Before I start writing out this Chapter, I want to take a moment to express my happiness towards everybody! When I got up this morning, I looked at the properties for 'Daylight's End' and…holy **** was I happy when the views-counter cracked the 1000 mark. I knew that some people were interested in reading this, but that you're actually coming back to read the story's new releases makes this so much better. Thank you ladies and gentlemen for this…any may this story entertain you in the future.

Welcome everybody! I hope you're ready, because the next Chapter is live now!

Luna: 'Not to interrupt your enthusiasm, but they know that already since…you know…uploaded it?'

Okay…yeah. I'm just happy today. Also, how are you talking with me right now? Your mouth isn't moving but I can hear still your voice.

Luna: *Taps her own head while smirking* 'I am an entity that is a few millennial old. Over time you do learn some helpful things~. And to not forget it, I can technically "talk" with any person I'd desire, but normally I chose to only do it with the wielder of the 'Holy Moonlight Sword' or Jessica in other words.'

Well, I'm more than glad that you then decide to talk with…well, me. Care to…maybe teach me how to do that?

Luna: '…Are you really ready to learn this for over a few hundred years?'

Hmmm, I'm not sure how- WHAT DO YOU MEAN WITH A "FEW" HUNDRED YEARS!?

Luna: 'Putting the fact that you aren't my current wielder into consideration you'd try to learn this ability by yourself. I couldn't grant you any advice even if I'd wish to.'

*Sulks* Not…even a small hint?

Luna: 'I am technically helping you out by talking with you…so, no.'

By the way, do you want to do the disclaimer for us today?

Luna: 'Well, this will be a problem, considering that I'd have to communicate with every reader…but my reserves shall suffice, so alright.' *Turns towards the readers* *Closes her eyes in concentration* 'Everybody…the tale that you're reading at this time is currently in the possession of MrFiretank. Any OC that was created by his ideas does also fall under this.' *Turns back* 'I've completed the disclaimer like it's required.'

Thank you for that. Alright then, and without further ado…

Roll the next Chapter!

…

CHAPTER 12 – BLURRED LINES

It was dark again…but I felt pain in my body…

"Is she finally up again? We can't dawdle around anymore!"

I heard voices beside me, apparently that was…Sietta talking?

"…She's still resting. Calm down…"

And that was Yorc...my sight is getting better, I could now make out blurred figures standing and sitting…above me…

"I know that Jessica is still isn't up! But with every day that we are here they will prepare themselves even further!"

I slowly tried to sit myself upright…'OWW!' only to feel an intense pain going through my left arm which supported my current weight. The others jerked at my hiss and reacted…by pushing me down and scolding me.

"Oy! Don't get up just like that! You're going to hurt yourself like this!" 'Weren't you the one who wanted to move on just before that?' With an almost unnoticeable deadpan I laid myself back on the makeshift bed in the carriage that I was currently in. Yorc sat in the same spot from before our fight and had bandages wrapped around his arms. Sietta had a bandage around her forehead and her hands, and I swear that I saw the glimpse of a treated wound on her belly. The make-shift armor she wore still had the slits and cuts in it and her trident was changed for a halberd… 'Who knew that she could wield multiple weapons like that?'

"Sietta, what…happened to your trident?" She gave me a confused glance before looking at her new weapon of choice and chuckled before replying.

"Well, if you don't remember, that old piece of scrap got trashed in my fight with this…mage. Anyway, I know how to fight with more than that thing, so don't worry about it!" The amount of distain that was in her voice when presumably talking about Fujimaru was intimidating. Her tone could easily rival Erza…not to forget that they have a few similarities…

"…We're glad that you're up. Took you a while…" Was that sarcasm that I hear from you Yorc!? Wow, he must be really happy for me then. I saw him standing up before handing me a familiar looking object.

"…You dropped it after the battle. I made sure that it wasn't left behind…" He held out my 'Holy Moonlight Sword' in its released state while I tried to grab the handle. Emphasis on 'tried' as the same stinging sensation shot up from my left arm. So before I did anything else I made sure that my upper body was upright before attempting to grab her again. And yes, since Luna was a female entity I'll respective call her so.

