Everyone was staring at Evlin. They all had this look of "What did you do...?" on their faces while slowly being surrounded by an army of archers. Ria approached her and tried to clear the mystery.
"Hey... Evlin..."
"I don't know!"
"Huh!? I didn't even say anything!"
"You were about to ask why these guys are after me... I swear I have no idea!!"
"Are you sure...?"
Auren was the next to talk.
"Can you think of any reason why they are after you?"
"I can think of several reasons why they would be after me, to be honest... I'm pretty sure none of them are my fault..."
"I- Is that so..."
"Whatever... This happens every once in a while anyway... I'm kinda used to it by now... This is honestly just what I needed."
Ashley released a dead look from her face.
"W- What do you mean, this is what you needed?"
"I was feeling stressed out lately... I'll beat up these guys to vent a little..."
Ashley grabbed her in a neck lock as if she was a wrestler and tried to hold her down after hearing that.
"Are you crazy?? What the hell goes on inside that decoration above your neck that you call a head?? You think you can just go out there and start a fight with all these people and come out unscratched?"
"Would you just let me go?? If I join with Sphinx I can take them all down in two seconds!"
"You don't know that!! We know nothing about who these people are and how they fight! We should share the knives among ourselves from Lilith's armor and just run away as fast as we can."
"Ugh... Fine... Lilith can you lend me y- Lilith...??"
Before anyone realized Lilith had rushed towards the army and started to engage in a fight with all the archers. With the speed granted by the silver armor, she turned into a blur in the eyes of everyone.
"The hell is she doing!!??"
Ashley screamed, but Daren and his friends understood what was going on.
"She is trying to get it back..."
"Get... What back...?"
"Her warrior spirit..."
The archers realized the woman dressed in silver armor approaching and started to unleash another rain of arrows. Lilith used her future sight to predict which arrows were a threat and which ones she could ignore. After finishing it, she started to swing her blade at an immense speed and began to cut them into pieces one by one with a crazy amount of velocity. her arms moved so fast it looked like there was some kind of invisible shield around her stoping all the arrows in midair.
Realizing that the rain of arrows was not stopping, she started to approach the archers one by one and began to cut their bows in a matter of seconds. Each archer would keep trying to shoot at her from all possible angles but she simply had no blind spots. If an arrow was about to pierce her she would simply use her future sight to predict it and slash it before it would reach her.
"Wow..."
Evlin was looking at the lass moving like the wind and cutting like a whirlwind. It wasn't that Lilith was stronger or faster, it was just that she knew exactly what to do and when to do it. Evlin wasn't the only one amazed by Lilith's performance. Daren was looking at her as if she was a complete stranger to him.
"That- That's Lilith??"
Gustav, Auren, and Ria, on the other hand, were slightly less surprised by seeing such a scene. Gustav answered his question.
"It's been such a long time... I forgot how gracefully she moved..."
Evlin looked at them and then back at Lilith. She was almost done completely destroying every weapon the army of archers had in hand. Not a single scratch on any part of her body. She would move as if it was impossible to make a mistake.
"So she really was the strongest candidate to be the living weapon's partner..."
While everyone was enjoying the show, Ashley decided to break the mood.
"Will she be ok by herself?"
"'Ok.'..?"
"She is just cutting their weapons... What happens when she needs to cut... You know... The men?"
"!!!" x 5
Lilith finally managed to clear out the bows and arrows from every single archer. One of the seven men in black trenchcoat descended from the top of the hill and tried to engage her. He removed his coat and revealed a massive muscular body full of scars and a heavy-looking sword resting on his back.
"I like the way you fight..."
"..."
Lilith was silent. Probably using her future sight non-stop in case she needed to fight this man.
"I was hired by those men up there to retrieve a girl named Evlin. Are you Evlin?"
"... What do you want with me?"
Lilith lied to the man pretending she was Evlin. She probably was trying to learn how much did these people know and how hard it would be to get rid of them.
"Some of them heard rumors that you are a very powerful mage and want to hire you as a member of their group... Although looking at you right now, you give more of a paladin vibe... Others heard that you might have some information on the whereabouts of the living weapon."
"... Both accusations are wrong... You can clearly see that I'm not a mage nor do I know where the living weapon is..."
