White Flower, Black Feather

Storm… Captured…

The reason her mood had started to decay was that she felt the location of the marked slavers getting closer… and one was right to the south of them, before he died suddenly… Miriam wasn't angry at not being the one that killed him, but before she went fully to the east to reach the rest of them, and just as she was making her explanation about the unusual rocks…

She was interrupted… by a hatred, just as intense as the one she felt for those two, that filled her mind instantly

His presence was a stain in the world that needed to be ERASED…

The gods, the trees, and the two girls on her back were quiet… and while she knew, what she needed to do…

Coiling around to the girls to held them carefully on her hands-

[Boundary Break]

Making sure their heads and necks were safe at the sudden burst of speed she got, and get some distance from the bastard

Caw?! Squeak?!

That simple action, took all her willpower to do…

“A Skill” the noises she was making were full of venom, but she got ahead of Brenna’s question, as she kept holding them “Don't ask me to teach it to you, it broke all my bones and muscles to learn the damn thing… and using it afterwards did the same for a while…” still looking to the south

Miriam knew that the awareness was mutual, he learned where she was at the same time… but she remained there… waiting…

Then, a whole minute later the stain appeared again, making her bare her fangs with pure wrath… but he remained still… immobile at the edge of her perception…

Too far away for her to feel vibrations on the ground, and with the wrong angle to smell if he was alone…

‘This is a trap… I didn’t moved that far away…’

-Probably… or, he could have been laughing-

‘True. You have been quiet’

-I’m not an idiot, I wanted to let you have time with your wife-

Her wrath didn’t left room for embarrassment… but she did needed to think about what to do with Brenna and Roxanne… but this wasn't just about them

She looked to the east… and then to the falling sun on the west… not being able to see Sunny from that place squeezed her heart a bit…

“I’m going to fall back and then rush to their hideout, then I’ll need both of you to hide under my wings” she dropped the makeshift weapons she made and buried them before taking a deep breath, and exhaling it…

Feeling the crystal in her chest heating up, she took another breath, which turned into a puff of flame as she exhaled it this time, just as she knew it should happen

Caw?! Squeak!!!

“All right, I do have more than one…” her next breath, as she released the two girls, caused mist that condensed into water in front of her, that she used to coat her hand, causing the transparency to happen before she dropped the thin layer of water to the ground

He was still immobile…

“He is trying to set up a trap, there is no way he is alone” or at least she hoped that… “Sneak in, grab and dash. Once they are safe, I’ll go back and kill him”

Brenna started to flap her wings while looking upset

“I don’t care that he killed a Dragon. I need to kill him. He must be their leader or…” Brenna stopped and Miriam could see some tears on her eyes

Miriam shook her head and offered her hands to them

“Let’s do this” she hated the regret on her voice…

/////

They had dug into a cliff that faced west, apparently using the mined rocks to make a somewhat tall wall around a portion of the cliff, the gate was nothing more that a bunch of metal bars full of spikes tied together. There were two men slowly lighting some torches, from the inside, on openings the wall had along the base, making the light push back at the shadows surrounding them

Miriam couldn’t feel anyone else moving along the wall with her head against the ground before getting closer, and the roughness of the stones made it easy for her to climb over, even while covered in water. Once her head was on top of it, she saw multiple vertical openings, carved along the cliff…

‘Arrow slits? Or whatever they are called?’

-Could be-

None of those fired at her still visible eyes on top of the wide wall, and she couldn’t see any light or movement coming from behind those openings, but she didn’t had the time to think about that

She was sure that he was going to rush back there soon enough, she had only used her skill a couple of times to move north, before she dashed at her full speed towards this place, not finding any defenses, other than a ring of yellow flowers a few dozen of meters back, that disabled her sense of smell as she passed over it…

This was because she was too tense to see the ring of small Terror stones around the wall and cliff

And while those flowers were something she had encountered before, she just couldn’t remember the place where that happened, but she didn’t felt that the memory was useful at the time anyway, and continued her infiltration by lowering from the wall a short distance behind one of those lighting the torches on that side of the gate, just far enough so her shadow didn’t alerted him

Killing him was… something that she probably was going to do in the end, still, she decided to not do it at the moment: she doubted that anyone else was looking at either of them, but the trembling bundles under her wings didn’t needed to heard what she knew was going to become a blood bath…

There was also the matter of the ones she had marked when meeting Brenna… and the one she marked just the day before…

Just like with the Dragon Slayer, she knew where those four were…

‘Why they aren't screaming an alert…? Or running away…?’

