27th of Cobre, 9:23pm, 1659

After some coaxing, Cepheus was convinced to come out of his Soulstone. The regal figure that emerged from the Soulstone's light gave Lenoria a kingly bow but, unlike Owen, Apus, and Mr. Horsey, he displayed no meekness to her or Pearl. His grim expression was devoid of joy and gratitude, giving the women only a certain degree of respect.

"I understand you are my new master, and up until now you had debated on what to do with me. But I also know you are the enemy of the wielder who holds my wife's power. If you expect me to give up her location or the wielder's identity, you would be wasting your time."

"Even if you would be sealed away if you refused to cooperate," Pearl asked seriously.

"Yes. I refuse to put the wielder of Cassiopeia in danger, even if the root of evil has taken over her heart. You are free to stop her as you wish, but I will have no hand in doing so."

"Then we will waste no more of your time." Using her index finger, Pearl conjured a green light. She stopped herself when Lenoria stood in front of her. "Even now, you choose to protect him?"

"He's our one lead to Cassiopeia," Lenoria explained herself. "Even if he refuses to help us in that regard, it wouldn't be fair to seal him away without giving him a chance to defend himself."

"Need I remind you how much harm Cassiopeia has done on our way to Thule? Now that we're closer to her domain, we should expect her attacks to be more intense! If this man wants to defend such actions, he can explain himself before the Smith!"

"And I say you're full of it, Pearl!" Lenoria stretched out her arms to get her point across. "I won't allow you to do anything to him!"

Cepheus gave Lenoria a quizzical look. "You would defend your enemy? Why?"

Still in her defensive stance, Lenoria looked back at the king. "Heh, you seriously have no idea? If nothing else, you're our prisoner. As your new master, you have to do what I say. But I'm also not going to treat you like garbage; if you don't want to give away your wife's location, I'm cool with that. But I do plan to defeat her master, and will reunite the two of you before long."

"You would do that for us?"

"I know words mean very little, so hang tight long enough for us to prove ourselves to you. I promise not to use your power to harm your wife, but in exchange you have to help us during this little fetch quest Pearl has given me. What do you say?"

Cepheus smiled confidently. "It is amazing that I will be taking orders from a lowborn girl. But the Smith has given you authority over the rest of us; that, I can respect. I will pay no mind to what you do to those who consort with demons and the dead, but I shall be watching you whenever there is conflict between yourself and other people."

"Fine, but I'll add this: Cassiopeia's wielder will pay for what she's done to my Alistair." Lenoria casually pointed at Alistair with her thumb. "She's hurt him with her powers, and I'll be protecting him the same way you're protecting your queen. I will not hand him over to them, just as you won't give us the location of their hideout."

"You are a fair master. It will take time, but we will make a fine team," Cepheus conceded.

***

Present day

Frostbite reddened Lenoria's skin around the wrist, the result from a card being thrown at her which now lied on the grass beneath her, torn in half and soggy. Playing cards were never great weapons, but El Buitre was trained in using them and also knew how to imbue magical power within them. In his hands, the cards were as sharp as knives, and the magical explosion from that last attack meant their new sharpness wasn't their only deadly aspect.

But every ranged weapon had a weakness. In order to be used effectively, the thrower had to remain stationary; if he wanted more mobility in battle, he had to stick to a single attack. What mattered now was how El Buitre was going to act; did he want to run from Lenoria and keep a fair distance from her, or did he want to kill her and stick close?

For Lenoria, it was much better to just keep the pressure on her opponent. Missile weapons rarely fared well in melee because the wielders usually left themselves open during an attack. With a pep in her step, she quickly closed the gap between herself and El Buitre and threw a punch at him. The jaguar cestus missed its mark, but only barely; the attack took El Buitre by surprise, as if a jaguar itself pounced and missed.

El Buitre, for his part, dodged Lenoria's incoming blows. No matter what stance she took, he responded to each punch and kick with quick reflexes. And at one point when the kick was too fast for even himself, he enchanted one of his cards and parried the blow. Lenoria used the card as a foothold, quickly jumping on it and then took a massive leap away from her opponent.

"He's fast and can hold himself in combat." Lenoria locked eyes with her feathered opponent as she caught her breath. "And he can imbue those cards with magic. If Spark had been as skilled as he was, we would have had a harder time back in Hammer's Reach for sure. So why did he wait until now to attack?"

