And she, the so-called Royal Princess, was utterly powerless in the face of such absolute violence, before the iron law of war.

"No... you can’t... Stop... I’m begging you, stop..." Elizabeth’s voice was hoarse from crying, her vision blurred by tears. She struggled to rush out but was held back firmly by Alison.

"Your Highness! It’s dangerous! You can’t go over there!" Alison’s voice trembled, but duty forced her to be firm. "This is an order! A necessity of this war!"

"A necessity of war? What does it demand? That we stand by and watch them go to their deaths?!" Elizabeth shrieked, her nails digging deep into Alison’s arm. "Those are living people! Not stones! Not wood!"

She snapped her head up, fury blazing in her tear-filled eyes. "Besides, I already sent my Knights to help! Why did Rodrick reassign them?! Isn’t Rodrick free? As a Great Knight, he just came here to issue an order. Why can’t *he* go up there? He’s right here in the area!"

Alison gritted her teeth but didn’t let go. "Your Highness, I understand how you feel, but... we’re powerless. Lord Rodrick isn’t free. He didn’t come here specifically for this; he was just passing through on his way to another mission. Your Knights were reassigned to better complete that mission. That battlefield... is more important."

Her voice grew quieter. "This was the decision of the Lord Duke and the Bishop. It’s to save more lives..."

"Save more lives?" Elizabeth gave a bitter, tear-streaked smile. "By trading one group’s lives for another’s? Is this your so-called protection and truth?"

"Then you go! Stop protecting me and go!" the Princess’s voice was sharp with agitation. "You’re a coward, too! You don’t dare defy Rodrick’s orders, but you also don’t dare defy mine, letting me rush over to see this tragedy unfold while you do nothing! Either let me go so I can fight, or you let go and *you* fight!"

Alison’s face turned pale, stung by Elizabeth’s words, and her lips trembled.

"Your Highness, I..." Her voice was choked with emotion, but her arm remained as unyielding as an iron clamp. "I can’t let go. If I did, you would charge in, and that is the Razor Hounds’ hunting ground."

Her gaze swept over the dark red figures in the distance, moving as fast as phantoms.

Just moments ago, she had watched a Knight’s Attendant from the raiding party get torn apart by a Razor Hound, ripped open from throat to stomach in an instant, his entrails spilling across the ground.

It was so fast she couldn’t even make out the creature’s movements.

Alison shuddered.

’Go up there?’

’How could I possibly go up there?’

She was an Official Knight, yes, but she was keenly aware of the gulf between her own abilities and those of these monsters.

A Razor Hound’s speed, strength, and carapace hardness far surpassed that of an ordinary Knight; they could even hold their own against a Great Knight.

A one-on-one fight was already a losing battle, to say nothing of the six of them there, with Scorching Beasts watching menacingly from farther away.

Charging in wouldn’t be heroic. It would be suicide.

She couldn’t defy Lord Rodrick...

No, it was the Lord Duke’s order. She couldn’t truly endanger Her Highness the Princess, but she also hadn’t been able to defy Her Highness’s command to come here in the first place.

So all she could do was hold Elizabeth back behind this rock, forced to watch as a scene from Purgatory unfolded before their very eyes.

The suffocating feeling of helplessness nearly crushed her.

’I am a coward...’ Alison thought with a bitter inner smile. ’Her Highness is right.’

Just then, the Razor Hound drawn by the baby’s cries finally broke free of the civilians and soldiers. It kicked off the ground, transforming into a dark red blur as it lunged straight for the mother and child!

Its sharp foreclaws aimed for the mother’s vulnerable neck and the swaddled infant in her arms!

The mother shrieked in despair and instinctively spun around, shielding the child with her own frail back against the coming claws.

Elizabeth’s eyes widened in horror, and she let out a heart-wrenching scream: "NO—!"

Alison closed her eyes, unable to watch.

It seemed everything was already decided.

And yet—

In the instant before the razor-sharp claws could touch the mother’s back!

KRA-BOOM!!!

A blinding bolt of dark purple Thunder, with no warning whatsoever, crashed down from the sky!

The bolt struck with perfect precision, hitting the pouncing Razor Hound mid-lunge!

Wild serpents of violet-black electricity erupted, instantly engulfing the monster!

"AWOOOO—!!!"

A mangled, agonized howl replaced the expected sound of tearing flesh.

Everyone watched as the dark red figure convulsed violently in the lightning, its tough carapace instantly charring black and cracking under the destructive Thunder Power, releasing a pungent stench of burnt flesh and ozone.

In the space of a single breath, the light vanished, leaving behind only a twisted, carbonized husk that smoldered on the ground.

At the same time, a figure in deep blue descended from the sky, landing lightly a short distance in front of the mother.

It was Murphy.

He held the Ancient Longsword of Dark Gold, its tip angled toward the ground. A faint wisp of purple electricity crackled and flowed along the blade.

His robes billowed slightly from his high-speed descent and the burst of Thunder, but his expression was terrifyingly calm, as if he had done nothing more than a trivial chore.

A dead silence fell over the ridge.

Even the wind seemed to stand still.

The surviving civilians were stunned into silence, forgetting to cry or flee.

The soldiers of the Peric Clan stared blankly, their gazes shifting from the charred monster corpse to the figure who had appeared from nowhere, radiating an intimidating aura. For a moment, they forgot to shout and herd the crowd.

Elizabeth’s sobs died in her throat. She stared with wide, tear-filled eyes, looking at the man’s back in disbelief.

The battlefield was different, and his aura felt somehow changed, but the deep blue clothing, the straight and tall posture...

’The Governor of Melfield?’

’He... what is he doing here?’

’That bolt of Thunder just now...’

Alison’s eyes snapped open, her face a mask of utter shock.

She could clearly feel it. The Energy Fluctuations radiating from the Governor who had just appeared were completely different from before!

It was a deeper, more immense and oppressive feeling!

Murphy paid no mind to anyone’s stares.

He didn’t even glance at the mother and child huddled together behind him, trembling after their narrow escape from death.

His cold gaze swept over the cliffs and shadows ahead. It fell upon the other Razor Hounds, which had retreated slightly, startled and uncertain after their packmate’s instant demise. Then, it passed over the restless Scorching Beasts in the distance.

Then, he moved.