In a flash of an eye, she thrust herself forward. Despite her heavy armor, she moved almost as if she wore no armor whatsoever. As the tip of her sword neared him, he carefully avoided it and ducked narrowly evading a follow-up thrust from her attempt to kill him quickly and efficiently.

While she was focused on him, Lar took the opportunity to strike them from behind with a newly summoned fauchard. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to do much against her as her plate armor protected against it quite well. She swung her sword in an arc managing to slice through some of Lar’s skin. It cut across their abdomen diagonally. Lar skidded back over the cobbled stone grimacing.

Not having any real physical weapons, he chose to tap into the oppressive force he had used before after having not used it in quite some time. He sent it towards the one who hated his guts only to see a distorted aura formed around their armor blocking it.

“What the heck was that?” she said confused. “Whatever that was, it’s not getting through this armor!” She went for the attack towards him only for Lar to keep her busy and not be able to focus on him. Lar backed away as she took up a defensive stance between the two of them. “You two might as well get on your knees and allow yourself to be granted my mercy of a quick and painless death.”

Lar had a concerned look on their face. Unlike in her cat form, when she possessed the shape of an attractive woman, he could see her emoting with her human facial features. Without moving her lips, Lar began to communicate with him telepathically. “We really shouldn’t fight her. She’s a lot stronger than I expected.”

“How are we going to retreat from her?” he replied telepathically. “She moves practically as quick as a lightning bolt.”

As they tried communicating telepathically with each other, she kept with her assault. He had essentially no offensive capabilities towards her. She blocked everything that they threw at her with her armor and that oppressive force he could summon bounced off her armor as if it were nothing.

And the worst part about this whole conflict was that he didn’t even want to hurt her or have to fight or kill her. In fact, he didn’t have anything against her besides her incessant desire to kill him which, was certainly a problem. But it didn’t have to be.

“One of us needs to lure her away and try to lose her,” Lar said as he continued to avoid her from landing a physical blow towards him. “Leave it to me. Run away and I’ll keep her focused on me!”

He immediately fled away distancing himself from the knight. He looked over his shoulder noticing Lar keeping her busy.

As he made his way to distance himself from her, another plate-armored individual appeared. This time they were a giant of a man whose two-handed sword was quite impressively large.

“Did you think you just had her to deal with?” The voice was quite low in its tone and confident in its delivery.

He looked around finding a variety of streets or alleys to run down. The big guy was quite a bit away, at least enough to allow him the chance to run away. But for some reason, he thought the moment he would make such an attempt, he’d have their sword hitting up against his back and killing him on the spot.

He stood and prepared himself to avoid whatever attack they would first start with. This is bad.

Their hands tightened around the hilt of their sword. “I’m glad you’ve chosen to fight. Stabbing you in the back wouldn’t have been fun.”

The giant armored man’s two-handed sword began to exude a strange dark aura. It rippled and ran up the blade towards the tip almost like fire. As they lifted the sword above their head and sent it slamming down, the aura fled from the blade casting a shadow over the street as it flew towards him.

His heart raced as he barely avoided the blow. He hadn’t expected that to happen. More aura formed on their blade and came flying out again so he could keep launching ranged attacks. It was like trying to fight someone with a sword twenty meters away and then wondering how unfair such a situation could truly be for one who had nothing to use against them from a distance.

No matter how many times he would narrowly avoid a blow, the person just kept striking again and again and again.

“You’re making this a whole lot harder than I expected it to be!” Unlike himself, this armored person was having a lot of fun apparently.

Which irritated him. Fine then. Keeping my distance isn’t doing me any favors. It’s time I try to get up close.

He rushed forward as they charged that aura covering the blade of their sword. This time they swung it at a horizontal arc. He leaped up into the air as the destructive ranged aura attack went under him. His body motioned over theirs in an arc. Before he landed behind them, with both of his hands, he managed to grasp their helmet and pull it off as his body landed behind them. Before they could realize what had happened, he thrust his fist into their exposed face and caused them to take a step back.

The face was of that strong-jawed man who had been eying him at the inn.

“I haven’t had a good fight in a long while. You’re putting up a nice challenge for me. Thanks for that.”

“You’re welcome.”

“But I’m afraid we can’t prolong this encounter otherwise I fear I shall incur the wrath from my queen for not having ended you quickly enough. Familiars after all are her most hated thing.”

“I guess it’s a good thing then that I’m not a familiar.”

“That’s not what I’ve been told.”

“You’ve been told incorrectly.”

The man looked at him confusingly. “Regardless. You are working with a familiar which is reason enough to kill you.”

“What have they ever done to you?”

“Done to me?” He began to laugh. “What a stupid question only meant to offend me. I believe I’m done speaking with you. It’s time I end this.”

They planted their feet on the ground. That dark aura began to explode outward all around the blade. They lifted their hands bringing the sword at an upward angle preparing to slam it down towards him.

He realized that there was no way he could avoid this one. He lifted his hands and began summoning a different kind of presence around him instead of projecting it towards the knight. As they swung the sword down, a faint see-through barrier kept him from being killed. Their sword slammed up against the translucent barrier and dark aura exploded out all around him. Had it not been for this barrier, he would’ve been turned to dust assuredly.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

As the sword and dark aura became lifted, he began to flee with all of his might. He half expected their long-distance aura-based attack to come hurdling towards him, but when he looked over his shoulder, he saw the armored man not going after him or attempting to use those long-ranged attacks like he had been doing so before. He wondered whether he had emptied all of his reserves. It seemed like a rather reasonable explanation. Just like how he was limited in how much power he could exude, others must also have similar limits.

