The ritual had succeeded.

And the avenger was here.

Asher watched the spectacle with trembling eyes and a pale face. His plan has succeeded, at least the first half. However, the smile on his face didn't remain for long.

"What should we do!?"

A small trembling voice entered his ears. Asher instinctively almost glanced back but stopped as the voice was familiar to him by now.

'Good question, I also want to know what to do next.'

Asher was already channeling his will to calm his raging emotions. Unknowingly, he was even joking in his mind to not let his body be tense and unable to react on time.

Then in a small voice, so only Bob could hear, Asher answered.

"Try to stay alive; when I say run, just run without looking back. From the looks of it, the crowned head had awakened just from a semi-dormant state. It is still taking its time to sense the surroundings. We still have some chances to escape; just remember what I had said before coming here."

Asher informed Bob while feeding him half-truths. There was no need to inform him that he and his team had previously initiated a ritual that could point to a direction and let someone know about it. This could only work in a limited distance with a severe limit on the direction, being a straight line only.

After trying the ritual and finding the perfect place, they had led the monster to him. There was no guarantee that even if they pointed a direction, the Avenger would follow their lead. However, this monster seems to have been baited sufficiently.

The presence of a weakened calamity avatar, numerous soldiers and Asher, who at some point was marked by a goddess, was enough.

Asher had previously wanted to prepare more baits in case the avenger didn't answer the ritual, but after hearing Commander Clonas's explanation regarding the mystical instincts, he understood this amount will be more than sufficient; if they add more, any other threat could come knocking at their doors.

That would make the situation worse!

Hearing Asher's words, Bob drew another cold breath as his body flinched under the monster's influence.

He took a moment to calm his mind, though it didn't seem to have any effect.

Tremors had shaken the land; the darkness of the forest seemed to vanish with the trees being torn away from the soil. The leaves from the torn trees continued to fall, making the surroundings appear rather eerie and surreal.

Even then the world surrounding the group didn't become any less terrifying. The horror standing or how its colossal body stood, was terrifying to look at. The crowned head eyes at the center were unblinking as it watched the beings down below with a still gaze, like watching ants pulled in disarray.

The grey sky above and the horror below seemed to move in sync as the crowned head avenger raised its limber claws. The tenebrous claws shot a number of strings in the sky, covering the surroundings in a birdcage.

Asher and the others tensed. He raised his head, looking at the grey sky being covered in strings.

[Kairosflow] rushed and slowed the world in Asher's eyes more than ever. He looked at the strings carefully, and even though they appear to have trapped them, Asher saw something else.

The strings were not a cage. They were traps. A deadly trap to know what was happening in the Avengers' territory.

But then the strings split and rained down.

Asher's silver pupils shrank back. His vision blurred as he saw the first string latch toward him. In the next instance he raised his sword and swung it down.

A strong metallic clang echoed loud enough for everyone to hear.

Asher's breath hitched and eyes widened as the string didn't stop and reached forward to pierce his chest.

Suddenly he jerked back as someone had pushed him aside. His eyes caught Sion's silhouette with a grim look on her face.

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"Thanks."

Asher said, regaining his balance.

But then again, he moved his sword as the next string shot toward Sion, who couldn't see it happen.

Tiiing!

Sparks flew as the string bounced back like a whip that had snapped.

Sion stumbled away from the impact, her eyes wide with shock. Asher didn't hesitate, grabbing her arm to steady her.

"Keep moving!"

He shouted, his voice cutting through the metallic echoes still ringing in the air.

Around them, the world had become a lethal rain of strings—each one as thin as spider silk but impossibly sharp, striking the earth with a sound like shattering glass. Soldiers screamed as strings pierced armor like paper, pinning them to the churned soil. Bob ducked behind a shattered tree trunk, his breath coming in ragged gasps.

Asher took out the mask of panoply and wore it quickly; while his figure didn't vanish immediately, it did, however, become obscure, almost unnoticed. However, even for a second he didn't think that such tricks could fool either the calamity or the crowned head.

Rather, his eyes became dizzy as he saw one of the soldiers impaled on the ground by an almost invisible string.

'I am sorry.'

His lips quivered and breath seemed to have choked in his throat.

'I am sorry.'

