The next day after Tamarinne had woken up, everyone was shocked that she recovered so fast and it looked like there was no wound on her chest. Nobody could explain it and so did Tamarinne. After examining her carefully, the doctor said she was free to go.

"Come on, don't be so worry," Tamarinne said to Al. When they left the recovery room, Al looked so worried and Tamarinne tried to comfort him. She even raised her both arms on the air to show her muscles.

"If you said so," Al replied. Just like everyone else, he had not believed in the miracle happened in front of their eyes. He then reminded her, "If you feel wrong, tell me, okay?"

Tamarinne nodded and smiled. She felt so happy when being cared by the person she loved. When they came to a private room, where Tamarinne used for her training, Al could not get his eyes out of her. The way she danced and sang were always so attractive and full of compassion. For some reasons, Tamarinne seemed to be more energetic and comfortable than usual. After an hour, the secretary of Reingar president, Hazel, opened the door and brought a box full of letters.

"Tamarinne, here's your fan's letters," Hazel placed the box on a table and said.

Al looked at the number of letters inside the box and he was surprised, "That's a lot."

Tamarinne took a break and opened some letters. It was still the same as always. The letters contained the love of her fans, as well as the wish for her to recover soon. Some letter praised her talents and cuteness, and some scared her of how obsessed her fans were.

"You shouldn't be with that guy."

"Stay away from him! He's a bad omen."

"You belong to us, not him."

Tamarinne took a look of some letters Al opened and she was shocked, but it turned to sadness afterward. However, looking of how sad Al was, she knew she should not be afraid and worried as she was before. It was not for her sake, but for him as well.

"They sure have a lot of free time," Tamarinne sat next to him and commented, before she cleaned those letters away.

Al kept silent. Something struggled in his mind. He knew he should expect it but it was still bitter. He then looked at Tamarinne and asked, "Are you sure it was the right choice?"

"Yes, it was, and always will be," Tamarinne smiled, before she kissed his cheek. Then they opened some letters and they both were surprised.

"You two looks cute. Stay happy, okay."

"Will you and Al perform more cooking? You two are so perfectly sync."

"Make Al sing and dance, too."

Obviously, there would be those who did not like their relationship but on the other side, there would be those who liked it. They could not help but smiled to each other.

"As some recommended, why don't you try to sing and dance?" Tamarinne suddenly asked.

"No, no, no and no!" Al replied repeatedly while shaking his head.

"Come on, it will be fun."

As Tamarinne kept persuading, Al kept refusing. He knew he could not do what Tamarinne said, even if he tried, it could end up being a disaster. On the other hand, although Tamarinne said so, it was very fun to tease him.

Two weeks later, Iseria came to Reingar and quickly got the wind about Tamarinne's accident. She was glad that both of them were okay. Later, they returned to their training. Iseria felt proud that her instruction did not go to waste as Al could easily control one flying gun. However, he had slow improvement with two guns but Iseria did not want to force him. She predicted that it would take him quite a long time for Al to reach her level. Nevertheless, she had no doubt that he would give up easily.

After the training, Iseria and Al had a walk outside the university and came back to the noodle shop. As they were eating, Iseria wanted to ask him a few things. She started, "If you don't mind, can I ask a few things?"

"Yes?" Al wondered.

"Are you… a guardian?"

Being surprised with the question, Al questioned if Iseria knew his true identity. He kept silent for a moment before asking, "Why the question?"

"Don't worry, I'm not here to bust you out," Iseria was worried that he would not trust her. "To tell you the truth, I am an Heir and my guardian is Zaeon. We came from Dun Blyraia, a forest located in the northeast of Ritania," she continued.

"Oh…" Al was quite shocked with the answer. He did feel something strange about Iseria but he was not sure and he did not mind it much, as long as they were friends. He then asked, "So, how did you know?"

"Ras told me," Iseria replied, "I hope you won't be angry but after "testing" you, Sir Charles wanted me to investigate you. I asked Ras and he told me that you are a guardian similar to Arkasus, Zaeon and Cromcruz."

"Did Sir Charles suspect me?" Al turned away.