All of them were inside and down the cliff… she could feel the remaining three waiting still in the same area. With the newest one moving erratically somewhere near them, but…

‘I don’t have time for this…’

Miriam did her best to not sigh, and slid towards the open door attached to the cliff…

‘Really…?’

There were two guards near the door, each inside their own hollowed sections to the sides of the hallway that formed the entrance, one was sleeping on a chair, and the other was woodcarving what seemed to be a naked woman without a head…

Crack

She killed him by breaking his neck, he barely had the time to tense after noticing her shadow above him, before it happened

The other one remained sleeping, not even snorting at the noise. It wasn't a kill due to anger, they had many crystalline things along the ceiling of the tunnels making light above them, meaning that her shadow was always present in there

Placing him on his own chair to mimic him falling asleep too, didn’t took much time, and thankfully the two lighting the torches hadn't finished before she was already moving deeper inside the cliff, always down, unwilling to take side-passages that didn’t pointed towards the marked ones

Her ‘Nose’ was still disabled due to the flowers, she only covered herself in water after seeing the wall, so she had no other idea as for where the people they were there to save, could be… then again, the lack of vibrations told her the place was mostly empty…

“Crap…” she spoke letting the water fall off her body and finally wet the ground of the hideout, turning into mud with the dirt and dust that covered the ground everywhere “This really is a trap…”

Miriam opened her wings once she moved clear of the mud

Caw…

“Sorry” Brenna sounded angry, and Roxanne trembled while seeing the illuminated underground around them “They must have taken everyone out in order to ambush us, we need to move fast”

Brenna nodded and hopped to the wing she had been ridding before, her familiar just started to hop alongside Miriam as she moved along what she hoped was the last hallway, before reaching the largest source of vibrations in the whole place

“S-stop right there!!!”

Where the last bastard she marked was grabbing a child by the hair and had an ax near his neck, right above the metal collar

None of those inside the large cell were making a sound, as she entered the biggest room she had encountered so far, but their expressions revealed their dread

“I said-?!!!”

Miriam’s eyes turned into two pure, glowing, green spheres and the arm holding the ax twisted away from the child, breaking every single bone in it before the child floated towards her arms

He screamed loudly, and she could hear Brenna protesting at what she was doing

“I’m sorry, but she needs to do this. Cover your eyes” and the First Mother whispered to both of them

“Grow” before Miriam continued with the instructions whispered only to her, the child shivering in fear against her

His chest tore open by dozens of roots that came out of his stomach, spilling blood and the other contents of his stomach in front of him. The roots grew quickly and before he fell they were holding him in place, still alive and standing as his heart beat loudly while exposed to the air

Without stopping with his screams

She saw a small side-room to her right, and the three remaining marked were there, gagged and tied to each other… nothing more than bait…

A woman was stomping the floor of the cell that held… so many people…

“I’m the Fourth Ruler of Death” her proclamation made all of them freeze in muted fear, the child on her arms shivering even more while closing his eyes “We are here to save all of you” she focused on the woman that was still stomping, before gesturing at the screaming man “He will live for a few minutes”

With that she ignored the bastard and moved to the bars while carrying the child on her arms, he was so thin, that she almost released her aura in anger, but managed to place him down, and after noticing someone holding his broken arm on the other side of the bars

Snap!

Her magic healed it, making him scream silently for a few seconds, before he started to move the arm in disbelief…

Just as everyone that noticed her healing started to look at her, a horn resounded above in the surface…

“Trap triggered…” her words made the trapped people’s expressions fall and twist in despair

But Miriam didn’t let that stop her from ripping two of the bars out of the way, and threw them to the only entrance to the cell. Her magic twisting the bars in the air before impacting to the sides of the entrance, and twisting further to block it

She did the same with four more bars, before she noticed that the child had gotten inside the cell… and that no one was able to get out… likely due to the collars that glowed a sickening red to her senses…

Some more magic later made a stone perch for Brenna right next to the opening she made, and she turned to the girl

“Brenna…?” she was shivering, and had one of her wings covering her head “Brenna, I’m sorry, but I need you to help her first, while I dig a passage out of this place. I will keep you and all of them safe, but we really are short on time…”

Just as Roxanne was coming back from jumping from some barrels at one side of the room and back to them, squeaking something that Miriam couldn’t understand, she uncovered her face, flinching once she saw the solid green orbs looking at her

“You told me that you hated it…” but her voice only revealed how hurt that sight made her

And Miriam recoiled in horror… before looking away and trembling, pained by the sudden and unexplained pain that pierced her heart…

She could hear a whisper again-

Caw!!!

