Chapter 58: Like the sun and moon

“Mind explaining what happened, Scar?” Serenity asked in a calm tone of voice while their surroundings burned. “Have you grown weaker?”

Scarlett gritted her teeth before yelling: “Shut the fuck up! I watched her HP drop all the way down to zero! It’s obvious she had something under her sleeve!”

Both stared at the result of their failed assassination attempt, wincing: The entirety of the shop was engulfed in flames, and a still-living Amelia glared at them with bright golden yellow eyes. Besides the redhead, a mirror image of herself, made of fire, floating 20 inches above the floor. “You messed with the wrong person, bitches!” they shouted in unison.

“It must be ‘Cheat Death’,” Serenity said softly, tapping her chin in a pondering expression.

“That’s a very annoying Passive,” Scarlett muttered, spitting to her side. “But who cares! I just need to break her neck again, right?!”

Before Scarlett could step forward, a male voice cried from outside the burning house, getting their attention: “Amelia!”

“There he is,” Serenity whispered before glancing at Scarlett. Both nodded, agreeing on something in silence.

“Well, let me finish what I started,” Scarlett said to Amelia, cracking her knuckles.

**This is not regular Crafted fire. The heat should be intense enough to drain their HP gradually, but she is unscathed,** Amelia thought, watching in Serenity’s direction. She then crossed her eyes with the smirking Scarlett. **And then we have this one, who doesn’t seem to care.**

++”Miss Amelia, I have secured Sloochie,”++ Bella informed through Party Chat.

++”Good. Take him out of here and give The Mayor a message…”++

“Let’s dance, princess!” Scarlett shouted, charging forward, but red chains materialized out of the surrounding flames, shackling her wrists and ankles immediately. “What?! When did you have the time to channel this?” she shrieked, as her body got lifted in midair.

“Idiot, why should I tell you?” Amelia sneered, tossing her head aside. Her clone mimicked her gesture before Amelia whispered to it: “Auto Mode… Permission to use a third of my mana. Priority: Help Alan.”

“Understood,” the clone said, dashing and passing through Scarlett’s body, burning her chest.

The 6 feet 5 inches tall female warrior cried in pain, and yet, giggled, looking into Amelia’s eyes. “You’re not half bad. This will be fun…”

***

**

*

“Amelia!” Alan cried, desperately trying to dash forward, but Anastasia held him by the waist.

“Master, please, you can’t go there. It’s dangerous.”

“Don’t you remember what I told you?! If Amelia was ever in danger, you should prioritize helping her!”

“Master,” Anastasia whispered in his ear. “I can see Amelia’s status from here, she’s in full health. Given the circumstances, you’re in more danger than her or Ashley.”

Alan stopped struggling while forming fists. “Dammit. Who could have done this?”

“This seems to be Amelia’s doing,” Ashley said, as she manipulated her User Interface to change into her battle gear. “She is defending herself from someone.”

Seeing her equipping her bow made Alan swallow hard. “E-Equip set A,” he commanded, automatically equipping a rudimentary, unstylish set of armor, inspired by a sharpshooter silver set.

“Equip set A,” Anastasia followed, changing her long skirt and long-sleeved shirt for her silver full-plate armor. Her shield and sword hovered in the air for a couple of seconds before she grabbed them.

From the burning building exited a woman with platinum hair and gray eyes, wearing a long black dress. Her youthful face was easily recognizable.

“Long time no see, Little mouse,” she said in a jovial tone. “Last time I didn’t give you my name. Sorry about that! I’m Serenity. Who’re your friends?”

Through Alan’s head flashed clear-as-day images of crumbled buildings, charred streets, and the unnerving movements of a black amorphous creature, neither living nor dead. He could even swear that the cry of a certain gigantic creature was ringing in his ears as he stared at the smiling woman.

**Is that crazy bitch from Londorus! And it seems that this time she’s not alone! What the hell are they doing in this remote town?! Especially the day after I… spoke with the Administrator of Conduct…**

He only had to glance at the burning house to realize what she was up to. He then caught a glimpse of the Bella NPC running from the back of the house, holding Sloochie in her arms.

**Where is she going? A-Anyway… Amelia’s theory was right, and yours too, Ricardo! Someone from your inner circle definitely wants to silence me…**

“Y-You a-again?!” He tried to speak confidently but stuttered instead. “W-Wh–”

**I… I don’t even know what to say!**

He tried to form fists, but his hands were shaking. At a loss for words, the only thought going through his mind was the possibility of watching Unus Town in flames in the next couple of minutes.

