The Multiversal Tournament was the start of many things. It was the very first event of its kind; a contest where the participants were gathered from across the multiverse. It had made history by crowning the first ever multiversal champion, even if that title was more a source of pride than anything. And thanks to said champion's wish, it was the start of many extraordinary relationships among its 16 contestants. But life must go on, even for them. Just with a few new interdimensional friends by their side. That's where this story begins: On top of a hill lit by the sunset in Universe 8, with two people whose relationship has gone beyond mere friendship.

"Listen, all I'm saying is we might've been doing things a bit too fast."

The red-haired Dwarf just barely managed to let that sentence out. Her day had been great overall so far, but compared to all the previous times something was clearly missing. And while she hated to admit it, she was pretty certain she knew exactly why. Although given how volatile her girlfriend could be, Molly did not look forward to her answer.

"Bullshit! We've been on 6 dates these last two months and you're saying we've been doing something wrong the whole time?! Babe, I love you, but what the fuck are you talking about?" the enormous Half-Orc shouted in response.

To Alva, Molly's statement had come practically out of nowhere. They had spent the whole day drinking, sightseeing and finding as many brawls as possible across Molly's home of Port Valeena up until their current moment under the sunset on the hill, and neither of them had shown any discomfort at all during any of it. So why this sudden proclamation? Was it the incident that got them banned from the Diamond Pickaxe? No, that couldn't have been it; Molly had been laughing even as the pub's owner had literally kicked her out.

"No no, not at all! When I say I've enjoyed every moment we've had together, I mean it! I love you too, but… that's what worries me", Molly tried to reassure Alva.

Now the huge warrior was left not just confused, but also extremely worried as well. The last thing in the whole world she wanted to hear was her beloved Molly breaking up with her, so even if she knew that the Dwarf was speaking honestly she was still left shaking in anxiety.

The duo had spent just about every other day together since the tournament had ended two months ago. Whether they'd been on full dinner dates, Alva's underground title defence matches or causing mayhem at some bar somewhere they'd been sticking close to another. Usually followed by… staying busy over the night as well - Molly was still recovering from the almost dangerous bruising her ribs had gotten after last time. But it was exactly this borderline undisturbed closeness that really worried Molly. Maybe it had been too much of a good thing.

"Let me explain. Yes, we've been fucking things up and taking names together almost without stop, and it's been amazing. And I don't even want to think about breaking up. But don't you think that we've been rushing it? We met just two months ago and have already exclaimed our true love and fantasised about moving in together - hell, we had our first peggin' like two days after we met! We've been moving things along faster than you can say 'Fireball', and… I don't want us to wear it out. Maybe we'll need to just have some time for ourselves, to figure out what this relationship really means" Molly explained as well as she could without staggering.

Alva believed herself to know her girlfriend well enough to have an answer to anything she might say. This time appeared to be an exception. Now that she actually stopped to think about it… she couldn't help but consider that Molly might have a point. Their relationship had blossomed incredibly fast after all - maybe too fast. It wasn't out of the question that they'd simply been attracted to each other, not a case of true undying love. Of course, Alva was far from willing to admit that. However, she at least knew her girlfriend well enough to realise that she was acting somewhat strange. The reckless and fiery Molly wasn't one to act this mellow, let alone withhold something.

"Mol', there's clearly something else you're not telling me. Did something happen that made you think this?" the Half-Orc gently asked as she scuttled closer to Molly.

The sorcerer looked away for a moment, before letting out a deep sigh as she turned her gaze back to Alva's dark eyes. Rushed relationship or not, Alva was someone she was certain she could trust with practically anything. And given how there was nobody else around to listen, she deduced that she might as well just spill the beans. Besides, knowing Alva she wouldn't let this go until she was certain Molly was okay.

"I guess you could say that. I didn't want to drag you into my issues, but since you already figured out I even have 'em I'm pretty sure I won't be able to keep anything from you. Just… prepare yourself. It might change our whole relationship, and maybe not for the better" the sorcerer sighed.

That was when Alva saw the blowgun sticking out of the rustling bushes.

