Amid the rubble stood the blonde, thinking about what she had done wrong or what she had done right, but in the end she only uttered a single phrase.
"This wasn't part of the plan"
"You fucking bitch, how dare you…" said the masked mage while he remained stunned, touching his intact chest, even his skin was free of the tattoo, and even his mask looked brand new.
Lucian took advantage of the moment and lunged forward with the last of his strength, managing to subdue the masked man and pin him against a massive rock using the contract dagger and his sword.
A scream of pain escaped from the mask as the cultists began rising one by one, they were wounded and their clothes were burning, they looked like undead beings without any will of their own.
"Damn old man, let me go, I'll kill you both!" snapped the masked mage.
Ebony watched as the badly injured cultists slowly approached, leaving trails of blood on the ground.
"Miss, hurry up and heal me, I can't hold on much longer with these injuries"
"S-sure!... Understood!"
In a rush, the blue-eyed girl placed her hands on the wounded elf's shoulder, but the more she focused, the less she could feel her magic.
"You're a fucking idiot for healing me, girl, they would've died instantly to the incredible power of my lord, but now I'll capture you and experiment on your bodies, I won't let you rest in peace" the mage shouted as he struggled against his improvised restraints.
"Oh come on, old man, shut up already, I saved your life, show a little gratitude by keeping quiet" the masked man replied while his blood ran down the rock he was pinned to.
"You didn't save my life, you ruined my noble sacrifice, even dying by a sandal would've been less humiliating than living thanks to your slut magic"
The elf interrupted the moment by bursting into laughter while clutching his injured shoulder.
"Hey, pointy ears, shut up, at least she saved us" the girl snapped, thinking he was mocking her.
"Yeah, yeah, but this, ha ha ha… Ahh, in all my decades in the human world I've never seen anything like this"
"Shut up! You only delayed the inevitable, filthy thieves" Ebony replied as she tried to focus.
Seeing this, Lucian used the last of his magic to summon roots from the ground, wrapping around the rock and the masked man's body, binding him tightly.
"It's not that big a deal, I just used healing magic by accident, I'm still new at—" the girl said, until she was interrupted by the elf coughing loudly.
"If it's true you just obtained your Healer trait, then you still haven't learned its rules, have you, slacker?" Lucian said while staring at her seriously, signaling her to stop talking.
"S-sorry… that's true" the blonde replied shyly.
"I'll explain, Healers have rules and conditions, rules are restrictions that allow them to access new spells, like not harming animals and then being able to summon spirits, for example" the elf explained while glancing at the masked man.
"But along with each spell come one or more conditions to use it, and all healing spells share one condition, they can only heal people they care about"
"Care about, huh… and what the hell does that mean?" Ebony shot back.
"It means you can only heal people you like, or at least don't hate, and the highest level of a Healer is reached when they love someone, they can even save the person they love from death itself, do you understand?"
"Uh-huh, how interesting…" the blonde sounded bored and uninterested, until Lucian nodded toward the mage, whose ears had turned red as he looked away, causing Ebony to blush and explode in anger.
"Of course not! No no no, bullshit!... a-and I'm not into that, I mean… I don't like guys that ugly!"
"Fuck you! It's not like you're that hot!" the mage snapped back.
"Drop dead, psycho, besides I don't even know you, how would I ever like you?"
"You know, if you want, I can leave you two alone" Lucian joked between laughs.
"Go fuck yourself" the lovebirds said at the same time.
The elf kept laughing while the mage and the girl avoided eye contact out of embarrassment, but that didn't change the situation, and Ebony knew it.
"(Damn long-eared bastard… But if this is true, it's bad… I healed that asshole when he wanted to kill me, and now I can't use my magic on Lucian even though he's my ally… Something is wrong with this stupid trait)"
She thought as sweat began to form from her pointless effort, while the cultists continued closing in.
"(Think, think… It's impossible for us to win… If only I hadn't healed him)"
Ebony looked at the black dagger embedded in the mage's palm, remembering the rules of the game, rules that perhaps hadn't changed much over time.
"I invoke the fifth!"
"What the hell?" said the masked man as the cultists froze.
"What are you talking about? Hurry up and heal me" said Lucian.
"Relax, sweetheart, don't worry, you don't need to kill them" Ebony replied with a confident, cynical tone.
"Sweetheart?" the elf raised an eyebrow, staring seriously at her.
"Yes, relax, we don't need to pretend anymore, these gentlemen won't hurt us" the small-chested blonde stepped closer to the masked man and pointed at him.
"Listen, discount mage, either way I saved your life, and according to the fifth rule of your cult, whoever saves a member's life is entitled to a gift, and I demand that dagger in your hand as my reward for your life" Ebony said with a sly smile.
"Nice try, bitch, but that only works if your intention to use the dagger is trustworthy, so what's your intention, thief?"
"Well, I… I, Ebony of House, umm… Strange… declare that I want the dagger in order to marry Lucian of the Emerald Gloves"
"Emerald Grove…" the elf corrected indignantly.
"Yeah yeah, whatever, I claim my gift and I want that dagger, also look at its color" Ebony pointed at the black crystal dagger, and when the mage saw it, all the cultists snapped out of their trance and collapsed screaming in pain.
"It's black… how the fuck is it black!" the masked man shouted.
"It's already been used, even if you kill us now, the dagger is useless, because it now holds our contract, our promise… I'm sorry for stealing it, but it was the only way to get married without breaking the laws against miscegenation"
The masked man didn't know how to respond, he tried to think as his gaze searched for lies in the girl's expression, but she was resolute, unlike the elf, who stood there with his mouth hanging open.
"Heh… Fine, if what you're saying is true, bitch, then how did you heal me?"
"I'm the best Healer on the continent, even if you try to kill me I can heal you, so don't get stupid ideas, I'm already married" Ebony said while looking away.
"In that case, you wouldn't mind proving it, right?" the masked man said.
"No… I mean yes… Well, a little?" the blonde replied nervously.
At that moment, the mage released magic violently, the energy was so dense it shattered the rock, and the roots binding him rotted away.
"I'll put it simply, you lying fucking bitch, right now heal your lover or kiss him, prove your love, or I'll kill him right now"