

"The Ruby would protect us from the cold and allow certain weapons to produce heat," Aria explained. "Emerald, on the other hand, would enhance the effects of healing and better protect us from burns."

"The second one will come in handy from the Ruberyth fight," Milo said.

Kellan didn't say anything, but I knew that a reward of fortifying food and healing items would come in handy when he went in search of his sister.

"Which one is worth more?" asked Silas.

"We have no plans to sell it," Aria replied.

"Shame."

Aria then asked Kellan, Milo, and Silas for their opinions. When she came to see me, I understood that she was still waiting for my approval out of habit.

"It's your decision," I reminded him.

"In this case, we choose the Regenerating Emerald."

Aria confirmed her choice on her watch, barely concealing her satisfaction. The Ruby of the Flame immediately disappeared from the interface.

We then reviewed the plan one last time. Taron has equipped himself with his mace. Opaline has drawn her two hooked swords. Aria pulled out her crossbow and slipped the crystal bolts into the holster attached to her thigh.

"Only aim for Ruberyth's core," Opaline reminded him. "Once broken, it will no longer be able to catch fire."

"Loud and clear."

We would be divided into two teams. Aria, Taron, and I would face Ruberyth. Kellan would occupy Emerolyth while Opaline neutralized his regeneration and Silas used the Gem. Milo would stay between the two groups in order to anticipate attacks and protect them with his gloves.

However, I was worried about it. Ever since the White Knight had revealed himself, I had a hard time not watching for any incident and wondering if he was really the cause.

Aria arrived as everyone was finishing their preparations.

"You were elsewhere for several minutes."

"I was thinking about the fight."

"Don't count on your passive voice, Casimir. We can do without it. »

"This is also Opaline's advice."

"For once, she says something sensible about fighting."

Aria noticed that the buckle of my sword strap was turned against my hip and put it back in place. I didn't even need that damn wrist strap anymore, now that the watch could hold my weapon. Aria insisted that I keep it as it was. Officially, because it suited me. Unofficially, I was pretty sure she liked to have an excuse to come and readjust it every time she found something wrong.

The worst part was that I now knew perfectly well how to put it on on my own.

According to her, at least, it made me look like a real knight. Since my watch had decided to name my Passive "The White Knight", the joke had taken on disproportionate proportions. It seemed that 404 was also laughing at me.

"We have a plan. You won't need that power if everyone does what they have to do. »

His certainty was enough to allay some of my concerns.

"Very good. We follow your plan. »

It reminded me that, during training, it was mostly Milo who positioned us and coordinated our movements. Aria had let him do it until now, because it was still only exercises. But now that we were going to face the real enemy, I could hardly believe that her pride would let her obey orders for long without trying to take back the reins.

Milo had a better understanding of the terrain than any of us, but Aria had a hard time accepting that an important decision couldn't be made by her. If his pride became too important in this conflict, I would probably have to take the reins myself to prevent our coordination from collapsing. I could already feel the long discussion coming to convince her to let me handle the situation.

Despite everything, I really wanted to see him.

We took a long passage to the south. On the way down, the red and green veins multiplied on the walls. The gallery finally opened onto a huge natural cavity, supported by stone pillars and divided by large cracks.

The two golems were leaning against the back wall.

The one on the left was covered with scarlet flashes. His silhouette was reminiscent of a crowned man, made of thick plates whose joints let the heat filter through. The one on the right was more slender. A green light circulated between the stones of his body, connected by mineral vines.

We have taken a stand. Taron was the first to step forward. As soon as he entered the arena, the torches fixed around the enclosure were lit one by one. A tremor ran through the ground.

The guards opened their eyes.

"You who enter this sacred place, you will be tested!" roared Ruberyth.

A more feminine voice rose from the other side.

"Scarlet King. Eternal Jade Queen. The sacred kingdom of Argemira is at stake. »

We didn't have time to understand what this meant. The two golems left the wall and rushed straight at us. Taron lifted his mace and nodded.

"We're following the plan!" cried Aria. "Milo, keep both groups in sight. No one pursues a target alone. »

"I'll take it to the right," Taron announced. "Prepare your shot as soon as I pierce his guard."

