The Dragon's Nightmares With A Rabbit. (Nightmare Lilith w/ Mao)

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

    ”Well, I’m not entirely sure to be honest with you…” Haretsa began, tilting her head and thinking about the question Mao just proposed. ”As far as I can tell, sensing magic from within the Void isn’t that much different from sensing it in the real world here. I mean, we can move around a lot faster in the Void for sure and that way we would be able to find her faster if we were able to locate her magic signature…” she explained before ducking out of the way of the swords other attempt to slash at her. That got Haresta to thinking about why they hadn’t sensed any magical signature since they came to the village. With the way the flyer had described Lillith, it seemed like she had an immense magical power, so picking up on it’s signature should have been easy from the moment they set foot near this abandoned ghost town of a village. Either Lillith was as talented at masking her magic signature as she was with using that much power or… ”She might be able to hide in a different dimension entirely, just like I can!”

   The moment that phrase had blurted out from the young Dragon Slayer’s mouth, her ears perked up at the sound of a whisper in her ear.”You figured it out! That makes the game so much less fun! Why couldn't you just be a big dum dum like the rest of 'em!?” the voice whined, causing Haretsa to look around frantically for the source of the whispers. There was no one else around but her, Mao, and the really freaking annoying illusionary sword that still danced about mockingly.

"Wait what the... there's no one else here, so where the hell is...?""Right in front of yoooooou! I'm a spoopy ghost!!! BLAH!!" the voice, presumably Lillith's, taunted in an effort to be scary, but just ended up giggling afterwards. She may have been a sadistic brat, but it seemed as though Lillith was still a child."Oh well. You may have been a butt and figured it out, it's still a game of hide and seek and you're still it! If you find me..." the voice faded before it seemed to change to another entirely. "Then we can really get to the fun part of the game!!" the voice said, causing Haretsa's eyes to widen in shock the moment she heard that voice. "E-Emi...? W...where... H-How...?" Haretsa stumbled out, confused as to why exactly she was hearing the voice of her dear friend. She hadn't heard that voice since her training back on Shadow Island with Ayeseru and she was pretty sure that time was just her recalling an old memory. So that begged the question, was that really Emi or did Lillith somehow manage to enter Haretsa's mind and imitate her voice? Haretsa couldn't tell and that fact was driving her nuts.

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

     Haretsa felt as though she was slowly losing her mind at this point. There was no way that Emi would ever be with anyone like Lillith. That voice had to have been an illusion… right? The voice sounded so much like her though that Haretsa was beginning to have her doubts. What if Emi really was still alive and this Lillith girl had done something to warp her mind? Just the thought of anyone harming Emi caused Haretsa a lot of pain inside. It was this same pain that flared the young girl’s anger and caused her to burn down the entire facility that those dark mages held her at long ago. As far as Haretsa knew though, those bastards had killed Emi long ago, so she couldn’t have been alive. This constant back and forth debate was causing the poor girl’s mind to become akin to a violent tornado of thoughts.

     Just when she felt like her mind was going to break, Haretsa heard Mao calling out to her and snapping her back to the task at hand. ”R-right.. Her ability might not function the same as mine, so there might be some kind of entrance to whatever realm she’s hiding in somewhere around here. I’m not really sure if there would be any way to actually flush her out though…” Haretsa began, shaking herself and lightly smacking her face a few times to regain her composure. Emi had been gone ever since that day, so the the voice she heard was nothing more than Lillith’s stupid little illusions. There was nothing to get worked up over. ”Though, if there was some kind of entrance to this other realm, you’d think we’d be able to sense it. Such a thing would be giving off a magic signature just like a mage’s, wouldn’t it? Unless she’s able to mask its signature somehow… Just how talented is this freaking kid?” Haretsa asked, realizing just how little they actually knew about their enemy. All they knew from the job details given by the one who survived one of Lillith’s massacres was that Lillith was incredibly strong and from their own experience that she was good at illusions.
     
