Date: July 2nd, year 1286 Location: Headquarters of the Fourth Branch, Crystal Rose

  Angelica knocks on Julian’s door, but gets no response. When she pushes the door, she is met with a dark, empty room. She walks back to the entrance of the tower, now mostly empty of people due to how late it was. The moon was high in the sky, its light causing the white strand of hair on Angelica’s head to slightly glow.

  - “Well, I guess I’ll wait!” She declares as she sits on the floor in the middle of the entrance.

  About an hour later, a small hooded figure appears in the distance, slowly walking towards the tower.

  - “Angelica ?...” Julian asks, removing his hood as he approaches the entrance. “What are you doing out here, it’s like eleven PM…”

  - “Wrong! It is somewhere around one in the morning!” Angelica replies as she jumps back on her feet, her cape flying in the nocturnal wind.

  - “Oh… I stayed late again… Guess I’m heading straight to bed again.”

  - “Oh no you’re not!”

  - “Watch me.” He walks past her to get through the doors.

  - “You are in dire need of entertainment!”

  She almost instantly dashes in front of him to block his path, but Julian silently sidesteps at lightning speed, dodging her and making it further into the main hall of the tower. They repeat this dance about three times until Julian trips and falls face first towards the ground. Angelica catches him by the arm before his head can hit the floor.

  - “Look, even your footwork is off! And you call yourself an assassin?” She observes.

  - “I’m not an assassin anymore, stop calling me that.” He frowns. “And I’m just a little tired, that’s all.”

  - “God, do I have to spell it out for you ? You are studying for some kind of test, correct ? What hope do you have of succeeding if you neglect your resting time this much ?”

  - “...I need to finish this before mid July if I want to participate in the operation. And there’s no way I’m leaving this in Nyx’s hands when YOU are the only person going with her, so I just have to crunch it.”

  - “I am… far from convinced!”

  - “Just get out of my way, you’re already reducing my sleeping time…” He tries to get past her again, but she still blocks his path with a wide smile carved onto her face. “...You’re just not gonna leave me alone unless I go along with whatever you got planned for me, is that it?”

  - “Precisely! Now let us go!”

  Julian sighs as Angelica gets behind his back and starts pushing him into the streets. He starts getting worried when the peaceful light of the floating street lamps grows dimmer, as they enter darker alleyways.

  - “I know this route…” He comments. “Why are we going to the Labyrinth ? It’s full of dangerous criminals and other people with good reasons to avoid the law.”

  - “Oh so you’ve been to that network of abandoned tunnels before? It is not as dangerous as you believe, fear not!” She loudly laughs, throwing her head back. A few windows light up, and Julian sees dark figures staring at them through the glass.

  - “...I had a few jobs there, and that’s where I met up with my main weapon supplier.” He stops talking as a black haired child wearing a black cloak runs by him, a hood covering their head. They were carrying a wooden staff, with the headpiece covered by a brown cloth.

  - “Hm? What is it?”

  - “Didn’t that kid… kinda look like Beatrice?”

  - “Is that so?” She looks back at the child, who disappears into an adjacent street. “You must be seeing things, tired as you are!”

  They continue walking, eventually entering what was known as the Labyrinth district. Run down houses and abandoned buildings were surrounding them, and there were so few streetlights that the moon was the main source of illumination. Julian notices movement inside some of the abandoned buildings, and he reflexively reaches for his dagger.

  - “Why so tense?” Angelica asks with a smirk.

  - “I’ve never liked this place.” Julian replies slightly relaxing but keeping his weapon in his right hand.

  - “Why do people even reside here in the first place? There is hardly any dignity to be found in this way of living.”

  - “Because the entrance to the Labyrinth is here, property value is so low that pretty much anyone can afford a house. It really helps during winter, but given that the Guard doesn’t really patrol here most shady people tend to gather here too.”

  - “Is that so? That Labyrinth did not seem so dangerous to me.”

  - “Not everyone’s a Polemian warrior that can destroy mansions with a sword they pull from some divine treasury.” He pauses. “...Actually how the hell did you even do that?”

  - “Hmmmmm?” She leans down towards him with an amused look. “Are you curious?”

  - “Kind of.” He frowns as Angelica’s grin gets wider. “You know what, forget it.”

  - “Very well! I shall tell you when we reach our destination!”

  - “Hey.” They both hear in front of them.

  Two men were standing in their way, one with a metal mace in his hand and the second with a large butcher knife.

