Aureus was still standing on the roof of the car, Master, can I kill them?

Yes. Kill them all. No need to let those who run live, they might bring reinforcements.

Understood. He continued to test out his opponent throwing various sizes of earth projectiles and flew towards his prey. I smiled to myself, normally I didn’t mind if he played with his food, but an uncomfortable feeling was creeping up on me. I was about to tell Aureus to end it quickly when a couple shots rang out, whizzing past me towards Aureus. Of course they were ineffective, but it pissed me off. How dare they?

Caroline had taken up fighting the painted man with Aureus, she was using some sort of magic. It was obvious she was under leveled compared to Aureus and the painted man.

While they fought I took cover behind a nearby van, shooting at the other group. I hit one of the five in the abdomen below the ribs, and the damage was more significant than Caroline’s shots on the painted man but not by much. I smiled to myself despite the small amount of damage, I had a tiny revenge for Aureus. I fired two more shots at them before they scattered to take cover as well, unfortunately I wasn’t sure if the other two shots hit or not.

They took turns popping out from behind cover and firing volleys at me while the other fight intensified, I was pinned down I couldn’t fire back. I took to trying to analyze the fight Aureus was in. The painted man seemed to be a brawler, red lightning covering his body as he launched himself towards Aureus.

“Mia!” Caroline had turned from their battle and took a couple steps towards where I had hidden. I made eye contact and shook my head, she ignored me and continued towards me.

“Caro! No.” I yelled, she needed to be near Aureus. It was safer. The painted man took advantage of Caroline’s retreat from the battle and changed targets. He leapt towards her, but before I could see the outcome a bullet tore through the van I had been using as cover. I flinched looking towards the semi where another man was exiting the passenger side.

I scanned him as he made his way to me, but the man approaching me from the semi didn’t have a weapon. I began to panic, searching my surroundings for the shooter. I looked back at the van next to me, there was a grapefruit sized hole in it. Ah, he doesn’t need a gun. I glanced over to Aureus, Is Caroline okay?

Yes, I slammed him into the ground before he could reach her. I think he’s been knocked out by that. A few more shots rang out.

If he’s down for a bit go kill the annoying ones that are shooting they’re getting in the way. Caroline can probably handle herself. I said it confidently to Aureus, but honestly I was really worried we had bitten off more than we could chew. Not that we had much of a choice. Caroline only had her skills for a day compared to me and hadn’t leveled like these guys clearly had.

I agree, she looks like she’ll be fine till I return. Are you okay fighting your enemy Master?

I’ll be alright, just hurry. Again I was putting on a brave front for Aureus, because even if I wasn’t fine I couldn’t exactly tell him to come here first. I was assuming Caroline was level 1, and these guys definitely weren’t that low of a level and still took damage from bullets. There was no way in good conscience I could let Aureus come help me before killing the other gunmen.

I pulled my hood up, and pulled my bow and arrows out of my inventory. The enemy approaching faltered briefly, a strange look taking over his expression. Then a white orb of mana that was floating above his hand before shot towards me. I dodged, rolling to my left, the orb glanced off my right shoulder, throbbing pain followed, but I could tell I would still be able to use it. I had been practicing my archery since I got my bow, but I was still not very good so I said a small prayer to the GGC under my breath before I coated the arrow in mana and let it loose towards him.

It flew straight, but that wasn’t a good thing when your aim was as awful as mine. It caught him in his calf, he sucked in and cursed while blood poured down his leg. Another orb was forming above his hand, his face contorted with anger, pain, and an ugly smile exposing his teeth which were in dire need of realignment. A couple notifications popped up in my periphery notifying me of Aureus’ achievements in the battle. We had killed at least 4 of them, I was thankful I didn’t need to push any buttons to put the rewards to use.

“Gods please let this one hit him right!” I fired a second mana coated arrow, the orb was nearly full sized already. It sunk deep in his stomach, his eyes became wild as he fired the orb towards me. I tried to get up and dodge back to my right, but I wasn’t fast enough. The distance he closed between us gave me less time to react. It hit my cloak, but still caught my left ankle and I fell forwards onto my hands. He let out a loud groan, or growl as he was trying to remove the arrow from his stomach.

“Weird fucking slime bitch! My fucking stomach!” For a moment I wondered if he was talking to or about me, but then I realized.