"That so...?"
The huge man looked at the corner of his eye at the rest of the group and met eyes with Evlin. The second he did she tried to hide her crossbow, but it was too late.
"Funny you say that... Because looking at that armor of yours, you sure do look like someone who would be familiar with the living weapon... But come to think of it... My friends also said that this Evlin girl was wearing bracelets and grieves made of wood... Not metal..."
Lilith became nervous.
"And that she uses a crossbow despite being a mage... Just like that lass over there!"
Evlin was found out. But she wasn't particularly worried. If she needed to fight she would fight. Lilith was still trying to deal with the man.
"If that is the case... And if the girl doesn't want to go with you... What will you do?"
"Young lady, were you not listening? I was hired to retrieve the lass."
The man proceeded to draw out his heavy sword. The blade hit the ground so fast that a small ball of smoke was created.
"The hell should I care whether she wants to come with or not??"
Lilith leaped towards the man with her sword pointed at him. Before her attack could connect, however, an image of herself standing on top of a pile of bodies drenched in blood flashed before her eyes. The huge man realized the loss in her eyes and smashed her with his massive sword.
Lilith started to roll on the ground spitting blood. Daren's face turned pale and he tried to run towards her.
"Lilith!!!"
Gustav was trying to understand what had happened.
"We made a mistake!! She is still not over her trauma!!"
Evlin turned her head towards Ashley.
"Now??"
Ashley nodded. Evlin called out for Sphinx and used her reconstruction magic to assume her golden-winged form.
The man tried to land another attack on the fallen Lilith but Evlin kicked the sword before it connected. The swordsman almost lost his balance but quickly recomposed himself. He then started to stare at the figure before him.
"What in the world...?"
"You were looking for me right?"
Evlin turned her head and noticed Daren trying to lift Lilith and remove her from the battlefield behind her. Unfortunately, Lilith was too heavy with her armor for Daren's weak arms to carry.
"You are the expert-rank mage? You do have a crossbow and you're wearing wooden armor... But why do you look... Like this??"
"It keeps me warm at night. Now, who the hell are you people?"
"Ah right... Introductions... My name is Boris... My fellas over there hired me to come after you."
"How did you find me?"
"We heard you were going to the city of Emerald Dawn from a nice mage called Xadi."
"Ugh... That guy again..."
"We asked around and they said you were traveling with a golden griffin in a group of seven people. We kept following your path and here we are... Thanks for traveling so slowly by the way, made it much easier to catch up to you."
Finally, Evlin understood. They managed to find her because they were following then during the day while her group was only acting at night. She would be really angry at Daren right now if she wasn't the reason they were following them in the first place.
"So you are all just another batch of idiots trying to capture me... Join the club. Can we fight now?"
"Gladly!"
Evlin rushed towards Boris while using modeling magic to change her crossbow into a gauntlet. She tried to punch him but his large sword blocked her attack. She tried to grab the sword to use modeling magic on the blade but Boris snatched her tail and started to smash her on the ground.
Even with the boost from Sphinx's natural strength and her healing magic this guy was still swinging her around like a ragdoll. She needed to re-organize her strategy.
Boris was about to smack her towards the ground again when she punched the earth that was about to hit her and injected modeling magic on it. The ground beneath Boris's feet started to change into a wave o rock spikes aimed at him. Boris once again blocked the attack with his large sword.
Evlin used this opportunity while he was distracted and released her tail. She did a few backflips to gain some distance and changed the gauntlets into a crossbow again. She started to charge earth magic and released a massive boulder aimed at Boris, who then proceeded to slash it in half.
"The heck is that sword made of?"
"You of all people should know, right?"
"Oh no... Don't tell me..."
Blessed silver metal. Another one of Marceus's weapons that he left behind. Evlin just realized that she was in much more danger than she expected. Boris wasn't just some thug she could bring down with one punch. He was using a sword that could increase his speed, strength, and that could cut virtually anything. Why are so many of Marceus's weapons just lying around like this? What was that guy doing for the last two-hundred years?? Is what she was thinking.
"Seems like you finally realized... So why don't we see which one is better...? My sword or your magic."
Boris grabbed the sword with both hands and released a massive swing towards Evlin. She was too far away for the sword to reach her but just the air-pressure was enough to send her flying backwards.
