The battle was won, and the Almac Party moved into the quarter-finals. That said, Dorthaunzee had not completed her mission. Not really. She realized she needed to get the party to the day of the quarter-finals. That wasn't so bad, but it had disappointed her when she first discovered it.

Now, late into the night, Dorthaunzee was stepping outside of the inn the party was staying in. She leaned against the inn's sandstone wall, her lantern's light bright and warm, and looked at the starry sky. She was feeling nostalgic. She was missing her 'place to return to.' She closed her eyes and prayed that her Lord would look over Elma, and give her the strength to survive just a little longer. Dorthaunzee's mission was almost done. Only a few hours were left...

Dorthaunzee opened her eyes after experiencing a strange chill. She looked around until her eyes landed on a certain rooftop. Dorthaunzee pouted and shook her head, exasperated. Without saying a word, she marched off in a huff.

***

Standing at the edge of a three-story building's roof was a certain red-haired and cloaked woman. Her gaze, the air she carried, the many weapons her cloak hid--it all screamed danger. If danger was ooze, she would have been so drenched in it that she would appear like a slime monster.

This woman stood there with her eyes fixed on a particular room--the one Almac was staying in.

"Very soon... Hero--HUH?!"

She lost her balance all of a sudden--someone had pulled on her cloak and pulled her away from the edge. The woman, a master of the clandestine arts, turned immediately, pulling out two daggers as she did.

Who was the person that could sneak up on her like that--she had wondered. Certainly, they would need to be a terrifying master assassin.

Her eyes were immediately greeted by a lantern housing an ominous flame. Perplexed, her eyes followed the lantern down its lamppost until she locked eyes with the pouting nun.

"A--A holy woman?" the woman asked, her brows raised. "Hold on. You're the one that joined Alm's party..."

Dorthaunzee didn't have time for conversation. She swiftly whacked the woman on her bum with her staff, startling her, then shook her staff at the edge of the building, rattling it many times.

"Pardon me?" the woman asked, recoiling.

Dorthaunzee fumed. She was upset that the woman was being so careless. She rattled her staff at the building's edge and then whacked the woman many times.

"Oww, oww, stop that--is it the roof? I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I won't stand so close to the edge!" the woman cried, shielding her head and ass from the irritated nun.

Dorthaunzee stopped, smiled with her eyes, and puffed her chest out with pride. She had successfully thwarted a stupid woman's impending careless accident. The ground below would not have her today--Fainn would be so proud, or rather, Dorthaunzee hoped he would be.

Dorthaunzee patted the woman's head as the woman, herself, winced beneath the touch.

"Sorry, ma'am... Wait."

The woman remembered herself. She, a master in her field, was apologizing to some random holy woman? Why?

She looked into the nun's eyes, and memories that she thought she had discarded came flooding back.

She, as a child, had lived at a temple. The holy women there who took care of orphans--they were strict, but they were warm. This would-be agent of darkness couldn't take it, however. She, someone discarded by her parents, couldn't accept that warmth.

That was the moment that she started down her current path... She refused to remember anything else. All that she needed to know was the origins of her soft spot for holy women.

"Hmm? What's the matter?" the woman asked. She had noticed that Dorthaunzee had tugged at her sleeves.

Dorthaunzee put her hands together and gestured that the woman join her in prayer.

"You want to pray, huh?" the woman asked as she put her daggers away.

She watched as Dorthaunzee faced the city and bowed her head. The woman, feeling nostalgic, followed her lead.

What is she praying for, the woman wondered.

...

To answer her question, Dorthaunzee started her prayer by begging that the fool next to her not stand so near the edge of tall buildings. She knew her Lord wasn't the type to bestow common sense, but she hoped an exception would be made. This woman needed a lot of it. Then, she prayed for her friends at the Hero Hub.

...

An itch--a truly annoying curiosity--overcame the assassin. Who was this holy woman that could so easily ignore the stealth magic the woman had cast over her body? Why was the holy woman so silent herself?

The woman gripped a dagger again. It would just be a quick try. She wanted to confirm that the holy woman wasn't so unaware that she wouldn't notice the assassin's dagger coming for her neck.

The woman sharply inhaled and swung her hand out--

"Guh--"

She stopped eight inches away from Dorthaunzee's neck. She was covered in a cold sweat, and her entire body was shaking. She bit her tongue, put her dagger away, and clasped her hands together. Her thoughts became loud.

Who the hell is she?!

The moment she attacked, the woman--one sensitive to other people's threat level--caught a vision of the danger Dorthaunzee posed. A shadowy aura, hundreds of black tentacles, and red piercing eyes that looked down at her from above--all of that surrounded the sweet nun.

How is someone like that just walking around the way she is? She's even more dangerous than the Lord of Black Water, Strevnvix!

For those wondering, Strevenvix was the name of one of the ancient evils of Tella Dohne. That she knew who that was--well, that was a story for another time.

I... I might die if I anger this woman.

The woman opened her eye and glanced at Dorthaunzee. Dorthaunzee, in turn, opened her eye--

Damn it--she's looking at me!

--and smiled with her eyes. She returned to prayer.

The woman breathed a sigh of relief. She decided she wasn't going to chance it. She was going to pray with the holy woman for as long as the woman wished. Surely, it wouldn't take so long, right?

She was wrong. Oh, she was so wrong.

Dorthaunzee, a devout woman that prayed for fun, prayed until dawn.

"I... I can't believe we just stood here until dawn," muttered the woman, her eyes sunken in and the bags beneath them very pronounced.

Dorthaunzee patted the woman on her head and skipped away, delighted she had such a good session and had a companion throughout it all.

As soon as Dorthaunzee left, the woman fell to her knees and was on the verge of tears.

"Damn it!" she cried. "I wasted all that time!"

Dorthaunzee didn't know it at the time, but she had severely disrupted critical operations that could have ended in the young Hero's untimely death.

***

At the main colosseum--

Almac, Rolf, and Faye stood a few feet away from the end of the tunnel. Out there was the roaring crowd, one waiting to meet them and the other quarter-finalists. These three kids were as nervous as they were happy to have gotten there.

"We actually did it, Alm," Rolf said. "We just have to go all the way."

"And Miss Maiden healed us up one last time too!" Faye followed.

"Yeah... We've got this, guys!"

Dorthaunzee stood behind the three, eagerly waiting for them to go forward.

"Miss Maiden," Almac said. "Thank you! We couldn't have done it without you!"

The three stepped out into the arena together, eliciting more cheers and roars.

They had made it to the quarter-finals.

Almac took it all in, but before he took his first step onto the arena in the center of the pit, he turned around. He was confused at first, but then a smile broke across his face.

"Ahh... Be well, Miss Maiden."

No one was in the tunnel they entered from.