    Haretsa stood there for a moment with her hand on her chin, contemplating Mao’s question further now. Trying to search for some access point that Lillith was keeping well hidden and that they weren’t entirely sure actually existed could prove wasteful of their energy; which was probably exactly what Lillith would want. So with that in mind, the only other way to find her would be to flush her out of her hiding spot, but how? ”Well… we could try taunting her or something? I know she’s severely mental, but she’s still just a child. We might be able to get her out of her hiding spot that way and have her come to us!”

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

   ”Well, I’m sure she can hear us somehow. After all, she kinda responded with those weird voices a few moments ago…. At least, I think that was her anyway… You...heard them too, right? That wasn’t just me, was it?” Haretsa had to ask to ensure it wasn’t just her this time like it had been with the swords. Upon hearing Mao’s response to her question, the young Slayer’s ears would perk up and cause her to turn her heads towards the sky for yet another incoming bombardment.

    ”Alright, I’ve freaking had it with these stupid things!! You might wanna cover your ears if they’re sensitive!!” Haretsa exclaimed, stomping her foot down on the ground hard in annoyance. She then began to inhale deeply, gathering a large amount of her magic within her mouth as she stared up at the oncoming shower of spears. Flames began to drip from Haretsa’s mouth almost like she had too much water stored inside before she would let out a loud shout. ”FIRE DRAGON’S ROAR!!” she bellowed, letting loose the torrent of flames she had kept within her mouth in a beam straight up towards the oncoming spear rain accompanied by the booming echo of a dragon’s battle cry. The beam shot upward to about thirty meters into the air over the course of three seconds; completely engulfing the oncoming threat. Once the flames had dissipated, there was nothing left of the spears but ashes. ”Huh, I guess those things were made pretty damn poorly. That works for me!” she exclaimed with a smile.

    Now it was time for the two to deal with luring Lilith out, to which Haretsa took Mao's request in starting the taunting. "Your stupid little games aren't gonna work anymore! So why don't you come out and play with us in person, butt head!!" Haretsa shouted into the air, hoping Lillith could actually hear them. At first there was nothing but an awkward silence, until a loud child's voice came from out of no where. "S-shut up! You're the butt head! Why couldn't you just be dumb and get impaled like the others!?" the voice yelled back at Haretsa. She then turned to her partner and gave a confirming nod. "I don't know, probably because you couldn't come up with a better game for us to play, fart knocker!!" "N-No you're a fart knocker!! You ruined all my games, so I'm gonna come kick your friggin butts!!" Lillith yelled back, as a strange red portal opened up not too far from the two Sabertooth mages. "Well that wasn't so hard... Now we can finally deal with her and head back home."

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

    It appeared that the taunting had worked, judging by the extremely agitated look that was plastered upon the pale young girls mug. Lillith’s appearance alone was rather terrifying to witness. The young girl's skin was so pale that it looked almost as if she hadn’t seen the sun since she was born. Her dress was as tattered and faded as the teddy bear that she clinged to in her right hand; both her and the bear having matching red eyes. ”Hehe, poop snorter? Is that really the best she coul-” Haretsa began to think until her thoughts were interrupted by a strange set of chains heading right for the two mages.

    The crimson, somewhat rusty looking chains bursted forth from the young girls shadow at an alarming rate. There was barely just enough time for Haretsa to roll to the right to dodge the chains, only to find both sets of chains now heading for her. It seemed as though Lillith’s focus was truly set on Haretsa, only sending the chains towards Mao as a fakeout effort. Before she knew it, the sets of chains had wrapped around Haretsa’s left arm and leg. The chains then began dragging the young Slayer into the air against her will. ”Well, trying to break out with sheer brute force isn’t really gonna work… so it’s a good thing I have a precision cutting instrument!!” she quickly thought, grabbing hold of the folded up contraption that was holstered at the back of her waist. Haretsa inserted her index finger into the ring on the device, giving the whole thing a quick flick to cause it to unfold. The contraption made all kinds of noises as it transformed into its full 7ft length of a scythe, the blade of the weapon cracking to life in a brilliant orange flash.

