All hell had broken loose on that once-peaceful valley.
Bubbles of blood were appearing in the air and shooting at the rapidly-moving maniac, who, although cornered by several agents and Arbert, could still hold his own quite efficiently.
“Hohohoho what a monster! The Blood Dawn Society sure knows its stuff!”
After fighting for barely five minutes, Arbert changed from a youth to a middle-aged man, his long red hair almost reaching the ground as it danced in the air each time he moved.
The magically-empowered sickles were ripping into everything coming straight at it, whether it was the nefarious Blood Magic or the agents’ enchanted bullets.
Clones identical to Arbert appeared all around him, all conjured using the blood dripping off his fresh wounds.
With his command, they charged at the crazily laughing assassin, trying to tackle him to the ground while the leader of the agents was completing his masterful spell.
…
“Where’s Arbert?”
Zeke was sweating profusely and breathing heavily as he faced the distressed Sulong and the fearful Jack.
He had went to look for them in the destroyed outpost and when he saw no one, he continued to the nearest settlement.
Were it not for his companions’ reassurance, the witches, which were on full-alert, would have attacked him on sight.
“So this is your friend?”
3-star Witch, Freya, Jennifer’s second in hand and the current leader of the outpost, scrutinized the youth while frowning.
“Excuse me… you are?”
“Freya Lock. Can you tell me what happened?”
“The Ascetic Blasphemers have fled. Commander Silya Hext should be alright, though. That’s all I can say.”
Once he briefly and inexplicably recounted the events, Zeke signaled the other two to get into the van.
He didn’t want to spend more time on this border as there was a high chance he would get implicated in this attack, which would hinder his return home.
The main objective of this poorly-planned trip was to find the Ascetic Blasphemers and get crucial information about Red Mask Fanti Fan.
Unexpectedly, and to his benefit, Zeke had made one of the notorious Red Masks into his subordinate and learned quite a bit about his enemies.
Signora would provide him with regular reports about Fanti’s whereabouts and the ongoing experiments of the order. Moreover, she provided him with a short list of all the cultists' operations in the Sunken Metropolis, specifically in the Department of Defense and Erys.
With that in his possession, he would be able to get them off his back and make his return to school as peaceful as possible.
The only remaining issue was the Vyrsan household, but as long as he was in Erys, they wouldn’t dare send anyone after him. It was for that reason that he wanted to leave this place as the longer he was here, the more he would get exposed.
Zeke had no doubts whatsoever that his maternal grandfather had sent people after him, and knowing how vengeful that geezer could be, especially after Zeke had nearly killed his daughter, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a highly-trained assassin tracking his trail this very instant.
“Wait!”
“With all due respect, Freya, we have urgent business to attend to. I know you want to know more, but commander Hext should come here anon.”
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“I still can’t let you leave. This is a matter involving our nation’s defenses and security. You don’t look like one of ‘them’, but I cannot let you leave… at least not until my superior returns.”
“Superior?”’
“Commander Jennifer Savbra. She headed to the attacked outpost on her own to investigate and possibly catch the perpetrators.”
“...”
Seeing the Witches stand behind Freya and make ready to act if he were to attempt something, Zeke sighed and reluctantly nodded his head.
He leaned against Stellar and took deep breaths, reassuring the nervous Freya that he was going to be obedient.
Truth be told, he had expended too much energy to rush here after his conversation with Signora. Not only that, but 15% of his stats were removed after using ‘At Death’s Door’, and though there wasn’t any particular pain, the fatigue, mental and physical, was almost too overwhelming.
“Z-Zeke… you really didn’t see Arbert?”
“No. But I think I know what might have happened.”
“Then tell me…”
Sulong’s face pale as he paced around, unable to calm down due to his adoptive son’s absence.
“Ma’am! There’s fight South of here!”
One of the Witches run to Freya and informed her of what their detection artifacts had sensed.
“We can help.” Immediately chirped Zeke as he signaled for Jack to get in the van.
“I’ll come too.”
“...”
The golden-haired witch bit her lower lips and after pondering for a bit, she nodded.
She took ten Witches and, soon, they all hastily headed to the valley South of the outpost.
However, as they got closer, they saw the sickle-wielding man clashing with the agents and Arbert.
“This is…”
Freya raised her hand and stopped her subordinates from interfering. She glanced at Zeke and, with a guilty tone, stated,
“Those are agents from the republic. We cannot interfere.”
“I never expected anything from you, to begin with.”
Zeke stepped forward with Sulong next to him as the skill ‘Call of Honor’ was activated.
“Listen to me, Sulong. That man was sent by the people after me. The agents must be looking for me too, but they wouldn’t kill me. You will take Arbert away.”
“What? No! We can fight this. Come on… you and me.”
“You’ll do as I say, Sulong. Be ready.”
…
A distance away, Freya saw the youth’s body emit an outrageous amount of lightning as he bent his back and took a deep breath.
The strange rune on the back of his right hand was glowing intensely as blue electric currents were zapping the ground and rising in the air.
Out of the blue, the youth kicked the ground and vanished, turning into a lightning bolt as he joined the fray.
Within but a couple of breaths, he reached the assassin and the clash began. The bald man, on the other hand, carefully edged closer while shooting fireballs.
Retrieving the exhausted and injured Arbert wasn’t particularly difficult since the enemy was more interested in the new arrival.
“This isn’t worth it! We’re retreating!”
Seeing the witches watching from a distance, and with the casualties so far, the thick-bearded agent retracted his Aether and didn’t even think of helping Zeke as he and his subordinates dashed down the valley.
“Would you look at this! The famed Zeke Orland! Let us dance!”
The assassin spun around like a tornado, his sickles clashing with Zeke’s scythe, causing loud shock waves that split the earth and extinguished Sulong’s fireballs before they even got close.
“But what is this?”
The man stopped his attacks and grinned as he looked at the youth spitting blood and barely keeping himself standing.
“Normally, I would have liked to fight you in your peak state. See what the ruckus was all about. Alas! This isn’t a normal gig, so I must be serious and end this. No hard feelings, ya?”
“...”
With cold and narrowed eyes, Zeke lowered his hands as the scythe vanished. More and more voltage was emanating from his body, it was so much that blue and aetherically charged veins appeared across his whole body, empowering it beyond its limits.
“Go! Go!”
Zeke waved at the hesitant Sulong to retreat as he coughed blood and raised both hands upwards, planning to finish this as fast as possible.
Just when he was about to attack, however, someone appeared next to the assassin.
Much to the man’s surprise, his body was hit by a monstrous force which blew him dozens of meters away.
Before he could even stabilize his body or stand up, the ground split apart and spikes surged from within, piercing his thin body. Still, he managed to move his hand and cut the spikes with the sickles, then he pushed against the ground and leapt back.
With blood gushing out of his chest, he looked at the short brown-haired witch before cursing under his breath.
With one final look at Zeke, he snorted and turn tail to run. Sadly for him, even during his escapade, he was hit again by lightning-fast magical arrows shot from Jennifer’s translucent dark green bow.