Azure rushed through the forest at speeds she never thought possible before, she felt stronger than ever before, and she felt faster than ever before.

She could not have noticed it before from the exhaustion, but the moment Aqua healed her she felt her stamina, strength, and speed rise exponentially.

As she was now, she felt not even the full-scale ambush from before could even scratch her.

And yet she wished to not dwell on the past as much, her mind was consumed by only one thought 'Find Sheira and escape back to her country'

She pushed her body to the limits, using the trees to launch herself further and more.

And yet the red-haired girl from before was effortlessly keeping up with her newfound speed.

Her pride would not allow her to fall behind someone so she pushed herself to rush even faster.

She turned her head for a split second as she noticed the girl right behind her, following her closely but still letting her take the lead.

Her pride was hurt, but she still was happy that someone as powerful as this girl agreed to help her.

It was only a matter of time before they reached the road, as the forest cleared two girls arrived at the dirt road, after a moment of investigation Azure noticed a track showing which way the enemy went.

'These tracks are fresh, they will surely lead us directly to the enemy' she thought to herself.

She turned to Aqua before asking "What do you think, is it likely that the enemy took Sheira this way, or would they still be holding her at the camp"

Even if the girl was practically a stranger to her she still wanted to hear her opinion.

Aqua shook her head before answering "It is likely that they would try to transport her as soon as possible to their destination, especially after learning about the destruction of their strike squad but it is quite likely that the wagon is a diversion and she is still held at the camp"

What Aqua said made sense to Azure, they surely would try to distract the pursuers while transporting the captive princess to wherever they wanted.

She rubbed her face as she groaned, she was unsure of how to proceed.

The wagon would already be many hours away at best, and at worst it could already be out of the Ebon Forest.

'If they reach the main road we won't be able to track her, and my shame would be too great for me to bear...' Her thoughts gnawed at her so much it started to hurt her in both body and spirit.

She felt a gentle hand touch her on the shoulder, making her snap out of her thoughts.

Azure turned around and saw a smiling red-haired girl, Azure thanked the gods for having someone that could help her snap out of her destructive thoughts.

If she were to fall into depression alone, the chances of rescuing Sheira were slim to none.

If Aqua didn't appear when she lost her dear friend she would most certainly taken her own life by now.

She did not speak with her much, but just having the presence of someone else was enough to at least keep her cool.

"I know how you feel, you lost someone very important to you," Aqua said solemnly

Aqua stood in front of her and gently whispered "I too have lost all that I help dear, that is why I will help you find your friend with all of my strength, I promise we will find your friend"

Aqua stretched out her hand before pulling Azure back to her feet.

Azure could only nod at her words, she had no strength nor will to speak, and yet she felt her suspicion of the red-haired girl drop, she felt that she could trust her.

Azure smiled before muttering "Thank you, After all of this is done I will make sure that you are properly rewarded"

Aqua shook her head before casually answering "There is no need for a reward, I wish to help you out of my free will"

Azure smiled warmly as she finally had the will to stand proud as she was before "Well what are we waiting for then, let's go after that damn wagon, with our speed we should be able to reach it!"

"Indeed, let us go lady Azure" Aqua responded as both women rushed to the direction of the tracks.

As both women ran at breakneck speeds Aqua only had one thought in her mind 'She finally trusts me, I promise you no harm will come to your little friend or you'

Aqua smiled warmly as she felt that she finally had gained a friend who wouldn't be taken away by the evil of the divine.

'Perhaps I should make sure that the goddess couldn't reach her again...' she dismissed the thought as soon as it came.

After all the blessing Azure had obtained was a true blessing, and she felt no malice behind it, but she still must be wary of the divine behind it, no matter how benevolent they appear they will always be horrible creatures that have the capacity for mass destruction.

***

Aqua observed the blessing placed upon Azure as they rushed towards the carriage that was likely transporting her friend, the blessing was seemingly burning even brighter than before, It was too suspicious.

She tried her best to analyze, to find a clue, or just a trace of the divine corruption.

The corruption would eventually disregard her free will and force her to obey the divine, and yet she could not find anything remotely similar to what divine beings usually did.

She acted like it was alright, she wanted to believe that this blessing might have been true and pure, and yet she refused to believe it as she observed it grow more powerful.

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Aqua knew how divinity operates, they cared not for the mortals they cursed with their blessing of control.

And yet this one was eluding her, either the god that placed the blessing was truly benevolent, or what was more likely to her was that she was powerful enough to hide it from her eyes.

No other "god" was able to hide its influence from her eyes in the past, and the deities of this world seemed to be even less competent at hiding their influence.

Finding that there was at least one that did what no others could was alarming, she was close to a pawn of a powerful god, a god that she could never trust, and yet the same god's blessing showed no trace of the corruption, no chains on Azure's soul, no burden, it was impossible.

She knew her eyes could see through any and all divine deceit, and yet the only logical explanation was that there was no catch with this blessing.

''It's impossible, no god would freely give so much power without trying to control their chosen'' Aqua muttered to herself, quiet enough that Azure could not hear her even while the elf was only a couple of meters in front of her.

She couldn't rationalize it, and thus it was not worth the effort to look into it at the current time, she had to investigate this suspicious blessing.

But what was even more important for her right now was to make sure Azure trusted her enough that she could take a closer look inside her soul.

It was possible that the god that blessed her was interested in the elf princess that got kidnapped, and only gave its blessing to retrieve their guinea pig and would dispose of Azure once her usefulness had run out.

