“What was that?” Franklin asked as he shut the hatch behind him and climbed down the stairs. They had taken refuge in the basement of a building that once looked like a tavern, which would make the basement the cellar. It was a shame that there was no wine or food here, only the furnishings.

“What was what?” Erin responded dryly as she slumped down on the ground and leaned against a wooden column.

“Don’t play dumb,” the paladin growled and strode up to Erin. “I saw what you did. You brainwashed the assassin with some kind of spell.”

“I did. What of it?”

“What of it?” Franklin scoffed in disbelief. “You used a prohibited manner of spell in front of a Divine’s soldier and you dare to feign ignorance?”

“I wasn’t aware it was prohibited. Is this some kind of new law?”

“It is not prohibited,” said the Saintess. “It is only frowned upon. There’s a difference. Do you understand, Franklin?”

“M-me? Saintess, I—”

“No need to speak. Enough from you. Erynthea here has done us no wrong. I don’t understand your antagonism towards her.”

“She’s suspicious, Saintess. We know nothing about her except what the rumours have told us. Are we to trust rumours now?”

“You claim to know nothing about her, yet you treat her as if she’s all but a convicted sinner. That’s quite hypocritical of you, won’t you say?”

“...Saintess, I—”

“Quiet,” Erin hushed the two. “The enemies are close.”

“Too close,” Franklin muttered under his breath. It escaped the Saintess’ hearing but not Erin’s, though the latter said nothing of it.

“How far away are we from the sanctum?” Erin asked.

“Just down the street, around the corner.”

“That’s not good,” Erin muttered.

“It’s not?”

“It’s too open. With the enemies so close on our tail, we won’t be able to sneak past them. We will expose ourselves once we leave this cellar. Not that it matters since we would be exposed if the Oroks caught up to us. Our scent would give us away.”

“I trust you have a strategy here.”

Erin nodded. “I have one. I will distract them while you and your knight head straight for the Sanctum.”

The Saintess and the paladin both looked surprised by Erin’s suggestion, though the former had a rather unapproving look while the latter had a thrilled look.

“This shall not stand. Though I know of your exploits, there is no way you can go up against so many of them at once. The assassins came prepared. They will have an edge.”

“I will be fine. You just focused on getting yourself to safety. Besides, I fight better without you at my side. No offence.” 

“Why would I be offended by such an obvious truth? The only offence that I took is your lack of concern towards your own well-being.”

Erin smiled wryly. “No time to lose now. I will head out first. When you hear… loud noises, you two sneak out of the front door.”

“...I will tell you to be safe but considering what you’re about to do, it is futile. Therefore, I wish you good fortune in all your battles to come.”

“Good luck to you too, Saintess,” Erin said and began climbing the steps out of the cellar. She didn’t sneak a peek beforehand. She burst right out of the hatch, surprising an assassin who was just walking past. Before the assassin could even scream, Erin had already brandished her sword and cut off his head. Before the assassin’s head had hit the ground, Erin had already left the area.

Two thuggish looking men were walking down the street, their gazes surveying every nook and cranny of the slum. Both of their gazes turned wide when they saw a Fox-kin rushing towards them with a pair of swords in her hands. Realisation crossed their mind and both of them raised their weapons in response.

“She’s here! I found them!” one of the two shouted.

Immediately, Erin could hear the many footsteps approaching her. It was practically a battalion of them. Furthermore, the two assassins in front of her were peculiar. They did not smell like they looked. They were dressed in rags, tattered garments, but they had no odour. And they were wielding swords that weren’t forged in some back alley. Whoever these assassins were, they were no simple thugs pulled from the streets.

The moment Erin was within reach of the assassins, she swung her swords at them. Her suspicions were further solidified. The assassins parried her blows and riposted with thrusts that had years of experience behind them. Still, they were no match for Erin. She countered their ripostes and sliced open their bellies. It was an easy feat since they wore no armour.

“There!” Someone shouted.

Erin turned towards the voice and saw a group of men running towards her from up the street. Behind her, she sensed two presences slowly creeping away to the other side of the street. It was the Saintess and the Paladin. As long as the assassins had their attention on her, the two could easily sneak away to safety. To make sure none of the assassins’ attention was elsewhere, she shed off some of her clothing, leaving only a vest and tight shorts on her. Immediately, the gazes hardened on her and she was sure those weren’t the only part of them that was hardened.

Erin ran right at the assassins. They looked confused but at the same time, their minds were in the gutter, thinking of what they could do to the Fox-kin once they captured her. For a moment, they had all but forgotten about their original goal. Erin leapt at them at the last stretch and threw her sword. The assassin who received the throw parried the sword in a panic, leaving himself wide open. Erin plunged her other sword right through his chest.

She then feigned difficulty in pulling out her sword, drawing the assassins to her without a shred of caution. She smirked when the assassins drew close enough. She dispelled her swords and manifested a greatsword which she used to carve apart all the assassins within her reach.

