It had probably been a few minutes since we left camp. I was driving as fast as I could without any worries about how I was driving, and Nunnalé didn't complain either.

"Drive faster, we need to hurry. I can feel his life slipping away," Nunnalé explained with a dour expression.

"What?"

"We are both connected by a link where we both share the same Source. This also goes for other things, such as each other's health. I can sense his life fading. So that's why we must hurry over to the monster and kill it." "Roger that!"

I would be driving faster but I was going at top speed already, so we're going to have to drive even crazier. We were speeding down the land, I was retracing my steps to where the lair was. In half an hour, we reached the forest. It was the same as it was last time, except now there was webbing all over the place. I'm guessing the spider thing was hunting for us here, or maybe waiting for us to come back. Nunnalé spawned in her sword and took a defensive position.

"That's pretty cool," I told her.

"Hm, cool? What is cool?"

"You know, you being able to magically spawn in your sword like that. It's pretty cool."

"Hm, cool. Indeed, it is cool. But I am more worried about master."

"Yeah, me too."

I wanted to take the stress off me but it didn’t work, my mind is still a wreck. As we ran through the lair I began to sense something watching us, and not just one, but multiple eyes. Did that spider have allies with it?

"Proxy, I am curious, why would master associate with someone like you?"

Geez, way to ask a question.

"We're friends, ya know, two people that hang out together."

"Friends...?"

I guess that must be a foreign concept to her.

"So are you the master in the friend relationship?"

Why the hell does she need to say it like that. It makes us sound like we're in some strange ass relationship!

"No one is the master, nor is there one. Being friends means. . .Well, two people who are buddies, pals, partners in crime, and all that other stuff."

"That is incomprehensible."

"Okay, I'll say it like this. Being friends is about having a trust, fondness, or respect for the other person to consider them to be someone you'd like to spend time with, and you need to have their back, even when it gets tough. That's how I see it, at least."

Nunnalé contemplated what I had said, shutting her eyes as if it would help her process the information faster and easier.

"I see, then does that mean master wants me to be his 'friend'?"

"Pretty sure that's what he wants, yeah."

I couldn't give an absolute yes, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind.

"In that case, I will be his friend, master is my friend because I respect him."

Her voice was as neutral as ever, but it had a sort of childish tone to it. But yeah, I can say the same about him as well.

"Ya know, it's pretty funny how I met Richard," I told her.

"How so?"

"It was during our first year of middle and I had him as a partner for some project. Wanna guess how he acted towards me when we first met?"

"In his usual caring demeanor?"

"Nope, wrong. He wanted to do it all by himself. He was so stubborn that I just let him."

"Eh, how come?"

"Back then Richard was acting out at the time. Whenever I would try to talk to him he would ignore me, or just give me a cold stare. It takes me back a bit when I realize that kid was Richard. But I'd say he was more than just cold but distant from everyone else at the time. Nobody could even say what he liked; Richard was a very private person and he tried to keep it that way for a good while."

The attitude he had was pretty terrible, especially for the local gangs. One of them, in particular, didn't like him that much, and that would be the bullies of the school at the time. It was because he wasn't getting 'punked' around by them and didn't care what they said to him. The day I saved him from an ass-kicking was the day we became friends. Gah, what are we doing, we need to hurry up with this, we're wasting time here. We ran on ahead towards where that giant monster should be at. For some reason, I couldn't sense whatever was watching us anymore, one thing stopped watching us and the other is still keeping a keen eye. It was confusing me. Then, without me noticing, something had hit my back. It was webbing. "Shit!" I was pulled upward towards a tree branch. A web was going for Nunnalé but she sliced it in halves.

"Damn, looks like ya anticipated it!" Someone came down from a separate web. He had a buzz cut and was wearing a jacket made of different types of fur on his waist. This went for his pants as well.

"Dude, no offense, but you look like a caveman," I insulted him as I was amazed by how badass he looked.

"The hell is that," the fur boy asked.

"Of course they don't have that term in this world. Anyway, who the hell are you?"

"The king of the wilds, obviously, or better known as one of the 3rd Flame wraith captain: Wildcard!"

That's a tad bit on the nose there, but whatever, it's fine. However, that Flame Wraiths' part caught my attention.

"The hell is a Flame Wraith?"

"The Flame wraiths are another division of the Fire Wraiths. Only the best of the best get to become one; like me."

"That's really great, and let me guess, you hunt down animals for fun?"

"Yeah, but not only in the killin' sense."

I couldn't imagine what else he meant by "hunting". Some weird shit did come to mind, but I think I shouldn't continue with that train of thought.

"So what else is considered hunting to you," I probed.

"It's more or less collecting them. Here, I'll show you what I mean. Come on down, Spider!"

The monster dropped down towards Nunnalé.

"Nunnalé, dodge it! It has a metal back."

Instead of listening to me, she took it head-on. Her sword made contact with its back. She let out a little yell and threw it to the wall of webbing. It stopped itself before hitting it though. I tried to figure out some way to get out of this webbing, meanwhile, Nunnalé was fighting off the giant spider thing. She fared a lot better than I did. She was able to tank those tackles for one. She was able to anticipate the spider's attack pattern as well from just fighting it a bit. I didn't get to see her fight with that sword when we were in the mine, but now that I have the opportunity, she's amazing. Hey, what am I doing, I need to get out of this. The question was how? Wait, I know.

"Oi, fur coat loser, fight me," I provoked.

"What? Why in the hell would I?"

Shit, he has a rare skill: taunt resist. Not to fear though, I have pierce.

"Ha, what's the matter? Scared to fight a person with a brain bigger than an animal? I guess when it comes down to looking tough and being a badass, you only go for looks."

He puffed air out of his nose and gave me a dirty glare.

"That's it, you'll get what's coming to you! Nobody insults my integrity like that!"

Knew that would work. Now, while I'm fighting this punk, I hope Nunnalé can hold her own against that thing while I fight this weirdo.

...

While Nunnalé and Proxy fought inside the forest, the bandits were mobilized outside of the forest. Their reason for being there is to take care of the two children inside of the forest, just in case they escape.

"Hey, get a look at this ride."

They spotted Proxy's bike. One of them tried to climb on but it had started on its own and began to drive away from the bandit. It went into the forest for shelter away from them and to go to where Proxy was.

"The hell was that thing!? Why did it start on its own?"

"Should we go after it?"

"Nah, the damn thing would probably run away again. Besides, we're supposed to keep watch for when those brats come out of the forest, so stay sharp."

They went back to guard the chokepoint they blocked up with barricades they made for just in case occasions.

Ruin's camp, morning

Selena was in her own tent, halting the process of the poison with her Source that is actively recovering his body and keeping his organs working. However, this isn't enough to keep him alive. If Proxy and Nunnalé don't come back with the blood within an hour exactly, then he'll surely die. She was doing the best she could to make sure it didn't come to that. Selena also noticed that he was mumbling to himself. His words were faint but audible to her ears.

"Proxy. . .Nunnalé. . .mother."

He was calling out to the people that he wanted by his side. Tears began to roll down his face. Selena wasn't able to comfort him if he was having a bad dream. She just hoped that she could cure this poison so he could have dreams better than the one he's having now.

“. . .Brother.”