I Have the Sacred Sword?

The forest stretched around them as Alexia, Leo, and Isuke moved from branch to branch. Their movements were quick and precise, but they couldn’t shake the increasing frustration of having searched for Eleonora for so long with no clear results.

Alexia, with her feline ears perked up and her tail swaying behind her, tried to focus all her senses on tracking the sword-ego.

Suddenly, Alexia stopped dead in her tracks, fixing her gaze on a nearby clearing.

In the distance, she saw Aiden’s group on the ground, surrounded by dead wolves. The air smelled of blood, but there was something else.

While it was clear that the wolves hadn’t been entirely wiped out, it was obvious that Aiden’s group had faced a much greater threat, and yet the remaining wolves seemed to have fled.

Something must have forced those creatures to retreat, but… what?

As she scanned the area, Alexia felt a shiver run down her spine.

There, amidst the chaos, was a figure that stood out even among the carnage: a girl with white hair.

Every instinct was screaming at her to stay alert. Without even knowing her, the very presence of the girl radiated danger.

Leo landed on the same branch as Alexia, noticing that she had suddenly stopped.

“What’s going on? Why did you stop?” Leo asked, adjusting his stance on the branch to avoid losing his balance.

Alexia pointed towards the group on the ground.

Leo followed the direction of her finger and his eyes widened in surprise.

It wasn’t just the situation that left him speechless, but the most disturbing detail: Camila, one of theirs, was holding a black sword. A sword that shouldn’t be in her hands.

Leo clicked his tongue in irritation, immediately grasping the gravity of what they were witnessing.

“What the hell…?”

Isuke, who hadn’t been able to jump to the same branch because there was no space, looked up, confused by the sudden halt in their progress.

“Why are we stopping?” Isuke asked from the lower branch, catching his breath.

Alexia slowly turned to him, her face filled with frustration and resignation.

Isuke swallowed hard at Alexia’s expression. His stomach clenched as he noticed the tension in the air and how his companions seemed to be facing defeat.

But then he noticed it: the girl with white hair.

Even though his mind was trying to deny it, everything in his body screamed that this figure had to be Eleonora, due to the energy it radiated.

But something was terribly wrong. Eleonora shouldn’t be able to move, let alone have a human body.

How was that possible?

What was going on exactly?

Isuke looked away from Eleonora and focused on the wolves that had followed the group.

Something strange was happening: the wolves didn’t seem interested in approaching Aiden’s group, even though they were clearly on the ground.

‘Is something repelling them?’ Isuke thought.

Frustrated and feeling an emptiness in her chest, Alexia slowly dropped down to the branch she had been standing on, her eyes fixed on the ground as her ears drooped in sadness.

The whisper of her voice, barely audible, escaped her lips:

“We failed…”

Leo, still observing the scene, let out a bitter laugh.

“Did we really go through all this… for nothing?”

His tone, though still tinged with disbelief, carried a clear sense of defeat.

For Alexia, this was not just a defeat. They had lost more than the sword-ego; they had also lost the rights to exploit the forest, and with it, the large sum of money she had promised to that group.

The options were few and all felt equally devastating.

In every direction, they had failed, and it hit her hard.

Her ears drooped even further, and her tail, which usually remained in motion, was now completely still, hanging limply behind her.

Leo, for his part, although trying to appear indifferent, couldn’t hide his own disappointment.

The excitement he had felt imagining himself as the great knight wielding the legendary sword-ego had completely vanished.

His dreams of fame and recognition had crumbled before him, leaving only a deep and disheartening void.

Isuke, seeing both Alexia and Leo falling into pessimism, began to feel a weight on his shoulders.

Not only had he failed to help his friends, but he had also failed to guide them.

The guilt was crushing him, and as he looked at the ground below, where Aiden’s group seemed to be safe from the wolves, he tried to gather the little optimism he had left.

“Well…” Isuke began, trying to keep his voice steady. “We could go down… see how things are. Maybe we can still help… somehow.”

And another big reason he wanted to go down…

Was because he wanted to speak face to face with Eleonora.

This work received the most comments, so I will keep updating it constantly at 2 chapters per day.

Thanks for your comments!