"No time, take your lady inside the gate and order the Estate under lock down.”

The moment Kani’s mind registered those words, her expression grew more horrified.

Kani wheezed in a weak yet panicked tone, as if she had just kicked in the stomach. Kani staggered over to the women, trying to close the gap between them but Amaya didn't give any space for argument; "Wait, Amaya…!!”

"I’m sorry, but you have to leave," Amaya firmly urged as she took the bag off of Kani, "We have no time."

[ There…!! ]

Amaya whipped her head over to see the previous assailants come into view, now with various monsters with bright magenta eyes following their command.

They must have taken some time to summon them before preparing to attack the gate. The monsters didn't seem too troublesome, at most being at level 27 or 30, yet Amaya felt uneasy looking at them.

The sickening bright magenta aura eminating from them made her feel sick, the stabbing sensation in heart sensation returning, a warning of what's to come.

If Kani stayed out here, she would most likely end up caught in the crossfire.

Amaya turned her gaze to Oliver. "Go, get her out of here."

Oliver gritted his teeth before looking at Amaya's expression, and gave a curt nod.

“Understood.”

He then suddenly grabs Kani by her arm and guides her to the estate's gates.

"Oliver..!!!" Kani screamed as she squirmed hin his grasp, "You son of a…Let me go!!"

As this happened, Amaya pulled out a large yet thin staff out of her bag. The sleek design complimented the elegant blue crystal inlay-ed at the top of the staff.

"It's not my first pick…" Amaya muttered, "But it will have to do..."

"You can't leave her there!!" Kani screamed angrily as the brownish bronze haired man dragged her past the gate, "Let me go back…!!"

"Your first priority is needing to get back to safety,” Oliver said, ignoring her pleas as he pulls her to the strange sleek metal box on the inner part of the gate.

Oliver pulls a key out of his pocket, and uses it to open the strange looking device. He inputs the code into the keypad. Kani watches in horror as the gate slowly starts to close behind Amaya.

However the women didn't seem deterred by this, instead she manifested an attack of crystal blue water and aimed for one of the monsters.

"My priority is to not leaving her out there!" Kani demanded before adding, "We're not leaving her out there with them!"

The winged-eyeball monster shrieked as it took damage from the water attack, it crumbling into dust once it was defeated.

Oliver watches as the gate slowly starts to close, before letting out a pained hiss as Kani tugged on his left arm.

"She can handle herself," Oliver insisted as he ran his right hand through his sweaty hair. Despite his words, Kani still attempted to drag him back.

"You don't understand!" Kani shouted at Oliver, "She saved me, so we are not leaving her!”

As the hooded figures loom closer, Amaya charges up another attack, but lets out a curse as it misses her target. Oliver's face paled as he watched Amaya brace herself for the attack.

Before Kani screams out Amaya's name in horror, Oliver pushes her off him.

Kani lets out a squeak as she stumbles, almost falling onto the ground but she manages to catch herself. When she looked up again, the gate closed with a resounding "thud".

Oliver was not next to her, instead he slipped past the gate, and used his blade to block the attack aimed at the charcoal blue haired women, glowing bright red as if it was molten lava.

Amaya seemed startled by his sudden appearance by her side, but Kani let out a relieved sigh, softening her previously distraught expression.

"I could have tanked it," Amaya noted but Oliver shook his head.

"Maybe so," Oliver agreed before tilting his head towards the gate, "However my lady doesn't seem to approve of such a decision."

Kani, while this was happening, used what little energy she could muster to rush over to the gate's console. She hissed as she attempted to pry it open.

"Damn it!!" Kani hisses as she fails to open the console, "The code…!! I don't know how to…!!"

Oliver must have heard her, as he turned around to address her.

"That's fine." Oliver calmly explained, "My lady, go help from the estate."

She seemed like she was about to interject, but Amaya had beaten her to it.

"We can handle it from here Kani!" Amaya reassured with a smile and at that moment, Kani felt conflicted as she looked through the gate's bars separating her from the pair.

She took a deep breath before swallowing her fear.

"Fine..!" The purple haired noble shouted back, "Oliver, as an order from your lady, please focus on keeping Amaya alive..!"

Oliver nods as Kani rushes down the path to the estate without another word. He then turns back to see the enemies approaching again, their numbers seemingly doubled.

[ Give….give ‘her’ to us!! ]

"My apologies," Oliver stated coldly as his blade started to be surrounded by red embers, "Lady Cordelia has no intention of doing such a thing."