She stabbed the ground to bury her arms and legs to avoid letting the wind push her away anymore.
"I will not lose two fights in the same week!"
She started to release modeling magic into the ground and several diamond-hands emerged trying to grab Boris. That was the attack that seemed to work the best during her fight against Daren, however, as the hands approached Boris simply started to slash all of them in pieces.
"You don't get it, do you? This metal can cut anything. It received the blessing of the gods."
"The blessing of the gods can go ahead and die in a fire. I'm not gonna let an idiot like you play with this thing as if it was a toy."
She started to channel even more modeling magic and created a huge golem with the same appearance as herself. Boris simply stared at the giant Evlin made of stone and smirked.
"Hehe... You bring a new meaning to the term 'size isn't everything'... You think this giant doll will harm me?"
Boris once again grabbed the sword with both hands, only this time, instead of one slash he released several ones. The golem was destroyed in seconds and its pieces went flying towards Evlin. Pieces of rubble started to smack against her body leaving many small bruises.
"Man... This sword really is something... The most promising magician of the last who-knows-how-many years and she can't even touch me... Imagine what I could do if I got my hands on the real thing..."
This was hopeless. Evlin couldn't approach Boris or he would slash her into pieces. And thanks to his powerful blade any earth attack she used would just be cut in seconds. She needed something stronger than rocks. Something harder, tougher. She needed Lilith's armor. If she could reach Lilith and used her armor to make a new gauntlet she could fight on even ground with Boris. Problem was, the guy was standing between her and Evlin.
Boris started to talk again.
"Say... I've just been standing here like a good boy receiving all of your attacks... How about I try and go after you for once?"
"...!?"
Boris moved towards Evlin with a ridiculous amount of speed and almost cut her head off. She managed to duck at the last moment but some of her feathers were sliced off.
"Yaoouchhh!!"
"Oho... What a fun scream... let me hear it again!"
Boris kept happily swinging his sword around like a kid trying to catch a butterfly with a net. Evlin was somehow managing to dodge it all but she quickly realized she was just being toyed with.
She tried to gather all her wood on her right fist and created her biggest gauntlet yet. She tried to punch Boris but he simply blocked it with the sword. A huge impact was released and the two were now in a tug war. Evlin trying to push him back with her gauntlet and Boris doing the same with his silver sword. Boris started to taunt her.
"This has been fun but I think it's time to finish this!"
Evlin was pushed even further and was now standing on only one knee. She was almost starting to get buried into the ground. She was about the get desperate as the massive sword kept approaching her, closer and closer. But before she started to give up, an idea came across her head. She realized that her hand, completely armed with channeling wood in the shape of a gauntlet was now in direct contact with the sword.
"... The heck am I doing??"
She started to release modeling magic into the sword and transformed it into a new gauntlet for her left arm.
"What!!???"
Boris gasped with surprise.
Evlin clenched both her wooden gauntlet and her metal gauntlet and smacked Boris both in the face and stomach, sending him flying and completely knocking him out.
"Man... That took a lot longer than it should..."
Before Evlin could return to the side of her friends she noticed Daren screaming at her.
"Evlin!! Behind you!!!"
She quickly turned around and realized a blade slashing her from the back.
Immense pain started to spread across her body. How was that possible? She was carrying a silver gauntlet. She should be fast enough to dodge anything. Could it be that she was too tired from the fight? She looked around again and noticed who her attacker was.
"Thank the gods Boris didn't kill her by accident. I knew we could count on him!"
One of the men in black trench coats had approached her during the fight. And he too was holding a sword made out of silver metal. Evlin took another glance and realized all of the six figures had a weapon like him. A silver shield, a silver gauntlet, a silver helmet, a silver spear, and a silver dagger. Six pieces of armor left behind from Marceus, and they all were in the hands of people trying to capture her.
"We are done here, let's go!"
"What about Boris?"
"He played his part, we don't need him anymore."
The man with a silver sword placed Evlin on top of his shoulder and quickly rushed to the side of his teammates. Ashley saw that scenario and started to rush after her.
"Evlin!!!"
But before she could, the men in black trench coats carrying silver weapons all disappeared using their superior speed, taking Evlin with them.