There were two facts she knew that day.

One, it was raining heavily.

Two, the blood on her face was not her own.

Yena dodged the enemy’s lance and countered by beheading the poor unfortunate soul with a single slice of her sword. Their descent into enemy territory meant that another man took his place easily, replenishing their numbers while her allies dwindled each passing moment. She wondered if it was easier to die right there than to fight through the entirety of the enemy general’s army, but she remained steadfast, determined to live through to the end.

Life as a mercenary was grueling, day in and day out filled with violence for only a substantial amount of gold, with only a few pleasures to give life meaning and yet that was the only life she ever knew since the day she was born. She fought knowing her life was expendable beyond all else.

But despite that…

She planted her foot firmly on the muddied ground as an enemy cavalier had gotten a hair’s breadth away from gutting her. Yena surged forward with a cry, stabbing the woman with enough force to make her fall. The gaping wound had yet to kill her, but a soldier who can’t hold a weapon was as good as dead.

She would never have joined this slow and arduous slaughter if she had the choice.

The only reason she accepted being part of this ragtag army had been Yuri.

Dislodging her sword from the woman’s body, she allowed herself a second of reprieve to find her childhood friend in the clouds, fighting wyverns atop her trusted Pegasus.

With a sigh, she looked back to the battlefield, among the corpses and chaos, and found her next target, a sniper with his bow targeted to the skies.

Sprinting forward in a blur of red and blue, sidestepping the many men and women slayed on the battlefield with limber ease, she attempted to catch the sniper off guard with a downward slice however much to his credit, he was no fool.

The man cladded in the enemy’s crimson colors jumped back from the sweeping bow and shot an arrow aimed at her head. With adrenaline frantically pumping in her veins, she instinctually ducked to the side though the arrow managed to nick her cheek alo