Blaine felt momentarily confused, but when he saw the scene of Delsie clutching Rick's cold corpse, he understood the meaning behind Lyn's order.
A crack appeared on Blaine's emotionless mask for the first time.
A look of regret and pain flashed across his eyes. Still, after glancing at Cecelia standing behind him, he again steeled his emotions.
After taking a moment to resolve himself, he returned his gaze to Lyn and solemnly nodded.
He had already made a promise to her, and now it was time to honour it.
Expanding his rapidly dwindling mana storage, Blaine summoned several layers of green translucent walls to block the oncoming light beams.
Without wasting another moment, he quickly grabbed Cecelia by the arm and broke out into a sprint.
Cecelia's eyes went wide as she was being pulled along by the auburn-haired youth.
"W-what are you doing? Why are we running away?!?"
Instead of answering, Blaine continued to run, letting her panic-induced questions fall on deaf ears.
Cecelia initially tried to fight against Blaine and stay behind. Still, she was nowhere near Blaine's match in terms of physical strength.
Although 1-Stars couldn't enhance their bodies with mana, Blaine surpassed the pinnacle of what a normal human could accomplish.
Needless to say, someone like Cecelia couldn't do anything to overpower such a person.
Furthermore… She had also seen Rick's fiery end to a man with shoulder-length grey hair.
As the princess of the Kingdom, Cecelia could easily infer that person's identity as a 3-Star powerhouse.
Due to this, deep down, she knew that running away was their only feasible choice.
No matter how much she hated it.
Again… All Cecelia could do was lament her weakness while someone else had to protect her.
'D*mnit!'
Internally cursing, tears began to spill from her eyes as Cecelia stopped fighting against Blaine's pull and began earnestly running away.
Seeing the fleeing pair, a small smile formed on Lyn's lips as she turned her gaze away from them and instead onto the grey-haired man.
As much as she wanted to kill the remaining enemy soldiers firing at Blaine and the princess, stopping the elderly man was her highest priority at the moment.
All she could do was to pray that she could kill him fast enough.
As a look of cold bloodlust flashed across her eyes, her adversary turned in her direction, seemingly sensing her chilling gaze.
However, this wasn't the case whatsoever.
In fact, the man had been aware of her presence from the start; that was the reason he didn't bother killing Delsie and Ginny.
If he had done that, Lyn would have taken the chance to kill two of his own.
Without the involved parties even realizing it, the two leaders were already playing chess with their lives.
Luckily for their underlings, both seemed unwilling to throw away their subordinate's lives.
If not… They would have slaughtered everyone else on the battlefield before ultimately deciding to throw hands.
Seeing Lyn approach in his direction, Wallace's wrinkled brows furrowed.
"I don't recognize you."
Looking at Lyn puzzled, he stopped at her onyx-coloured dual daggers before a look of realization flashed across his eyes.
"I can feel traces of 'Mana Imbuement' from those weapons of yours… You're a 3-Star, aren't you?"
At his words, everyone on the battlefield suddenly froze and turned toward Lyn.
Considering these words came from a 3-Star, there was no reason to doubt Wallace's words.
Why would such a person lie about something like this?
There was no way someone of his calibre would make an incorrect assumption.
The people scattered around the combat zone stared at Lyn with looks of surprise, awe… And fear.
The latter emotion was particularly evident on the faces of those belonging to the Coalition.
Letha, who had momentarily paused her dual with Lorie, almost dropped her halberd in shock.
"Wait, General! This isn't any of the three known 3-Stars of the Kingdom. Are you saying… The Kingdom had a fourth one?"
At the sudden yet expected question, Wallace nodded his head.
"I believe so."
Redirecting his attention back to Lyn, Wallace continued:
"Over the years, I've heard whispers here and there of a hidden group in the Clairmont Kingdom. While the knights and soldiers dealt with the visible threats, that group would handle the ones most people didn't know about. They would handle everything from intelligence gathering to assassination. In essence, they are the shadows of the 'Kingdom of Light.' As for their name…"
Wallace paused for a moment before a rueful smile formed on his lips.
"Ah, right, I remember now. It was 'Eclipse'."
Despite hearing Wallace's words, none of them seemed to elicit a response from Lyn.
However, her silence only seemed to support Wallace's deductions.
Sighing lightly, Wallace shook his head.
"To think… Not only did the Kingdom have a fourth 3-Star, but it also happened to be a member of the elusive 'Eclipse.' No… Probably the leader herself. This was supposed to be an easy mission. Capture the trespassing princess and return home with her in tow. But your presence here complicates things immensely. Although… It also verifies something. If someone of your calibre is here, the princess must be here as well."
It was then that a reaction finally appeared on Lyn's face.
"...How?"
Never once had they allowed Cecelia to remove her disguise.
In fact, her fill-in was supposed to have only just left the Royal Capital.
No one was supposed to know that the princess had already crossed the southern border.
Yet not only did the Coalition know about it, but they even managed to set up an ambush for her.
Their team had assumed that they had been detected by spies or that details of their mission had leaked without their knowledge.
But never had they imagined that it was this bad.
Not only had the Coalition sent ten 2-Stars, but even a 3-Star along with them.
Wallace shook his head in response to her question.
"Sorry… But I can't reveal that information. It's classified."
Turning his head, he glanced at the three soldiers firing with their magic-powered handguns earlier.
"The girl that just fled is most likely the target. Go after her."
After giving the elderly man a salute, they sprinted after Blaine and Cecelia.
Lyn quickly threw one of her daggers at them just as they were about to leave.
But before it could reach its target, a wall of flames sprung out of the ground, repelling Lyn's blade.
"Sorry… But I'm going to have you keep this old man company."
Catching her dagger out of the air, Lyn clicked her tongue.
Although she had no way of killing them earlier, Lyn couldn't help but lament leaving those three alive.