“Icy! What is that?” The little girl absently pointed towards the awe-inspiring spear piercing through the heart of the city. From the golden light itself, he could already guess what happened, but it was the ribbon which told him the precise details.

But Mala explained it before him, making things easier. “Darak made a big mess and got the city in trouble. Collect your stuff, I think we’ll be seeing a bit of trouble soon.

“That’s an Order for Execution. Just what did he see to get your god to hand out one of those?” But Mala just shrugged at his question for an obvious reason, and the group of three began to clean up their traces in the small bunching of trees. And he asked another question through the Soul Link which came to mind soon after, “What about that got him so riled up as well? He doesn’t seem the sort to jump to murder.”

This time she frowned, but shook her head before replying through the link as well. “That’s not my story to tell. But you’re right, this is more than just his vows.”

Was it something related to human trafficking as well then?

He didn’t ponder on it too long, and favoured a hasty packing instead.

While they didn’t know how long the other three would take, Mala didn’t doubt that Darak would escape hurriedly as everyone involved tried to kill him. At least, that’s what normally happened in these situations.

There are several ‘Orders’ that a god can give through the use of their icon, for example, a spear with a golden ribbon is an Order of Protection, used exceedingly rarely as it drew both allies and enemies alike to a specific place. However, the Order for Execution was special, as it was well known that Manus only used it in very extreme cases, not even a discovery of enemy gods in his land was enough to justify one. Whatever was going on had to be even worse than Mala or he could guess.

“Do I have to run?” Raccelline’s question broke them from their thoughts for a few seconds before both nodded to her in response, he simply couldn’t move fast enough with her on his back, and the same could be said for any of the adults holding her. “But I hate running,” she pouted slightly. While Mala did find it adorable, she offered no comfort as the child simply had to accept this reality.

Yes, such a tough life where she had to reluctantly walk…

“Are those fu– fools fighting?” Mala corrected her speech with a gulp when reminded of the child beside her, but at the same time gained a closer look at the set of individuals clearly jumping around rooftops.

Very clearly three on three… Ah, no, someone was invisible as well. Rebecca’s style being well known to her, she could only watch as the group of four clashed against three who were clearly worse for wear. But the exact details of the fight were unknown to her, although she stopped caring once both sides stood in a row to glare at each other.

Only for her side to suddenly turn around and run like hell.

“Finish your damn fight before dragging a crowd here!” She whispered under her heavy breaths of exasperation, before turning to the other two and saying, “Both of you get ready.” They’d already completely prepared though, so all that remained was waiting on the rest of their team.

“I thought you lot were rather intelligent?” He couldn’t help but ask an extremely unhelpful question as the group of four, of which one was invisible, jumped the city wall and dashed like hell towards them. But as Mala just rubbed her forehead, it became clear she didn’t want to put up with this crap right now, and simply cast some acceleration spell on the three of them. Seeing this, he sighed and said, “Merge.”

None of the group even had to talk, they could see the Steel ranks chasing after them all and immediately set off without a hitch. Altogether heading west towards the coast in hopes that the nearby hilly terrain helped them escape. Although a forest would help, few existed directly beside this city due to years of development cutting down forests for farmland.

“We got the manuals, don’t worry about it.” As the seven of them bounded across the hilly plains, Korridan spoke aloud with some sort of confidence. It was hard to understand the source of such a feeling, but no one bothered to retort at the time.

“What the hell did you do? Darak!” Jaren’s voice snapped the priest from his slight stupor, reminding him of the giant spear formed from countless Divinus runes which was recently stabbed into the city and marked its sinners for a worldwide execution order.

As the group raced away, they focused on speaking through the Soul Link to avoid drawing attention and deal with the distance between them at such speeds. It was no surprise that Icy, Mala, and Korridan lagged behind the most due to their lesser focus on agility. However, as some time passed it was clear that Darak really had no response, instead he was wholly lost in thought, and it must have been at least half a minute later before he looked towards everyone with a horribly distressed face.

Did he regret what just happened for some reason?

And finally, he replied to them all. “I heard him… He spoke to me directly.”

Jaren didn’t really take it seriously, and replied with the expected answer. He’d seen priests before who broke down in tears over similar revelations, and they usually came from a similar source. “Who? An angel?”

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But Darak just shook his head and replied over the Link to them all. “No, his lordship, G– God of man… And he told me to seek out a divine point immediately.”

The five of them gulped in tandem, staring at the still-shocked priest before glancing over to Raccelline. Then the four turned to face him too… Was it because of the two of them that this happened?

Priests obtaining divine revelations from angels happened occasionally, in their situation it might have been expected. But to directly speak to a god… Or even hear their voice for a single word… It was perhaps an incomprehensible concept. One might argue, ‘Well isn’t it just like speaking to a Great sage?’ But they’d be so wrong that they may as well be fools.

