Rain had begun to patter down on them, making the two look for the nearest cover which hey found under a small overhang near the forest path they were using. Zane looked to the sky.

Looks like it won't stop raining anytime soon . . .

He began looking around the overhang.

Enough space for a tent, good.

Zane flipped open his satchel and took out the rolled-up tent he always carried around.

"Help me set it up," he said to Mira.

"Are we going to stay here?" she asked, sounding a bit distant.

"Only until the rain is gone, now help me," Zane said.

Mira helped Zane set up the tent and the two of them went inside. Zane laid down a few fur blankets he had in his satchel and placed his lantern in the middle of the tent. He caught Mira staring at the satchel.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Doesn't matter," she said as she turned away from him.

Guess she's angry at me.

Zane lay down on one of the blankets and stared up at the tent's ceiling.

"I'm sorry if I was a bit harsh before," he said after a while.

Mira didn't respond.

Maybe she's sleeping.

Zane turned to his side and closed his eyes, quickly falling asleep. But he was still restless, not being able to fall asleep, no after what had happened only a few hours earlier. He remembered the feeling he had felt as both the god of darkness and his power left him. Despite having been happy about losing the power that took away what he was trying to protect he still felt as if something was missing, something integral to who he was.

This might be bad for business as well.

"We need to find some shelter," someone said in the distance.

"Boss, shouldn't we be looking for someplace to set up camp?" another person said.

"What do you think I'm doing?" a voice familiar to Zane said.

Oh no, what is he doing here?

Zane immediately got up and looked out of the tent. There were ten people, all armed and clad in armour. One of them had pointy ears and an eyepatch over one eye.

"Ah boss there's a tent, we could ask whoever is inside if we could set up next to them," one of the soldiers said.

"Hello! Anyone there?" Regal asked loudly, waking Mira in the process.

"Wha-" Mira began but Zane put a finger on her mouth.

He stepped outside, put on the still partially broken black skull mask and pulled his hood down over his mask so it wouldn't be seen.

"What a big fellow," a soldier said.

"Is it alright if we set up camp next to you?" Regal asked.

"Leave," Zane said, making his voice sound deeper.

"Woah, no need to be so unfriendly," Regal said.

He began approaching Zane.

"Please re-" Regal was interrupted by a strong wind, a wind that blew up Zane's hood revealing his mask.

For a second Regal looked at Zane with suspicion and detest before he quickly drew his long sword and removed Zane's skull mask with it, throwing it away. The mask landed somewhere in the mud. Regal had a look on his face that said, 'I knew it'.

Shit.

"You!" Regal yelled. He immediately pointed his long sword at Zane, with no hesitation. "Men! This is the Reaper, the one we're after!"

They're after me? What a shit show.

"Zane!" Mira yelled.

And now that . . .

"Stay back," Zane said to Mira.

"Oh, the Reaper and a member of the Vermillion family. Perfect!" Regal said as soon as he saw Mira's tails.

The other soldiers had also drawn their weapons and all stared at Zane.

"What is the meaning of this?" Mira asked.

"An old acquaintance," Zane answered.

"Old acquaintance? I'm the one who will kill you Reaper, best prepare for it," Regal said boastfully.

Zane reached behind his back, grabbing for a blood vial. But instead of removing the cork from one of them he just poked his finger on the shattered glass vials.

Right.

He grabbed for his satchel and flipped it open, only to find it empty.

Right, I'm an idiot.

Regal began charging at him. Zane opened the other satchel and rummaged around in it, drawing his katana with his left hand. He managed to block Regal's attack as if it was nothing. Regal looked a bit shocked. Zane finally managed to find what he was looking for, a small cartridge filled with metal bullets.

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Good thing I kept these.

Zane kicked Regal in the gut, rammed his katana in the ground, grabbed one of his guns with one hand and inserted the cartridge into the bottom with the other. He aimed it at Regal who was getting up from the ground.

Zane slightly turned his head and said, "Get the other one," to Mira, still aiming his gun directly at Regal who was slowly walking backwards.

Mira walked up to Zane and rummaged trough his satchel until she found the other cartridge. Zane pulled the other gun out of the holster and had Mira insert it. He nodded at her as she walked back towards the tent.

"Out of blood, Reaper?" Regal asked.

Zane just looked at him, his eyes cold, without any emotion. Regal snapped and two of the soldiers began charging at him. Both of them had spears which they pointed straight at Zane's chest. Two other soldiers, both equipped with swords similar, but less expensive-looking, to Regal's, charged at him, trying to flank him. Zane aimed both guns at the two soldiers with spears and squeezed the trigger. Two small round metal bullets flew out of the gun barrels and towards the two soldiers approaching him from the front at high speed, piercing their foreheads. A quiet clicking could be heard from the guns before Zane extended his arms to both sides, aiming them at the soldiers trying to flank him. The two tried to stop but their momentum and the wet ground didn't allow them to, making them slide towards Zane who squeezed the triggers again. The two bullets went straight through their heads.

Smoke came out of the two gun barrels. Zane looked back at Regal, his boastful nature had disappeared.

"I won't let you get away again, Reaper!" he yelled.

What a bother . . .

Regal snapped again. The five remaining soldiers all pointed their spears at him and began surrounding him.

Mira.

Zane instinctively jumped back, in front of Mira to protect her.

"Protecting the Vermillion girl huh?" Regal said.

The five soldiers began charging at the two.

What should I do . . .

Zane was already lifting his guns back up when Mira began speaking.

"Duck!" she said.

Zane ducked down and Mira began swinging her chain blade, it was a lot shorter than her older ones but long enough to slash the throat of two of the soldiers.

