She had been waiting for a few minutes now, leaning against the wall, she waited for any sign that Noell would come back alive and well because for Illye nothing else mattered now. Remembering her mother using Noell to fight, it reminded her of something that had taken place eight years ago, but now it was her mother who appeared. Her father and uncle never explained anything about what happened to her where they only said that it could end up happening again, that they should be careful, and in the end it did.

— t wasn't that bad... It could have been worse. — She said when looking at the beast in front of her.

In fact after she started to wait there another monster appeared aiming to attack,luckily this one was of another species being something that looked like a huge blue lobster, this and next to the other one they tried to attack her and luckily their barriers were resistant to the enough to last a little longer. The problem was that the more she wore was something that helped her stay conscious.

Kri—krikri!

From what she knew every human for example, upon becomingaLord, ended up having a relative change in their bodies, this was more apparent to those with combat-related or elemental authorities and although their Boundary Authority was relatively neutral in this regard. requirement her body was tougher than most people's, but without magic involving her body it wouldn't make a difference when her mana ran out, she would probably die.

BOOOM!

Hearing something pop she noticed that the shiny wall she was leaning against had exploded like glass in one part, the silhouette of a person could be seen in the shadow of the dust raised by the small explosion that at least didn't hit her directly.

— Noell...? — She asked if she was the one there, because for some reason she suspected she wasn't.

Her doubts were not unfounded because seconds later as the subsided she could see what appeared to be an extremely pale skinned man with huge hair totally disheveled that went down to the floor being totally devoid of any clothes coming out of the hole, even if only for a while. If only strange in Ilye's view, the most important thing was that he was carrying Noell unconscious and still injured in his arms.

— Noell! Without a second thought Illye crept up to where they were.

She could be called careless, as she didn't know who he was but in her moment of worry none of that mattered, family was often something that blinded people and in her eyes nothing mattered more than hers. Hearing her , the violet-eyed man seemed startled as he looked at her and the barriers in front of her, however she didn't notice this as she approached. Noticing her effort, he bent down, very carefully Noell on the floor.

— She will live. She's less worse than what you find yourself in now. — With a voice a little hoarse and apparently not used to talking, he explained when he saw her checking the state in which Noell was.

Krikri—kri!

The beasts that slammed into Illye's barrier didn't give her ears a chance to rest and feeling a momentary shiver Illye looked up trying to ignore the man's naked body and noticed that he looked angry.

— Bloody weekend treats, I see I'm still alive and the first thing this Lord gets is the disgrace of his noises! Die and become my dinner tonight — Coldly he said as he pointed his hand at the giant lobsters.

At this moment, from his hand, a beam of black light was shot and effortlessly passed through Illye's barrier creating a perfect hole and passed through the head of one of them and having changed direction after that passed through the other, disappearing soon after on the horizon.

— What is it...? – He asked himself, it seemed that in his own vision he had done something he didn't understand.

— Who are you? — Illye asked fearfully.

As much as he had only been a lord for a little over a year, Illye knew that aura masters would take to break their barriers, this only proved that he must be at least a lord or the follower of one and probably stronger than her. to have no problem with those monsters.

— Girl, Caesar would cry if he saw how weak your barrier is. Looks like she hasn't learned anything about her Authority and herself yet… — He said apparently wanting to talk more for some reason as he bent down and picked Noell up carefully placing her in his arms.

— What?! Who do you think?... Drop her!!! — Cried Illye, trying to hold her back.

— I won't hurt her, that would be the last thing I would do…— He said as he seemed to calm down and tried to do something.

In a few seconds a layer of clothing appeared over him, what appeared to be a cloak made of black feathers that was not actually clothing at all. Having done that he put Noell on his back and the same feathers covered his torso tying him in place. He was touching his limbs strangely as if testing his physical capabilities, Illye was looking at him as if he were a strange specimen for his movements, not that I was wrong…

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— The Vulture is still with me, but this dark aura, this strange power… — He mused to himself.

— Do you have some problem? Did getting stuck in that goo kill your sanity by any chance? — Asked Illye in tired mockery.

— It's not working. It works similar, but the moon… I don't feel… What happened to me? — Wondered,as he watched what he himself totally ignoring Illye.

Soon he grabbed Illye's arm, lifting her without asking her permission or giving any other sign, and with that she could no longer feel her own weight and could see that a layer of dark light enveloped her and made her float against him, just like that he bent down a little and a layer of the same light covered his feet and he also started to float, this must be some Authority related to shadows or at least that's what it looked like to her, because the Lord of Shadows he was very famous for his assassins, though he himself was never seen. However, it only lasted a few seconds and the light soon faded with them falling to the ground.

— Authorities don't work right here, nor would my barrier be so weak if they were! — Illye yelled, slapping his hand and letting go.

— So it's like a mortal prison for Lords. It makes me want to understand how you two ended up here. — He replied without caring much, lowering himself to the ground and picking up a handful of earth, releasing it shortly after.

