"Is there really… a way? Against that many…?"
The Rabbit Hole Squad had completely lost their will to fight.
Dahlia, who was particularly timid even among them, let her voice tremble.
And honestly, the situation offered not even a sliver of hope.
Bearing down on them was a legion of Erosion Species — countless, swarming.
Against that, their side had five low-rank Valkyries and one Commander.
The gap in fighting strength was so overwhelming that calling it a battle felt almost generous.
*If only Arishia were here, we might have managed somehow.*
In truth, a single A-rank Valkyrie would have been enough to turn this around.
The enemy had numbers, but individually, none of them were particularly impressive.
With enough raw power to crush them underfoot, there was at least a chance.
But the request for backup had only gone out minutes ago.
They'd need to hold on for hours before any reinforcements arrived.
That was more than enough time for Lumia to be wiped off the map.
*Honestly, that's exactly why I wanted to get stronger through the contract — up to A-rank.*
Even thinking it over again, the fact that nothing had changed was genuinely infuriating.
Though perhaps it was my fault for lacking the talent to grow stronger in the first place.
*My head was spinning too, you know. How do I arrange things so I die just barely — and beautifully?*
Honestly, the difficulty was absurd.
Hundreds of Erosion Species bearing down on us? That's just cruel.
How was I supposed to die peacefully in the Commander's arms with all of this going on?
No matter how I thought about it, the only endings I could picture were dying before I even reached the Commander, like in the original —
or dying together with everyone, with no time left for any lingering sentiment.
But no matter how impossible a problem seems, a solution always exists.
After thinking and thinking and thinking some more, I finally found one.
A way to overcome this overwhelming difference in power…!
"There is. A way for everyone to survive."
"W-wait, really?!"
"How can you be so certain…?"
Perhaps it was because I declared it without a single trace of doubt.
Hope began to drift through the Rabbit Hole Squad, who had been drowning in despair.
Maybe it helped that I'd been projecting a diligent, reliable image all this time.
Or maybe my earlier performance against Midir had done more work than I'd expected.
*Honestly, the more convincing a con artist sounds, the more suspicious you should be.*
"Leila. This method of yours… what exactly is it?"
The Commander was the first to regain his composure, and he turned the question toward me.
There wasn't a trace of distrust in his eyes.
*As expected — my finest prey.*
His ability to recover his footing was truly something else.
Though perhaps it simply meant he trusted me that much.
To be fair, claiming there was a method wasn't exactly a lie.
The fact that we were on a mountain range dozens of kilometers from the city made it possible —
there was one method. An extraordinarily drastic one.
"Leila! Please tell us quickly-swa!"
"But even for you, Leila… taking out that entire army on your own seems impossible, doesn't it?"
"You're right. Taking them all out is impossible. We don't have that kind of power."
"Oh."
"Then that means…"
The Rabbit Hole Squad looked momentarily thrown by my blunt answer.
I'd just raised their hopes so high, only to drop them from that height.
Their eyes said: *then what on earth are we supposed to do?*
*Everyone's so impatient.*
I crossed my arms with deliberate gravity and continued.
"But think about it carefully. Did we ever actually need to defeat all the Erosion Species in the first place?"
"Well…"
"That's true, we don't necessarily need to defeat them…"
"What matters is buying time. All we need to do is stall them until reinforcements arrive."
Just as the original Leila had done — the victory condition was simple.
Keep them from reaching the city until help came.
With that framing, the solution became easy to see.
This was a mountain range thick with trees.
The enemy was marching toward us in a long, dense column.
Then naturally, there was only one answer.
"We burn the forest. All of it."
Everyone stared at me in horror.
Not quite the expression I prefer — but watching it ripple through all of them at once was, I had to admit, a little enjoyable.
*
Yujin, the newly appointed Commander of Lumia, thought quietly to himself.
Leila might be a more extraordinary person than he'd ever imagined.
Setting fire to the forest to halt the enemy's advance.
The idea itself wasn't impossible to conceive — not really.
Fire attacks had been a time-honored tactic since ancient times, and with an entire city on the line, there was no room to worry about the environment.
*The idea of burning the forest — fine, I can accept that. But how did she turn it into a workable plan in just a few minutes…?*
Turning it into a meaningful strategy in only a matter of minutes, though?
