Varian cleaned up the level 8s on the planetoid in minutes and returned to Ghostship, only to find Enigma sitting on her bed while rubbing her eyes.
"Congratulations for almost dying."
Enigma rolled her eyes at the sarcastic comment and hopped off the bed. She clicked on her comm a few times and called. "Boo, drop me on Elis planetoid. It's under attack by a nightmare."
Boo materialized in front of her and nodded with a smile. "We'll be there in five minutes."
"No, we won't." Varian stood between Boo and Enigma before glaring at the woman. "You nearly died. You want to go there again?"
Enigma crossed her arms with an impatient expression. "If I don't go, Seth will die."
"Well…" Varian frowned at the complexity of the situation. Even though Enigma had recovered, she wasn't back to her peak.
At her peak, she could tie with three nightmares and win against two. Now, she might barely tie against one.
"Boo, hurry up." Enigma nudged the little ghost.
Boo looked back and forth between Varian and Enigma with a confused expression, like a child forced to pick between its father and mother.
"If Seth dies because we're a second late, will you be okay with it?" Enigma said and Varian finally relented.
"If things turn dangerous, pull him into Ghostship. Don't risk your life."
"My life or Sia's life?" Enigma asked slowly.
Varian gave her a stare before saying. "Aren't your lives interlinked? So there's no need to choose. But if I had to pick one, it's Sia's."
"Can't you at least lie?" Enigma looked at him with slight resentment.
It was rare for her to show such expression and Varian was understandably surprised. "Why?"
"So that I can feel a bit happy?" Enigma shook her head with a wry smile. "Even if it's a lie, at least someone doesn't want me to die and thinks I'm worth existing"
At her sincere but depressing words, Varian lowered his head and sighed.
Enigma was becoming more expressive and vocal, even though she was still the least spoken of the three. And this change was due to the 'vacation' they had.
For Enigma, the vacation was an eye-opener of close relationships. After seeing Sia and Sarah's friendship, perhaps she too started to crave it.
After all, her relationship with Blue Flash had little emotional component from her side.
As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Varian raised his head and looked at Enigma.
She thought he was talking about Sia's safety and shrugged. "Don't worry, I won't put Sia in danger."
Enigma didn't tell him that she had a single chance to wake up 'Her'. The price was that 'She' would devour her and put her in endless darkness.
Even though she never wanted to use that method, if her life was really threatened, it was the only option. At least that way, she wouldn't completely die and at least Sia could properly live.
But Enigma didn't know that 'She' had already woken up once and lost the chance to help them if Enigma or Sia fall into danger in the future.
"Master, Enigma, we're about to reach the planetoid. Please be ready."
The small round sphere visible from the window was quickly enlarged. Even from outer space, a bunch of dark red lines over the clouds were clearly visible.
'Fire Awakener,' Enigma took a deep breath.
After checking her condition for one last time, she walked to the exit.
The ghost ship entered the atmosphere and Enigma was about to jump out when Varian suddenly called out.
"Enigma,"
"Hm?" Enigma hummed without turning back.
"Don't risk your life," Varian said.
"I told you, Sia's life wouldn't be in dang—"
"Not Sia's, but yours," Varian stressed. "I don't know how one of you can be safe while the other is injured, but if it comes down to that, don't risk your life."
Whether he was saying those words sincerely or just for lip service, only he knew.
With her back turned to him, Enigma's lips curled up slightly into a playful smile that even she didn't know. "Even for Sia?"
"If you have to risk someone's life, risk 'Her' life."
Enigma shook her head and jumped into the clouds.
— — —
The nightmare Aybssal coordinated with the level 9 Abyss Commander of this planetoid and was about to kill the human level 9 stationed on the planetoid.
Even though the human commander had a high defense, he was slowly pushed to death facing two Abyssals.
When he thought death was inevitable, a woman in black fell from the sky and changed the course of the battle.
In a few minutes, they fought off against the Abyssals and changed the situation from near death to a hard stalemate.
Explosions filled the sky as the planetoid was blasted by fireballs.
Enigma deftly dodged the attacks as she fought off the Fire Awakener Nightmare Abyssal.
She hadn't recovered completely and her internal injuries weren't fully healed either.
If the fight continued for a long period, she'd be the one to lose.
"Hahaha! Enigma, I heard great things about you. But turns out it's all talk! You can't even beat me!" The Nightmare Abyssal laughed as he waved his hand.
Tens of thousands of fireballs materialized in the air and shot at Enigma.
'I have to finish it soon, but how…'
Enigma covered herself in a cloak of darkness and hid from the Abyssal's fire sense. He could detect her, but only vaguely.
To facilitate this, she was also using her mind power to create illusions of her in other places.
Thanks to both these arrangements, more than three-fourths of the attacks ended up missing her.
But the final one-fourth of attacks was something she had to face head on. And Enigma did so using a gravity shield.
Even though she was mostly safe, she suffered some minor injuries.
The sky flashed with red as the fight continued without any end in sight.
As Enigma grew more and more anxious, a familiar voice sounded in her mind.
"Let's get back on them for sneak attacking you. Prepare yourself."
The Abyssal didn't know the looming danger and continued to mock Enigma's strength. "Only this much? You also seem to have internal injuries. Are you even going to last for an hour or will you collapse from your injuries?"
Saying so, he raised his hand and was about to summon the fireballs again.
The human and Abyss commander were busy with each other and his concentration was fully on Enigma.
He already observed how she was dodging his fireballs using her darkness and illusions, so this time, he devoted all his focus to her and channeled his fire mana to summon fireballs.
It was then that an unexpected change occurred.
His mind went blank for a split second.
Then, the blood in his heart turned cold and the space around his chest cracked. His heart was almost pierced from the space blades, if not for him instinctively using his fire mana to protect his heart.
But giving him no respite, a telekinetic force in the shape of a knife tried to attack his eyes.
Feeling a great danger, his instincts worked again and forcibly shifted his focus, causing him to use fire mana to protect his eyes.
By the time he was done, he realized something was off.
The next thing he saw was Enigma's sword slashing at his neck.
He hurriedly put up a last-second defense, but it crumbled under Enigma's prepared full-blown attack.
The Abyssal's severed head hit an invisible spaceship and broke into pieces.