"A little but when Ras confirmed your identity, he wanted to full-support you. Also, I took a trip to Dun Blyraia and asked Zaeon if he knows you. He said that you can be trusted. But there is one question…" Iseria explained and paused.

"I assume it is where my master, or heir, is?" Al asked and Iseria nodded. He continued, "You can say that I cut off the link between me and "her", meaning right now, I'm just a wandering guardian."

"Can I ask why?" Iseria wondered.

"It's complicated…" Al took a deep breath and retold her the whole story. From the day he was adopted, then was raised by his parents, how they sacrificed for him. Then he told her the battle in Aakhen, how he awoke his true power, and why he left his master. Iseria kept silent and heard his story, and she felt sad for him. After the long story, Al stayed silent for a few seconds, before he asked, "Is it weird?"

"No, not at all," Iseria shook her head but after the story. She only admired him more.

After that, they stopped the guardian stuff and chatted friendly. Al was still shocked by how much Iseria could eat. When they returned, Al bought a spicy seafood noodle for Tamarinne, although he was not sure if she would like it or not.

"There you are!"

Suddenly, on the way back, they felt a strange present. When they turned back, they saw a young and cute girl standing behind them. She wore a short white shirt and long tight black pants. Playing with her twin-tail pink hair, she smiled but Iseria and Al quickly prepared for the worst.

"Oh, come on! don't be that unfriendly. I just want to talk," the young girl said.

"I don't have anything to talk with you…" Al replied and called her name, "…Tenebria."

"That's rude, you know," Tenebria responded. She then went to the main topic, "I'm only here for you so why don't you be nice and follow me quietly.?"

"Why should I do that?" Al asked back while Iseria summoned her flying swords.

"Come on, I promise it will be fun," Tenebria insisted.

"There is nothing fun with you around," Al replied.

"Okay, then we'll go the hard way."

As she finished, Tenebria charged them with high speed. While Al took the front, Iseria prepared the swords and attacked her. Suddenly, all of Iseria's swords flew through Tenebria, specifically, her image and it faded away after. When they realized, a large pink magic ball fell on them from the sky, created a loud bang and knocking them down immediately.

"I don't remember you being this fragile. What a pity," Tenebria came close to Al. Realizing he was trying to get up, she smashed his head brutally, before commented, "Ah right, you don't have a master. That explains why you're so weak. Well, just keep sleeping and have a nice dream."

Tenebria opened a portal afterward. When she pointed her hand to Al, he was floating on the air and she dragged her through the portal. Iseria woke up and saw the whole scene but she could not do anything to stop her. She lost her consciousness after Tenebria and Al disappeared.

Several days later, in the East Taranor region, located on the north of Ezera, far away from the city, covered by the shadow of a large tree there was a graveside. The person buried under the ground had the most beautiful view of the city below. In front of it, Ras was carrying a bouquet of white flowers, and carefully placed it. Accompany with him was Mercedes and his guardian, Arkasus. For some reason, Mercedes seemed very sad and did not dare to step close to the graveside.

Ras placed the flower next to the graveside and smiled. "Hey, I'm back again!" he said. Then he saw down and look at the graveyard. He did not know what to say but to remember the days they fought and watched each other's back in the previous Archdemon wars. They were friends and comrades for six straight wars until the seventh war separated them. Seeing him keep silent, Mercedes and Arkasus decided to let him be.

A few hours later, Ras stood up and came back to his friends. Looking at the sadness in Mercedes eyes, he comforted her, "Don't be that sad. What happened, happened. It was not your fault at all."

"But…" Mercedes struggled and squeezed her hands, "… if I was not being controlled…"

"As I said, it was not your fault," Ras smiled. "It's late, let's go back."

On the way back, Mercedes wondered if she should ask him. Even though the war was over, the guilt of killing Ras's best friend had still haunted her to this day. She kept opened and closed her mouth, struggling to speak to him.

"Meru, if you have something to say, then say it," the blue and white furball, Arkasus, suggested.

"Something's wrong, Mercedes?" Ras realized her strange expression and asked afterward.

