Dmitri sprinted away from the tavern while rains of daggers flew from behind him. When he thought he was far enough, he turned. The woman kept going at him. She slashed heavily, and Dmitri dodged as quickly as he could. He looked at the tavern from afar and shook his head.

Still too close.

Dmitri ran into the market center of the capital. The people were startled as he swept by with a menacing woman tailing him. After a few chickens flew by and away from their cages, he slid and let himself stop on the edge on top of a cliff outside the city. She stopped, then threw her daggers into the air. They aimed their tips towards Dmitri, ready to barrage and impale him at any moment.

Dmitri looked at her with curiosity, "mind telling me why you are after me? Is it really just about me being the white cambion and all?"

"Because of your existence, the black cambion is going to doom Kiva," she said.

The black cambion?

Before Dmitri could usher another word, the daggers flew. He noticed these daggers didn't look the same. He didn't know how many there were, but each was unique from appearance and color from each other. Could they be enchanted?

He furrows his brows and flicked his golden ring in the air. The ring morphed hot and extended itself into a rod. Dmitri grabbed and twirled the daggers away. A staff? The woman thought it was, however, she saw a large piece of white fabric that attached and grew on the tip of it. It looked more like an elegantly decorated flag.

Skytear.

"That really doesn't answer my question," Dmitri clarified.

She felt irritated. The fire inside her burned even brighter. She didn't need to answer any of his questions, all that mattered to her was that he was a cambion, and he didn't belong in this world!

She threw a dagger again. In a flinch, Dmitri turned Skytear into a majestic spear, hitting away the blade from him.

A few hops back, Dmitri turned his spear into a sword. The woman started to notice his reliance on Skytear. He hadn't been casting any spells like a cambion would usually do when they see an exorcist or anyone of magic. What was he planning exactly?

Their blades met again, closer. Dmitri examined the angry woman's face. Her breath was hot and fogging by the cold winter air. Her face was so red, and her expression was as if she was to explode at any minute.

She's getting tired.

It would take a lot of force to drain Dmitri of his energy. Since she's human, it was to be expected. She used too much of her energy to keep attacking him. If she kept going, she will cost her soul for magic. Dmitri knew this too well, he shouldn't have accepted this invite from the beginning. He would have loved to go further with this blade dance, but seeing her condition, she would have fainted at any time.

He reverted back the dagger to a ring and ran into the living slums of the city. This crazy woman continued to chase, and Dmitri still left hanging on her schemes.

"Seriously! I want to know why you hate me so much! Reason with me already!" Dmitri ducked under a couple of clothes on the lines above as he sprinted across the city.

The woman held up three fingers in the air waving a symbol. Then she chanted to herself...

"Pieto!"

The paintings on the walls peeled off and melted to each other as one, then divided into small, swift paper-like birds to attack Dmitri. Dmitri turned his head over his shoulder, progressively walking backward as he held up three fingers, waving in a different pattern.

"Jera!"

A wave of fire disintegrates the magical birds.

The end of the city. Dmitri shuffled and looked over to see steepness down to a near river flowing. When he turned around, the woman suddenly left and clamped his thick shoulders with her nails. Dmitri's shoes didn't hold the snow to well and both of them slipped and rolled down in the snow-covered grass. When finally stopped, and she eagerly touched her dagger towards Dmitri's Adam's apple. She locked her legs on his sides crushingly tight. Her free hand pinned his shoulder. Dmitri laid there, motionless. Their eyes locked on each other. The woman's fringes rested on Dmitri's cheeks. He could feel her heavy breaths on his lips.

Sheesh, she's awfully close. He thought. Doesn't she feel shame for suddenly bucking her thighs on a man's lower torso?

"Because of you, the black cambion exists," she finally answered.

Dmitri never wanted to hear that name ever again. For her to suddenly blame for the villain's existence to him was just appalling. He turned his head away with a disgusted expression.

"Leave me alone," his voice trembled while trying to keep composure.

The woman sighed and shook her head. She carefully stood up and put away her daggers, crossing her arms as she watched him stand and brush off the snow on his pants.