I had completely forgotten about slime camouflage, I must look like an oversized slime now that my hood was up. I froze, my first thought was that he might have thought I’d been seriously injured or died. This clearly wasn’t his first time killing people with that ability, these idiots were pretty cocky. Maybe if I played dead he’d give me an opening.

Aureus, what’s the count?

Five. The last one tried to run, I’m on my way back to the first enemy now. I strained my eyes trying to look towards where Caroline and the other enemy were without moving my body. It was quiet, he must still be down.

Good, kill him quickly if you can then come here.

My arrow clattered to the ground, his blood splattered in pools around it as the man approached slowly. It was hard to get a look at him from this angle, I was crouched on the ground with my hands on the pavement hoping that he fell for it. My heart was hammering in my chest, slowly I grabbed one of my arrows holding it close to my chest. A few more steps and he’d be close enough for me to lunge at him, but he stopped. The blood that dripped on the ground under him reflected light from his skill. My heart sank, this gamble would be much more risky since I was injured. I had no clue if my ankle would be able to take any weight.

I’d need to take at least two steps to reach him, I gripped my arrow tightly and prepared to launch myself at him. BANG! Panic punched me in the gut before I felt it, Aureus was back, He must’ve attacked the enemy over there. Sucking in a deep breath as quietly as I could, I took that chance and jumped towards my enemy with everything I had; unfortunately for me he had shot out his ability at the same time. It slammed into my chest knocking me back into the van, there wasn’t any air left in my lungs to scream.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Mia!” Caroline had apparently been approaching me from my right, she was running towards me at this point. My vision was swimming and my breaths were coming in gurgly while I coughed up blood. I reached towards my inventory and pulled out my staff, I needed to use a mana emission even if I passed out after. I turned my attention to the enemy in front of me, he was sneering down at me while his ball of light slowly grew in size.

The regeneration rate for that ability had slowed, I wondered if he was running out of mana. It surely hit like a truck so it must be costly. Right? I let a few tears slip as I prayed that he wouldn't be able to shoot it at Caro. I needed time to cast the mana emission, my thoughts were sluggish and it was hard to focus on it. I needed to focus, I needed to protect her. It was strange that I found myself praying to my three god friends that had been taking care of me.

I focused on my mana, on the feeling I had last time. The electricity buzzing beneath my skin, the air between us, but the pain in my chest made it difficult to feel anything other than pain and my mind struggled to keep up as I felt it trying to slip away. A black strip swung towards him, the ball of mana he accumulated dissipating into it.

We both turned to look at Caroline and were met with Aureus tackling the man. He dug into him with his claws, I’m sure he knew they weren’t as effective as magic. It didn’t seem he cared. The man was writhing and screaming on the ground, desperately trying to get Aureus off of him.

Apparently Aureus cut his vocal cords, because at some point the sound of his claws clashing with the man’s chest and soft wet sound of his flesh being dug into was the only noise that remained. At first I thought he had already died, but then I made eye contact with him.

They were filled with horror, pain, and anger, I struggled to look away for several seconds. Finally I was able to avert my eyes as his face was cut into ribbons. If I wasn’t in so much pain I likely would’ve vomited. Honestly, it was horrifying despite the fact that he was trying to kill me. It would haunt me for years, but I didn’t have the energy to stop Aureus and part of me didn’t want to.

As I checked my status window, I noticed my health was down to 48 a moment later it ticked down to 47, I wondered if it was because I was bleeding internally. Then a red flash in my peripheral vision caught my eye as I turned to avoid the carnage in front of me. The first man, the painted one, was running to the semi truck. “He’s gettin-” I couldn’t finish as I began to cough heavily, but I pointed anyway. Caroline glanced towards him, he was hopping into the passenger side and it began to pull away.

“Who cares? How are you worried about that right now?” She was clearly angry, she wasn’t usually the type to cry when she was angry, but slow tears were escaping as she tried to glare at me. Though I suppose they were likely from sadness anyways, no one wants to see someone they love cough up blood.

[“Traveling Spring Painter” chastises you saying that you need to know when to pull back or you’ll get yourself and others killed.]

[“Abandoned Bloodied Sword” exclaims that it was a good battle, but mentions you still have much to learn. She reminds you to never underestimate your enemies and always fight with your all.]

[“Void Who Gazes Back” thanks you for protecting her contractor.]

[“Reflection of an Empty Throne” marvels at the rage such a small dragon was expressing and wondered how long you are going to let him mutilate that body.]