*Chuckle* 'I'm glad to hear that you've at least kept your manners.' Luna's familiar voice reached my mind when the sword was back in my possession.

"At least you're safe in my hands now, Luna." I must have proved to be a weird sight due to me looking at the bandaged blade and even talking to it…which made Sietta and Yorc look with a raised eyebrow at me. Sietta even sported a small grimace.

"Uh…Yorc? You sure that she didn't hit her head or something?" She had taken a step back from me…slowly and was on high alert. Yorc looked between me, Luna and Sietta and then shook his head while giving her some free space.

"…No, not that I know of." With that he closed his eyes in concentration while leaning against the carriage's interior. Even he was confused by this action, but decided to probably not question in further.

"…Alright. Jessica! Why are you talking with your sword!? Stop it, that's creepy!" She was backing away further now and the confusion in her face was switched with…I don't know what but she defiantly was trying to get away from me now…

'Maybe I should reassure her that your mental stability is still in place…would you agree with that?' Luna's visage had a little frown on it, but she also seemed…protective? Yeah, I forgot, I already think of like that…might as well accept it.

"Jessica? Jessica! Stop spacing out, that's not normal!" Sietta was now at the exit of the carriage and was with one foot on the path's ground. Her face seemed unsure on what to make of me.

'I can assure you that my keeper's mental capability is perfectly fine, Sietta.' I heard Luna speak out, but Sietta froze on the spot and looked around, trying to find the ghostly voice's position.

"W-Who s-said that!? S-Show yourself!" She started to panic and still looked everywhere, even going so far and looking outside of the carriage and tried to find…something. After a full minute she stayed before the carriage's port and regained her breath…only to freeze up and slowly turn towards me...and just stared at Luna.

"…You know what? After everything that happened up to now, I won't question how that is supposed to work." And with that she walked to a second make-shift bed that was at my right side while depositing her halberd on the ground with a loud clack.

'Thank you for your understanding.' Luna had a happy smile on her mental expression while glancing at me with a wink. 'If it wasn't for her I might have already been stamped as a lunatic by her…OH GOD, WHY DID I JUST MAKE A PUN!?'

Sietta had her eyes closed while laying down, but she just waved at me and Luna (who was laughing uncontrollably at my bad joke…) 'Haha! I wouldn't call this joke "bad" Jessica! Hehe…even it wasn't intentional, I am impressed that you used my alias for that.' "It's alright…just…after everything that happened in the last days, I just want to lie down and get my rest for now…night everyone." And with that down she was already sleeping. Now to only find out-

Wait, days!? Plural!? How long was I out!?

'If you may relax and sit down, I can retell the events of our last spent days.' I was still nervous, but complied anyways. When I sat on the knapsack that I got for this journey, Luna's expression softened before speaking up. 'The last days went similar like this…'

Before the siblings appeared two magic circles, both of them in their own magic's color before they overlapped while in front of the young mage was a dark-green magic circle with a full moon in its middle.

And not one second too late, all 3 of them casted their spells…in hopes of winning this battle.

"'UNISON RAID: DEMISE'S CALLING'!" / "'ABYSSAL COSMOS MAGIC: AURORA ARCADE SWING'!"

The twins launched a circular tornado forward while lightning was surging around and in its wind. Loeyur's mage fired a surge of aurora-green magical energy that traveled with incredible speed at her opponent. The glorified whirlwind collided with the unregularly wave of energy and both spells stopped in the middle of their positions. But after a few second the 'Aurora Arcade Swing' steadily broke through the eye of the storm. Their attacks again traveled forwards and they both hit their mark.

Jessica's last attack fully impacted with Matsuri and Fujimaru in a glorious blast of dark-green energy. They couldn't keep themselves upright after the blast and got knocked out from the combined spell's effects. They dropped unconscious while 'Raijin' and 'Shinatobe' fell to the dirt ground.

