44 Date nigh

A moonless black sky stood above as the group started to prepare for another mission of blessed metal retrieval.

The target was a massive mansion, much bigger than the one Marceus used to live in with his candidates. From Evlin's point of view, the place looked less like a large home and more like a shopping mall. She started to imagine how much of a pain it would be to gro from one side to the other.

By her side was a group consisted of Lilith, someone who could sense incoming danger and could feel the presence of the blessed metal, and Ria, their escape route in case things went south. Daren would usually join than during outside missions, but for this occasion where they needed to sneakily enter the house, his massive body would run the risk of attracting too much attention.

Outside was a group formed of Ashley, who was observing the situation from a safe distance, and Gustav, who could use his telepathy to share information in case they needed help or to update the situation.

Daren, Auren, and Sphinx were on standby acting as emergency support in case they needed more muscle, an extra healer or more magic supply for Evlin.

The formation designed by Ashley was set and ready to go.

The main trio was covered in silver metal to increase their senses, agility, and natural stamina. Ria was disappointed that she wouldn't get a chance to use her new battle-ax but calmed down once Evlin gave her chainmail to defend her body.

The first step was to rely on Lilith's future sight. Search for all possible blindspots inside the security and use it to enter the building without being detected. The three ladies managed to complete that step with little trouble.

The second step. Once inside, use Lilith's natural connection with the silver metal's energy to find it's location.

"This way!"

The three started to run through a series of hallways that seemed like they would never end. Lilith gave them a signal to halt.

"There is someone coming from that side. Evlin!"

"On it!"

Evlin shot the floor of the mansion and a hole in the wall started to open. The invaders entered the hole and Evlin quickly closed it off with her magic. They waited for Lilith's signal.

"Just a little more... ... He's gone! We can go now!"

Using her magic once again, Evlin reopened the hole and they continued their path.

After repeating the process a couple of more times, Lilith finally let them know that they were getting closer.

"... It's here... We are right above it!"

"I can open another hole. Is the room safe?"

"I'll check..."

Ria and Evlin waited for Lilith to observe all possible results of how the mission could proceed from that point. While that would happen, Evlin let her curiosity take the best of her and tried to engage Ria in a conversation.

"Hey, Ria...? What was that about you meeting your family a while ago...?"

"Eh...? Oh! I- It was nothing... I just happened to run across my sister in town..."

"Your sister...? How...?"

"She doesn't age... She was blessed by a god or something and now she will forever look like a twelve-year-old..."

"I see... Is... Is she ok...?"

"... She's fine... She's not the kind of person you ever need to worry about..."

"I see... Good to know..."

Evlin was stabbed by a little bit of jealously. She hasn't seen her own sister in quite a long time. She wonders what she would look like after so much time has passed. The last time she saw her, she was about to go into labor. Two years had already gone by, Evlin would be an aunt by now if she was home. While she was lost in her memories of the past, Lilith was done staring at the future.

"It's heavily guarded. The two of us can win but it will be difficult. Ria, we will need you to be ready to bail us out as soon as possible."

"Count on me!"

"Lilith, take another look to see if it's ok to leave Ria in here while we descend. There might be some guards coming by while we fight."

"All right... ... ... There will be one passing by in thirty minutes... But he will hear the sound of our battle and start rushing here faster. Something around fifteen minutes."

"Can we retrieve the piece in fifteen minutes?"

"No... We will need about twenty to fully clear the room..."

"Very well... Ria, take this..."

Evlin removed a piece of Ria's chainmail vest and created a small dagger with it.

"It will lower your defense but will give you something to attack with. If anyone comes by, use your speed to stab their legs. I will heal them later on our way out."

"Understood! I will be waiting here."

"Call Gustav and update the situation to the rest of the group. We are going in!"

"Good luck!"

Evlin opened a fissure on the floor and was face to face with the silver metal. A large armor locked inside a cube of glass with metallic edges guarded by four knights heavily armed.

"Lilith... These knights..."

"Their swords are made of silver metal... I told you it would be hard..."

"Better start with a bang then..."

Evlin transformed her crossbow into a pair of gauntlets after fusing it with her bracelets. She started to gather earth magic on the palm of her hands creating two marbles on each side, and released it on the floor below after infusing it with modeling magic.

Once the marbles hit the ground on opposite sides of the room, an explosion was caused and a wave of rock spikes started to emerge aimed at the knights.

As they reacted to the surprise attack, Evlin jumped on the floor below landing with her hands and feet like a cat. The moment her gauntlets connected with the ground, the floor started to shake and move like a wave, making the knights all lose their balance.

Lilith came in next and started to release her attacks on the four confused knights.

Evlin tried to rush towards the silver armor but the glass cube was stronger than she imagined. She started to prepare her modeling magic again but one of the knights tried to cut her head with a sword swing.

"Intruders!!! Defend the treasure!!!"

