Ora’s world slowly faded in and he realized he was on Rel’s back.

To his right, Alel carried Lin. His leg was still missing and had been burned shut with her relic. “umu…wh..what happened. Where’d they all go.” Rel looked back at him and laughed hard. “You did Ora..” He scratched his head nervously. “You’re really something…”

Alel nodded. “You managed to fight off The Silver Knight, and destroy an entire unit… You’re truly one worthy of leading us after all.”

“Are they dead…?” Ora asked.

There was a sense of hesitation behind Alel’s answer “we-“

“The majority of their camp has died out. The trio, Regalt, and Kars all got away.” Rel answered.

“I see…” He clenched his fists tighter and held the need to scream. He had failed. Yet again, he had failed to make them see what they’ve done wrong. “Surely, Lynx…you’d be alright with this much. I failed to show them…Surely you can forgive me for that.”

Rel bumped him with his shoulder “Oi. No need for that. I’d say this was a success. The friends you couldn’t save back then. This time, you saved all of your comrades. Look at us. We’re all alive.”

That was unexpectedly well spoken for Rel of all people. Ora nodded rested his hand on Rel’s shoulder. “I see..”

“We’re all thankful, Ora. You’re strong.” She grinned for the first time in a while, a rarity for her. “Really strong. I don’t think Yorba will be bothering us again anymore. In fact, I don’t believe anyone will.”

“mmh..” Ora nodded. And attempted to get off of Rel’s back. “It's okay...I can walk.” Rel shook his head. “You don’t wanna do all that right now. You definitely cannot walk.”

“Eh? I feel fine. Really. Let me off.”

“Oi oi, fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.” He let Ora jump off of his back and immediately crumple to the ground

“AAAUGH!” Several of his broken bones ached and he found zero strength to lift himself up. The shadows earlier must’ve been holding him together. To think he had suffered this much damage. He felt stunned by the pain.

Rel shrugged at Alel’s glare. “Oi. I warned him.” He walked over to Ora and picked him up, placing him back on his back. “You know, if you wanted to Carry Ora you can. Lin’s a lot heavier than he is. Even if he is missing a leg.”

Ora looked over at Lin. A burn mark had covered his severed leg and he was shocked. “W-what happened with Lin?” He got attacked by the skinny girl. The sword traveled back to her hand and took out his leg on the way there.” Alel said calmly, covering her mouth.

“He passed out when I seared it shut earlier. I didn’t want him to bleed out.”

They had been walking for a steady 30 minutes since Ora had awoken, and he had no idea how long they had been walking prior. “umu..where are our horses?”

Rel laughed hard. “Right here! It's us two apparently.”

Unappreciative of the joke, Ora bonked the bonehead on his neck. “Oi. I was being serious.”

Still dying hard of laughter despite almost choking just now, he answered “You killed them all during your tirade of shadows. Not to say it's your fault, but they both died. Maybe from distress or fear. I’m not sure.”

“Your power is truly frightening Ora. I’m glad we’re comrades. You’ll have to explain it all to us later.”

Ora nodded.

“Rel….Alel..Thankyou.”

The other two looked taken aback. “For what?” they both asked at the same time.

“For not dying.” With that, he fell asleep on Rel’s back and the rest of their night continued with Alel and Lynx talking.

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They were well out of Baerim’s borders. They were now in Seirin. The urgency of time was no longer a thing, nor did they have the manpower to utilize a blanket spell. Iren was still out cold. He hadn’t responded since fading out of consciousness.

It was just Kars and Regalt. They walked through the endless amount of rainforest that enshrouded various parts of Seirin. Regalt wanted to curse Kars out for making him walk despite his laziness. He kept a short distance away and walked sluggishly the entire way through

“How much energy do you think I’ll spend to get out of this country in 1 day.”

Kars shrugged. “You’d end up back in Yorba without me.”

“Eh? Surely you could keep up.” Regalt said. Then he realized that the fight he witnessed earlier was nothing to judge Kars’ abilities by. “Oh…that’s right. You almost fool me every time. I’ve thought long and hard about that relic. Now I finally understand the nature of it.”

Kars nodded. “I figured you would. To fighters, a relic’s biggest defense is its’ secret. There’s no way you wouldn’t have known after all that.”

For years that Regalt had watched him, he started to catch onto something. The power Kars displays to his opponents was never greater than the power his opponents had.

