Round 28: Welcome back.

Forty-seven landed on the soft ground, surprisingly lightly. Blackwing struggled to get up, the mud almost burying him, but he had gone to such lengths to push it off—not to let it dig holes.
Pterodactyl blood could detoxify and was rich in nutrients, something an one-eyed man in the tavern had told him in casual conversation.
He pulled out his claws, covered in blood—he rushed back and carefully lifted Moriel, letting the dripping blood flow into her mouth. Still, imagining the scene: a twelve-foot-tall robotic wolf taking care of a delicate human woman was incredibly awkward and strange.
Blackwing used the hooks on his wings to brace himself on the ground, his strong chest muscles contracting to press on the wounds and stop the bleeding. He stared intently at that annoying guy who ignored him—“He almost pulled my heart out,” Blackwing thought—but he resisted the urge to release his deadly poison at him. This thing wasn’t a living creature, or at least not a normal one. Old Blackwing’s instincts had always been accurate. He couldn’t fly anymore, at least not for a while. He staggered back slowly; he was clumsy on land—hoping no powerful enemies would find him in the short term.
Forty-seven paid no attention to Blackwing’s movements—he didn’t even notice his departure. After waiting for a long time, nothing happened as he had hoped. Moriel remained unconscious, and in fact, she seemed even worse, her lips starting to turn black.
Forty-seven was completely panicked. He couldn’t understand what it felt like to lose a life—probably similar to when he was in the core. What he knew was that if Moriel died, it meant he would never hear her voice again.
So he picked her up and kept running, hoping to find his way back to Rain City before night fell. The nights in the swamp were so dark that even the stars couldn’t be trusted.
The weather grew dark, with large clouds drifting across the gray sky. A storm seemed imminent.
What bad luck.
Only Forty-seven kept running across the vast wetlands.
Thunder cracked, and the rain turned the already soggy ground even muddier.
“Hold on, please,” Forty-seven thought anxiously, looking at Moriel in his arms.
The rain clouds gathered abnormally, with immense energy building under the influence of positive and negative ions.
White lightning, carrying huge energy, connected the sky and the ground. Following simple physical laws, this natural force was so powerful it surpassed any weapon or magic. When Forty-seven realized he was now the tallest object in the swamp, he threw Moriel farther away and jumped high.
He was worried that if he didn’t do this, the water on the ground would sweep her away too. He didn’t want to see her turn into grilled meat.
If Forty-seven hadn’t absorbed most of the lightning’s energy, it would have evaporated all the water within a hundred feet.
The scorching heat burned Forty-seven black, his dazzling golden body gone. He fell into the rain—being unscathed by the explosion was already extraordinary luck.

He climbed up to Moriel and held her in his arms. Her deathly pale face and purple lips told Forty-Seven that her condition was extremely serious. All Forty-Seven could do now was hold her like this. He had tried to do something else but failed—his legs wouldn’t obey him at all. “Moriel, how can I save you?” Forty-Seven felt utterly helpless at that moment. Gradually, Forty-Seven’s senses began to blur. The lightning had damaged him severely, not just his legs. A sense of despair spread between him and Moriel. Whether it was the effect of the lightning or some mysterious change in the ancient divine power, a faint red glow began to emanate from his chest, as if a group of fireflies were trapped in a bag. Soon, his entire body glowed red. His consciousness seemed to clear up again. He stroked Moriel’s cheek with his fingers; the red light flowed along her necklace and into her body, turning her into a glowing being just like Forty-Seven. Forty-Seven’s armor began to fall off. His huge jaws and back spines shattered into pieces, and his arms stopped growing thick, gradually shrinking back. His expanded armor and teeth settled down, leaving him looking just as he had when he left the magic circle. He stayed by Moriel’s side the whole time. In the early morning, a few water lizards came to the swamp. The aquatic creatures washed around by the rain were delicious food for them. But when they noticed something much larger moving around them, they fled without a trace. Moriel tapped Forty-Seven’s head. “Hey! How long do you plan to sleep like this? And when did you learn to doze off?” She now seemed in high spirits, just like the domineering red-robed mage Forty-Seven was used to. “I was just thinking.” “You can think?” “Don’t mock me.” “So what were you thinking about?” “It’s a long story.” “Trying to keep me in suspense, huh? Well, we should go. We still have a lot to do. First, we need to find something to eat.” “Moriel, your chest is exposed.” “Idiot! If my wand were still here, I’d knock a big dent in your head!” Moriel adjusted her tattered red mage robe, unaware that her chest had been exposed a long time ago. “When we get back, I’m going to take a nice hot bath first, then go to Marina’s shop to pick out some clothes… Hmm, Kairo shouldn’t be too busy these days. Her grandmother’s tea really deserves to be tried by more people…” “Moriel.” “What?” Moriel turned her head, holding her chin. “Welcome back.” “What nonsense are you talking?” “Nothing.” Soon, the two reached the outskirts of Rain City. Without the interference and noise of other people’s magic, Moriel’s prophecy spell worked at its best. They returned to their starting point with little effort or time wasted. Seeing the city lit up in the distance, they both quickened their pace. “Moriel?” A voice came from the darkness. Moriel stopped and stared warily in the direction of the voice.

“Little Red Riding Hood?” Si Shi Qi suddenly blurted out.
Kairo stepped out of the shadows, dressed in a white dress with a red cloth tied around her head.
“Thank the gods, it’s really you, Moriel!” Kairo exclaimed in a cheerful yet heavily suppressed voice.
“Kairo, you scared me to death!” Moriel breathed a sigh of relief.
Kairo ran over quickly, grabbed Moriel’s hand, and under the faint starlight, Moriel could see her face filled with anxiety and fear.
“What’s wrong, Kairo? What happened?”
“You’re finally back! I thought you would never come back again. I was so scared!” Moriel felt Kairo’s hand trembling slightly, and her voice sounded tearful.
“Tell me, Kairo, what’s going on in the city?” Moriel frowned, seemingly already anticipating something.
Si Shi Qi stepped around the two of them and took a few steps forward, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings.
“It’s the Mishima Merchant Guild. Their men searched your house and almost destroyed the Stone of the Future! I happened to pass by that day and thought you had returned. When I went to ask around, I almost got caught by them. They were very aggressive and asked where you were. I was terrified! What did you do, Moriel? How could this happen? Weren’t you exploring the swamp with Lord Bloodaxe? By the way, where is Lord Bloodaxe?” Kairo glanced behind Moriel, where there was a vast expanse of black swampland.
“Mishima and… and two others are still buried in the ruins of the temple in the swamp. Even if they could get out, they’d never be able to return to Rain City before us. Without Mishima’s own orders, why would the Mishima Merchant Guild target me? Could it be they had their eyes on me even before they reached the temple?” Moriel pondered silently, not answering Kairo’s question.
Si Shi Qi looked toward the town. Aside from Old Tom, who was dozing off at the entrance to Rain City, he didn’t see anyone else.
“Run away, Moriel! I happened to buy some things—here’s a basket of food and two robes. Take them and run away. Trust me, terrible things will happen if you go back to the city!” Kairo pushed the basket in her arms toward her, looking anxious.
“Little Red Riding Hood, don’t you have a grandmother?” Si Shi Qi glanced back at Kairo and muttered.
Moriel suddenly felt a bit ashamed. Facing this innocent and kind girl, her words earlier might have been too harsh.
“No, we need to go into the city!” Moriel resolved firmly.