Miko and Amara ran through the alleys, heading towards one of the city's exits. When they saw where they were heading, Miko stopped, letting go of Amara's hand that was still holding them.

— What happened? — Amara stopped too. — Let's go!

— No, no, it's not that way! It's for the market side!

— Huh? But the closest exit is this way!

— I can't go out! I still need to help my friend!

Miko hadn't told Amara about Darka wanting to find him, partly because they weren't sure if it was the same Amara and also because the chaotic moment of the escape didn't allow it. They decided to let it go for now, as the priority was another. Without waiting for a response from the boy, Miko just turned and went towards the other street, but Amara was faster and held the child by one of the horns.

— hey hey! Don't run around like that, it's dangerous!

— But if I arrive too late he will die, and if he dies the city will explode!

— What the heck are you talking about? — Amara looked at Miko, who seemed to be telling the truth. — Ah, screw it, then I'll go with you! Show me where he is.

✰★✰★✰

A crack opened in the stone floor of the bridge, created by the impact of Katarina's sword in an attempt to cut Darka in half. He almost tripped as he threw himself out of the way of the blow, watching the concrete burn with magic. He ran to try to get away from her, but stopped in the middle of the bridge when he realized that there was no point in luring her out of the city, as this would only delay him even more when he went after Dia and Noite. The paladin turned toward Darka, imbuing her sword with the same crimson energy that brimmed from her eyes.

— Katarina, stop it, woman! Can't you see that you're going to destroy the entire market?! There's no time for that, Caadis is in danger!

If she heard something, she was probably ignoring it. Her expression was one of hatred and her gaze was fixed on Darka, as if she were in a trance. A drizzle began to fall, and from the looks of it it would soon turn into a heavy rain.

— All this time, all my life I dedicated myself to this exact moment. I received the blessing of divine justice with the sole purpose of destroying you, Unpronounceable! — Katarina was advancing towards him, walking threateningly. — Then just fulfill your role in the great divine plan and stand by while I free you from the miserable existence that is being cursed!

— I know there's no point saying this, but I'll let you know that I don't want to hurt you. Daena and Estephan would be very upset with me too.

The red glow began to focus on Katarina's free hand, and at an absurd speed she crossed the distance between them. Darka only had time to feel the thump in his ribs, before he hit his back against the metal wall of a store. The impact left him breathless and disoriented.

— Hurt me? HA HA HA HA — Katarina let out a sinister laugh. — You could never lay a finger on me.

As soon as she raised his sword for the final blow, the bang of a gunshot was heard, followed by the sound of the blade falling to the ground. Blood began to flow from Katarina's right hand, now with one finger missing. Stunned, she turned towards the direction the projectile came from.

— This time I hit the right target.

Daena was sitting on a motorbike a few meters away, pointing her shotgun at her aunt. Her red hair was tied into a high ponytail, with some strands sticking to her face due to the humidity.

— Get away from him, aunt.

— Daena... so you really are on this bastard's side. — She bent down to pick up the sword, but another shot to the blade stopped her.

— I told you to get away from him. — The girl tried to remain steady, but she was still shaking. — Don't make me shoot again, please.

— How did you get here so quickly? I thought that useless father of yours had grounded you. — Katarina laughed, running her good hand through her hair to get it out of her face. — If I had a drak for every time you interrupted a fight between me and this bastard by sticking that damn weapon in the middle, I'd have two draks. Which isn't much, but it's weird that it happened twice.

— I saw you leaving and I knew you were going after him, so I followed you. For a divine knight you have the notion of a door. In fact, you lost your damn mind, right?! I know you let Tharia get out of control!

Darka tried to catch his breath while listening to the conversation. He wanted to take advantage of their distraction and escape, but no matter how quickly his body healed, he could still feel the immense pain of two broken ribs. He really meant it when he said he didn't want to hurt Katarina, both because she was part of Daena's family and because he didn't want to get into any more trouble, but he felt a little guilty because he was relieved that he hadn't been the one to rip off her finger.

— I admired you, aunt. I thought that being the great heroine meant that you was a righteous person, but you're just a blind, clueless person. A stupid pile of arrogance!

Daena continued to point the gun with a determination that left Darka impressed. He hadn't seen her since he ran away from Talphen a couple of days ago, but he had the impression that he had been there a lot longer, at least enough for her to have matured a little.

— Shut up, Daena! You have no idea what my responsibility is! You have no idea the weight of the mission that was given to me! Your father was taught to rule and I was taught to fight, he is fulfilling his purpose and I am fulfilling mine! And you dare interfere, dare to hurt me to save the thing that will destroy us all?! You really are the spitting image of that trashy mother of yours!

