Main Quest: Defeat The Canine COMPLETE

"Since when am I 'your girl'?! Don't just claim me as and when you like, you anemic fox! Take back your words this instant!" I shouted as I gave another slap.

"Ow... Please stop... Why are you so violent, woman?! You should learn to be more like a lady like Mavislin or Rina..." complained Tomoe.

"I'll turn you into a lady very soon if you don't take back your words!" I yelled again.

As we glared at each other, we could hear a faint sound of laughter coming from the half-dead Marquess.

"What's so funny, White Rat?" spat Tomoe.

"Nothing... I thought I was looking at an earlier version of Ysabeau and Gillian. They used to argue like the two of you now. Ysabeau would always be violent, constantly smacking Gillian for scaring younger Mages."

"For Gillian, he would complain about being smacked and pretending that Ysabeau's hits were painful when in reality, it was nothing. Even your insult is on the same boat as Ysabeau... I'm laughing because looking at you two reminded me of when I was alive and new to the world of nobility."

"Fun times... Gone by... Will forever be in my heart..." explained Minwoo as his body entirely disappeared from the area.

Those words sounded so familiar... Where did I hear them from? As the realization of those few words crashed into my head like a migraine, I dropped my weapon.

"Liz? Are you alright there?" asked Tomoe, wondering why I looked like I'd just seen a ghost.

No... Way... How could he have known? Perhaps it was just a coincidence? I quickly shook my head as Tomoe asked if I was fine again.

"Well, whatever it is, it can probably wait. Right now, we should get to our rendezvous position. Also, I had expected this fellow to be fake, like an illusion of Minwoo being projected on a Doll. But Fabian Brookes won't have access to Minwoo's memories to portray such an outcome."

"So I guess... We've just killed the ex-Marquess... We made the poor Rat die another time... I hope Mav doesn't find out," explained Tomoe, walking towards the room exit.

"Wait, let me do some collection first," I said, picking my sword back up.

I walked over to the dead Hound's corpse and activated Avarice, slashing the dead body. The blade absorbed the entire thing as Vania quickly announced the new something I'd caught.

"Notice. You have acquired and unlocked the Element Of Metal and spells relating to the Metal Element."

Before Vania could continue, a large scroll appeared, blocking my vision. This image was coupled with a sound effect of a heavy metal slab hitting a stone ground. The scroll read; 'Main Quest: Defeat The Hound Of Madness.'

When the sound effect played, a considerable stamp appeared on the middle of the scroll, stamping on the word 'COMPLETE.'

"Attention: Six out of the required Seven Orders of your Original have been used. Once you use the Fifth Order, the next stage will be automatically unlocked," continued Vania, taking the scroll away from my eyes.

Hmm... I hope I've enough for the long run and the final battle. Speaking of fighting, I turned to look at Tomoe again. The fox had folded his arms and leaned against the wall to wait for me to finish analyzing the dead Hound's remains.

"I never thought that you'd kill the Iron Canine so quickly... It took so much effort for Gil or Z to restrain the dog, and you killed him with only a single move. Moreover, you'd still got the strength to go up against another soul that could smack Baldwin in the head and get away with it."

Tomoe's words of praise were rich coming from someone who had just saved my poor arse from a dead person with the sun's power. I replied with nothing as I walked up to the Kitsune and hugged him before turning around to get out of the place.

I didn't need eyes at the back of my head to know that Tomoe was blushing and cheering.

"Thanks for saving me. Though I might not have died, I would've been badly injured if you hadn't arrived with that Original Spell of yours... So that hug was a thanks," I replied as a super happy fox followed me out of the room.

We continued on the path we had initially branched out from and found our way to the end of the hall, where a big metal door greeted us. There were even cool designs of flowers on them.

"Talk about trying to be a castle... By the way, you defeated the Queen Of Sands rather quickly. How'd you manage to do so?" I asked as I sat down in front of the giant door.

"Well, you see..."