      Swinging herself back and forth to get enough momentum, Haretsa gripped her energy scythe firmly in her right hand before slashing at the chains that held her. The energy blade ripped right through the metal like a hot knife through butter, dropping Haretsa to the ground. Fortunately, the chains hadn’t carried her too far up, so it was a relatively short drop that allowed her to land on her feet with ease. Once she had landed, Haretsa quickly tossed the scythe into her left hand before drawing her pistol from the other holster on her right; quickly firing off three shots straight towards Lillith.

     The pale little girl didn’t move from where she stood despite the oncoming threat. She merely waved her stuffed bear at the bullets, the bear’s mouth seeming to open and swallow the bullets whole. ”OK, WHAT THE HELL KIND OF BULLSHIT TOY CAN JUST EAT BULLETS!? THAT MAKES NO DAMN SENSE!!!” a loud, brash voice came barely noticeably from Haretsa’s mouth as she bobbed her pistol up and down as if it were talking. ”I find myself agreeing with Blamo, as strange of a sentence that is for me to be saying… That thing is no ordinary toy…” a calmer, more elegant voice spoke, Haretsa bobbing her scythe ever so slightly as it did.


    Strangely enough, this show of ventriloquism seemed to catch Lillith’s interest enough to snap herself out of the anger that she had from Haretsa’s earlier insult of calling her a fart knocker. ”YOUR FRIENDS CAN TALK!?! THAT IS AWESOME!! MINE CAN TOO!!!” Lillith exclaimed in excitement before a dark, twisted grin grew on her face. ”In fact, she wants to talk to you right now!!” The moment those words left her pale little lips, Lillith’s teddy bear glowed with a blood red light before being enveloped in a large flash of the same color. Once the light had faded, what now stood next to Lillith caused Haretsa’s eyes to widen and her body to seize up as if she had just seen a ghost.

     What now stood next to Lillith was another black haired girl about eight or nine years old, adorned in faded yellow rags for clothing. This girl’s hair was about the same length and style as Haretsa’s; rather messy but somewhat upkept. Her pitch black eyes were focused on Haretsa as this new girl spoke up. ”It’s been awhile, hasn’t it Haretsa? You wanna play a game with me?” the girl asked rather innocently. ”E-Em...Emi? No… you… you can’t be with her… and you should be older… I...what..?” Haretsa managed to blurt out, her whole body beginning to tremble with a mix of fear and confusion as Lillith simply laughed. ”You two go on and play! I’ll just play with the lil bunny in the meantime!”

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

      Haretsa’s focus was entirely on this strange visage of her dear friend Emilia that now stood before her. The young Dragon Slayer couldn’t help but be extremely confused as to why it was she was seeing Emilia stand before her. Surely, this was just some kind of illusion of Lillith’s, but how on earth would she know what Emilia looked like? This lead Haretsa to believe that this really was Emi, but then why was she still a child? Emi was at least three years older than her, so this had to be an illusion that Lillith conjured up after pulling from Haretsa’s last memory of Emilia. Then again, perhaps this was Emilia and those bastards that had kidnapped them did something to keep her from physically aging. Though that then begged the question of what was Emilia doing being with Lillith? So many questions racing back and forth in Haretsa’s mind over whether or not this Emilia was real was beginning to drive the poor girl nuts.

     ”What’s wrong, Haretsa? I thought you’d be happy to see me after ten years…” Emilia spoke innocently, slowly walking up to the trembling Dragon Slayer. Haretsa was beginning to shake so much now that she ended up dropping Blamo down to the ground while barely maintaining her grip on Scisara. ”N-No… I… You can’t… You can’t be real…” Haretsa stuttered out while Emilia crept closer and closer to her. Her trembling free hand became clenched into a tight fist as Emilia entered striking distance. Haretsa looked up at this girl in rags with an enraged expression on her face. ”Don’t… DON’T FUCK WITH ME! I-I KNOW EMI DIED TEN YEARS AGO!!!” she shouted, driving her fist straight into Emilia’s face as hard as she could to get this illusion far away from her.

