"Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" Friya said while pouring them some hot tea.

"No, but I can't guarantee you that I'll answer."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to pry your wall of secrets." She chuckled.

"We all knew you had a crush on Nalear and a soft spot for Wanemyre. I was wondering why you never made a pa.s.s at me. Now that we are not young and stupid anymore, I'm not embarra.s.sed to say that it hurt my pride for a bit."

"Well, it's simple. When we first met, you were just another pompous, stuck up n.o.ble. After the second exam, when we started to become friends, you had already become too similar to me." Lith said.

"You have always been the most beautiful girl in our cla.s.s, but I have a thing for cute girls and you have never been cute. You went from obnoxious to dark and gloomy. You and I are like moons. We may s.h.i.+ne, but our light is cold and distant.

"We need a sun, someone willing to walk that distance and accept us for who we are instead that for how we look like. That's why I ended up with Phloria first and with Kamila now."

Friya had to admit that even if they were good friends, her crazy matched Lith's crazy in all the wrong possible ways. Just the thought of being together with someone more paranoid, grumpy, and aggressive than she was, gave her the creeps.

"Are you still practicing the impossible arrays Yurial found for us?" Lith asked.

"Every single day. I'll always be grateful to you for teaching me the importance of first magic. There are so many things that I would have missed if I didn't follow your crazy training routine during the fifth year.

"I may not be able to create holograms yet, but I can a.s.sure you that once we find those rogue mages, they are in for more than one nasty surprise." She said with a ferocious grin.

Since the snowstorm continued unabated and Kamila had yet to call back, they started exchanging pointers about magic. Friya revealed to him that she had kept in touch with Professor Rudd, the dimensional magic expert of the White Griffon.

They were reminiscing together all the cruel words the man had said to his students in general and to them in particular when someone knocked on her door.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Lady Ernas." A butler in a white and dark blue livery said her with a deep bow. He was a middle aged man with receding red hair and the face of someone who had just seen a ghost.

"There's a guest on the door who claims to be a friend of someone named Scourge. I tried to send him away, but he refused. Some of your men intervened, but I'm afraid they will only make things worse."

"Did he say his name?" Friya and Lith exchanged a quick glance hearing the name magical beasts had bestowed upon him.

"No, I didn't even ask him about it because he has clearly got the wrong address…"

Friya didn't let him finish the phrase and opened a Warp Steps leading to the mansion's hallway. The front door was wide open, letting the freezing wind in as snow started to pile up on the magnificent blue and gold carpet covering the floor.

Several members of the Crystal s.h.i.+eld guild lay on the ground unconscious. Only a few of them had managed to even draw their weapons, but none of them had the time to use them. Not a single drop of blood had been spilled.

The man in front of them was a barbarian, at least 2.1 meters (7') tall. He wore a hunter set of heavy clothes made of warm animal fur and boots bigger than a bucket. His face was rough and savage, with a square jaw and a cleft chin.

The hunter's long hair and his well trimmed beard were flaming red, with not a single snowflake on them. Even though he was lifting one of Friya's men from the neck with a single hand, waiting for him to pa.s.s out, his emerald eyes were calm and wise.

There was no way Lith wouldn't recognize him, even after all those years.

"Put Kallum down!" Friya said while unsheathing her sword.

"It's good to see you again, Friya." He said with a warm smile as he let the man's feet touch the ground again, allowing him to breathe.

"You may know me, but I don't know you. What do you want from Lith?" She said while never lowering her weapon.

A sudden gust of wind swept her hair as a blurry figure moved past Friya and struck the hunter on the side of his jaw with pinpoint accuracy, sending him tumbling outside.

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! How dare you to show your face like that?" Lith's anger was so great that, without Solus's help, his blue aura would have already filled the manor's hallway.

She would have liked to say something, but even though she was already restraining his mana flow, both the lights and the shadows were seconds away from coming to life. Solus couldn't afford to lose her focus.

Blood trickled from the hunter's mouth as he stood up.

"You've gotten stronger, Scourge. I hoped you would rather focus on becoming a better person. Power isn't everything." The man said as if Lith had offered him his hand instead of sending him flying with a punch.

"Five years! Five f.u.c.king years without a single word from you." Wind and snow slapped Lith's face. He ignored the former, whereas the heat emanating from his skin was so strong that the latter evaporated on contact.

"I almost died for you and what did I get in return? You deceived me! You turned the only friend I had ever had against me! You abandoned me! You took away Selia from me! Tell me why I shouldn't kill you on the spot." Lith said.

The snow melted and boiled under his feet as the whole street was plunged into darkness, as if the sun had been blotted out of the sky. The hunter stood tall, uncaring of the ongoing unnatural phenomenons and Lith's accusations.

"You didn't do it for me, but for yourself. What I did, instead, I did it for you. To stop your madness. It was the only way I had to give you a better future and judging from what I've heard, I'd say I succeeded.

"I never abandoned you. I simply couldn't afford to return and waste our sacrifice. As for Selia, she was never yours to begin with. She followed me of her own will. You are only right about one thing. I owe you.

"Without your reckless, selfish act I would be dead. I live on borrowed time, your time. My life is yours to take if that's what you truly want." Protector opened his arms in a defenseless position, exposing both his neck and heart.

Lith extended his clawed hands toward Protector's chest and hugged him as strong as he could.

'Solus, a.n.a.lysis.' He thought.

'Protector is barely halfway blue and his physical strength hasn't improved much.' She replied as Lith's fury faded.

"How can you be so weak after all this time?" Lith said.