"This is most unfortunate timing." Yuki muttered as he heaved a large wedge of wood on top of him and let it dropped clumsily to his side.

Yuki took a moment to take in the surroundings; there had been an explosion on the building right behind them, he had felt balls of fire rushed past him and some bouncing off stronger materials. Dust and smoke choked the air and the searing flames hinted that there are flames all around them.

'Blood...' Yuki felt his heart ache as he turned to the direction of the strong odour.

"Harun?" There was no respond.

Yuki touched the lifeless body, his hands traced the blood odour to the head and felt the sticky warm liquid that continue to flow out of Harun's temple. The gash, though not deep, had stretched from Harun's left cheek bone to the back of his skull. Yuki's hands detected a few slight indents and concluded the concussion was the last to knock the whitesmith out. He took out some white potions from his cart and poured them into the wound. The white fluid regenerate new cells on the torn tissue as it grew and closed up the wound. The bleeding had stopped, much to Yuki's relief, though Harun was still unconscious.

"Ah…" Yuki got up, "I sense trouble."

Behind him, shadowy figures moved forward in the flames. Few of them were playfully tossing their bladed weapons in mid-air. Yuki slipped out a few of his fire and acid bottles from underneath his shirt. He heard the sounds of heavy chains being dragged across the floor as the wearer reluctantly walked, forced by hunger for fresh meat. How quaint that the monsters summoned tonight are shadow and undead species.

"Retreat Dark ones…" the sound of the all too familiar trinkle of a gemstone as it hit the ground which the monsters stood. "Magnus Exorcismus."

Yuki felt the burst of white hot energy spreading to the ground, engulfing his own body with its cooling light yet, the howling agony emanated from the monsters told only of their burning bodies as they disintegrate into nothingness. The power of a holy undead spell serves to really clean the earth of the shadowy filth.

"Yuki!" Xuan dashed towards him. "Where is Harun?"

"He is still unconscious." Yuki directed him to where Harun lay, "He had a severe wound head that resulted in a loss of blood but I managed to close up the wound."

"Thank you." Yuki assumed Xuan was deathly worried about his leader by the unquestionable quiet tone.

Xuan placed a blue gemstone on Harun's forehead, noting the pale haggard man. It almost brought about a dejávu though Xuan shoved it back into the dark recesses of his mind. Now was not the time to remember. Focusing on the gemstone, he willed it to flicker a light inside it and then pushed his energy to let it glow bright enough.

"Wake up, Captain." The gemstone dissolved and as it did so, Harun began to stir.

"Ah Shit…" Harun cursed, Xuan helped him up, "What…happen?"

"There was a meteor shower," Yuki said simply, "You lost a lot of blood."

"Meteor..?" Harun almost lost his balance, Xuan uttering him to be more careful. "Is it…"

"Unlikely, maybe just the illusion." Yuki beckon the two to a corner between two houses. "You would have changed by then. It's probably the effect of the Dark Illusion's presence that has contributed to your inability to regenerate your energy back."

Yuki was not someone of rash nature, his past taught him that. Chosen decisions were made after carefully analyzing the current situations, coming up with hypothetical solutions and looking through the number of possible positive outcomes. All that and with the considerations of a human heart, the man lived through the rest of his life with the strict discipline to, "Think before you act."

"Yuki…" Harun utter, Xuan tightened his support on the bigger man.

"Rest easy, Harun." Yuki tread ahead, looking out for possible threats. With monsters still roaming about, they had to be discreet in their movements as much as possible.

"Thank you…"Harun whispered before he finally hung his head.

"No." Yuki turned to face the two, a slight smile grace his lips. "Thank you…"

A huge tremor erupted followed by an inhuman cry. The walls ahead of them suddenly explode as a huge Majuros came crashing against the cold hard pavement. Fortunately the barrier spell Xuan had cast on the three of them blocked most of the flying debris. The huge monster lay pale and still, the two deep slash across the chest could only be caused by one powerful attack Xuan knew of. Soul Break, an attack that does little damage to the physical body but deadly to the soul. From the darkened hole in the wall came a hacking cough as a figure, definitely an assassin cross class, walked out and brushed himself of the dust.

"Yuki-sama, I ran out of the yggdrasil seeds again." He said as he fixed his sakkhat, realigned his purple glasses and repositioned his flu mask.

"Ah! Higure!" Yuki ran towards him. "Really, you almost got yourself killed! Lucky we have a priest here."

Higure turned to Xuan who stared at him. The look of annoyance was unmistakable as both recalled the incident when they first met. Higure walked up to him.

"Heal please." He said in a flat tone. "Old Man."

"Alyssa, Leena," Moi gestured in a quiet whisper, "Over here."

The trio had found themselves walking along the outer walls that encircled the main square. The streets along the perimeter had been deserted saved for a few stranded monsters which Moi can handle. The lord knight walked further ahead while the two high priests stayed in the rear. The only sound present was the metal clicking on the cold cobble stone streets made by Moi's metal boots.

Leena chanced a glance to Alyssa; the high priest had manage to get into contact with Xuan, much to his annoyance of having his mind intruded, and had asked to gather at the inn. Suke, Adrian and Rose are to remain at the inn in case the monsters appeared there as well. When Leena asked about Harun's condition, Alyssa only nodded and said he only suffered some scratches.

Leena did not asked anymore than that; knowing full well that Alyssa never liked to cause any worry. In most battles that they were involved, Alyssa would always ended up pairing with Harun and though both were hardly seen chatting with each other about trivial things, the two knew when to intrude each other's quiet space. Though it would seemed an odd pairing seeing that Harun was all extroverted and easy-going but push the wrong button and words can sliced deeper than his mighty axe. Alyssa, being an introvert and numb to any teasing or flirts, spoke only what is need to voice out and that always came in handy during life threatening situations. She could not speak for herself about her loyalty, one must simply have faith in her.

That was something Leena had accustomed to, since she got to know Alyssa.

Unbeknownst to them, standing undetected, at the taller roofs of the 3 storey houses, a figure watches the three as they set off for the inn. He had stood on the roof since the monsters wreck havoc on the Prontera streets, the chill winds did nothing to his thick cloak which covered most of him. Only icy breaths escaped his lips as he change his angle and spotted one of the powerful monsters went down in flames. A loud cheer was ensued after that.

"Phreeoni and Maya have been defeated." Said another voice crouched before the standing figure.

"Amazing." The cloaked figure smiled, "I trust that the Prontera heroes are having a good time?"

"They had become stronger with each monster they defeat."

"Well I knew it was a good idea to summon these monsters in the human's home ground."

"…"

"They are starting to enjoy it. At first it was terrifying to find monsters in cities. One would run and hide upon seeing Amon Ra or The Owl Baron. But now, these humans will run forward to fight. To defend their home they would say, protect their loved ones they would say. My…how beautiful those words are and to be said by the humans themselves."

"…"

"I'm almost done." He looked up to the sky, as if speaking to himself, a hand reached upwards. "Just a little more, everyone will love me for this, I tell you."

He tightened his fingers to a fist as he let out a quiet laughter. The crouched figure remained silent, it was not in his nature, nor his duty, to give any of his thoughts that does not benefit the cloaked man. The laughing subside and the cloaked figure covered his face with his hand, feeling the icy fingertips on his warm cheeks.

"Greed and Pride go well together, don't you think?" he said. "But then again humans are always vulnerable to the seven sins."

"…"

"Come now." He beckoned. "Let us depart for Aldebaran for the night."

To be continued