A Formidable Foe

After hours travelling, the group arrived at the borders between Fordurn and the Scorched Mountain.

A dense forest stood right in front of the group, and nothing could be seen because of its heavy vegetation, except for the Great Scorched Mountain kilometers away.

"Let's continue." Aegreon said.

The group advanced into the forest, following a well-maintained road.

Although few tourists received permission to visit the Scorched Mountain, trades and diplomatic travels were constant.

The group traveled for some hours until Aegreon decided to stop and set up a camp in a place away from the road.

"It's past around one thirty in the morning, we won't be able to sleep too much this night." Raymond analyzed the position of the moon.

"I will stay awake and keep vigilance during the first shift." Sariel sat down and was ready to stay awake.

Luna was the first to fall asleep. She thought she wouldn't be able to, since she's used to a big and comfortable bed, but the fatigue of traveling for hours made her sleep almost instantly.

"Well, then, I will sleep too. You can look at me as much as you like." Shiina provoked in a sensual tone, while glaring at Raymond. "But, if you want do have some fun, we can go somewhere private…"

"I will stay awake too." Raymond ignored her.

Shiina clicked her tongue, lied down, and started sleeping.

"No, you should sleep." the traveler suggested.

"If you think I will lower my guard, then you are terribly wrong. I will stay awake until we arrive at the Scorched Mountain."

"You would have passed out of exhaustion at that point. You don't sleep for two weeks already, correct?"

"How do you know that?"

"Really? Just look at these dark circles. You try to hide it, but I can see it perfectly, you look like a corpse risen with Conjuration Magic. Besides, your body is using more magical power than usual, it's very clear that you're using your magic to stay awake. Your performance is clearly affected since you weren't even able to catch a simple thief."

"It doesn't matter, I will say awake. I won't sleep with you two nearby."

"Right now, you are as useful as that armor. You're so exhausted, that you won't even be able to fight Shiina, let alone me or Aegreon. Go rest, a zombie won't protect anyone."

Raymond considered retorting, but, although he was irritated, he knew that Sariel was right. For this reason, he decided to swallow his pride and sleep.

He planned to pretend to sleep and be sure these two wouldn't do anything, however, he slept in the moment he closed his eyes.

The traveler and the Pilar remained vigilant while watching each other. In the end, both remained awake the entire night while exchanging stares.

Close to the five on the morning, Aegreon and Sariel woke up everyone.

Raymond almost jumped when he was awakened and looked for Luna. After he confirmed her safety, he sighed and cursed internally after noticing he had slept for the rest of the night.

As to Shiina, she woke up quickly and was ready to depart. Luna was the only who had difficulty in waking up.

"It's time to wake up, sleeping princess." Sariel said in a soothing voice.

"Hm? Dad?" The voice that the traveler used was so serene, that Luna, still half asleep, mistook him by her father.

"Father!? I'm not ready to this responsibility yet, haha!"

"Ah! Sariel! I'm sorry! I thought that… My father…" Luna's face acquired a red tonality after noticing her mistake. "It's because… My father used to call me that way when waking me up. I'm sorry!"

"Haha! There's no need to be embarrassed. I'm sorry for this, I won't do it again, except if you wish to." Sariel said in a jokingly tone and without malice.

"Stop insulting Your High... Luna!"

"My Kura! You're so stressed! Being next to you must be horrible!" Sariel said in an overly dramatic tone. "Now I understand why the Vigil decided to wait for so long, dealing with your personality would be a great challenge!"

"You better watch your mouth!"

"Stop that, you two!" Luna interfered. "Raymond, you need to relax a little bit, and Sariel, stop provoking him, please!"

"Alright... But keep in mind that stress is not healthy."

"Hmpf!"

Raymond moved away from the traveler and stayed beside Luna, while Aegreon lit a campfire and started preparing the breakfast.

"Since we're in a forest, I will collect some ingredients for poisons." Shiina said.

"In that case, I'll follow you." Sariel said.

"Do you know anything about this?"

"You could say that."

"Well, then let's go."

Both walked into the forest while Raymond observed them walking together.

'Those three must be together. That tension yesterday must have been an act. They don't seem to want to kill Your Highness, they could have done this earlier, but what do they want?'

The bodyguard continued to think, but nothing seemed to make sense.

*****

After walking for some time, Sariel and Shiina found a place with various ingredients and began harvesting then.