But Brenna just flapped her wings and flew to the perch

“We’ll talk later” Brenna glanced at her before gesturing with a wing to the young woman that needed her collar removed first

Miriam nodded as an answer, and the girl she hurt flew to her shoulder… while a square of pure magic came out of her body…?

Said square opened like a book under Brenna’s gestures, and after a few moments she used some magic on the collar…

Making two dark spots appear from the red glow, that started to suck said glow into them, growing bigger as she started to pull at the thing with her beak

“Let me” it looked uncomfortable for both of them, making her speak to let her try it, instead of asking about that ‘Book’

Her hands and claws were too big to do it comfortably, but she still could use her magic to pull at the two spots for a few seconds-

Click

“AAAAHHHH!!!!” making the young woman scream in wrath once it snapped open, making Brenna fly to the perch in fear, as the free woman almost fell to her knees, a moment before the people with her, held her in place, with happiness showing clearly on their faces

Knowing that the collar was going to explode soon, due to her goddess' words, Miriam threw it to the room with the bait, and flattened the ground from where she pulled the bars, before the young woman walked towards the trapped bastard-

“AAAAHHHH!!!!” to rip out his heart with her bare hands, silencing his screams and getting covered in blood

Caw?!!!

Brenna looked away, but once more she was left shivering with her head under a wing, with Roxanne squeaking under the perch at her

“Give me a moment” Miriam spoke to the rest and moved to the furthest wall from the entrance to the cell

She already knew that the east was in that direction, and just placed her hands on the wall

“Open a path” and her magic easily moved and compacted tons of dirt and rocks out of the way, making a small quake as her tunnel moved forwards and up to the surface. It didn’t took a minute, before she knew it was done. She pulled a stone from the wall, Engraving a pattern that she remembered well, before Imbuing it “Roxanne, please help me”

The three future humanoids couldn't see the glow of a Terror Stone, but everyone else could…

“Take this to the entrance and drop it there, we don’t need a creature getting curious” and as she attached the thing with a weak ring of dirt to the back of the bunny, she confirmed what she had done, to everyone that listened to her

Until the collar exploded in the side-room with a metallic sound, followed by muffled screams of pain, that pulled their attention from the running bunny

With a glance to the young woman, that was just staring at the corpse in front of her, while holding the mangled heart, Miriam moved back to Brenna

“Ready…?” she asked with a soft grumble, full of concern “How about you teach me how-”

Caw…

“I’ll do it” she lifted her head from under her wing, her pained voice making Miriam flinch, and looked at the people in front of them, with Miriam doing the same

All of them had hope in their eyes…

/////

But their work was atrociously slow…

Even after some of the men started to help pulling open the collars, Brenna was the only one that could give any of them, the chance to force the things

Miriam had tried to pull one with just her magic, but the cursed thing was ridiculously tough… and the singer wasn't saying anything

Not even when Roxanne came back covered in blood

“She slaughtered it…” boar’s blood, but still… her silence about the spell she was using was…

Worrisome…

One of the trapped children, was a nasty surprise. Neither noticed at first that she had different ears than the rest, they only did so, when Brenna landed on her shoulder, just to flee in horror once she noticed the long strip of scarred flesh at both sides of her head…

Starting in the same place as human’s, before ending somewhere above her temples

Miriam almost unleashed her restrained aura, and started to rampage against the few bastards that were nearby, at that moment. But the empty eyes of the little girl made her focus on heal her body first, on regrowing her big ears, and after some wild gestures from the women near them, her tail, leaving the dog-girl humanoid silently crying before Brenna and Miriam removed the collar from her neck

After that, the little girl launched herself to Miriam and hug her while she kept crying… she was the only humanoid in the whole group…

She didn’t got in the way of their work, so she let her be there, everyone else had seen what happened and started to help doing what they could, wherever it was pulling at collars, comforting those that needed it, helping those that had trouble moving to get near the Ruler to be healed…

So, many, things to heal…

And she didn’t knew how to begin to apologize to Brenna for…

“You…”

The stain got close enough… no, he was running fast towards them… and everyone noticed her reaction, especially the dog eared girl that was still hugging her. Only after she reacted to his presence is that the girl jumped away from her, at first she looked scared with her ears dropping in fear with the idea of being the one that made her angry…

“Their leader is getting closer” but once she explained herself, everyone tensed for a very different reason, and the little girl nodded with her ears moving sharply up, before moving to the group of women that had been taking care of the other children… that had started to cry “We need to hurry, Brenna teach me how-”

Caw!

