“HEY, STOP RIGHT THERE OR I WILL BE FORCED TO MAKE YOU STOP.”

Mei followed after the shadow that was getting away faster and faster from her. She did not know how it was even possible for someone to get away from her this easily.

Unless the other was as powerful as Mei or exceeded her magic powers, they couldn’t hide from Mei. And yet, the person running away had somehow made it possible.

“This is the last warning for you. If you don’t stop now then I will retaliate. But if you do stop now, then I won’t harm you ever.”

Mei was being generous right now. Her instincts were telling her to chase down her prey and dismantle it. But Mei was more than her instincts (no matter what the others said about her, she knew how to control herself at times.)

However, the shadow she was chasing did not seem to want to comply with her.

It took a sudden right turn and disappeared from immediate view. Now that was a grave insult Mei found hard to swallow.

Not only had she lost the signs of that shadow, but she had also been made a fool out of. Mei was not going to take it sitting down.

“Fuck, this is it now. Time to show you what I am made up of.”

Her temper gave rise to her magic. Fire was usually weak against rocks and ground but Mei’s temper fueled her magic and it ended up blasting the wall down.

Once the wall was down, Mei could see the fleeing shadow of that person. It would be easy to shoot down with such a clear vision in front of her.

The motion of drawing her bow and pulling the string was natural. Her core vibrated with magic, forming the arrow before Mei let go.

The cloaked figure took a sharp turn back, her body not showing any signs of being afraid of Mei’s attack.

‘There is no way they can dodge my attack. What are they being so cocky for?’

Mei fired the arrow but someone stuck her side, changing the aim of the arrow. At the same time, the female in front of her took out a familiar metallic object and fired back.

‘A gun? Who uses a gun in this day and age? What are we in? The late 2000s.’

Nowadays the concept of guns was all but a fantasy. With everyone having access to magic, guns had all but gone extinct in the market.

The only ones that could be found were in the collections of high-class merchants or historic museums.

But the one that cloaked figure had fired did not seem to belong to any such groups. It was too well-maintained and oiled to be an antique.

The unexpected shock of being hit in the side and having the gun fired at her made Mei lose focus and get hit by that shot.

It should not have been a big deal when Mei dug into her arm to take out the bullet.

But it was.

There was something about that bullet that made Mei feel wobbly and her hand was still stuck.

‘I’m not healing. But that should be impossible to happen. Why am I not healing?’

As a goddess, there was no injury that Mei’s body could not heal. Her regeneration rate was the fastest out of everyone in her group so this new injury was a surprise to see.

“Ah, so they were not lying to us. This bullet does work. Too bad that we got the wrong target on our end. Now we only have one shot left.”

The voice sounded familiar but Mei could not concentrate to know who had spoken. The cloaked figure was walking closer to Mei, her steps slow and deliberate to intimidate.

“W-Who are you?”

Mei wanted to know. The sensation of pain was making Mei’s legs go weak. It had been eons since she had felt such agony.

The pain was a foreign sensation Mei did not know how to deal with. Her body was confused at the lack of relief it was feeling as well. It had sent Mei’s system into overdrive and it was all over the place.

“Who am I? Tsk, it breaks my heart to see that my aunt does not even remember my voice. But then again, you never really cared for me beyond me being my mother’s daughter so what can I expect from you.”

Mei had no idea what kind of crap this lady was sprouting. Why did she have to care about someone who was not her?

“Still not remember. Well then, maybe having a look on my face will help you remember me.”

The cloak came down and Mei watched wide-eyed as the familiar face slithered into view. It was Asami’s smile that greeted her.

“Hello, aunt Mei. Did you miss me?”

After centuries of no contact, Asami had decided to show herself, and what a spectacular manner she had revealed her true colors.

“You! What are you planning on doing?”

Mei tried to move but her body felt heavy. Her eyelids were heavy as well and Mei wanted to go to sleep.

‘What a foreign sensation this is. How long has it been since I required any sleep.’

It had been too long for Mei. Her body had all but forgotten this sensation but now those old feelings of hers were coming back to her.

This pain and this tiredness reminded Mei of being human.

“It’s a shame that this little medicine will not kill you off but we can always finish you ourselves and take your core. Now just sit still and we will finish this job-“

“And then you will blame it on me, right? I cannot say that I am impressed by your choice.”

Mei’s vision turned golden for a second and another familiar voice joined the trio. But this one felt more welcoming to Mei.

It was one she had longed to hear for some time now. She had not heard Seraphina talk ever since they had that big fight.

“Looks like we will not need to hunt for our prey this time. Our prey decided to walk toward her death all on her own.”

Now that voice was one Mei had never heard before but she did want to look up at who it was that was speaking.

But more than that, Mei wanted Seraphina to leave this place and save her life. These people had something that could even harm a goddess so it was not safe to be with them.

“S-Seph, r-run!”

Mei had never expected that she would ever use these words in this context before but this was all she could let out.

“Yes, aunty Seph. You should run away like the coward you are. Don’t worry, we will hunt you down once we are done with Aunt Mei here. It should not take that long to-“

“Shut up. I have heard enough bull** for today. How dare you all come in here like you own this place and then sully my honor. I will not forgive you.”

Mei had seldomly seen Seraphina get angry. Seraphina had always been someone who had too attached to those she loved and wanted to live a normal life.

She had been all but a tiny baby when she had been dragged into everything and a part of her never grew up.

Every time Mei saw her, all she saw were the tiny nine years old following them. And that was what their argument was about as well.

“Enough chit-chat. I will be extracting her core now.”

The sharp pain cut through the numbness that was settling around Mei’s mind someone was digging into her chest and looking around.

But it hurt even more when that hand was forcefully pushed out and the person tormenting Mei was thrown back.

“You, recover your powers for now. I will take care of these intruders. They made a mistake of intruding on my domain so they shall pay the price.”

Usually, Mei would not have been worried about Seraphina in her own domain. A domain was a place where a goddess had the most influence and power.

But there was something weird about the confidence of those two intruders. They did not look worried about their safety at all which worried Mei.

It was as if they had expected things to happen this way and did not mind being dragged into Seraphina’s domain.

“Seph, be careful. I have a bad feeling about what they are planning.”

That was all Mei could let out of her mouth. She could not even understand what she said, much less expect Seraphina to know what she said.

But the goddess gave Mei a solid and reassuring look. That look said that everything would be alright in the end. Mei did not know why she felt so reassured by Seraphina’s protection but she did.

‘The kid I used to look after had grown up. Is this how parents feel when they see their kid accomplishing something.’

It was a good feeling to have and Mei felt hopeful for the first time.