'Demise's Calling' got mostly absorbed by the void energy-portion of Luna's 'Abyssal Cosmos Magic'. However, the attack still flew towards the now drained mage and connected with her left arm. With a pain induced scream the girl got knocked away a few feet before landing unconscious on her back while her 'Holy Moonlight Sword' shifted back in her right hand into the old looking weapon everyone previously knew. When everything became silent the chief of Loeyur's forces screamed into the air.

"What are you waiting for you idiots!? We have an injured ally and two knocked out enemies before our feet! Take care of both of everything NOW!" Sietta, who now held a sleeping Trecht over her shoulders with the help of her 2nd-in-command was becoming drained herself, but was only thinking about Jessica at that time.

"AH, yes chief!" Both Squad 1 and 2 ran towards the calm battlefield and picked up all 3 people that lied on the ground. They brought Jessica towards the back carriage and started treating her injuries. Even though she was only hit by that single weakened spell, it was still a Unison Raid which caused quite some damage. The left sleeve of her entire arm was shredded while the arm itself was covered in cuts and blood. Luckily they brought big amounts of medical supplies, so they had no trouble dealing with that.

The 'Full Blood' mages got carried into the middle carriage and got cuffed by their hands to ensure that escape attempts were out of the question. Their weapons got taken away by Trecht, who woke up hours later with bandages all over his body. His left arm was in a sling because of the stabbing wound from Matsuri, who (when they woke up the next day) just gave a sad grin while apologizing to him. He wasn't really buying it…but for the sake of formality accepted it anyways.

Yorc and Sietta decided that they'd both keep watch of Jessica while recovering themselves. When one of the village-watchers asked them to why they are doing this (even though it was unnecessary) Sietta replied in a quiet voice:

"If it wasn't for Jessica, we'd all not stand here right now. That's what we owe her at least for her bravery." Her partner nodded with a somber stare. They both weren't if they should be grateful or sad of the battle's result. Sure, they had just beaten two of the strongest mages of Dark Guild, but at the price of their friend (who was just 13 years old…13!) getting injured and experiencing such pain…they really couldn't smile about this win.

Trecht stayed silent for the first day after their brawl and only moved really to watch the captured duo. It was easily noticeable that he felt depressed over Jessica's health. He did fight long enough to protect everyone from the mages, but in the end she only took the only real heavy blow.

Even Luna stayed more silent than regularly. When her wielder would usually sleep or rest, she'd think to herself on either more ways to teach them or think to herself about latest events. But after her spell wasn't enough to keep her c-…her keeper safe, she stayed put while staying in the carriage…not that she had much of a choice really. But she'd look sometimes over to the unconscious mage and hope that she'd recover soon.

Nobody knew about this, but even the siblings weren't like themselves. Fujimaru would always stare at the ground when their keeper was present while Matsuri was straight up frowning. There actually were rumors that after the first day that her eyes seemed slightly red…

This wave of depression hang over the situation based camp for 3 days now…

'And now you finally regained consciousness…it'd be an understatement to say that we're glad for this turn of events.' For the entire explanation Luna's tone was slightly down…but it gained a happy edge when it ended. I wasn't aware of how much of impact my injury would have towards their morale, but I defiantly missed that entirely.

"She's awake!?" And that was the distant call of the only brewer in the group who seconds after his exclamation ran towards the carriage I was in, and…whoa.

Both of his arms and parts under his shirt had been bandaged. He had a sling for his left arm, just like Luna explained and entire forehead was covered as well…but it seemed like he didn't care as he just climbed into the cargo hold of the carriage and-'UGH?!' 'Huh!?'

Before I could even comprehend with what just happened to him I got drawn into a death hug by him. He sure had strength as my lungs started to fail on me and my face turned blue. 'Stop suffocating me Trecht!'

'Uhm…Mister Trecht…you might want to release my holder, or I won't have one remaining…' Just like that Trecht let go of me (which caused me to fall onto the wood ground on my bum) and had pretty much the same reaction like Sietta, which consisted of looking around while staring like a goldfish.

"Uhm…is anyone there?" But unlike Sietta he only took a couple of seconds until he eyed Luna's unreleased form and smirked slightly while grabbing her from my hand (of course he asked before doing so). "So…you're the one who helped the kid out of there, eh?"

