Aqua dodged slash after slash, the speed of this woman was impressive, even while being so exhausted that she could barely stand she still fought so fiercely.

Each of the swings had enough force to cut a good amount of forest, and each lounge struck with immense power that could punch through the thick castle walls.

Her wounds reopened and it seemed to not slow her down at all.

While to Aqua’s eyes, she moved incredibly slowly, for a normal elf or any other species in her old world it would be incredibly fast and unavoidable.

The woman jumped back as her slashes were being dodged and used some kind of enchantment spell, her blade glowed with green light for a moment.

A moment later she charged back at Aqua, the speed of her attack was much faster than before, and yet it seemed to lack finesse unlike before, it was just brute power.

“Just power alone isn’t enough” Aqua said casually as she caught Azure’s blade within her hand and threw it away from them.

The warrior in front of her gasped in surprise, as her life-force-enchanted blade was caught so easily, but she couldn’t quit yet, she needed to redeem herself for her failure.

“I'M NOT DONE YET!” The warrior screamed as she launched a barrage of punches at the red-haired elf in front of her.

Aqua smiled as her form shimmered with a bronze aura for a moment before dissipating.

The moment the first punch connected it was like hitting a brick wall.

Warrior’s hand bled as she kept punching the monster in front of her, this being might look like an elf but her power would make her question it.

Azure kept asking herself a single question, ‘Why was an elf here?’.

In her mind she must have worked for the attackers, but why.

Why would an elf help anyone in the Red Dawn, she thought for a moment before concluding her mind.

Elven Slaves, elves that were sufficiently mind-broken obeyed their master no matter what, but even then Azure couldn’t imagine someone enslaving such a powerful elf.

She kept attacking her with kicks and punches, she even picked up blades from her fallen comrades and yet they all shattered.

Even with all the power she gained she couldn’t even land a scratch at her.

Azure kept kicking and punching but she seemed to do more damage to herself than the girl in front of her.

She didn’t know who this was, but she needed to get rid of her, as she was working for the attackers.

She noticed that the girl hadn’t even moved a single step ever since she switched to using her hands and legs.

There was no way that the red-haired elf in front of her was someone’s slave, and if she was, Azure dreaded who could have captured someone like her.

But it still didn’t make sense to Azure, if someone powerful enough to withstand her last ditch life force enchanted blade existed, why didn’t she hear of her?

Then it dawned on her, was this elf one of the Red Dawn Inquisitors?

It was said that each of them was many times more powerful than Azure, and their identity was secret.

Her strength was failing her, the transformation earlier has exhausted her, and now fighting against this unknown left her barely standing.

“Why would an elf work for Red Dawn who regularly enslave our people? ” her arms shook as she barely made herself stand upright.

“Why do you serve those who hate us?” She fell to her knees as her strength finally left her.

Azure had no choice but to accept her destiny, she would die, and perhaps that’s what she deserved for failing her duty.

As her eyes closed she at least could find solace it took a Red Dawn inquisitor to kill her.

***

Aqua had no idea why she was asked such a question, after all, she just arrived here and she had no idea what Red Dawn even was.

She didn’t have time to question her as the woman collapsed in front of her feet.

She was truly impressed with her performance, she was more powerful than most elven champions she met in her old world.

‘Champions that were slaughtered like pigs by the god’ shook her head in denial, she did not want to think about what happened before, but it still plagued her mind.

She liked to believe herself emotionally distanced, and yet she couldn’t deny that she still was hurt from the loss she suffered.

She shook her head again as she knelt down in front of the unconscious elven warrior.

She didn’t want someone this powerful to die for nothing, she turned her on her back before placing her hand on her forehead.

Aqua was torn between fully restoring her with time authority or using her flames, there was one more issue, she displayed her monstrous form only after a prayer in the fight, using her authority over time would most certainly make her lose her blessing, and most certainly draw the ire of her god.

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She didn’t want another fight this soon after coming to this world.

She was certainly not afraid of the divine in this world, but fighting them without knowing anything would be ill-advised even to her.

After all even weaker beings could beat something much more powerful by using unknown methods and strategies.

She decided against going with restoring the woman using the Authority of time, and she did not want to use more of her powerful spells to help her, after all, it would be a bad idea to reveal what she was capable of, while she believed no one could observe her using magical methods it was good to be cautious.

She pressed her palm on her forehead as she closed her eyes, she channeled her power.

The tendrils of flame spread over her body cauterizing all wounds and stopping the bleeding that she sustained while trying to fight Aqua, after stopping the bleeding the flames gained a golden hue as all of the wounds were covered by them and disappeared from her body.

Aqua let the flame disappear as she made sure the woman wouldn’t have any scars remaining.

As the tendrils of flame dissipated, the tendrils of water took their place, while the flame fixed all damage, Aqua wanted to restore her energy levels so she could finally talk to her.

Watery tendrils crept inside her mouth as the warrior’s body glowed.

