Editing City Series:Volume6e Chapter2 (section)

===Part 4===

The armored truck dropped Hazel off in the middle of the rainy forest.

She was walking down the misty mountain road all on her own now.

No one had spoken to her or even looked her way aboard the truck. She had sat in a corner of the passenger area for about two hours, staying perfectly still. They hadn’t even said anything when dropping her off.

“It’s understandable, at least.”

She spoke out loud to feel some slight release after the silence of the truck. She sighed, pulled up the hood of her poncho, and looked around.

She only saw the piercing mist and rain hanging in the darkness of dusk.

…''Where is she?

Lillie had gone ahead in the command vehicle and Hazel couldn’t sense her anywhere.

“I just have to deal with it,” she concluded, drawing Rein König as she walked.

She untied and unfurled the cloth surrounding it, revealing the white blade.

She wrapped the cloth around her right hand, gripped the hilt, and held the blade out in front of her so it reflected her surroundings. The reflection gave her a glimpse of the right side of the forest through a gap in the mist.

This was a brighter green forest, with a subtly different distribution of trees compared to Borderson’s black forest.

…''We traveled two hours toward Germania.

That would put her near Hamburg. And since it was a forested area, probably around 20 miles from Hamburg. She was within about 80 miles of Germania.

She used her left hand’s fingers to calculate out the time and distance. She didn’t have a watch, so she had to rely on her gut to judge the current time. That was far from exact, but…

“Maybe I can catch a train somewhere. I doubt they’ll take me in their truck if I win.”

She shook her head and mouthed a man’s name. She thought it was a little sad how that actually helped calm her a little, but then she pulled a certain color from her pocket.

She pulled out the pendent that now contained the red gem Eryngium had given her.

She intentionally rattled the chain louder than necessary while loosening the neck of her poncho with the hand holding the pendant. She placed the chain around her neck below the hood.

The chill and weight of the chain was nice in how it contrasted with her choker.

She tugged down on the chain just once to really feel the pendant’s presence.

A moment later, she heard a woman’s voice in her left ear.

“Hurry up. The battlefield is right over there.”

Her heart raced in surprise and she reflexively brushed her left hand through her hair.

But she only felt her damp hair and the mist.

…''Did she make the mist talk? Using her Tuning?

She took a few hurried steps forward, which helped calm her. She looked down at herself.

The sound of the rain falling on her plastic poncho seemed to reverberate through her entire body. That sound confirmed that her body was there. She calmed her breathing and began walking again.

The air around her had changed. At some point, the mist had grown stationary and thinner.

…''Am I in a wider area?

She looked around and saw a world steeped in a dim but white mist.

A dark shape to her right contrasted that white world. She recognized the boxy silhouette in the mist.

…''The armored truck. The Naval Division Chief should be nearby.

The battle was imminent.

She understood that, so she slowed her pace and then stopped. She took a deep breath that came out white.

She faced forward. She focused her eyes.

Her sharpened vision and spotted the enemy.

A slender silhouette stood beyond the mist in the darkening air.

It was about 30 yards away. Once the enemy was in view, her mind sharpened her other senses too.

Her ears heard a river – the deep sound of a river flowing through the forest.

A great quantity of water was gulping down the air and carrying all sorts of things downstream.

Suddenly, another sound joined that deep one.

This one was much higher. A note from a string instrument rang loud and clear.

It was joined by a voice. Lillie’s voice.

“Now, perhaps I should start with something so basic even you would understand.”

“Eh?”

Hazel looked up just in time to hear a shout pierce the mist.

“Ober Text! Tons of the air with an octave of 3.2 million!”

Hazel trembled in response.

…''An Over Up? What is she doing?

Her question was soon answered.

The mist cleared away to let her see.

It only lasted a few seconds, but the mist split apart, creating a straight path 20 yards wide.

The split was only on the flat surface. The mist still covered the sky, but that sky already carried the darkness of night.

Hazel saw a slender woman standing 30 yards ahead of her.

Lillie Telmetz held a yard-long harp on her left shoulder.

“Eingeweide Harfe – Mondnacht. This is my first time using it to kill a Heidengeist.”

Before she was even done speaking, the mist behind her split as well.

There was no ground there.

…''A cliff?

But that broad cliff did not simply lead to an abyss. A great body of water was visible past its edge.

Lillie stood in front of a lake. Loud watery sounds shook the air as water dragons broke the misty walls to move this way and that. They were playing in the lake despite the mist.

Hazel stared at Lillie. For the first time, she noticed the other woman’s head was lowered.

Then the mist around Hazel began to shake.

…''Is it synced with the controller’s Lives? With her trembling will?

Lillie spoke quietly, as if to confirm Hazel’s speculation.

“I will teach you there are things that were lost because of you.”

With that, the mist fully cleared away behind Lillie.

The view opened up. The mist vanished from the lake, revealing a small island in the center.

The island was dark and angular in a way no natural land formation would be.

Hazel recognized the thick cylinder jutting up from the island.

“A Babel Cannon.”

Lillie nodded and raised her head. The lake behind her was now clear of mist, four water dragons roared and frolicked on the surface, and a crashed aerial warship acted as the lake’s centerpiece.

With all of that behind her, Lillie bowed and spoke to Hazel.

“Welcome to the battlefield of vengeance.”