'That would be correct…although I couldn't have done so if she weren't to possess any magical energy that'd suffice for my spells.' I could feel her form giving me a wink while slightly smiling. Well, I'm grateful that she notices my effort at least.

Trecht just smiled at the blade before giving me my 'Holy Moonlight Sword' back. Even though he wasn't speaking I felt as if he just thanked her for something…maybe.

"Well, since you're up now, why not grab a bite? The ex-cooks went hunting an hour ago and are currently grilling up their catch. You up for that, kid?" My stomach was instantly protesting at that and caused me to blush (which I tried to hide while turning away) and made Trecht chuckle. He then heaved me upwards by grabbing my uninjured arm with his single usable hand and then waved towards to cargo's opening. I silently followed him, Luna in hand and a feast ahead.

Fujimaru wasn't sure what to do right now. After they got both knocked out by that girl's magic they woke up in one of the carriages, presumably the center one. Their weapons were nowhere to be seen and both his and her sisters hands had been cuffed so that they couldn't escape. Not…like they felt like it.

Both of them sat pretty still for the duration of their 3 days, just barely moving or saying anything. After their first day they still sat there, which caused the sibling's keeper to raise an eyebrow and walk away. 10 Minutes afterwards he returned with the redhead's partner who eyed them for a second before turning to their keeper.

"I don't know why, but they haven't really done anything! They just…sit there and look depressed like the rest of us…" He trailed off as they both looked at himself and then to Matsuri…

Ah Matsuri…out of the two of them, the fight took the most from her. Both of their physical conditions could be considered fine, but mentally she was defiantly shaken. The first night she cried herself to sleep while mumbling to herself…their job left a lot of mental scars and both dealt differently with it. He would silently pray to himself for their victims' safety at wherever they could be at the time while Matsuri would ask openly for forgiveness (often to herself when being alone, but sometimes she'd have nightmares about their numerous encounters). 'She must have been thinking about her.' That night he comforted her as much as he could, but she'd still cry for a few hours until calming down.

The silent swordsman from Loeyur stared at them for what seemed to be ages before nodding towards their guard. He then walked up to the two of them with his arms behind his back. He couldn't read his expression, so he instantly steeled his expression while Matsuri closed her eyes and looked down to the ground.

When he stood before them the male mage tensed slightly (which he tried to hide) when Yorc moved his right hand to his side, revealing…the keys for their cuffs? Instead of intimidating them, he unlocked their cuffs and took them before taking a step back, letting his…prisoners…stand up and rub their wrists.

"Uh…not to be distrustful…but why did you do that?" His sibling still stared at the ground with her now open eyes. From the spot beside her he could easily spot the slightly red eyes and the dried tears that stained them. They both you weren't sure how to react like that, but waited for a while before the man before them spoke up:

"…I don't think you wanted to fight us…You aren't like…them." With that they stared wide-eyed at their enemy who…unforeseen decided to free them. A person, which the siblings got ordered to kill if necessary just gave them their freedom. Matsuri was probably not sure how to react, but he had his resolve confirmed. He just silently sat down again while closing his eyes and crossing his arms.

The other two people beside them rose an eyebrow until he decided to explain his last actions (while still having his eyes closed)…

"You have beaten us before we could fulfill our task…so we won't turn our hands against you again. We got ordered to only kill the mage, but had been given permission to execute anyone who'd aid her. Yet…we got beaten, which caused us to fail said task, so our purpose is gone with this as well." He didn't see it, but her sister silently agreed and copied her brother's actions. Yorc wasn't sure what to make of these two, but accepted it without any objections.

During the next days they said in the same spots, barely ever moving or talking with others besides themselves. They'd only move for their needs such as food, water and etc. It took a while for the village-watchers to adjust to this (especially Sietta who started to freak out when they got spotted first, but after realizing that they wouldn't mean any harm they just let them be.

Currently they silently talked to each other about the latest events again, and couldn't decide on what to do now.

"Even if we come back now, Dao's going to have our heads anyway…" There was a glint of fear in her eyes, but otherwise the expression on her face stayed neutral. After the 3 days she was just exhausted…both of them were to be exact. With no real place to really go they decided to just stay here and…"hope" for the best.