The pale-skin girl hummed, putting a finger on her chin. “You’re awfully quiet today. Where is the tenacity you showed me a week ago?”

“Who is this, Alan?” Ashley asked, readying her bow.

“Master Alan, your orders,” Anastasia said, standing guard.

“P-Please, guys, just give me a second!”

**This town is screwed, no doubt about it. But if I can at least get some information out of this…**

“Serenity, right?” Alan began, sweating coldly. “Tell me, what do you want from me?”

Serenity giggled, covering her mouth with her right hand. “I’m just paying you a quick visit, Little Mouse. After all, we couldn’t finish our date that day. Don’t tell me you didn’t miss me at all!”

**She’s playing with us…**

“You haven’t summoned that dragon yet. Does that mean you’re here just to talk?”

“Sure! Just let me get rid of unwanted third parties!” She beamed, at the same time Anastasia defended herself from something resembling a black spike, coming from seemingly nowhere.

“Master, stand back!”

A quick glance in Ashley’s direction told Alan that she had also been attacked. **She’s unharmed too, surely thanks to her high agility.**

“Not fair!” Serenity cried, pouting. “You’re not supposed to avoid them!”

As he observed her childish mannerisms, Alan felt that his feet were sinking. Looking down, he noticed that the ground in a fifty feet radius had turned pitch black.

“Shadow Crafting,” Serenity giggled. “Made in Black.”

Dark tentacles sprouted from below, trapping and sinking him deeper into that cold void. **What the hell is this?!** He glanced at Ashley and her NPC, who were also struggling to escape. “Ashley! Anastasia!”

“Don’t worry, my sweet Little Mouse, this won’t kill you,” Serenity started saying, as a colder, emotionless expression dominated her face. “This’ll only put you to sleep, okay? I promise you that by the time you wake up, we’ll have lots of fun–”

“Major Summoning,” a voice announced from outside the burning house, making a magic circle appear above Serenity. “Flaustos, Hell’s Pet.”

A giant paw crawled out of the summoning circle and quickly swiped at the platinum-haired girl.

Suddenly, Alan felt the roughness of the ground pressing against his hips and legs as it was supposed to. **The black mass disappeared**, he thought, looking at the bottom half of his body buried.

“Hurry up, Master! Stand up,” Anastasia said, pulling him from the armpits, as he admired the monstrous feline creature landing on the street and releasing a breath of fire into the enemy’s direction. A copy of Amelia engulfed in flames was behind it, commanding it.

Before he spoke to it, a message notification demanded his attention.

++ Amelia Laflamme wants to start a Party Chat! ++

++”Amelia, are you okay?!”++

++”Yeah, don’t worry about me. But seriously, these people again?! I told you they were targeting you! Do you believe me now?! We… We should have maintained a low profile and moved to the middle of nowhere. I’m… I’m sorry, Alan.”++

++”Amelia, trust me, no matter where we have gone, it’d have been the same.”++

**Especially when a certain group of people can locate me anywhere I go…**

“It’s you again, pussycat!” Serenity suddenly shouted, laughing among the flames. “Guess what? I’m not the only one that remembers you! Shadow Crafting, Mimic!”

“Watch out!” Anastasia cried, pulling him from the collar of his shirt, as the ground beneath them turned black again, but this time it rose, taking shape. In a matter of seconds, the darkness gave birth to a 30 feet duplicate of Amelia’s summon, made of liquid blackness.

Alan glanced at Serenity controlling the duplicate, looking unharmed. Not a single sign of excitement, or anger on her face. **How is she okay after those attacks?!**

++”Alan…”++ Amelia called in a stern voice. ++”I’ll keep one of them busy while my Fire Clone gives you the opportunity to escape the yandere bitch. So, please, leave this town and don’t look back.”++

“Alan, I don’t think we can win this,” Ashley murmured, grabbing him by the wrist.

**But I’m too stubborn to let this go.**

++”Do your best, Amelia,”++ he said telepathically before closing the Party Chat. He then whispered to the petite girl by his side: “Is it okay with you if we escape just like that, Isabella II? This person could be our only lead toward finding where The Singular is…”

Ashley’s usually calm expression became tense and filled with an inner fire. “In that case, we must capture her at all costs.”

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