Especially for a god to speak somewhere they lacked any icons, it implied that Darak’s request was somehow detected and treated so seriously that a god immediately took action, personally.

No one dared to argue against seeking out a real cathedral as soon as possible. It was imperative, likely their best, and only, chance of keeping Raccelline safe for the upcoming years. The Order for Execution might have been a slightly heavy-handed approach to this city, however, when Darak finally got around to mentioning what he discovered, it was soon agreed upon that a large part of it would need to be cleansed.

The criminal syndicates grew too emboldened by the introduction of a foreign god, or perhaps they were always scum and hid it too well. Either way, human trafficking was enough for an execution warrant, but harbouring believers of an enemy god and allowing them to pass off as your own?

“Stop right there!” A shout from behind immediately ticked them off at a pursuit, even with such speeds they couldn’t truly escape. And by their high speed, but not at an overwhelmingly superior degree, it was a small team of Steel-ranked warriors. No wizards at least, so the fight couldn’t be too bad.

Korridan, already at the back, shouted to them, “Why would we do that?”

“So we can fucking thank you! Or is that too hard to believe?”

“Honestly, it really is,” Rebecca said, popping out of her invisibility for a few moments much to the shock of the group chasing.

It was just four Steel ranks, and with the addition of that invisible girl they never even noticed, it was clearly a negative for them to join this fight. Additionally… How the hell was a child keeping up with them? Was that just an illusion or something morphed into that shape?

Anyway, the group continued to maintain pace with theirs, never truly approaching closer. And then the one closest began to shout out loud. “I mean it! We were tasked to monitor this city just a few weeks ago, but there was never any evidence of what we knew. They clearly kidnapped various young women and children, but the records were completely wiped! And the churches claimed they looked into it but…”

A quick chat with their Soul Link made everyone agree to slow down, and they cautiously formed a shield against the group who claimed to be investigating the problem as well.

Icy stood beside Raccelline behind Korridan, and whispered to her, “If anyone comes near you, punch hard and fast.” She nodded and the group heard his command too. It was fortunate the dragon wasn’t around the first time she tried to ‘gently’ hit a person trying to threaten her…

Everyone being too cautious meant they cycled their mana without stopping, prepared to unleash a skill the instant anything suspicious enough happened. The reason that cycled mana was dangerous is actually a very simple theory, in that you can transfer more mana to a part of your body, faster, if it’s already moving in a circle as opposed to accelerating from rest.

In a way, it was like storing momentum in a spinning object.

“Our group would just like to invite you to a meal in a neighbouring city. As a thanks for solving this matter for us, it has plagued us for too long,” only now did they receive a good look at this small, yet speedy, group’s leader.

In a full set of some orange and red plate armour, that greatly stood out across the hilly green plains they were running on, however, that barely mattered when compared to the obvious mana it emitted. A full set of armour like this wasn’t easy to come by at their level, especially since it seemed to be a Mid-rank magical tool whilst complete, therefore, most Steel rank attacks bounced right off!

Apprentice true spells weren’t even guaranteed to do any damage.

“Sorry, we’re in a bit of a rush to the south. We only stopped by accidentally seeing some of those lot trying to force a young woman into an unsavoury life,” Korridan’s deep voice alone intimidated the four, although the armoured leader’s face couldn’t be seen.

Without drawing any attention, Icy told them all through the Soul Links what his mana senses picked up. “Mana sources approaching on the left and right.” Then he turned to Raccelline and asked quietly, “We might have to run more, okay?”

She stood silent, like a statue, and the armoured man opposite continued to talk, “We can stop by a city southward then, please, do allow us to treat you for a night. It’s really the least we could offer.”

And then, Korridan rubbed his chin for a brief moment and tapped his right foot twice.

That was the signal!

Everyone immediately pushed off the ground and ran away from the group of four, at the same time receiving some information from him about the mana sources he sensed on the sides already converging. How the hell did they have so many Steel ranks?

No way this was just a gang in a minor city. Either they were massively supported by a large organisation… Or the city’s magistrate was involved in some way! “Forest to the North-west, run into it!” Mala immediately focused on the best location to go, knowing it was better than the southern end of the same forest towards their left.

It was just a minute by running, and whilst the four nearby could easily catch up to the slowest in their group, it was a hopeless endeavour to win a fight of six against four, especially when those six had a priest and wizard to support them.

Those surrounding their group were even slower though! Failing to catch up entirely, but then again only showing how Icy joined a rather competent team of Steel ranks, a group truly close to achieving another evolution and becoming Gold ranks.

They escaped the entrapment, fortunately, and no one dared to follow them into the forest. But that didn’t stop their attempts at running. With Icy to warn them briefly of anything significant up front, they had journeyed for more than half an hour before finally coming to a stop and resting.

Raccelline didn’t even make a fuss the whole time, staying perfectly silent and running with them.

She’d been with them long enough.

It was obvious when all of them were scared of something.