“Speaking of changing, you might wanna put something else on.”

Some of the debris had caused several tears in her clothes, specifically about her torso. Looking down, she noticed that the underside of her left breast was visible, though she didn’t rush to hide it.

“Does it bother you?”

“Not if it doesn’t bother you.” Something almost hit Nolan in the face, a tiny rock that he instinctually caught between an index finger and a thumb. “Actually, my buddies are calling us over”—he showed her the stone and then tossed it aside—“so on second thought…”

“As much as I’d love to, one of the leaders of this place took my spatial bag.”

“Of course he did.”

Nolan produced a thin cloak and draped it around her shoulders, even as his bloodied needles and the spatial bags of the three dead men floated over to his own and disappeared into the pocket dimension beyond. He motioned for her to follow, and then wove his way through several alleyways before he leapt on top of one of the smaller homes in the area. They hopped from rooftop to rooftop until they stood atop one of the tallest buildings within the town, where they were met by the green-robed fellows from earlier. Lyra, Alicia and the girls were there as well, each sipping from wooden cups that contained the familiar aura of Divine Spirit Fountain water.

Their strength is back to normal?

Nolan handed her a cup of her own, which she readily accepted and hurriedly gulped down.

Now that their hoods were pulled back, she was able to get a good look at the two that had caused such a commotion with those barrels of black powder. She was surprised to see that the shorter one was so young, a boy with pale skin, a freckled face and frizzy, tawny hair. The man, on the other hand, had very distinctive features that she’d never seen on another person; with angled eyes, wide cheek bones, short black hair and a well-structured face, he was quite appealing. As for the blond boy, now that he stood side by side with Lyra, the resemblance between the two was almost uncanny.

“Why’d you have to throw a rock at me, Ian?”

“First off, it was Sean that threw the rock. Anyway, we’ve done what we came here to do, so let’s get out of here.”

“I would’ve thrown more if I had them. There are over a thousand people gathered on the far side of town, don’t act like you can’t sense them.”

The smoke from the earlier explosions had yet to clear, the large, thinning pillars visible from the rooftop. Many people were in the midst of leaving their homes and rushing to the city’s west end, the backdrop filled with alarmed voices and hectic shouts.

“No, you’re right. It’s just…”

Nyla felt a rush of satisfaction as she caught him glancing at her lips, though Lyra interrupted her thoughts as she dragged the blond boy over with a gleeful, childish smile.

“This is my brother, Ian. Turns out he was travelling with Nolan all this time. Can you believe it?”

“Well, at this point I sort of have to.”

“Why do you always have to be so smart with me? I’m introducing my brother, so say hello!”

“I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself,” said the boy, “what with the violence and all. Nice to meet you.”

“You too. Oh, and thanks for earlier.”

“Don’t mention it. Nolan’s only talked about you every day since I met him, so it felt good to help you guys reunite.”

“Nyla, what happened after you were taken away?” Alicia had shied over, her wide eyes filled with confusion and uncertainty. “They didn’t try to force another master-slave contract on you, did they?”

“Hold up.” Nolan glanced at Alicia with a stony expression. “Again? What’s she talking about, Nyla?”

“Nolan,” said Sean. “We can talk later. We don’t have time for this. If they mob us then we’re done for.”

“Nyla, what level was this guy’s cultivation?”

“He’s at the third level of Integration.”

“Ah, so that guy?” He pointed to the western wall, where a lone figure overlooked the city with a silent gaze. Sure enough, it was Griff, who presided over whatever force he’d managed to gather on that side of the city.

“Yeah, that’s him. He’s the one that stole my spatial bag, too.”

“Look,” said Ian. “I know what you’re thinking, Nolan, but I think it’s better if we just leave it. We’ve already helped the girls and their friends, so why take the risk?”

“Because he tried to enslave me and Nyla, stole all our stuff, and tried to make us his concubines. Well, he probably would’ve made me his wife, but our fates would’ve been the same.” Lyra stared over at the distant silhouette with the same look that she adopted whenever she was about to go on a rampage. “And heavens know how many other horrible things he’s done.”

