“So Mr. Pennybrook is still there,” Jodie said, taking a bite out of the candy apple. Hector cringed as her teeth cracked into its surface—she’d found it on the floor and just started chewing. Not sanitary. “We have to go back and get him, then.”

“Why?” Lincoln asked, looking off to the side. He shook his head and turned to her. “The old man gave us the talismans so we could escape. He was convinced he could save his stall.”

Well, that was before these void creatures showed up. Before that, he believed that he just had to keep the stall safe from two high-level Mana Cultivators.

“That doesn’t mean we should leave him,” Jodie said, standing up sharply from the crate on which she sat. The apple clattered to her side, bouncing across the cobblestone. Hector stepped forward, and she glared at him. “Don’t tell me you agree with this selfish idiot.”

“No,” Hector said, glancing behind him at Mirae. She stood off to the side with Marcus—he hadn’t taken the news of his father staying behind too well. “It could be too dangerous to go back there and we’d be going against his wishes.”

“So what?”

“So we should leave,” Lincoln said, kicking a loose piece of wood. “Have you forgotten that we’re walking around with other people’s money?”

“I swear by the great lake Lincoln. If you don’t shut up, I’m going to come over there and make you shut up.” Jodie snapped, Hector struggled to hold her back as she pushed towards Lincoln—if she really wanted to hurt him, Hector had no doubt he’d be unable to stop her.

“Guys, guys,” Hector said, resetting his hands on Jodie’s shoulders and pushing. She stepped back and looked off to the side with a scowl on her face. “Lincoln is right,” Her eyes snapped to him and Hector hurried out his next words. “But we can’t leave him either. My plan was—and still is to escort those of us who can’t fight out, then come back. We can get Mr. Pennybrook out of here, then.”

“Hector,” Lincoln said, his face morphing into one of shock. “Have you seen what’s going on? I mean, look at that thing.” Lincoln pointed towards the center of the festival, to the Void Ravager.

“And,” Jodie said with a look of disgust. People looked over, many seeming curious as to why they were arguing. “The Core Formation mana cultivators have it locked down. I can tell that much from here,” she said, her blue eyes wide as she shook her head.

Are you guys kidding me? This is not the time to be arguing.

“Listen to me!” Hector yelled, channelling the little mana he had into his shout. The two of them paused and focused on him. “I get what you are both saying. But all I want right now is to get Mirae out of here safely. I don’t care about anything else right now. If we lose the money, that’s fine. I don’t care. I just need her safe.”

Some people looked over, pointing. Others moved further away, not wanting to get involved in whatever was going on with them—he couldn’t blame them. Jodie sighed, bending down and picking up her apple. She dusted it off, scowling at Lincoln, and taking an aggressive bite out of its flesh. Lincoln shook his head and walked off to the side, kicking at random rubble.

I wish Emela was here. She would know what to do with you two numbskulls.

Hector sighed and shook his head, making his way over to Marcus, Mirae, and Delworth. “I’m sorry Marcus. I—”

“It’s alright, it’s not your fault. This is something my dad wanted to do. I can’t blame you for that.” Marcus turned to Delworth. “We can’t do much for him as we are. We should head back to the shop?”

Delworth nodded.

“I don’t get it. What’s at the shop?” Hector asked, grabbing Mirae’s hand. The roars of the distant Void Ravager sent a tingle down his back. The thing was taking its sweet time to die.

“Noting, but Uncle Samuel is there. He, especially with some talismans, should be able to get Dad out of there.”

“What, how?” Hector asked as something caught his eye. A few feet away, and with a child in her arms, a woman walked down the path. Her dress, no doubt once a sight to behold, was in tatters. Ruined with long cuts and dirt splotches. “Poor sod.”

“Huh?” Marcus looked towards the woman and frowned, before turning back to Hector. “My uncle is or should be, Gravity Forging three. With some talismans, he should be fine… I think.”

“Wait, your uncle is a Cultivator. Why have you never brought him up?” Hector said, looking between Delworth and Marcus.

“He’s not really important. He doesn’t involve himself in the family business.”

“But he’s a Mana Cultivator. Surely that means something to your dad. Why was he not here?”

“Why? How would that help sell talismans?” Delworth asked, tilting his head to one side.

“Well, it wouldn’t, but it could have helped to keep them safe,” Hector replied. But from the confused look on Delworth’s face, that his line of thinking wasn’t logical to the boy.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“My Uncle stayed behind to manage the shop,” Marcus said. Picking at a loose thread at the end of his blazer sleeve. “He’s not very good at selling things. But talismans can mostly sell themselves if people know what they do. So it made sense—at the time.”

“But… Nevermind.” Hector let out a breath and turned. Jodie had returned to sitting on her crate, eyeing Lincoln as she bit into her apple. Lincoln, for his part, stared off to the side, watching a family of four slowly make their way towards a growing crowd—some Pheonix Company members had apparently started gathering everyone in a group to make their way out.

Hector thought it was risky, but then again, he wouldn’t be joining them. “What did Jodie do?” Hector asked, running his eye over her—she had good battle insight but that was it. Right?

“It was amazing. She is strong.” Delworth said, his face lighting up. “She fought the tentacle monster alone.”

“She what?” Hector’s head snapped to Delworth—sure he’d done the same, but he’d had Talents. She didn’t.

