It was a new day, Lucas sat close to the fire, its flames dwindling as it had been on throughout the night. Karl walked over to him, setting up his trousers as he had gone to relieve himself in the trees just up ahead.
"What's the plan?" Lucas asked as Karl sat down next to him.
"We wait for the others to wake up, then we discuss what we need to do." He replied, sifting his fingers through his hair.
Karl looked back at the others who were still asleep, he looked at Deborah for a while, his eyes glimmering and then he shook his head as if trying to snap himself out of a trance.
Lucas noticed and then smirked a little, his thoughts flying back to when he met "her". But then he instantly became sad when he remembered what happened to the orphanage and how she died.
David started waking up, he stretched his arms and yawned, he brought his hand to his eyes to clean them. He got up, walked over to Lucas and then bowed a little.
"Good morning Lucas."
Lucas was shocked at this turn of events, why was David greeting him? Was it because he was younger than he was or was it because of something else.
"Um… morning." Lucas replied. David raised his head and then turned to Karl, he nodded at him and then walked to where he kept his longsword, didn't have a sheath so he held it in his hands.
"Why don't you tell Debbie to transfer that artifact over to you?" Karl asked. "Carrying it around would be a bother don't you think?"
And he was right, artifacts are weapons, armour or physical or spiritual amplification made from Ruin energy, killing Cursed Creatures of high ranks facilitates the creation of an artifact based on the kind of creature killed, much like Lucas's Ravens Wings.
Moreover, artifacts are always invisible, they can be summoned from the Writ itself as it governs everything regarding the Imposition as well as all the Ruin in the world. Transferring artifacts is fairly simple as well, all both parties have to do is hold hands and they're done.
"I'll let her know when she wakes up." David replied, he walked over to a clear path and then started swinging his hands.
"He literally has a faculty that lets him master any weapon, what does he need to train for?" Lucas asked and then his eyes widened after realizing he just said all that out loud.
Karl nearly burst out laughing but instead chuckled a little. He then got up and turned to Lucas and then started:
"Him being a weapon master doesn't mean he can perfectly utilize them all to their fullest capacity." Karl knelt on one knee close to Lucas and then continued:
"His physical capabilities don't meet up with what's needed and so he needs to train his movements to be as precise as possible."
Lucas nodded, turning his head away in embarrassment. He never wanted to speak out loud, he never liked to, but being around these people was making him turn into something else.
'This isn't what I'm supposed to be doing. We have a World Eater to kill and here I am thinking about irrelevant things.' He thought to himself.
With Karl's soul flame and David's weapon mastery, he was sure they could pull it off, even if it's only for a little while.
Deborah screamed as she woke up, her entire body covered in sweat. The other three stared at her with shocked looks on their faces.
David ran over and crouched beside her, "What's wrong?"
"I'm… I'm fine." She replied, she turned to the other two, "Is there a place where I can take my bath around here?"
Lucas opened his mouth to speak but Karl immediately stepped forward. "Well, there's a stream in the forest over there." Karl pointed in the direction sure they came from the previous night.
Deborah nodded in affirmation and then pointed at Lucas. "Follow me."
"Why me." Lucas asked, clearly shocked at her utterances.
"You just need to keep me safe, if you see anything you can't kill then come get me and we'll run away." Deborah replied, her face as serious as it could ever be.
"Fine then, but what if you're…?" Lucas's voice trailed off, Deborah instantly knew what he meant, her cheeks glowing bright red as she just shrugged.
"Just scream and I'll be fully clothed in no time." She said as they started walking in the direction of the stream. "Oh and also, do not peep or I'll make sure you die."
Lucas gulped, he didn't want to get on anyone's bad side and so he would take Deborah's words literally. As they walked away, David held his chest, a line of blood coming from one of his nostrils.
Karl immediately notices and then snaps his fingers, the healing flames engulf David. It seems his soul had yet to recover from the damage it had suffered from Karl's flames.
Lucas and Deborah got to the stream and then she immediately took off her shirt, she was putting on a tanktop underneath but it didn't hide much of her features. Lucas's face became red as he saw her…
"What are you looking at?" She asked, her frown visible.
"Um nothing, just admiring your beauty." Lucas said as he turned away. "Well, have fun."
"Don't go too far!" She screamed as he walked back into the forest.
She took her bath without a hitch, she walked over to where Lucas sat and then tapped his shoulder. "Let's go."
Lucas nodded and then got up, his movements awkward. He hadn't walked alone with a girl for a long time, especially one as beautiful as Deborah was.
"I know you have an artifact, a good one at that." She said, her words stopping him in his tracks. She stopped walking and then turned around to face him. "Why did you lie?"
"Lie? I never got an artifact." Lucas said to her. She instantly started laughing.
"My faculty gives me a little perk where I can view the Writ Interfaces of others and I saw yours. You have an artifact called Ravens Wings." She smiled at him.
Lucas widened his eyes in utter shock, he had done his best to hide that fact but here he was with someone who would just know if he was lying.
"Fine, you got me. Is there anything else you wanna pry into?" Lucas asked.
"Well… I woke up after seeing a vision." She opened up.
A vision? He remembered her faculty was divination and so seeing visions was within her ability's purview.
"What was the vision about?" Lucas asked.
"At the end of this Imposition, one of us will die."