His foot was drenched with water, leaving behind the foot trails that made the pursuers always know the location where he ran. The thunderstorm keeps striking by the lighting. Zen keeps panting as he tries to find a way to break out of this encirclement by the royal guard. The small bag that he stole from the robber in the slum accidentally contains a translucent bead that turns out to be a treasure that was missing from the Royal Family Treasury. How did the Royal guards know the location of the bead after he opened the small bag? He doesn’t have the answer to that. If he tries to surrender and try to convince the guards he does not know that this bead, it would be a blatant lie as the poster was published around the Empire. His head would be rolled off without a single sound.
“Damn, this is a dead end.” He finds himself facing a wall in the empty valley.
“Looks like I have to use my gift by activating the ordeal”. Zen keeps calculating the possible future to break his way out.
As he faces his back to the wall, Zen finds out that there are 2 guards in front of him, 1 on the left and another on his right side. So, by the estimation, he could keep his gift for 60 seconds as he practiced before. Therefore, it would take him 40 seconds for to purposely engage with the guards as his physical prowess is not enough to defeat a single guard with his small body and another 20 seconds to run from the Royal guards.
“Activate Ordeal!” said Zen while he held a single piece of green crystal which is called Virdis which could provide fill half of his Ordeal Meter. The pain rushes into his blood and skin which he has experienced a lot of times when it. A small wave surged from him and enwrapped the entire stick with a green wave that oscillated outside of the stick like an atom.
“A mere single Gifted from the Slum dare to bear his fang to a royal guard! Arrest him right now and put on the barrier so that this scum would not leave!” roars a single robust Royal guard with shoulders wide like an Oxen who has activated his ordeal as well. His spear was illuminated with indigo colors and the other four Royal guards' spears also are in the same condition. From Zen’s perspective, the oxen-like guard is most likely the leader.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Zen’s gaze kept on the opponent's spear calmly as he did not want to make the first move. His heartbeat is on the same rhythm as the sound of raindrops enveloping the outside world of the barrier. As one of the royal guards aims for his head, he sidesteps to the left and aims precisely for the back of the neck with the stick. The guard becomes unconscious from the blow. The other four become wary of the Zen after that strike.
In the midst of the battle, a single entity with a raincoat is eating skewered meat on a rooftop while enjoying the fight that happened below. “ Interesting. A precise strike on the nape of a human in a single second. This brat has some skills on his hands but he would not last long because he could only activate his ordeal for 1 minute by looking at the amount of fluctuations of the green wave on his stick.” Mumbles the entity himself.
“Should I help or not? Maybe yes or maybe no? Or maybe both at the same time, right Schrodinger?” Ask the entity to the cat while feeding it with the meat.
“15 seconds left and there are two of the royal guards still standing while the other three are unconscious, the most annoying one is the oxen-like Royal guard who still has a lot of stamina left. I underestimated their abilities. Should I proceed with the plan or not?” said Zen after he kicked the third guard in the guts. When he saw that the two guards were slightly wavering about his unpredictable movement. He immediately runs towards the weak point of the barrier and slashes it with his stick.
“Oh no, He is running away! Do not let him get away from us! “said the leader.
When there is no silhouette behind him after a while, Zen take a deep breath and feel relieved that he finally got out of the Royal guards. Suddenly, he felt drowsiness as his body went limp heavily while walking.
“What happened to me? Is this illusion or am I being drugged?” His mind went blank and his consciousness slowly faded away. Then, He falls slightly near the roadside and a tall woman with the royal embroidery dress slowly walks toward him. As the woman is about an inch closer to Zen, the entity on the rooftop comes to the rescue and takes Zen on his back.
“Who are you?” said the woman to the entity as the clothes that the entity wears are all pitch black and no face could be seen.
I am the Regressor. Then, the entity snapped his finger and gone.