     However, the moment Haretsa’s punch connected, Emilia let out a horrendous, ear piercing screech as she was sent flying back a few feet. This screech shook Haretsa’s very mind at its core, causing her to drop Scisara as she fell to her knees, covering her ears in immense pain. ”Emi… what did I just… No, NO! She’s dead dammit! Get the hell out of my damn head!!! But… I just hit her… that wasn’t a stuffed animal… that was… N-no...No GET OUT!!!” Haretsa wailed in agony as her already unstable mental state dropped more and more with each passing second. The poor girl was beginning to be unable to distinguish between reality and illusion as the surroundings she could see around her began to slowly change.

"Behold, the intricate and subtle weaving of my cunning arcane . . . ah, screw it. Burn a lot!"

- Haretsa

     The world around Haretsa was changing rather drastically. Everything from the grass to the trees to the village’s decrepit buildings began to appear as if they were lit up in a raging inferno. As the young mage slowly looked around, her vision began to flicker between reality and this hellish illusion. Lillith’s magic had managed to whittle away at Haretsa’s broken mentality and now was capable of producing an illusion of one of the girls greatest fears; losing control of her magic. It was something she feared from the moment she learned she had this magic thanks to those strange mage’s forcing the Dragon Lacrima into her body when she was merely six years old. Now, that fear was simply a weapon that Lillith would be using in full force.

    ”Wait… W-Why is everything burning...D-Did… Did I…?” Haretsa blurted out, looking around in horror as the real world began to stop flickering in to what she was seeing as much. ”What the heck did you punch me for?! I thought we were friends!!” Emilia shouted as she stood up from being sent flying by the Dragon Slayer’s punch. The girl in rags then began making her way towards Haretsa once more with a smile. ”Shut...up… You’re not her… You’re not real!!” Haretsa yelled before Emilia’s leg found it’s way straight into Haretsa’s face. ”Why do you keep saying I’m not real!? I’m right here in front of you, aren’t I?! You felt that kick just now too, so how am I not real!?” Emilia asked rather violently, wrapping her scrawny little hands around Haretsa’s neck and lifting her up.

     Knowing her master’s plan, Emilia then turned with Haretsa to make sure she had a perfect view of what was currently happening to her guildmate. While Mao was merely being hoisted into the air by Lillith’s chains, Haretsa was seeing something else entirely. She saw the chains wrapped around Mao, but she also saw the bunny girl being burnt to ashes by the flames. ”I guess that’s what you do to all your friends, isn’t it? It’s just like what happened ten years ago when you burnt down the lab!” ”N-No… I didn’t even use…” ”Well, what goes up must come down eventually! Now watch as your new friend gets to die the same way I did; burnt to ashes by your flames!” the visage of Emilia laughed.

       Haretsa watched the event playing out before her in horror; unable to even move as Emilia’s grip on her neck was just too strong. ”This… None of this can be real… this whole thing’s just… one big nightmare, right? It...has to be…” Haretsa thought as everything around her began to fall silent; even the very thoughts inside her own head. ”Hehe, looks like I’ll be getting a new toy to play with this time!” Lillith snickered, the grin on her face somehow growing even more twisted as she began to approach Haretsa.

"I’m the mongoose and you’re gonna be my dinner."

- Haretsa

     Haretsa’s vision began to fade to black yet her eyes remained open. ”What’s… going on? W-Where…” she heard herself very faintly think. She couldn’t hear anything that was going on in the world around her nor could she see anything and the sound of her own thoughts was barely even audible. The poor girl couldn’t even comprehend what was going on. Her body began to shake out of pure fear as Lillith approached the helpless Dragon Slayer; humming a giddy little tune as she drew near to her new toy. ”Well, you were much more annoying to deal with than the rest, but in the end you just became a toy like the rest of ‘em. Serves you right, fricken poop snorter!” Lillith laughed sickeningly before kicking Haretsa in the gut.

