Emma walked forward with her strange band. A horse, vampire, and a little girl walk into a bar.

  The vampire felt a zap at her side and recoiled. “I didn’t forget about you, Karlack! It’s just a funnier joke if you’re not involved.” Another shock to her mana, and Emma grit her teeth. “Hey, can you hear my thoughts or something? Wait, why can’t I hear your thoughts then?”

  Karlack shone once more, sending a wave of mana into Emma’s brain. “That’s because you never tried to understand me.”

  The vampire girl opened her mouth in shock. “You can talk!?”

  Sora grabbed Emma’s arm in concern. “Are you talking to the sword again?”

  “Listen to me, okay! This is not an ordinary sword. It can speak into my mind. It just did that, and I understood it…”

  The little girl looked at the vampire with a frown, clearly wondering if she had any sanity remaining.

  Emma shrugged and focused back on her sword. Do that again…

  “What? Are you trying to make yourself look like a crazy person for that poor little girl?”

  “You know,” Emma said with a frown, staring at her reflection in the sword. “I don’t think I really appreciate your attitude. Also, I expected you would have a boys voice...but you sound like a girl.”

  “What did you expect? I am made of your mana.”

  “You are? Wait...I don’t get it. Your consciousness was formed from my mana?”

  “In a way, I have no recollection of ever being conscious before I started traveling with you.”

  “That’s confusing. Are you just another off shoot of me or something?”

  The sword sent another zap through Emma’s body. “As if I would want to be you. You can think of me as only a tool for you to use.”

  “Really? Most tools are completely obedient? And calling yourself a tool...Don’t you think that’s lowering yourself a bit too low?”

  “Don’t be silly. I am obedient. I turned into those reins when you needed them didn’t I? And I vividly remember cleaning up your mistakes at the beginning, too. When you had no form and didn’t know how to swing a sword, who do you think guided your hand? It sure wasn’t you!”

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  The vampire recoiled in shock. “Ouch, that’s a little harsh, don’t you think? Why are you so mean to me?”

  “Mean? If it wasn’t for me, neither of us would be alive. I’m just giving you what you would call ‘tough love’.”

  Emma frowned and wrinkled her nose. She turned the sword into a small wand and threw it as far as she could. Which was pretty far for a vampire of her strength. It cleared the field they’d been walking on and landed next to a tree in the distance.

  However, the wand reacted by itself. It bounced of the tree and spun in the air, flying incredibly fast. In the end, it bonked the vampire in the head, knocking her on her butt.

  “You little shit…”

  “Heh, you remember that channel? Boomerang! It’s all coming back to you!”

  “I’m going to end you now.” The vampire grabbed both ends of the wand as hard as she could.

  Sora jumped to the defense of the poor spell implement and grabbed onto Emma’s hands.

  “Don’t break it! Karlack’s been your friend all of this time!”

  “Yeah, don’t break me! Without me, you will have no friends…”

  “Shut up! I have friends. Look, there’s Sora!”

  The little girl looked up a the vampire in confusion.

  “Hah, you call that a friend? She’s more like a daughter, no?”

  Then the vampire looked helplessly towards the horse. Arrow responded in kind, pressing her snout to Emma’s chest.

  “I knew I had at least one other friend,” the vampire said with teary eyes.

  The woodlands ahead of them erupted into what sounded like laughter.

  Emma snapped to attention and clasped her sword more seriously. Though, it didn’t take long for the ugly culprits to show themselves. Several gnolls popped out of the line of trees. The bipedal hyenas were orange with black spots, and each of them had small faces with snouts.

  Their laughter grew louder as they spotted the odd group in the distance. Each of the creatures waved around a club in their hands.

  Emma sighed and looked at Sora. “It’s always one thing after another. It looks like your magic lessons might be delayed for a while longer.” The vampire didn’t wait for the little girl to respond. She grabbed her and threw her up on the horse saddle.

  Despite the little girl’s warning before, the vampire used some of her magic power to form reins around the horse’s neck. She looked at the horse and pointed towards the forest ahead of them. “Get her out of here fast. I will join after I finish with these guys.”

  Sora looked down at the vampire in disapproval. “But…”

  “No buts, go now!”

  The horse responded to the orders and charged towards the woodland.

  Emma did the same, only in the direction of the gnolls. One of them thought it was slick and tried to chase after the horse and girl. The gnoll separated from its friends and charged towards arrow.

  The vampire formed a magic spear in her free hand and launched it as fast as she could towards the gnoll’s head. The effect was much better than Emma could even imagine. The spear went straight through the monster’s head and popped out the other side. Emma watched its head explode like a watermelon in a fountain of blood.

  Watching her attack, the other gnolls were more visibly shocked. The six of them that remained stopped their laughter and regarded Emma more seriously.

  Emma looked to the sword in the palm of her hand. “It looks like we will have to go over our differences later. If I manage to kill all of these guys without getting injured, you’ll have to be nicer to me.”

  “Heh, you not getting injured...Dream on little vampire.”

  The vampire clenched her fangs and readied herself.