"True. But what about Duvac? When we don't return, he'll label him as a traitor and possibly…" Fujimaru trailed off, since he couldn't bear the thought of one of his only friends in this gloomy life to disappear. He knew that 'Full Blood's' advisor was strong in his own right, but…against their leader all seemed kind of hopeless.

"…Yeah…I am honestly not sure what to do…" They both looked down and tried to think of how to get out of this situation. Their backs against a wall and their only friend with one step before the gallows…

"Maybe...getting something to eat first would be a start?"

I wasn't really sure how to approach these two. I mean, while we were eating outside at a camp fire Yorc told me of the 'former' enemy mages. According to him, they don't hold anymore malice and simply just sit where they got dumped at almost half a week ago. So…seeing as I was as socially skilled as a rock I simply asked for two plates of steaming hot meat with mashed potatoes and walked to the middle carriage.

While stepping in, I saw that Yorc wasn't taking this lightly. Both of the siblings looked down with that same stare on both of their faces. I really didn't want to interrupt them, but I wouldn't let them starve as well. With that, I lightly coughed while speaking (or…rather whispering) up.

"Maybe...getting something to eat first would be a start? They both looked at me and stared for a while…and stared…and kept staring. I was a social introvert, so seeing as my nervousness was getting the better of me, I placed both placed the plates with wooden cutlery before them.

"Uhm…I heard that you were both just…sitting here. So I thought that you…might want something to eat?" And lust like that their stares got traded for a chuckle from Matsuri while Fujimaru was…thinking over something.

"Oh, Jess. He…to think that you'd be so kind to us, even after our…well, failed assassination attempt." She tried to lightly laugh at that, but her face was covered in pretty much the same nervousness while one of her hands was rubbing the back of her head.

"But why are you like this?" My gaze followed towards the azure-blue gaze of the mage's eyes who crossed his arms while looking towards their food. "Why are you still kind to us, even after we tried to simply kill you?"

Why was I actually like this? Sure, maybe I could say that I was being nice to them and could have left it at that. But…during our fight, there had been a few…well, signs to so say. It didn't took a genius to figure out that they seemed troubled with their given "task". And even if they did try to kill, they weren't really evil in my eyes.

"…I was down for over the course of 3 days and your binds got removed on the first one. You could have escaped, you could have injured Loeyur's forces, and you could have even finished your task during the time. But no, both of you kept your promise and let us be. So I have no real reason to hold any prejudice against you. You are part of 'Full Blood', and nobody can deny that. But from everything that I've been told of so far, you two are least of the evils that were described." I let those words sink in after the vacuum of silence washed over and looked at them both.

Their faces seemed conflicted for a minute, before they turned. Fujimaru seemed to accept this fact with some sort of understanding in his facial expression, while Matsuri-

"OH THANK YOU, THANK YOU AND THANK YOU JESS~! I'M GLAD THAT YOU AREN'T MAD AT US!" …has just randomly decided to HUG ME TO DEATH! 'WHY IS EVERYONE DOING THIS TODAY!?' I was glad that Luna stayed in Yorc's hands or otherwise she'd stamp her off as…more that weird. I desperately tried to push her off of me, but after some seconds she got the message and let me go while smiling brightly. 'Seems like she is back to happy-sappy after all…'

"I can't deny that your mindset is…different to say the least." Her brother stood up again and now sported a small smile. His eyes looked into mine, but the seriousness in them was completely gone. "But…I also can't deny that we're grateful for your openness. So, why don't we start off again at better terms?" He then put his right hand in front of me while having Matsuri happily smirked. "My full name is Fujimaru Hogosha, a mage for the Dark Guild 'Full Blood' and use Lightning Magic in combination of my weapon 'Raijin'." I took his offered handshake and politely stared at him directly, before my hand was taken away by the bubbly mage besides him.