That was an entirely different matter.
Where to start the fire.
How large a section of forest to burn.
How to respond if the enemy changed their movement.
The plan felt too complete for something improvised on the spot.
As they hurried down the mountain and rode a truck toward their destination, Yujin quietly asked the question to Leila, who had ended up seated beside him.
"This plan… it feels as though you thought it through in advance. Are you perhaps able to see the future?"
"Pfft — there's no way. See the future? What are you…"
Leila burst into quiet laughter, as though she'd just heard something delightfully absurd.
Her laughter made Yujin feel, inexplicably, a little lighter.
Then again — Leila couldn't possibly see the future.
If she could, she would have prevented Morka's sacrifice.
And besides, Leila was already a Valkyrie with lightning abilities.
But perhaps that exchange had touched something in her memory.
After staring blankly out the window for a moment, Leila murmured softly.
"It's just… something similar happened once before."
"Something similar…?"
"Heh, I'm sorry. It's a long story. If we get the chance later, I'll tell you. Right now… there's no time to sit and talk."
She wore the expression of someone who had let something slip — and was now awkwardly trying to cover it up.
Like a person who had nearly said aloud something they'd intended to keep buried forever.
Yujin sensed instinctively that it was a significant clue.
The way she grieved over a Valkyrie's death so deeply it overcame her instincts.
The way she sometimes wore a distant, wistful expression when she was alone.
All of it — surely it lay somewhere inside the past Leila was hiding.
*What kind of pain has she been carrying…?*
Yujin wanted to be of help to her.
A woman who smiled for everyone around her, while quietly holding something painful inside.
Leila, who had also saved his life — he wanted her to be happy.
"Yes. Later — without fail."
*So let's make it back safely this time.*
He held that firm resolve close to his chest.
By then, the vehicle had reached its destination.
The midpoint between Malicion and the city, where the Erosion Species were advancing.
The group scrambled out of the truck and each moved to carry out their assigned role.
"Hnngh! I'll snap it right off-swa!"
"Anje, over there!"
"Mm."
"Hff, ugh… it's so heavy…"
Yubina snapped trees to create a firebreak the flames wouldn't cross.
Promina, drenched in sweat, hauled trees out of the way.
Anje and Dahlia poured fuel from the vehicle in a long line along the boundary.
And Leila closed her eyes, standing still, reading the direction of the wind.
"Lucky. The wind is blowing toward the mountain."
"That's… fortunate."
"Then — I'll do it."
Preparations finished in a matter of tens of minutes.
Leila looked out toward the distance with eyes that had made their peace.
The Erosion Species would reach this point before long.
To stop them in their tracks, everything had to be reduced to ash.
How much resolve did something like that require?
Yujin, watching her, reached out before he even realized what he was doing.
His hand found hers — and held it.
"Huh?"
"Ah — I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"
"…No. Keep holding it. Heh — after saying something like that." A small, self-deprecating laugh. "I suppose I lost my nerve for a moment. If this fire doesn't stop… I couldn't help wondering how far it might spread. The thought just crept in."
"That's…"
"It's all right, Commander. You gave me courage."
*Snap.*
Leila snapped her fingers.
A spark cracked into being — and in an instant, fire roared upward.
The blaze fed on the fuel-soaked trees and swelled.
Carried on the wind, the flames began to devour the forest.
Larger. Larger still.
A wildfire beyond all control swallowed everything in its path.
There was no running from this responsibility now.
Yujin found himself gripping Leila's hand tighter without meaning to.
She had been staring into the fire, somewhere far away — but at that, she seemed to come back to herself.
She turned to look at him, her face faintly flushed.
"There — that's done. Erosion Species fear fire too. They'll fall back. Now we need to move quickly to the alternate route and start another fire—"
In that moment, Leila's voice cut off mid-sentence.
Yujin's vision lurched violently.
A crushing pressure — strong enough to nearly knock him unconscious.
When his senses returned, he found himself rolling across the ground with Leila.
*Did she tackle me?* The question had barely formed when Leila, pushing herself upright with a shaking torso, shouted at the top of her lungs.
"It's here! Everyone — combat ready!"
A voice that rang out far enough to be heard at a distance.
