Part 1Evlin saw Leona and her group scattered through different rooftops and staring at her.
They were all repeating the same spell from before and igniting themselves with fire magic, except last time they did that, they were holding nervous expressions due to Evlin"s sudden burst of anger, but now, they were the ones who wanted to unleash their rage.
"Great... I p.i.s.sed them off..." Evlin mumbled.
"Aunt Evie...? What do we do?" Ellie asked while having Lance pull her ponytail.
"You grab Mr. snowglobe over there and return to the hotel..." Evlin said while pointing at Xadi who was just smirking at her, "These guys are after me... I"ll lead them to someplace safe and beat them all up."
"What!!??" Ellie suddenly started to shake, "You will face them all alone??"
"Don"t worry... I"ll be fine..." Evlin rea.s.sured.
"I wanna see this figh- I mean... It"s not safe!!" Ellie was about to say something but them was reminded of what common sense was and corrected herself.
Evlin noticed that the fire mages were starting to approach them. She felt it wouldn"t be safe to let her niece get involved.
"Ellie!! Go! Now!!!"
Ellie didn"t want to disobey her aunt so she grabbed Xadi who was still on his gla.s.s box and rushed to the fire exit.
Evlin looked at her niece moving out of danger and turned around to see all the mages standing on the edges of the roof, each on a corner, completely surrounding her.
Leona came closer and aimed her ignited staff at Evlin, "You"re coming with us..."
Evlin changed her crossbow into gauntlets and glared at her, "Make me!"
Leona charged a fireball at the tip of her staff and gave the signal for all her group to do the same, "Attack!!!"
Part 2
"Are you sure she will be ok...?" Xadi said while observing Ellie carry his box. They were going down the fire escape while Evlin engaged with Leona"s group on the roof as she ordered.
Lance was placed on top of the box and was enjoying the ride with a bright smile on his face while clapping his hands.
"My aunt knows best... If she tells me to go, then I go!" Ellie answered. She a.s.sumed his box was going to be heavy, but since it was made of blessed energy Ellie could feel her strength being boosted and carried it with great ease.
"So basically you"re her dog... I see..." Xadi said while trying to float at the same pace as Ellie and avoid touching the gla.s.s.
"You"re very rude..." Ellie mumbled while frowning.
"Oh, I"m sorry... Did I hurt your feelings?" he said with a sarcastic tone.
"..." Ellie glared at him. She remembers who Xadi is from her aunt"s story. A very cruel mage who tried to capture her and force her to become his slave so he could gain fame and power. He was defeated by the combined efforts of Evlin and her adopted sister Ashley and ended up becoming a frog due to Evlin"s recreation magic.
Mia found Xadi one day and broke his spell, after which he tried to join her side to get revenge on Evlin.
Basically, he was not a very nice person.
But unfortunately, Evlin needed him right now to find out where Mia was hiding her family, which meant that Ellie needed to put up with his annoying behavior.
"You know I can just burn you too right?" Ellie said as she tried to scare him.
"Yeah right... You guys need me right now. You want me to tell where Mia is, you better start acting more politely."
"..." Ellie looked at him and gave the box a small slap so that Xadi would b.u.mp his shoulder on the gla.s.s, and like always, the blessed energy burned his figure a bit.
"Aaaaaouchh!!! Stop!! Doing!! That!!"
"Tell where Mia is hiding my mom and dad!!"
"I don"t know... Maybe in a graveyard...? They are all probably dead already. Congratulations, you"re an orphan. Now let me go!!!" Xadi said while rubbing his shoulder.
Ellie halted and stared at Xadi.
"... De- Dead...?" she said as tears began to appear on her eyes.
"Huh...? Oh! Yeah, yeah... They are probably five feet under the ground by now and becoming worm food..." Xadi said while watching the despair on the girl"s face.
"You... You"re lying!!"
"Maybe I am... Or maybe while you wasted time hanging out with your dumb aunt, your parents were spending every day, every second being tormented by Mia until they couldn"t take it anymore and just begged for her to end their suffering!"
"S- Stop!! That"s not true!!" Ellie said while the tears were now reaching the end of her face, "Tell me it"s not true!!"
"Mmmm... Should I...?" Xadi said while resting his chin on both hands.
"Tell me it isn"t true!! Tell me!! Tell me!! Tell me!! Tell me!! Tell me!!" Ellie started to scream while shaking the box up and down. Lance was laughing from all the movement but Xadi was getting burned on the head and on his ghostly tail.
"Ouch!! Ouch!! Ouch!! Ouch!! Stop!! Stop!! Ok, ok! It isn"t true!! Stop shaking the box!!" he begged.
"Huh!!?? Tell me the truth!!" Ellie said while glaring at him.
"Your parents are fine! Mia is keeping them by her side as hostages for when your crazy aunt goes after her."
"So... They"re ok...?" Ellie asked with eyes wide open.
"Define ok..." Xadi said.
"Tell me if they are ok!!! Tell me!! Tell me!! Tell me!!" She began to shake the box one more time and started to burn the ghost mage again.
"Aaaaaghhh!! They"re ok!! They"re ok!! Please calm down!!"
Ellie finally relaxed and stopped tormenting Xadi.
"Oh my Lord, this girl is gonna make me die again..." Xadi thought to himself. He started to worry that he might be in more danger with this girl than if he was with Evlin, when suddenly he noticed something on her arm, her mirror s.h.i.+eld.
"Is that... A mage staff in the shape of a s.h.i.+eld?" he asked.
"Huh...?" Ellie said as she noticed Xadi"s gaze, "Yeah... My aunt made it for me."
"... So... You really are a mage..."