"And mine's Matsuri Hogosha! If it isn't obvious, we're siblings, even twins! I have the same "occupation" as my brother here, and we two are part of the special team 'Kirin'~! I focus on Wind Magic and I pretty much go nowhere without my rapier 'Shinatobe'!" She enclosed my hand with her own ones and shook it rapidly, causing my hand to ache when she let go. Then she grinned wildly before putting her hand behind her back and grabbing 'Shinatobe' which wa- 'WHERE DID SHE GET THAT!?' I desperately looked at her twin brother for answers, who just gave a word as reply:

"Requip." Then in a small flash the same menacing sword appeared in his hands appeared, or 'Raijin' as he dubbed it. I unconsciously took a step and, and as he eyed me (or rather my slowly panicking face) he quickly dispelled of it with the same flash of light. 'W-Well…that explains a few things.'

"Uhm…I'm sorry for that. It wasn't in my intention to scare you." He quickly apologized and looked slightly panicked, but I waved him off before he could blame himself even further. Matsuri actually laughed at the display while dispelling of her own weapon.

"Ha Ha! I didn't think that his sword would make you so afraid Jess~!" 'Yea, you try to not get a heart-attack when spotting such a weapon for the first time in your life! …And Luna doesn't count, she's at least nice…' With a…rather pathetic display of my age (which consisted of pouting while looking away and crossing my arms with a huff) I tried to avoid what just happened.

"Aww! You're so adorable like that! Aren't you just a cutie~?" Matsuri didn't took my reaction the way I intended to and started to pinch on my cheeks, which made me fluster and instantly back off from her. 'Ok, she's pretty much a semi-Hana. Just…more productive?'

In a white void, somewhere in the realms of heaven was a lone strawberry-blond guardian angel who was on her way to some friends of her. She was currently thinking on a way on how to great them in a unique manner (which was quite difficult, considering she'd always have something new in her sleeve) before she suddenly sneezed and looked around afterwards.

"Huh? Uh…seems like she's already getting lonely without me." She then put her hands behind her head while marching ahead in the white realm.

"Maybe I'll visit her once she gets done with her own problems. Yeah, I probably should~!"

'Well, but she defiantly seems more…childish? Whatever, there's another time to think of this. But…maybe I could ask them now.' I tensed before actually speaking up, yet Matsuri (who was still beside me) saw my sudden shift in emotions and actually put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I looked at her and saw a solid, yet soft smile on her face. I knew that this was important, and my mind wasn't sure if it was right to address this question, but I had to (after everything that happened). So, with a deep breather my mouth responded and finally opened:

"You…didn't want to really do this...didn't you?" My lower bit was starting to slightly hurt from the pressure of my teeth biting on them. My hands got slightly sweaty and I really, really wanted to walk out and apologize for being so blunt to them. But Fujimaru stopped me she same way as I did before, by putting a hand up and signalizing that it was alright.

"*Sigh* I guess we owe you at least this much. To be honest…no, neither you nor any other person that got assigned as our target was in our intention to…kill. We don't want to do this, really. But…because of our leader we don't have a choice." There was a deep scowl on him and you could literally feel the hate in his own voice when speaking about that guy.

Matsuri instantly was trying to calm her brother down, and it seemed to work for a moment before he collected himself and put his neutral expression back on his face.

"Let us tell you…if we had a choice, we wouldn't have complied said task." He was looking down at the ground again with both of his hands hanging still at his sides. There was genuine grief in his face now…and it seemed to affect Matsuri as well, since her face looked the same there.

…God…I'm sure that Loeyur's forces will not like this, but…

"Then…how about this?" They gave me questionable stares in reply, but didn't comment on what I was currently doing. Instead of Fujimaru, I extended my own hand towards them and gave a confident smile before asking the million-dollar question:

"Why don't we fight against them together?"

...

"..."

...

"WHAT!?" / "ARE YOU SERIOUS!?"

(To be continued…)

(Fire Me): Well, folks! This is getting interesting! Jessica actually wants to get the two of them onboard for their liberation! What do you think about this, 'G'?

'G': "Well, I'm not sure about her decision. But, we allowed her to choose for herself, so I won't question it."

Me as well, but let's hope that this turns out well in the next Chapter soon! And as always, a good day / night and,

The Sir's out!