  - “Hand over any valuables ‘fore it gets ugly yeah?” The man with the butchering knife says while walking towards them. The blade of his weapon starts dripping with a green-ish liquid that was most likely poison or acid.

  - “Oh no.” Julian says, with a genuine look of fear in his eyes.

  - “You’re scared kid? Then ask your maid over there to be faster.”

  - “...Run you fucking idiot! What are you doing?!” He shouts as he turns back towards the man.

  - “Playing tough huh ? I’m gonna-”

  - “Finally some action!” Angelica shouts, positively brimming with joy. She extends her hand to the side. “Divine treasury, open! Come to me, Vortex! Let us lay waste to our adversaries!”

  Reality shatters around her hand and her gem encrusted greatsword appears, unleashing a spiral of water around her as it does.

  - “Uh bro…” The man with the mace hesitates. “That sword’s looking like trouble…”

  - “This is the strike that earned me the title of dragon slayer!” She raises her sword above her head, and the blade is covered in an intense white light as the surrounding moonlight converges towards it. The magical energy she was emitting was so intense that it was visible as a pale aura creating powerful wind currents around her. The sword in her hands becomes invisible due to the light forming a replica of a sword, growing multiple meters every second and illuminating the entire city block. By the time the sword was taller than the surrounding buildings, Angelica’s hair had turned completely white, and was slightly glowing as it flew in all directions. “Take tales of the Ironside’s might with you to the afterlife! Hollow Moon’s Radia-”

  - “Holy sh-” The man with the butcher knife exclaims, looking up at the giant blade of moonlight as it starts falling down towards him

  Angelica’s attack is interrupted by Julian dashing behind the man and hitting the back of his neck with the pommel of his dagger, knocking him unconscious. She frowns, disappointed, and the moonlight sword disappears.

  - “Why would you do this ?...” She asks as she irritatedly throws her greatsword back into the rift it came from.

  - “I know them, they’re not…” Julian hesitates. “They’re very far from the worst people you can encounter here. I don’t think they deserve to be randomly murdered at least.”

  - “Murdered? They threatened us to begin with!”

  - “It’s just how things are around here. You should understand, seeing how Polemys is always at war with itself.”

  - “Ha, you are right on that front!” She turns towards the man with the mace, who was staring at his brother on the ground with a terrified look on his face. “You shall be spared for today! Leave now and only cross my path again when your might-”

  - “Laius, just take your brother and scram.” Julian cuts. “And stop attacking people who are confident enough to walk around this part of town at night, with no armed bodyguards. Actually, it’d be nice if you could stop attacking people altogether.”

  - “You…” The man squints. “Wait, I recognize you, aren’t you the Touch of Death?...”

  - “In the flesh.” Julian sighs. “Now get out of here before you find out why they gave me that nickname, and why my magic makes it accurate.”

  Laius quickly takes his brother and disappears in a dark alleyway. Julian and Angelica resume their walk.

  - “The Touch of Death, was it?” She grins.

  - “Beat it. You know how I’ve lived my life up until a decade ago.” He hides his dagger back in his hoodie.

  - “That’s a nice title! It would do wonders in Polemys, granted you would have to fend off other contenders for that name!”

  - “Yeah well you can have it if you want. I don’t want it anymore.”

  - “Don’t be ridiculous!”

  She suddenly stops in front of a large, run down tavern, with lights filtering through the dirty windows and loud chatter echoing through the street. A sign above the door was almost split in half, reading “Labyrinth’s Delights”

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  - “We have arrived!” She declares.

  - “A bar?...”

  - “Precisely!” She pushes the door, violently opening it as a gust of wind rushes into the building.

  The first thing that Julian notices is that it was much cleaner on the inside than on the outside. Cozy booths were installed everywhere around the main room, with the counter being attached to the front wall with the bartender constantly pouring drinks for the customers. A selection of multicolored glass bottles was sitting on the shelves above it, and a heavy wooden door to a back room was visible on the right. A chandelier was hanging from the ceiling, and the wooden floor was much cleaner than what would be expected for a bar so crowded. People were drinking and laughing, being so loud that the noise felt like it could be heard in the entire neighborhood. However, the bar falls completely silent a few seconds after Angelica steps in, all the customers intensely staring at her. The bartender, a burly man with a short white beard, a shaved head and a black eyepatch looks up at her.

  - “Uh, Angelica…” Julian starts. “I don’t think we’re welcome her-”

  - “Boss!” The bartender exclaims, a warm smile appearing on his face.

