The revenant continued to shamble along the ground, footfalls reverberating. Livian and Evarius kept walking toward it.

"Been a while since we faced one of these losers," Livian said. She looked eager to do battle.

"Careful," Evarius said. "Mostly, we've been dealing with vermin around here. This is gonna be far more difficult."

Livian cocked the hammers back on her guns, heating them up once more. "Heh! As if I need you telling me that."

She blasted off from the ground, twirling over the revenant and onto its back. She grabbed onto it's horns as she fired into the skull, making the terrible beast shriek and thrash it's giant legs all over.

Evarius threw his electric lasso at one of the bucking appendages, searing the leg upon contact. He ran forward, pulling the lasso close as he slid beneath the raging monster and slashed at the captured leg. The beast screamed again, a moment that Livian took to jump off its head, twist around and shoot it dead in the eye. It burst in a spewing geyser of black mist, like shadow given material form. Once she hit the ground, Livian was running again before the revenant could slice her apart with its claws.

Synthia was left as an observer, mouth agape. The longer Livian and Evarius did battle with their opponent, the more her astonishment grew. But not only that: she desired the same strength they possessed. As things stood, she was a nobody thief from a town most people would only have heard of in passing. She was absolutely nothing before these experienced mercenaries.

Livian was performing acrobatics in the air, propelling herself with bursts of Wind magic and blasting heated bullet after bullet. Evarius launched himself with his own magic and slashed at the revenant's neck, more mist spewing from the wound.

Livian could only be described as ecstatic through all this. "Hah! This is the perfect rush after all those boring jobs! This thing's not a challenge at all!"

"Careful!" Evarius landed on his feet a good distance away. "Something's not right. It's not firing off special attacks like poison or anything. And it's not moving. Why?"

Livian was about to fire again when Evarius held his hand up. "Stop for a minute."

"Wait, are you crazy? This thing's not gonna wait around for you to recover."

"No, I'm not hurt. I want to see what it does."

"Huh?"

The revenant, now left alone, began stumbling forward on its damaged legs once more. It was headed toward Synthia, who began backing away in terror.

"Holy shit, you're letting that thing live!? What are you waiting for, just kill it!"

"I see," Evarius said. "It really is that sword."

The girls were a little lost, especially as one of them was backing away from a giant, bull-headed shreddermole demon. Evarius leaped again, landing on top of the revenant's back. He raised his sword up high and stabbed it into the revenant's cranium. Shrieking, the monster collapsed in a plume of dark mist, fading away. Soon, no trace of it remained and Evarius was left standing on solid ground again.

Sheathing his sword, he walked over to Synthia. She gazed up at him in apprehension, half-heartedly trying to hide the Mioja.

Stopping in front of her, Evarius crossed his arms. "You're going to tell me how you got that sword. I assume it's nothing ordinary, correct? Because between advancing the time and drawing a demon to our location, you're no ordinary little girl."

Synthia chuckled weakly. "I guess not, when you put it like that."

"Little pointy eared brat is more trouble than she's worth," Livian said, holstering her guns. "I say we ditch her."

"I'm a pointy eared brat with a name," Synthia snapped. "Synthia. SIN. THEE. AH. You got that?"

Evarius continued to survey her neutrally. As Livian trudged off to the truck, Synthia sighed. "Main gist of it is, me and my friends found something I don't think we should have. Now we're on the run from somebody even crazier than that she-devil you drag around."

Evarius unfolded his arms. "That's... the Mioja, is it not? One of the six elemental keystones that binds this world together. They're the only weapons I know of, real or not, that can manage to attract demons like that. They feed off magical energy and are naturally drawn toward it."

Synthia continued to hold the weapon tightly, unsure of what Evarius would do. He noticed her anxiety. "Look, I won't hurt you. I just need to know what you're going to do."

Synthia began to pull out the binding for the Mioja, wrapping it in the cloth again. She guessed that would help prevent any more demons from showing up, although now she knew she always had to keep her guard up at night. "Look, the job's pretty much busted until morning. We should go back to Blah-Blah man and see if he's satisfied with my performance. Just bring me back and I'll be out of your hair."