Asher's mind repeated; his mind momentarily wavered even with his will guarding his emotions. Like a dam, the emotions flooded and rushed through his whole being. Fear from the avenger, the acosador influence and mocking laughter—they all came at once.

Overwhelming.

It was too much.

His eyes turned red and the laughter was the only thing Asher could hear clearly.

"Calm down, Captain Asher; we need to run."

Sion panicked and a strained voice pulled his attention back.

With ragged breathing and an accelerated mind, he inhaled a deep breath and finally calmed down and gave her a nod.

"...Yes."

'As many as I can.'

Asher, thought.

This was the reason he was here, to see this through. He won't cover for his own actions. So, he will save those who could be.

He looked at the soldiers running around and the strings attacking humans and monsters both indiscriminately. Then his gaze stopped at Sion, who stood beside him. Her gaze held emotions he couldn't read clearly.

"Dammit! Where are you?"

A bitter voice left Asher's tongue. He was waiting for the plague to show itself and mostly for the temple and Alos to take action.

This was the second half of his plan.

The most important thing was to currently stay alive. Asher ran, holding Sion's hand, pulling her closer as they parried through the rain of strings.

As the crowned head threads spread through the trees, several pass through soldiers. The threads pause—like taut lines snagged on something that isn't there.

The Avenger tilts its head—its body reacting as if confused. The strings begin to tremble, unable to move properly.

Nearby, one of the soldiers flickers—like a candlelight in the dark—his form glitching out of focus. Light poured inward, as if being swallowed.

"Close your eyes!"

"Don't look!"

Asher shouted, his voice breaking apart from the sudden strain on his throat.

Those who followed his advice managed to save their sanity. And those who couldn't lost what little was left, falling unconscious on the spot. However, still, more than fifty soldiers remained standing.

"Wh-what's happening!?" Sion yelled as Asher forcefully closed her eyes, squinting his eyes alongside her.

"A calamity has appeared!"

He again yelled as if going mad for everyone to hear.

Through his squinted eyes, he finally caught a glimpse, which he shouldn't have, as his brain seems to be starting to melt.

The place that looked empty suddenly started to be filled in as the ground sank under the plague's weight. A tall figure with no definite feature built from all the stolen fragments of erased people. Its face keeps changing, flickering between the ones who've vanished.

Like a formless mass, not made of flesh but of memories, the plague looked at the crowned head.

The air distorted.

Those who watched it happen seem to have gone mad, as some questions popped into their minds one after another.

"Who was I again?"

"Who are you talking to?"

People forget who they're fighting beside mid-breath. Their memories were eaten by Plague, like they never existed. Then they disappeared into nothingness, joining the incorporeal form of plague like a memory should, empowering it even more.

The crowned head, as if understanding the situation, raised a number of strings; the world grew still, waiting for who would make the first move. However, the strings impaled the calamity instantly, its form distorting and then wrapping around Captain Lenz, who took the same form as the calamity instantly.

The strings weren't just weapons—they were its eyes. Every thread it threw out carried a sense of contact, connection.

But now, they touched nothing.

It couldn't comprehend nothing.

The crowned head cried, screeching loud as two of its hands held its crown. A deep unknown sound that shouldn't exist whispered and pressed on its ear, driving it crazy.

Its mind seems to fall into a deep frenzy of madness as well from matching the plague gaze, as for the first time its colossal eye blinked. Before throwing a crushing blow again to attack the plague's avatar.

However, only for new avatars to again appear from the soldiers even if one was destroyed.

The plague manifestation made Asher's lips quiver uncontrollably as his face went paler and paler.

'Captain Lenz was Plague's avatar!?'

This was shocking but not unexpected; he had doubted him, knowing such cooperation to come here could only be controlled by a high authority by him.

Asher kept his gaze low on the ground as his mind throbbed; he could barely see it and almost went mad. A strong taste of blood lingered on his lips, as blood leaked from his eyes and nose like a river.

He held Sion even closer as they both had crashed behind a fallen tree, hiding in fear. Sion didn't resist; her eyes remained down as she heard a loud sound from the clash of the plague and crownhead.

They both couldn't see what was happening.

However, the sound was enough to send a chill down their spine.

"What will you do?"

She whispered, shaking slightly.

"Keep running till we make it out alive."

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