Magical runes were pretty. Especially the way they flickered when activated together. They also made a faint sound, almost like a beautiful melody. But the melody was always over before she could enjoy it properly.

'Hmm… What if I make a circle? Maybe it will continue until I stop it?'

The runes she drew glowed with soft blue light, pulsing gently as her essence flowed through them. In the darkness of Chamber Seven, they cast dancing shadows on the sleeping forms of the other children.

"Millie, I'm tired… Play with that tomorrow."

Interrupted in the middle of her thoughts, Mille scowled at the interrupter. "It's prettier at night, Kovu! And everyone talks over the melody when it's day. I have to practice now, Nova told me."

Kovu turned toward her, staring at the floating runes with half-open eyes. "What melody? I don't hear anything."

"You need to listen closely! Hang on, I'll make something cool." The runes under her fingers began to glow brighter, painting her face in ethereal blue.

"... Can we sleep instead? Why are you glowing?"

"Protection spell," Millie mumbled, already too absorbed in her new circle of runes to respond in depth. She knew which runes worked when placed in a chain, but making the chain repeat over and over would be a challenge. However, she wasn't deterred.

'If I make the next rune an input rune… it should take the activation essence from the last rune and send it to the next one, right? So just like…'

The circle completed itself, and soon, each rune started lighting up in sequence. But something was wrong. The glow intensified rapidly, moving from gentle blue to harsh white. The melody that had been so pretty turned false, rising to a piercing whine. Her essence rushed through the circle faster and faster, draining her body and building pressure with nowhere to go.

[You have learned the skill: Essence Explosion (Adept - 25%) {Grade 5}]

[You use all your available essence to power an arcane explosion.]

For a split second, Millie saw her creation for what it was—not a circle of endless melody, but a trap of concentrated power with no release. Then the world turned white.

A distant rumble shook the castle, rousing Larena from her daydreams. She had been wondering what kind of method Nova would use to gather the souls required, doodling absently on an important piece of parchment. But now she was fully alert.

'An explosion? Is it an attack?!'

She ran out of the office doors and looked around for any sign of disturbance. Nothing obvious could be seen, so she ran on through the door to the gardens.

"Guards! What's happening?!" She yelled, expecting an answer from the guards on night duty. But no one was around to reply.

'Damn slackers! I've allowed it for Nova's sake, but I won't be so lenient this time!'

The faint sound of children's crying made her turn to look down the hallway. The last door was being knocked against from the other side, with light taps that sent a metallic noise down the hallway.

Larena wasted no time and ran there immediately, grabbing the keys on her hip and inserting the right one into the door. "Stand back, kids!" she yelled, then opened the door.

Chaos. Blood and rubble were spread out on the hallway floor, and one of the chambers had collapsed completely, wrecking the walls of the adjacent rooms. The ceiling had also collapsed in several places, revealing the moonlit night sky. The air was thick with stone dust that made breathing difficult, and the smell of iron mixed with mortar filled Larena's nose.

Two children had crawled out of the collapsed chamber, both with broken legs and deep bleeding cuts. They seemed to have lost consciousness from the pain.

Larena was in shock, standing still for a few seconds longer than she should have, taking in the horrible scene. Her hand gripped the steel doorframe so hard her knuckles turned white, threatening to bend it. Then she turned back to the hallway.

[Louden Voice activated.]

"Any guard not here in five minutes will be fired! Bring first aid supplies!"

She turned back to the narrow hallway and ran to the ruined chamber, searching for the cause.

"... Millie?"

The little girl was sitting on the floor near a hundred-meter drop to the ocean surface, where the outer wall had been blasted to shreds. Moonlight caught her blonde hair, making it glow silver. She was holding the hand of another child, now buried under the rubble from the ceiling, and staring at it with an eerily calm expression.

"Taku, can you hear the melody? Are you sleeping, Taku?"

Her eyes were wide as saucers, but her voice sounded casual, like she was just having a normal conversation. Despite sitting in the middle of a crater, she didn't have a scratch on her. It was clear what had happened.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Larena stepped carefully through the rubble, trying not to disturb the precarious piles of stone. She knelt beside Millie and put her hands on the girl's tiny shoulders. "Millie, we need to… to let Taku rest, okay? He's sleeping."

"Fine," Millie replied, letting go of the hand. It fell lifelessly to the ground with a soft thud, disappearing into the shadows beneath the rubble.

"We need to move you somewhere else. Come here." Larena lifted Millie from the rubble and held her close. The girl felt impossibly light in her arms, like a doll made of straw and magic.

'This is… truly horrible… What do I do? Can I hide her abilities like this? There's no way I can leave her here… Nova, what would you do?'

A daring and risky plan formed in her mind as she looked out of the open hole, staring out at the dark ocean shimmering in the moonlight. It wasn't a plan she would have attempted in the past, but someone had shown her that fighting the system was possible.

She could hear heavy, armored steps approaching from the outer hallway, signaling the arrival of the guards.

'Now or never.'

"Hang on tight, Millie."

[Wings of Harpy activated.]