Livian snorted. "Fair enough. I'm good with lying to Blanc so long as we don't have to see you again."

Evarius said nothing. He scratched his chin, pondering. Synthia was growing a little impatient with him.

"Look, I'm prepared to fight if I have to."

"Be prepared to lose," Livian said, pulling out a cigarette. "You were barely able to kill one shreddermole and were dead weight the whole time. You walk around with something like that sword and you believe you're going to make it wherever you're going in one piece?"

Livian was about to light the cigarette, but Evarius walked over and yanked it out of her mouth. When she turned to him affronted, he said, "You've already had two today."

Grunting, Livian turned away from him. Evarius looked back at Synthia. "We'll take you back. I can promise you that."

Synthia smiled. "Yeah, thanks old guy! I'll take you up on that. C'mon, time's a wasting."

Evarius grimaced as they walked back to the truck. "Do I look... that old?"

"You're six hundred, dude," Livian said. "Accept it."

"Five hundred and eighty three..."

"Oh crap, you're really that old!?"

"Don't say it like that."

...

Making their way back to the Doras marketplace, Synthia and the others squeeze through the entrance again. It wasn't nearly as busy as before, the stillness quite relaxing after the battle in the aeternus fields.

Walking over to the wooden building by the end, they were greeted by Blanc. His slight frame looked even more diminutive with the pair of additional bodyguards by his side.

"Did you get the job done," Blanc inquired.

"Not quite," Evarius replied. "Certain complications arose, and we had to, uh... well. Shreddermoles started running away. A revenant showed up."

"A revenant? Bad luck indeed, although perhaps more so for it than you, since you're standing before me. And you spent all that extra time waiting for the shreddermoles? Demons can only appear at night, and so when you were fighting it would've had to be nightfall. Yet when you left, it wasn't that late. It took that long for the shreddermoles to come to you?"

Evarius shrugged. "Don't know what to tell you. They wouldn't show for a while, and by the time they did it was close to dark."

Synthia remained quiet. Her heart was thumping in her chest. Blanc's demeanor was particularly slimy, and she could tell he didn't buy Evarius' story for a second. The question was, would he call him on it?

"I trust you'll eliminate the rest in the morning then?"

"So long as you throw in a little bit extra for taking care of that demon. Along with the information we need, too."

"Of course, of course... Now, there is just one other matter I wish to discuss."

The icy gaze beneath the rim of his bowler hat centered on Synthia. "You. Hand over that weapon."

Synthia made sure to feign the right amount of surprise. "My... weapon? And what do you want with it? It's just a sword, you can find one like it anywhere."

"Except it's not like one you can find just about anywhere." Blanc looked at the sword on her back with shameless greed. "It is one of the Mioja... the Darkness Mioja, to be precise. My scouts followed you and verified it with their own eyes."

Blood running cold, Synthia tried to swallow. Her mouth had run dry. "You followed us?"

"Of course, you cretin. I specialize in a very particular branch of Time magic. A privilege, considering this country's apparent aversion for it. Out of all the elements, time and darkness are the most closely interlinked. One might say they are twin elements. So I could tell immediately, having become so attuned, that what you carried was no ordinary object."

Nodding to his bodyguards, they began walking forward. Synthia snarled. She whipped out the Mioja and let her mana pour into it once more. She was staring Blanc dead in the eye as the bodyguards pulled out their pistols. "You snake... What the hell did you do with Christoph and Iggy?"

Snapping his fingers, Blanc gestured to the door of the building. His first bodyguard from earlier walked out, along with a few others. They held Iggy at gunpoint, and beside her was—

"Christoph!"

The adventurer was now conscious and on his feet. While the right arm and torso were in bandages, he no longer appeared to be on the brink of death. He gave her a warm smile despite the situation. "Heya, shrimp. I hear you got me out of some real trouble."

"And what would you call this," Iggy asked, exasperated.