     With Emilia’s hand still gripped firmly around her neck and her mind shattered, Haretsa was completely helpless as Lillith began to channel a large amount of energy into her right hand. ”Now turn into a teddy bear so we can play forever!!” she shouted, thrusting her hand out towards Haretsa’s face. The last thing Haretsa heard was the sound of glass shattering inside her mind as if someone had broken an incredibly large window all at once. Her left arm then rocketed upward and grabbed Lillith’s incoming hand by the wrist; squeezing down so much that the bones could be heard straining under the pressure. ”W-What the hell!?” Lillith stuttered out in a mixture of fear and confusion noticing Haretsa’s nails turning into black claws.

     Looking at her supposed new play thing, Lillith noticed that the cream haired Dragon Slayer had one demented smile painted upon her mug. The end’s of Haretsa’s hair began to flicker like flames as it changed from cream to a jet black color; her eyes matching the new color of her hair as she locked eyes with Lillith. ”If you wanted to play, all ya had to do was just ask!!” Haretsa laughed rather menacingly as her entire upper torso became covered in pitch black scales that pulsed a midnight purple in between each of them. Suddenly, an aura of raging black flames with a similar midnight purple outline erupted and danced around the Dragon Slayer’s body as she tilted her head towards Lillith; all the while keeping that nightmare inducing smile. ”Let’s play MEAT TENDERIZER! YOU’RE THE MEAT!!” she shouted, loosening her grip on Lillith’s arm to deliver a right cross punch straight into Lillith’s face. The force from the punch sent the seven year old flying back through the wall of the same building that she had sent Mao into moments before.

     Haretsa then quickly pulled her right arm back to deliver a punch into the underside of Emilia’s arm, causing the grip around her neck to be freed. The visage let out another horrendous shriek, but the noise merely served to irritate Haretsa than bother her mentality as it had previously. The transformed Dragon Slayer quickly reached for her scythe, yanking it off the ground and swinging the weapon so that the energy blade was wrapped around the back of Emilia’s neck. ”You’re a noisy little bitch, TIME FOR THE MUZZLE!!” she exclaimed pulling down on the scythe to rip Emilia’s head clean off. Stuffing rocketed out of the visage’s body as opposed to blood as it transformed back into the harmless teddy bear that it once was. Haretsa grabbed the flying bears head with her free hand before tearing into it with her now much more defined kanines. ”BLECK!! THIS IS THE MOST DISGUSTING COTTON CANDY I’VE EVER TASTED!!” Haretsa exclaimed to Lillith; spitting out the stuffing and fabric of the bear’s skin before tossing its head to the wayside.

"I’m the mongoose and you’re gonna be my dinner."

- Haretsa

     The mentally shattered Dragon Slayer curiously tilted her head as the bunny eared mage mentioned her name. She simply gave Mao a twisted smile when she mentioned that Haretsa needed to wake up. ”As you can clearly see, I’m perfectly awake!! Although, I can’t really say the same thing about lil’ Lilly over there!” she exclaimed, pointing to the unconscious seven year old that was slowly regaining consciousness. ”That’s more like it, Lilly! Meat Tenderizer isn’t anywhere near as fun if you aren’t awake during it!!!”

    As Lillith’s eyes creeped open, the first thing she witnessed was her decapitated teddy bear with all kinds of stuffing strewn about the immediate area. ”Y..You...You killed my teddy…!!” Lillith stuttered out as she stood up. ”I sure did, but she was being a noisy little bitch so I think she deserved it! Oh and for the record, that cotton candy you put inside her tasted like butt.” Haretsa commented, only serving to fuel Lillith’s rage. The little girl’s chains erupted from the shadows as they began to coil themselves around her like a form of armor; leaving only her blood red orbs visible. ”I’M GONNA FREAKING KILL YOU YOU DAMN POOP SNORTER!!!” Lillith shrieked as loud as she could before running towards Haretsa and Mao’s current position. All Haretsa could do was laugh as the child clad in literal chain mail approached. ”You’ll die trying.”

