In one of the most majestisions in the nobles' district, Forxis Luminia, Queen Zara's cousin and suitor of the priestess Namira, was listening to the Shadows' report.

  “We haven't been able to find the target. After we lost his trail, we couldn't find his whereabouts anymore. We suspect that he may be in the epiter of the territory, but we couldn't get close enough to iigate. Wheried to ehe spider queen's cave, we were attacked and two of our rades died on the spot.”

  The leader of the Shadow group was rep the situation to Forxis, but his tone of voice was indifferent, which bothered him quite a bit. He was used to people treating him with the respect that a king demands, but the Shadow group didn't seem to be particurly loyal to him, they were simply under his and but not under his plete trol. After all, it was a group that had beeed by the alliance of hat was trying to overthrow his cousin.

  “So, not only did you fail their mission, but you don’t even know the whereabouts of the hybrid?! you be so useless?!!”

  Forxis exploded, he had been accumuting too much frustration these days.The leader of the Shadow group did not respond. He had already given his report, and now he would simply receive a new mission or be put on hold for his mission. There was no third option, Forxis did not have enough authority over them to punish them.

  Forxis saw that the subject remained silent and his mood worsened even more.He hit the table with his fist hard, and excimed“Send your men to search the entire forest, and do not return until they find him!”

  The individual left without uttering a word.

  Forxis sat in one of the fortable armchair that adorhe room, and drank some of the refreshing iced tea that had been prepared by his e. His mood improved as the minutes passed. A knock sou the door, and after getting permission, a middle-aged Lunari entered and bowed. Uhe attitude the Shadow member had previously dispyed, this man had a pletely subservient attitude.

  “Lewis, what happeo the captured intruders, any news?”

  “Your majesty, we have not gotten any more information than what we already knew after the first interrogation.”

  Forxis tapped the table with his fingers, thoughtful. Luke Lyriksen, the hybrid he loo see dead. Acc to the description provided by these prisoners, they had been saved by him. The spider queen had died, ah a high enough cultivation level could realize that just by approag the area. But then, where was that damn hybrid?! Was he still at the epiter? Was there an expert proteg him?Several questions ran through his mind oer another. He finally put aside his thoughts about the young hybrid, as long as he did not approaamira everything would be fine. Namira was his property, and no one was allowed to touch the things that beloo him.

  “How is the situation with the novice?” Forxis tio inquire.

  “We are keeping him alive as you ordered, your majesty. We are also subjeg him to a daily torture session. The guards have been ordered to make his life as miserable as possible”

  “Excellent, tinue in the same way. But be careful not to destroy his mind. I want him to suffer as much as possible, and to be able to tell of his suffering wheime es.”

  trary to what Flynn believed, Elian had not been arrested because he mentioned his name and requested an audieh the novice. Instead, he had been arrested on Forxis’ orders.

  Forxis had learhat Elian had been serving Luke, and that he himself had even escorted him to Namira’s chambers that day. It didn't matter that Elian did it on the orders of the church. He sidered Luke to be his enemy, and anyone who had aionship with him should pay the price. He had eve his sights on his great-uncle, and the rest of his Lunari family.

  “Let's see how long you hide from me. I'm dying to see your expression when you see the state I'm going to leave your loved ones in,” Forxis thought grimly.

  “Your majesty, I e to report that the holy dy Namira is trying to access the prison to see the prisoners. We have mao stop her momentarily, but I don't think we keep her out much longer. If she seeks the support of Queen Zara…”

  “Say no more, I'll take care of the matter. You may leave.”

  Lewis bowed and hurried away.Forxis put down the cup of iced tea and stood up. “It’s time to pay the old high priest a visit,” he said as he disappeared from the room.

  ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..........................................

  Luke made his way through the forest without any major plications. His speed was much faster than when he had first ehe forest. In just one day, he was already in the viity of Lunaria, within the Lunari's area of ??influe was likely that at any moment he would enter one of the groups of royal guards, who usually patrolled in that zohe memory of that beautiful captain of the royal guard, who had captured him when he had just reinated, came to his mind.“I think her name was… Nyx? Her long legs will live forever in my memories!” Luke thought, showing the appreciation for female beauty that ahy young man would show! Not that he was scivious…

  Suddenly, Luke stopped.The surroundings had suddenly ged. At first ghe ge was imperceptible, but for Luke who had Xyra's eye it was not difficult the ge. Even if he couldn't activate the eye with all its power because the system wasn't w at the moment.

  “Show yourselves, I know you're there,” Luke said emotionlessly.

  There was a distortion in space, and several figures emerged from what seemed to be a spatial rift. These people were all dressed in robes simir to those worn by the priests of the Dragon Goddess Church, but in different colors.

  A woman who was old but still retained a bit of her former beauty, stepped forward and looked at Luke with her deep red eyes. She then fixed her gaze otle girl Luke was carrying in his arms, and her expression became solemn.

  “Human, I allow you to leave alive if you hand over that child to me without resistance.”

  The woman, like several of the people apanying her, had cultivation levels higher than Luke, and they could se. However, the young human in front of them gave them a feeling of unease, like a calm ke. It was better to avoid a flict if possible.

  Luque narrowed his eyes, thoughtful. Looking closely at the people in front of him, he got an idea of ??their identities.Their features were simir to those of the Lunari, they also had scales on their fad neck. What other race was there that had dragon scales and red eyes? It must be the legendary Aetheris race, which had supposedly beeroyed turies ago.

