"No! I won't let you hurt him." Declared Helios, barring his body between us and the dying boy.

"...I'm not killing him, Helios. I meant, which of those two do I need to kill first." I hinted toward the Marquess and the foul spirit.

Helios's expression softened, relieved with my answer.

"It's the same in the end, Shepherd. You see what happened just now. Even cutting his head off won't do us anything as long as we're staying in this lair. And the more power the spirit uses, the worse it gets for the boy. It might be better to put him out of this horrible pain instead..."

"She is right, Milord."

Argued Clara, seconded by Renata.

Hearing the two, Helios was back to resume his guard, glaring stiffly.

"Stranger...Kill...Leave food...Kill Stranger..."

Assuming his maddened series of assaults once again, the spirit lunged toward Renata and Clara. Only this time, something felt different. A hazy mantle of mist was starting to form and enveloped both of them, sapping away their mana and encumbering them ever so gradually.

"Shadows. Distract the spirit, but don't let them touch you. Maintain a clear distance and always keep track of your own mana pool." Commanded Renata.

With the addition of the shadows, it allowed a bit of breathing room for the two. However, the more mana the spirit fed out of them, the faster and stronger it got. Sure, it did nothing but charge in, but given enough time, it wouldn't be so simple anymore.

'They can't keep this for much longer...I need to do something.' My gaze went back and forth between the ensuing chaos and the helpless boy.

"Damn it, he's gobbling my mana dry at this rate!" Grumbled Clara while popping in a bottle of a mana potion.

"Take it." Without bothering to cast a sideway glance, Renata threw a flask toward Clara.

"Helios. Do you make mana potions, too?" I asked the dwarf, making my way forward.

"I do. In my room." Nodded Helios urgently.

"Shadows. Go with Helios and bring back all the mana potions with you."

"Promise me you won't do anything to him." Insisted the dwarf.

I sighed and nodded.

Helios stroked the boy's head bitterly and began running toward the exit.

I looked toward Renata and waved quietly. Following my cue, she then sprinted forward to steal the spirit's attention, leading them away as far as she could from the entrance.

Seeing the exit of Helios with the two shadows, I roused my mana and invoked word magic.

"Don't move!"

And for the first time ever, the spirit was nailed on the spot, unable to move even a muscle.

"I'll take it from here," I said toward the two in the room.

Robbed of its freedom, the spirit bellowed in outrage. It thrashed desperately to get out of my control, almost brutally...And the harder I pressed, the stronger the resistance got.

"Urgh!!" The sound of Ronald's agonizing cry grated our ears once again.

At that moment, I realized the blunder I had made, and by focusing on my mind's eyes, I could see the turbid movement of the spirit's mana. It was so chaotic, but there was a semblance of order and pattern hidden there, which I thankfully noticed.

'It's sucking mana from the entire mansion...'

The gears in my brain spun, and in a split second, I found myself scanning the way up using X-ray vision.

A clear path to the sky appeared in my eyes; no one was above us, and I acted on that without wasting any more time.

"Fly." So I flew and dragged the spirit with me, piercing through the building.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Or at least I tried to...

Like a stubborn barnacle that hung on for its dear life, the spirit tried to latch on to the ground, resisting the force. It could tell that I was going to yank it out of its lair.

"Move!!" I roared out.

Just as Clara said, fighting a spirit in its lair was troublesome, indeed. Even after reinforcing the command, there was this feeling of raw tugging coming from the spirit, refusing to submit.

Then again, if it wanted to keep being stubborn, then I might as well get rougher. So, after cramming enough power, I was able to finally wrench the annoying spirit out into the sky with me.

And as we trailblazed upward into the breezy night, higher and higher, the spirit began to shrivel like an old dried fruit...Away from the comfort of its lair and away from Ronald as its medium.

"Spare...Money...Give...Lohop...Useful..." It cried out in a broken speech, begging for its life.

"No. You are not useful to me...Clouds and rain..." I replied coldly before uttering yet another command.