   Haretsa then shoved Mao to the side as Lillith threw her chain wrapped fist straight for the Dragon Slayer’s stomach. Instead of dodging, Haretsa merely stood there and took the force of the punch, her boots digging back into the ground a small bit as she watched the fun happen. Lillth pulled hand back immediately as a burst of black and purple flames exploded from Haretsa body at the point of impact. The flames melted through only a small bit of the chain armor, but it was enough to singe Lillith’s fist quite a bit. ”Weren’t you listening earlier?” Haretsa laughed, pulling back her right arm with her palm extended outward towards Lillith. She gathered her black flames on this palm as well as her right foot as she stared Lillith in the eyes. ”YOU’RE THE MEAT!!” she shouted, slamming her flaming palm into Lillith as well as sending the shadowy flames gathered at her feet a ways away from their current position. The flames exploded onto Lillith’s chains as the sound of a rifle echoed throughout the abandoned village. Melting through her protection and burning Lillith’s stomach, the demented seven year old was sent flying backwards from the attack towards where Haretsa had sent the magic from her foot to earlier. These shadow flames then erupted from the ground in the shape of a scythe as Lillith approached; slashing through the girls back armor to leave a nasty cut on her back as well as give her a decent burn. If it wasn’t apparent to Mao before, then it would be now as she could probably tell that Haretsa had no intention of holding back against the child.

"I’m the mongoose and you’re gonna be my dinner."

- Haretsa

     With Lillith lying battered and burnt on the ground, Haretsa began to approach the seven year old in order to deliver the killing blow to the little bitch. However, Haretsa felt an unfamiliar set of arms wrap themselves around her just as she took a step towards the now unconscious child wrapped in chains. When she turned around, the young Dragon Slayer’s eyes widened when she saw the familiar purple rabbit ears of her guild mate. ”M-Mao..?” Haretsa managed to blurt out, seemingly regaining a small bit of her sanity if but for a brief moment.

    Unfortunately, this moment did not last for very long as Haretsa began struggling in an attempt to break free of Mao’s grasp. ”Nice try, Lilly, but I already know about your stupid toys abilities! I know Mao ended up being burnt to a crisp, SO STOP TRYING TO MESS WITH MY DAMN HEAD!! I’LL RIP THE COTTON CANDY OUT OF THIS ONE TOO!!” Haretsa shouted, merging herself with the shadows to slip away from her guild mates hug. Haretsa reemerged from the shadows a few feet behind Mao with her scythe brandished and ready to strike. She really believed Mao was dead and that this current situation was merely a ploy to try and keep her from finish Lillith off.

    Haretsa was about to lunge forward and cleave this supposed visage of Mao in two if it weren’t for the shadows that began wrapping themselves around her legs. Extremely confused at first, Haretsa looked down and then began laughing as she what was crawling up her legs to hold her in place. ”Shadows? REALLY?! Did you HONESTLY think that shadows can keep me in place? BITCH I EAT SHADOWS FOR BREAKFAST” Haretsa laughed. She would have began to consume the shadows that bound her, but the feeling of a hand gripped around her neck from behind stopped this process. ”Nope, just needed you to sit still long enough kiddo.” a familiar voice said from behind before squeezing down on just the right area of Haretsa’s neck; rendering her unconscious.

     As Haretsa’s aura of shadow flames faded away, her unconscious body was caught by a six foot tall woman wearing a dark purple, open trench coat that revealed the black tank top she wore underneath it. This woman’s facial features were incredibly similar to that of the teddy bear’s facade as Emilia before, just older and matured. ”Just take a nap and relax for a bit, kiddo. Let your Big Sis do the rest.” she said to the unconscious Dragon Slayer, slinging Haretsa over her shoulder as she began to approach the bunny eared mage.

