He laid on the ground with closed eyes and a puddle of blood, but the fact that he was losing no more of it, is what made her sigh in relief. She checked his overall condition and noticed nothing life threatening. The missing part of his arm made little progress in regenerating, but Iranueels HP did climb slowly.

She gave him a peck on the cheek to wake him up, but with little success, so she took to heavier methods and went looking for water, finding it near a house. A small spring was originating there and a bucket was right beside it. She filled it and returned to the unconscious young man.

Misako took a handful of water and sprayed it into Iranueels face, but he didn’t wake up. Next she just threw the whole bucket on him. This gave results into waking him up instantly and then crying out with the pain of his arm.

“Sorry for waking you so rude, but we have to move our asses out of town.”

Iranueel moaned for a moment before looking at her.

“Thanks for waking and as it seems that I am still alive, I get it, you took this son of a bitch out?”

With a smirk on the lips Misako grinned at him.

“He’s on the way to his creator. By the way, thanks for bullet catching. Next time, try to stay in one piece. Regenerating your arm will take quite some time, even with your healing power. And it will hurt, believe me, I went through it some times before.”

She helped Iranueel stand up and then guided him to the dead guy. The young and old women in the house almost fainted when they saw Iranueel entering. Missing half an arm and covered in blood he was not a sight to remember fondly.

He took a look at the globe of the killed guy and absorbed the golden sphere without further thinking.

“Oh that one had quite some power. Got me to level 18 in one go. And you have also gotten some power back as I see.”

Misako had now level 8 herself. The fights before and this one had helped her a lot.

“Yeah, this helps a lot. We could farm this village real fast if you like, but I think it better to leave this place as fast as possible.”

Iranueel took a moment before he recognized the meaning of it.

“Don’t mention this ever again please. I like to keep my humanity. We will kill only the scum and the ones that attack us first. The rest will keep safe from us and if I ever deviate from this path, please give me a hard smack on the head.”

Smiling Misako gave him short hug.

“Only wanted to check on you. I like this attitude and will hit you hard if you ever digress on the dark path. I always turned only the bad guys and the ones that attacked me into my goons. That way I had a clean conscience and I don’t want to change that.”

The sudden closeness of the beautiful woman made Iranueel a bit uncomfortable and also quite a bit excited. With conflicting feelings he distanced him a bit from Misako and then left the house ignoring the traumatized women trying to hide themselves in a corner.

“This guy had a sniper rifle. We should get it and then search for their car. And because I miss half an arm you should look for the rifle and I will look for the vehicle.”

Misako nodded and added to it.

“You did search the guy for the car keys, did you?”

Featherbrained grinning he shook his head and returned to the building with Misako grinning mischievously behind his back. Then he went on finding a way to the roof without falling down.

Iranueel searched the corpse and found some money and also car keys for a BMW.

‘Driving with style, I see. At least it will be a nice ride.’ He thought to himself.

For a moment he thought about getting the guys clothes but after a second thought he disregarded it because of the blood and the many holes in them.

‘Misako really went down on this guy. He didn’t have a pleasant death. Not that he didn't deserved it, that asshole!’

When he left the house he heard Misako from above.

“I have the rifle and some bullets and I also have seen the car from here. It stands just three houses down the road behind some bushes. Hard to see from the ground. Now, try to give me lift down. I don’t want to sprain an ankle jumping down.”

“You know, that I only have one arm left now, right?”

“Don’t be such a pussy! You are a man, so help a girl and be my knight.”

Shaking his head a bit unbelieving he held up his remaining arm and stood steady when Misako jumped down into him. He catched her and was quite pleased feeling her bosom pressing against him.

She grinned a bit and then left him standing going down the road to the parking car.

“I will drive as you are a little bit disposed now. But in the future I hope that you will be the driver. Regarding out future prospects we should think about our development regarding our skill sets. Perhaps also hiring some other avatars or mortals for special occasions.”