“Yeah,” Marcus said, nodding. His eyes went distant; as if he were reliving the moment. “She was awesome. It couldn’t lay a finger on her. I didn’t even know she could move like that. Is that what she’s like during training?”

Not with me

“Sister Jodie did that,” Mirae said, joining Hector in staring wide-eyed at the ginger-haired girl. “I didn’t realise she was that strong.”

Has she been holding back on me? No, she’s not like that. She hates losing. Then what gives? System, scan her.

————————————————

///

Cultivation level: [Gravity Forging - 2]

Talent: [None]

Talent Fragment: [None]

///

————————————————

Then what the hell gives? If what these guys are saying is true, she was fighting on a higher level than she should be able to.

“I guess I’ll have to ask her about it?” Hector said, reaching for Mirea’s hand. His sister didn’t take it. Instead, she looked off down the stone path, watching as two figures strolled down the cobblestone. One in a black mask and one in a blue and white one. The pair stood out like sore thumbs when compared to the panicked and shambling people near them—though it made sense.

I knew they would be alright. A Gravity Forging five and four should have no problem dealing with a Void Hunger, especially with Emela having a Talent.

“Look, it’s Emela,” Mirae said, letting out a small cheer. She turned, running back over to Jodie and dragging the girl to her feet. Mirae then pulled her over, while Hector shook his head in dismay. She must have been worried—after all, he was the only one who knew their actual strength.

The two girls walked down the path, eventually coming to a stop in front of the group, as Mirae and Jodie approached. “You two still have your masks on?” Jodie asked, stopping just short of the girls.

“Were we not supposed to?” Emela asked, turning her head towards Hector. She waved at him and he waved back, walking over with a smile. Emela turned back to Jodie. “What happened to your mask?”

“Oh, I lost that in a fight with that thing,” Jodie pointed to the corpse of the Void Hunger. Its obsidian black skin sparkled in the sunlight. It would be almost beautiful if Hector didn’t know how it smelt and how it felt.

“You fought that thing? Alone?” Emela turned to Nyx, then back to Jodie. “How is that even possible?”

“That’s what I wanted to know,” Hector said, walking over, smiling at Emela and nodding at Nyx. The distant roars from the Void Ravager rung in the background—it was crazy that the fight was still going. “Have you been holding back on me in training?” Hector lightly punched Jodie in the arm, letting out a chuckle.

Jodie shrugged, getting on her tiptoes and looking around. “I can’t see him now. But, no, I haven’t been holding back on you. The guy I’m looking for seemed to know what was going on.”

“With you?” Hector said, crossing his arms. “What did he say?”

“I can’t remember exactly. But he said I had something called battle intent.” Jodie stopped looking around and brought the candy apple to her mouth and took a bite out of it. “He said that If I wanted to, I could join the Phoenix Company.”

“What, that’s crazy,” Hector said, feeling his heart lurch—it would suck if she left, but he couldn’t blame her. It would be a good way to escape the slums. “So, are you going to go?” He asked, his voice cracking a little.

“Heavens no,” Jodie said, scrunching her brow. “Why would I go and do that? I already have the dojo to think of. Plus, I wouldn’t know anyone, and I’d have to leave you guys and my family behind. I’m not doing that.”

“That’s great to hear,” Mirae said, wrapping her little arms around Jodie’s waist. “I would hate to lose you. Though I know it would be an enormous opportunity.”

“A big one,” Hector said, feeling his shoulders relax a little. He glanced at Emela, meeting her eye. What did she think about the offer? She was strong enough, she could probably join herself.

If she thought something of it, she wasn’t telling him. She simply regarded Jodie for a second before turning to him. “And what about you two?” She gestured to Mirae. “Did you run into any of these beasts along the way?”

“Yeah, a few,” Lincoln said, walking over. He made sure to step away from Jodie as he stepped into position next to Hector. “We didn’t kill any, though. These guys are tough as hell. Though we got close.”

“Oh, really?” she said, looking from Lincoln to Hector. “If you didn’t kill it, what happened to it?”

Hector shrugged, glancing to the side, and looking off to the Void Ravager at the center of the festival. His gaze lingered on the creature, trying to make out the figures that were fighting it. But they were too far away. “A Core Formation Mana-Cultivator killed it before we could finish it off.”

“Same thing happened to me,” Jodie said, chewing on the last bits of her apple. “Well, the kill-stealing part. I don’t think the guy was in the Core Formation realm.”

“It seems all our fights were interrupted, thankfully,” Emela said, resting a hand on her chest. Hector held back a smirk—he had no doubt she had killed a creature given her level of strength. Though he didn’t understand why she was keeping it hidden.

Perhaps she found a pill in the dump like me. Though, it would have to have been a lot of them to get her so high. Plus, Nyx is as well. Maybe they have a connection or something.

“Well, now that everyone is here, we should probably get going,” Hector said. His gaze drifted to the growing crowd of survivors of the festival. This would be one to remember in the coming years.

A large roar pierced through the festival, and Hector’s attention snapped to the off the festival’s center. There, the Void Ravager roared, as a large arc of flame, dwarfing the beast, slashed towards it. The arc sliced clean through its body, separating all that it was. The display of power was awesome. Whoever that was, was certainly a high-level Mana Cultivator.

Hector let out a sigh. He hadn’t realised he was holding as the knot in his stomach loosened. He turned to his friend and nodded. They were safe, and it was time to go home. “We should meet up tomorrow to go over what we’ve all collected.”