— We were attacked by Shadow Assassins on a trip, Noell saw no option but to throw himself here, all my other guards were… killed. — Illye explained, now finally coming to her senses after the lull and remembering her other guards.

— I understood. — He replied without caring.

After that he went to a pool of water, gathered water with his hands and drank some. He was acting like he wasn't stuck with them either, just watching and trying to understand what was happening. Or rather, he was trying to understand how this place worked without worrying too much.

— You think you're some crazy Quaresma researcher or something? — Illye laughed, remembering some people she'd met before, but soon feeling the pain of her wounds and falling to the floor. Clearly she was not doing well.

— Hm… We have to get out of here. You need treatment from doctors and healers if possible. — He said stopping to repair the situation between the two. — If your barrier was working then there's a limit, your mana waste was huge, but the barrier was standing through your hands. If I just use the Vulture and just me, maybe it will work...

— How did you come to that conclusion like that? — Illye asked with an ugly pained expression.

He didn't answer, but he started to act and took Noell off his back putting her in his arms, after which black wings like those of a large bird formed in an instant on his back, probably made from that dark mana that also produced his clothes. .

— You're going to have to take the pain and hold me. — He said to Illye, bending over to her.

Illye didn't think twice and grabbed him by the neck, gritting her teeth, though the sight of Noell snuggled in his arms below made him bitter.

Voosh!

On an impulse of his they took off flying towards above, not feeling their own weight and afraid of falling Illye held on tighter as they climbed, about forty seconds after the ascent she could see that cliff that she and Noell had seen, they were up too fast and her body didn't feel it.

Illyeand Noell come and seemed to know where he was going without a doubt.

Has it been several and several minutes, maybe almost an hour? Neither of the two awake knew exactly able to see the sun . Illye didn't know how much time had actually passed and he didn't even come out. Fartherdown, she could see the glowing eyes of those monsters that strangely ignored them in flight. Therewere also what appeared to be huge, blood-red looking bats that similarly avoided them. The walls and black stone now and then showed monsters hanging or walking over strange caves that stretched into unknown places, all of which were still visible in the light of the crystals or the glowing eyes.

— This place is quite irrational, the existence of these monsters makes no sense and neither does the depth of this place. Any sign of magic in the air, like our Authorities, makes the mana chaotic and easily dispersed and for some reason I still can't get enough. To tell the truth, we should have fallen from the sky shortly after and started to climb, it seems that the more an Authority is used, the less effective it becomes until in the end it can't be used anymore or someone's mana reserves run out. If that hasn't happened so far I can only say that we are lucky because nothing here makes sense. — After a long time of silence he tended to explain to Illye what was going on.

— Maybe your body is immune after being trapped in that green goo? Who knows, for the time you've been here anything could be true.. — Illye commented, if he didn't understand she was even less so.

— It's not like I have another explanation either, let's go with it then, at least it means we can get out. — He concluded at last.

The way up was irrational after the part where Illye remembered falling, at a certain point the abyss started to only have a straight path up without interference and with that it just started raining out of nowhere.

They were still climbing and place was falling behind, all of which was left behind to increasingly Illye's relief. At one point they crossed extremely dark clouds that stretched above and it was only a few minutes later that these clouds disappeared along with the rain.

— Is this... is it heaven? — She asked automatically when she saw an almost indistinguishable bluish dot above them.

It really felt like they were coming out of that abyss, after all she'd been through in and out of that place she just wished she could find her bed now and sleep for a couple years if she could.

After more than what seemed like a minute the two of them saw more and more of the opening above it widening until it completely filled their vision, their hopes rising to the same extent. So, in a few more seconds she finally found herself in the sky above that abyss.

They stopped in the sky suddenly as his wings beat, the surface wind touching his body made her feel more alive now than she had before she fell into that place, as if she'd never felt the wind before, but the fear of the abyss that came out. It made her try to look down fearfully.

— Don't look down... You spent a lot of time down there, if you look down too long I don't know what can happen to your mind. — Seriously he pictured as he looked in all directions. — Where is Malahr's Salt Town? North? Northwest?

— Malahr...? — Having given up the idea of looking down thanks to that, she soon found the name of this strange place.

It's not that she'd never heard that and while she wasn't really studious she at least knew about every town in the AggronKingdom besides the capital, and after a few seconds of thinking she finally found the answer.

— Malahr... Oh, andi remember! Laylla's mother told me, she was from the kingdom before Aggron. Why do you want to know about a city of kingdom extinct hundreds of years ago? Do you by any chance… — She asked, looking at the expression on his face which seemed kind of surprised by her answer.

The man seemed lost in thought, but in a few seconds he finally realized.

— Aggron? Malahr extinct? Wait, what day is it? What year… What year are we in? — He asked, not seeming to believe what he was hearing.