“I can do it!” but the Singer still didn’t wanted to do that, even if Miriam could literally see that her magic was getting very low…

They still had over twenty people to help…

“-He is a monster!-” a man looking at the brink of despair came close and started to speak in Bori “-Can’t you grab them?! Drag them away?!-”

“He is merely a Dragon Slayer…” her words still had venom and wrath in them, but the pride she injected in them, wasn't fake, or, there just to calm them… “But I’ll admit that I would prefer all of you, at enough distance to kill him properly” after seeing what she had…

Miriam was resolute to protect all of them

Caw…

“Rest for a bit before continuing with the collars, I’ll go make sure they don’t get close, or have an easy time doing whatever they are planning to do” she noticed that the dog-girl was making the other children laugh with her tail, before moving

Caw?!

She ripped out two more bars before her body sunk into the ground and swam to the entrance to the room, while the two bars reshaped around rocks to make a crude pair of swords before she emerged on the other side of the barrier she made, now wielding her makeshift weapons

“Follow the trees to a safe place. Roxanne! Make sure there are no creatures waiting on the tunnel’s exit” she called back to all of them over her shoulder “I’ll see all of you after I’m done here”

And ignoring Brenna’s cries she dashed away

/////

There was only one thing in her mind

‘Is she insane?!’ and it wasn't the mental fatigue she had ‘If that slayer thing works like in a game! Then, she is in danger!!!’ nor in how sore her frantic cawing was making her throat feel…

Brenna had barely resisted the urge to scream, while being trapped under her wing at the speeds she was moving before, and Roxanne had been very vocal about how uncomfortable she felt too

And less than a minute later after being out, she was gruesomely killing a slaver after breaking his arm… Brenna knew that it was to save a kid, but the method was…

She stopped her cawing to look a bit to her right… at the woman that ripped… something out of the… body…

Still there, holding… while staring at…

‘Ugh!!!’

It was too much for her… so she latched to the first thing she could thing to distract herself

Her magic… which didn’t felt like it was enough for the remaining people that needed it…

‘And she just, slides away to get into a fight?!’ and the spell, that after the modifications she had made, was in her opinion, too difficult to teach in a rush… ‘Why didn’t I show her my Grimoire anyway…?! If she can see magic, can she see it like I do?! Can she read my spells?! Oh…’ she looked back at the barred exit… ‘I was too angry to give Sapphire to her… do I even have the magic for that…?’

Looking back at the expectant people waiting for her to use more of her magic, made her feel guilty… they were forced to wait there, with terrified expressions, until she was ready. The guy, that had said something she didn’t understood before, was trying to pull anyone out of the cell, but their bodies reacted violently to any of his attempts and forcibly moved back inside the cell

Their faces revealed the pain that the collars inflicted while doing that…

‘No… I can’t… if I summon her then… it will be for a few seconds at best… right now I have mana for…’ she shivered ‘About three collars… who…? Ah…’

At that moment, her heart broke at being forced to acknowledge the thing she didn’t wanted to…

‘No… nononono! I can’t just choose and leave-!’ Brenna looked back at the entrance, tears filling her eyes ‘Earning time?! That’s-?!’

And a high-pitched sound started to ring

“AAAAHHHH?!!!!” making the dog-girl fall to the ground while clutching her ears, and every other human started to look around in absolute terror…

Brenna screamed in her mind, she knew that the sound wasn't going to affect either Roxanne or her, but she had no idea if Miriam shared the weakness of the little girl

So, she flew to the entrance. Ignoring the people screaming at her as she slipped past the bars flying as fast as she could without magic

-Left and up!-

Following the instructions of her Helper, who she had been ignoring since Aufiea had tried to tell her that-

‘I don’t care what reasons she has!!! She can’t throw away her life like this!!!’

Soon into her flight she saw the world shaking around her, and a roar of anger followed soon after, almost making her fall due to Miriam’s aura pushing against her

‘Ugh!’ once more she was feeling her wrath, glad that it was aimed at someone else ‘Why?!’

Before she encountered a stone barrier that Miriam put in the way, it didn’t reached the ceiling, but the gap above it, made her crawl on her stomach for a few seconds, before she reached the other side and she kept flying

Eventually reaching a scene that gripped her heart

Miriam’s back was towards her, with her blocking the entrance and removing a shard of metal of her bloodied left wing, buried on the same place where she had been holding to her hours ago… and in front of her, there was a man lazily holding a sword with his right hand, a bigger one waiting on his back

“That’s all…?”

Those words made her shiver, fearing for the life of the only one keeping death at bay

‘Sapphire!!!’ it was a fear she had felt before, and any kind of hesitation was gone as she poured her remaining mana into a desperate attack

In an instant Sapphire was a metallic blur flying at Miriam’s back, her summoning using so much power, that she couldn't try to call out for the girl to dodge-

‘Ah’ but even faster that her summon could move, Miriam was already holding the weapon with her right hand, aiming at his bored expression… that slowly shifted into a wide smile… ‘Ah…?’