"Mage..." Ellie said, still not used to referring herself with that word, but she was starting to like that sound. "Th that"s right!! I"m a mage just like my amazing aunt!!" She declared while holding her chest high showing how proud she was of that t.i.tle.
"I see..." Xadi said while starting to form an idea on his head.
"Not only that, I"m her number one student as well!!" Ellie continued.
"You"re her student? The little girl opened a magic school?"
"Magic... School...?" Ellie repeated his words and started to imagine herself in a cla.s.s filled with kids trying to learn magic with Evlin as their professor, "Ah... Magic school with aunt Evie... That would be amazing!!!"
Xadi noticed that the girl was losing herself in her own illusions and continued to formulate his plan.
It looked like Evlin"s niece, while extremely dangerous, was much easier to manipulate than Evlin herself. And Xadi knew that his old enemy had some kind of bone to pick with Mia. He also wasn"t a big fan of Mia due to how much she mistreated him during their adventure in the demon kingdom. He wondered if he could use Ellia as a bait to get Evlin and Mia to kill each other, and then capture Ellie to use her power for himself.
As he was thinking about that, his forehead was smacked against the gla.s.s and began to burn again, "Ouuuchh!!" he yelled.
"Oh, sorry!" Ellie said. Lance began to laugh again on top of the box once Ellie started to climb down the fire exit again.
"You know... I"ve been wondering about this for a while but... Why is there a freaking baby with you guys?" Xadi said while staring at the young boy on top of him.
"One of our friends got injured in the fight with you and we are taking care of him until they wake up..." she explained.
Xadi then noticed that he had a golden opportunity in his hands. Evlin was busy with the fire mages and the rest of her team was unavailable. Which means... This was the best time to take advantage of Ellie.
"So where are we going...? You gonna try to find Mia on your own?" he started.
"On my own...?" Ellie looked at him, "No way... I can"t face that freak alone..."
"Why not? Aren"t you the number one student of the crossbow mage?"
"Uhhh... About that..."
"And don"t you have this amazing s.h.i.+eld-staff with you? This thing looks very powerful!"
"Oh... Thanks..."
"And if I remember correctly... You played a big part in defeating me and the crystal spirit as well right? Mia saw your performance on the screen of some kind of metal object."
"Oh! That? That was just luck... I had no idea of what I was doing..." Ellie said as she finally reached the end of the stairs and exited the building.
"Don"t need to be modest You clearly are a very talented mage! Maybe even more talented than your aunt!"
"... Me...? Really...?" Ellie asked as she walked on the streets of the city with a box of gla.s.s in hands carrying Lance on top of it with a ghost mage inside. People began to stare at her.
"I"m sure you are more than enough to take Mia down with your magic." Xadi said while looking around the unfamiliar architecture of the city once again.
"... I don"t think so... I"ll just take you to Detra and wait for my aunt to come back..." Ellie said despite showing a pair of eyes full of uneasiness as if she was starting to wonder if she ould pull it off such a feat.
"But don"t you want to save your parents? Your mom? Your dad? Your dog?"
"I don"t have a dog..."
"We can get you one and you can save him!"
"Wha...?"
"My point is..." Xadi said trying to not make her think too much about it, "You might be more than enough!"
"... Why are you being so supportive all of sudden...?" Ellie asked while raising an eyebrow.
"Because..." Xadi froze, he needed a reason to make Ellie trust him. How do you convince a nine-year-old that you want to help despite saying that you didn"t want to help less than five minutes ago? Show that you have ulterior motives that are not your actual motives "I got really interested in that mirror s.h.i.+eld of yours!"
"Eh...?" Ellie looked confused.
"That s.h.i.+eld... I"ve never seen anything like this!! If you give me that I can tell you where Mia is keeping your family!"
"You want my s.h.i.+eld...? But... I just got it!! I didn"t even used it yet!!"
"... Oh..." Xadi got worried. He forgot that he was dealing with a kid. When he tried this move on Evlin she fell for it very easily since she didn"t really care that much about her staff. But it looked like Ellie was much more materialistic than her aunt. "Uhhh..."
"And this is a present from my aunt... My very own mage staff..." Ellie looked like she was about to start crying, "But if it will save my parents..."
"Wait!" Xadi felt he was losing her. He needed to make a change of plans. "I didn"t mean this s.h.i.+eld exactly!"
"...?" Ellie just looked at him confused.
"How about... I tell you where they are... And..." He needed to get on her good side. What did he know about her? She loves her aunt, and she loves magic. "And you ask your aunt to make a s.h.i.+eld for me as well?"
"... A s.h.i.+eld for you...?"
"Yes!! A s.h.i.+eld made by the crossbow girl! Something that no one else has!" He said while praying that she would fall for it.
"Well... I guess that"s not that easy to get..." Ellie pondered, "We did get a ton of wood not too long ago..."
"Oh, thank G.o.d, it worked" Xadi thought to himself. "So we have a deal? You ask your aunt to make me a staff and I"ll reveal where your parents are."
Ellie tried to think hard about that one. She wasn"t really sure she could trust Xadi so easily, but she also knew how much people always tried to fight for Evlin"s magic. It would make sense that Xadi would ask for something only she could make. Plus, her aunt didn"t get any info out of him. If she showed that she managed to convince Xadi to reveal the location, her aunt would be proud of her.
"I don"t know... What do you think Lance...?" Ellie asked while looking at the toddler on top of the box. Lance simply burped and started to laugh.
"Looks like Lance agrees..." Xadi said.
"Fine... I"ll ask my aunt yo make a s.h.i.+eld for you... Now tell me where my family is!!" Ellie said.
Xadi then released a small grin, "With pleasure!"
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