Part 1
"Bleeerghh...."
"That's it... Keep it going..."
""Bugh!! Bleeerghh..."
"You're doing great, just a little more..."
"Please shut u- Bleerrrghh...."
Ashley was not feeling very well. Not only did she had her whole body recreated twice in one day for the first time, she also had spent the last couple of minutes attached to Evlin's back while she kept jumping up and down trying to dodge Xadi's attacks. All of that on top of being completely terrified from her own brother constantly throwing attacks after attacks that could easily pulverize her if Evlin had failed to protect her.
"Bleeerrghhh.."
Right now she was throwing up all the fish and fruits she had eaten in the last three days as a reaction to the traumatic experience she had just endured.
"Ugh... I can't believe he actually went for the kill from the very start... I really thought he would have gone easy on me if he believed i was you..."
"He probably assumed i would have a way of defending myself..."
"And that stupid eye!! I got so scared when he mentioned his eye being blinded by your magic! I started to think he would have figured it out our trick at the very beginning and the whole plan would have gone to waste..."
"Lucky for us it took a while for him to catch on... That could have gone in a much worse direction..."
"And them he managed to turn things around and started to corner us with those stupid lightning bolts... I was honestly prepared to give myself up so you would have a chance against him... I was literally considering let myself die!!!"
"Yeah... Please don't try that again..."
"And then- ... What are you doing...?"
Ashley seemed to finally have finished releasing all the "stress" from her body and when she turned around she found a Evlin completely paralyzed lying down on the ground.
"Huh... Not much... Just enjoying the view of the clouds a little... Trying to predict if it will rain tomorrow..."
"Huh... What...?"
"... I can't move..."
"You can't move?"
"I used more magic energy in the last half-an-hour than i ever did in my two years living in this world... My body right now is not responding to any command i give."
"I see... You really did seem like you were doing some much bigger attacks than usual..."
"It's fine... I will probably be back to normal by tomorrow... Can you put me on top of Sphinx so he can carry me?"
"... I can carry you if you want..."
"No way..."
"Why not??"
"It's embarrassing..."
"... Emba- You carried me like a baby the whole day when we started our trip!!"
"Yeah but that was then, this is now... Hey stop it! Let me go!! Sphinx help me!!"
"Just shut up and let me take care of you, you idiot!"
Evlin's face was bright red while Ashley carried her on her back. Sphinx heard it's name being called but once it realized there was no danger it calmed down. Evlin started to complain.
"I don't like this..."
"Well too bad, i wasn't exactly having fun with you carrying me around either."
"Ugh... Fine..."
"What do we do with him?"
"He's probably harmless right now... Just leave him be..."
The two girls stared at the unconscious Xadi who was sleeping on the ground. As if feeling that someone was talking about him he suddenly opened his eyes and leaped backwards to make distance from the Evlin and Ashley. He started to search for his staff but quickly remembered that it was destroyed by Evlin's powerful punch. Evlin herself seemed to noticed his distress.
"You're looking for your staff? Don't worry i gathered the pieces and fixed it with modeling magic. It's right there if you want to take a look."
Xadi turned to the direction Evlin's face was pointing and indeed, his staff was right there in one piece. He didn't understand why she was so calm or why she was giving the chance to recover his weapon but that wasn't important right now. He noticed that Evlin was unable to fight anymore so this was his best chance of capturing her.
He took another look at the two girls and indeed, they did not seemed worried in the slightest. It actually looked like they were waiting, curious at what he was going to do.
"I think he didn't notice... Should we tell him?"
"Nah... He will find out eventually..."
Xadi started to run towards his staff but midway through he realized something was wrong with his legs and fell down. He looked at his lower half and realized that his legs were green for some reason. Not only that they were also shinny and rubbery. He checked the rest of his body and realized that his entire being was like that. He started to panic and didn't know what was going on. Evlin looked at him and tried to clear things up.
"Sorry Xadi, there is no way we could let someone as dangerous as you just laying around like this... But you're right, i don't have stomach enough to just kill you like this... So i tried something else. What do you think?"
Xadi tried to scream in anger but words wouldn't come out, only a strange noise would leave his mouth.
"Ribbit! Ribbit! Ribbit! Ribbit!"
"I think he is trying to say something... He look upset..."
"Sorry brother, we don't speak frog language... I wish you good luck in your new life though! Bye!"
Ashley carried Xadi's staff and put it on top of Sphinx. The three then proceeded to finally enter Emerald Dawn leaving the small Xadi frog in agony behind them.
Part 2
"Hey Evie... You think that might have been too mean towards him?"
"... He tried to kill both of us multiple times and even invaded my sleep to tell me he would turn me into his dog... I say he got off easy..."
"If you say so... So what's our plan now...?"
"Marceus said his friends would wake up and the first place they would go to is a mansion somewhere around here..."
"A mansion... Wait, what does he mean by 'wake up'?"
"No idea... Maybe they are some kind of mages who specialize on sleep magic?"