Before Molly could begin her explanation, Alva had already thrown herself in front of her without warning; the Dwarf didn't have time to do anything except fall backwards in surprise before she saw the thick metal dart strike her girlfriend's neck. Alva might've been almost supernaturally tough, but a dart that size was more than enough to pierce even her thick skin. And judging by her increasingly sluggish movements and steadily less coherent sentences, the sedative inside the projectile had been extremely potent. The fact that she didn't fall completely unconscious was a borderline miracle. Instead she simply crashed down on the ground with a loud thud, all the while the shocked Molly rushed over to her to remove the dart and make sure she wasn't hurt. And when it became clear she was simply sent into a delirium, Molly's burning stare turned towards the bushes a few metres away. Whoever had fired that would have hell to pay.

"Get out here and face me for once, you spineless motherfuckers! Stalking me is one thing, but when you target my girlfriend there's no grove in the planar system that'll save your sorry asses!" the Dwarf hatefully snarled.

Given that their plan had been compromised, the to Molly all too familiar sight of two dark cloaked figures made their way out of the bushes. And while the Dwarf couldn't place their faces - it was one pale human woman and one dark-skinned Halfling man, but that was all she could make out - the symbol on their black leather armour was all too familiar. Just as she thought; it seemed her past had come a-knockin' again.

"Your girlfriend just made us waste valuable toxins, you know that? Well, I guess we'll just have to take both of you with us. If I were you I'd stand down - Glasya isn't as patient as we are" the female figure sighed impatiently.

Her companion remained silent, although he did start to channel a dark purple glow around his hands in preparation for the inevitable. But unsurprisingly, Molly did not stand down. Instead she steadfastly moved over towards the barely present Alva while igniting her own hands.

"If you knuckleheads as much as touch her, then I promise ya there won't be enough of you left to bury!" the sorcerer growled through her sharp teeth.

But unbeknownst to her, Molly would soon regret her choice of words.

"Oh, don't you worry your traitorous little head about that. We're gonna do quite the opposite" the halfling smirked.

Suddenly, Alva's sluggish form was surrounded in the same glow as the male acolyte's now much brighter hand. Her body began to flicker, almost as if she was about to turn invisible. But as Molly noted as she turned around and grabbed Alva's hand in panic, that was not even close to the case. The Half-Orc was indeed flickering - flickering in and out of this plane of existence. And in her unresponsive state, she couldn't do a thing to fight it. So in front of her beloved Molly's wide eyes… she disappeared completely. Banished to another realm entirely.

"Phew, now that issue is dealt with. Now then Molly, that only leaves you. I don't suppose you can just turn yourself in and save us any more trouble?" the human acolyte asked.

For a brief moment, Molly was left in shock. She was well aware of how the Banishment spell worked; the target is teleported to either its home plane or a harmless pocket dimension, where they'll remain until the spell ends after a minute. So all in all, no harm would've been done to Alva. But then again, she wasn't native to this universe - what if she'd been sent home to her own dimension? Or maybe, that factor would send her somewhere dangerous? The thought of that, coupled with some annoyances from her past just taking away her girlfriend from her, was enough for Molly to lose whatever hold she had left on her anger. It was about time for these acolytes to meet the same gruesome fate as the ones that'd come before them.

"You little fucks…! That's it, I'm gonna blow you to pieces and then MELT YOUR CORPSES!" the Dwarf roared as she unleashed a searing blast of flame.

However, the massive and highly telegraphed fiery blast went right past its prepared target. All Molly's outburst had resulted in was a large boulder behind the acolytes crumbling into molten pieces, with the cloaked Halfling only getting a few singed hairs. But it was enough for the duo to drop their casual demeanour and turn serious; Molly had evaded capture for this long for good reason, and her immense firepower was only part of it.

Without losing sight of Molly, the human acolyte began to whisper an unintelligible incantation as she put a hand on her companion's shoulder. And just like the Half-Orc he had just warped away, the Halfling disappeared from sight completely. But the grass beneath his feet still bent and the stench of sulphur emanating from him could still be felt - the acolyte was very much still there. Just invisible.

"Fine then, you first!" the enraged Molly snarled towards the female acolyte.

