The area where the fight happened is destroyed, the walls have been crushed and the road is full of deep craters from the duo’s attacks. For the first time, I detect the attacker’s mana in the air. And I recognize the signature almost immediately.

Oh my, isn't this interesting?

After looking over the corpses of these lynthari she’s probably known for over a hundred years, Myrra follows me, and both of us enter the tower.

This is the biggest tower I've entered so far, and yet it stood in the shadow of the Living Tree, dwarfed by it. But on its own, this building is impressive, and the fact that it still looks so good after so much time tells a lot about the way it was built.

The hallway is massive as well, with polished stone floors, covered in a light coat of debris, dust, and fresh blood, accompanied by a few more corpses.

Under my feet, broken glass and the remains of old furniture crunch and clatter echoing across the room, but I don't mind it that much, and Myrra seems to agree. Currently, the lynthari’s face bears a strange expression, somewhere between anger, sadness, and something I can’t identify.

At the end of the trail, we find Isola sitting on the last remaining piece of furniture. The pale, black-haired guild master of Obsidian Circle greets us with a smile, waving at us with a hand covered in blood.

"Feral angry kitten and invader Myrra, it's nice to see you!" She greets us.

"Who is here with you?" I ask curiously instead of returning her greeting.

The other person I sense in the tower is somewhere far above us and using something that makes it difficult to identify their signature, no matter how hard I try.

"It's probably a secret, but who cares," Isola jumps to her feet, the old armchair behind her cracking. "It's Thalen," she says.

Isola sends a pulse of mana shoots toward the signature I’ve carefully detected. Most likely a warning or a call for help.

Without much trouble, I reach out and disrupt it before it even reaches the ceiling.

"That's rude, Nathaniel," I note that she calls me by name. "You know I won't have a chance against you and Miss Invader without Thalen’s help."

"Isn't that your problem?" I reply.

"I guess," Isola shakes her head, and after looking at Myrra, she looks back at me. "Are you with the invaders now?"

"I'm on my own side. What you and the lynthari do is not my problem."

The pale woman laughs. "You talk as if you’re not even one of us." As she speaks, the tattoos on her forearms increase in size spreading all over her body, changing their shape and effects adapting to her fighting style. And I let her, carefully observing what she does.

"But you always did that, didn't you?" Isola stretches her body lazily. Muscles under her skin move, showing the strength of her body.

[Stoneheart - lvl 228]

"What are you and Thalen doing here?" Myrra asks for the first time.

Isola answers without hesitation, "Thalen had a spy among the scavengers that went to the Old Capital, and they located a few really interesting items, so we came to get them. You know, mostly the kind of thing that only works against lynthari. Poison against you guys, paralyzing enchantments. Stuff our ancestors were using during the war."

"So it's gotten that far?" Myrra asks in a somber tone.

"Yes, the Colony’s attack didn't help, and between you and the Matriarch being gone, things went to... well, to shit. You will have to tell me why you decided not to come back, Miss Invader Myrra. Still, I don't think you being there would change things much."

"Obelia's work?" When I ask, Isola turns to me.

"Mostly Thalen's. I work with him, and Obelia helps us. Both of us owe Thalen a lot, stuff like prolonging the lives of people we care about, saving our lives, and restoring missing limbs. Over the years, things like that tend to accumulate."

And here we go again.

"Doesn't Virelia have other healers?" I ask, even though I suspect the answer.

Myrra answers me instead of Isola, “Only a few lynthari, and they rarely heal humans. As for human healers, they tend to disappear."

"Thalen can be quite persistent if he wants something. Feral angry kitten, did you know that he also asked Obelia to bring him your little healer?" a cruel smile climbs on Isola’s lips, “He only did it after you left, of course. He thought that it would be easy for Obelia, she was able to gain your trust after all. She’s good at reading people, so it wasn’t supposed to be that difficult for her.”

Isola tries to send another signal to Thalen, but I disrupt it again, this time more aggressively. At that, she furrows her brow and smiles at me.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

She takes a step away from us, “Tess was somewhere else, and even your other guild members were busy, so it was the perfect opportunity. Yet, Obelia returned with her entire arm and leg missing, barely escaping with her life. Even Thalen was unable to restore her destroyed limbs. What is with that black-haired healer of yours?”

An anchor I placed behind Isola explodes with kinetic energy and pushes her toward us. Her barriers prevent her from being wounded, but It does shorten the distance, as a dagger made of blue, resonating mana cuts into her neck.

Isola ducks under my swing and shouts loudly, the floor under our feet vibrating. The shout doesn’t reach Thalen, I will not allow it, so I use my resonance to create a dome around us. Yet Isola still smiles, knowing that the more skills we use, the higher the chance of Thalen detecting us.

Like snakes, glowing tattoos swirl all over her body, vibrant against her pale skin, and at the same time, she moves at immense speed, using her body to the fullest.

