Chapter 46: 46: Teams of two [pt2]

"You don't have a problem with me following you, right? I know it was dangerous to ask a student to come and face off poachers with me but I feel like I was running out of time. I hope you do not mind."Aqua bided her patience she didn't even have as she followed after the Divine leader. The drawing lots had done her dirty and now she was stuck with the other annoying female.

And the worst part was that she could not even complain about it to anyone. The only other person who could listen to her worries was snickering inside her head.

'Oh shut up. As if you are not disappointed by this outcome as well. You wanted to go with Yoko as well but ended up stuck here. I know the reason you are not coming out right now is that it is not Yoko with us.'

Her other half fell quiet before snarling out in anger. But Aqua was well aware of how to ignore her so she easily distracted her mind from that angry voice.

She met Lady Suzuki's knowing eyes and she got a feeling like the other could see right through her.

But the lack of any verbal confirmation made Aqua even more nervous. What did those eyes see when they looked at her? There was an unnerving feeling in going to make Aqua sweat even more than she already was.

Why had she agreed to this trip all of a sudden when she could have been in her room and enjoying the sun?

Even the sky was gloomy today.

"So, I wanted to ask you how you knew Yoko. Did you both meet in class? Or was it a hangout that forced you two to be close? Won't you tell me? I am so curious to know more about you."

Aqua wanted to ignore the nagging voice but she could not afford to. The person in front of her was the leader of the divine guild and demanded respect for the same.

No matter how annoying it got, Aqua had to hold her temper in and smile.

She could tell that her attitude was amusing Lady Suzuki but that was all she could do to not lash out at the other lady.

"I and Lady Tsurugi are not as close as it might seem. The only reason we looked close was that we were caught in the same class and got caught up in the same kidnapping attempt."

From the look on Lady Suzuki's face, it did not seem like she was interested in knowing more about their lack of interaction and more about how it would benefit her own needs.

Aqua hated the look she was being given but she knew she had to endure it for now.

'I might be getting ridiculed right now but I will not let that hinder me in any way. I do not care who looks at me. I will not give in to the urge to care.'

Aqua repeated those words in her mind and she walked even faster. Lady Suzuki also picked up speed behind her with a happy smile.

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"Unfortunately, your path ends here. There is no longer a need for both of you to live."

The soldier attacked with her spear and ignored Eclipse as she went for Sakura. The female had been recognized as the worse of the two fighters and was easier to execute in the protractor's thoughts.

But Sakura refused to go down without a fight. She might not have had a solid footing in her defense but she had all but righted herself by now.

As such, she lashed out with a knife of her own, stopping the soldier's attack in its path.

The fierce lady looked startled to see this sudden bout of awareness and ferocity from her prey when her eyes narrowed at her target.

The next thing Sakura knew, she was being pushed back by an extreme physical force.

Even reinforcing her body with her core's magic did not help Sakura to stand her ground. But it did give Eclipse enough time to be able to attack back with his might.

The knife connected with the soldier's arm as the soldier turned around to avoid a fatal blow to her head.

Red bleed out of the soldier's body as she clutched her arm in pain. A pair of narrowed eyes looked back at the two nuisances in front of her and her eyes shined.

"It seems I've been rather lenient with the both of you. It is time for you to pay for your sins."

The earth beneath the pair shook quite violently before Sakura forced herself to yell out the words.

"We are from the Divine Guild. Lady Suzuki send us here as a representative while she is busy. If you don't believe me then you can wait for the Lady to come and confirm my words."

Everything halted all at once and no one spoke for a solid minute before the pair had a weapon pointed toward their head once again.

"Since you spoke of Lady Suzuki, I will spare you both and wait for her to come and talk with us herself. If not, then you both will end up being our food for tonight."

The soldier sounded convinced that they were guilty but she was still giving them a chance to prove themselves.

Sakura spotted Eclipse out of the corner of her eyes getting ready to attack and she instantly knew he had to stop him.

Otherwise, their last chance of getting out of this alive would be gone as well.

"Eclipse, let's surrender for now. You can try to gain control over a few beasts around and cause mayhem until Lady Suzuki and her puls one arrive here. There is no need to get violent."

Eclipse's expression said that there was a need to get violent but he would humor Sakura for now. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he settled down.

With this done, it was one problem down and a few more to go.