Daena became even angrier and lowered her gun, getting off the bike and heading towards Katarina, stamping her foot like an angry child.

— You wash your tongue with creolin before talking about my mother! She was a thousand times better than you, she knew what justice was!

— You spoiled brat... Enough of this heresy!

With a movement of her right hand, Katarina pushed Daena the same way she did to Darka, but the girl landed in a pile of hay bags. As soon as she saw that her niece was unconscious, the red energy emanating from her body shone even brighter, like flames being fed by fuel. Not even the rain, which had gotten stronger and was now washing the city, could put out the fire of the paladin's hatred at that moment. Taking advantage of her attention being focused on Daena, Darka managed to gather enough strength to get up and run towards the entrance to the galleries, hoping it wasn't too late. But barely halfway there, Katarina's blade came towards him, sticking into the ground at his feet.

— Oh, for the love of... Leave me alone, woman! — Losing his patience, Darka picked up the sword with the intention of throwing it at Katarina, but as soon as his hands touched the hilt of the weapon he felt them burn. The handle felt like hot coals to his touch and left nasty burns on his skin.

— That's a holy sword, demon! Some idiot would never be able to use it against me!

Katarina was approaching and laughing maniacally, focused on Darka like a predator staring at its prey. He knew that if she took the sword back there would be no chance of him getting out of there, so he did the stupidest thing he could think of.

— You forgot something, Katarina! — Darka's skin marks began to glow, focusing on his hands that gripped the sword's hilt again. — I'm not just any idiot...

With a quick, almost clumsy movement, Darka pulled the heavy sword from the ground and threw it... towards the river.

— I'm an idiot with a plan.

"My God, she's going to rip my skin off with her teeth. She's going to dismember me and hang my innards at the entrance to Talphen..."

Darka was posing, proud of the horrible catchphrase, but he felt that now Katarina was very, very angry about it and was definitely going to lose control, if she still had any. He knew the sword was magical, but it wasn't much other than an enchanted metal that she couldn't recover from the bottom of the river with just the power of thought. But he also knew that it was the most important thing in the world to her after her mission to kill him.

Angry at having lost her most precious weapon in such a stupid way, Katarina finally snapped.

✰★✰★✰

Caadis' galleries were almost a labyrinth, but Noite was able to move without much trouble through the various corridors and hatches that directed the water from the Marue River. Along with it flowed an invisible current of magical energy, one of the few natural sources of magic in that steam-powered world. It was practically the equivalent of a "real" world Ley Line.

— Get down from there, Dia.

— Can you believe I tripped over a luziwurm? — Upside down, Dia appeared in a hatch in the ceiling, close to Noite. She was still without the mask. — Good thing my reflexes are quick.

— Impressive. You tripped over a luziwurm and fell face first into someone's foot, not many can achieve this feat.

Dia put her hand on her face, where she was kicked by Amara. The shape of a shoe sole was evident and it still hurt, but it was her pride that hurt the most. She didn't want to hurt the luziwurm, she was just going to trap the kid to the ground so they wouldn't follow her, so she felt a little wronged for having been beaten like that.

— Did you get the explosives?

— Yes and no. They fell when I tripped and I couldn't get them back. — Dia came down and joined her brother. — But it's not like we can't blow things up in other ways, right?

— Yes, but with explosives we could destroy more places at the same time, so we'll have to focus just on the seal itself. Where's your mask?

— It broke in the fall. — Dia took the pieces of the mask out of her pocket. — I'll fix it when we go to Jhotar mountain. Do you already know where the seal is?

— I'm following the current, but I still can't find it... The current has many ends, it looks like a root. — Following the corridor where they were, Night came across another dead end. — Oh. This will take a lot of time... there could be a shortcut.

Dia took the lead and the glow of her attack being carried in her right hand lit up the space. Noite just took a few steps back and saw her disintegrate the wall very easily. The impact caused a crack to rise through the ceiling and some rocks fell into the water.

— I'll make a shortcut for you.

✰★✰★✰

Miko and Amara arrived at the bridge just after Darka threw Katarina's sword into the river, and in time to see her charge at him.

Amara saw the scene and froze.

— I've never seen her like this... — Miko was scared by Katarina's fury as she got closer to their friend. — I need to stop her!

Before Miko could move forward, Amara stopped the luziwurm with his hand. He looked at Darka with an almost haunted expression.

— I know what to do.