Isola takes on a blast of golden flames with a swing of her hand and pushes through [Redistribution], but I boost my body with the entirety of my mana for a split second, taking advantage of my epic passive to do so.

I become faster than her, and my dagger severs her hand cleanly, the resonating blade ignoring the incredible barriers she’s built up over her skin and the sheer strength of her body.

The woman doesn’t even flinch, and in exchange for her hand, she kicks at my chest as I surround it in armor infused with kinetic energy made with [Regalia]. My body doesn't move at all and the armor absorbs her attack.

Jumping back, she flings her bloody stump at me, throwing blood at my face, and jumps away from me, running towards the stairs.

There, Myrra stands, floating pieces of her aurora glass surrounding her.

“What a fucking situation,” Isola giggles. She boosts her body more, tendons and muscles tearing as she dashes towards Myrra with a leap that feels impossibly long.

Isola tanks multiple of Myrra's attacks and dodges the strongest ones, her talent showing as her body moves with a nimble accuracy, and incredible speed, each movement containing immense power.

The flooring cracks under Isola´s feet, her attacks destroy pieces of aurora glass, a swing of her fist disrupts flames, and her kicks break Myrra’s ice. One of the tattoos on her body glows and disappears, in the process restoring her hand and healing her body.

Meanwhile, Myrra fights calmly, with barely any emotion on her face, each attack calculated and executed with perfect timing in a way that shows her long years of experience with her skills.

Even with a lower level than Isola, I watch as Myrra destroys her, calculating the pale-skinned woman's attacks to the point it nearly seems like she is playing with her as she teleports from one aurora mirror to another and stabs Isola with the shards of glass after finding the weak points of her barrier.

And then, after a minute, Isola, unable to get through her falls to her knees, her tendons cut, terrible wounds all over her body with Myrra standing in front of her. The tall lynthari looks majestic. A proud gaze in her eyes and a relaxed stance while aurora glass flickers around her body, moving according to her will. Myrra isn’t even warmed up yet.

“So this is the Champion candidate I heard so much about,” even now, Isola’s expression is daring without any hint of fear.

“A fake Champion candidate,” someone says from the top of the balcony overlooking the hallway.

A presence I’ve felt moving closer the entire time stops hiding its signature, and the older red-haired man reveals himself.

Thalen, guild master of Luminous Order, the only human healer in Virelia.

[Pulsebinder - lvl 234]

The warm mana that I know so well radiates from him, and the small tattoo on Isola´s neck glows brighter. A mark left by the healer that works not unlike the Crown of Lily that I used.

Isola immediately heals, at a speed much faster than Lily can pull off.

“I don’t think there is a reason for us to fight,” the man says. His voice is calm and confident, and I notice him holding an orb that he seems to be operating with his mana.

“Little Thalen, who do you even think you are? I’ve known you ever since you were a brat, barely reaching my waist, and now you take such a tone with me?” Myrra's canines show and her cat-like ears stand up, her swinging tail showing her annoyance.

“Miss Myrra, I have nothing but respect for you and do not wish for us to fight.”

“Interesting to hear from the one who went looking for weapons to use against lynthari,” Myrra's canines extend even more.

Thalen looks at Isola, who just smiles playfully, and then he sighs, turning his attention to Myrra again, “It’s not something I want to use. The weapon will only be there to make sure the lynthari are willing to have a conversation with us. I promise not to use it as long as you don’t threaten us.”

Sounds quite reasonable, doesn’t it? Curious, I observe the white-haired lynthari.

“Thalen, dear little Thalen, I always hated you for spewing such bullshit with a straight face,” taking a step towards Isola, Myrra continues to stare at the red-haired man.

“It’s all for us humans, Miss Myrra. I think it's reasonable to strive to be free of you, especially after we found out that our world was invaded by you.” A circle of mana appears behind him, its diameter half the length of his body.

That circle starts glowing, and Thalen floats over the railing and into the air over Myrra. Mana radiates from the man, his pure white clothes contrasting with his stark red hair.

He spreads his arms, “You don’t even seem to be interested in the title of lynthari matriarch, so I ask you, no, I beg you, allow us humans to decide on our own. Allow us to decide whether we can live with lynthari or if we just can’t bear it anymore.” His face takes on a sad expression.

Thalen then turns to me, “And for you, guild master of Angry Kittens, Nathaniel Gwyn, I ask you to stand on the side of your race, as you are also a child of this planet.”

Even though he tries so hard, I notice his tone change slightly. Almost imperceptibly as he says the name of our guild. A hint of contempt, as if even saying such words out loud is beneath him.

“Yeah, no,” I respond.

“May I ask you why?”

“I don’t like the name of your guild. What is it even, Luminous Disorder?”

“It’s Luminous Order, Guildmaster Gwyn.”

“Looming Disorder?”

“Luminous Order.”

“Oh, Ruminous Border.”

“...Guildmaster Gwyn, did I get on your bad side somehow?”