There was no time to rest after she dealt with the assassins. There were still others and one of them was capable of Magic Arts. She dove out of the way just as fireballs, lightning bolts, icicles, and arrows struck the spot where she had been standing. She turned to the caster after scrambling to her feet in a hurry. There were a dozen of them on the rooftop of the building in front of her. Half of them were archers and half of them were spell casters. There was more coming.

“Damn,” Erin muttered as the bombardment of spells continued. She ran into an alley and ran up the walls until she reached the top. From there, she took off sprinting from the far end and leapt across the streets below her. The arrows and spells continued to bombard her but she struck down those that could wound her badly and let the minor ones graze her body.

The casters and archers began to panic once Erin landed on their rooftop. Archers and mages excelled in combat where there was distance between them and the enemy. Once that was gone, they were often as useless as a greenhorn. One of the mages cast a spell in a fluster, a wave of lightning that sprawled towards Erin like a tide. She ran and leapt over the lightning wave and the caster chased her down with his lightning spell, disregarding his allies.

Screams resounded from the assassins but not of Erin’s doing, or at least not of her direct doing. The caster swung his hands around, lashing the lightning wherever Erin went. Once the caster had exhausted himself, Erin went in for the kill, decapitation. It was the surest way to kill someone. She imposed mercy on the remaining assassins who were still alive but severely wounded by the friendly fire.

“She’s over there!” There was another shout. 

On a rooftop of a building a few blocks away, there was a man who was dressed in combat attire, an armoured huntsman. He had a crossbow in his hand.

Erin saw the arbalist and could instantly tell this one was different from the others. As if to prove her point, the arbalist shot a bolt at Erin. Instead of cutting the bolt down, she ducked down. The bolt streaked past her and struck something behind which resulted in a small explosion.

“The Saintess is not with her! Go find the Saintess! I will handle this Fox-kin!” The arbalist shouted his commands and the assassins on the streets immediately complied.

Erin could hear the footsteps distancing themselves from her. “Not good,” she muttered and immediately veered out of the way just as a bolt flew past her.

“Don’t you know it’s unwise to look away from your enemy?” the Arbalist mocked.

Erin glanced at the arbalist for a second before turning away.

“You— It seems I have to make you take me seriously.”

Erin snorted and jumped off the rooftop.

“You’re not getting away!” the Arbalist snarled and hopped off the rooftop too. And as soon as he landed on the street, Erin was there, right in front of him, waiting for him. “Fuck—”

Erin swung at the Arbalist with her greatsword. To her surprise, the arbalist dodged her blade with a flip.

While he was twirling in the air, he fired a bolt.

Erin dodged the bolt and lunged at the arbalist.

The Arbalist stowed away his crossbow as he landed and brandished a short sword from his back. He caught Erin’s blade with his own and guided her swing away from him. He smirked. “I’m quite good with a sword too.”

“I’m sure you are,” Erin retorted and unleashed a flurry of attacks on the Arbalist.

He skillfully parried each and every one of Erin’s attacks and after she was finished with her offensive, he retaliated by drawing his crossbow and aimed it at Erin with little to no distance between them.

Erin tried to dodge but the bolt still grazed her face and gouged her right eye. She snarled and groaned as she stumbled back.

The arbalist laughed and quickly reloaded his crossbow. It took him only a few seconds to do so. An arrow was loaded and ready to be shot. “From today on, I shall be known as the one who killed the legendary—”

The arbalist did not get to finish his sentence as an arrow had pierced through his heart from behind.

“W-what the—”

Erin seized this chance to lunge forward and lop the arbalist’s head off. She kicked the headless body away before it could collapse by itself.

“Well, I made it in time.”

Erin’s face turned blank. “Lyra? What are you doing here?”

“Here to get you out, of course. What else?”

“Where’s Aedan? He’s usually the one who—”

“Yes, I’m aware but not this time. He doesn’t get to be the hero every time.”

“Did something happen to him?”

“Nothing. Just circumstances. He can only open the door from the real world. If he’s also in Limbo, he would be stuck in here. Therefore, he has to send someone else in.”

Erin raised an eyebrow.

“I know what you want to ask, Erin. Why me? Right?”

Erin nodded, hesitantly.

“As it turns out, I have some minor affinity with Spatial Magic. Therefore, I’m the only one who can venture into Limbo. So, let’s get out of here. We shouldn’t stay too long in this world. Those things would come.”

“What things?”

Lyra shrugged. “Aedan didn’t specify. Only that it is something nasty and deadly. So, come on, let us move. I don’t look forward to meeting whatever those things are.”

“No.”

“No?”

“We can’t leave just yet, not with just the two of us.”

Lyra widened her eyes. “There’s someone else?”

“Two. A paladin and… the Saintess.”

“By the Divines…” Lyra gasped. “We’re getting roped into something troublesome again, are we?”

Erin sighed. “Story of our lives.”