Katarina tossed the crossbow aside and advanced, wielding her sword towards Darka who, still stunned by the blow, fell back into the bushes. He immediately tried to remove the arrow embedded in the right side of his abdomen, but the pain was unbearable and moving the projectile only made it worse.

— You won't run away again! — Katarina shouted angrily, as she looked around in the woods, trying to focus on her opponent. — Face your destiny here and now!

— Auntie, stop it!

— Daena! Get out of here, quickly! He is injured and at a disadvantage!

While listening to the two's conversation, still hidden by the bushes, Darka had the idea of ​​heating the metal tip and cauterizing the wound to remove the arrow without running the risk of bleeding to death. In fact, he had no idea what would happen if he really died, and he wasn't at all willing to find out if it would be like the game.

With a groan he pulled out the burning arrow, catching Katarina's attention. He got up and started running back into the forest, trying to increase the distance between them so he could plan what to do next. Running away was not an option, it would just waste energy and soon it would be in the hands of the chatty paladin, so all that was left was to fight. Even with the injury he knew he had the advantage against her, but the pain was going to be a huge hindrance. Lauren vaguely remembered something about her character healing faster than usual, but this required his magic to be focused on the recovery process and at the moment the fight would have to be the focus. The two reached a clearing in the woods, followed by Miko and Daena.

— Katarina, you're already with Daena, stop being greedy! — Darka shouted, still holding the arrow. — Can't we resolve it another way?

— You touched my niece, you filthy one! Don't you get tired of contaminating everything with your evil presence? This time I will not fail to exterminate you!

"What an insufferable woman, she doesn't listen to anything and just talks shit!", Darka thought.

Katarina advanced confidently, knowing that the previous blow had weakened him and victory would be easy. Darka took a deep breath and also moved forward, feeling the marks on his body tingle with the magic flowing. She attacked with a vertical slash, which was clumsily blocked by Darka with the very arrow she had shot at him. A grimace of pain was visible on his face, and this made Katarina even more determined to defeat him.

With a kick, the paladin pushed him and attacked again, aiming at the injured side and leaving almost no gaps for him to act. As annoying as it was, she really was a great swordsman and had a reputation for beating her opponents making them tired. Darka knew that he needed an opening soon, otherwise he would no longer have the strength to even defend himself.

— Did Mr. Darka die? — Miko asked Daena nervously, with her eyes covered with her hands since the beginning of the fight. — I don't want him to die...

— He won't, I won't let him. Aunt Katarina will be unbearable if she kills him.

Daena grabbed her newly recovered shotgun and aimed it in the direction of the two. She knew that one shot wouldn't be enough to end it, but maybe it would distract her aunt enough to balance the fight. The first shot passed just a few centimeters from Katarina's face and hit a tree, enough to break her concentration.

— Daena, your aim is terrible! — Katarina scolded. — Shoot him!

Darka took advantage of the moment and summoned the chains to hold her, wrapping them around her arms and legs trying to immobilize the woman. Katarina looked surprised for a few seconds, before muttering something followed by a flash that made the links come undone. With a quick movement, she once again went with blood in her eyes towards Darka, who only managed to continue defending himself. Trying to balance the fight, he invoked the chains again, this time wrapping it around his own arms to block the paladin's attacks. With each blocked blow, sparks fell to the ground and if it weren't for the moisture from the morning dew covering the grass, they would already be surrounded by fire again.

— Stop it! — Daena prepared another bullet. —These two idiots!

Her aim was once again on her aunt, but their movement was frantic and it was difficult to maintain focus. When she fired, she reflexively closed her eyes, trying not to see if she had caused damage.

She opened it just in time to see Darka falling to the ground.

✰★✰★✰

Lauren opened the door to her tiny bedroom and collapsed on the bed, physically and emotionally exhausted. Another day that she didn't want to have lived, that made her flirt a little more with the idea of ​​disappearing. Since her mother passed away when she was 12, her absentee, narcissistic father was forced to raise her, treating her like an inconvenient damaged object that he now needed to fix. There were courses, lectures, tutoring classes and many other activities that she did out of pressure, just to be the subject of her father's conversation, boasting that he was a caring man who was concerned about his daughter's future. Inside the house, for him Lauren was just the ungrateful one who didn't value what she had and who was to blame for all the misfortune that happened, which often resulted in verbal and physical abuse. This led Lauren to do everything she could to live on her own after she turned 18, and even when she managed it, her father still tried to control what he could in her life, as if it was his sadistic hobby to torment the girl.

