In the small abandoned house, located in the outskirts of Notre Dame city. A young woman with silver white hair and beautiful ruby red eyes was speaking to a humanoid creature. Oh and there was a cursed child that needed to be saved in less than 30 hours too.

“What do you mean that we can’t go on this mission” Luna yelled at Kyle “ How could you say that after all we have done to save her ?”

“I never said we, I said you.” Kyle said. “This mission forced us to wander to the unknown, without any support from our friends and more importantly from Maria's healing power.”

“So why I’m I the only one who can’t go ?” Luna aked.

“Because I’m the only one that has a skill to regain some HP (skill C). And because I won’t be able to protect you like the last time.” Kyle answered.

“So you do this because you care about me ?” Luna said.

“Yes, I do,” Kyle replied casually, “I promised you that I will get you out of here alive didn’t I, that it was gonna be ok.”. Luna got a flashback at that moment she would never forget, the moment where Kyle saved her life when they first got here, the words he said, the promise he made and how he risked his life for her. Oh how weak she was back then, but now it’s different, in front of Kyle, right now and then, she did not feel scared and vulnerable like when she first came here. They had been through so much and like Kyle said, she had also been so close to him that part of his personality, his strong will had grown on her as well.

“Thank you Kyle, I truly am thankful for you caring for me. But I’m not a weak little girl, not anymore, I will take care of myself and make my own decision” Luna said.

“I know that you are stronger now. But that doesn’t mean that you can stop caring about your safety. Remember this Luna, a strong fighter will unlikely to lose against a strong foe but more likely to lose against a weaker one because he is too careless” Kyle replied.

Luna did not reply back immediately but rather gave what Kyle said some serious thought. Yes, she now had powers and skills, now she knew what she could do and what she must do to survive. But that did not mean she was invincible, without Kyle help she would have never got to this point. She doubted herself and hesitated to continue, but that was just for a moment before she remembered what Kyle taught her back then.

“No one is born with courage, but life will give you the opportunity to become one. Is that not what you told me back then Kyle. This is my opportunity, Kyle, to be brave, to leave my past self behind, so why are you stopping me ?” Luna said.

“Because you might get killed Luna ... and I can’t let that happen to you” Kyle replied.

“So don’t. I don’t want to die, Kyle. But I can’t just stand behind you all the time letting you risk your life for mine again and again. So If you don’t want it to happen to me then come with me and fight alongside me” Luna said.

Kyle looked deep into Luna's ruby red eyes once more or was it Luna who made Kyle look into her eyes like that time they were in the tarven. He did not have to have the power to read her mind to know what she was thinking right now. No hesitation, no fear, the fire and the will to go on was clear in those mesmerizing eyes, Luna was not gonna back down. Indeed she had been too close to Kyle for too long, some of his ‘questionable traits’ were starting to grow on her now. Kyle took a deep breath and sighed. He can’t convince her otherwise now, “Fuck, since when did they grow so much backbone, first Allan now her” Kyle thought to himself.

“Fine, we will do this together. But be careful, I don’t want any of us to get hurt just for a stupid mission” Kyle said. “You remember that too Kyle, I don’t want anything bad to happen to you too” Luna replied.

After that they both left a message for the other telling them what happened and where they were heading. However, they were too focused on the timer that they did not notice something odd. Why did it take so long for the other to get back.

******

Receiving the request to head back into town and find out anything they could about Glenda Shaw and her daughter. First, they headed to her house one more time to find out if Kyle and Luna had missed anything from their time there. But the team also came out empty handed. Next they asked the neighbors to see if they had any insight on the matter. But what they got was nothing. She was just a witch or a demon to them now, just like what the Temple told them. Too focused on the task they did not even notice that just like when they first came to this city, there were eyes and ears that followed their every move.

“The people either do not know anything or are purposely keeping it from us. This is a waste of time” Allna said.

“Well there is still one more place we could hope to get an answer from” Liam looked at Maria. “No, no, no, please, not this again” Maria replied.

“We are going to the library.” Liam spoke. “Noooooooo !!!” Maria screamed inside her head.

Once again Maria had to drag herself to the city’s library. However, her time there was not long. Allan, Maria and Liam tried to find any book that might have the information they needed. Rather it was related to Glanda Shaw, cursing magic or even mythical rumour. But unbeknown to them, they had made a fatal mistake in the library.

As they could not find any book or newspaper that had any information they need, they asked the librarian there for guident, she was not of any help though as she said, the information that they were seeking was rare and unrecorded by the library, she then guided them to some area that as she said magic or demons related. The team sat there for a couple of hours to find out if there was some useful knowledge but they were empty handed. That was when Liam noticed something strange, he could not find the librarian anywhere and other than them, no one else was inside the library. Liam could feel that something was not right and immediately warn the other. But it was too little too late, the moment Liam spoke up to the others, men wearing silver like armors and weapons bursted through the doors of the library. Leading them was the librarian from before and some priest from the Temple.