Larena jumped from the broken room and into the darkness, the wind rushing past them as they fell. Her wings burst from her back with a snap, each powerful beat sending tremors through her body as she fought to steady their descent. Millie remained surprisingly silent, still trapped in her own mind. But right now, it worked to their advantage.

They turned toward the city, flying low enough that their shadow wouldn't catch any watchful eyes below. The moon painted the rooftops silver, while warm candlelight flickered in scattered windows. Even at this hour, smoke rose from bakery chimneys as they prepared for the morning.

'Well, this was a gamble… I only know one location that will keep her safe in this city, but it's not the best place… Nova will have to figure something out when he returns.'

After flying for a while, they reached the city's center. The cathedral rose before them like a mountain of marble and gold, with spires piercing the night sky. Countless statues of saints and heroes watched from their perches, casting silent judgment on everyone walking by.

Larena descended, landing beside one of the nearby buildings—smaller than the cathedral, but still grand with its stained-glass windows and ornate archways.

The entrance was dark, with heavy oak doors shut tight against the night. But she was in a hurry to get back, so she knocked desperately, hoping someone was awake to answer. The building's shadow loomed over them, and somewhere above, a bell tower began to toll the late hour.

'Please, please, someone come out! Gods, should I have gone somewhere else after all?'

After about thirty seconds, lights started appearing behind the door. "What is all this racket?!" The door creaked open, revealing an old man in rumpled night robes. His expression shifted from annoyance to concern as he noticed the emblem on Larena's chest. "Captain? What are you—"

"I'm sorry, but this girl is in grave danger!" Larena's words came out in a rush, her arms tightening protectively around the little girl. "She's terribly talented, and you know what happens to people like her."

"This girl?" The old man leaned forward, squinting as he studied Millie's vacant expression. It only took a second for him to gasp in surprise. "Gods! She really is! But are you sure about leaving her here? You know what that means?"

"It's the only option right now. If you know where she's from, you'll understand." She let Millie down on the ground, taking her hand.

"... True enough..." The man stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Well then, we'll gladly take her in. What's the reason she's like this?"

"An accident. Her understanding of runes is far greater than her knowledge of risk and danger." Larena could still taste dust in her mouth from the explosion. "I need to go back and deal with the aftermath."

"Right. Well, thank you for this. We shall take good care of her, I promise." He gently grabbed Millie's hand, leading her to his side. Larena only hesitated slightly before letting go.

"... There might be someone coming in the next few weeks to take her back. If so, your best choice will be to let him have her."

The old man's face hardened. "That's not how we operate, and you know it. This girl might be an archbishop in the future."

"Well, I've given you a fair warning." Larena's voice carried steel beneath its weariness. "I mean it, consider him someone you want to be on the good side of."

"Hmpf, we'll see. You may leave now."

Larena looked one final time at Millie, hoping she had made the right decision. Then she flapped her wings and ascended into the air, traveling back at full speed.

'Now I need to act convincingly when I return. I'll need to take a dive. The idiots better have started treating the wounded children by now.'

Once close to the castle again, she dived down, heading for the water. The black surface rushed up to meet her as she tucked her wings and straightened her body. She held her breath, put her arms forward, and then hit the surface with a crack that drove the air from her lungs.

The cold shocked her system as she sank into the darkness. Opening her eyes, she let the salt water sting, forcing herself deeper. Her armor dragged her down, growing heavier with each passing moment. Only when her lungs began to burn did she kick back toward the surface.

Then she emerged with a gasp. Water streamed from her wings as she beat them against the air. She climbed altitude slowly, letting the wind chill her thoroughly before landing in the exploded chamber.

Several guards had arrived already, and were busy either cleaning rubble or tending to the young children. One of them, the most senior guard, turned to look at Larena as she arrived. "Where did you go, captain?"

Larena pointed down the cliff at the black ocean below, panting heavily. The salt water dripping from her hair mixed with tears she hadn't realized were forming. "Searching for the kids that fell… There were too few in the chamber, so I figured… some had fallen into the water. But… I couldn't find any of them."

The guard nodded. "You're right. After a count, we've found that three kids are missing. Do you have any idea what happened?"

Larena tried to hide her surprise, wondering if there really was a child in the water. The only ones she knew of were Nova and Millie. The full weight of what had happened started pressing down on her—the blood, the rubble, the tiny broken bodies. Her voice wavered as she spoke. "The only explanation I can think of is one of the kids completing their soul. And then having an accident. Would you mind—"

"What about the assassin?" the guard asked, cutting her off.

"No, this is completely unlike his methods." She wrapped her arms around herself, whether from cold or horror, she wasn't sure. "He used the least possible force to kill someone, and he killed harvesters, never children. But can you come with me to search the waters? If there are three of them, I... want to search some more."

Her voice nearly broke by the end, finally taking in what had happened here. Her stinging eyes were filled with tears, not just to cleanse the salt water away.

"... Sure, I think we've got things under control here." The guard's voice softened, seeing her distress. "Do you know any underwater spells?"

"No, I only searched blindly… You?"

"One for light. Let's go."

A moment later, two black-winged guards were diving into the dark ocean, searching for a life.

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