Conjuring up the image vividly in my mind, I stared at the weak spirit, erasing its eerie sobs along with the whistling wind in my ears.

Dark clouds started to take form and rumbled like hungry beasts above us, ready to devour their prey.

Pointing at it, I said. "Smite him!"

BANG!!

A massive bolt of lightning pierced through the sky and ravaged both the spirit and the Marquess, followed by an ear-piercing roar from beyond the dark clouds.

In their place, only a charred corpse of the Marquess is left, without any trace of the foul spirit.

"Burn him to ashes."

The corpse lighted up and turned into an ember in a matter of seconds, blowing through the midnight wind.

"Astonishing." A deep, impassive tone suddenly rang out, making all the hair on my body stand up.

Knowing that there was no danger yet in my life, it was weird how my body seemed to react to the newcomer in horror. So, I turned around and faced the mysterious man.

Wearing luxurious and loose nightwear, the man, whose head was filled with nothing but white hair, was flying casually in the air while scrutinizing me up and down with his bored-looking green eyes.

"Milord!" Called Renata as she flew in between us, hiding me behind her back.

"A rat should know its place and not interfere." The man waved his finger, and in the blink of an eye, an axe made of glistening ice, as huge as a house, came bearing down on top of Renata's head.

Of course, with Renata's reflex, she could dodge something like that even with her eyes closed, but it wasn't as simple as that...Something had made her unable to move properly.

"Barrier!!" I shouted loudly.

Renata took out an artifact and held her dagger in front of her, ready to meet the incoming blow.

BOOM!

A huge deafening sound exploded the second the man's spell and my barrier met.

To my dismay, the power of the axe prevailed, leaving my barrier shattered in pieces before proceeding to cleave forward at Renata.

Thankfully, most of the damage had been absorbed earlier, and as restricted as she was, Renata was able to jump back slightly to lessen the imminent impact.

But even after all that, it was still able to open a huge and deep gash on Renata's shoulder despite only grazing her at best.

"Assassin. Go with the others. Now." I muttered low.

I could feel a mixture of rage, nervousness, and curiosity, all jumbling up in a vortex of uncertainty inside my mind.

"...I pray for your safe return, Milord." Albeit suffering from the sudden loss of blood herself, Renata handed me a couple of potions before flying down in a slightly disoriented fashion.

After the initial clash, the man did not move even once. It was as if he didn't care whether Renata was there or not in the first place.

All he did was stare at me with that same bored look in his eyes.

Heightening my senses on edge, I cautiously popped two mana potions in my mouth, pumping my mana pool back vigorously.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Do you need to know?" Replied the man stoically.

"What do you want from me?" I frowned.

"...You break the rule." He pointed at me.

'Rule? What is he talking about?' I pondered inside. "What rule?"

"No one is to fly in the capital. That rule." Answered the man, uninterested.

The frown on my face grew thicker as I reeled my neck in slightly.

"Are you...the Sai-"

"I can forgive you for breaking them. But not for free." The old man cut me off. A small grin bloomed on his face for the first time.

"...What is it?" I have a feeling I'd regret asking, but I did it anyway.

"Escape from me." Returned the man, a hint of sadistic glow could be seen surfacing in his prior empty eyes.

'Escape...?' I felt my blood rushing wild due to my scraped ego.

"What if I'm stronger than you?" I scoffed dry.

All of a sudden, he reverted back to his usual state, deprived of all the prior excitement, and looked at me apathetically.

"You are not. In here I've been the strongest and will always be the strongest. There are those who thought and dreamt the opposite, but all of them died in my hand nonetheless. They're dull... Will you bore me too?" He began rambling about some shit I didn't get.

"I don't know, old man...I guess we'll have to see." And frankly, I didn't care. "Shall we, old man?"

Feeling my blood boiling from the jittery feelings and my mana pool pumped full to the brim, I decided to go all out right from the very beginning.

'God's Realm!'