"Give me your arms to bind. I don't trust you, people, not to try something foolish while I am not looking. I will bind your power so that you don't get any funny ideas in your head."

Sakura gulped her nervousness down as she extended her hand. The sensation of being cut off from her core was weird but Sakura endured it for now.

Eclipse looked uncomfortable in his binds as he tested out his limits but he did not seem to be in that much pain.

"You can still use your core, right?"

"Yes, I can for now. It should not be a problem for me to be able to call a few beasts for help."

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief as she heard those words. It seemed like her plan B was also en route and ready to be executed. Sёarᴄh the NôvelFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"You both, stop planning whatever you are planning. Once we reach the clearing, it will all be useless anyway."

The solder assured them of her words but Sakura did not take them to heart. She had faced worse odds in her life so she was sure that this one will not be any different for her.

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"I cannot believe how lucky I am to be alone this time. I had a feeling that things would have gotten complicated had I ended up in any of the other groups."

Amane spoke aloud, now finally happy to have time to herself. It was a luxury for her to be able to stay like this in recent times.

Not only were there too many responsibilities on her head, but Amane also had a feeling that a few people were keeping an eye out for her.

But now that Amane had an excuse to be alone, she had a few things to check out on her end. First of all, Amane needed to check on a few sites that had existed pre-erosion of this island,

Quite a few artifacts had been buried at that time by her to ensure that they remained safe. Amane had even sealed them to ensure that no one would try to take advantage of her.

But had those seals managed to endure the passage of time or not was a different matter.

Once a seal was placed, it needed a continuous source of magic to keep on working. Amane had tapped into the natural magical resources available back then to ensure their proper working.

But it was no longer a guarantee if these seals were intact or not. The artifacts could have fallen into the wrong hands and caused a lot of confusion in the world.

"And it's not like I can check in the database either. I wish these things did not keep on happening to my peaceful life. It's like the more I try to live a peaceful life, the more it gets complicated."

Amane held the dragon up by the back of her neck. The small dragon struggled in her hold to be let go of but Amane kept her hold on that neck.

She was fearful that the small dragon would trip and injure herself quite severely. It was a fear that was making Amane even more fearful than usual.

'To think I have more sympathy for a beast than a human. I wonder whose fault it is.'

But recently Amane was learning to let more people into her life and it was not all bad.

Suddenly, the moon dragon growled in Amane's arms, her tiny fangs exposed to the air as if she was looking at an unknown danger.

Amane became instantly alert, her eyes opening wide and processing her core to look ahead.

As expected, it was a group of careless humans who had found themselves chewing more than they could stomach. And they had somehow managed to worm their way toward one of the hidden sites where Amane's artifacts had been stored.

"Why won't this seal break? I am sure that this seal should have been broken by now."

The poacher exclaimed as he exerted pressure on the rock-like formation to try and break it. But no matter how much he tried to do that, the door refused to give in.

Amane could still feel the gentle waves of residual magic in the seal which meant that it had managed to stay intact all this time.

It was rather fortunate that it had because these treasures would have fallen into the wrong hands for sure if not for the seal.

"Hurry up and open it. I heard that Lady Suzuki is already on this island. I don't want to run into her while on my way out."

The other poacher sounded nervous as he egged the first one to go even faster. But the harm had already been done and Amane was not going to sit back and enjoy this any longer.

"Let go and give these kids the scare of their lives. I bet they will not try to hunt in these areas again once I scare them off."

Amane took out a leaf from the tree and blew it in the form of a whistle. She had felt the group of crystal foxed resting nearby.

They were a bunch of rabid animals, attacking at sight and even hunters avoided them in the fear of being killed by those sharp claws.

"Hey man, can you hear that noise?"

The second poacher asked, his voice fearful. The first one just snorted in dismissal, not amused that the other person was trying to scare him.

"There is nothing out there but wildlife. It's not like a wild beast will jump us out of the blue-"

The man never finished his words since the first wolf emerged from the shadows of a bush followed by another and then another until the whole pack was there.

"Sooo, what were you saying about three being no beast in this forest?"

"Shut up and run for your lives. We will be torn apart if we are caught in their claws."

Once the clearing as clear once again, Amane walked out and looked at the seal she had left behind. It fell apart with a little nudge from her and then she picked up the locket.