Brenna’s magic wasn't being consumed anymore

“Imbue” and Miriam’s word made her start flying backwards, at the same time Sapphire glowed with raw power-

‘AH?!!!’ that was filling her reserves while twisting the air around the blade

-FLEE!!!-

Miriam looked at her while grabbing Sapphire with both hands, and her scarred eye was warm with gratitude before a wall of stone and dirt raised between the two of them

She only managed to start moving away, before her aura shifted and the world on the other side of the wall exploded

/////

Miriam had underestimated the stain

He had sent his lackeys first, setting up the large engraved rocks around the wall before he ran towards the hideout, just to stop, waiting for her at the dropped gate, with a lazy smile on his face and that abomination at his back…

Her obvious fury made him laugh before making a gesture, that made his men place something on the stones, that glowed and started to make an annoying sound around her. He had looked interested for a moment since she didn’t reacted to the sound, before doing a lazy [Sword Wave] that didn’t used any magic

Not letting that bother her, she fired back two of them, aimed to kill him, but his next one was enough to stop her attacks, after they destroyed the first [Wave]. Causing an explosion between them and a cloud of dust

That he used to [Boundary Break] closer and destroy her swords with a swing of his own

She knew that it was the first time she used metal like that, but she had hoped that her creations would last for longer than a singular hit…

Resignation settled in as he playfully hopped away from the spikes she was making from the ground as the dust settled, looking just a bit bored at her magic. Miriam didn’t realized that she had roared at the time… and then he just waited…

Until she removed the shrapnel that hit her wing, her wound sealing nearly instantly, but her blood was making the wound looking worse than it was

“That’s all…?”

It was then that she noticed, that there was magic happening behind her

Brenna’s

And she dodged it by moving slightly to the side, before using her Skill to grab the weapon that looked made of pure magic to her

He was ready to block the attack, it was obvious to her that the weapon draining her magic wasn't going fast enough to reach him

“Imbue” but that could be fixed, and just as she felt the sword vibrating with joy

Miriam glanced at a retreating Brenna, her heart soaring with happiness for a moment

Before she raised a wall between them, to not let his disgusting bloodlust reach the girl, glaring at him with all her hatred for daring to make the abomination on his back

The leader was grinning widely, dropping his weapon as he grabbed the other one with his left hand, his men already running away ever since Sapphire, as the sword called herself, appeared, but not fast enough to escape before she sung the overcharged weapon down

Her magic taking the wavering shape of the blade and extending it as she dropped enough energy to create twelve big Terror Stones, filled with the intent to RID the world of the stain made by the weapon and its creator

He blocked her attack with a smile

The explosion turned the night into a brief sunrise that erased the wall in front of her with a loud roar, killing most of the fleeing slavers, destroying the annoying stones, and forcing the trees to block her attack seriously

Her joy at having a proper weapon on her hands, was dulled

“HAHAHAHA!!!!” because he was having a blast… despite now having his chest uncovered with many cuts along his trained body. Laughing loudly before swinging the monstrosity on his hands clearing the dust around him “You are definitively better than this guy was!” and pointing at her with his crimson weapon

Teeth, claws, and scales forming both edges and the guard, a leather-bound bone forming the grip, with two solidly crimson orbs resting on the base of the misshapen fuller near it, on each side of the weapon, and just enough metal to held it all together…

Miriam didn’t hated that he had used a Dragon to make a weapon

She HATED that he had done such a disgustingly, lousy, job with their body…

That crying weapon, was just one of the reasons the Ruler was going to PURGE him

/////

Brenna was grateful that she wasn't on the small gap when that happened

‘AAAHHH?!!!’ but the explosion nearly made her faint right there… before she decided to use her recovering magic to escape as fast as her spells allowed, making the wall sink with one of them, instead of dealing with the trembling structure at all

And soon she arrived back with the people they were there to save

“GET READY TO RUN!!! SHE IS SERIOUS NOW!!!” Brenna had no idea what her aura meant

She only knew that she. Did. Not. Wanted. To be anywhere near those two while they were fighting

So she rushed to the remaining collars, without any idea, nor care, of how Miriam was giving her magic through Sapphire to release those humans. Especially when the whole place kept trembling with the explosions that those two were making

Seeing everyone run immediately to help those that were still trapped, warmed her heart… but she wished that at least half of them were already moving along the tunnel…

‘WHAT’S GOING ON?!!!’ at least until Roxanne came back and started squeaking in panic with her horn glowing-

‘MIRIAM HAPPENED!!!’ that just made her become more frantic-

‘Oh, makes sense!’ before her familiar ran back to the other side of the tunnel being followed by a few of the women guiding the children, the protesting humanoid being carried by a guy while a woman was scolding (?) her as they moved

Brenna didn’t wasted time once the remaining collars were off, she used her already topped magic to bury the cursed things and started to make messages to get everyone else out

‘…?!!!’ almost leaving before she noticed that young woman still looking at-

Anger made her fly and land on her shoulder-

CAW!!!

