Orion ran on top of the dune and stopped.

The port city of Hocride entered their vision, with the glistening blue sea further behind it. There was still some distance before arriving.

"Wait, I thought the city was on fire?"

Amelia looked in front of her, in Orion's arms.

"Only a few buildings near the entrance are burning."

Orion confirmed her thoughts, looking with Eagle Eye.

He continued.

"There's a battle going on. That's why it smells like blood."

Karteira looked over his right shoulder.

"I can't see very well, but it seems to me that there's two different battles isn't it?"

"!"

Orion realized after looking at the entrance, where soldiers from two different group were fighting each other.

"Corrupted humans."

"What?!"

Both girls exclaimed, shocked by Orion's words.

He ignored their shock, and looked further on his left, where magic was being used, signaling the present of powerful humans.

'Those two. Aren't they Apostles? Why are they fighting each other?'

A balm man with a medieval armor was fighting on a horse. He had a brown mustache, which he was playing with while firing electric sparks with his other hand.

His eyes were glowing red, something unusual for a human.

The smile on his face was cold, as if everything was according to his plan.

Approximately twenty meters in front of him, a woman with brown skin was one knee on the ground, holding her arm while protecting herself from the sparks with a earth wall that was almost completely destroyed.

Orion could tell, she was about to die.

He turned back to look at the entrance. Many soldiers were fighting the corrupted humans that were fighting like mindless beasts. He looked further into the city and saw other soldiers protecting the citizens.

At that moment, Orion noticed something that made his heart decide which action to take.

He saw many beastmen being embarked at the same time as other citizens in boats. There was no sign of them beings treated roughly. They had clothes like the human citizens, showing the respect this city had for everyone living here.

'So Florian said the truth. Seeing it for myself now, I need to have a talk with the one ruling Hocride.'

'Kamala, was it?'

He looked back on the left, and pointed toward the two Apostles.

"Karteira, are you able to tell me if the woman other there is named Kamala?"

She strained her eyes to notice the two people fighting, but once she saw the magic, she noticed them.

Karteira used the fairy ability that let her see the identity of another individual, and stared at them in turn.

"The man is Ivan Borias, while the woman is indeed Kamala. Kamala Genathis to be precise."

'Bingo.'

"Thank you, Karteira."

Orion prepared to move forward, before Amelia stopped him.

"Wait! Before you go, what are you planning to do?"

"My bad, I forgot to tell you."

Orion nodded.

"Grab me tightly, I'll explain on the run."

Both strengthened their hold on Orion.

Orion slid down the dune, and once at the bottom, began to sprint toward Hocride.

"I want you two to defend the entrance. Destroy every corrupted, no survivor. They lost their humanity at this point, so there is no need to feel guilty."

"Do whatever to protect the remaining soldiers. Karteira, keep your tail hidden, just in case."

The hot wind was flowing around him.

"What about you?"

Karteira asked, her head hidden behind his back to avoid feeling the heat.

"I'll go and help Kamala. I can't have her die right now."

Orion's expression was focused, thinking on how to turn the situation.

"Why?"

She didn't understand.

'Wasn't the Apostles his enemies?'

"I told you before right? Amelia and I had a discussion with an Apostle named Florian. He spoke about three other Apostles that refused to take part in the Ceremony's ritual. They might be corrupt free."

"If they are clean of corruption, they might be potential allies. And this situation is perfect to make her indebted."

"Even better, having more informations about the other Apostles is something I cannot ignore."

Amelia lifted her head toward him.

"What about that other Apostle?"

Orion's face darkened.

"I will have him dead."

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A shiver ran through the girls. The feelings he expressed toward vengeance were terrifying.

"I'll go faster, I feel like we'll be too late if we take much longer."

"Huh?"

The girls couldn't believe his words. Was it that bad?

His hair turned gold and silver, as his feet were covered by a layer of light magic, enhancing his own speed, already improved by the Second Gear.

'Five minutes, I don't have much time to use this combination.'

The burning in his leg began to rapidly take place, as he closed in on the city gate.