  “What are your iions? What do you pn to do with this child?”

  The woman saw that Luke had no malice, and seemed to be ed about the little girl's well-being. He probably wouldn't be a sve trader. His expression rexed a little and he answered

  “riests of the church of the dragon goddess. We believe that this child is the avatar of oddess, that's why we have e to fio ensure her well-being.”

  Luke looked at her with Xyra's eye, he didn't seem to be lying. But he still didn't want to give up the little girl. If he could have the help of a goddess iure, he would be able to achieve his goals and plete missions more easily.

  “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

  Luke asked, and before the leader of the other side could answer, one of the priests who also had a high cultivation level excimed angrily.

  “Why waste time with this human Rita? If he doesn’t want to hand over the goddess by fair means, we’ll have to do it by foul means!”

  The old man’s power exploded, flooding the entire surrounding area. Luke took the stick he had strapped to his back, and began to el his energy.

  Seeing that a flict was about to break out, the leader tried to restrain her panion, but he pletely ignored her.

  How dare this weakling defy his will? Someone had to teach him how the world worked! Thought the old man

  Just as Luke prepared to enter bat, the girl opened her eyes once again. She wore a displeased expression, like someone who is awakened from their nap by some annoying noise.She stared at the man who was about to attack Luke ily. The man, who until then had a great momentum, felt as if a bucket of cold water had fallen on him. He immediately dissipated his power, and k down, trembling.

  The priestess leading the group, seeing that the goddess was awake, made a solemn salute.

  “Goddess Kaidara, we are your faithful servants! Five us if we have itted any affront!”

  The girl simply went back to sleep, ign everyone around her.

  “Bloodline suppression… Only the purest bloodline could seal my spiritual powers like that,” said the man who had fallen to his knees with bored breathing.

  “Dear sir, it seems that the goddess does not want to leave your pany, could you e with us to our vilge? I promise you that you will be treated as uest of honor!”Seeing how things were developing, the leader had no choice but to ge the approach with which she treated the matter. They could not separate the goddess from this human, but she had to at least get both of them to return with them to their home.

  Luke thought for a moment and answered.

  “Right now I am busy, what is the location of your vilge? As soon as I finish my business I stop by for a visit.”“Dear sir, you do not uand, it is dangerous for the goddess to be in this pne of reality, there are many powerful forces that covet the power of divinity that the avatar of the goddess possesses. If you remain here you will only attract a lot of enemies unnecessarily!”

  The leader tried hard to vihe young human not to make the mistake of being an easy target.

  Luke took the facts into sideration, and cluded that the woman was right to show some . Indeed, he had been a little careless with his handling of the little girl, after all, the avatar of a weakened god was a great tonic that many monsters at higher cultivation levels yearned for.

  Just as he was thinking of a way out of his dilemma, the girl began to glow and her body dissolved into particles of light that merged with Luke's body.

  Seeing this situation, the eyes of all the individuals that made up the group opeo the limit of what was humanly possible. Then, with a single cry, they k on one knee.

  “Greetings, to the goddess's champion!”

  The avatar of the goddess had merged with the human, that could only mean that the young man before them had been chosen by the goddess to wield her powers a her will on the world. That ged things, the champion of a god had a status even higher than that of the high priest within the church, and an equally strong status among all the desdants of the goddess.

  Luke saw them kneeling, and gave no ahe bels that these people could give him meant nothing to him. At least for now.

  The leader stood up and gave Luke a token that she took out from between her robes.

  “Dear champion, now that the goddess's avatar has merged with you, there is o worry about her attrag enemies with her divinity. However, we would like you to e to our vilge anyway.”

  Luke reparing to reject the offer, but the leader tinued without giving him a ce.

  “I know you have busio attend to, so I will give you this token. Our vilge is in a space separate from the pne of reality we are in now. It is an artificial space that was created by the dragon goddess herself. With this token you enter whenever you want. It be activated from anywhere. When you finish taking care of your business, please e visit us.”

  Luke took the token and put it in his clothes. He then nodded and replied“Very well, as soon as I I will go. You have my promise”

  The leader smiled happily upon hearing that Luke had agreed to her request.

  “Very well, then we will prepare everything for your arrival!”

  The group reparing to leave, but Luke stopped them before they could go.

  “Wait a moment! I have some busio attend tht now, and it is not ve for me to take these people with me, could you take them with you to your vilge?”Luke said pointing at the children of the forest, who were still fainted behind him

  Upon hearing her request, the leader of the group enthusiastically agreed

  “Of course! I assure you to protect the well-being of these people!”

  Luke nodded and said goodbye to the group.

  The leader approached him and gave him a small transparent gem. Seeing Luke's fused look, she expined.

  “This is a transmitter, with it you tact us in case of any emergency, if you , we are willing to give you our help whenever we !”

  Luke felt the siy of the priestess and smiled.

  “Very well, I will keep that in mind. Thank you!”

  The group said goodbye and suddenly disappeared. The space around them began to distort.The Aetheris group and Luke had been all this time inside a spatial pocket that had beeed by them and that was located on a different phan the normal one.Ohe spatial pocket was dissolved, the surroundings returo normal.When Luke returo the normal spatial pne, he found that he was surrounded by several groups of Lunaris wearing the uniform of the royal guard.The Lunaris of the royal guard looked at him alertly, for fear that he would make an abrupt movement.Seeing this group of Lunaris staring at him with hostility and pointing their magic bows at him, Luke felt a sense of nostalgia.It was time to return to Lunaria.