Catching a deep breath, she placed one hand on her chest and asked, "Why… don't you have me? I was the one who killed General Vildred."

"Why should I?" Ras smiled the smile that always made her happy to see. He then said, "I told you, and I will do it over and over until you understand that no matter what happens, I will never hate you. You are very important to me, Mercedes, and I won't let you leave me like Vildred. So stop worrying, okay? I don't like seeing you sad either."

Hearing those words, Mercedes's face started blushing. Her expression combined with relief and happiness. She then understood that she was just being awkward and thinking too much. She quietly called his name and smiled.

"Master pulled out a confession to Meru. Arky is happy," the blue furball spoke joyfully.

"A… what?" both Ras and Mercedes had no idea what he just said.

"There is a common term in human emotion, that is when a person makes the other one smile and blushing, that means he or she is confessing their love," Arkasus explained.

"I'm not sure I get it," Ras mumbled. Although he looked like a human, he did not understand much about their emotions. He could understand joy and sadness, forgiveness, and hatred, but love was something he had not to understand.

"Do you know anything about "love"?" Mercedes looked at Arkasus.

"I don't know," Arkasus sadly replied.

"Then why did you say like you're sure about it?" Ras was surprised.

"When I was in Reingar walking around with Tamarinne, I saw some students acted like you just did. I asked Tamarinne and she said so to me," Arkasus explained.

"Probably Miss Tamarinne knows what it is," Mercedes commented.

"Hm…" Ras paused and then he suggested, "How about we go to Reingar and ask her? Maybe we can learn something about it."

Mercedes and Arkasus were glad to join him but for that furball guardian, he only dreamt about the snacks in Reingar. Little did they know, the university was in chaos after Tenebria had come back. Fortunately, she left afterward. Yuna and her friends tried to maintain the order and luckily, nothing bad happened. Her guardian, Karzan, made a few investigations and did not see any clue of Tenebria, at least, not in Reingar.

Returning to her office, Yuna asked Karzan, "Have you found anything?"

"No," the guardian of time shook his head. "However, I'm wondering why did she kidnap him?"

"Is he possible a threat to her?" Yuna asked.

"Unlikely. Despite being a guardian, he is too weak to be a threat," Karzan replied. "I'll try to contact other guardians and see what they can find. High possibility that she isn't in Reingar," he continued.

In the meantime, Iseria came back to Ezera to report to Charles what happened. Among all of them, Tamariine was the one trying hard to stay calm and act normally. She tried staying calm but she could not get rid of the worrying thoughts about Al. Although she knew too little about Tenebria, Tamarinne questioned what she wanted from him. She could not do anything but waiting for everyone's investigation. Days went by and her worrying started getting bigger. She usually missed calls from the others or people often saw her gazing to the air lifelessly. Seeing it was getting worse, Yuna tried to comfort her closet friend but it did not do much.

One week later, located in the west of Aakhen city was the city of sorcerers, called Witchaven. In the center of the region, the citizens built their house in a large forest full of big trees. Different than the usual gothic and medieval styles like other cities, they built their house based and attached to the tree they chose.

On a small road outside of the city, a woman in a blue and white dress was walking and accompany her was a man, who was the same age as hers. Loosening his arm, the woman held it tightly as she did not want to leave his side. Scratching his short black hair, the man removed his white coat and put on her shoulder. The night was quiet, the forest was silent, the cool breeze flew through them and the sky was full of stars. At this moment, the woman only thought of themselves about their happy future. At first, she did not believe it at all but everything happened so suddenly, and when she felt it was real, she could not be happier.

"Until now, I still can't believe it," the man spoke while leaning his shoulder to her arm.

"About what?" the woman replied.

"Me, a dead man, walking with the livings," the man answered. "Remember when my eyes closed, the last thing I saw was your smile. Then when I opened my eyes, I saw myself being buried underground, inside a coffin. It took me like hours to get out…" the man paused. He caught a breath and continued, "But I was so weak and wandered around. Then I remembered the war and what I did. Later, I found out you officially became a city lord. If I just came to you, it might create troubles so I decided to hide for a while."