Aria put her crossbow on her shoulder.

"Casimir, stay on the left and get his attention. I've got you covered."

For the first time since her appointment, she really led the group into battle. She repeated each position with almost excessive meticulousness, too anxious not to let any mistake question her place.

At first, the golems' movements matched those in the notebook.

Ruberyth cleaved his fist. I slipped away as Taron slammed his opposite leg. Several plates exploded and the golem put one knee on the ground. Scarlet lines spread across his chest.

"The core!" cried Taron.

Aria fired. The pane made a crack in the central protection without going through it. She was already recharging when Ruberyth swept the floor with her arm.

On the other side, Kellan deflects Emerolyth's projectiles. Opaline was cutting the vines that had replaced the stones torn up by Silas. Milo moved between the two teams.

"Silas, back! Kellan, she charges her beam! »

Milo lifted the gloves. A green light burst from Emerolyth's core and spread over his palms.

Everything worked almost too well.

The first unknown attack came from Ruberyth.

A mass of flame broke off from his shoulder and took the form of a gigantic hand. She closed in on Taron's guard and threw him several meters away. At the same moment, vines sprang out behind Kellan and wrapped around his chest.

"Kellan!" cried Silas, turning the Jewel over.

"Don't shoot, he's too close!" replied Opaline.

Emerolyth then tore a plate from his chest and placed it in front of his core, concealing the glow that announced his attack. Milo lifted his gloves too late.

The beam struck him in the side. His body froze and slumped to the side, his eyes open, conscious but unable to move.

Our formation disintegrated in a matter of seconds.

"Don't scatter!" cried Taron, rising.

Aria still held her crossbow raised, but her attention kept coming back to me.

I saw Kellan struggle with the vines.

A fraction of a second of distraction was enough.

Ruberyth's fist fell on me. I had seen the movement, but my dodge was too late. The impact lifted me off the ground and threw me against the wall. The stone hit my shoulder, then my back. A searing pain ran down my spine to my teeth.

"Casimir!"

Aria's voice drowned out everything else.

I fell forward. Taron caught me under the arm before my face hit the ground, but Aria was already in front of us. She had left her position and stood between Ruberyth and me, her crossbow pointed at him.

"I'm fine," I whispered when the air finally returned. "Look ahead."

"That's what I do."

She didn't look at me anymore. His fingers clenched on the pillory.

"You are putting yourself in danger."

"You are in more danger than I am."

"Aria..."

"You stay behind me until you recover."

I leaned against the wall. A sharp pain went through my shoulder. She heard the sound of my boots scraping the ground and her voice broke without her turning around.

"It's an order, Casimir."

Ruberyth was watching us from the center of the arena. Her stony gaze shifted from Aria to me, then back to her.

"I said that no one would be left behind," she continued. "So, for once, let me do it right."

This word struck me almost as hard as the others. She wasn't just trying to protect me. She was still trying to prove that she could keep the place I had given her.

Taron turned to me.

"Casimir. What happened to Opaline? Tch."

"I didn't notice anything. He must see us all as threats. »

"So we can try something. If he believes you're out of the fight, maybe your aura will react again. »

"He just pushed me against a wall. That should help. »

"Only if he thinks you won't get up."

Taron turned to Ruberyth and raised his voice. His tone changed at once. It was no longer that of an exhausted fighter, but that of a leader who still knew how to bend to gain a few seconds.

"Scarlet King! We have recognized your superiority. My people have failed, and the strangers who accompany me are not ready to confront you. Tchac! The one you have just hit can barely stand. He no longer poses any threat. »

The golem's gaze fell on me.

I dropped my sword. The metal hit the floor with a heavier noise than expected, and then I leaned against the wall without trying to hide my difficulty breathing. Each breath tugged at my shoulder, and the dust that stuck to my throat made the effort even more palpable.

"If this place is to judge us," Taron continued, "we accept its verdict. Tchrrr... »

Ruberyth froze.

"The weak had no legitimate right to Argemira," he declared. "Your defeat was written before you even entered this arena."

His gaze left mine. He didn't look at me anymore.