Orion arrived near the gate in two minutes.

"Amelia! Karteira! It's on you!"

Karteira climbed his back and jumped over him, while Orion threw Amelia up, letting her regain her center of gravity in the air.

Amelia and Karteira slid on the sand from the momentum, and looked at Orion that continued straight past them. Orion jumped and stepped on the city's wall. He pushed his body left, toward the fight between Ivan and Kamala.

He ran a few meters on the wall, before stepping back on the sand, surrounded by both groups of soldiers.

The girls stopped sliding, looked at the fight in front of them and prepared themselves for the carnage.

But before leaving, something happened to Orion.

'Urgh!'

He touched his chest, an unpleasant feeling grabbing hold of his senses.

'It doesn't hurt, but what is this feeling?'

He looked around, still running at full speed.

The red eyes of the corrupted soldiers all turned to him. Even the ones that were inside the city turned toward his direction even though they couldn't see him due to the high walls.

'Why are they looking at me? Why did they stop just to stare at me?'

The corrupted were trying to attack him, unsuccessfully.

'Something's not right.'

Hocride's soldiers looked at the man running toward their Lord's direction, also capturing their current enemies attention. They took this chance to lower the number of corrupted soldiers, hoping in their heart that he wasn't another enemy striking at her.

'One minute left!'

Kamala was in sight, she was about to be killed by a lightning spear.

"Hah! That's all you are in the end. A weak woman! That's what you get for not drinking the sweet nectar Lord Elliot created for us!"

The man licked his lips.

"If becoming a beast like you is the result of drinking that disgusting sludge, then I prefer dying."

She spat blood on the ground, a look of anger in her eyes.

Large cuts and burns were all over her body. She was covered in bandages, but even that wasn't sufficient to stop the blood from dripping on the white sand.

"Then I'll gladly do that. I'll take over your city, and transform it to something more to my taste!"

'Fuck. I don't want to die.'

Fear began to take over Kamala. She thought about the friends she finally managed to make recently. She thought about the promise to form an alliance.

'I was too weak in the end. I couldn't keep my promises.'

"Over my dead body!"

She screamed her last words, full of spite toward Ivan.

Without a single word, Ivan threw the lightning spear in her direction.

Kamala braced herself, looking at the spear piercing her last protection.

"I respect those words."

A voice of man she didn't knew echoed in her left ear, and before she could understand anything, she was in her arm, away from the spot she was just before. Her earth shield shattered, leaving only dust behind.

Orion stared into the light brown eyes of the woman in his arm. She had short curly silver hair stopping at her shoulders.

Her silver brows were showing the shock she was feeling from being alive. She was sure to die.

She looked at the face of the man smiling at her. She recognized him.

"Are you... Orion?"

He nodded, straightening his posture while placing her on the hot sand again. He looked at her, and at the peculiar clothes she was wearing.

Her golden dress was like a flower. From her waist, it separated into six flowing pieces of cloths, showing her naked legs completely, while still perfectly keeping her underwear out of view.

The dress stopped at her cleavage, which would show a great amount of skin if not for the white cloth that seemed to cover her body under the dress, attached with a knot to the back of her neck, and another in her back, which was not visible.

She had two earrings. Two diamond shaped rocks, one blue, and one green. On her head, she wore a gold hairband matching her dress.

After being dropped by Orion, she looked at herself, but fell both knees to the ground almost immediately, having lost too much blood and magic energy.

Her vision began to blur, but she kept her mind working, fighting to not fall unconscious.

Orion looked in front of him, and shockingly fast, bent his body backward.

A spear of lightning grazed his body, before planting itself far behind him.

He returned to his straight position, looking at the man on his horse, Ivan Borias.

"I know you! You! The man who killed Kiel during our ritual!"

"Can you do something about that loud voice of yours? I remember you not being so loud at that ritual."

He provoked Ivan without meaning to, as he was really annoyed about his loud shouting.

Sound of teeth grinding could be heard.

"Give your name before I pierce your body!"

"No."

