It was quiet. Too quiet. My nerves were on edge. Crickets were singing and the air was humid and warm, causing a thin layer of sweat to spread on my forehead and neck. Distantly, the sound of fire reached us, but no battle screams or anything of the like to give us any indication as how the other battle was going.

Just eerie silence as we kept on walking through that darkened hallway, with only the light of the moon guiding us.

“Maybe he did fall asleep in the end? It’s a little strange we haven’t encountered him yet” Noah spoke with a carefree tone. His posture was relaxed and his smile, as always, cheeky. He was twirling his weapon at his side a little too lightly. Wasn't he afraid he would break something? And in case you’re wondering, no, Noah didn’t have a sword.

Despite the manga being set in a pseudo-European world, none of the heroes wielded a sword as their main weapon. I remembered I found the fact both strange but interesting at the time. There are other types of weapons, guys! The sword it’s not the only thing you can use to fight!

You already know of Isabella’s throwing knifes, but she had a pair of elbow blades as well. The nondescript guy, who turned out to be the famous Domenic, had a lance as well as a very long sword hanging behind his back. And our beloved and current team leader, the light of our world and precious treasure of all had…

“Look everyone! And cower at the power of my glaive!” he shouted as he raised the long pole over his head, the point of the blade glistening under the moonlight. I wanted to hit him. Alright, so we entered the castle thanks to a big explosion, but does he have to yell like that, especially in the middle of a deserted hallway?

Isabella shared my feelings. She hit him upside down the head. “Idiot! What are you screaming for!? Do you want to reveal our position?!”

And she obviously yelled every single one of her words, too.

“You two, silent” thankfully, Domenic chastised them roughly, sending them a glare that had them cowering. He sighed as he continued to guide us forward. “The butler isn’t moving from his current position. He is around five-hundred meters to the right. The problem is…” he placed a hand over one of the walls, frowning; “there’s no connection between this hallway and the room he’s in. I have no idea what he’s doing, but his energy’s spiking. He’s nervous.”

Wow, did he know all of that only by sensing him? How cool! How come this guy was never introduced in the manga? His ability it’s one in a million!

As if sensing my enthusiasm –pun intended– he turned to me and gave me a kind smile. “It’s not that difficult of an ability to learn. Would you like me to teach you once this is all over?”

My eyes sparkled. Noah snorted, ruining my fun. “It’s easy if you have the right affinity for it. If you don’t, then you have to be damn powerful first before you can feel shit.”

“It’s alright. The lady here has an affinity for it.”

“I do?” I asked, bewildered. Domenic nodded.

“I can feel it. Similar users can sense others with an ability like theirs. This is doubly true for a sensor, who can determine the affinity of different types of magic for people, not only their own.”

I gasped, excited. Do you mean I can truly learn something so cool like sensing people before they are close? Imagine the possibilities! I could run away from annoying people long before they had the opportunity to know I was there!

However, before I could wholeheartedly agree to my new master, Domenic frowned, readying his lance and acquiring an offensive position. Isabella and Noah did the same, taking out their weapons.

“Position?” Isabella asked.

“Six-hundred meters and getting closer. Unarmed, but strong magical ability” he said, like he was giving out a report. In a sense, he kinda was. I scurried off to stand behind them, protecting myself like the non-combatant, possible collateral damage that I was, and waited with them.

Right in that moment, as if on cue, clouds moved with the wind covering up the moon and hiding our only source of light. I bit my lips in anxiousness, not knowing if this was a good or bad thing.

The moment the sound of hurried and determined footsteps walking in our direction was apparent, Noah and Domenic jumped into action, blades poised to attack like the long-ranged wielders they were. Perfectly synchronized, they used the darkness to their advantage and thrust at the same time.

I felt more than saw the shadow jumping back, and the sound of something hitting the floor alerted me that in that movement, the shadow let go of whatever it was holding. Various items scattered, rolling everywhere, but none of the men paid attention to that as they attacked again. I could barely recognize them while they were moving, thrusting and pushing against the other shadow. It was too dark. However, I could see the shadow had a hard time evading.

The smallest shadow, that I believed was Noah, thrust the blade downwards and the shadow of the stranger dodged, lifting its leg and aiming at Noah’s head while he was down. One of Isabella’s knifes lodged itself on its leg and the shadow grunted with pain, but was quick to move back from the other incoming knifes.

Domenic went forward and used his lance to try to trip it. The shadow took out the knife embedded into its leg with the same movement it used to shove the lance away. It sliced at Domenic, who took a step back and raised his lance in an upwards motion, almost managing to cut it if not for a light blue barrier that emerged from the shadow, protecting it as the lance scratched against the magical surface. For a moment there, I got a glance of the body of the shadow, enough to determine it was a man, but not to see his face.

Another barrier shone when Noah attacked him from behind, but it left one of his sides open for Isabella who threw another set of knifes that he deflected before running at him with one of her blades and slicing at him, taking advantage of the second he put down his arm. He hissed, staggering. Then, he raised his hand. And in that moment I felt a force pushing against me, like an intangible arm, managing to throw me against a wall along with my companions. I yelped in pain, both at the physical blow and at the magic throwing my senses in disarray.

Something round was poking my back. I frowned, watching the man running away as Domenic and Isabella stood up, trying to catch him, Domenic staggering a little more than Isabella. Noah looked a little worse for wear, but it was expected, being the most magically enhanced of the four. He was also the most sensitive. I took the object hurting my back and felt my eyes widen as I discovered what it was.

It was an onion.

A memory stirred inside me, and my breath caught in my throat. The onions, the blue barrier, the magical pulse that left Noah out of combat…

“Wait! Stop! He isn’t an enemy!” I yelled, jumping up with effort and running in the direction of the scuffle. Well, he wasn’t strictly speaking an enemy, but even so… “Mathias! It’s me, Elaine! Guys, don’t kill him!”

“Huh?!” Noah was the first to question, turning his head around and giving me an incredulous look. He was sobbing his head, one of his eyes closed in pain as he was surely trying to recuperate from the overload on his senses. “Isn’t the noble boy fighting his father in the other direction?”

“Elaine?” this time it was Mathias’ voice, who had stopped as soon as he heard me. Conveniently in that moment, the clouds blocking the moon moved with the soft breeze and the previously darkened hallway was illuminated. Mathias was frowning, looking from me to the other three with a look of suspicion. “What are you doing here? Where’s Lucas?”

“We found this ragtag group of mercenaries while we were running and your brother hired them to help us rescue you. Though to be completely honest, they already had a mission here before so our plans just kinda merged together” I explained while walking over to him. Isabella and Domenic looked at me, bewildered, as I passed right before them towards the boy they were attacking earlier. I held out the onion to Mathias once I was in front of him and he took it, with the same dumbfounded expression from before. “You should be grateful I decided to help you after the hell you made me go through.”