Hit hard enough that you only have to hit once - those were words that Molly lived by. Without leaving her position, the Dwarf amassed another large flaming sphere in between her hands before firing it towards her one visible target. Yet another miss; the cloaked human vanished in a puff of silvery mist before reappearing a few metres closer to Molly. So the Dwarf switched tactics. Instead of one big attack, she was gonna try several smaller ones. Without letting up, she spread her fingers before unleashing a volley of tiny smouldering bolts from each one. This one finally landed; her foe had to stop in her tracks to shield her weak spots from the barrage. Which was when her own fingers began to crackle with purple lightning.

"Hoooh boy, should've seen that coming…" Molly mumbled through gritted teeth.

Without wasting a second, the sorcerer covered her face with her forearms. There was no use in trying to dodge this - she might've been somewhat fast, but not even close to fast enough to avoid a spell as fast as lightning. So when the Eldritch Blast struck her and coursed through both body and soul, she simply planted her feet and tried her best not to scream. And when it ended, the quivering Dwarf's enraged expression slowly dropped to be replaced by unease. That'd been one hell of an Eldritch Blast, which meant that these two were really strong in the devilish arts. And therefore of quite the high rank within the ord-

"AAARGH!"

Molly's train of thought was interrupted by an intense pain striking her very mind. And while the source of this pain had finally turned visible again, it didn't help much as the Dwarf fell on her knees while clutching her head. Sure enough, she saw the Halfling reappear right in front of her. But while every inch of her body itched to lunge out and tear the acolyte a new one, her mind wouldn't let her move. It was if she rapidly lost any ill will towards her foe, almost like… oh no. The first strike towards her mind had merely been meant to soften her up; with her thoughts compromised there was no way she'd be able to resist a charm without immense effort.

"Listen, our lady the Dark Prodigy wants you brought in alive. So all you have to do is to surrender, and no more harm will come to you nor that hulking bodyguard of yours. Be a smart woman and cease fire, will you?" the short acolyte laid out.

Molly didn't answer. She simply slumped her arms towards the ground as all the tension appeared to leave her body. And as the human acolyte walked up towards her ally while saying something Molly couldn't hear, the Dwarf found herself doing the same. Now she was standing completely still in front of her former enemy, arms raised in front of her to allow herself to be restrained. But as the Halfling flashed a crooked smile while reaching out to grab her arm, Molly had something to say.

"Yeah… how about I'll just BASH YOUR FACE IN INSTEAD?!"

The acolyte only had time to drop his smile as the sorcerer furiously lunged at him. And seconds later, he found himself pinned to the ground by Molly's powerful arms as her snarling face stared murderously at him. Turns out that no matter how powerful the spell, there was no way Molly would allow herself to surrender to the people she hated more than anything. Other than to get close enough to strike them of course. And strike him she did; with one hand on the acolyte's throat, the Dwarf repeatedly pummeled his face with all of her considerable strength. The only time she let up was to switch to her right hand… and when said hand was suddenly wrapped in cold, dark shadowy tendrils.

The human acolyte had taken her sweet time to save her comrade - perhaps she'd let Molly beat him down for a while to teach him not to drop his guard - but save him she did. And now Molly couldn't move at all. The tendrils not only held her in place, but they sapped her strength enough to prevent her from even thinking about breaking free. However, that wasn't the most alarming part. Molly's eyes shot wide open in a rare case of intense fear as she saw what spell her opponent was preparing. In one hand: the shadowy tendrils, sprouting from her fingers like strings. In the other: a gaseous sphere of deep green magic, its very essence rotten to the core. The Blight spell. One hit from that would disfigure and shrivel her up at best or kill her outright at worst - either way, if Molly was hit by that she'd be doomed.

"That's it, no more risks with you. We were told to bring you in alive, but nobody ever said you had to be in one piece. Keep still, this will only hurt for a lo-"

[Wham!]

The cloaked lady was interrupted mid-sentence by a huge impact striking her side hard enough to send her flying. Since that also meant that her concentration on the tendrils was broken, Molly staggered to the ground on all four. The Dwarf's vision was still blurred from the cold magical constructs sapping her strength, so she hadn't noticed where the blow had come from. But she had a guess. As Molly's strength returned, so did her vision. A deeply relieved smile crept up in her face as she saw who had just saved her from indescribable suffering.

