Realising she wasn't going to get a straight answer, Elelth pouted as her ears twitched in annoyance. She knew she could make her way to her Uncle's by herself, but felt somewhat compelled to follow Ru, and as he was going to head there anyway, it didn't really matter.

Feeling much more confident now that they were in town and the fact the Ru had finally answered her, she decided to try talking to him again. "You know, you are never going to find a woman with that kind of attitude?"

Ru slipped down one of the narrow side streets, where the stone buildings looked a little worse for wear, a few beggars sitting along its edges.

Seeing him turn his head slightly and raise an eyebrow, she continued. "Men then?"

That got the first laugh she had heard out of Ru as he weaved around a small group of people, the stone buildings around them giving way to rickety, three-story wooden ones that looked like they could topple over with the slightest breeze.

After a few moments, Ru responded, "I'll stick with women thanks. Being rejected by both genders would be pretty damaging to my self-confidence."

These were the sort of conversations he used to have with his companions, and it triggered a warm, familiar feeling. When you had been ripped away from home, forced to fight and could die at any moment, humour and philosophical debates where the weapons of choice to retain your sanity, even if the humour got pretty dark at times.

"You sure? You haven't even looked at me?" laughed Elelth, grinning from ear to ear at their first real conversation. She felt a little disheartened that it was only at the end of the journey but felt it was better than nothing.

"Trap-like elves are off limits," chuckled Ru, actually slowing to let Elelth walk beside him.

A confused expression appeared on her face "Trap?"

"I like my women to look a bit more... mature." Seeing Elelth's glare, Ru revealed a bigger smile. "You know... less kid-like, eighteen plus, not going to get ID'ed at every bar."

"Go eat Ghost Hound faeces," spat the dark elf as she kicked a nearby stone, sending it flying into the wall. "I was only joking, no need to be so rude. Who would want to date a crazy tramp who rips monsters apart with his bare hands and talks to himself in his spare time? And what's an eye dee?"

"Touche." Ru waved her off as they reached the river, a dozen or so meters wide that acted as the natural barrier, inside the wall, between the town and slums. A few stone bridges, with low railings, allowed people to cross. "An ID is something that proves your age where I come from."

"Like a status card?" replied Elelth.

"Pretty much, fewer details though," nodded Ru.

Elelth took a deep breath, wondering if she was about to ruin Ru's new found talkativeness. "So, why wouldn't you talk to me before?"

"Umm," Ru scratched his head, looking upwards a puzzled expression appearing on his face. "First you pissed me off, then I didn't think about it."

Elelth stopped. "What? You didn't think about talking in three days? What about when I asked a question?"

"Too Annoying to answer and I have been on my own a long time. I am not used to interacting with people and..." Ru's voice trailed off.

Elelth waited, but when it was evident he was not going to speak, she laughed. "You stopped talking out loud. My grandfather was the same. Always lost in his mind but that was when he was about two hundred and eighty ears old."

"It's a hard habit to break. First few days I would find myself just standing there, staring at the floor," nodded Ru. "Still, it's getting easier to keep focus."

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The sun was just disappearing below the tops of the buildings, and the streets were mostly deserted as they started to cross the bridge, however, as they reached half way, Ru stopped and revealed a devilish, bloodthirsty grin, causing Elelth to shudder. "About god damn time."

Slowly turning around, Ru's smile only widened as he saw a cloaked man standing behind them, not yet on the bridge, his face completely masked by his mantle. "Any longer and I would have died of old age and that, let me tell you, would have been a feat."

"You should have just taken the child to the Mercenaries. Then again, I guess you were only in it for the bounty as well," said the man in an intimidating voice.

"So it's her you wa-" Instantly, the cloaked man appeared next to Ru, pointing a short, stocky rectangular device at his chest before a deafening explosion rang out.

Elelth watched in horror as Ru, lifted off his feet by the blast, somersaulted backwards before hitting the railing and toppling over., leaving behind pieces of shredded cloak and faint, blue smoke.