Amaya grimaced as she powered up another water attack. "Ignore them, keep your guard up."

Once enough power has been achieved, Amaya aims her attack again and this time it succeeds in pushing back one of the hooded figures. While one of the assailants was distracted, Oliver rushed over and attempted to attack the figure's arm with his sword.

However, one of the other hooded figures, one with pale blue hair stopped him with a defensive spell attack, its energy reeking with bright sickly magenta.

His body dodged the attack on its own, as it felt innately repulsed by the magic.

Amaya takes this opportunity to shoot back another spell from her staff, pushing another enemy away from the gate.

The enemy's attack on the gate felt relentless, their strategy seeming to consist of summoning enough monsters to keep the pressure on the duo.

Amaya gritted her teeth as she chants a healing spell, which enveloped Oliver in a warm light for a few moments. Once he was healed, he continued on his goal to carve through the monsters on the battlefield with his fire magic.

While she caught her breath, Amaya noticed the strange pile of leaves from before. However, before she could do anything with that information, she heard a voice call out from behind her;

"Oh my, it seems everyone is having fun without me."

As the gate opened, a maid with a strikingly large mace appeared, her hair the color of dark plum and had a beauty mark right under her left eye.

Amaya looked back to see various servants crowding a bit farther away from the gate. From the bars she can see Kani holding a touch, standing next to an older looking woman with dark grayish brown-colored hair.

The tension in Oliver's shoulders eased, and he let out a sigh of relief.

"What took you so long?"

"Do forgive me for my tardiness," She said in a light tone as she twirled her mace with ease, "I have been running about the entire day trying to find our dear lady, but it seems we have more pressing matters at hand."

Despite the soft expression and deceptively soft tone of her voice, the maid's pale pink eyes narrowed at the attackers and their familiars.

"Would you mind me joining in?"

The maid aimed to mace at one of the attackers as it started to glow with a green aura, her eyes sparkling with rage.

"By all means," Amaya confirmed as she sent another water attack at the enemy's monster familiar.

"Go get them Daisy!" a maid with dirty blond hair with freckles screamed from behind the gate, "Make those creeps pay for attacking our lady!"

"Yeah!" a knight shouted, "Oliver, Show them what you're made of!"

This caused the crowd to start slowly cheering, and the duo nodded before heading back into the battle. Kani watched as Amaya focused on keeping everyone safe, and took a deep breath.

"Amaya!" the dark purple haired noblewomen shouted, "Don't let them win!"

Amaya's eyes widened slightly, before a small smile came to her lips. "You got it!"

As Daisy and Oliver focused on stopping the remaining hooded figures from summoning more monsters, Amaya focused her attacks on the brown haired man, who seems to be the ring master of this operation. He had been focusing a majority of his attacks on her, and she had returned the energy by using her Aquis magic to push him back.

Daisy noticed Amaya's struggle, and decided to swing her mace at the man. This caused him to stumble into the strange leaf pile.

[ …!!!!! ]

What resulted was a deafening scream. Amaya felt her body tense up from how horrid it sounded. Daisy stood in front of her, guarding the dark blue haired healer with tense shoulders.

The other two main attackers turned to look at him in horror, realizing what had happened.

Their leader's left foot was caught in a rusty bear trap.

[ It…hurts!!! ] The man wept as he struggled to keep his composure, "Ah…It hurts… so much…!!"

Amaya's eyes widened at the sudden change, but before she could react, The pale blue hair attacker ordered a monster to send a magenta fireball her way. Daisy used her mace to block the attack as Oliver rushed over to the two of them.

Amaya quickly whipped her head around to see the injured figure leaning on one of his comrades. The pale blue-haired attacker rushed over to them, and Oliver gave chase.

"Get back here!"

However, before he could use his blade to slice the attacker's robe, one of them threw a smoke bomb at the trio and in a bright flash of magenta, they disappeared into the dark of night. The only thing that remained of their existence being some black shimmery dust and some blood splatters.

"Rosemary, open the gate." The elder looking women commanded harshly the moment the battle ended

The light pinked haired women quickly headed to the console, and inputted the code. As the gate rose, Kani rushed to where Amaya stood.

"You're okay!" Kani cheered as she hugged the healer, causing the former to chuckle.

"Of course I am, that was nothing" Amaya assured before she turned to Daisy and Oliver, "Both of you did great!"

"Thank you for your kind words," Oliver said with a polite bow.

"It's truly an honor to hear such high praise," Daisy curtsied.