"I don't know what you've been up to lately, but you're still responsible for removing emperor Sviato of his position."

"Look, lady, I don't know why you still hate me, but I've been trying to live away from the chaos now. I'm trying to live a normal life in Kirski, I haven't been using any of my abilities in this city. Now, you bring this up?"

"You are still a cambion, a dead, impure being whose life only depends on pure magic. You don't have a soul. You can never live normally like a human."

Dmitri hung his head, "that's why I want to make the most of it... and try. Pretending to live as one is enough to satisfy me."

The woman couldn't help but feel so impatient by then. Why was he being so emotional with her? What's the gain of that? She presses her fists tightly and groaned.

"Then, I need to take you to the witches' lair. Cambions should not walk among spirits and humans."

There was no changing what the exorcist thought. Dmitri sat down on a nearby rock and rest his hands on his knees, shaking his head with a sorrowful smile.

"I guess I can't really argue with you, can I? Being a cambion, that's all that matters. I wonder how many times I've already been chased down for the crimes I've never committed, probably too many to count. You misunderstood why I took out Sviato from the throne. I had no intentions of destroying Kiva as a country."

If he didn't want to be taken in so much, why hadn't he run away? The woman thought that he could easily outrun her anytime. The fact that he slid and let her capture him wasn't an accident. This man hardly broke his stance when they dueled rigorously. For some odd reason, she couldn't help but feel some pity. It didn't sound like he was lying at all, his words were all clean.

"How about this then," she sighed heavily, she never wanted to resort to doing this way, "you help me find the black cambion and let you live your life the way you want it, or, I will send you into the witches' lair and be frozen for eternity. If you run away from this, I will keep hunting you down."

"Look, I don't want to get involved with that guy—"

"Freedom, or custody?"

Dmitri groaned, his voice lowered in displease, "the black cambion."

"Good, now I know that you can his sense presence anywhere. I heard stories that you and that man are linked somehow, you will show me where he is."

Dmitri stared at the ground, hesitating.

"You will, right?"

"I can, but I want to warn you that he knows where I am as well. However, I know what he's been up to for years."

"That is?" She raised a brow.

"Eight years ago, I wrote a spell script that can give or take souls away from a body. I used this scroll to take revoke Sviato's power. It's called the Judgement Scroll. When I used to be with the black cambion, he told me he wanted to use it for himself to be able to control people's lives. For some odd reason, I couldn't burn the scroll, even when I tried. I had to destroy it, rip it into pieces, fragment by fragment. I scattered it everywhere in the world as I could."

"What does he plan to do with those?"

"What do you think?" Dmitri lifted himself up and walked away, "if you want to catch him, we must get going, then. Let's head back to the city."

The exorcist became confused and pointed at the opposite direction, "the city is that way."

"Oh," Dmitri's ears turned red in embarrassment.

The exorcist and Dmitri walked together towards an empty shack, almost at the edge of the housing area of the city. They carefully walked in, the roof was fragile. Everything else in there was dark and tight. The moistness of the air made is appalling to breathe, but it was manageable. The woman squinted, it was too quiet. All she could hear were three rhythmic breaths in the room. Wait... three?

She could see the large glowing eyes in front of her. Her back stiffened. Dmitri could smell the fear in her instantly, and he almost wanted to laugh. Her eyes were large, her brows almost twisted themselves. In front of them was a large winged black beast, sleeping peacefully. While the woman backed away cautiously, but Dmitri approached it and petted its the fur lovingly like it was just a normal house pet.

"Psst, hey, Smokey. We're going out," Dmitri whispered.

The majestic creature rose its neck and yawned softly.

"Is that thing...?" The woman trembled.

The tips of its wings glowed gold at every stroke of Dmitri's gentle touch. The woman never thought of seeing a creature like that exist on Earth. To be able to tame such an high-ranked spirit...

Dmitri turned to the woman with a serious expression. The eyes of the fiery dog feasted on her.

"That's why you shouldn't assume things about me, Greta."