The blade was supposed to pierce through the puppet's unoccupied arm, but it quickly retaliated with a purple magic circle as a defense. And as a result, the blade's impact had sprung back to Owen, dealing greater damage to him. He knew this dark hex; dummies supplied with a tad of infernal magic use it to duplicate certain attacks and return it twofold.

This girl, Owen must protect her. Even if he hated or loathed the duke, he entrusted this girl to him. The duke, being the madman that he is, tasked someone so frail and so young to deliver an 'object of importance' to Owen, who had hoped that it would benefit him and the child he was taking care of, given the fact that it emanated to the second-most-important-person in the whole kingdom.

It turned out this object was undeniably imperative, yet not at all beneficial; as a matter of fact, it just ignited emotions and memories Owen repressed for several years. The feeling of remorse, anger, sadness, and hopelessness was sparked like a flame being rekindled on an old candle. It was all because of that necklace. The necklace Rose had when she died made him remember things he tried to forget.

The duke did not only entrust Owen with the girl, but also Abe. The vice-captain of the Knights of the Firehawk, the former a.s.sa.s.sin Abe, was the one meant to keep tabs on the girl when she meets with Owen—but where the h.e.l.l was he, Owen asked to himself.

"Dammit, a.s.sa.s.sin," Owen hissed as the slash of his own sword manifested a straight laceration on his arm. The marionette was still smiling, leading Faustina slowly to the magic circle. Owen wanted to frown—but instead, he thanked, incongruously, because, for some reason, the marionette was peculiarly gentle with its target. This servant of the Warlock was taking its time with Faustina.

Owen repeated several attacks and tried dodging them, only to fail incessantly. He attacked but the marionette appeared to be invulnerable, calm, and unruffled as it leads Faustina closer to the magic circle. Owen huffed, breathing heavily as the toll of his body was weighing him down. He was bruised and injured all over—his attacks dealt this to him. This was all his doing. He was used to fighting thieves and mercenaries, the common enemy of The Faction. He was used to fighting humans…

But fighting demonic creatures, he was neither a novice nor a rookie; he never fought one. He knew them, yet he did not know how to fight them properly. He was sent to be the receiving end of an object and Abe was supposed to protect the deliverer—that was what the duke told him.

This girl was the duke's 'hidden sickly daughter' whom he sent to a dangerous mission. He could tell by looking at the familiar ash-grey hair so similar yet quite dissimilar to the ones he saw on a balcony door a few years back. Owen wondered, why of all people should this girl be the one to deliver a parcel when Lucas and Bethrion could do it. He found it suspicious, yet he wanted to protect the girl nonetheless. She did not do anything wrong.

Faustina opened her eyes, and then quickly backed away from the marionette, much to Owen's relief and surprise. The girl must have combated the marionette in her unconscious. The marionette howled and cried, and then it dropped to its knees. Faustina rushed to the bleeding and injured Owen, inquiring about his well-being.

But they had no time to waste. The marionette was a ticking time-bomb. It was rejected, its face was now changing its form. Its mouth was now sinisterly sewed shut with a sad curve. It cried, and it cried. The marionette clearly wanted the girl, as ordered by its master. Owen did not, and could not decipher what a Warlock would want with a frail girl.

Warlocks were looming on corners of the darkness for a millennium, but now seen rarely even in the black market, and were almost nonexistent due to the ma.s.s-killing of someone of their kind, the notorious Forsaken. This is why marionettes were the only common Warlock magic to be seen nowadays; they had kept their profile low.

Owen realized that the puppet was now on their tail, and it was at this time he came with a plan. He told the girl that she must act as a bait, and they must lure the marionette to her whilst he'll attack from behind. It was risky, of course—because one: Owen wasn't very much certain the marionette wouldn't notice him, and two: the marionette may activate the hex that would duplicate the attack and send it back to Owen, which may complicate and worsen the situation further.

But there was no other choice—they could not remain to stall and remain waiting, because undoubtedly, the puppet was about to get the girl.

Owen wanted to ask. Inquire and satisfy his curiosity—there was a lot going on in his mind but he knew this was not his business, and most definitely his head would be in the duke's silver platter once he let his daughter die. He firmly held his sword as he waited for the marionette to come, ready to ambush in any second.

Until he heard a rustle—a crackle from the opposite direction. The corner where Faustina was hiding. Did the puppet find Faustina first? Owen held his sword and was about to activate it but then he saw witchlight—

Witchlights—intermittent luminosities that are priced with a hundred slaves or more in the black market—he blinked as the illumination from the light revealed amethyst eyes and silver locks.

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They were not alone in the sewers—and pray this wasn't an enemy. He heard crawling footsteps and recognized the sound; the creature was crawling on the walls.

He bats an eyelid as it silenced. And then, footsteps replaced these sinister crawls.

The voice of Lucas Feuerlon, the duke's second son.

Owen listened and stared intently. Lucas spoke, calling for the girl, his sister—but something was suspicious, Owen observed. 'Lucas' was holding a lamp and his staff, which was superfluous. Staves can be used as a way of lighting a path, and was a lot more effective than lighters and torches—Owen drew his sword slowly, waiting for a moment. He paused for a brief minute as he heard a murmur—maybe it was his imagination, but he heard his name being called… when it spoke the second time around, it startled him.

'Owen,' whispered a familiar voice. 'the baby is killing me,'

"OWEN!"

Faustina's voice woke him back to reality, sending him to slash the marionette through, right on its head, supposedly to exterminate its life force.

'Owen, the baby is killing me.' A voice echoed in his mind again as he stared towards the puppet's lifeless eyes. 'kill the baby, Owen.'