“He did all that to you, too?”

“If you hadn’t shown up for me when you did, then he would’ve had me naked and in chains by sundown! And the things that he said he’d do to me…”

She gave Nyla a prompting look, as if to say that she should add her own spin to the story, though Ian took off across the rooftops before anyone else could say a word.

“Man, since when was Ian such a hypocrite?” said Nolan, though he quickly followed after his friend. “We’ll be right back!”

Nolan’s voice soon resounded throughout the town. He presented the locals with an ultimatum. So long as nobody sided with Griff, then no one would have to die alongside him. Lyra’s voice broke the silence that followed.

“Hey old man, you have a weapon I can borrow?”

Sean belatedly realized that she was talking to him. “Who’re you calling ‘old man?’ I’m still a decade away from being middle-aged!”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to hit a sore spot.” She snapped her fingers. “I need a weapon. You wouldn’t send a girl to go fight barehanded, would you?”

“I need one too,” said Nyla to the flustered man. The energized water had already nullified the poison within her body.

“Here, Miss Nyla! You can take mine.”

The young boy held out a familiar object that brought back less than pleasant memories. This was the jagged, pale blue dagger that Nolan had taken from the store in Greenwall where the city lord’s son had harassed her. Even so, she accepted the essence fusion weapon and gave the boy’s cheek a gentle pinch.

“Thank you.”

She and Lyra arrived where most of the locals had gathered just in time to witness Griff finish up with convincing his followers to back him up. He argued that with him gone, it would be that much more difficult to hold off the demonic beasts that constantly prowled the countryside. Many of those in the open area out front of the building that they stood atop awaited their arrival with bows out and arrows drawn, which reminded her that most if not all of the men in this town were criminals. Unfortunately, it seemed that many had brought their wives and children along with them, most of which looked as if they’d rather be anywhere else in the world but here.

Her strength had almost completely returned, her inner essence channels coursing with a healthy supply of energy from the miraculous water. The potency of its effects were far superior to the water that she had taken from the Divine Spirit Fountain. Nolan… His cultivation level had risen to the sixth level of Profound Entry, which meant that he must have returned to the monochrome realm where the glade existed. Why would he go back? After what happened in Hauss, how could he have forgiven Uncle Grey for leaving her and Lyra to die?

“I’m going to jump on top of that wall,” said Ian. “If we kill him quickly enough, I bet everyone else will back off.” An arrow flew from the crowd and struck him in the gut, though it fell to the ground with a harmless clatter.

His robes have arrayments on them?

Dozens of arrows followed the first, though she caught them in a huge bubble of spiritual energy so that they hovered a dozen paces away from the group. She dismissed the bubble with a thought and the projectiles fell to the ground just in front of the building, which caused a new wave of uncertainty to wash over those below.

Nolan’s eyebrows jumped up, though he returned his attention to the wall where Griff still stood. Ian had jumped straight for the man at a speed that outclassed any of the arrows that’d just targeted them, the wood completely shattered where he had been standing. Seconds after he jumped, a brilliant flash of golden light lit up the walls like a beacon even as a terrible boom shook the air. The light faded and was replaced by a thin cloud of dust and debris, as a rain of crumbled rock fell upon those below.

No!

Nyla focused her spiritual sense on the crowd of townspeople and cast out a great mass of spiritual energy that almost immediately split into hundreds of pieces. The small bubbles that she produced caught the most dangerous of the falling pieces of stone, though only the ones that would have struck the women and children that were mixed in with the group of criminals.

The arrows began to fly as others started to scramble, and that’s when Griff appeared above them with a broad, double-sided axe raised to strike Nolan. He must’ve figured that the weakest of their small group would prove the easiest to deal with, though his widening eyes betrayed a frightful realization as Nolan was surrounded by a dense cloak of green energy that quickly coagulated around his right fist. The following punch kicked up an intimidating wind as a dozen arm-sized needles of emerald energy pelted into the oncoming man with ruthless efficiency. The dead body crashed into the field of fallen arrows below, though badly punctured and in several pieces.