I sucked in a shaky breath and looked down at Aureus, he had utterly destroyed the man's body. Aureus was more red than gold now and most of the man’s torso was more reminiscent of ground beef than a man. I forced myself not to look at his face. My stomach was fighting me with its intention of vomiting. After I returned my weapons to my inventory I reached out to Caroline who caught my arm immediately, but her eyes were still on Aureus and the dead man. I couldn’t read her expression anymore.

Aureus. Please. We must leave. What if more people come?

“Caro… Where- Reid? C- Can you call?” I asked choking on the blood in my lungs.

“We’re close, don’t worry we can get there soon.” she was also struggling to choke out her words through her sobs.

Aureus and Caroline helped me back into our car and we drove for five or so more minutes. Her hands shook while she tried to call Reid, but each time it went straight to voicemail. Neither one of us talked about what it might mean. We were so close to help that whole fight, well and also help might not even be there. I laughed bitterly as we pulled up to one of Caroline’s parents’ properties. When she got out and closed her door the front door of the house opened, Reid stepped out onto the porch.

His relieved smile shattered into panic when he saw his sister, she was a mess sobbing and absolutely covered with blood. I opened my door and Aureus hopped out when Reid was halfway to his sister. He froze mid stride looking at my 100 something pound dragon covered in blood and then his gaze slid to me in the passenger seat. It took him a moment to process what he was seeing, but when realization washed over him his hand shot up to his face as he stared at me open mouthed as his face went pale. I must have looked awful.

I managed a small smile, “I hope this wasn’t your car,” I breathed in with a wheeze, “cause we really ruined the upholstery in here.” Unfortunately my joke didn’t land with any of them. Not a word was said as Reid stalked over to where I sat. He squatted outside of the car and grabbed my hand. A faint golden glow appeared around his hands, his expression slowly became more grim and a few tears slid down his cheeks silently.

“Excuse me for a moment, this won’t be pleasant.”

“You’re not even in med school yet but you’ve got your bedside manner down pat huh?” I said attempting a small chuckle to ease the tension, but it had the opposite effect when I ended up coughing instead. Blood sprayed from my mouth and onto the dash as I doubled over, God that hurt, I should stop talking.

He tried to gently place his hand on my chest, the awkwardness of a kid I saw as a little brother touching my chest was overshadowed by the pain that contact created. A brighter golden glow appeared again, a brief moment of blinding pain overtook me. I couldn't quite tell over the roar in my ears, but it felt like I let out an earsplitting scream. I could feel my bones realigning themselves, but thankfully it passed quickly and a warm refreshing feeling filled my chest. I could finally breathe easily again.

“I guess some things will never change, you’re always getting yourself hurt.” He tried to say it playfully but his expression was still grim. “I could only heal the significant injuries.”

“Yes some things never change, you’re always worrying too much and patching me up when I get hurt.” I replied and tousled his hair.

“And as usual you down play your injuries and treat me like a kid even though you’re only a year older.” Finally I got a smile out of him. I let out a sigh, and made eye contact with Caroline through the windshield. Though she looked much more relieved, I knew this wasn’t the end of it. I was definitely going to get reamed for this one.

“Aureus, can you help me inside please?” I looked past Reid at my familiar who was watching anxiously over his shoulder. Reid’s face was plastered with confusion until Aureus gently pushed past him and scooped me up. I winced as he picked me up, my ankle bounced with the change in elevation causing a sharp pain. If we weren’t covered in blood I would have asked Reid for help instead, it would have been a much more pleasant trip.

Reid was up quickly, striding past us to open the door for the three of us. I stifled a smile as I thought about how both of them reacted the same way to Aureus, confused and curious, but didn’t ask about it right away. I cringed as Aureus’ awkward gait made the trip inside intermittently painful, he still wasn’t very skilled at walking on only two of his legs.

The house looked moderately simple from the outside, something an upper middle class family might have in the country, but this was the city. It must have cost a small fortune. Once we entered the house I noted that the Gallaghers’ taste had not changed, modern but with notes of lavish statement pieces. Gold and pearl seemed to be this house’s theme, it was rather humble in comparison to some of the other homes I’d seen.

Reid spread his arms out wide after we gathered in the foyer, an ornate disc shaped sculpture of a gold bird with a pearl clasped in its beak hung on the wall behind him. “Welcome to the newest Gallagher residence.”