The assassin noticed the traveler was very careful when touching any poisonous plant, showing that he, indeed, had some knowledge about it.

"Are you from the White Mountains?" Sariel asked.

"Yes, but it has been a long time since I last set foot there."

"Because of the Wind Pilar?"

"Partially because of this. He doesn't like me, so I keep distance." Shiina answered with a certain discomfort. "What about you? Where are you from?"

"Eribur."

"It's very far from here, don't you feel lonely being so far from home?"

"Not much, after all, I can always count on Raymond to entertain me."

"Haha! I see, he's really cute when he's angry. But why are you so far from home?"

"News about Luna arrived at my kingdom, so I decided to leave Eribur and try to help her with the Ardos' problem." Sariel was collecting some mushrooms when he said this, facing away from Shiina.

'You're lucky that Aegreon wants to protect her, otherwise, you would've arrived at Fordurn and find her dead.' Shiina smiled.

"Why are you smiling?"

"What!?" Even without looking at her, he, somehow, noticed her smile. "How did you-"

"Oh, yes, because of your contract, right?"

Without any hint of hesitation, the assassin moved fast, unsheathed her short sword, and attacked the traveler from behind, aiming the neck.

Everything happened in a single second, and Shiina's blade was close to decapitate his head.

However, he unsheathed his sword and blocked the attack, without even looking behind.

Shiina got startled with his speed and jumped back, keeping distancing from him.

'How? Even if he was facing me, it would be difficult to stop me, but he did it while facing away.'

She was in maximum alert while watching the smallest movements from the traveler.

Then, he turned back slowly.

"You see… I was already in Fordurn before you. I even saw you arriving and wondered if I should welcome you. You are lucky that you decided to abandon your contract, otherwise, this would have been your first failed mission."

"How do you know about my commission?" Shiina asked in a serious tone. Nobody besides Ardos, Clementius and Aegreon should know about this.

"Let's say that a bird told me…"

"ANSWER ME!"

Sariel smiled.

"I've heard your conversation with Aegreon. Also, you two have a past together, right? What can you tell me about him?"

"Impossible! Only few people can escape Aegreon's perception. Even I can't fool him, and he taught me!"

"Are you sure about that?" The traveler mysteriously glanced at her.

'Impossible... He has to be lying! Only a Pillar would be able to hide their presence from Aegreon, and I have resistance to Illusion magic. How did he sneak close to him if his main element isn't even Illusion, and I didn't even notice him?'

The traveler continued to smile and glare at her, which made her even more uncomfortable, with her hands starting to break into a cold sweat and feeling something was wrong.

'Tsk! I won't let this bastard live, especially because he knows about my contract.'

Shiina advanced into Sariel while holding her sword and tried a horizontal low cut, aiming the intestines, however the traveler blocked it using his own sword.

Right after, the assassin used her other hand and punched aiming bellow his lungs. When her fist was close enough, a hidden blade revealed itself.

Yet, he grabbed the blade with his bare hands.

'What?!'

"A poisoned blade, huh?" The traveler, even at that distance, was able to, somehow, smell the poison that shouldn't have any scent. "Did you really expect to surprise me with hidden blades and poison after telling me about harvesting materials to create poison?" Then, using his grip strength, shattered the blade.

Shiina tried to hit a knee strike upwards, with another hidden blade appearing to pierce his neck.

Sariel crouched so fast, that the only thing the assassin saw was his afterimage disappearing from her field of vision and then, right after, feel the fall caused by a sweep kick.

While she fell, she used Wind Magic to create wind bellow and throw her high in the air. During her fall, she covered her blade with winds and did a downwards cut.

She had concentrated such power on her blade, that it looked like a whirlwind got stuck on it, so much that the sound of strong blowing wind was loud enough to surpass any other noise.

This attack would certainly hit Sariel. Even if he did try to block it with his sword, the steel would be cut easily since Shiina's sword was enhanced with Wind Magic.

However, he did the same as her. His sword was covered in Ice Magic, and he used it to block, and the impact caused by the two Elements created a strong and cold wind.

'There's more!' The assassin prepared another attack.

Shiina, on her other hand, conjured a blade made entirely from Wind Magic, shaping wind itself into a sword, strong enough to make her hair sway furiously due to the gale.

