— Thariaknar!

Amara shouted in Katarina's direction, and her reaction was immediate. Frozen halfway to Darka, she turned to face whoever had shouted that name. At that point her eyes were nothing more than two shining points like rubies, which now swept through the rubble looking for the owner of the voice. But Amara had rushed off with Miko immediately after realizing that he had managed to distract her.

— Who... How do you know my name, worm?! Show yourself!!

Taking advantage of her distraction, Darka's instinct acted again and the magic chains came out of the ground, wrapping around the woman's body and immobilizing her. This time, the links were not disintegrated by the divine energy, which made him realize there was really something wrong with her. Thanks to the sound of the rain and the flow of adrenaline, the young man hadn't heard Amara's voice and didn't even notice that it was what distracted his rival.

— What happened to you, Katarina?! — Darka approached cautiously, stopping a few meters away from her. — Have you gone crazy? You're destroying a city! Shouldn't you be protecting it?? What did I do to you to get to this point?!

Katarina squirmed, trying to free herself from the chains. But whenever she broke one, two more appeared in its place.

— I will destroy worlds to exterminate you if necessary! Damn the blood of the West! Descendant of that filthy traitorous goddess who preferred earth to heaven!

— What are you talking about?

Tears streamed down Katarina's face, only visible because they were blood red. Darka was even more confused and surprised, not understanding her reaction.

— You... you're not Katarina...

— Darka! Stay away from her! — Daena had regained consciousness and was running towards him, almost tripping.

Katarina fell to her knees, apparently unconscious, but the red energy around her was still there. The rain had eased, as if mirroring the paladin's temper.

— Are you okay, Daena? Did you get hurt a lot? — Darka observed the girl, looking for any apparent injuries. — You didn't break any ribs either, right?

— Do you think I'm made of porcelain like you, you idiot? I just hit my head.

Daena watched the energy around her aunt, worried. She pulled Darka by the arm to move a little further away.

— Daena, do you know what's happening? Katarina doesn't even look like herself.

— And it's not her. It's Tharia, the goddess to whom she swore the oath as a knight.

— Who?

Darka had never paid much attention to Katarina's origin story for the simple reason that he found it extremely boring. She was the typical RPG paladin, who gained powers in a pact with a goddess and swore to destroy evil. The only thing Lauren remembered was that said deity came from the same place as Yrina, Fearaniar. Realizing that it had more things about the game's story that he didn't know made a strange feeling in his stomach, as if that world was no longer as familiar as it should have been.

— My mother told me about it once. — Daena continued. — She went with her to the lands beyond the West when Katarina went to make the pact. Mom said that the people from where the goddess lived warned her about her power being unstable, and that if Katarina failed to maintain control, Tharia herself would take over her body.

— I had never heard of that... — Darka seemed shocked, and observed that Katarina's red energy seemed to increase little by little.

— It's not just that. It seems that Tharia has a personal feud with Yrina...

Upon hearing that name, the reaction of the trapped being was immediate, and the woman began to struggle again.

— You left me! You abandoned me! You let go of my hand! You were everything to me! I was nothing to you?!

The snap of all the chains breaking at the same time scared them both, and they saw Katarina writhe as if she was in horrible pain. She clutched her head as she muttered those words over and over again. The rain had returned, now with the stronger wind making the paladin's evil aura grow and swirl around her as she stood up.

In one swift movement, Katarina ran across the distance between them and grabbed Darka's neck, pulling him up towards the bridge railing. The two now levitated several meters above the river, while spikes made of scarlet energy formed around them, pointing in the boy's direction.

— Katarina... — Darka tried to speak, but her grip suffocated him. — I'm...

— ... Help me. — Her voice was low, almost a whisper. Darka realized that this time it wasn't Tharia speaking.

— Darka, the braid! — Daena screamed as loud as she could. — The hair is her bond with the goddess!

Almost breathless in the paladin's firm grip, Darka gathered his strength to grab the long braid that was swaying in the storm. As soon as he managed to close his fingers in her hair, he concentrated on activating his magic and a huge blue flame came out of the marks on his arm, enveloping the golden strands.

Even though it was soaked from the rain, her hair melted easily in Darka's hand, accompanied by a long cry of pain. He noticed that she loosened her hand on his neck and the two began to fall towards the water.

"Too high, too high, too high!!"

He knew that if she fell unconscious from that height she would most likely drown, and he quickly pulled her into a hug to cushion her fall into the cold water. The impact was painful, and Darka himself didn't know if he would be able to save himself either.

— Aunt! Darka!

