As both Doevm and Elero paddled towards the lake's south side, Elero let out a long sigh: "What did you want to talk about?"

Doevm raised an eyebrow: "Was it that obvious?"

Elero pointed over her shoulder: "You usually stick with Frey. Also when we were leaving the cave, he wasn't at the front like usual. Don't get me wrong. I'd rather not be teamed up with Thomas, but you should be paired with Frey since both of you have fought alongside each other for so long. Did you have a fight? I'm disappointed. You two were just so cute together."

"It's not that either," Doevm growled. He picked up several damaged leaves and found a shiny coat of Bullfrog slime underneath, not the faint scaly musk he was seeking. "What do you know about the academy? Is it possible that someone can get into it without anyone seeing?"

"Oh," Elero paused for a second. "That's it? I would have guessed that you already know about that kind of thing."

"The books I read about the knight's academy were not recent, at least a century old." Doevm moved some branches aside to find a wide path of flattened vegetation. They both glanced at each other. "Keep an eye out. I saw something which might indicate that other humans are around."

"Understood," Elero said as blue mist floated off her eyes, which scanned through the surroundings. "Nothing. I want to save my life essence so I'll only scan every so often. Can we alternate watching the area?" Doevm nodded. "So the academy, it sounds like you want to break in." She chuckled. "But that would imply…"

Doevm pulled a card out of his spatial ring and handed it to her: "Mutual friend." Elero read the card. Engraved on the front was "Mr. Lich".

"Do you know him as well?" Doevm nodded. "Wait, so when I talked to you about the healer, you knew who he was?"

"Not exactly," Doevm shrugged. "I am…was just another one of his customers. After I got attacked by the Resistance, he was there. He charged me an absurd price but there were no other healers in the area. I think the resistance members might have been chasing him and I got caught up in the crossfire. I couldn't pay the price so now I owe him a favor, this. He asked if he could heal you, and if the price still stood."

Elero stared at the card for a couple of seconds, her eyes watering up. "I-I thought this was over. The price stands. My father makes frequent deals with the academy and does a lot of deliveries. Mr. Lich can get in by hiding in one of the crates. As long as he can pass a security check, he can get in."

'If normal people know how to get into the academy,' Doevm thought. 'That means the Resistance also has a surefire way to get their people in as well. So that's why they put men on the inside. I'll need to force the academy to increase their defensive measures, subtly and in a way that doesn't cost too much. I'm not looking to start a war. I just need the leader.'

They reached the end of the tracks, where any and all evidence stopped. Doevm clicked his tongue. "This should have been a Bullfrog, not the Guardian. It probably hid as it ran from the slaughter until finally jumping when the vegetation ended." He bent down and picked up some more leaves. Dry. He swallowed his saliva as he stood up. "Will your father cooperate with Mr. Lich?"

Elero nodded and tapped her braces: "Him and my mother will do anything…I'll do anything. We just want to put this behind us. How are you going to contact him anyway?"

Doevm shrugged. "Something with magic and this particular card. I don't know anything other than I was ambushed and barely survived. I was outnumbered as well, four against two."

Elero chuckled. "I don't know why, but it seems so strange for you to not know something. Listen, you may have only done this because you owe him a favor, but thank you…Wait if that's two, does that mean that Mr. Lich fought alongside you? Didn't you say that there were more than…"

"FUCK!" The word echoed through the silence of the swamp. Doevm and Elero reflexively took a stance as they recognized the source of it, Frey.

"There's four surrounding us!" Doevm announced. Elero undid her braces in just enough time for her to catch sight of pieces of bamboo, poking out of the water around them.

Jets of water shot into the air and four people with black masks lept towards them. Doevm reached into his spatial ring and pulled out two venom-filled organs, which he tossed into two of the attackers. When they cut the organ out of reflex, the venom flew into their eyes. Before the screams had left the duo's throats, the other two opponents, a bald and a hairy youth, went for Elero. She ducked under a scimitar's curved blade. Baldy cursed: "Monkey, follow it up!"

"I know Baldy," Monkey said as his bo staff cracked into the side of Elero's legs. She collapsed. Before either of them could follow up, Doevm clocked Baldy with the back of his spear, whose eyes nearly rolled back. Monkey grabbed Baldy and jumped back by the time Elero scrambled back to her feet.

"Where's Trak?" Doevm asked, blue life essence swirling around him. The two goons only smirked and brought out their own, dark red life essence.

"You're not worth his time." Baldy stepped forward, holding his bleeding forehead. "That really hurt."

"That hurt?" Elero asked as her legs coiled up. "One hit and you're bitching already?"