"Back away, little woman. Our business doesn't concern you." El Buitre jumped a few feet backwards and drew two cards from his belt. Icy spikes protruded from the cards before he tossed them, one deflecting after striking Lenoria's duster while the other barely missed her neck.

"You jerks made it our business after you decided to hurt our friends and innocent people. You think I'll just let you do what you want?" The girl released her caestus, letting them hit the ground while she drew the pistol from her holster. "And the way you treat poor Quincy is unforgivable!"

Lenoria opened fire. El Buitre's shoulder sizzled from the bullet, searing his flesh like scalding liquid. His face contorted from the pain, El Buitre let out an agonized scream. To his credit, he didn't drop to the ground, maintaining enough fortitude to remain standing even under so much pain.

"Quincy is a tool, nothing more!" El Buitre's wings spread, and flapped and flapped as they took him upwards. "He has been ours for as long as I can remember. But he's a defect, just like everyone else around me!"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

A tiny red dot formed itself, hovering above El Buitre's index finger. With a sadistic smile, the birdfolk looked past Lenoria and eyed the rest of her party. The abrikandilu did well to keep them all in place, and the girls had stayed closed while also staying away from melee.

All within 20 feet of each other.

Lenoria knew that spell all too well. "Hey, what are you doing with that? Stop it!"

"'What are you doing with that? Drop it?' Heheheh, I was going to use it to blast everything around me, but if you insist!" With a swing of the hand, the small red orb was tossed in the direction of the battlefield. Solveig had Legs pinned to the ground while the abrikandilu had their claws on Alistair, some grabbing to his hammer while other claws grabbed on to his shoulders.

The orb expanded into a ball of flames, exploding once it hit the ground. Centered between Alistair and Solveig, everyone within 20 feet of it was incinerated. Alistair's armor, along with Solveig's, turned red from the burning heat. The abrikandilu instantly turned to ashes, while Legs burned alive. Aquamarine and Cecilia, being the farthest from the explosion, jumped away and lied prone for cover. Darla's body rolled lifelessly in the ground; she was the only one who didn't scream as her corpse was scorched.

Lenoria could not avoid the impact, either. She stood on the outer edge of the explosion, but she misjudged the fireball's position and as a result she was caught in the explosion as well. Her body collapsed on the ground as her vision blurred, with El Buitre laughing as he flew away. "Cepheus..." She ordered weakly.

"You need medical attention!" Cepheus bent a single knee. "My soul is linked to yours. I, too, feel weakened!"

Alistair coughed as he blew away the smoke around him with the force of his hands. He noticed the smoldering corpses of the demons and the dwarf at his feet, the latter which he offered a short, silent prayer. "Blue Jays...I knew they would betray their own, but not to this extreme..."

"Hey, blondie," Cecilia said after a cough. "Check on your girl..."

That was when Alistair took notice of Lenoria's unconscious body near where El Buitre was last seen. "Lenoria!" The boy immediately ran to her side and knelt down to inspect her. He instinctively reached for his cape, which he used to clean the girl's soot-covered face. A million thoughts ran through his mind, but the main one was regret for letting her leave his side for so long. He reached for her lips with his own, and breathed strongly into her lungs. He detected a pulse when he checked, but the girl was unresponsive. "Those Blue Jays will pay for this..."

"Calm down." Solveig lumbered closer to the couple and sat by Lenoria's right side. "Is she still alive?"

"Just barely..." Alistair punched the ground beneath him. "It's all my fault. I should have ordered her to stay back. I-"

"I told you to calm down," Solveig said fiercely. "You're strong, but you have a glaring weakness; you let your emotions blind you to everything else around you."

"I-" Alistair had no coherent retort to that piece of insight. He simply closed his eyes tightly, as if swallowing something unpleasant.

"It doesn't matter how strong you are. If you panic every time this one gets hurt, or any time things don't go your way, your enemies will use that against you. Keep a cool head and find the solution to your problems." Solveig's hand hovered above Lenoria's chest. After planting her woldo on the ground, sharp end face down, her free hand released a bright light. The outline of Lenoria's body took on a golden glow, and in mere moments her burns disappeared. Lenoria weakly opened her eyes and let out a few coughs.

"L-Lenoria..." Alistair stifled a sniffle as he pulled Lenoria closer with a hug. "You're okay..."

"Heheh, of course I am. If I didn't know any better, you sound like you want to cry." While feeling better, her wounds had not completely healed. A tight hug from Alistair was all it took for her to exhibit her pain. "Ow."

"Please stay by my side from now on. I'll make sure no one hurts you like that again."