  The other customers erupt in a joyful chaos, most of them yelling things like “Angelica! How’s it been?”, “We missed you Ironside!”, or “Tell us more about the stuff you did in Polemys!”, all the while walking up to her to exchange fist bumps and high fives. Julian, confused, follows her inside as they both make it to the bar and sit on the red cushioned metal stools. Angelica starts merrily chatting with the bartender in a language Julian couldn’t understand, but he could recognize it from experience.

  - “You’re from Polemys?” He asks the bartender, who was laughing while pouring Angelica a mug of beer.

  - “Mhm.” The bartender replies. “Name Trevor. Trevor old warrior, seen enough glory, now want peaceful death. Moved to Specta year or two ago, started… business.” He pauses for a second, gathering his thoughts. “Spectan language hard.”

  - “They do say that if you want to die of old age, don’t live in Polemys!” Angelica laughs as she chugs her beer.

  - “Ha! Like dragonslayer knows old age.” He chuckles, and the bottles lined up on the shelves behind him tremble.

  She seems to male a joke in Polemian after that and they both laugh with their heads thrown back.

  - “So, when can we leave?...” Julian asks, looking around at the bar. “I still have a lot of things to do tomorrow…”

  - “Hm. That’s not entirely up to me!” Angelica replies.

  - “What do you mean?”

  - “You’ll find out! In the meantime, why don’t you drink? Trevor makes some of the best brew in this city!” She turns to the latter. “You could really make it big if you tried!”

  - “Not interested.” Trevor shakes his head. “Quiet life good.”

  - “You call this quiet?...” Julian comments, his voice being covered by the constant chatter in the background. He sighs. “Alright, give me your strongest brew.”

  - “Oho?” Trevor smiles and says something in Polemian. “Long ears sure? Trevor’s brew strong enough to beat dragonslayer.” He points his thumb at Angelica.

  - “I’m an elf, I’ll be fine.”

  - “Is that so? Elves are pretty much extinct in Polemys, so we don’t know much about them!”

  - “Yeah, we have a pretty high tolerance to poisons, and alcohol counts.” He glances at Angelica while Trevor grabs a red bottle from the top shelf. “How did we even go extinct there?... I heard stories but that’s pretty hard to believe. Not to brag, but we’re pretty powerful.”

  - “You guys really struggle with keeping track of time and of your surroundings! Any elven nation that rises in Polemys falls shortly after, since they don’t take the training of their military seriously enough. They’re perfectly fine with taking five years to train up a single battalion, talk about clueless! They’re the perfect siege target too, since they’re too patient and never seize an opportunity to retaliate before their opponents recovers.”

  - “I mean five years is not that much…”

  - “Case in point!” She snickers. “On top of that, you guys rely on your own innate magic way too much. Humans have such a deeper understanding of everything else that it turns the competition into a one sided bloodbath!”

  - “Charming.” He grumbles.

  - “Drink ready.” Trevor slams a wooden mug on the table. It contained a golden liquid not too different from beer, with streaks of purple swirling around its surface. Julian frowns, and his ears slightly perk up as if he heard something coming from the mug.

  - “I sense a decent bit of magical energy in that drink. What did you put in there?”

  - “Made with good fruits from Dungeon. Very good.” Trevor proudly replies.

  - “As long as it’s not poisoned… How much is it? I’ve been doing a few odd jobs to make money at the Guard academy in between classes, so I’ve got a few coins to my name.”

  - “I’ll be covering our tab!” Angelica exclaims. “Trevor, give me one too!”

  Heads turn in the bar as Trevor pours her a drink from the red bottle. The chatter gets louder, and Julian could hear people going “Oh, they’re actually drinking the Ripper?”, “Dibs on the loot if one of them dies.”, “Isn’t that a kid? That’s real dangerous.” or “You know what, give me one too!”

  A few minutes later, Julian, Angelica and ten other customers were lined up at the bar sitting in front of their respective mugs. Angelica immediately chugs the entire drink, the spectators yelling “Chug! Chug! Chug!” to encourage her. She wipes her mouth and smirks at Julian. The latter frowns, picks up his own mug and does the same. A few gasps go around the crowd as he puts it down, unfazed.

  - “Whoa, that’s actually really good.” He comments, picking up the mug again to try and get the last few drops. It tasted like a mix of mango, orange and pineapple with a hint of something unknown, the bitter taste of the alcohol being barely noticeable.