She gathered all her remaining strength and sat down in front of the computer, opening Red Ocean Online almost automatically. Her movements were pure muscle memory at this point, from logging in with the password she no longer remembered to taking the fastest route to her goal: Amara's workshop.

[ AMARA ]

[Good evening, xxXDarkChaos_18Xxx! Good to see you again! ▼ ]

Feeling almost instant comfort, Lauren made her character sit at the table next to the NPC. Turning the camera to him, she watched the boy's warm expression for a few seconds, wishing he was real enough for a hug. She craved someone's warmth more than anything at that moment, but she just curled up and hugged her legs.

— Hi, Amara. Today was a bad day... again. I'm so tired.

[ AMARA ]

[ Did you know that the Summer Festival is tomorrow? I'm going to have a lot of work in the workshop. You could help me, right, because we are partners! But stay away from the tool shelf. ▼ ]

— Yeah... Let's work at the festival. I was fired today and I really need another work. — Lauren gave a dejected laugh. — Can you believe that that asshole harasser of my boss sent me away from the store saying that I gave the wrong change at the register? I don't really doubt that it was my father who called him and spoke badly about me again.

[ AMARA ]

[ xxXDarkChaos_18Xxx, do you want to buy a motorcycle? I'm thinking about selling mine. You can go to many places with it, and the review is up to me. ▼ ]

— Running away from everything is a good idea... But I don't have a driver's license and I can barely support myself living alone. My father is obsessed with taking away the money that my mother left me. I thought I would finally get rid of him when I left the house, but he keeps chasing me like he owns me. It's hell. I bet my phone is already full of messages from him saying that I'm useless for losing my job for the third time this year, as if he wasn't the one who was sabotaging me this whole time!

[ AMARA ]

[ My friend told me hunting is difficult, because in the forest there are things that hunt you too. And they are scary. ▼ ]

— Yes, the world is a big forest full of scary things. And I'm really tired of it all. — She closed her eyes marked by deep circles, placed her face on the table and mumbled, her voice getting lower with each word.

She thought about how stupid she must feel for venting about pixels on a screen, but she couldn't. Her gaze fell on a small pile of boxes and medicine packets on a shelf, many with a black stripe on the packaging.

— Amara, did you know that the difference between medicine and poison is the dose? Lying in my bed and not waking up is so tempting.

A silence lingered, making Lauren look up at the screen again, her vision blurred due to the tears that were forming. She had the very vague impression that she saw a trace of concern on Amara's face for a moment.

[ AMARA ]

[ Did you know that the Summer Festival is tomorrow? I'm going to have a lot of work in the workshop. You could help me, right, because we are partners! But stay away from the tool shelf. ▼ ]

Amara's responses were programmed, Lauren knew. But their timing was what made her believe there was something special, and holding onto that silly fantasy was all she could do.

— Yes, Amara. I'll be here tomorrow.

✰★✰★✰

Darka woke up with a gasp, feeling a pang in his heart that was soon replaced by the pain in his belly. He tried to reach the sore spot, but realized that his hands and legs were chained to a wall. He was sitting in some dank, smelly dungeon, seemingly alone. The cut, despite being painful and made worse by the gunshot, was almost closed.

— Damn Daena... What the fuck was that shot? It hit right in my wound! Honestly, I don't know what her problem is anymore. She said "oh, I believe in you" and then she did this! More fake than a three dollar bill, spoiled brat!

He pouted, upset. He was really happy when he found out that Daena actually trusted him, and having ended up in this situation because of her left him really hurt.

— At least Miko isn't here.

— Are you awake, you good-for-nothing? — Katarina's annoying voice sounded from the opening of the metal door. — Enjoy your moment of rest, soon you will be very busy dying by my hands.

— Get in here and finish the job then! If it wasn't for Daena helping you, I would have smashed your face!

— How dare you! You bewitched her, I know! She would never have asked for a trial for such trash!

— What? A trial?

— But it doesn't matter, your sins will be exposed to the whole world and you will meet your end!

She stomped away, irritated. Darka was confused, why a trial? Either way, he didn't want to be there and he wasn't willing to see everyone complaining about him again. He concentrated on heating the marks that met the metal of the chains, hoping that would be enough to melt the links. It had already begun to glow when he heard the door opening once more.

— Found you, Darka!