    As a show of her intentions, the woman quickly pulled up on the left sleeve of her trench coat to reveal a midnight purple Rune Knight tattoo. ”No need to worry, I was sent here to deal with Lillith due to all the problems she’s been causing. Although, no one back at headquarters bothered to tell me that they had asked any of the guilds to deal with this problem… Then again I guess it’s my own fault for getting lost trying to find this place.” the woman laughed rather embarrassingly as she set Haretsa down on the ground next to Mao. With a quick tap of her foot, shadows burst out around Lillith and wrapped her up like a cocoon. ”There, now she won’t be causing any more problems when I drag her ass back to Era so we can start getting her back to being a normal little kid again… Oh shit, where are my manners?” the woman asked, standing up and turning to face the bunny mage. ”My names Emilia Hawke. Nice to meet you um… Mao, I’m assuming from what Haretsa was yelling earlier about seeing someone being burnt. Would you mind filling me in on what the heck happened? Oh and do you have any kind of injuries? I’m not the best at it but I do know a decent amount of healing magic!” Emilia exclaimed attempting to reassure Mao that she was in good hands.

"I’m the mongoose and you’re gonna be my dinner."

- Haretsa

     Emilia listened carefully to Mao’s explanation as she remained knelt down next to Haretsa; running her hands lovingly through the unconscious Dragon Slayer’s hair. ”I see… Sadly, I don’t think there’s much that could have been done to prevent what happened.” Emilia admitted rather ruefully as she turned her full gaze towards the rabbit mage. It was rather easy for the black haired woman to see that Mao felt rather upset at being unable to help Haretsa.”Haretsa’s mind has always been scrambled ever since she was five and those bastard brought her to the testing facility. They murdered her family right in front of her eyes before dragging her off to that wretched place. Her and I were the only kids that survived being turned into Dragon Slayers, so we naturally became very close. Then after three years I decided to see if I could sneak out and escape using my Shadow Dragon magic. They weren’t able to notice me, but thanks to my horrible sense of direction, I ended up going way too far away from the place and got lost. I only found my way back because the entire facility got engulfed in a raging inferno and by the time I got back, Haretsa was completely gone…”

    Emilia took a moment to push herself up and crack her neck before walking over to Mao’s position. The woman stretched out her left arm and placed it upon Mao’s shoulder. ”I know you tried to protect her as best you could and I’m sure she knows that too. It takes some serious guts to hug someone that’s had their mentality shattered and has an aura of fire raging around them. She wouldn’t have responded to that hug if she didn’t care about you. I’m glad she has friends like you in her guild.” Emilia said with a reassuring smile. The black haired Rune Knight then turned her attention to the shadow cocoon that Lillith was wrapped up in. She knew that she needed to get the child to Era as soon as possible, but she didn’t want to leave Haretsa at the same time either. Taking out an enveloped from her trench coats pocket, Emilia turned to Mao once more and handed the letter to the bunny mage. ”I really should be going now, so could you make sure Haretsa reads this letter? Once she wakes up she should be back to her normal mentality. I want to stay and talk to her, but I’ve got to get Lillith back to Era as quickly as possible. Haretsa will at least know I’m not dead once she reads that. Hopefully I’ll get more time to spend with her in the future… The Rune Knights are running me into the damn ground with work due to being so severely understaffed. I’m sure Haretsa will understand.”

    Haretsa then began to stir and slowly open her eyes as Emilia began to walk towards Lillith’s cocoon. ”Ugh my head… That was one hell of a nightmare…I think... Where the hell am I?” Haretsa groaned, slowly lifting herself off the ground as she rubbed her head in pain. She had no idea what had just happened or why and presumed everything was all just a really bad dream. Emilia silently walked past Haretsa towards Lillith as the groggy Dragon Slayer’s eyes opened more and more. The jet black orbs widened as the first they beheld was an alive and well bunny lady. ”MAO!!!” she shouted, leaping forth and wrapping her guild mate in a hug reminiscent of when the two had first met. Tears then began to pour from her eyes like miniature waterfalls as she snuggled into Mao’s shoulder. ”I’m glad you’re alright.... It really was just a bad nightmare….” the girl sniffled. Emilia the mounted the cocoon of shadow’s onto her back before turning to give Mao a warm smile. ”You’re in good hands, kiddo. I’ll see ya again soon, I promise.” Emilia whispered just loud enough for Haretsa’s sensitive hearing to pick up on before merging back to the shadows and heading off with Lillith in tow… in the complete opposite direction of Era.