The day ended with the three bonding, sharing their stories, and enjoying their time together.


    Then, the night came, and each of them returned to their room. Karteira returned home quicker with the help of Orion.


    It was her first time being carried, but she was more interested in the speed at which the scenery moved by.


    After sending her home safely, he took his time walking back.


    As he began simulating the bout he had during the morning in his head, an idea came out of nowhere.


    ''Wait, I think I understand what I was missing so far! I have to try this immediately!''


    He turned around and ran toward the training arena with excitement.


    ~


    The next day, the time to start the ring retrieval mission was about to begin.


    "So, where are we supposed to enter the underground?"


    Orion was with Amelia, Karteira, and the Queens, Dramia and Drania.


    The one to answer was Dramia, the coldest of the sisters.


    "The entrance is behind Tiohr, far away from the village. It is protected by our magic, so you can''t miss it. Moreover, Karteira is with you; she knows where it is."


    Karteira nodded to confirm it.


    "I do, since I am the only one who trudged inside and fought against their hordes."


    "You''re not alone this time; we''re coming too. We''re going to clean this place until nothing will be alive to tell the story beside us."


    Amelia, who was next to her, began to pump herself up.


    "You''re right."


    The two of them were on excellent terms now, which wasn''t a surprise to Orion.


    ''Two people having almost the same experiences always end up on the same wavelength.''


    After quietly watching their exchanges, he finally spoke.


    "Well, then, we should be moving now. Karteira, please lead the way."


    "Yes."


    They began to move, but Orion''s sleeves on both sides were caught. He turned to look at the twins, who were the only ones behind him.


    The first one to talk was Drania, with a look of worry on her face.


    "Please do your best to save Tiohr. We couldn''t do anything so far, and you are her only hope."


    Dramia was looking less worried, but she still couldn''t hide it completely.


    "All three of you have to come back alive. I don''t care if you get injured; just come back."


    At this very moment, he understood that he was quite attached to those peculiar fairies.


    "I will. I''ll do the most I can to protect the tree and the two of them."


    He placed his hands on top of their heads and caressed them gently.


    "You misunderstand something. Protect yourself too. I would rather not see someone else die."


    They were both staring at him with glistening eyes.


    ''They''re quite pushy. It''s not like I was going to end my life in there.''


    With a faint sigh, he smiled at them.


    "It''s fine. I wouldn''t want my quest for revenge to end so soon, either. I''m going now; take care of the place."


    "We should have finished cleaning the place in a day or two. It will depend on how efficient we are at killing the invaders."


    He removed his hands from their green, mossy hair and turned for good this time.


    The ''First Gear'' activated, and he got back to Amelia and Karteira, who walked ahead of him.


    "This man, is he overconfident or is he that strong? I don''t know. Let''s just hope for the best."


    Dramia grabbed her sister''s hand and walked back into the building to watch over Tiohr-nam.


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    "Wah- Wait, don''t pull my arm!"


    ...


    "We''ve arrived."


    Karteira stopped in front of a considerable opening between the roots, covered by a glass-like material. It was the seal the Queens put on it to prevent any beasts from leaking outside.


    "Well, I can see that it is indeed the right place."


    *Hissss* *Clack*


    Many beasts were already at the entrance, ready to pounce on them.


    "Are you ready? We have to kill all of them before they manage to leak past us."


    Orion looked at Amelia.


    "You''re only able to use Ceres, right? You know how to fight with a single dagger, so you should be fine."


    With a determined nod, she brought the earth element out.


    "Yes, I can only use my earth element. I tried creating a lightning dagger, but it was too much for me now."


    A ball of dirt, surrounded by a ring of rocks, was created in her hand. She focused on it, and instantly, it turned to Ceres, the earth dagger.


    "And you, are you prepared?"


    "I am."


    Orion released his magic, enveloped in a dark aura. His front hair changed to gold and silver as usual.


    "Taygeta."


    ''I haven''t used you much so far; now is your time to shine!''


    He looked at his black crossbow fondly.


    Karteira turned and looked at Orion and Amelia, both already in their fighting stance.


    She moved her hand close to the glass material and touched it.


    Once the seal recognized the order to open, she ran immediately toward Amelia and prepared herself to receive the beasts.


    An entrance the size of one beast opened, letting the first one rush outside.


    "What a disgusting creature!"


    Amelia was aghast at the sight of the thing that crept closer to them.


    Karteira contained her laugh when she remembered having the same reaction the first time she saw them.


    The first creature lifted its upper body when a dark arrow pierced its chest.


    That creature was an insect. Karteira explained that because it was underground, most of them were insects.