"H-hey there, honey. How much… how much did I… I miss?"

Having been pounced on and subjected to having his face beaten in by an angry sorcerer had been more than enough for the dark Halfling to lose focus on the Banishment, and thus Alva had warped back from the pocket dimension she'd been stored in. And to Molly's delight, she was no worse for wear barring the heavy sedative still slowing her down. Although said sedative's effects were quite prominent; the gigantic Half-Orc clearly had to put in some effort to keep her balance, not to mention how the blow dealt to the spellcasting human had been weakened to the point of not even breaking any bones. But she was back and ready to fight, and that was all both she and Molly cared about.

"Not much, just some guys trying to kidnap me and bring me back with them. I'll tell you more after we obliterate their asses, 'kay?" Molly explained as Alva helped her up from the ground.

Alva had many questions, but for now she was just happy to see Molly again after that lonely void she'd just been sent to. Especially since she got to fight by her side. But just as the duo regrouped, so did their now much less confident opponents. They'd been prepared to handle Molly, but they hadn't even heard about this mysterious unnaturally huge Half-Orc until they'd gotten here. Worse, she'd proven tough enough to stay conscious after taking in enough sedatives to knock out an ordinary person for more than a day - they'd only had enough for Molly, not for someone more than three times her size. And with her being back on the battlefield after the Banishment failed, that only left one option. That option being to blast her to pieces.

With a panicked look on his bloodied face, the Halfling mumbled something while moving his hands side to side. And at that moment, Alva's already disoriented mind was struck by an intense pain. It was like a lance had pierced right through her skull; the warrior clasped her head intensely while letting out a pained scream. With their target wide open, the shorter acolyte hastily shouted something in Infernal to his rattled companion. Followed by said companion's eyes turning pitch black as her hands became enveloped by surges of purple lightning. And before either Molly or Alva could do anything to stop it, the largest Eldritch Blast either of them had ever seen was fired straight into the latter.

[BBZZZCHKT!]

The Half-Orc known as Alva Morrison was used to feeling pain. She felt it every time she fought in the underground arena of her home, where she faced off against savage warriors and powerful spellcasters every day. She felt it whenever she trained, constantly pushing herself harder and harder to the point she almost broke herself down. She had felt it during her one match in the Multiversal Tournament, where the much smaller Drow known as Pulse had managed to temporarily cut her in half. In other words, it was almost part of her everyday life. It had helped shape her into the almost supernatural powerhouse that she was. This Eldritch Blast, almost as large as an actual lightning bolt and powerful enough to fell any regular commoner in no time at all? It was strong enough to singe her skin and make her roar in pain, but stop her? Not even close. Both the disbelieving acolytes and Molly looked on in awe as Alva slowly but surely powered through the attack.

A lot of emotions went through Alva's head as she trudged through the blast, but worry wasn't among them. It was mostly a mix of rage, determination and annoyance; if it weren't for these damn sedatives and skull-splitting headache holding her back, she was certain she could've pushed through all on her own. She wasn't gonna let herself be toppled by something as petty as an eldritch lightning bolt, but by the time she got to its caster she would've been too battered to actually counterattack. At least all eyes were on her now; the female acolyte poured what was probably literally her soul into the blast, while the male one scrambled through another incantation. In other words, they had committed a grave mistake. They had forgotten about Molly.

[THWOOOMM!]

At that moment the bleeding Halfling was engulfed in a blazing wildfire. In his panic while trying to subdue Alva, he hadn't noticed Molly approaching him from behind until she had launched an explosive blast of flame right in the back. And now all pretences of calm were lost. The small acolyte screamed in agonising pain as he bounced around the area, desperately trying to get a grip on… anything, really. But all he managed to do was to disturb his teammate; the human reflexively ceased her Eldritch Blast to weave out of the way of her companion's erratic movements. A mistake she didn't realise until Alva's fists were only seconds away from her.

"GRRARGH!"