Leila scrambled to her feet, Nail Gun raised, scanning the surroundings.
Yujin looked up at her and felt the blood drain from his face.
"Krrrlk…"
The creature Leila had warned them about was Midir — the same one they'd faced in the cave.
Midir had been waiting for its moment, and it had struck from the shadows at the perfect opening.
Leila had sensed it in time and thrown them both to the ground.
But even through all of that, his gaze went only to Leila.
The face that always smiled — now twisted in pain.
Against the backdrop of roaring flames, blood poured from her in a rush.
"Leila…"
"Ugh — ahaha… I got a little hurt."
Leila noticed his stare and laughed awkwardly.
Even now, she seemed to be worrying about him.
But he could not keep himself composed. Not even close.
She was gasping for breath — and her left arm was gone.
*She was protecting me…*
Yujin felt as though a frozen spike had been driven through his chest.
He knew.
Leila was strong enough to fight Midir alone.
Which meant every grievous wound she had just taken was entirely his fault.
He couldn't breathe.
"Leila!"
"Ugh — when did you all get here?!"
"The enemy—!"
"I'll treat it right now!"
The Rabbit Hole Squad, finally catching up to the situation, raised their weapons.
They were visibly shaken by the sight of Leila's wound —
but they forced themselves to focus on the enemy in front of them rather than dwell on it.
Midir was alone.
If they all fought together, there was still a chance.
Just as everyone was rushing to join Leila, Leila — her wound staunched by Promina — raised her voice.
"Everyone, fall back!"
"L-Leila?!"
"I'll handle this one alone. Please — carry out the next step of the plan!"
Her judgment was sound.
The fire had only been set on the front, where the main force was advancing.
If the enemy found a way around, they could still reach the city.
So Leila was asking them to start fires in the other directions while she held Midir here.
Which meant leaving Leila behind — with one arm — to face it alone.
The Rabbit Hole Squad couldn't bring themselves to decide.
She was the Adjutant that all of Lumia loved and cherished.
The desire not to lose her here shook their resolve.
"Ugh… everyone — go-swa!"
"Yubina?!"
"We can't ignore Leila's wishes-swa…! We… have a duty to protect the city-swa!"
Yubina cried out through gritted teeth.
Her face looked like it might crumble into tears at any moment.
They had only known each other for a week —
but Yubina had followed Leila with genuine devotion, which made it all the harder.
She simply could not bring herself to go against Leila's wishes.
Leila smiled softly at the sight of her.
Then, without taking her eyes off Midir, she declared with absolute confidence:
"Don't worry. I'm… strong."
"Commander — please go-swa!"
"…Tch."
But in that moment, Yujin felt something he couldn't name.
A premonition — that this might be the last time he saw her.
He clenched his fist until it bled.
Leila caught his gaze, and with a tender, warm smile in her eyes, she said:
"I'll come back alive. I promise."
"…That's a promise."
"Yes. A promise. I am always your Adjutant, Commander — and…"
*Your friend.*
With those words, Yujin left with the Rabbit Hole Squad.
He held firm to the trust of the woman who had called him her friend.
Perhaps it was because the situation was so desperate.
No one noticed the wrongness of it.
Why had Midir been standing there in silence, simply watching them?
The reason was nothing complicated.
The human in front of it… had not shown a single opening.
"Krrr…"
*This female… she's far more dangerous than when I saw her in the cave.*
Midir understood this through the instinct of a higher creature.
And then — the moment the last presence faded entirely from range.
Leila's expression collapsed.
One moment she had worn the face of a diligent class president.
Now she looked intoxicated — flushed, euphoric, as though she'd been given something wonderful.
She couldn't seem to keep still, either.
She kept rubbing her thighs together.
Strange enough behavior to unsettle even Midir, who was facing her.
Leila unconsciously let the tip of her tongue slip out, and murmured to herself.
"Haaa, thank goodness it's nighttime… no one noticed, right…? If it had been daytime, they might have gotten completely the wrong idea…"
"Krrr…?"
"Thank you, Midir. For cutting off my arm."
*So then… will you dance with me one last time?*
Leila dropped her gun to the ground and brought her hand to her throat.
*Crackle.* Blue light swirled in her eyes.