The bull simply looked at her with its wooden head and opened his mouth to speak with her "Little... Giiiirl..."

"..." Evlin wasn't sure how to react. She a.s.sumed that she had finally been freed from Xadi for good after the demon leader killed him in the southern kingdom. But apparently, after he died, his soul became a cursed spirit and joined Mia's forces. And now, he was back for revenge.

Evlin saw Chloe looking at her confused and was reminded that she still had a mission to complete, keeping her safe.

"Chloe..." She said while trying not to make any sudden moves and accidentally invite Xadi to attack her "I need you to hug me with all your strength."

"Wh What?"

"I can't keep focusing on fighting him and protecting you at the same time... So I'll be needing you to start pulling your weight as well from now on ok?"

"Evlin... Wh What are you say-"

"Chloe!!" Evlin raised her voice to call the curly-haired lady's attention.

"Ah!!?"

"Do you want to live??"

"Y- Yes!! Please!!"

"Then..." Evlin said as she tied Chloe with her ma.s.sive golden tail behind her back "I'll need you to trust me!"

Chloe was now being carried like a backpack, the same way Ashley was carried by Evlin when the two faced Xadi in front of the city of Emerald Dawn many years ago.

"Hold on tight!!" The golden-winged lady said while staring at the possessed wooden monster being carried by a tornado right bellow her.

"Wraaaaaghhh!!!" Xadi screamed while propelling himself towards Evlin using his tornado to boost his movement. Evlin saw him approaching at a crazy speed and just barely managed to dodge him by diving into the heart of the city and getting out of his path.

Chloe was hugging Evlin like she never hugged anyone before, letting her fear of falling completely take over her body while gluing her arms around the golden lady.

Evlin realized that Xadi was much faster than her thanks to his wind magic so she needed to be smarter using the buildings to keep him away from her.

She started to fly inside the streets trying to take as many suddens corners as she could to get Xadi by surprise.

"Why is every annoying person from my past that I hate coming back to ruin my life?? Where is the cute boy from middle school that I used to have a crush on? Why couldn't he come back instead!!??" Evlin said while trying her best to lose Xadi who was right behind her.

She realized that the monster bull was about to catch up with them and grabbed the edge of a building to turn her arm into a lever that moved her whole body on a different angle in order to barely dodge him.

She used this chance to fly up before he could notice her, hoping to get a little room to breathe.

"This is crazy... I need a plan... I need to find a way to beat him... But how?? How??" Evlin said while lost in her own thoughts.

"Evlin!!" Chloe yelled making Evlin turn her attention to the woman on her back, followed by her eyes noticing a small fissure appearing on top of the building she was flying slightly above.

Suddenly, Xadi appeared breaking the roof of the building while screaming with rage "LITTLE GIRL!!!!"

"Oh, boy... Guahhh!"

Xadi grabbed Evlin's throat with one hand and raised his other hand that was now covered with a huge amount of ice in the shape of a spike. He began to squeeze her neck making it harder to breathe while staring into her eyes as he approached her to his face "You... Killed... Me!!!"

"What?? The h.e.l.l are you talking about??" Evlin said while fighting for air.

"You... You stabbed my heart... With that black sword!!!"

"What black swor- Oh! Ohhh..." Evlin then understood. Xadi had been killed by the demon leader, who in turn had a strong curse that created the image of whoever looked at him to see the person they hated the most. Xadi's most hated person in the world was projected into his eyes right before the demon killed him, and that projection was the image of Evlin.

Evlin saw Xadi's ice spike approaching and tried to block it by punching it from below with her wooden gauntlet. The two fists collided and completely destroyed each other leaving several pieces of wood and ice to fall in the air.

Evlin used this chance while Xadi was distracted and locked him into an arm wrench while freeing her neck. She attempted to try and bend it but the wooden beast simply began to release electricity from its body.

"Aaaaaghhh!!!" She screamed as both her and her pa.s.senger were hit by the blast. The shock made her be pulled away from Xadi and wobble in the middle of the air.

She turned her neck around and saw that Chloe had pa.s.sed out from the pain.

"Ugh... I'm sorry Chloe... You weren't meant to be part of this..." Evlin said while doing her best to keep flying despite the pain.

She then looked at her arm and realized that her gauntlet had turned into ashes from the blast.

"Perfect... Why not go ahead and delete all my emails, change my pa.s.sword, and empty my bank account while you're at it? Just how much bad luck will the universe keep throwing at me until its satisfied??"

Evlin raised her head and spotted Xadi flying right at her with absurd speed followed by smacking her on the stomach with full power. "Kuaaahhh!!"