With a furious snarl, the Half-Orc slammed both of her enormous fists into her foe's chest. And unlike last time, the adrenaline-fueled warrior didn't hold back even a little. Thus the acolyte was launched through the air almost faster than the eye could follow; Molly could almost see the air distort around the point of impact as the booming shockwave blew back her hair a little. But as the human skidded to a halt before slamming what was left of her back into a boulder, the dust finally began to settle. The fight was over, and the winners were clear as day. It was a wonder that both the acolytes were still alive; the human had had her spine smashed to pieces from the impact of the punch alone, not to mention the damage she had taken from hitting first the ground and then the huge boulder at breakneck speed. Likewise, the Halfling had been left with completely blackened skin and his melted clothes had practically fused with him - he looked more like a piece of charcoal than a person. Whatever life still clinged to them did so by a thread.

Molly let out a big exhale as she started to calm down. That'd been a lot tougher than she was used to; usually the goons coming after her went down like flies without any real effort on her part. The fact that these two not only put up this big of a fight, but went up against both her and Alva, meant that the cult took her retrieval more seriously than before. It was enough to make the oh so fearless Dwarf worry a little. But for now, she and her beloved had won. She could think more about it after she had finished this. The sorcerer grabbed the mangled Halfling by his charred throat, before dragging him over to his broken companion. Now that they were both next to each other, she put her hands right on top of their contorted faces. She had one last thing to stick to them.

"I'd like you to tell two things to Glasya before she obliterates your souls for your total failure. One: It doesn't matter how many followers she sends, I will blast apart every single one of them. Because I'll never EVER go back to you! And two: She can go fuck herself. Got all that? Good. Now piss off!" Molly calmly explained with a not so hidden hint of anger.

And with that, she let loose another intense blast of flame at point-blank range. The two acolytes barely had time to weakly scream as their bodies were almost completely incinerated - they couldn't have remained alive for more than a couple seconds. So when Molly ceased fire, all that was left of them was two blackened corpses that barely even resembled humanoids anymore. And without a hint of remorse, the Dwarf made them crumble to piles of coal and ash with a small punt. She had more pressing things on her mind than to consider pitying the people who tried to ruin her life again.

"How're you doing, Alva? Everything in one piece?" Molly asked her girlfriend in a surprisingly tender tone.

"What, don't tell me you were worried? Sure, I have one hell of a headache and a hefty burning scar on my leg, but otherwise I'll survive!" Alva laughed.

She wasn't lying; the giant scar, branching over her thigh like a lightning bolt, was definitely going to leave a mark. However, she stopped laughing as soon as she saw Molly's steadily more anguished look. Clearly she didn't take all this as lightly as Alva did.

"...babe, what's wrong? I'm okay, you're okay and those weaklings are completely obliterated. Did they say something that hurt you? C'mere, you can share anything you want with me" the Half-Orc wondered in an uncharacteristically careful tone.

She sat down right next to the quivering Molly, before pulling her in for a loving hug. Molly had to admit - for a woman with biceps larger than her own head and arms thicker than Molly's entire waist she sure could give some surprisingly tender hugs. Which only made what she had to say so much more difficult.

"Alva, those mooks are just gonna keep coming after me. They'll drag me down with them no matter how many of their minions I'll incinerate, and they don't care who gets caught in the middle. You felt it yourself - they're dangerous enough to hurt and possibly kill even you. And now that they know I'm with you, you'll end up a target too. That's why… that's why we can't be together. I don't want to risk losing you" the sorcerer stuttered through tears.

The Half-Orc just sat there in silence, her loving embrace still undiminished. But instead of letting go in disbelief or sorrow at Molly's decision, she merely tightened her grip. She clearly wasn't convinced.

"Look Mol', I don't care if Glasya herself came up to claim your soul. I'll stay and fight by your side no matter what happens. Besides, if you keep beating the shit out of their foot soldiers they'll have to give up eventually!" Alva calmly assured the sobbing sorcerer.

"Babe, you don't know what I did. Actually, I don't think I've told you just why the whole cult of Glasya wants my hide. Let me try to explain again, and you'll see just why you and everyone I know will always be in danger" Molly rebutted while shaking her head.

Alva didn't answer, but she did nod her head to affirm that she would listen. She grabbed Molly's sides to turn her around until they faced each other, followed by once again tenderly hugging her. With no moves to resist any of this, the Dwarf took a deep breath before starting her story for real this time.

