Seifr charged through the door without hesitation as the aura bored down on him. He careened out into the alley, slamming into the wall and using it to change the trajectory of his momentum. As he shot towards the main road, he felt a sudden wind pressure at his back and felt more than heard an explosion that sent him tumbling forward. He regained his balance and stole a quick look behind him. In the wall where he had just been was a large slash mark that looked like someone cut it with a tremendous sword force. Is that the power of the Mid Spirit Realm?
Seifr sensed a presence about to follow him through the door from the jewelry store, and he whipped his arm forward and threw the dagger that he had acquired and abandoned the sword stolen from the Mid Nascent guard before once more rushing for the main street. He did not watch the outcome of his surprise attack, because he knew that at most it would only slow the enemy down momentarily.
Seifr shot out into the thin crowd on the cobbled road. One could always find people traversing the streets of Vinson at all hours of the day and night, but the crowds were small and scattered in the waning hours of the night as compared to the thick masses during the day. He did not pay attention to the direction he chose to run as he knew he would not be heading to the safe house any time soon. His only priority was escaping from this danger. He was reluctant to use the Ki Sword's full abilities as he rather liked being conscious, but if it came to pain and living or death, he would choose life.
Seifr ran down the road, avoiding the pedestrians, and ran towards another alley. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a figure emerge from the alley he had just come from. It was too brief of a glance to capture any specifics about what the man looked like, but before Seifr disappeared from line of sight, he saw the man make a chopping gesture where he whipped his right hand from his left shoulder, up over his head, and then down to his waist in a quick, fluid movement. A visible wind-force emanated from this gesture and shot towards Seifr at incredible speed.
A commoner was walking in the road between Seifr and the Spirit Realm cultivator in pursuit. Seifr witnessed the wind-force slice through the bystander's shoulder and sever his arm completely with blood spraying into the air. The body of the common man did not even slow the wind-blade heading towards Seifr, and after a brief delayed reaction, the man, as well as several other bystanders, started yelling and screaming. People started running for cover as the commoner collapsed to the ground in agony, his blood quickly pooling around him.
Seifr ducked into the alley right before the wind-force slammed into the corner of the building, sending stone fragments and dust everywhere with a loud explosive force. That man has no regard for the lives of those bystanders! He cut that man down with no remorse. Sweat started to drip from Seifr's forehead as he realized just how dangerous his situation really was.
Seifr ran for his life sticking to the narrow alleys and away from crowded main streets as much as he could. Even though he was not the one doing it, he still felt responsible for putting others in danger when his pursuer lashed out at him. The man chasing him was clearly a wind-attributed cultivator, and Seifr did not want to get close enough to find out what kind of ki manifestation he could use in close proximity.
The pressure on Seifr continued to build as his pursuer gradually gained ground on him. Every time they were within line of sight of each other, the older man would send a ki attack towards Seifr, and they were becoming increasingly harder to dodge as the distance reduced. Seifr started to panic as he could not gain any ground, but instead constantly lost ground. Mid Spirit Realm is just too much faster than I am. Think, gotta think! Seifr tried to come up with some sort of plan as he ran through the city as fast as he could, but so far nothing was coming to mind.
Seifr ran out of an alley onto a wider than usual thoroughfare, and a pit formed in his stomach as he realized the next alley that could offer him cover was too far away. He felt a deadly sense of crisis as he made his way across the street, and acting on instinct, he leapt into the air, turned his body, and whipped his sword out in a strike attempting to parry the wind-blade bearing down on him. When his sword came into contact with the ki manifestation, he felt a powerful force slam into him and send him hurtling through the air and into the side of a building. The attempted parry had allowed Seifr to actually borrow the force of the attack to send himself further down the street, and he actually gained a little ground from his opponent. His arm ached fiercely, and he was slightly disoriented for a brief second as he regained his footing and continued towards the alley.
Seifr was beginning to pant from the physical exertion. His heart was pounding and adrenaline was coursing through his body at an unprecedented rate, but exhaustion would eventually set in, and his chances of escape would become nonexistent instead of just extremely unlikely. These thoughts briefly flashed through his mind as he made his way down yet another alley. He had lost count of how many twists and turns he had made, and he had absolutely no idea where he currently was in the city anymore.
Seifr came out into another wide avenue and nearly smashed directly into two men walking with horses in tow. They appeared to be middle-aged, and one man had a full beard. He quickly dodged around them on his way and immediately felt guilty, because he knew the man chasing him would not hesitate to send an attack straight through them to get to him. Sure enough after he had made it a ways down the street, he felt the wind attack rushing for him once more. He did not have time to avoid the strike this time, and so he did not hesitate to send a burst of ki into his sword.
Immediately all of his surroundings slowed down significantly. Seifr was curios if parrying the wind ki would have the same effect as last time and blast him down the street if he performed that move in this state. He whipped around and slashed the wind-blade. With time slowed down all around him, he could more clearly see the ki manifestation. It looked like a compressed line of air slowly moving towards him. Upon closer look, he could see that it was actually comprised of millions upon millions of tiny, vibrating wind-blades combined together to make up the single wave of wind.