Snapping her out of whatever she was doing and feeling before she started flapping her wings to get her to move

“-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!!-” thankfully, a woman came back and started to scream at the younger one

Her presence made the one that Brenna was pulling cry, and started to run with them towards the exit

‘Be safe…’ that, and worrying, were the only things she could do for Miriam at the time…

But she vowed to herself to become stronger

/////

The surface of the sword was rippling slightly, but those waves weren't related to the many explosive impacts that were happening against the abomination, according to the awareness she was giving Miriam, those ripples were happening because the weapon was getting stronger the more magic she ate

“HAHAHAHAHA!!!!” they needed it

He felt like another Titan: a ridiculously strong human. But unlike him, the slaver wasn't being restricted by having little space around him, nor was going to suddenly use something that turned him into an Undead…

Sadly…

So she had to block, twist, attack, and dodge, perfectly. Unable to use her body and tail like she was used to fight, and with the Title Dragon Slayer blocking her Gauge the whole time, it was making her unable to feel if there was an angle that she could take advantage of…

Unless she made it herself

[Boundary Break] was useful to make distance, even if he loved to rush at her the whole time he had been using the abomination, pushing the dirt away from under them with every swing, but baiting him to dodge to the side with her mist breath, gave her the moment she needed to make over twenty dirt swords around her

Before a wave of heat coming from the abomination pushed the mist away, revealing her and her weapons, just as she stabbed Brenna’s summoned weapon on the ground and [Boundary Break] after him while grabbing two dirt and stone ones, with the rest of her weapons flying after her

“COME ON!!!” that pair of swords shattered with contact against the abomination- “…?!!!” with the fragments gaining a sudden burst of speed as they aimed at his head. Making him dodge while laughing loudly, before smirking and playing along with her onslaught

Breaking and dodging her attacks, doing an excellent job at getting closer and closer, reaching the point where he was just swinging his arms separately, to destroy two of her weapons at the same time and step closer inside her guard to swing-

He saw how she grabbed a specific floating sword, out of all the ones that she could have chosen

Making him twist torso and weapon, changing his footing to-

CLANK!!!

Block the glowing weapon, that was encased in dirt, with his own. The fragments, and the rest of the floating weapons rushed at him, but with a loud shout those were dispersed before he disengaged with glee, with him getting some distance between them for the first time since getting serious

Miriam just assumed that what he did was just a weird skill, and got ready to-

“I already heard you speak!” he said with a smile “No banter? No taunting? No asking for my motives to-?!”

[Boundary Break]

CLANK!!!

“HAHAHAHA!!!!” using her skill to force him to block again, was the only answer they needed, and his laughter was evidence enough that he approved

Besides, she didn’t needed to heard it. His eyes were enough to tell her everything she needed as they kept clashing

Their fight had shown an excitement that wasn't there before. He wasn't bored anymore… and wherever he really had started with slavery, just to have someone strong hunting him, or not, Miriam didn’t care

She was going to end him, and destroy the crying weapon

At the end of a swing, her weapon solidified and gave the awareness that she had leveled up, Miriam used her skill right before making contact. Making him dig his heels against the ground with excitement to not get flung away, but he couldn't stop her from dragging him for a few meters before stopping-

SQUEAL!!!

Not because she wanted to…

-Fuck…-

Pure wrath twisted his face at the idea of his fun being interrupted by the Fell creature that both of them failed to kill before

SLAM!!!

But both of them used their skill to get out of the way before the Destroyer impacted the place where they had just been clashing

Miriam emotions were mostly locked into Anger, Determination, and Hope while fighting the stain. Dread and Worry, weren't part of them until Porkus appeared…

‘What happened to him?!’

-How I’m supposed to know?!-

The Fell had changed… now its whole torso and arms were fully covered by scarred tissue. At least in the places that weren't exposed muscles that kept tearing at his skin with every flex they made, his left arm now was bloated and had increased over a meter in length, with three new joints that weren't supposed to be there

That side of his body now sported a hunchback of twitching, bleeding, tainted, flesh, that scrunched together with a disgusting wet sound, as he turned his maddened glare at Miriam

“Best day ever!!!” and the stain cackled with glee while the abomination became coated in flames on the other side of the Fell

‘He…’ she tried to ignore the cackling while Porkus started to move his distorted arm back, like a whip ‘Didn't evolve, right?’ and he was the first one to blur forwards

SLAM!!!