"I guess everything started when I was born. Both my folks were members of the local branch of the cult of Glasya, which of course meant that I was too. So unlike other kids who played with dolls or wooden swords or whatever, I got to practise dark blasts of lightning and mind games. Worst part was that I was really good at it too; I cursed my first goat when I was like 5 or something! So everyone in the hideout figured I must have been real favoured by Glasya herself, since that was the only reason that I could've had such big reserves of magic. Anyway, this all went on until I was 'bout 20 or something. The whole coven was gonna do a big ritual to basically replenish our eldritch magic, so we gathered around in a circle and started chanting. Think every cliché you've ever heard about warlocks. But anyway, that's where it all went wrong" Molly explained without missing a beat.

"I figure someone in the circle had chanted the wrong sentence at the wrong time or somethin', but what happened was that all that amassed devilish magic went haywire. Which led to all of it being drawn to one place - the one with the closest connection to Glasya, a.k.a. me. And let me tell you… for that moment, I had power surpassed only by the archdevils themselves. But since I was just a scared little acolyte who'd never even been able to even begin comprehending such strength, I couldn't control it at all. So I did the only thing I could - I released all of it in one giant blast. It atomized pretty much the entire building… and everyone inside it. My folks included" she continued.

Upon reaching the last sentence, Molly paused for a moment to take another deep breath. It appeared that she had to recollect herself a bit. Something that Alva did what she could to help her with, in the form of hugging the Dwarf a bit tighter. Which seemed to help; Molly failed to hide a wide smile as she wiped her tears to continue.

"There were a bunch of murderers and psychos in that bunch, but I still called them my friends and family. They did not deserve that kind of fate. Anyway, when I came to afterwards I could only flee in horror and guilt. That whole incident convinced me - Glasya and everything related to her is horribly dangerous, and I started to look for ways to get rid of her hold on me. Which, after a lot of nightmares and Glasya trying to corrupt me with more power, I did. I ran into a group of travelling priests and paladins of some god I'm sad to say I can't remember the name of, and through some rituals and exorcisms… she was gone. I couldn't hear her whispering in my head anymore, let alone throw Eldritch Blasts from my fingers. That moment of freedom might be tied with our first kiss as the happiest moment of my life!" Molly explained, capping it off with a longing sigh.

As she began to go over the last part of her tale, she leaned backwards into Alva's chest. It was clear she enjoyed this closeness much more than she was letting on.

"It was shortly after that when I learned there'd been some big ol' dragon somewhere in my family tree - at least I think so, I can't figure out any better reason - because over the course of like a week I went through a lot of changes. I got these blue scale patches across my body, my teeth got sharper, I grew these retractable claws and I got maybe an inch or two taller. Hell, I even went from kinda skinny to this beefy basically overnight! I figure that these traits must've been suppressed my whole life since I had Glasya's magic coursing through me 24/7, and when she was gone everything came out at once. But I'm getting off topic here. It didn't take long after my exorcism session and subsequent makeover before I was targeted by my first gang of vengeful acolytes. Turns out Glasya didn't like her favourite puppet flipping her off, because more and more goons from branches of the cult all over the continent have tried to bring me in since. Pretty sure most of them want my head for killing an entire branch of loyal followers anyway. And like I learned today… they actually can be really dangerous. For me, and for anyone staying close to me. And… and there's nobody closer to me than you" she finished, now with her voice shaking and tears flowing.

Despite Alva making no moves to stop her, Molly barely managed to tear herself away from the giant's embrace. And while part of it was because Alva's enormous arms were just that cumbersome, most of it was clearly because of how little Molly actually wanted to do so. Still, she managed to get the last part of her argument out of her system.

"Look, I really meant that part about moving things along too quickly. We're still our own people and we have lives outside of each other, and sharing literally everything would just exhaust the whole relationship. But most of all I really didn't want you to get dragged into this huge mess. I'm so sorry, Alva. I love you more than anyone and anything, but that's exactly why we have to stop here. 'Cause you deserve much better than being dragged down with me to hell" the sobbing Dwarf finished.