"You fucking noble," Monkey stepped forward. "Gregen said you'd be troublesome. It's people like you that-" Elero lept forward, slashed right through his bo staff, and blood erupted from the deep gash along his chest.

Baldy's eyes went wide. His head snapped down to gaze at his soft stomach, which had Doevm's fist buried into it. He collapsed, coughing up spit and vomit. "S-she slashed him."

"I know," Doevm kicked Baldy's weapon away, tied his wrists behind his back, and sat him against a tree. "Can Monkey regenerate with life essence?" Baldy nodded.

"What are you doing?" Elero asked as she knocked the two venom-covered opponents unconscious. "Trak's group just did something to-"

"You need to take a breath," Doevm cut her off. He pulled bandages out of his spatial ring, slowly leaned Monkey to sitting up, and wrapped his chest. "Killing is not allowed. How many times have I reminded you of that?"

"You don't understand," Elero grabbed the sides of her head. "Gregen is going to kill them like he tried to do before. When we first saw Gregen, I recognized that look in his eyes; it was the same as my brother's. If they get captured…" She grabbed Doevm's arm, lightly. "Let's go find Thomas and Frey while we still have time. Monkey will live with that kind of wound, if barely. I know how to hold back, unlike-"

On cue, two figures shot down from the sky like twin comets, a red trail of mist behind them. They broke through dozens of branches and trees until finally slamming into the water. Before the waves had subsided, a third figure landed on the two masked, beaten men. He was covered in blue life essence and had a white aura around his skin. Frey raised his bloody kopis and slashed at one of his victim's head only to be parried by Doevm's spear and Elero's longsword. "Where!" Frey yelled, seemingly unfazed by his teammates, who had slid back under the force of his single blow. "What did you do to him?" He tried to shove his way past Doevm, who grabbed him by the shoulder.

"If they take one more hit, they are dead," Doevm hissed, his fingers digging hard into Frey's collarbone.

"Doevm," Frey said, his breath turning into steam like an angered dragon. "Get out of my way. I don't care about initiation. This is a matter of life and death. I could only grab these two but I couldn't…I couldn't get to Thomas. The other two ran away."

Baldy coughed, and from behind him rose a ball of light. "I know when to cut my losses." He got to his feet by leaning against a tree and coughed a couple more times.

General Alexander Finlish appeared beside Baldy in a burst of golden life essence. His tired eyes scanned each of the fallen opponents, halting at the ones on death's door. Then he looked at Elero's and Frey's bloody blades. "Killing isn't allowed. I just thought I'd remind you two of that. This fight is over."

"But Alexander!" Frey stepped forward.

"That's General Alexander to you," Alexander spat.

"Sorry General, sir," Frey bowed. "But they took my comrade. They're blatantly breaking the rules and they're going to kill Thomas Virility. I did what I did in order to go find him." When Frey lifted his head back up, Alexander was gone, and so were Trak's men.

"Frey," Elero glanced at his shaking hands and white knuckled grip around his kopis. "What happened?"

"They took him right in front of me," Frey blurted out. "I tried to follow them but they were too fast. I only caught two of them but they just held me off while the other two made off with Thomas. I can't believe I got distracted." Frey cursed and struck a tree so hard that its trunk cracked in two. He cursed several more times and grabbed the hair on his head. "I had one job, one fucking job. How did I-"

"Frey," Doevm lightened his grip on the giant's shoulder. "Calm down."

"I can't," Frey huffed. "They took him right in front of me. I should have…" He punched the tree again.

"And you're being even more of a burden right now," Doevm said as Frey raised his fist again. Frey stared at his fist, hesitated, and relaxed it. "Where was Thomas taken? We still have time to go track them down. Thomas isn't dead."

Frey took several deep breaths before hopping onto an Amphiboard. "I know that. Come on. It was over here." As he hurried over the bloody lake, Elero and Doevm stayed a little further behind him than usual. The whole time they could hear him muttering curses under his breath. The surging white aura around his limbs strengthened and lessened like a heartbeat. His eyes were focused on the path to the north. Occasionally, he would glance behind him in case anything, in case someone would take Elero or Doevm.

"Is he going to do anything bad in this state?" Elero whispered to Doevm, having calmed down after witnessing Frey's fury. "Thomas was abducted so that means Trak's group wanted him alive, but if Gregen gets Thomas alone... I didn't know Frey was even that close with Thomas. He's got the same look that Gregen had. He's kind of scaring me to be honest with you."

Doevm hesitated for a moment. "Me too. Let's just hope he doesn't fall apart by the time we get to Thomas."