"No need to be modest," Amaya assured, “It’s clear that you…”

At that moment, Amaya felt her knees give out, but Kani caught her before she could hit the ground.

The dark purple haired noble looked at her in horror. "Amaya….!?"

"Oh…maybe I do need to rest for a second," Amaya conceded with a laugh.

"Are you ok….?" Kani questioned as she lowered Amaya, "Do you need water, or some food?"

"I just need a second, I have a granola bar in my…" Amaya assured but was interrupted by soft shimmery blue smoke revealing the glowing door from before. 

"My word." The elderly women reacted indigently as Kani stared at the door with a somber expression. 

A small light blue note popped into existence, and Amaya let it fall into her hands before opening it; 'It's late, come home.'

She felt a little smile form on her lips before letting Kani peered over her shoulder to read the note.

"It's from Orion," Amaya said softly to Kani, "You can tell because he used his favorite fountain pen."

"…Oh."

Amaya looked back at the door with a huff before turning to Kani.

"Could you open it for me?" Amaya asked before gesturing to herself, "I would but…well…."

Kani pursed her lips, before nodding. made her way to the door emanating the soft blue light.

"It's not… It's not going to…hurt me…."

She swallowed the lump in her throat, and opened the door. However she isn't greeted by the person she thought she would.

"….???"

Kani felt her throat tighten as she stared at a man with short dark brown hair, who looked equally as confused as she was. He almost looked ethereal with how his pale skin was bathed in the warm ambient candle light of Orion's office. His midnight black uniform displayed a gold crest on his breast pocket, which detailed a small cluster of small umbrella-like flowers surrounded by fern-like leaves which were divided into smaller segments with tooth-like edges.

A wave of unease and confusion wash over her as she stared into his eyes. The color of his irises reminding her of light trapped within dark brown amber.

"Master Orion, someone's at the door…?"

Suddenly she heard loud footsteps rushing to the door, and once he reached the door, Orion turned his attention to the purple haired women.

"Kani….?"

Orion stared at her with a confused expression before noting Amaya sitting on the grass with a relieved yet exhausted expression.

All the color on his face seemed to drain the moment he got a clear view of the battle's fallout. Daisy's partly ripped apron, Oliver's uniform looking a bit scuffed. Amaya looked more worn out than she was before.

"Ori…!"

He immediately rushed out of the door and hugged Amaya.

She didn't seem gravely injured from what he could see, but Orion's eyes filled with worry as he held her in his arms. Amaya hugged him back with what energy remained in her body.

"Are you okay," Orion quickly asked, "Are you hurt?"

"I'm all good, Kani and you are worrying too much!" Amaya said with an exhausted laugh, "I drained my MP during the battle, and I think the temporary staff you gave me is busted, but no one got injured so that's all that matters!"

His expression softened as he watched as Amaya gave a tired smile. He then turned to Kani, his eyes sharpening with a cold fury. "What happened?"

"Some hooded figures attacked us in the woods." Kani said pointing to the woods outside the gate, "Waited for us to be alone and then tried to ki…."

Kani started to trail off, her brain finally realizing what she just experienced as she bit her lip.

"They tried to kidnap Kani," Amaya continued softly, "They must have been waiting for a chance to be completely alone to take her."

Kani bit her lip as Orion turned to the women standing next to her. "It's late, take Kani inside. They might come back with reinforcements."

He then turned to the oak brown haired man who had stepped past the door frame.

"Rigel, we will end our meeting now." Orion said calmly as he slowly helped Amaya up and walk to the door, “I have more important matters to attend to.” 

"I understand." Rigel said with a sudden nod, causing Kani to flinch. She stepped away from the door once she realized how unintentionally close she was to him.

"Rigel?" Amaya asked as Kani made room for the two to move towards the glowing door.

"My newest apprentice." Orion explained as Rigel did the same, "He's from Hemlock University."

Kani narrowed her eyes at that statement, before being quicky ushered towards the estate’s gates by Daisy and Oliver.

"Thank you for escorting our lady home safely, even after such an ordeal." The older woman said, "We shall look into this incident as soon as possible, but for now we must take our leave."

"Very well," Orion assured, "Kani, we will talk more later."

"Good night Kani!" Amaya calls out, causing Kani to smile, "I will see you in a few days!"

Kani stopped in her tracks before giving a polite bow. "May the stars guide your way."

Rigel moved to close the door behind his teacher and Kani watched with wary eyes as the door dissolved into a puff of blue smoke.