“Get her, she is a follower of the Devil !” One of the priests said. This city was truly run under the hand of the Temple, they control everything, even the city library. Maria was already seen as a possible threat to the Temple and the High Priestess, so she was being watched carefully and the fact that they were looking for information about Glenda Shaw, a convicted witch and looking into dark magic and demons related knowledge were all the excuses the Temple needed to take her.

“Run !” Liam yelled. The three of them tried to run to the back door of the library but soon found out that it was blocked as well, so they had to go up. Running up the stairs of the library with the city’s guards and priests on their tail, Liam could see that there was no way out, they can’t keep running and they can’t head straight through that line of enemy. So there was only one way, but it was dangerous and a decision must be made right now before it was too late.

“We need to break the glass window and jump out right now,” Liam said. They were already on the 3rd floor, any higher and it would be impossible. Liam looked at Allan and nodded his head, they knew what to do, Allan broke the glass and jumped down first, the impact did injure him but he had to push through the pain and keep moving. Next it was Maria and Liam's turn. However, unbeknown to Liam, Maria had a fear of height, she couldn’t push herself to jump on her own. So Liam did what he knew Kyle would do, the enemy could reach them in any second now,

“Maria close your eyes and grab on to me”, Liam said.

He did not wait for Maria to answer though, he just held her tight and jumped out the building with her in his arms. Liam covered Maria’s head and body, taking a directed impact in his back, seriously injuring himself.

“ Are you alright ?” Liam asked Maria, she was so scared that she still hadn’t opened her eyes and when she did, she found herself already in the open arms of Liam. “I should be the one who asks that question, can you still walk?”.

Before they two can finish their conversation, the city’s guard had already burst out from the library and chased them once again, Allan quickly cast his spell, Ice wall (AAC, Allan was lvl 2 at this point, ice wall prevent enemy from passing throw and dealing damage to all who touch the ice but would disapear after a few seconds) creating a barrier between them and the men. “Come one it would only last for a few seconds let’s go” Allan yelled. Maria and Liam quickly picked themself up and ran to Allan's direction.

On the run, Maria casted Heal and used Surge (skill C) to boost the team movement speed. But it was very clear that Allan and Liam injuries were way more serious than they told her. Both of them could barely run, the fall really hurt them.

“We can’t continue like this, it would only be a matter of time before they caught us all.” Maria said. Liam looked at the two and said, “You’re right”, his voice changed in an instance “Keep on running, I will hold them off for you guys. I’m already injured, I would only be holding us back. Run ! and get Kyle and Luna ASAP” he told them.

“No, I will stay, you two can run,” Maria said. “I’m the only one that could still run, I can buy more time, besides, the one the Temple really wants to catch is me, even if you stay behind, they would just run past you and get to me instead anyway .” Maria said.

“Are you crazy, don’t you know what they will do to you ?” Liam and Allan both spoke.

“I am the only one who can heal my wound both by magic or medical skills, can you ? Enough talk, just run and get help as soon as possible” Maria spoke as she ran in the opposite direction from Allan and Liam.

“Maria wait !!” Liam yelled but it was no use, she was gone.

“Come on Liam, I know that it sucks but we have to go now. We need Kyle and Luna help, heading back there would be sucide”. Liam with anger in his brown eyes turned back to face Allan, his heart was racing like wild, oh how he wished he could save everyone, but Allan was right, they had to get out of here quickly and made sure Maria's sacrifice was not in vayne. Maria boosted her own movement speed with all of the mana she had left and kept letting the priests and the guards to chase after her in the opposite direction. However, she knew that she could not escape and it was only a matter of time before she got caught. And in just less than 10 minutes she was out of breath and was surrounded. Maria was at the Walking Death area at the time and in her head sparked an idea.

“Help, please dear people of mine, it’s me the one who saved the child's life from the hand of Death a few days ago” Maria stood tall and spoke out to the people there. “These people here are trying to take me away and hurt me because I saved your life, please don’t let them”.

The moment the people there saw her, with her blond hair and beautiful and unmistaken green eyes, they reacted immediately “ Save her, save the Goddess ambassador, don’t let them hurt her”, so spoke the people. They rushed toward her and pushed off the guards; however, it was no use. The guards overpowered all of the people in the Walking Death area, which couldn’t be that hard as many of them were very sick. But that was not Maria's plan in the first place, she was only using them to make sure the the words was spreaded, that the Temple got her, the Goddess chosen one or something like that so that they could not hurt her when they caught her as the people would riot if they found out.