Meanwhile, back in the Southern Realm.In the sky.The chariot flew smoothly through the afternoon air.The flame horses pulling it steadily, their hooves leaving trails of orange fire.Inside, the atmosphere was tense.Everyone processed what had just happened.Mira broke the silence, her voice thick with sarcasm."So what you're trying to say right now is that those flame beasts are back there,all thirty of them,were being controlled by a forbidden flame user?"Her tone suggested she was still having trouble believing it.Jabber nodded."Yeah. Exactly that."He leaned forward slightly."Loki told me this earlier. At first we weren't sure if it was true. It seemed too crazy. Too impossible."He paused."But then when you guys started defeating them and they kept regenerating... that's when we started to suspect. And when they finally turned to ash and stayed dead, that's when we confirmed it."His voice became more serious."They were being controlled by a forbidden flame technique

Small bright dots that marked positions. The whole thing was breathing, shifting gently as it pushed further out.It was like a war map drawn in fire.Right there on the ground.Asta crouched down. His eyes moved across it slowly, left to right. His mouth opened a little.Mira went quiet. Her axes disappeared. She was just staring."Wow." They both said. At almost the exact same time.Asta looked up at Yuki briefly, then back at the map."Yuki, that's actually,yeah, that's something else." He said, genuinely. "That technique is incredible."Mira tilted her head to one side, studying the spread of it. Then she straightened up. Folded her arms. Looked at Yuki with one eyebrow raised."So hold on." She said. "This technique of yours, can it find anything on the radar right now?""Yeah." Yuki said, her eyes still tracking the map. "Anything. Living or non-living."Mira was quiet for exactly two seconds."Hmm." She pressed two fingers to her chin. "Is that so."Another second."T

The invisibility shattered around her.She stumbled forward, hit one knee, caught herself with both hands on the ground. Her cloak fell visible. Her hair fell loose around her face. She pushed herself up slowly and lifted her head.Asta looked at her.He actually blinked.Sharp eyes. Dark hair, half pulled back, the rest loose from whatever it had been tied in. A face that was currently doing its best to look composed despite having just hit the ground. She couldn't have been more than a year older than him. Maybe the same age.Asta straightened up."Oh." He said. He paused. Rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "She's a girl."Another pause."Uhm. Sorry about that kick. I didn't, I don't really beat girls."The girl stood up fully. She brushed the dirt off her knee with the flat of her hand, slow and deliberate. Then she looked at him. Her expression moved through a couple of things, irritation, something cold and then settled on flat and unimpressed, the look of someone who

The young prince stayed exactly where he was.One knee on the ground. Head bowed. The royal cloak he wore draped around him, pooling slightly at the dirt beneath his knee, the emblem on his collar catching what was left of the afternoon light. He didn't look uncomfortable down there. He didn't look like someone who had made a mistake and was waiting for permission to stand. He looked like someone who had been waiting a long time to do exactly this, and was in no rush to stop.Behind him, his two guards, the ones who had flanked him on the way in, stood stiff and straight, eyes forward. But their eyes weren't forward anymore. They were on the prince. Then on Asta. Then on each other.The other guards, the ones Mira's spear rain had knocked flat, who had only just picked themselves up off the ground and dusted themselves off, had drifted over and fallen into line beside the two flanking guards. They were standing shoulder to shoulder now, a loose row of them, all wearing the same look

"What do you think, Mira?" She said quietly. "We are complete strangers. They have never seen any of our faces in their entire lives. We just walked out of the trees with their prince, onto their street, in their village." A short pause. "If you were standing where they're standing, looking at us, you would do the exact same thing."Mira considered that for a step or two."I would do worse actually." She said."Yes." Flora said. "I know. That's the point."Another few steps."But still though."Mira said, quietly enough that only Flora could hear. "I feel like even for strangers, there's a specific type of look they're giving us. I don't love it.""Then stop making eye contact with them.""I'm not making eye contact…""You are. You're staring directly back at them every time.""I'm just looking around…""You are holding eye contact with that woman by the fence and have been for the last thirty seconds."Mira looked forward. "I was just seeing if I recognised her.""You have n