"Al, honey." Lenoria returned the embrace with a single arm, using the other one for support as she sat up straight. "I had to put that guy under pressure. He was so smug while he watched you fight. And the way he treated his subordinates...I just couldn't let that fly."

"Thanks to your little plan, he got away," Solveig said coldly. "You should have gone in with proper backup. We didn't know how strong he was, and you learned the hard way he shouldn't be underestimated."

Aquamarine, having caught up, nodded along. "You handled yourself well, Lenoria, but Solveig's right. If he had put a little more oomph on that Fireball, I'm not sure we would have been able to save you."

Lenoria sighed through her teeth. "You're right. Ordinarily, those Blue Jays tend to be a little on the weaker side. That guy's strength caught me by surprise. I'll be more careful."

"It's all we can ask for." Alistair offered a hand. "Can you stand?"

"Y-yeah." The girl took Alistair's hand, who then helped her stand back up on her own two feet. Just as they did so, they turned back to the entrance of the forest. Quincy meekly grabbed his bowler hat and walked closer to the party with guilt on his face.

"Blue Jay!" Two words angrily spoken by Alistair put everyone on guard. The boy dragged his hammer as he furiously stared down the bigger man. "You have some nerve showing your face around here."

"S-sorry..." Quincy gulped upon looking back at Alistair. The boy was angry, just like his boss. "I f-forgot to mention the boss gets violent when he's angry."

"Yeah? Well, your neglect nearly cost my girlfriend her life." Alistair hoisted the hammer over his shoulder. "Your putrid organization knows no shame. I will strike you down if that-"

"Al, wait." Lenoria's plea stopped Alistair from charging in with his weapon of choice. "Quincy did nothing wrong. Please don't hurt him."

"You can't be serious," Solveig said incredulously.

"He wears the organization's colors," Alistair retorted. "You seriously can't believe a word this cur says. Not after everything we suffered because of them."

"Al, sweetie." Lenoria limped her way in front of Al, putting herself between him and Quincy. "I know how you feel. I'd be angry, too, if I almost lost you. But you're blowing up on the wrong guy."

"First Cepheus, then this guy." Alistair shook his head disapprovingly. "Why do you insist on defending those who hurt you?"

"Because we should all know better than to judge someone just from the way they look."

Alistair, Solveig, and Aquamarine exchanged glances with one another. They were curious by what Lenoria had meant.

"Look at him, all of you. He can't look you in the eye and he's shaking in his boots. Does that look like someone who wants to hurt you?"

After confirming Quincy's body language was (correctly) how Lenoria described it, Alistair took a moment to scan the bigger man. He looked him up and down, his eye color changing from blue to golden, then back to blue. "My divine senses don't detect any malice coming from him. Lenoria's hunch could be right."

"I'd trust it," Cecilia chimed in. "I had the pleasure of meeting these Blue Jays the other night. They treated this one like nothing more than dumb muscle. And when I was cornered just minutes ago, he looked like the only one who didn't like the thought of tearing me apart."

Alistair and Solveig looked back at Quincy, who smiled meekly at them. They both sighed to each other, and finally put their weapons away. "Fine, we won't do anything to him. We'll have to go over what crimes he committed later, but for now he's free to go. But I will promptly arrest him the minute he acts up. Is that okay with you, Lenoria?"

Lenoria leapt with joy. "Of course. Thank you for understanding, Al."

"Unbelievable. Just don't expect me to watch his every movement," Solveig warned. "If he hurts you, it's your own fault."

"No one's defended me like that before," Quincy said. "My boss always hurt people, but right now I feel bad that he hurt you."

"That's your conscience talking," Lenoria pointed out. "It's an unfortunate fact that we care more for the people around us than complete strangers."

"Huh?"

"I told you before, didn't I?" Lenoria grinned. "I wouldn't mind being your friend. That's probably why you feel bad now; no one likes to see their friends hurt."

"Friends..." Quincy repeated.

Aquamarine giggled. "It's like watching a kid learn things for the first time."

"I don't like it, but at the end of the day Lenoria's the boss of this operation." Solveig picked up her woldo and latched it on her back. "We should get moving and find those pirate friends of yours."

For once, everyone agreed. Cecilia took point, and everyone followed her as she tried to remember where Luno's cave was. On the way there, Alistair tuned out all ongoing conversations and meditated deep in his heart about his main concern: Was Lenoria right to pardon a member of an organization who wanted them dead? Only time could tell.