Daena tried to see the two of them in the current, desperate every minute. Until she finally spotted Darka's white hair near a small pier below the bridge. She ran over to them to help them out of the water.

— Are you okay?! — The girl hurried to pull the unconscious woman from her friend's arms, while he himself tried to climb onto the pier.

— I'm... — Darka panted, trying to catch his breath. — I'm not even going to answer that, Daena...

— I'm sorry, I just...

A loud bang startled them both. The earth shook and something crumbling could be heard in the distance. Daena looked at Darka to confirm that she wasn't the only one who heard that.

— What the heck was that?! It came from inside the city!

Darka just hung his head, defeated and tired.

— Oh, that? — He fell back, exhausted. — It's just the next catastrophe that will enter my account.

✰★✰★✰

Amara and Miko observed the large crater that formed in the middle of the street. They were about to flee through one of the city's exits when they heard the explosion, and Miko insisted on going back to see if Darka was in trouble again. Amara didn't want to leave the child alone, so he didn't have much choice but to go along.

The hole in the middle of the main street was huge, and at the bottom of it was part of the structure of the destroyed gallery, rubble from a nearby building that collapsed along with it, and some stones marked with scratches that emanated an almost imperceptible bluish light.

— They did it... — Miko crouched down on the edge to see the damage. — Darka will be very upset.

— They? They who?

A movement drew their attention to the other side of the crater's rim, where Dia and Noite were also observing the destruction they caused, oblivious to Miko and Amara. After a few seconds, the twins just turned and ran away, without noticing that Amara didn't take his eyes off them until they disappeared into the city.

— Hey, you idiots! — Miko shouted. — Darka is going to... he's going to smash your faces! Right, Mr. Amara?

Miko noticed that the golden eyes of the boy didn't even blink, as if he had seen a ghost or something.

— Mr. Amara? — They pulled the boy's hand, breaking him out of his apparent trance. — Mr. Amara, is everything okay?

— Yes... Yes, sorry, I just... — He stopped again, seeming to have connected the dots. — Wait, those two did that?!

— Yes, it seems like they've been trying to tarnish Darka's reputation for some time. They were the ones who did the bad things and put the blame on him.

Amara looked distressed. When he helped Miko earlier, he hadn't paid much attention to the person he had attacked, but now seeing her there with her brother seemed to have made the young man worried about something.

— Let's go back to Darka.

Miko's expression lit up with excitement and they started running ahead towards the last place where they had seen their friend. Amara ran after without questioning anything, still thoughtful.

They both arrived at the market street, trying to see Darka amid the rubble. The fierce fighting that had taken place there caused great damage, but the bridge was miraculously still standing. The rain had now stopped completely, and some people were already hanging around what was left trying to assess the damage.

— Mr. Darka! — Miko called, their voice betraying nervousness. — Mr. Darka, are you dead? Where are you?

Daena was still sitting, gathering strength to get her unconscious aunt off the small pier where they were, while Darka seemed to be passed out with exhaustion beside her. Miko's voice calling for him reached the girl, who responded to her friend lying on the floor.

— Miko! We're down here! Under the bridge!

She heard the sound of the luziwurm's footsteps approaching, stepping through puddles of water as they ran towards them. Upon seeing them over the wall, Miko rushed to jump the three meters high to the pier without any care, landing awkwardly, tripping and falling straight into Darka's belly.

— OH... SHIT! — Darka lost his breath, finally standing up. — Do you want to finish Katarina's work, Miko?!

— Darka! You didn't die! You are in one piece!

— If it depends on you, not for long!

— Stop being a complainer, idiot. — Daena said while taking off the armor from Katarina, who was still unconscious. — No one here tried to kill you more than three times. Maybe my aunt, but she's crazy.

Despite being scared, he soon calmed down when he felt Miko rubbing their face against his chest. Darka knew it was a way to show relief at being together again, so he just stroked the luziwurm's head and sighed.

— I'm fine, but I'd be better if you hadn't crushed me jumping from up there.

— Sorry! But we were looking everywhere for you and I was scared...

— "We"? Darka asked. — Who were you with?

The noise of someone else running towards them caught the attention of the three, and a shadow also jumped over the wall that led to the pier. Unlike Miko, Amara landed with a firmness that made it seem almost like a superhero landing.

— Him! — Miko exclaimed pointing at the newly arrived boy. — Oh! I forgot to mention, I met Mr. A...

Darka was on his feet in an instant, without taking his eyes off the young man in front of him. His voice almost broke.

— ... Amara?!