I didn't feel anything. No strength in the arms, no warmth, no warning signs. Not even that brutal intuition that could have told me that something had just been triggered. Only my shortness of breath, the stone against my back and the absurd impression of waiting for a miracle that refused to happen.

And yet, Ruberyth shifted his weight to his right leg at the precise moment a crack reached the joint. At first, it was just a sharp crack, almost imperceptible in the echo of the arena. Then a plate came loose from his calf and his knee sank into an irregularity in the ground.

He tried to compensate.

His hip pivoted too fast. The protection of her torso, already split by Aria's window, hit her shoulder and lifted just enough to create a breach. Ruberyth tried to close the plate, but a shard of rock broke off the vault at the same moment and hit him in the back of his arm. The shock threw him off balance.

Before my eyes, the golem's body had just opened exactly where it should never have been. Then everything came together.

His leg gave way. His torso toppled over. The scarlet fissure aligned itself with my sword.

I stopped thinking. I rushed at him, sword in hand.

Ruberyth turned her head too late. His other foot slipped over the debris torn from his own body. His hand struck the ground and enlarged the opening he was trying to protect even more.

I hit with all my might. The blade penetrated the crack, followed the fracture of the crystal and cut the core in half.

Red shards flew across the arena. Ruberyth stood still, one arm still raised, and then the light that passed through him went out.

I stood in front of him, unable to take my eyes off the succession of accidents that had just condemned him.

I hadn't run faster or hit harder. From the moment Ruberyth had placed me among the opponents already defeated, everything had begun to derail around him: his supports, his plates, the debris under his feet, even the fragment that had fallen from the vault.

This time, I couldn't talk about luck anymore.

The Jade Queen didn't give us time to weigh the consequences. A vine burst out of a blind spot and hit Aria in the leg. She collapsed on one knee.

"Aria!"

"Keep fighting."

Milo had just regained enough mobility to crawl to her. When he tried to help her, Aria pushed his hand away and stood up. Her injured foot hung for a moment before she decided to lean on it again.

"I'm fine. Milo, watches Kellan's flank. Silas, concentrates the Gem on his left leg. »

His breathing had changed, however, and each movement tightened his fingers a little tighter around the crossbow.

"Aria, back off."

"I said I was fine."

"That's not what I... »

"Casimir, in front of you!"

I narrowly avoided a stone thrown by Emerolyth. When I was able to look at Aria again, she had already loaded a bolt into the groove of her crossbow.

"I'll cover you. So don't worry about me. »

Taron took the flank she had just left as she limped to Milo.

Emerolyth had seen Ruberyth fall. Her green gaze lingered on me longer. She no longer considered me insignificant. The White Knight wouldn't give me anything against her.

"Milo!"

Her fingers were finally starting to move.

"His armor hides the beam," he whispered. "Look at his shoulders. When she brings them together, she charges. »

Emerolyth brought her arms back to his chest with precision.

"Be careful!" cried Milo.

Kellan and Silas dove behind the stalagmites. The green light swept over the space they had just left. Once the movement was understood, the rest of the images took their place in my mind.

"Kellan, capture his attention! Opaline, cuts everything that goes up to its trunk. Silas, wait for her to raise her left leg. »

Aria turned her head towards me. A flash of pain flashed across her face, but she didn't protest.

Kellan attacked head-on. His sword tore two stones from Emerolyth's forearm. Creepers immediately sought to replace them. Opaline cut them off before they hit the ground.

"Its regeneration is slower!"

Emerolyth pushed Kellan away and walked toward me. I struck his first vine, dodged the second, and let the third wrap around my sword. I pulled to force her to take a step.

"Now, Silas!"

The Gem threw its beam. Kellan returned to the golem's right side and forced her to raise her left leg.

The explosion hit her below the knee. The stone broke. Emerolyth thrust a vine into the ground to keep his balance; Opaline cut her off.

"OK, now the chest!" shouted Aria.

His bolt pushed back the central plate. I threw myself at Emerolyth before she could close it. My blade slipped into the opening and made a crack at the edge of the core.

The Queen pushed me away with the back of her arm. I rolled on my able-bodied shoulder and dropped my sword. His vines came back to me.

Milo came between us. He joined his palms. The green filaments hit the gloves and dispersed into sparks. His body was still shaking, but he held on long enough to let me retrieve my weapon.

