R. A. T. H

Sixty-Two

Thunder raged and lightning crackled. A fist barged into another's and an explosion ripped through the space, shredding the asphalt floor into brittle.

Brian Chaz leapt back, holes upon his body as he glared at the woman before him, who was likewise in the same boat.

"The war's already over, dammit Liz! Walker's dead!"

Her head of crimson hair blew and she spat blood onto the ground before her fists collided.

"You know I lost my 3rd rim, right?" She snared. "I don't care if the old man's dead, let me beat you up!"

The dark-elf slum lord gripped his bloody fists tighter.

He scoffed.

"You never cared about being a slum lord all that much anyway. Now be honest, gorilla, you just wanna fight, don't you?"

She laughed.

"So what? Gonna run away with your tail between your legs?"

He sighed, "What a crazy woman. . ."

Then grinned.

"Fine, let's play for a bit more."

— — —

Rose stated as a satchel of mana orbs dropped on the ground before her. In the split moment that the flap was open, she counted 10 of them attached to a mechanical contraption that kept them in place. It seemed it was a storage designed specifically to hold cores.

Her emerald eyes trailed up, looked past legs of brown, a tight, business-like, skirt of white, and a crass face with crimson eyes and golden hair.

"Here." The dark elf pointed, feet gently tapping the thing. "We meant to give you this earlier but, well, you can see how that worked out, can't you? It's a Core Storage used by mages and the Sol. Series. Consider it a gift."

Elsa stared wide-eyed at the thing. "That's fricken awesome. Huh, can I get one too?"

"You? What do you need it for?" At some point, Mare had also sat to the left of Rose, eyebrow raised.

"Tch, I'm a mage you know, why wouldn't I need it?"

The info-broker grinned. "Oh? Where's your license?"

"Why you little shit—"

Rose ignored both girls and grabbed the satchel. It was belt-like and could be wrapped around her waist. She watched as the mana orb in her hand was fully drained and took another one from the bag before equipping it where she sat. she nodded, watching her arm regaining its skin.

"Thank you," She said.

Then she looked to the distance.

She didn't have to squint. With her eyes. She could make out the shape of the figures still going at it even as the cloudiness of the sky was receding.

The dark elf exasperatedly sighed.

"Those two. . .honestly. . .they're quite similar. Don't mind them, they're simply having fun." Lucy Chaz provided a wry smile, hands to her hip as she crooked her head in the direction of the iron castle. "The war's already over."

Rose looked at the boxed thing shining under the slowly receding clouds.

"You won't tell us what exactly that is?"

Lucy smiled.

"Like we said, a relic is a relic. It once belonged to us and was used during the Great War. We simply rightfully took it back. In time, you'll surely know what it is, but there's a more pressing matter at hand."