?Everyone stopped to look at the person that arrived through the opening wondering who it could be. Surprisingly, nor, who had been kept hidden by Kiruya, came out running towards them.


    "Brother!?" nor was sure it was her brother Ren as she recognised the voice.


    "Wait nor!" Shaman saw her running straight towards her brother,pletely ignoring the wooden elf. Grabbing nor''s arm, Shaman pulled her back right as the wooden elf attacked.


    "Brother?" The young man at the opening looked confused, having just finished swinging down with his sword.


    "Ren! It''s me, nor!" Tears began to form in her eyes as nor struggled to get out of Shaman''s hold.


    "nor he clearly doesn''t recognise you." Shaman refused to let go and pulled her further away while the wooden elf seemed stuck in ce.


    "nor? Where have I heard that before? Oh, that''s right, it''s the bastard sister that was abandoned." Ren''s eyes glowed green and the wooden elf moved again, mimicking Ren''s actions.


    "No… Not you too." nor could no longer hold back tears as she came to the realisation that her brother also had the same ideals as her mother and grandfather.


    "Not my fault this is what grandfather wants." A glimpse of sorrow appeared on Ren''s face which was not missed by nor, giving her a glimmer of hope that maybe this isn''t what he truly believes.


    "Sorry." Ren, controlling the wooden elf, made it swing down its sword directly at nor, ignoring everyone else. Shutting her eyes she braced for impact, expecting to get hit as she knew Shaman, who was still holding her, would not be able to move her in time.


    However, the de never came. When she finally opened her eyes she was greeted with a short silver-haired boy.


    Silver had blocked the attack. In fact, as soon as nor entered the room, he was already following her to make sure she was safe. So when the wooden elf attacked, he was the only one close enough to block its assault.


    Shaman moved to block as well, but the wooden elf''s speed was even faster than before. Her heart almost dropped seeing she would be unable to make it, but as soon as she saw Silver take the hit, she changed her intentions to attacking the wooden elf.


    ra and Elysia were of the same mind and all attacked at once. Ever since Ren took control, he tunnel-visioned on taking out nor, so much so that he didn''t realise the others were about to attack.


    Shaman raised ice spikes from the ground and aimed for the wooden elf''s chest. ra aimed for its back and swung both her whips, lodging them into the wood. Elysia aimed for the head, using a simr arrow to the one she shot before.


    Each of their attacks went off simultaneously and the body of the wooden elf was destroyed. Shaman''s ice kept it in ce, ra''s whips prevented it from moving and Elysia''s arrow did the finishing blow.


    The fire consumed its body, leaving only the sword which fell to the ground. Ren, who didn''t even bother to fight back, fell to his knees.


    "Finally." His attitude hadpletely shifted as soon as the wooden elf was gone, which got everyone curious about what the hell was happening. The group figured it was safe, so they approached Ren slowly, keeping a safe distance just in case, still sceptical whether Ren is friend or foe.


    "I''m so sorry about that, but that fake elf you were fighting was actually grandpa, but since you defeated him, he can no longer see us." Ren exined what they were up against, which exined why he pretended to be so hostile to nor when she appeared.


    "S-so you are back brother?" nor didn''t know how to feel about it all. Was her brother sincere or was it just another trap to catch her guard down.


    "Yes, Father told me the entire truth of what had happened. I understand if you don''t trust me so I won''te any closer." Ren Saw the distrust on nor''s face and how everyone was on guard.


    "I can assume these are your friends ?" Ren looked at each of the group members, easily able to tell they were stronger than him.


    "Yes, they helped me get here as I want to see my father onest time." nor exined why she came along in the first ce since now that she was going to travel with the group this would be herst chance to see him.


    "Onest time?" Ren was confused as he thought his sister would be anxious to join back into the family, but it seemed like she had different intentions.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I will be staying with my friends, I no longer need to stay here." nor got very passionate in how she spoke since now she had people that cared for her and felt closer than even her own family.


    "Oh I see, makes sense." Ren didn''t know how to feel about his sister going away, but then he remembered he was meant to leave the city with a group of adventurers.


    ''Hang on.'' Looking over the group again, he recalled the descriptions of the people he was meant to travel with. However, before he could even open his mouth again, a green light emitted from the ground.


    ? Everyone tensed up ready to fight again, but then they saw Ren''s body started turning translucent.


    "Grandpa no!" Ren knew exactly what was happening and tried getting out, but there was a barrier blocking his way.


    "Ren!" nor pushed past everyone and went up to the barrier, hurrying to reach him before he disappeared. As she put her hand up against the barrier, Ren did the same thing and aligned his with nor''s hand.


    "Don''t worry about me, go see father while you can." With his final message, Ren was teleported away from the group to nor''s grandfather.


    nor fell forward and was now on her hands and knees, her tears falling onto the concrete. Her fingers bit into the concrete, drawing blood because of the rough ground. She then clenched her fist and mmed it into the ground cracking it. She could no longer hold back her fury as once again something important was taken by her grandfather.


    Silver squatted down next to nor to help her up as they needed to get moving soon. The danger may be gone now, but they still did not feelpletely safe


    "It''s okay nor, we might be able to get him back." Silver wasn''t sure if they would have the chance, but seeing as they were getting close to the pce, it was too early to lose hope.


    nor, hearing Silver''s words, took a deep breath and tried to calm herself as he was right. She couldn''t lose herself to anger right now. There was still some travelling to do before they reached the pce and there will be plenty of time to let looseter.


    "We should keep moving before the sword reactivates." Kiruya came out from the shadows and pointed at the sword which was slowly inching its way back to the middle of the room. This confirmed their feelings of unease and so they moved into the next room which looked like a forest.


    Finding an open space to rest, they all sat down in a circle to process everything they have seen and learnt.


    "Jeez Kiruya, you could have helped us a little." Shaman needed to know why Kiruya was rather absent as Shaman felt like Kiruya should have stepped in.


    "I knew you would be fine. By looking into the wooden elf''s eyes you could tell if it was really trying to kill you." Kiruya, having gone through the dungeon before, knew the gimmick of the fight and could tell from the start they were okay.


    "Huh?" In unison, Elysia, ra, Shaman and Silver looked at Kiruya tilting their heads as the wooden elf nearly killed Shaman, forcing her to use her free escape.


    "Yep, its eyes were green so it wasn''t going to kill you, only when it targeted nor did the eyes go red and I was about to step in, but you beat me to it." Kiruya had a grin as seeing the reactions from the group was rather entertaining.


    "Damn, that would have been nice to know." Elysia now felt like that was a waste of time and preferred to not go through such a rollercoaster again.


    "Hang on, then why was it mimicking Ren''s moves?" ra noticed when they were fighting, Ren seemingly took control of the wooden elf.


    "That''s because of his sword, it is linked to the elf''s sword and clearly connected to nor''s grandpa as well, hence why he had to put up an act until the wooden elf was gone." Kiruya borated further on what happened and everyone nodded, understanding the situation a bit more.


    "Okay, so now we have got a general idea of what happened. What about you nor, are you okay?" After going through the previous happenings, they moved on to nor who still seemed pretty shaken up by losing Ren right after being reunited.


    "Y-yeah I''m fine, still trying to keep calm, but it''s hard after finally seeing my brother for the first time in years." nor''s mind was in shambles. It was filled to the brim with conflicting emotions and she didn''t know what to do about it.


    "We are on pce grounds now so, let''s make this trip quick." Kiruya knew the rest of the way and with a lot of the fighting over she knew they would make it without any troubles. That is of course assuming none of the elven armieses hunting in search of nor.