"I will not be able to do it anymore," he warned.

"You won't need it."

Behind Emerolyth, Kellan was already working along the wall. Opaline occupied his field of vision and Silas was preparing another explosion.

I went back to the frontal attack. Emerolyth focused all his attention on my sword and raised both arms to crush me.

"Aria!"

The bolt hit him on the wrist. His arm deflects enough for me to dodge the blow. My blade penetrated the crack and tore the plate outwards.

Kellan sprang up behind her and thrust his sword into the green crystal. Emerolyth tried to turn around. He pushed a second time, both hands clenched on the handle, until the core exploded.

The light left the Queen's body. Its vines fell and the stones of which it was made collapsed with a dull rumble.

Kellan stood in front of the debris, gasping for air.

"It was hot."

A crash shook the cavity. Part of the wall behind the golems collapsed in a cloud of dust, revealing an opening to the south.

Taron sat up, one hand resting on his mace.

"The road is open again, young people. Slwiiip... »

A glow appeared on our watches.

Argemira — Quests: 3/5

Achievements Unlocked: The Memoirs of Argemira

Awards:

Information:

I checked the screen, still out of breath.

The Regenerating Emerald was now owned by the clan. I immediately thought of Kellan and the journey that awaited him. As long as he remained a member of the clan, the effect would accompany him even when he went in search of his sister.

Then, the first piece of information caught my attention.

Your actions will not erase your crime.

This meant that we could save villages and liberate territories; The system refused to erase what had led us there. I have not said anything about it.

Innocence had never been a condition for getting out of there.

Five territories had been liberated before the hundredth day. Our group had released two of them. Three others were freed elsewhere in the Bloc, without me knowing by how many groups or at the cost of how many deaths.

"Four hundred coins!" exclaimed Silas. "I'm rich!"

Milo, who was gradually regaining the use of his legs, turned his head towards him.

"We all received two hundred. How did you manage to receive twice as much? »

Silas checked his total again.

"No idea. But here, the system is finally starting to recognize my value. »

"Do you even know what this currency is for?" I asked.

"This detail does not detract from its value."

Wonderful. He didn't know what it would be used for, but he had already decided that it was a fortune.

My amusement faded when I caught sight of Aria a little further away. Sitting on the floor, her hands clenched on her leg, she tried to keep her face impassive, but each movement of her foot brought the pain to her features. His jaw clenched, then relaxed immediately, as if admitting his pain cost him more than the wound itself.

"I can see from your face that you're worried," she said when I joined her.

"Yes. I'm going to get a Mushroom ointment. »

She grabbed my hand before I could leave. His movement was rapid, almost abrupt, but his fingers trembled slightly against mine.

"It's nothing. It's not the first time I've been injured. »

"The fight is over. You no longer have to prove that you can stay upright. »

The remark reached him more surely than I would have thought. For a moment, all his defenses seemed to collapse. Then, out of pride or reflex, she tried to get up again. Her foot had barely touched the ground when the pain drew a grimace from her that she could not repress.

I put an arm around her waist before she lost her balance. She let herself be supported, but only because her body didn't really give her a choice. Even leaning against me, she kept this tension in her shoulders, this obstinate refusal to appear diminished in the eyes of others.

"At least," she murmured, leaning against me, "I was able to act. I showed that I lived up to the expectations of others. »

Even injured, she was mainly trying to find out if she had earned her place. I would have liked to tell her that no shot, no wound decided what she meant to me. These words were still too close to a truth that I did not yet know how to express.

Aria finally applied one of the last Champi ointments. The wound did not disappear, but she was able to return to Dolmaryth without aggravating it. Taron also examined my shoulder and had me support my arm with a strip of cloth.

A little further on, Opaline was contemplating the bodies of the golems.

"After all these years... she murmured. "We have avenged you at last."

Taron came and placed himself at his side. They remained like this for a few seconds, as if the dead of Dolmaryth were still standing around them.

When we came out of the cavity, the air was still heavy with dust and imbued with the metallic taste of blood. And yet, for the first time since our arrival in Argemira, we could move forward without fear of the next move.

We had won.