"Evlin, they won't give us time to secure the armor, we need to take them down first!!"

"Tell me that first next time!!! I almost got turned into a headless horseman rip off!!"

"Sorry!"

It seems like Lilith was still not fully used to teamwork. She did spend most of her time on the battlefield fighting alone after all. She really needed to get over that old habit of only looking at her own side.

"So I guess you will be my dance partner..."

"You will pay for trying to steal from the Goraia house!!"

The knight swung his sword, but thanks to Evlin's healing magic boosting her agility and her silver chainmail vest boosting her mobility, dodging it was an easy process.

"Oh no... How rude of me to offend the Goraia house... Lilith, make sure the next time we try to steal blessed metal, we must avoid the Goraia house at all costs!"

"Miss Evlin please focus! You're making your competitive face again!"

"Sorry!"

The knight kept swinging his sword at Evlin but she simply continued to dodge each slash with ease. She tried to trick him into attacking the glass cube and the sword ended up being repelled.

"Wait... What?? How did this silly glass cube repel a sword made of silver metal??"

"Miss Evlin, the cube is also made of silver metal! The armor itself is just a regular armor!"

"These people were using silver metal as a protective box?? Also... Why would Marceus use his power to create a protective box??"

"He used it to keep people from stealing his snacks while he was away during missions"

"... Oh my lord, your boss was a goddamn moron..."

"... No comment..."

After revising her objective, Evlin returned her attention to her armored opponent. The knight kept trying to cut her in half but she was still just slightly faster than him.

"Grrr!!! You slippery little rat!!"

"Chief! Here!"

One of the other knights who had fallen down from Evlin's earth attack from earlier threw his sword towards Evlin's opponent who managed to catch it in midair. He now was in possession of two huge swords made of silver metal.

"Oh boy..."

He came back to his regular slash attack but now was two times faster than before. The good news was that the number of opponents to take down went from four to three. The bad news was that one of them had become a much bigger problem.

The two knights who were keeping Lilith occupied decided to follow his example and one of them gave up his sword to the other.

Evlin and Lilith were being assaulted by a fast barrage of slashes and being forced to move backwards. It came to a point where the two were now back to back against the two knights who each had swords in both hands.

"Lilith, is this the hard part you mentioned before?"

"Actually it's about to come... Miss Evlin... Could you please give me your hand?"

"... We are about to die and you wanna use this chance to propose to me?"

"There will be one small opening, but you won't be able to see it without my eyes... I need you to trust me..."

"Just to be clear... This isn't one of those 'Marry me if you want to live' scenarios right?"

"Miss, please pay attention!! They're coming!"

"All right!"

The two knights started to rush towards Evlin and Lilith from both sides. Using her future sight to see the opening and converting all her energy into agility, Lilith grabbed both of Evlin's arms who were still wearing her wooden gauntlets and started to shout.

"Now!! Release all you modeling magic!!"

Evlin followed her idea and started to channel modeling magic from her hand using the gauntlets. Lilith then used her superior agility to dodge the four swords coming after them and moved Evlin's arms as they lightly tapped into each of the blades. From the outside, it looked as if the two girls were dancing with the swords.

As the gauntlets came in safe contact with the swords, Evlin's magic would turn each of them into armor pieces for Lilith, turning her into a fully vested knight drenched in silver.

"Man... I really need to learn how to move like that..."

"I can help you practice later. Let's get the cube!"

"Aye, aye captain!"

Evlin rushed towards the cube at full speed. The knights tried to block her path but without their silver swords, Evlin easily took care of them.

She finally reached her goal and turned the cube into a pair of small silver shields for each arm.

"We are done here! Let's move!!"

Lilith rushed towards Evlin after hearing her command and placed her into a princess-carry position.

"My hero! Ready for our honeymoon?"

"Miss Evlin, please take this seriously..."

"I refuse!!"

Lilith jumped with Evlin on her arms and they returned by Ria's side. The two noticed that indeed, there was a guard knocked down behind her with a deep wound on his legs. Evlin shot him with some healing magic and fixed his wound. Everything went just as planned.

"Ria! Time to leave, now!!"

Ria opened a wind-scar and before they knew it, the three were outside reuniting with Daren, Auren, and Sphinx.

"Here boys! A new shield for each of you! My treat!"

Evlin handed over the silver shields and regrouped with Ashley and Gustav.

"Hey, sis! Mission was a success!! I even got married during it!"

"Glad you're having fun... Let's get out of here before they start a search party."

The entire group then vanished inside the forest. Before completely losing sight of it though, a small girl with twin ponytails and a boy with silver hair were watching their movements from the top of a hill while hiding their presence.

"It seems like they are a group of seven... And they also seem to have some kind of beast by their side."

"That so... So what do we do now darling...?"

"They are stealing all of that silver metal... Let's follow them and find out why..."