When Seifr's sword made contact with the ki manifestation, he again felt the tremendous power, but it was much more muted, and it only caused him to slide back several meters. Seifr noticed that across the street where he had just come from, his enemy had indeed sent his attack through the two men walking beside their horses, but it had not struck either men. Instead one of the horses had been cut nearly in half. Instead of gawking at the scene, Seifr used the little bit of time left from the effect to once more gain some ground on his pursuer.
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As time returned to normal around him, he heard a shout of outrage coming from behind. Clearly the man who had just lost his horse was not happy. Seifr did not have time to spare to worry about the fortunes of anyone else, and he was about to make his way into the next alley when an incredible weakness and dull throbbing pain assaulted him out of nowhere.
Dammit! A backlash from using the Ki Sword when I've already exerted too much energy. I'm still not powerful enough to use it safely in these kinds of conditions. Seifr momentarily despaired as the pain and weakness brought him to his knees. He struggled through it and managed to climb back to his feet and take a stumbling step towards the alley, fully expecting another wind-blade to come sailing towards him at any moment now.
When the expected attack did not come, Seifr spared a glanced towards where he had just come from. He saw one of the men with the horses confront the man who had chased him across the city.
"Hey, you killed my horse! Do you know how expensive a horse is? And not just that, I've had that horse for a couple of years now. He was more companion than steed! You owe me an explanation!" The man's fury could not be contained as he exploded at the man who had killed his horse. The guard captain that had been running after Seifr snorted and waved his arm towards the man yelling at him. Another ki manifestation wind appeared, but this one was not a deadly blade like the ones he threw at Seifr, but appeared more like a gust that would scoop up this other man and send him flying away.
The bearded man threw out a punch and the ki wind immediately collapsed under this assault. He charged towards the man who had attacked him. He's also in the Spirit Realm! Hope exploded in Seifr as he witnessed this man interfere in the chase. I can use this to make my escape! Seifr still felt guilty about getting the other men involved, but he had no time to worry about it right now.
Seifr turned and made his way down the alley. Sounds of fighting followed him as he made his escape. The occasional loud boom would rock the area, but they gradually grew dim as Seifr put more and more distance between himself and the fight that had erupted. He traveled far enough away that he could no longer hear any signs of the fighting, and then he ducked into an unoccupied building and quickly changed his clothes. He did not put on another set of clothes. Carrying around an entire other set of clothes would be too bulky. Instead the clothes that he wore on this excursion were designed to be flipped inside out to change the appearance. He also removed the mask that had been covering the top half of his face and stored it inside his robes.
Seifr remained in the building he had temporarily occupied for the rest of the evening. Once the sun rose and the crowds became thicker out in the streets again, he made his exit. He blended with the flow of the crowds as he identified where he was in the city. I'm on the complete opposite side away from the house. Seifr was in no hurry anymore, and allowed the current of the crowds to direct him in the direction he needed to go. His body was aching and tired, but he maintained an appearance of someone just out for a casual stroll.
Why did I ever agree to join these people? Seifr thought. This question had been circulating in his mind over and over all night. Even though he was questioning his decision now, he knew that there had been little choice at the time when he made it. The Head of the House had made a compelling argument, and Seifr had nowhere else to go and no money besides a few silvers left in his pocket. I'm just tired and stressed from nearly having my body cut in half on multiple occasion. Not every job goes down like that. If it did, there wouldn't be any thieves to join, because they'd all already be dead. Seifr comforted himself with the knowledge that it could be worse, and that it would not always be so dangerous.
Traveling with the crowds instead of moving with purpose across the city took a considerably longer amount of time. It was late afternoon when Seifr finally dragged his exhausted body into the safe house. As Seifr descended to the bunk room where he could finally rest, a figure crashed into him and hugged him fiercely.
"Seifr, you're safe! I was so worried after you didn't show up for the longest time, and then this morning I heard reports of a Spirit Realm powerhouse chasing down a kid and indiscriminately attacking across half the city. How did you get away?" Shayla released her hold on Seifr as she backed away and quickly inspected him for injuries.
"He managed to piss off someone else who was also in the Spirit Realm. While they were busy working out their differences, I made my escape. I was nervous and paranoid all day, so I let the crowd carry me here instead of just coming here directly," Seifr explained.
Shayla smiled before saying, "Well, we managed to get our hands on more than I initially thought. The Head wanted to speak to the both of us once you got back, but I'll let him know that you need to get some rest first. We'll go talk to him first thing in the morning, ok?"
Seifr nodded gratefully as Shayla allowed him to head towards his bunk. She moved off further into the hideout. There were more tunnels and other rooms dug out in a complicated maze that connected many other safe houses in the city. Seifr only knew where this particular house was, and he had not explored the depths of the hideout, yet. He was not yet trusted enough to be given free reign to wander around wherever he wanted, though he did have access to training grounds and such.
Seifr laid down on his bunk and quickly fell asleep. His life had taken a strange twist recently. He found that he was actually enjoying the dangerous situations he often found himself in, as long as they were not hopeless. The rush he experienced after knowing he had cheated death was like nothing he had felt before when he was training under strict supervision at The Misty Realm.