She would not allow it, after all ever since she saw these two she grew to like them, after all, they reminded her of herself in the distant past, and she would be damned if she let either one die now.

The first time she gazed at the blessing it truly looked like it had no strings attached, but as it grew more powerful so did her suspicion.

She shook her head to dismiss the thoughts as she noticed Azure signaling her that they approached a stone path that connected to the main road, with a carriage parked on the side.

What was suspicious was that the carriage and its escort just stood on the side, chatting and laughing.

Azure stared at the carriage, thinking of a plan to take back the princess, and yet why was the carriage here, they should have been close to the border already and yet they were just parked much further away.

'Something isn't right here...' Azure knew something was amiss here, and she was sure her red-haired friend knew too.

She felt this was a trap, a trap that could kill her old self, but now, she felt so much more powerful.

'Bring it on you monsters, I will show you what it means to mess with the royal family' she gritted her teeth as she remembered what these monsters did to her people.

But she still needed to investigate, her friend could be under the white cloth covering the carriage.

She needed to be careful and yet bloodlust filled her head.

She wrapped her fingers around her sword as she shouted "GIVE ME BACK MY FRIEND YOU MONSTERS!"

As she unsheathed her blade she was already close to the enemy, her speed even surprising herself, while they heard her shout the first unfortunate soul was not even aware that Azure drew her sword as his head was separated from his body.

Her eyes glowed green in her anger as the next unfortunate victim was caught by her acidic gaze, melting him and leaving nothing but a puddle of acid where an enemy once stood.

She rushed towards another enemy that tried to fling a fireball at her, her blade splitting the mage in two.

Her bloodlust increased more and more, so much that it was suffocating for anyone unfortunate enough to be in her path.

The rest of the hooded figures tried to flee, and yet they were caught one by one, only one was left alive.

One that was about to be killed like others, but before she could strike him down a barrier of fire blocked her blade as the hooded figure fell to the ground, trembling in fear.

Azure slashed at the barrier over and over.

"Wait Azure, princess isn't here!" Aqua called to her, she was next to the carriage, cloth removed from it revealing the cage was empty.

But Azure did not listen, as she kept slashing at the cowering enemy, to no avail as the flame barrier stood firm.

Aqua approached her before pulling Azure backward, making Azure fall on her back.

Aqua put her hands on her head before forcefully turning her to the empty carriage.

"Look!, the carriage is empty, this was a diversion!" Aqua yelled before grabbing Azure's hand and lifting her.

She smiled as she watched Azure regain some of her sense, that frenzy was certainly making Aqua suspicious of her goddess.

Aqua smiled warmly letting Azure regain her sense before saying "We need that man alive, otherwise we will never know where they are keeping your friend!"

Azure nodded at her as both turned their attention to the cowering enemy, which now was trying to crawl away but was trapped inside a barrier of flame.

He tried punching and kicking, and yet the barrier did not budge.

"Now you would like to answer some of our questions, wouldn't you" Aqua smiled warmly as she crouched in front of the trembling hooded figure, her fingers gently removing his hood, revealing a somewhat handsome face, and yet nothing too special, the man had brown eyes and long black hair with scars decorating his face.

Azure wanted to interrogate this survivor herself, but admittedly it was not her specialty, she was better suited for battle.

'Aqua seems to have this under control, I can't believe I lost control and almost killed the only source of information we have left' Azure thought as she investigated the carriage, no trace of Sheira was to be found here.

She was tricked, and she was tricked again, these people shamed her enough, and her anger was boiling over so much that you could taste it in the air.

She leaned against the carriage before Aqua turned back to her in the next moment, Azure observed the red-haired girl place a hand on the man's forehead before burning him and leaving nothing but ash.

'I should have guessed she was a magic user... I do not want that to happen to me' she joked to herself as she walked ahead to meet Aqua.

She smiled before casually saying "That man only knew that their orders were to escort the carriage deeper inside the Ebon Forest, and they did not know what they were transporting"

She stopped for a moment letting Azure take in the information before continuing "More information would likely be left over in their camp"

Azure lightened up slightly before saying "We already know where it is, and if we rush with the full speed we could reach it very quickly, I do not want them to hold Sheira longer than they already are!"

Aqua smiled before answering casually while placing her hand on Azure's shoulder" Azure, there are no guarantees that Sheira will be held at the camp, all we can do is get information on where they are headed"

Azure sulked a little before Aqua interrupted her again she stepped back a couple of meters before closing her eyes "You won't tell anyone about this, right?"

She was about to question her red-haired friend before she sprouted flaming wings from her back.

'I don't think anything can surprise me anymore' she thought as she responded to Aqua's question "Not a soul, you have my word! But since when do elves have wings?!"

Aqua laughed at her response as she restrained her divine form to only wings, not revealing any other divine aspects to not attract the suspicion of the deities more than she already did.

"It's a secret" she smiled as she grabbed Azure and flew high into the sky.

"I don't think it is a good idea for me to say that I'm afraid of heights?" Azure Squirmed in her embrace as she flew hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye.

"Don't worry I won't drop you, this way it will be faster, we will be back there in less than a minute!" Aqua laughed slightly as she answered her.

She grabbed Azure and wrapped herself around her with arms tightly holding her before encasing her fragile companion in a thin veil of flame, the veil that would protect her against friction while flying at hypersonic speeds.

Aqua flapped her wings as she flew at speeds surpassing sound towards the encampment of the bandits.

"WAIT I WASN'T READY!!" Azure shouted as Aqua carried her towards the encampment.