"A detour," Christoph said. He was rewarded for his cheek with one of the bodyguards hitting his ribs with the butt of his gun. He doubled over in pain. Synthia became enraged, looking about ready to attack.

"You bastards!"

"Wait!" Evarius held out a hand, dissuading her from attacking. "Blanc, I don't know what you're playing at here, but I guarantee you it would be best to let the little girl and her friends go. Do you really wish to get tangled up with someone in possession of a Mioja?"

"Positive," Blanc replied coolly. "How difficult can it be, to wield one? I know my place! I know where I fit in! And I know I can wield that very special sword. So if she would just give it here..."

For a moment, with Iggy and Christoph held hostage, Synthia considered it. Getting the Mioja off their hands so they could be rid of its influence could very well be a blessing. She had planned to give up the sword eventually, anyhow.

But Blanc was clearly not the kind of man who should possess this weapon, if he was right about being able to properly wield it. And even if he wasn't, Synthia wasn't eager to see somebody crushed by darkness magic right in front of her. And that Atlas woman was unlikely to stop chasing them.

"Just tell me one thing," Synthia said. "Why the hell would you patch up Christoph if you were going to put him in harm's way just a few hours later?"

"More leverage, more chance of success," Blanc explained. "Why waste such a useful bargaining chip?"

"Figures," Synthia retorted. "That's what it comes down to with scum like you. Anytime you meet somebody, you see a big fat number hanging over their head and assign their worth based off that."

"I'm scum who stays in business," Blanc said. "This is no different from any other transaction. Hand over the weapon, and you all go free. Besides, I have no quarrel with the elf or the bitch."

"Hey, no need to be rude on top of everything else," Evarius said. Livian just snorted.

"Well, I guess a bitch is the best way to describe me. And the best way to describe you is cowardly scum like the brat said. Dickhead."

"Enough!" Blanc's patience had run out. He extended a hand. "Give me the Mioja. Now!"

Synthia looked at her companions. Iggy was petrified, but Christoph had a confident spark to his eyes. He held up his uninjured hand. In his palm, an orb of Light appeared as opposed to his usual Darkness magic. He closed his eyes.

Catching on, Synthia shielded her face right before Christoph clenched his fist around the orb. A bright flash of light erupted, blinding everybody else in the vicinity sans Livian and Evarius, who had also caught on to what was about to happen.

Christoph grabbed Iggy's hand, who had unfortunately been exposed to the flash. They bowled over Blanc. He fell flat on his face, bowler hat rolling away.

"Did you have to blast me, too!?"

"Save the complaining for later! See if you still feel like it after I'm done saving your life."

Synthia ran after them, immensely pleased to be able to hear the bickering tone of her companions again. Iggy groaned. "Oh come on, me and Synthia rode here on just your bulky bike trying to save your ass! Don't talk to me about who owes who!"

"Heh," Christoph chuckled. "If that's how you feel, then I think this partnership of ours is going to work out just fine! C'mon, let's go."

They squeezed in through the alley. Evarius and Livian watched them go.

"Their savviness isn't in dispute," Evarius remarked. Livian could only grunt.

"You two," Blanc wheezed as he got back up on shaky legs, thinning hair disheveled. "Go after them! I'll pay you, I'll pay anything to get that sword!"

"Trust me, Blanc," Evarius said. "There are a few types of people in this world you don't make yourself an enemy of. Somebody worthy of wielding the Mioja is one them."

Livian stood, pensive. "How much?" Evarius didn't seem surprised by this, but disappointed. He waved his hand dismissively at her, walking away. He'd have no part in this.

Blanc was shaking with rage. "Double... no, triple what I was going to pay you for the shreddermole job."

Livian still seemed a little unsure. Blanc shouted, "And I'll tell you where your airship is too! You won't have to eliminate those monsters in the fields anymore!"

Snapping her fingers, Livian nodded. "That's more like it."

She turned around, walking toward the entrance leading out and after the fleeing trio. Thumbing her revolvers, she went over a few preemptive strategies that would best allow her to capture them.