He was always evenly matched. He could face the strongest man in the world and win by a hair. Then he could face the weakest man alive and still win only by a hair.

Regalt had hunches for a while, but now was the first time he could confirm it. “So your relic…allows you to match the power of your opponent. How you moved back then…was the plague child’s capabilities.”

Kars didn’t deny it. “Ora. His name was Ora. The first person I lost to.” He stopped and looked at the skies. “In 100 years.” He felt his body trembling and for a second, Kars had assumed he was shaken at the memory.

No. It was excitement. “Do you know how long I have lived, not knowing any interest in combat?”

Regalt’s eyes widened and he stopped, dropping Iren. His blade pointed out towards Kars. “Are you saying you let that kid live to satisfy your own amusement. You could have killed him entirely back then.”

“No. I couldn’t. I was as powerful as I was back in the wars. That’s how much my relic had to match up to.” He paused a second. “Then he kept getting stronger…and stronger.” His relic may be an A-ranked relic, but it had much more secrets than I could ever guess.”

Kars sighed. “My power allows me to match my opponents. If I was to face off against an army, my relic adapts to the sum of all their power combined. I’ve fought relentlessly only utilizing my upper hand in experience and tactics to beat my opponents.”

“However, various times during that fight, there was experience rising from him that I had not seen before in any other competition. If we would have continued he’d get even stronger and I would not be able to protect my comrades.”

He said looking at the unconscious Iren. “They’re worth more to me than any mission.” Regalt looked shocked. He always viewed Kars as an honorable man who would do anything for his country. If so, he should’ve put the country first. Why didn’t he end the plague child there?

“Besides… there’s no way he’d be a threat to Yorba. If anything, Baerim will gain a powerful asset. They’ll finally need it.”

With that, Kars turned away from Regalt and continued walking. Regalt just stood there with his sword aimed at the silver knight. In the end, he sheathed his blade, picked up Ivare and continued forth.

“Why did you not defend yourself? You know its dishonorable to remain unguarded before the blade of a warrior.”

“Tch. You had no willingness to use it. My relic would have heightened to your power had you been a real enemy.”

“I hate you.”

“You’re too lazy to hate.”

The two continued off through the forests Their trek was at least 2 weeks long. Thus, their journey back had already begun. How long would Iren stay asleep? Who knows? Right now, the forests trembled before the sight of the Silver Knight and the One Man Army.

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Ora woke up to a sudden halt in Rel and Alel’s movements. 2 guards had been waiting outside the gates and observing the group. Rel was much too fatigued mentally and physically to even use his shroud.

“Halt! You lot…what are y-“

The guard stopped once realizing they were all plague children. The fact that a majority of them were all wounded and cut up also caused many questions to be asked.

“2 horse disappeared earlier. You lot wouldn’t know where they are would you?” He withdrew his blade and approached them. Not good. Alel needed time for her hands to heat up. Rel weakly stood up a fighting pose. His wrists were heavily injured by Lawrence

“I’m sorry Ora.” He said, dropping the kid to the ground.

Ora clenched his teeth and held in the need to curse him out. The pain was yet again coursing through his body.

“Tch. You plan on fighting me? Plague Children like you should just remain respectful, and appreciate the mercy we show you.” He slashed down at Rel. Rel dodged the blade and grabbed the man, tossing him several feet back through the gates.

His hands ached and he waved them about in an attempt to dull the pain. Several other guards immediately came through the gates and all had their blades out.

“Touching a knight of Baerim. Punishable by death.” One of them said and immediately they all converged on Rel.

“L-level one. Betrayal of shadows” Ora held his hand outwards, and all the guards froze instantly. One by one they all began to die. The spikes came from their shadows and stabbed them through the back of their necks, their heads, their hearts.

All hits were extremely lethal. “Oi…Ora!” Rel shrieked nervously at the sight before him.

This was overdoing it. “If they’re knocked out, they’ll come back for us later. No witnesses.”

Rel shuddered at how quickly and effortlessly he was willing to kill them. But at the same time, he was easily willing to kill anyone who he didn’t consider a comrade.

Rel nodded and picked Ora up. Together, they walked passed the 6 dead guards. They all stood while impaled as if they were still alive.

On Rel’s shoulders, Ora muttered. “Knight of Baerim huh…they shouldn’t be in Sei’O then.” Rel looked back at Ora who was lost in thought.

“What exactly is it you plan on doing, Ora? You’re entirely different…”

"Then you were before.."