Escape (2)

"Heaven's berserker," between breaths, Yllana let out two words which almost resembled a sigh. She was weakening and her strength was almost at its limit.

Shiiba flashed in front of the two knights and bit their swords. The swords cracked. Stunned at the white wolf's bite, the two legendary knights moved two steps back.

Bang!

The instant that Yllana let out the powerful twister from the sky, it rammed down the first twister. Countless wind blades flew outwards. Shiiba shielded Midel. Lucien used his staff to strike the blades. "Disperse," Yllana summoned back the twister back to the sky and everything cleared.

Her face was pale. Her whole body was drenched in blood the same as Lucien. When Lucien saw her sorry state, he gritted his teeth and knocked down the stunned Elgar before grabbing Yllana. He felt her shallow breaths and he cursed under his breath.

Elgar propped his elbow and looked at the couple before him, his lips curved into a gentle smile. "Another dual-class, interesting." His gaze never left the girl covered in red not feeling the murderous gaze of the man hugging the girl tightly.

Lucien covered his eyes with one of his hands while the other was hugging Yllana tightly in an embrace.

He peered open his fingers to expose one eye and there, Shiiba looked straight to that one glaring eye. It was glowing in the color of blood unlike its usual black color. Shiiba shivered under his glare. She coiled her tail around Midel's waist.

"Transport," Lucien's cold eerie voice resounded in the air. After that, a flash of black smoke covered four people and dispersed in a second. The four escapees were gone in the blink of an eye.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soaked in their own blood, four sorry-looking figures lay down the forest floor.

The transport magic drained Lucien's power. Yllana's forced berserker also took a toll on hers. Shiiba and Midel sat right up with heavy breaths. They were both injured but not as heavily as the other two. This was the price they have to pay for facing such strong enemies.

Shiiba transformed back to her human form and looked at Midel's wounds first. Her master is her first priority as a contracted spiritual body. "We may owe them right now master but as your contracted spiritual body, I need to look after you first so please forgive me if I treat your injuries first." Midel just gazed at her. He knows the two will survive although they look like they just bathed in blood.

"She is not a dual-class. I was wrong. Shiiba, this Accursed One that the Grand Mage told us about is someone not simple. I think we just met someone who will shock the whole kingdom." A playful smile lingered on his lips. Shiiba looked over at Lucien and Yllana and blinked. She tilted her head and threw the medicinal herbs she just fished out of her robes to Midel.

"Hey! You said you'll treat me first as your master!" he pouted at Shiiba. But she didn't spare him a glance while walking to Yllana.

"You said they are special so I should take special care of them for you master," she grinned.

Midel's mouth twitched. This little white wolf that he picked up from somewhere really knows how to twist her words and take sides with powerful people. Shameless! However, no matter how shameless she is, she is still on a contract with him.

"Oh, and master...there's something wrong with his eye a while ago. It turned red." Her voice went serious while her back was facing Midel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She is a spiritual body. Spiritual bodies are like smoke. They could take on any form that their master would prefer for them. As Shiiba is still a young spiritual body, she preferred to be a little girl. Midel, on the other hand, issues her to transform into different animals who can help in battle from time to time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lucien looked around and blinked hard. His body felt sore from the wounds of the previous battle. He jolted up and his face grew cold as his eyes searched for a familiar figure.

Opposite from the tree he was lying on, a small figure with red hair was covered in a black blanket. He could see the deep breaths she was taking. He relaxed after seeing Yllana safe and sleeping.

"Good morning little devil!" Shiiba's thin joyous voice entered his ears and his eyes squinted.

The little blue ball was carrying a box of what smelled like food. Noticing his look at the box, Shiiba glared at him. "Yllana gets to eat first, you demon! Don't even think about it! She got more serious injuries than you."

"I never thought someone like her could really exist. I know now why you are eager to shield her so much." Midel walked with a staff towards him but his eyes were glued to Yllana. Lucien felt uneasy with Midel's gaze on Yllana.

"Uh-huh, " he never thought of correcting him. They were going separate ways in the next few days anyways.

"It's morning? Where are we?" Yllana was awaken by their conversation and she slowly tried to sit. Her bones are aching and she felt she was out of energy. Her cheeks we're covered with two medicine patches and other parts of her body we're bandaged. Shiiba walked to her side and placed the box of food down. She quickly swept up Yllana's hair and tied it up. "You broke your arms and several other bones in your body due to your attack on Elgar's twister. Tsk, tsk, tsk...you are one crazy lady."

Yllana looked blankly at Shiiba then at Lucien, she gave him a small smile. "I saw it was trying to attack you so...I tried to stop it."

"Idiot." He released a small black light from his finger and hit Yllana's forehead which seemed to be the only skin on her without a scar.

"Ow!" She massaged her forehead and grinned. It really wasn't that painful. But her 'ow' was very loud.

"Yllana!" Midel rushed to her aide and looked at her forehead while frowning. Lucien glared at Midel's actions and crossed his arms.

Their breakfast was noisy with Shiiba's constant bickering with Lucien. But Lucien just snorts or glares at the little girl. Yllana and Midel talked about their trip to the Northern Kingdom.

"Oh, we are going there too. What a coincidence!" Midel shot Shiiba a meaningful glance. So she nodded several times while her huge watering eyes locked on Yllana.

"Do you mind if we travel together? We are in the middle of the Thousand Bird's Forest, just a few towns before the North Kingdom." Midel stared at Lucien. Yllana also looked helplessly at Lucien. She was the first one who pleaded to travel with him. Now there are two more who wants to go with them. With Lucien's cold and aloof personality, would he really take in these two?

Lucien looked away not answering Midel's question.

"Lucien..." Yllana whispered. She tilted her head. "A yes or a no would be of great importance at the moment."

"Let's go, " Lucien stood up and did not explain anymore.

"He needs to widen his vocabulary, " Shiiba frowned.

Yllana just gave Midel a small smile then ran after Lucien.