    The one Orion fired at first was a gray centipede with five rows of wings. The second one to move outside was a gray hornet without wings, but it didn''t look like a common one.


    Its body was morphed to have its stinger above its head. Strange creatures left the entrance one after the other.


    They were definitely corrupted species; their gray skin, fur, or shell showed it. The other detail was their deformities, which were shown only by them. The last thing was their size. A hornet the size of a lion was horrifying.


    Orion fired slowing and paralyzing arrows, stopping all insects coming from the entrance in their tracks.


    After firing debilitating arrows one after the other, Orion looked at Amelia and Karteira.


    "You can go. I''m covering you."


    The two turned to him and gave him a thumbs-up.


    Amelia, her dagger in hand, ran toward the giant insects. Karteira used a portion of her ''Cerulean Aegis'' ability, creating plates only around her forearms and hands.


    Both began to slice and pummel everything in their path, while Orion fired arrows at all creatures coming out of the entrance.


    The sluggish insects were unable to understand a single thing. They died before they could move a muscle.


    Some insects in the back realized how dangerous it was to go forward, so most of them began to spit streams of acid toward them.


    Seeing that, Orion decided to use one of his newly acquired trump cards.


    He extended his hand toward Amelia first, emitting a white light that was transmitted to her feet. Once done, he immediately did the same for Karteira.


    "Woah!"


    Both tried to jump away from the acid jets, but instead found themselves next to Orion. They lost their balance and kneeled on the dirt, noticing the glowing aura around their shoes.


    "Orion, you''ve finally got through your bottleneck!"


    ~


    ''Well, what am I supposed to do now that I''m here?''


    Orion was in the training arena, a normal iron dagger in his hands.


    ''I should focus on what I saw today and imbue magic to give the same effect?''


    After trying many times unsuccessfully, he let go of the dagger, which stabbed into the ground.


    ''I''m still stuck at the same part. It''s difficult to break through your limitations.''


    The night continued, and one idea came to him.


    ''Maybe it''s not an object that needs to be imbued, but a part of it? Let''s try it.''


    He focused on the blade of the dagger, and a white light began to form an aura around it.


    ''It''s working! Was it really this simple all along?''


    *Click*


    A sound like a lock opening resonated in his mind.


    "Magic Lock number two was successfully released."


    "Awareness of ''Enhancement Magic'' was obtained. The user can now perform enhancements to specific parts of his choice."


    *Sigh*


    "So much training for something so simple."


    ~


    Amelia was overjoyed. He was stuck, not progressing for over a month, and finally, he managed to break through.


    "Yes, I remembered the speed at which Karteira threw her punches. Those were extremely fast, so I thought about doing the same with magic. I finally understood how to imbue this energy last night."


    "There''s more to it, but we''ll get to that later. Get ready, you two. You can adjust the amount of speed you want by now."


    They focused on the feeling and picked themselves up. The rest of the fight was pure carnage.


    The speed at which Amelia sliced her enemies began to quicken, and Karteira punched through her enemies with her gauntlets, occasionally piercing them with her tail.


    Orion continued to fire crippling arrows at the insects near the entrance, sealing their speed with paralyzing arrows and their ability to spray acid with muting arrows.


    Less and fewer insects came out, and when the last one died at Karteira''s hands, they could finally take a break.


    "Ah! That was so good! Teaming up with you two is the best thing in the world!"


    Karteira was on cloud nine. Her thirst for battle was difficult to quench, but with their help, she was able to freely enjoy the battle.


    Fighting alongside Amelia was the greatest feeling ever, as she wasn''t fighting alone anymore.


    "Glad to hear that, but it''s only the beginning. Once inside, I won''t be able to proactively attack, so be extra careful. I won''t be able to maintain both of your enhancements inside either, so I''m only focusing on you, Karteira."


    "Destroy everything."


    Pure euphoria appeared on her face as her entire body trembled.


    ''I can go wild without hurting myself? What a dream!''


    Her battle-addict trait reawakened.


    ''She''s so simple. Why do the other fairies dislike her?''


    After watching her breath heavily, he turned to look at Amelia.


    "I have a gift for you. How you use it is up to you. But before that, on my back."


    Amelia jumped on his back without saying anything, wondering what that gift could be.


    "I gathered that you can influence the form of magic you use; it might be one of your hidden abilities."


    "Because I can give you my magic?"


    Orion nodded as she adjusted herself on his back.


    "Yes, because of that. No one should be able to give their magic to someone else. So, I was thinking that the opposite was also possible."


    "What do you mean? That I could take your magic?"


    Orion smiled. He always liked how fast she was able to understand him.


    "Spot on. Here''s my gift to you, Dawn and Dusk."


    Two spheres of elements formed in both of his hands.