She saw her take a deep breath before coughing loudly expelling excess water.

As the warrior gasped for air and with stare less hostile gaze pointed at Aqua, she asked one question “Can we talk now?”

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The lab floor was completely covered with crumpled research notes and various kinds of containers, some were empty while some contained various organs and body parts and some were shattered and their contents leaked over the floor.

The Centre of the lab was taken by a massive container with purple liquid bubbling inside it, multiple smaller tubes were left floating inside the liquid.

It was so large that one could fit multiple humans inside quite comfortably, multiple pipes were leading outside the container leading into walls bringing the unknown liquid elsewhere.

One large table took part of the space with magical lights lighting the entire lab to not leave a single shadow.

The old man who looked like he passed well into his 100s and yet looked like he was as fit as he was in his youth read a message he received from his loyal servant, a message that brought his spirit to the new high.

He could feel he was nearing the end of his life, he tried everything to avoid death and yet it was now here ready to collect him.

But it seems it was not over, his most loyal advisor used one of the rare dimensional mailbox items to deliver him the news that could make even dead dance.

The specimen he was searching for was captured and is currently being transported to the City of Razul.

Transporting a specimen through Red Dawn was the easiest route available to him, as the nobles could easily be bribed, and he did not plan to spare any expenses.

Annoyed by the failures of finding Holy Blood specimen, he decided to hire the legendary Order of the Golden Rose.

They were more expensive than any other mercenary band but he did not regret it now.

He would pay even more than the promised 500,000 crowns just to finally get his hands on the Holy Blood.

Where all others failed the Golden Rose was able to not only capture but promise quick transport, as his Observer described they were true professionals, unlike other bands he hired.

His decades of research led him to findings that would lead to the creation of the Immortality elixir, he was able to devise a recipe that would grant user youth and immortality.

And yet the only thing that he lacked for years was the Holy Blood, but soon he will have it, soon he won’t have to fear death.

He stood up from his chair and approached the empty container before nodding to himself “I will soon have the holy blood, and I will be Immortal”

It was his servant who suggested hiring Golden Rose, at the beginning he hesitated due to their price but it was the right decision.

He approached the door of the lab before making his exit.

Perhaps his servant could deliver the specimen faster than the Golden Rose as he always seemed more reliable than anyone else, but he decided to leave it to his most trusted servant who made his life work possible.

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The transportation was ready, a carriage with the cage containing the captive elf was fully loaded and horses were fed and rested, in mere moments they would be on the road to the City of Razul.

The elf prisoner has been sedated and is fully unconscious, her cage was exposed but it wouldn’t be for long as they finished their preparations.

“The blessed child still hasn’t come after us...” Golden Fang rubbed his chin as he thought about it.

Perhaps it wasn’t the blessed child that killed his men but an actual monster, yet he did not want to believe a mere monster would be able to defeat his finest fighters.

It still gnawed at his soul, he couldn’t stop thinking about it but it must not distract him from the mission.

It was decided that before sunset, Golden Fang, Observer, and 4 Thorns would escort the carriage while the rest would stay and provide cover with a small detachment of remaining forces executing another part of his plan.

He instructed the remaining forces to prioritize their survival if possible and escape in case of Blessed Child’s attack.

Everything was ready, and all that was being waited for was Observer himself, he insisted on coming with them and yet he was late.

But he couldn’t blame the man too much even if he seemed to be more than he let on, Observer was still old and frail and most certainly couldn’t move too fast, and yet they couldn’t wait for him forever.

Golden Fang walked past the cage before loudly shouting an order to the escorting unit” Put a cover over the cage and let’s go! MOVE MOVE!”

4 Thorns would ride their horses making sure to cover each flank as they travelled.

As he shouted his order the unit as a well-oiled machine put a cloth cover over the cage making sure no outsider could see the contents before Golden Fang himself jumped on the carriage and took the horse reins.

He was just about to shout an order to go before noticing the observer right next to him sitting on the coach box.

The old man creepily smiled at him before speaking “To think you would just leave me here”

Observer shook his head before tapping his cane on the wooden floor of the coaching box, he turned back to the covered cage before casually speaking to him “You did succeed where many others failed, so I’m not overly disappointed but do not try to get rid of me again, it would make my master quite unhappy”

A chill ran down Golden Fang’s spine as he heard the man speak, it was clear to him now, that this man might look like an old man but he was something more.

While before he had the voice of a weak frail old man, now he could sense a power behind the words, and not to speak of the issue of him appearing next to him.

There weren’t many people that could sneak up on him so easily, especially with his specialty in stealth, and yet the man was here.

He didn’t want to speak to the observer too much so he just nodded his head, the man crept him out too much as he did not like unknowns like him, once they delivered the prisoner to the City of Razul they would never have to interact again after all.

Golden Fang urged the horses forward as they started the final phase of their mission, delivery of the prisoner to the client.