Then, she attacked Sariel, who reacted in the same way: creating a sword made from Ice Magic and stopping the blow.

The encounter of both magics was so intense, that it created a strong and freezing gale, bending and almost breaking threes nearby, as well as freezing the area around them.

The assassin tried to kick him; this time she used the wind's power to enhance the strength of her legs. With that power, it would be able to bend steel like paper.

However, a sudden explosion pushed Shiina away, she was throwed into a tree, and hit her back on it.

"What... was that?" What happened was so fast, that she couldn't see what throwed her.

After looking again at Sariel, she found her answer.

He was surrounded by a strong blizzard with three meters of radius. The strength of the winds was so strong, that the trees around were easily ripped off with their roots intact, and some sharp fragments of ice hit the trees with such power that it marked the wood with deep cuts.

"You fight well, but you can't defeat me." The temperature had dropped to an intense winter day.

'Tsk! I thought I could defeat him with my strength, but I will have to use my specialty.'

The assassin lowered her mask, her whole body started to be embraced by the shadows, then she disappeared completely and become invisible.

"Well, well. We're going to play hide and seek now?" The traveler laughed.

The Blizzard around Sariel was undone, and he started searching around, trying to listen to any sound or perceive any kind of movement.

"You must be really desperate to use that kind of magic after being seen."

The traveler continued searching, but no sound could be heard.

"You are really good with Illusion Magic, but do you remember what Aegreon said?'

…

"It's enough to kill someone from the Vigil…"

...

"But you still have a long way… against someone in the same level of the Council!" Sariel suddenly turned and grabbed something in the air. Then, he strengthened his grip, and an invisible object became visible, revealing the assassin being grabbed by the neck and lifted from the ground.

He grabbed her mask with his other hand, dropped it on the ground, and destroyed by stepping on it.

Shiina tried to break free. At first, she tried to open Sariel's hands, but it didn't even bulge, it was like she had a diamond fetter around her neck.

Since using physical strength failed, she tried to stab the traveler with her hidden blades, but they bounced as if she had hit an anvil using a kitchen knife.

Her consciousness started to black out as she couldn't breathe, so, in a desperate attempt, she tried once again to free herself by trying to open the traveler's hands, even if for a few millimeters so she could breathe.

However, it was impossible to surpass such monstruous strength.

The assassin was close to pass out when Sariel throwed her away. Shiina hit a tree, which made the wood break in a sawdust cloud and, when she fell, remained on the ground while gasping for air. Her lungs were filled with the sweet oxygen, and her vision started to focus.

"Let's go back, the others must be waiting for us" The traveler turned his back to her and started to walk back to the camp like nothing had happened.

Shiina thought about attacking him again but gave up since she knew she would never be able to hit him, and, even if she could hit him, it wouldn't be enough to cause any damage.

"You bastard! How dare you stop this fight and pretend that nothing happened?" Shiina said while coughing.

"Stop being dramatic and hurry up. And don't forget your ingredients." The traveler acted as if he was dealing with a spoiled kid.

'Bastard... I will make you drown on your own blood!'

Shiina pulled herself together and restrained her anger the best she could, then walked back to the camp.

When they returned, Aegreon noticed them.

"Did anything happen?"

"No." Shiina gave a dry answer.

The Pilar continued to look at then but said nothing.

"Ah, Sariel, the breakfast is ready." Luna offered a plate with food to the traveler.

"Thank you." Sariel smiled.

Everyone ate their meals quickly and prepared to continue their travel.

Sariel, once again, did an exaggerated reverence when he helped Luna to ride the horse.

"Ah... I'm thankful, but you don't need to help me."

"So, you're refusing my help?" the traveler asked in a resentful tone.

"No! That's not-"

"Haha! Relax, I was just joking. But you know, I'm just making sure you won't fall and get hurt."

"Don't worry about that. I know I'm short, but I can do this."

"Alrght."

Luna rode the animal in a clumsy way and lost a bit of her balance but managed to not fall.

The traveler rode the horse right after, and the princess held him by the waist, but not too tight.

"You know, it's better if you hold tightly. We're outside of the roads, so the ground is a bit uneven."

"Is there no problem?"

"Haha! Of course not. Don't worry, I don't bite."

"Ok." The princess held firmly Sariel's waist.

"Hurry up." Aegreon said while menacingly staring at the traveler.

Then, the group departed once again.