-No idea what happened there. It looks like a tumorous growth-

But the stain and her were faster than what the skill he learned gave him, even if the deep crevice the massive impact caused, promised death

CLANK!!!

He was still laughing, in his eyes it was obvious that the idea of killing Porkus and her, was the most fun he would have for a long time, but…

Miriam’s determination flared and pushed him away with another [Wave], making her aura turn oppressive against her maddened enemies as he broke it with the abomination. She was certain of her victory, the moment the ecstatic blade told her the many things she wanted to try now that she leveled again

Her whole body glowed and her wings extended, the core in her chest glowing even more than it had before, making her enemies try to attack her at the same time. Just to be stopped in their tracks by the sudden wave of dirt and stone that impacted them

The stain tried to cut through it with the abomination, but the flood was too strong and he remained at the same distance from her no matter how much he swung. The glowing sword on her hand was more than enough to discourage any jumping

Porkus was in worse shape by comparison, he had black smoke coming out of his body that pushed futilely against her magic, and his madness was temporarily overcome by fear, as said magic was affecting him

Making him tumble and roll without control. No matter how hard he hit the ground, it was a water-less mud that relentlessly was sinking him, at the same time she was moving further down with some dirt making her wings even bigger

Until it looked as if she was in the middle of a crater…

Before all the ground was suddenly rushing back towards her…

And becoming and spire that flung Miriam up, leaving her enemies trapped for a moment as she glowed above the forest, holding the incandescent weapon as her wings flapped once to push her further up

Her whole body spun in the air with a sudden joy as Sapphire’s energy increased and she swung-

[Starfall]

Down

/////

Despite seeing a star raising above the forest, the sudden happiness in her heart was the thing that caught her attention

Not the freed people stopping to gawk at the sight

Nor the shivering trees scrambling to make barriers all over the them

It was that brief instant in which their hearts connected…

Before something like a meteorite turned the night into day

The earth shook as the glow covered them, sending all of them to the ground, surprised but unharmed, and just a moment later the barriers groaned at the silent pressure that was making the trees creak

All of them screamed, believing that the only sound they could hear meant that the trees were going to fall on top of them

But all of them became mute when they recognized that the sound, was happening because the trees were growing all over the place

Leaves, branches, grass, plants, bushes, flowers. Everything was growing around and under them, with a soft motherly warmth radiating from everywhere around them

They had tears on their eyes even before fruits, of many kinds, started to fall around them, passing harmlessly through the barriers that kept them there

‘She did it!’ Brenna would have remained there, cheering for Miriam’s apparent victory- ‘Ah!’ if a blank message didn’t appeared for a moment, snapping her back to reality

-Oh…-

Her Helper quickly informed her of what was happening

“GRAB ALL THE FRUIT THAT YOU CAN!!! GET READY TO RUN ONCE THE BARRIERS DROP!!!” and she made sure that everyone else stopped gawking “MIRIAM IS STILL FIGHTING!!!”

/////

The rushing wind was the only sound that accompanied her joy as she descended, her wings doing the best they could to slow her down, and Sapphire was singing with the wind while eating more of her magic

Miriam knew that they were still alive, Porkus had jumped towards her [Starfall] once she wasn't there to destabilize the ground under him, which used a lot of magic, and the stain had been laughing as he swung the abomination against her attack

She also had his Title telling her that he was somewhere under her, even if her Gauge only pointed at the Destroyer still inside her aura…

But her joy at being that far high up, even if it was temporarily, couldn't be dampened

‘How is his regeneration still better than mine…?’ even that question didn’t had any negative emotions behind it

-I wish I knew… flying feels so good…-

‘We’ll do more of this later’ but she knew that she wasn't done, so she twisted her wings slightly to speed up her descent towards-

SQUEAL!!!

The half-regenerating boar that burst out of the ground to be tackled down by her as she coiled around his body, restricting his movements the best way she could

‘Ugh!!!’ despite his oddly shaped body making it very difficult as both of them rolled on the ground, Sapphire falling from her hold, for a reason…

He managed to stand up, but Miriam wasn't letting him do anything else, other than squeal and try to use his tusks to gore her, before she took hold of the tusks and pulled. She was mostly coiled around the overgrown arm, the normal one, and his legs, the rest of her body was stabilizing them against the ground

Immobile while she grabbed the tusks from his back…

“…!!!” which is why the stain rushed at them, to stab her in the back with a wide smile on his bloody face

But even if she couldn't move, that didn’t meant that she couldn't use her magic to rotate the ground under them and shift slightly so the abomination missed her when-

SQUEAL!!!