"Oh!! Sleep magic! Now that sounds like the kind of magic i might finally be good at!"
The sun had already gone down. As they kept walking beneath the full moon inside the city, they realized many concerned looks from the people were aimed at them. There could be many reasons for that. For one thing they were walking around with a griffin right behind them after all. Or maybe they heard all of the commotion outside on the city gates, and since they are unfamiliar faces people might think they are the culprits. The gates were destroyed in the middle of the battle and sadly, that one was Evlin's fault since she was the one that attacked it, so they were a little in the wrong this time. Ashley asked Sphinx to wait outside then made a suggestion.
"Maybe we should ask for directions...?"
"Might as well... Hey sir!"
Ashley carried Evlin towards a salesman who was close by so they could talk to him.
"Sir do you know where Marceus's mansion is? We have business with his friends."
The salesman looked at Evlin behind Ashley and made a serious expression.
"Marceus... Marceus the living weapon...?"
"Yeah, him..."
"And you came to talk with his friends? His friends are here?"
"That's what he told me..."
"...!"
The man made a scary face which made Ashley feel uncomfortable. She looked around and realized many people were listening to the conversation and looking at them. She then remembered something important that the two had been ignoring for a while now.
"Evlin... I think we are in trouble..."
"Mmm? What do you mean? Xade is gone... Now we just need to find Marceus's friends and we can find his son..."
"Evie!!!"
The salesman and the people that were close by started to approach the two girls in a suspicious way.
"So it's true..."
Evlin was still confused and didn't know what was going on.
"What is true...?"
"Some mage came to this city not too long ago saying that a little girl with short black hair called Evlin would come here with information on how to find the second living weapon..."
"That freaking idiot! I should have turned him into a cockroach and stepped on him..."
"We didn't believed him at first... But from the way you talk... And from that knife you're carrying... It's really true isn't it!"
Evlin realized that Ashley was starting to panic. This girl was amazing when coming up with battle plans but placing her on the field was a recipe for disaster, she was terrible with being under pressure. Evlin tried to call her attention.
"Hey sis... I think we should go home for now..."
"Y- Yes! Let's go! Get far away from here!!"
She tried to escape but they were surrounded. She realized that asking Sphinx to wait outside was a huge mistake. How could she forget that the whole world was looking for Marcus just like them?
The people started to come closer and closer but this time they were revealing weapons that they were carrying with them. One of the men tried to threat them.
"How about you two come with us for a nice little chat?"
"Evie... Evie what do i do??"
"You're still carrying a silver knife! Just push them away and run towards Sphinx!"
"I- I can't move!!My legs won't listen!!"
Seeing so many scary people holding knifes and swords pointed towards them probably started to make Ashley have flashbacks from their encounter with the hunters and the time she was stabbed to the ground. Despite being a simpler situation these guys probably were scaring her more than Xadi.
"Ash we need to go now!! You can do this, just run!!"
"I- I can't!! I'm trying!!"
"Grab her!!"
The men separated the two girls and Evlin fell on the ground, still unable to move. One of them tried to capture Ashley but she started to wave her hands in a panic and knocked down a few of them thanks to the boost from the silver knife. What was even more impressive was that she managed to do that with her eye closed due to the fear.
"Careful, this girl is stronger than she looks!!"
The group started to become wary of her but she finally stopped once one of them called her out.
"Hey you!! Stop resisting or we will stab her!"
Ashley suddenly froze when she opened her eyes and saw that the men were pointing their swords at Evlin.
"Let Evlin go!!"
"You move and we cut her hand off!"
"Ugh!!"
"Hand me over that knife on your belt!"
Ashley couldn't risk Evlin getting hurt so she gave him her knife. Evlin waned to scream for her not to, but her mouth was being blocked by another of the citizens threatening the two. After receiving the knife, the salesman analyzed it's material.
"There is no doubt... It looks just like the kind of weapon the blessed sword used to make. So you two do know something! Tell us! How do we find the living weapon's son?"
"We don't know!! We came here to find out!!"
Ashley tried to answer the man. He then proceeded to point to someone who was holding a massive sword.
"That so? Hey you! Cut their legs off, make sure these two have no means of escaping!"
"No!! Stop!!"
Ashley started to cry in despair but her attention suddenly moved somewhere else. When they laid her down on the ground to amputate her she caught a glimpse of a creature on top of one of the houses being illuminated by the moon.
The man who was about to cut her realized she was looking at something and following her line of sight he too saw the monster.
"Wha- Hey!! What is that!!??"
Everyone else saw his reaction and started to look up in the direction of the house. Even Evlin had her mouth released after the one who was holding her got distracted. She got curious as to what everyone was talking about and finally saw it too. A huge muscular humanoid creature covered in black fur with a lion head and red eyes looking down on every single one of them. Not knowing what to say she simply whispered a word in the hopes that the creature might be there to help them.
"Please..."
After hearing that word, Daren released a massive roar and started to attack the men beneath him.