Hades ran back towards the town, he had completed the mission but had made a mistake as well, he had let a kid escape, a fucking kid, it might sound a bit harsh but he was a person known, not only for his strength but for his responsible nature as well.

If he heard at such thing he would laugh at the person, being so responsible that he let a kid entrusted to him escape.

Now that he thought about it, even he himself couldn’t figure out if his head was shoved up his ass these few days, he was not acting like a leader or the strongest person in this town, he was not acting like the lord of the prison either, he was not even acting as himself.

It might have been only for a few days, but since the moment they left the prison or since the moment he came to this town he couldn’t tell exactly from when, his thoughts had become shallow, he didn’t know if that was because of fear from inferno, or something else but he was just glad he had caught on before it had become too late.

While thinking he was backtracking his path, just in case Night was here, he knew that the chance was little but he still did it, he visited the shops around as well, he didn’t know what had happened to the kid, but this mistake really hurt his pride, he just couldn’t accept the reality of the situation, for someone who had pride in himself, such little mistake, was simply too illogical.

He knew it sounded childish, like noting much happened, parents happen to lose children and then find them playing, but he used to be responsible for the lifes of thousands, yet here he lost one, some people might think that it was just a small matter a thousand and one are different situations, but looking at it from another way, if you cant achieve something little how can you achieve something big.

Hades visited all the shops in the surrounding and became alert, their situation was not simple after all, they were all fugitives travelling with a god, its true that Hades hoped that the Kingdom didn’t know about them yet, but there were too many people who saw him, even if they lied it is a matter of time for them to be found out, and the easiest target in this group and the most important one is no doubt Night, when Inferno said that Night was burden Hades hadn’t said anything not because he was scared but because he agreed.

Night was the weakest in the group, that was a clear fact, but whats more important, it was a well known fact that Day had sacrificed himself for him, after all the guards of the prison knew that, so if they captured him they would have a hold on the group, and that person was in Hades care, he didn’t know if Day had thought through all that when he made the groups but if he did Hades was with the kid to protect him in case of possible attack, and he had failed, he just hoped that Night had decided to follow the last person and was not kidnapped but he didn’t know how to confirm that as well.

So he came to the only decision he could, to meet with the others and explain the situations, the other should have finished their tasks by now.

When he got close he saw the look on Days face looking at him and was surprised, the kid must have seen him alone and got a grasp on the situation but he didn’t seem angry, he was just expressionless, this kid didn’t seem like the one who was going insane in the cage of the prison because of his missing brother.

After Day heard the explanation he remained calm and asked about the results of the missions while giving his report as well.

Day ”the guy I followed was a bust, the hunter was using things he had prepared in advance, first preparing the thing he wants then taking the quest and finishing it almost immediately”

Inferno shook his head as well [the kid I followed had a good instinct, but its not a skill]

Hades was a bit in a daze from Days normal behavior, but he still explained his finding.

Hades”I think it’s the girl, when we got to the forest the girl always headed to the right direction, she didn’t look like she knew where she was heading but always ended up finding the things she was looking for”

Day noded, after listening to Hades words, he came to the same opinion as well.

Day”so where is she now”

Hades thought for a sec, the moment he found that Night was missing he went to look for him, but thankfully it wasn’t late, so she was probably going to exchange her quests for money.

Hades “probably the guild”

The rest were of the same opinion and headed that way immediately.

Hades looked at the back of Day”I am real…”

‘don’t worry about it” Day interrupted him before Hades could finish, it was true that he was disappointed in Hades, but he didn’t blame him, after all he knew his brother, it wasn’t unexpected for him to pull a stunt like that.

Also Hades seems to have forgotten the past of those kids, they were in the worst prison and escaped, something not many, if any at all could say, and they didn’t end up there cause they had a nice life, he and Night had pride as well, one which didn’t come from overconfidence but from the fact that they survived their nightmarish childhood, and Night escaping from Hades was something impressive on its own, even if it was foolish.

Of course that shouldn’t be taken the wrong way, Day was still extremely worried, but his intuition told him that his brother wasn’t in danger currently, if anything the answer to their problem was the thing they were looking for originally, if they get the girl with the ‘search” skill they couldn find Night with it as well.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

After they arrived in front of the Hunter building then waited, they didn’t dare to go inside, that would just create more trouble, but they didn’t need to wait for long after half an hour Sera came out and started to walk to her house, she didn’t notice them at all.

She was an wood knife, not even near their level, unless they wanted to, she wouldn’t be able to detect them even if they were right next to her.

After she went home the three people wondered what they should do now, so far so good but what do they do to get her help.

Inferno[why don’t we just go and tell her to take us where we want] as god he couldn’t really understand why those two thought about what they should do, the person they needed was right in front of them, they just needed to ask.

Day once again spoke his words and the words of Inferno since Night wasn’t here.

Hades ” she wont want to do it, she is a hunter after all”

Inferno[then just pay her, whats the problem]

Hades shook his head ”we cant do that either for the same reason we cant go into the hunters guild, there is high chance they know about us and our faces, If they catch her dealing with us there would be many problems so she wouldn’t do it, but I don’t wish to do something too drastic either”

Day “I came up with a plan, but you wont like it”

Hades and Inferno looked at him.