The stain stabbed Porkus. With the tip of the weapon coming out on the other side, which she grabbed with both hands

CRACKLE!!!

“URK!!!” not letting either escape for the crucial few seconds, before Sapphire stabbed him in the back, pinning him against the Destroyer by the spine

“Breath one last time” weakening his hold on the weapon just as she stopped her discharge, letting her magic purge the growing Grudge in the abomination, while she ignored the many wounds her attack caused “Turn this mockery of a prison to ashes” the red glow made Porkus scream even louder “Be proud of your Fire and Roar!”

The weapon stopped crying for a moment in which the stain gave her a satisfied smile, and all of them got covered in the fire that ruptured violently out of the weapon

The last breath of a dead Dragon…

It turned meters around them to ash and glass, the stain died instantly, his body not losing its smile until its ashes were dispersed, and Sapphire soon was back on her hand to stab the Destroyer

SQUEAL!!!

That still remained struggling, even with the inferno devouring him from the inside and the new wounds forming more paths for the flames to speed up the process

Miriam wasn't affected by the fire, the weapon was using her magic to destroy itself, they would never hurt her before that was over…

But the fire meant that she didn’t noticed when they sunk down and fell inside a smooth rock tunnel, that closed above them while she kept stabbing the Destroyer…

Who only died when she stabbed Sapphire next to his neck, dislodging the rock that was stuck inside him, that was forming a barrier stopping the flames from devouring the many tumorous hearts that had formed since Miriam left that stone there accidentally

Ding

His last breath was met by her relief, as she poured more of her magic into the flames, that soon destroyed everything remaining from his body, and the weapon

‘Ugh…’ leaving her tired, leaning against Sapphire ‘Ah…’ and confused at their sudden location

“Where…?” the sword didn’t had answers for her…

“Miriam…” Mordauntless was the one that spoke to her, sounding… pained… “You entered the Dungeon we warned you not long ago…”

“It’s more accurate to say that it swallowed her…” the First Mother interjected with annoyance, that couldn't mask the same pain that he was feeling “First time it does that so aggressively…”

It took her a moment to remember that warning and instantly she poured more of her magic into Sapphire and slashed at the ceiling of the place. Making a keen scratching sound…

“Fuck…” but her attack did nothing to the stone…

“You can’t destroy the walls of a Dungeon, unless the place allows them to be destroyed” Miriam interrupted her with a loud hiss…

“Brenna is out there! I can’t leave her alone with all of them! Where is the exit…?!” before falling silent as she remembered the full warning “I’m… trapped…?”

The harrowing silence that surrounded her was the answer

But she didn’t let it freeze her, and looked at the sword on her hands, finally having time to appreciate her simple design and her masterful elaboration, finding the meteoric jewel at the pommel particularly beautiful

“I need you to protect Brenna until I get out and reach her” Sapphire didn’t liked what she said, vibrating in annoyance at the idea of having a proper wielder for so little time “Believe me when I say that you are a magnificent weapon, but what happens to you, if…” she hesitated, dreading the idea… “Something… bad happens to her?”

“Sapphire will go puff~”

The Trickster made Sapphire vibrate in anger and despair for a few seconds, before she communicated with Miriam once more

“I don’t do promises, I already told them that I will meet them once I was done. If you protect Brenna until then, then, sure, we can go and kill stuff” she shook her head at how simple her request was “I still have no idea of where the source of the Undeads are, but we can have fun hunting them”

Sapphire vibrated with eagerness and Miriam gave her a lot more magic as a parting gift, before she let go of her and Sapphire vanished back to Brenna

“Ugh…” and her tiredness caught up to her, making her laid against the floor

-This is very annoying…-

‘Yeah… any idea of how to get out?’

-Can’t help you with that, I’m busy making sure the Dungeon doesn’t recruits you…-

“What…?”

Her Helper was silent after that

“Damn… I didn’t noticed that…” the Trickster was so surprised by this fact, that she didn’t changed her voice for a while “Good luck sweetie, don’t let Miriam become a breeding puppet”

Miriam snarled, her wrath giving her some extra energy to punch the closest wall and when that didn’t work, she tried to reshape the wall into a weapon…

But just like the collars, she couldn't affect the glowing walls around her…

“Brenna… wait for me, I’m not letting this place stop me…” she grumbled after many tries, eventually going to sleep in that hallway, needing rest before facing the newest thing that got in her way