It had been so fast that not even a full second had passed since the man made his move.

The concussive force from the man's weapon had blasted his mantle and cloak backwards, revealing his face. He was a scruffy, blonde headed man in his early thirties with a patch over one eye. His leather armour was littered with weapons ranging from small knives to pistol looking objects and this bare arms revealed many painful-looking scars.

Sweat poured down his face as he gasped for breath. Not only had he used his quickstep ability, but an anti-tank cannon at point blank range, heavily damaging his insides but, once he heard that man was an Inquisitor, he didn't dare to use half measures.

"RU!" Snapping from her shock, Elelth ran to the railing where Ru disappeared and was about to jump over, in an attempt to rescue him, when the man grabbed her tattered travelling cloak and pulled her back, causing her to fall to the ground.

The man dropped the extremely expensive, single use weapon onto the ground before grabbing Elelth by the neck and picking her up to face him. "Quiet brat. You only knew the man for a couple of days and hardly spoke. Anyway, seeing as you like travelling with strangers so much, why not come with me?"

"Over my dead body," hissed Elelth, trying to kick the man but as her body's entire weight was on her neck, and the man's arms were longer than her legs, she couldn't quite reach.

The man chuckled as he turned towards the same direction Ru and Elelth had been travelling a few minutes ago. "Don't be like that Manaless. You are going to help me retire early. Let's try and get along."

"Fuck you." Elelth spat at the man, hitting him on the cheek.

Once again displaying his incredible speed, he backhands her across the face with his free hand before wiping away the spit. "Either you come quietly, or you come unconsciously... your choice princess."

Elelth's left eye was already swelling closed as she glared at the man. "You hit like a girl."

The man laughed. "It's a shame you look like a kid, If you had been a bit older, we could have had some fun. I love my women with some fight."

The man raised his fist, "Night princess." hitting her once in the side of the head, crumpling one of her ears.

Elelth's eyes were dazed, but she grinned back. "Hmm, maybe a girl is too generous, maybe a baby."

A second punch caused her to head to flop, but it quickly raised it back up, water filling her dazed eyes. "You will pay for killing Ru."

The man frowned. "Jeeze, what is your skull made of? I was trying to be nice and not give you brain damage, but you leave me no choice."

As he drew his hand back, Elelth's eyes slowly rolled back into her head, and she fainted, causing him to shake his head. "Kids these days."

Throwing Elelth over his shoulder, the man turned into a blur as he entered the slums. "It's already late. I'll hunker down for tonight and head to the region's Capital tomorrow. Who would have thought a Demigod would be interested in the manaless enough to put a two hundred gold reward for their 'recruitment'? Shame there are no higher races about, would be able to make a killing."

Little did he know, the reason why Styx, the sole surviving demigod, was trying to get hold of as many manaless and magical species had just been blasted into the river and if she had known, would have probably fled the continent.

The man was long gone by the time a group of six guards trotted into sight and started investigating the bridge. While two examined the discarded weapon, sucking it into a weird black bag without touching it, the rest checked the surrounding area for any clues to the disturbance. According to reports, a man had been shot with a magical weapon, but they couldn't find any blood on the bridge, making them wonder if the shot had missed.

"Mick, see anything?" bellowed one of the guards on the bridge to another, walking down the left bank, a bit downstream from the bridge.

"Nothing-" The man felt a chill settle in his bones, his heart missing a beat as a wet, squelch followed by drips of water sounded behind him.

It wasn't the sound that had terrified him, but the violent fluctuations in the surrounding mana that caused his soul to shake, which most associated with bloodlust or extreme anger.

Slowly turning around, the guard visibly paled before he took a few steps back, barely able to speak. "By the old gods..."

A cold, haunting laugh, sounding like it had come from the depths of hell resonated outwards as the sun disappeared behind the buildings. "Ready or not... here I come."