Sera went out and started to head towards her usual diner.

On the way there, from the dark street a band of muscular guys came out and surrounded her.

The people on the street saw that but didn’t say anything, nobody wanted to get caught in the situation.

Sera quickly looked around but couldn’t find an opening.

Sera glared at them ”what do you want ”.

She looked at them fearlessly, but inside she was scared and looking for a way to escape, she didn’t know what she did to meet this guys but she was more than clear that she couldn’t win if she fought them.

Guy 1 “us, nothing but a certain person does, and he would pay us a lot if we take you to him, so how about coming with us”

Saying that one of the big guys put his hand around her so she couldn’t escape.

Sera nodded and started to follow them, it was obvious that these guys were criminals, if she refused in this small town she wouldn’t be able to escape.

She had no choice but to obey, but as they went into a dark street corner she had never expected for the muscular guys all around her to suddenly fall on the ground like a bag of potatoes, before she could even react an arm stretched and grabbed her, the person hugged her in a way she couldn’t see and move, it was only for a moment but when he let her go she saw two masked people, and what was incredible was that she was not in the town but in a forest near it.

Day looked at the masked Hades with amazement in his eyes, no wondered he couldn’t win, what they had was really a sparring match, if it was a real fight Day would have died without even knowing what hit him.

But that wasn’t the time for amazement, his brother was missing, even if he wasn’t going insane he still didn’t want to be separated from him more than was needed, he looked at Sera, from here on, it depended on her actions.

Day”we are in need of your skill, if you help us we wont harm you and will even reward you”

Day spoke with a modified voice, the devises were used as children toys so they were easy to acquire, they could modify a person voice in many ways, the downside being they were easy to notice but that didn’t matter here.

Sera took a look around once again, she knew that refusing probably wasn’t an option, but she didn’t want to be lead by the nose, from the question she knew they needed her skill, she was surprised they knew, since she usually hid it, but it was truly impossible to hide something in this world.

Sera noded ”ok, I will help you, but to do that I neeAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”

Her arm fell on the ground, blood gushed out from her wound but stopped almost immediately, she screamed like never before, an unimaginable pain took over, her body went limp and she fell on the ground grabbing the cut place, she couldn’t even roll from the pain, her body was limp to the point of being immovable, she started to feel dizzy she was about to pass out but suddenly the shock from a kick to her stomach, that sent her flaying, brought her back, she lost the view of the world around her.

Day “I told you that if you help we wont harm you, but don’t try to deceive us, I don’t need your whole body, whether you take us to our target with or without limbs is of no concern to me”

With tears in her eyes Sera looked up and saw the person standing above her head, immense pain was running through her body, a pain which could not be described, but another feeling born from that pain quickly took the bigger part of her mind now, fear.

Hades and Inferno both spectated and didn’t speak at all.

In his hands the red flame battle axe was giving of its beautiful savagery, the little blood on it had already evaporated, the injury on the girls hand was burned not letting her die from blood loss, she was entirely in Days hand.

The swing with which he cut the hand was slow for Hades, but even most silver knifes shouldn’t be able to doge it in time, as for this wood knife who wasn’t specialized in fighting, it might as well have been at light speed.

After they saw the ruthless look in Days eyes (author note:thank god I double checked, I almost wrote “ass” instead of “eyes” by mistake), Hades and Inferno started to look at him differently, they didn’t like this plan, for the righteous Hades he really hope they wouldn’t need to do it that way, and for the prideful Inferno, even if he wasn’t against killing bugs, that didn’t mean he liked to bully them, and Day knew that.

Day wanted to find Night fast, he wasn’t sure if he would have used this plan if that wasn’t the case, but it was.

He still didn’t want to do it this way since he wasn’t an unemotional killer, if you could feel noting or pleasure from causing immense pain to a human there was something wrong with you.

That is why the choices were there, she cooperated and she wont get hurt or she would try something and she will suffer.

Night had the instinct for danger, while Day had the instinct for lies, he sensed the moment she tried to bullshit, and he didn’t hesitate, he knew that in those situation hesitation was for idiots, you needed ruthlessness, nobody would be afraid of empty words, but all actions will bring them on the knees, and also he simply didn’t care about this girl, let alone her arm he would chop her into pieces if that could bring Night immediately, in his eyes infinite number of her were not equal to one Night.

Day smashed the end of the axe next to her laying head , shivers ran down her spine.

Day”move up you head and look me in the eyes”.

Sera did what she was told, she didn’t dare to disobey, she looked at the masked face, but all her attentions was placed on his eyes in the holes of the mask, in them a little flame was dancing, that flame looked concerned but at the same time uncaring and wanting to engulf her like she was dried wood.

His eyes were completely ruthless, like those of a mighty being who had lost something and needed to find it not caring about anything else, her body was still going through the unimaginable pain, but the thought, if she even looked like a person to him, went through her head.

Day ”you will use your skill and find what we are looking for, in return we will pay you and we might even attach your hand back but if you try to lie again … next time you will lose both your legs, do you understand ”

Sera didn’t dare to even speak, she just nodded her head, and surrendered to her fate.

She knew, she couldn’t disobey him.