  - “Haha, that’s what I like to see!” Angelica adds. “Trevor, more!”

  The other customers that joined them drink from their wooden mugs, and eight of them immediately hit the floor after a few gulps, completely knocked out. The other two, a male elf with a red bandana on his forehead and a beastwoman with a tiger’s ears and tail, look back at Angelica and Julian with confidence in their eyes. Angelica responds with a wide grin and Julian rolls his eyes. Trevor disappears in the back room behind the bar and returns shortly after, carrying a large wooden barrel lined with iron above his head with one hand.

  - “Trevor thanks you for business.” He solemnly says as he slams the barrel sideways on the table.

  They continue drinking, and as time goes everyone seems to get a little more inebriated than they expected.

  - “I fucking hate the law!” Julian yells as he slams his mug on the counter. “I get why it’s so complicated, but it’s so confusing! Why can’t humans just behave?!”

  - “Ha! It is but human nature!” Angelica replies while patting him on the back so hard he almost falls off his stool. “Personally I love it!”

  - “I agree with ‘im” The elf with the red bandana comments. “I say they gotta go!”

  - “What?! My boyfriend’s a human!” The tiger beastwoman exclaims. “You wanna go, punk?!”

  - “Oh you’re on!”

  They both double down on their drinking speed, piling up silver coins on the table as Trevor serves them.

  - “I was struck with a grand idea!” Angelica declares. “To speed things up, every time one of us takes a swig, let’s say something important about ourselves or take an extra shot of Ripper!”

  - “That’s stupid.” Julian comments. “Let’s do it.”

  - “Fantastical! Then…” She takes the last swig off her mug. “...I’ll start! I have a longer lifespan than most elves!”

  - “What? Aren’t you a human?...”

  - “Barely! In Polemys, dragonslayer is much more than a title! I acquired this vitality after bathing in the blood of the first and only adult dragon I killed!”

  - “Adult?... That’s insane, these things can destroy small nations… Then again I’m not surprised, you’re absurdly strong. But then, how old are you?... I always assumed you were probably younger than me, since you look like you’re in your twenties.”

  - “I am twenty five!”

  - “Wait, we are the exact same age?...”

  - “It appears to be so! But I’m sure I’m older, what month were you born in?”

  - “March.”

  - “January!”

  - “...Dammit. I’m still more mature than you’ll ever be.” He chugs his drink.

  - “Delude yourself all you want! Your turn has come!”

  - “...My mom’s a human, so I’m not a pure elf. Since she’s my dad’s second wife, I got shorter ears than most pure elves and half of my siblings.” He reaches to touch his left ear. “You probably don’t know, but the longer an elf’s ears are the closer they are to being spirits.”

  - “Second wife? Does that happen a lot in Specta? I’ll let you know that we are very faithful to our partners in Polemys!”

  - “Kind of? It’s an elf thing. Since we’re so long lived, it’s not uncommon for an elf to have an elven partner and a human one on the side, if they fall in love. The partner usually doesn’t care, since they know they’ll outlive the human anyways. My mother in law also has a human husband.”

  - “How odd!” Angelica refills her mug and drinks from it. “Then next is me! I am a Child of Prophecy!”

  - “What’s that?”

  - “Important warriors, legendary heroes!” Trevor comments. “Save kingdoms, bring peace and guarantee future. But need do what Seer says. All have Almighty Serafim's blessing.”

  - “What he said!” Angelica continues. “I don’t know about the peace thing though.” She adds, dropping her smile for a second. “Plus Seers are stupid anyways. I don’t care that the spirit of the land has plans for me, why would that mean I don’t get to lead my own damn life?!” She aggressively chugs the rest of her alcohol and goes for a refill. “And there’s supposed to be four of us anyways, the three of them will complete the prophecy without me. It’s not like they need someone like me around.”

  - “Ha, that’s rough.”

  - “And you laugh.”

  - “Damn right, for once you look less like the invincible annoying divine warrior that keeps ruining my days. If anything, it’s looking like your own day’s ruined!”

  - “You scoundrel! I am merely-”

  She is interrupted by the door of the bar slamming open. A large group of people wearing gray jackets flows in, various weapons in hand and wearing pieces of leather armor. Many of them also had magic staves and wands, pointed directly at Angelica and Trevor.

  - “What’s that now…” Julian grumbles.

  - “Ah, the Stone Hornets!” Angelica joyfully shouts as she gets down from her stool, slightly stumbling. “Entertainment has arrived!”