The impact sent her flying towards the street and she almost squashed Chloe who was on her back. She then tried to flap her wings to switch her position and managed to land on her feet while making a small crater on the terrain.

She proceeded to look at Xadi and started to wonder how was he still releasing so much magic without running out like her. She then took a good look at him and realized that there was something hidden beneath his branched body. A large white rock that could be barely seen.

"That cheater... He has a giant crystal inside of him..." Evlin said while realizing the strength in her leg starting to fade and forcing her to kneel.

Xadi took this chance to summon a ma.s.sive stalagmite made of ice and aimed it at Evlin followed by throwing it at her with full strength.

People on the streets saw the comotion and began to observe the fight with curiosity.

Evlin prepared her body to try and jump out of the way in the last second, but she noticed that she had taken too much damage and was more tired than she expected. Her body could not move.

"Oh... I messed up big time..." She said as the giant piece of ice kept approaching.

She raised her arms in an attempt to try and catch it with her bare hands but the ice was suddenly sliced into several small pieces before it could reach her.

"What the...?" She said as the small fragments flew right past her side as she turned her head. She then looked again and realized that the ice had been slashed by the swing of a black-haired woman's sword and the metal claws of a man with brown hair.

"You really need to start relying on us more..." Said Lilith as she put her sword away to help Evlin stand up with Daren right by her side.

"Daren!! Lilith!! How did you two found me??"

"Your niece showed us the location you were heading into but you were already gone by then. We then saw the destruction your battle was causing and decided to follow you by foot using our speed boosted by the silver metal." Said Daren while showing Evlin his silver claws, a pair of gauntlets made of metal that went all the way to his elbows with extremely sharp fingernails that could easily pierce a boulder or slash a tree in half.

"Huh... When did you get that...?" Evlin asked looking at his gloves that she was pretty sure she had never seem him being in possession of before.

The claws then began to s.h.i.+ne and changed into the shape of a young man with silver hair.

"Seriously, why do you love rus.h.i.+ng into things without thinking so much?" Said Marcus after changing back to his human form.

"Ah... I see..." Said Evlin after understanding the claws were Marcus. "Sorry guys... Old habits die hard..."

"So it seems..." Said Lilith showing that she was still trying to deal with some old habits herself. She then leaped into the air and began to slash a barrage of ice spikes that were coming at them.

"Ah! No time to talk now!! Evlin! Go hide!!" Said Daren while signaling for Marcus to turn into claws again, proceeded by the two aiding Lilith on facing the wave of ice.

"R- Right!!" Evlin said as she used this chance to finally leave Chloe in someplace safe while her friends kept Xadi busy.

"Chloe...? Chloe!! Chloe wake up!!" She screamed as she tried to make her therapist come back to reality.

"Hummm... Wha... What?? Evlin?" Chloe said while slowly opening her eyes.

"Chloe, I need you to go hide, now!"

"Hide...? But... What about the... Aaaahhh!!" Chloe was about to finish her sentence when a ma.s.sive spike made of ice stabbed the ground inches away from their position.

"Chloe, I promise that I'll explain everything to you later!!! Hide!!! NOW!!!" Evlin screamed, this time while showing her fangs.

"Hi- Hide!! Yes! Hide!!" said Chloe as she moved away from the area by entering an alley.

Evlin saw her getting out of danger and moved back to her friends' side who were still parrying the wave of ice coming at them.

"So this is Mia's next move? A beast made of the channeling tree?" Said Lilith while keeping her eyes on the creature.

"That's what it looks like... What's worse is that this thing is being possessed by Xadi's spirit..." Said Evlin while trying to think of a way to defeat him.

"Xadi?? You mean Ashley's brother that was killed during the war?" Daren said while changing Marcus into a metal s.h.i.+eld to protect Lilith and Evlin.

"Yeah, him... He thinks I killed him and now he's back to haunt me again... We need to find a way to take him down before he wrecks the whole city!" Evlin said while hiding her wings under Daren's s.h.i.+eld.

"So what's the plan? You going to use your magic to smash him with a giant diamond fist or something?" Daren said trying to hold off his s.h.i.+eld.

"I can't! That maniac fried my last piece of the channeling tree with an electric attack... I can't use magic!" Evlin said while showing her bare hands.

Lilith then looked at Daren's metal s.h.i.+eld and her metal sword and a terrifying thought came across her mind "Did you just say electric attack?"

"Eh...?" Evlin said while looking at her friends and noticing the material their weapons were made of "Oh s.h.i.+-"

Before Evlin could finish her sentence, all three were blasted away by a thunderbolt and sent flying across the street as they lost their consciousness.

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