Iranueel followed her reflecting on her words. He would need a much broader power base for this project and also money. All things he didn’t have at the moment and it also was highly probable that Misakos enemies already assumed that she had help and would try to get behind this little secret. So they would begin their chase of him all too soon.

“I do agree with you there, but I think we should really go for one of Gaias worlds for starters and get powerful there so that next time we come around we have a bigger hammer to swing down on our foes. And this would also make getting support of other avatars much easier because I could make mortals that are on the good side with us to avatars myself. That would cost me much power but I think it would be very profitable to do so. If I could sweeten the deal with Gaia by paying her something for it, I think she would appreciate it.”

Misako looked back at him with surprise.

“Don’t mess with Gaia. She will talk to you if she wants to, so don’t try to start a talk with her yourself. She is a power not to meddle with, so keep her out of it as long as possible. All I know from her, is that she will have no problem with your special power, perhaps even offering a deal to you, when she recognizes you the first time doing your thing. But please do not initiate the contact. She could take it the wrong way.”

Iranueel chuckled a bit after her real fear showing.

“Ok, ok, I will be reasonable. It was only a thought for now. Oh, what do we have here. A BMW X1 if I am right, don’t you think?”

Misako took a short glance at him and nodded.

“Yeah, they sure knew how to get around in style. It will be much more comfortable with this one than with the cab last time. But we should check for any tracking devices before using it.”

Iranueel lifted his hands helpless.

“I fear I have no skills for this kind of task. Have never been an automobile fanatic in my life. So you have to step up here.”

Frowning Misako looked at him and shaked her head a bit.

“And there I thought a guy like you would have a bit more experience with it. Lucky for you I have learned some skills in my time. They are all back to basic now, but I kept them at least. Remember this also for the future. You will keep all your skills, only loosing attributes and skill levels by dying. This sucks more than enough by the way because some skills cease to function when your attributes drop too low.”

Surprised Iranueel gazed at her.

“So you still have all your necromancer powers? This should make you quite OP against mortals. So why did you have such problems with these guys?”

Glowing to him Misako hissed.

“Didn’t you hear me before? Most of my necromancer powers aren’t useable because my attributes reached an all time low! Throw me the keys and get inside the car, Iranueel and then shut up.”

Knowing when to keep silent this time Iranueel went to the passenger’s side and got inside. A very pleasant brown leather seat welcomed him. The interior was made with dark exotic woods and much chrome.

Misako opened the door and then searched for the opener of the cowl. After finding and pulling it she went before the car and started her dismantling of some parts of the car Iranueel knew nothing about.

“Start repairing the damage to your arm now. Better now than at a less opportune moment later. It will take some time and do me a favour and don’t cry too loud.”

Contrite Iranueel started on searching for his own special elemental mix and was surprised that it was much easier than before. Then he started the spell and almost cried out loud because intense pain erupted from the stump of his elbow.

Misako came around and with a little bit of compassion, said.

“Sorry for my last remarks. I’m a bit touchy about this matter. I recommend to bite on something. It makes it easier handling the pain.”

Iranueel nodded and had to meditate to regain his mana again before he could repeat the casting.

He took Misako’s advice to heart and bit into a piece of fabric he pulled from his wrecked shirt. A bit of blood in it remembered him of his last misfortune. The iron taste made him much clearer in the head.

Then the process of casting, pain and meditating began to repeat itself again.

Misako needed 10 Minutes to settle the matter with the car and then seated herself behind the wheel.

Starting the engine she watched the display and nodded content.

“Good, we have an almost full fuel tank, so we don’t have to stop in the next time. This should get us some distance for now. I will take us north for now. There I have an old friend that could help us getting the needed time for the ritual. And it will also give you the opportunity to heal your wound.”

Iranueel only nodded with cold sweat on his forehead and concentrated on his own task. He didn’t look forward to it, but it was necessary, so he tackled the issue with all his will.

Misako went on the road and tried to ignore his suppressed wails.