  - “Let me guess. You got in trouble with them.”

  - “Indeed! I was walking around this city when I found Trevor’s bar, and decided to lend him funds to renovate it since I deemed his craftsmanship deserved a better stage! I also wanted a fun place to drink, and deemed the people of this neighborhood deserved one as well. But then the local gang of hooligans controlling this area attempted to take his money by threatening the business he worked so hard for. Naturally, both he and I were very displeased and decided to show them what we were made of, the Polemian way!”

  - “The Polemian way?...”

  - “The Polemian way!”

  - “Guessing you just beat them up…”

  - “Spectacularly so! We made all of their members walk the street naked, as we stripped them of both their valuables and their dignity!”

  - “And now they want revenge. Are they stupid or something? It must’ve been clear they had no chance from the get go.”

  - “It’s the Stone Hornet’s pride!” One of them shouts. “Now that you’re done chatting, we’re here for a rematch!”

  - “Haha, come at me fools!” Angelica grins as she opens her arms.

  - “H-heeeey, let’s set asiiide our differenceeees…” The elf with the bandana says to the tiger beastwoman. He was barely able to stand, but assumed a fighting stance as flames began coursing through his fingers.

  - “You… You’re riiight knife ears…” She replies as her nails extend into sharp claws. Said claws immediately light on fire, and they both look at each other in disbelief.

  - “Oh… Ooooh you think you can beat me at Fire magic huh ?! Typical beastfooolk, not knooowing when they’re outmatcheeed!”

  - “Sooo high and mightyyy… Let’s have a daaamn contest then… Whoever takes out moooore wiiiiiins…”

  - “Challenge accepteeed !...”

  They both rush at the crowd of people wearing gray jackets, and the rest of the bar’s customers also get up to join the melee. Trevor jumps above his counter with a surprising amount of agility.

  - “Trevor breaks bones this time.” He whispers between his teeth, cracking his knuckles.

  Angelica turns to Julian, who was watching the chaos unfold.

  - “Join me for this battle like I joined you for yours!” She shouts.

  - “That’s not nearly the same…” He sighs, his mouth contorting into a discrete smile. “But hey I’m always up to help a friend in need.”

  They both join the melee, Julian wielding a club of solidified air while Angelica fights bare handed, visibly holding back just enough to avoid knocking her targets out instantly and stretching the battle. When calm returned to the bar, the Stone Hornets were all laid out on the floor, along with most of the customers. Trevor was sitting on a pile of unconscious bodies, meticulously going through their pockets even though his large hands often got in the way. The elf and the tiger beastwomen were peacefully snoring on the floor, lying on top of each other after exhausting all their magical energy. Julian was sitting on the floor, exhausted after fighting for so long. He was completely unscathed, thanks to a barrier of solid air he was maintaining around himself at all times while he was fighting, prompting surprised reactions from his opponents when their weapons or weaker spells would just bounce off or get stuck mid air. Angelica was triumphantly walking around the bar, checking to see if any Stone Hornet had some fight left in them.

  - “Well, that’s all for that!” She finally declares. “Thank you for the drinks Trevor, we need to go now!”

  - “No problem. Trevor enjoys dragonslayer’s and long ears’ company.” Trevor replies with a smile. “Come back soon.”

  - “Will do!”

  - “Oh so now we can go…” Julian comments as he painfully gets up.

  - “Of course! You still need to rest after all!”

  - “You’re a lot more thoughtful than I gave you credit for…”

  - “And you’re even more entertaining to be around than I originally assumed! Granted the alcohol might have played a part.”

  They leave the bar, returning to the headquarters of the Fourth Branch in the quiet nocturnal streets, sometimes stumbling along the way.

  - “Ah, that was entertaining!” Angelica suddenly exclaims, breaking the silence. “We should do this again!”

  - “Hmmm.” Julian replies, squinting at her.

  - “I thought you enjoyed yourself too? What a pity. It appears I was mistak-.”

  - “Nah.” He gives her a tired smile. “But at least give me a heads up next time, alright? I don’t want to ruin my circadian rhythm more than it already is."

  - “Aha!” She triumphantly shouts. “Very well then!”

  The next day, after sobering up Julian kept denying having said anything of the sort, and having ever called Angelica a friend. The latter, amused, decided to hold his words over his head for the foreseeable future. From that point on, they try to align their schedules to visit Trevor’s bar together weekly, usually on Saturdays so Julian could enjoy his outing for longer.