He ran through the streets distancing himself from the scenes of fighting. He entered another dark alley, fell to the ground, and leaned up against it. His heart was ready to evade his body and find itself a new home. He breathed in and out, in and out, until it lessened in its demand.

Those two were incredibly strong. I’m lucky to have made it out alive. I just hope Lar managed to escape with her own hide intact.

If he could go the rest of his life without another encounter such as that, he would be a happy man. Alas, he doubted that would be the case. So long as he remained in Liall, he would likely one day face them or others again.

Liall being the last place for human civilization in this domain was quite the problem. That was for certain. If only there was another place nearby in existence that wasn’t so against familiars.

Realizing that if he stayed out in the streets, there was a good chance of him getting found so he chose to knock on the door of some random inn with the hopes that they would let him in. As he pounded on the door, someone chose to open it.

“Who the ‘ell are ya?”

“Mind if I pay for a room? I really could use one.”

“You shouldn’t be out here. Why are you still out on the streets?”

“I’ll tell you if you let me pay for a room.” He pulled out a few coins he had earned after working at the inn for a bit. It wasn’t much but it ought to be enough to get him someplace to stay for the night.

“Alright, alright. I’ve got a room for you. You’ll be sharing it with a bunch of others though so I hope you’re alright with that.”

He didn’t care at all. He just wanted to be off the streets. He handed the man some coins to pay for his admittance and headed off to try to get some sleep.

“Hey wait just a second. You were supposed to tell me about why you were out there.”

He ignored the man’s request. When he went into one of the rooms, there was one giant bed with half a dozen people dozing off on it. He found a spot that had enough space for him to fall asleep and did.

As he was barely conscious, he thought he felt something walking with four legs along his back. He woke up with saliva running down his cheek and a guy’s bum right ahead of him. That hairy crack had nearly cast out his soul from his body but he quickly relaxed remembering that he paid for a room shared by many others.

Lar motioned over towards him as he sat himself up on the edge of the bed.

“I looked all over for you during the night,” she said telepathically. “I tried calling to you but you never responded.”

“You should’ve tried being a bit louder. I was asleep.”

“I did!” She scowled at him within his mind. “But I am at least happy to you know you survived. I thought I heard fighting when I was keeping that lady knight busy. I feared for the worst.”

“Aw, you really do care about me don’t ya?”

He scratched her furry chin and rubbed his other hand along her back. She began to purr and show her affection towards him. She might’ve wanted to protest her enjoyment of such treatment, but she rarely did anymore since they had known each other for many months now.

“So what can we do now?”

Shet hopped off his lap down onto the wooden floor. “We have to lay low. The city is on lockdown now meaning we won’t be able to move around without guards harassing us. We’ll have to be careful wandering out in the streets.”

He thought to direct the conversation elsewhere. “So what exactly happened last night?”

She gave him a curious look. “About what exactly?”

“I don’t know. How about you killing all of those people in the sewer? Let’s start there.”

“Like I said. I was lured into a trap. I’m not lying to you if that’s what you think. They put me in a precarious position and when I ran, they followed.”

“So what you’re saying is that you didn’t murder them and that it was merely self-defense.”

“That’s exactly what I’m suggesting.”

“And the spy was among them?”

She nodded her head. “I heard them talking about you saying that they thought you were a familiar. Those silly humans. They really struggle with differentiating between familiars and humans unless it’s made explicitly clear.”

“Is there not an easy way to make such determinations?”

“There is but it’s a high form of magic that allows someone to tell and even the most adept sorcerers mostly aren’t able to use that kind of magic. The queen is someone who I believe could tell but they aren’t out on the streets spending all day trying to scan for familiars. That’s what those knights who attacked us do. Although they can’t actually use magic to tell whether a human is a human or a human appearing familiar. They utilize more covert techniques to make such determinations.”

“Those are the queen’s most devoted knights as well right?”

“Uh-huh. That’s her most loyal and devoted bunch. The green cloak-wearing ones. And we learned last night how much we ought to avoid them at all costs. I also don’t know about you, but I don’t ever want to fight them again. Their armor deflected every attack I threw at em’.”

“I know. I felt powerless against them.”

He stood up from the bed and went to the front of the inn to look out the shutters. Blue-cloaked armored guards were motioning through the streets with not another regular soul around. I wonder how long they’re going to keep everyone locked up. They’re probably going to go searching from location to location, aren’t they? Geeze, what am I going to tell Della if I’m ever given the chance?

It was of a particular risk now that they knew he was in the city along with his familiar. If he went to see Della, she’d be put in a lot of potential danger. If he was going to see her, he had to do so covertly and in a way where she wouldn’t be at risk.

There has to be a way to make it work. There just has to be. He liked Della and despite his other goals he wanted to pursue, he still wanted to pursue her too. It became obvious however, that more dominating tasks would demand his attention such as his requirement to avoid getting caught and not winding up dead.

That could be a real problem. Although Lar had said he had some potential allies. Maybe they would be able to help him stay better hidden in the city. Whoever these supposed allies are, I probably should find them and see what can be done. Otherwise, I don’t think I’m going to make it very far here.

“Where can we find these friends of yours that you’ve been making for us all this time?” he said telepathically.

“So you’re interested in meeting with them directly?”

“If it means they can help us. I don’t see many other options at this point.”

“I’m just warning you though. If you want their help, they’re going to want yours the same way you and I share the power of our souls.”

“You mean I have to sign another contract?”

“Well, sort of kinda. Not in a literal sense at least.”

“Great. I guess I better bring some ink and paper just in case.”