Alva's face had remained still for a while now, and the following half minute after Molly's story was no exception. Although eventually she stood up, but not with any hints of sorrow, anger or even shock. She let out a deep, almost monotone sigh. The Half-Orc merely walked up to the devastated Molly, before putting a hand on her shoulder as if to say "don't go anywhere". And given how the latter stayed in place, it seemed that Alva had secured her attention. The giant warrior walked over towards one of the boulders in the area; this particular one was almost twice as large as Molly was, and no doubt many times heavier. Which only made the sorcerer's eyes widen all the more as Alva started to lift it off the ground.

Molly was well aware that her girlfriend had immense strength bordering on the supernatural. She'd seen Alva reduce opponents in the ring to mangled heaps or just recently crush the female acolyte's spine with a single blow, not to mention how Molly herself had been heavily bruised and at one point almost broken her ribs during their… nightly sessions. But seeing her lift a boulder that had to weigh fairly close to a ton still left the sorcerer's jaw on the floor. Especially since she had only let out a minor grunt - to Alva, this boulder seemed to be only a small challenge. But just lifting this rock wasn't enough. Molly briefly forgot all of the last few minutes as she saw the Half-Orc throw the enormous object almost three metres straight into a fully grown birch tree. The tree, of course, snapped in half as it was pushed aside by a projectile heavier than a wagon.

[BARROOOMMM!]

Alva barely even seemed winded after the showcase of strength, merely wiping off a couple sweatdrops from her brow. She looked over towards the flabbergasted Molly as she slumped her tired arms towards the ground for a moment, before walking over to her stuttering girlfriend. It appeared that her point had been proven.

"Mol', if I can do that then I can definitely handle a couple of warlocks. Sure, they caught me off-guard this time, but now I know they're out there. And besides, even if they have even stronger foot soldiers to send our way you know I can literally double my size. You don't have to worry 'bout me, babe. I can handle a little cult, and if that's what I'll need to do to date you then I'll do just that" Alva calmly assured Molly.

"I know you're one tough cookie, Alva. But these folks are real dangerous. I know you were all drugged up and all, but they still pushed you back and left you with one hell of a scar. What'll you do if they DO manage to catch you off guard again?" Molly retorted, still not entirely convinced.

Alva went down on her knees to look Molly in the eyes. She loved gazing into those fiery reddish-brown eyes so much, and right now she just wanted them to lose that uncharacteristically worried look. So when she gently put her arm behind Molly, she delivered her final argument.

"Well, if that ever happens I have the best girlfriend I could ever imagine right with me to back me up!"

Finally, Molly had run out of counterarguments. There was no way she'd ever be able to convince Alva that they had to split up… or herself, for that matter. She even mentally admonished herself for not trusting Alva to take care of herself - the Half-Orc was by far the strongest person she knew, and to Molly that strength was only about half as immense as her alluring looks. And even that paled in comparison to her spirit and personality. All of that, and Alva was still ready to face hell just to be with little old her. Molly once again burst into tears as she practically threw herself into her girlfriend's arms, this time joyful ones - how in the nine hells had she been so damn lucky?

"Holy shit, I feel like a moron. You're 100% right babe; I'm sorry for ever doubting you! Gods, I don't think I've ever been more in love with anyone or anything right now" Molly rambled as she buried her face in Alva's chest.

Overjoyed at finally getting the Dwarf to see reason, Alva failed to contain any more joyful tears as well. Right now, neither of them thought that their relationship had progressed too far or that it was anything less than true love.

"You were right, you know. I wouldn't want this to wear out and get stale, so maybe we should have some alone time once in a while. Just long enough to make each date feel exciting. But right now, just fucking kiss me alr-"

Alva got no further before Molly did just that. The two remained liplocked for several minutes, during which they thought of nothing else than just how much they loved the other. They didn't stop until the sun had set beyond the hillscape in the distance, at which point they hurriedly laid down on the ground to start a second passionate kiss. They would stop and let each other live their own life a bit eventually, but not tonight. Tonight the whole city beneath them would be forced to listen to the loud and… intimate noises coming from the now scorched hill.

The lives of the tournament's participants went on, all with new friends at their side. Friends who in at least one case went beyond just that to become soulmates, forever ready to beat the absolute snot out of anything blocking their way together.

Something that they would need to do sooner than they'd imagine.