Orion refused. He knew that his presence wasn't part of the man's plan. He was even happy to have destroy his opportunity to kill Kamala.

The horse began to agitate under Ivan. He kicked it hard on the flank, stopping the horse from moving again.

"You little brat!"

He threw another lightning spear, another one that didn't connect, because Orion simply dodged it by turning his body.

Orion looked at Kamala on the floor.

"You stay here, I'll take care of this for you."

"Wai-"

She tried to stop him, but she finally lost consciousness, falling head first on the hot sand.

~

"Do you think he arrived in time?"

Amelia slashed one of the corrupted soldier down. His blood was soaking the white sand, turning it red.

So many dead bodies littered the area. The more time passed, the redder the sand turned.

"Most likely. We're talking about Orion here."

Karteira punched a man with red eyes right in the face, sending him crashing on the ground. She tried not to make too much of a mess with her gauntlets.

Amelia stepped back, and her back touched the tail of Karteira, that surprised her.

"HIEE! Oh, it's your tail. Don't scare me like that!"

"It's not my... fault, alright?"

She punched another upcoming corrupted away.

"It's weird to not... see you with a... tail anymore!"

Amelia, Ceres and Leima, her earth and lightning daggers in each hands, slashed at the next victims. She wasn't caring about the carnage she was creating.

She dismembered the corrupted without any remorse. In that matter, she was like Orion. Living with him for so long changed her.

A corrupted didn't deserve any compassion. It meant that a part of your heart was already warped with disgusting beliefs.

She remembered that a many soldiers remained uncorrupted when Orion was escaping the Ceremony. Coincidentally, those were Florian, Kamala and Eric's armies that had little to none corrupted members. Olivia had an inherited army, which she wasn't able to control at the time.

A corrupted soldier tried to attack both of them at the same. They both reacted at the same time. Amelia attacked his upper body, while Karteira punched the corrupted right in the guts.

The moment her fist connected, a dark purple sphere got ejected from it's mouth, disintegrating instantly, as it died after having it's arms cut off and the sphere removed from his body.

"Karteira, wasn't that a dark orb?"

"The thing inside a corrupted? The core of the Corrupted Lords? I think it was."

They both looked at the dead corpse on the ground. They nodded and both began to run, separating from each other.

Karteira punched her way through a high number of corrupted soldiers. For each soldiers, she did the exact same thing as before.

Avoiding Hocride's soldiers, she punched the guts of all the corrupted soldiers with so much force that their core exploded from within their body.

'56! 57! 58!'

As the battle addict she was, she counted every kill she made. She was having a lot of fun.

On Amelia's side, she slashed the stomach of the first soldier she faced. She was used to butchering the dead preys Orion brought, so the sight of guts falling to the ground weren't as repulsive as she expected.

She kicked the corrupted and began to look inside it's open wound.

'So that's were the dark cores form. Alright!'

She ran toward the next corrupted, and pierced the spot where she expected the core to be.

'Right in the weak spot! I felt it.'

Slightly up from the navel, the dark purple core seemed to form. So she began to plunge her daggers at the same spot every time.

After an hour, there was no remaining corrupted soldiers outside, so they moved inside the city to clean the rest.

There wasn't much left thanks to the great work of the guards.

Thirty minutes later, the city was cleaned from all corrupted.

Two women walked to each other, preparing for a high-five.

"452. How did you do?"

Amelia asked Karteira.

"423... Fuck. I lost!"

They slapped each other's hand, creating a powerful slap sound.

"Lady Kamala! My Lord is she alright?!"

Many voices began to enter their ears.

"He seems to be back. Let's go see him."

They both walk toward the entrance. The soldiers made space for the women that helped them.

During their cleaning inside the city walls, the soldiers took it upon themselves to pile the bodies of the enemies soldiers further away from the entrance. They would deal with it later.

Amelia and Karteira moved past the gate, and looked on their right.

"Yes, it's him. But..."

"His face. Something went wrong."

Orion was slowly walking with woman in his arms. His expression was everything except happiness.

He was terribly angry.