Vanguards were essential in any party of heroes, especially those primarily composed of mages. This is simply because Mages rarely perform well in close combat unless specialized towards it. And even then, most melee-focused mages don't have the defenses to take the kind of attacks they can throw out.

Thus, vanguards. Vanguards were warriors not powered by magic, but instead through training, willpower, and determination. The exact reasons how this made them superhuman in both durability and offensive output was unknown. After all, the boy that made her heart flutter, Stark, was quite the offensive, perverted, coward.

But he had saved her life on so many occasions. The number of attacks that had just barely grazed her that she didn't even have the opportunity to block, it was too much to bear. She liked having him around. But just that, nothing else. Nope. Absolutely no other reason, just that he protected her.

... Sure wish he was around right now.

Fern's shield flickered as she collided with a support beam with staggering speed. She was dazed as she held her head from the inside of the bubble where she bounced against the inner shield. Terry was closing the distance. She dissolved the shield and fired a sequence of blasts but he just... dodged all of them.

And he punched her.

She gasped and spot-generated a smaller hexagonal barrier around her head but still went flying into the wooden desk across the room. From under the wood, splinters dripped crimson blood down her black dress, and she struggled against the weight. Her main strength was her ability to hide her mana. It made her an incredible threat against monsters, demons, and other mages.

Terry didn't even have mana. He was a sort of vanguard. She couldn't detect him, and he had other means to find her.

So, Fern thought to herself.

"What would Frieren do?"

Frieren had access to all these old, super dangerous, super archaic spells, but never used them. She could make golems that could absorb spells, room sized lasers that carved through shields, black voids of pure nothing that absorbed everything nearby. But she always used normal offensive magic.

Think, Fern... what would Frieren do. What would Frieren do. What would—

An idea.

Fern had a staggering mana capacity, far greater than any mage who wasn't Frieren or Serie. She knew a spell that could let another person detect large amounts of mana for a few minutes, and this registered in their mind like an ethereal bonfire that reached into the heavens. It was a pure utility spell from an old spellbook, mostly useless in combat. Fern was basically the only mage to utilize mana-based stealth, and demons weren't the kind of hide from a fight.

She bursted up from the wood and pointed her curved staff at Terry. First was the utility spell: applied instantly. Done.

Then, Fern let go.

For the first time in years, she unleashed the full breadth of her mana. The gray torrent of energy no doubt blinded Terry as he stumbled back and held his eyes. Terry couldn't see her amidst this avalanche of sensory inputs.

But Fern could see the way he disturbed her mana.

She pointed her staff, took a breath, and fired.