How many of these chains does she have?

Zane shot the three remaining soldiers from his crouched position. Mira slowly stopped swinging the chain blade until it came to a stop.

"Leave," Zane said, not wanting any more trouble.

"No! This time I will kill you!" Regal said as he began charging at Zane.

Zane got up from his crouching position and aimed both guns at Regal. Zane squeezed both triggers and the two bullets went flying at Regal, who managed to dodge them just in time, before the ground, where both of his feet had just been, was pierced by the two bullets, leaving small holes behind. Zane began running towards Regal, aiming both guns directly at him. But again Regal managed to dodge them just in time to not get hit. Both bullets went straight into a tree near the path, tearing two holes in it and cracking some of the bark. Zane noticed a smile on Regal's face as the half-elf closed in on him, his sword pointed at Zane's stomach.

I can't waste too many bullets now . . . how bothersome.

Zane quickly jumped back to his katana, put the guns back in their holsters and took the blade out of the ground. He managed to block Regal's thrust attack. Regal jumped back, the two were now facing each other with their swords pointed at each other. Regal began screaming as he ran towards Zane again.

How did this guy even get into the army? Good thing most of these soldiers are so pathetic.

Zane lifted up his katana far over his head, bringing it down once Regal was in range. Regal dodged the blade by jumping backwards but Zane closed in on him with a wide step and brought his blade down on him, cutting his stomach. Regal fell to the ground and looked up at Zane with tears in his eyes, the rain still pattering down on them.

"No, no, no, no, no. This can't be! No!" Regal began whispering as he crawled backwards trying to escape Zane who slowly walked towards him.

Zane lifted up his katana again and thrust it down at Regal's throat. For a split second, Zane felt an oppressive force coming from Regal for less than a second before his blade hit the ground. There was no sign anywhere of Regal, he had disappeared.

"What the . . . what happened?"

Mira asked. Zane looked around, trying to find any kind of clue as to what might have happened.

Isn't this a bit petty, Erebus?

"Looks like Erebus is still a bit pissed at me," Zane said as he sheathed his katana.

The rain was still pattering down on them forcefully so the two retreated to their tent.

"S-Shouldn't we leave? With this many corpses lying around . . . some wild animal could come and attack us," Mira said.

"So you propose we should travel in this rain?" Zane asked.

"N-No . . . I don't know, this is a strange situation," she said.

"Is it? Happens often, some soldier has a grudge on a mercenary and tries to hunt him or her down," Zane said.

"But well, this is the first time someone was so fixated on me as well." Zane lay back down on his blanket and put his hands behind his head.

Mira lay down beside him, her body was cold.

"Y-You shouldn't have come out," Zane said as he put a blanket over her.

He heard her exhale loudly as she pulled the blanket over her head. Zane tried to sleep again but the rain kept him awake again, so he decided to rearrange his satchels. He put ammunition, potions and other things like that in the now empty satchel, making more space in the other for miscellaneous things. By the time he had finished Mira had woken up again and the rain had become less powerful.

"I guess we can continue soon," Zane said.

"Good," Mira said coldly.

She's still not so fond of the idea of returning . . . can't blame her though. But if she stayed with me who knows how long she would continue to live . . . I won't allow any of my friends to die because of avoidable things again.

They waited a few hours for the rain to stop and when it finally did they continued on their way to the next in. They had waited throughout the entire night the had already appeared behind the mountains in the distance. In the distance, Zane could already see where the forest ended and the bridge leading over the canyon began.

"Were we already this close to the next highland?" Mira asked.

"No, that's just an indent," Zane explained.

Does she not even know the geography of this continent? How did she get all the way to Hirmal from Kalwa?

The bridge led them over the canyon in a high arch, supported by many stone pillars built atop the many high platforms of the canyon. Zane looked down as they walked over the bridge. At the bottom was a raging river, large trees and other plants growing out of the cliffside.

A large tree was growing right next to the bridge on one of the large platforms, sitting in it was a small humanoid figure that was glowing in a blue light. It looked at them with its big white glowing eyes.

"Travelers, what a joyous occasion," the figure said.

"W-What is that?" Mira asked Zane with a frightened voice.

"Just a wisp," Zane said.

The creature was made out of a blue flame-like substance with glowing white eyes and two small wings on it's back.

"A-A wisp, aren't they fairly dangerous," Mira said.

"Only if you follow them," Zane said.

"Of course I'm not dangerous, I'm only trying to help and your superstition doesn't help with that mister," the wisp said with a child-like voice as it flew around them, making loops and other tricks. "I shall only lead you to your goal, you need but tell me where you're headed to and I shall lead, yes I shall," the wisp sang.

Shit, it began singing.

"I think we should foll-" Mira was interrupted by Zane drawing his katana and cutting the wisp in two halves, a black, blood-like liquid splashing all over the ground.

"W-What, why?" Mira asked.

"When they sing you won't be able to resist following them, then they make you either starve or fall off a cliff," Zane explained.

"Why do they do that?" Mira asked.

"To eat you of course," Zane said.

I wonder what would have happened if Regal and his men had come here first, might have spared me the trouble of now having to face an Aura user with some unknown ability. But I feel like I'm forgetting something . . . right shit!

Zane turned towards the tree which had begun to shake violently.

"What's happening?" Mira asked.

"Wisps are never alone," Zane said. "And I just made short work of their friend."

Four other wisps came flying out of the tree. The flame that made up their body had expanded and was going wild, their mouths were wide open, revealing their sharp teeth capable of ripping flesh.

"Stay back," Zane said.