"... Another little ghost, huh? Instead of running, you came straight to us. What touching camaraderie!"
The shadowy figure, clearly a leader, spoke in a low, hoarse voice from under his hood, his words laced with obvious excitement.
"Carlos?!"
As the rock wall crumbled, Rem instinctively followed the shadow's gaze and immediately spotted Shin sprinting toward them through the flames.
The shadow didn't stop Shin from reaching the twins, stepping back to a distance of over twenty meters, watching them with cruel eyes.
"I wonder what kind of smell ghost tribe siblings will give off when they burn together. I'm looking forward to it~"
"... Maniac..."
Shin spread his arms, shielding the sisters behind him, staring tensely at the figure without turning back.
"You two, get out of here! I'll hold them off."
"Idiot! Run... I'm done for anyway. I'll hold him off... Don't you dare ghostify, take Rem and get out of here!"
Ram, always brimming with confidence and authority, now looked utterly frail, struggling even to stand through gritted teeth.
"... In your state, you don't look like you can hold anyone off. I'll do it. Rem, move!"
"Y-Yes!"
Unlike Shin and the overly mature Ram, Rem was like a typical child, paralyzed with panic and forgetting to fight at first.
Now, under Shin's shout, she reflexively obeyed, supporting Ram to leave.
But realizing what Shin had said, she froze, her face on the verge of tears as she grabbed his clothes, her voice trembling.
"If... if we leave, what about you, Carlos...?"
"I'll hold them off. I'll be fine—I won't die. I'll definitely come find you."
Despite it being his first real fight, making his hands shake with nerves, the thought of the two kids behind him somehow calmed him down. He forced a slightly shaky smile.
His usual mature demeanor giving way to rare bravado made Ram purse her lips, muttering in frustration,
"Just a little brother, and you're talking so big..." "Wrong. I'm the big brother."
"... You're the weakest."
"At least I'm in better shape than you right now."
"... You're the shortest."
"That one stings, but in a couple of years, I'll be taller than you. Just wait, I'll call you shorty then."
"You've got some guts... Is that how you talk to the next clan leader?"
"If the Ghost Tribe is down to just us three, once I marry you two, the clan leader's seat is mine. So, if only for my future throne, you two better not die."
"... Ram's better than you in every way, but even Ram's done for... You definitely can't do it... Just be good and..."
"Hey, don't get too cocky. Who says you're better than me in everything? And is that a promise or a threat?"
Despite his sweaty palms, Shin bantered with Ram in an almost casual tone while crouching to pick up a cross-shaped dagger from the ground.
The figure opposite didn't interfere, as if enjoying a show. With a casual wave, a swarm of black-robed figures emerged from the shadows, moving toward the trio with eerie grace.
"Wind Summoning!"
Shin, with earth and wind affinities, swung his young hand, channeling magic to summon a gust, forming a blade that sliced toward the lead black-robed figure.
But... the seemingly ordinary black-robed figure deftly swung their sword, striking the wind blade and dispersing it into harmless air.
"... Not that easy, huh?"
If he ghostified, he might stand a chance, but without it, he was just a half-baked mage who knew a couple of spells.
The enemies, however, were skilled in both magic and combat.
They might seem like fodder, but among mercenaries, they'd likely be elites. Against normal Ghost Tribe members, they were fodder—especially against Ram or the clan leader—but for a single-horned kid like Shin, fighting without ghostification was tough.
As he scrambled for a plan, the enemy didn't pause, closing in instantly. The moment Shin raised his sword to block, he was sent flying, sword and all.
The seemingly weak black-robed figure was faster and stronger than he'd expected.
Though he barely blocked the strike, he couldn't withstand the force.
He crashed backward into the sisters, who were supporting each other, and all three tumbled to the ground amid the girls' startled cries.
Other than his numb hand, he wasn't hurt, thanks to the sisters cushioning his fall. He quickly rolled off to avoid worsening Ram's injuries.
"Ugh... S-Sister, are you okay?"
Dazed and in pain, Rem let out a whimper, hurriedly hugging her now-hornless, exhausted sister. Ram shook her head, fighting dizziness, and hugged her sister back.
"... Ram's... fine. How about you, Rem?"
Shin, sprawled on the ground like the sisters, shook his numb hands. Glancing at the twins—who'd been under him a moment ago but were now clinging to each other lovingly—he felt a bit miffed despite understanding their bond.
Yet, the tension in his heart oddly eased.
"... Don't either of you care about me?"
"S-Sister looks really bad..."
"Ram's fine... You can't do this, Carlos... Hurry and take Rem away, please... Just run!"
Gasping for breath, Ram's deep red eyes, reflecting the surrounding flames, stared at him with an unprecedented plea.
But Shin turned away, avoiding her gaze and rejecting her plea.
"... Whether I can or not, I have to try. Right now, no matter how you look at it, you can't hold them off. If no one stays, all three of us will die here."
Though he desperately wanted to follow Ram's urging and flee, his pride as a man wouldn't allow it.
If they were ordinary kids, it'd be one thing, but these were the girls he'd watched grow up, who'd fed him and shown him kindness over the years.
"... Is this my chance to repay them?"
Staring at the cracked, bleeding webbing of his hand from the earlier blow, he gritted his teeth against the pain, clenched his fist, and stood up, glaring at the black-robed figure who seemed in no rush to kill him.
Weak as he was, he could barely block a single grunt. Taking on an unknown number of invaders was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
The tense air seemed to hum in his ears. Though he wasn't sure if his horn could adapt to everything, he had no other choice now.
Taking a deep breath, he gripped the dagger tightly, lowered his stance, and assumed an offensive posture, ready to go all in.
A faint glow spread from his forehead, forcibly drawing in surrounding magic as crimson arcs sparked in the air.
***