The woman stayed silent and heard what he said. She could not help but smiled and comforted him, "I understand. It was all so sudden, to me and you. Honestly, the first I saw you again, I thought I was seeing a ghost but you were not."

"I'm sorry for letting you wait for so long…" the man bowed his head.

"It wasn't even half a year so I don't really think it was long…" the woman teased him and he could only turn away embarrassedly.

"One other thing, I'm sorry for all the mess I made," the man said.

"It's okay, too. You tried so hard to redeem yourself and it led to your… "fake death". Hopefully, you won't pull another stupid punch like that again," the woman pouted her lips.

"Come on, I'm sorry, okay?" the man pretended to be annoyed and they laughed afterward before they kept walking. Then the man said, "I promise you, Vivian, I will never leave you again."

"You shouldn't be," the woman replied. Then she asked, "So, what were you doing when you were hiding?"

"I lurked around Witchaven and found out that a lot of sorcerers, young or old, didn't like you took charge of the city," the man retold her, "But since they didn't show any threat or create collateral damage, I left them alone but that didn't mean I half-open my eyes to them."

"You're right. Not all of them satisfied with me, especially after all the other sages and council members are gone. But it could explain why they didn't show any objection. So, it was all you alone," the city lord said.

"I killed so many people in the past and I disgusted myself, but if anyone dares to hurt you, I will show them no mercy," the man showed his seriousness, then he softened his voice, "But there is something I am still worried."

"What is it?" the woman questioned.

"Even after the war ended, nobody knows what is waiting ahead. I'm worried that if one day, another threat comes and we are powerless against it, just like Straze and his minions," the man replied.

"I understand what you meant. But after the war, everyone is exhausted and there is a lot of damage. We need time to recover before thinking of improving our military power," Vivian explained.

"I know," the man nodded.

"But one more thing, after Queen Lilias died, Perlands becomes unstable and likely, another civil war will happen. No one can be sure if it will affect Witchaven or not," she added.

The man looked up to the sky and said, "Because it doesn't happen right now doesn't mean it will never happen. Sooner or later, we have to stay cautious and be prepared." Then he looked at her, "But no matter what happens, I will protect you, I promise."

"Thank you," Vivian smiled happily.

When they kept walking and chatting, the woman expressed all her feelings towards him, how she thought about him, how she missed when he was gone. The longer she said, the more scared she was if he would leave her again. Then she felt relieved and happy when she heard that he would never let it happen again. Then, a moment later, they stopped, their eyes met each other and she closed her eyes when his lips near hers.

"What a pathetic woman," from a distance, on a tree, the cute girl named Tenebria was watching at Vivian, who was standing there alone and acted strangely. "But it is fun to see people enjoy their delusion before knowing it is all fake. I can't wait to see her struggling when she realizes the dream I give her, don't you agree, Minos? Or should I say, Al?"

Floating next to her was Al, who was trying to escape. But no matter what he did, the pink gas which Tenebria controlled to bind him squeezed him harder.

"I'm amazed that you haven't fallen to my control yet, but I expected that from a guardian, especially…" Tenebria smiled and used one finger to touch his face. She smirked joyfully when she saw the resistance from his eyes. She then continued, "Especially, when we are the same kind. But even so, I must admit that I want your power. I can only give people what they want to see, but you are even more capable than that."

After she had said, the pink gas squeezed Al harder, created unimaginable pain for him and Tenebria enjoyed it sadistically.

"You know, looking at that woman reminds me the first time you corrupted," Tenebria placed a finger on her lips and looked at Vivian, who was dreaming without even realizing it. She then continued, "Just like you, she lost someone and instead of facing that loss, she'd rather live in delusion with that person. Nevertheless, I can't help but enjoy seeing how stupid and pathetic you are. It never gets bored at all."

As she finished, Tenebria began giving Vivian more delusions. It pushed further to where she and her loved one married, had children, and lived a happy life until the end. But then, she adjusted and made Vivian realized it was just one possible future in her "delusion". Whatever it was, she could not escape from it.