Chapter 3.5: Night of the betrayal

A cool breeze sweeps the darkness of the night as Cygmund returned to the orphanage, carrying with him the exhausted Tony in his arms. They entered the orphanage, and Cygmund went straight to Tony's room to tuck him back to bed. He was also wanting some sleep, and so as soon as he was over with Tony's bed he went towards his room.

As he was walking in the corridor, his bad premonitions from before grew so strong, it felt like his guts would explode. Cygmund's brows furrowed deep. Not soon afterwards he smelled something.

Smoke. It was a little bit, but it was smoke nonetheless. It was weird to smell smoke at this time of the evening. Cygmund followed his nose and rushed towards the source of the smoke. He saw the left side of the orphanage burning.

He also saw 5 robed men, with 4 of them wearing brown hooded robes and the last one wearing a gray robe. They looked like they were waiting for him.

The left side of the orphanage was the kitchen, so thankfully no one was hurt. At least, not yet.

Cygmund wanted to rush back inside the orphanage, but the presence of the 5 robed men prevented him from doing so.

Cygmund tried to yell, not only to try to wake up the neighbors and alert them of this, but also try to wake up the children inside the orphanage.

However, just when he tried to gather air to conduct the yell, the gray-robed man rushed towards him with a sword lunge. Cygmund blocked it with his gauntlets and tried to counter, but the man had already pulled back.

"Hex: Leg-strength! Hex: Arm-strength!"

Cygmund dashed towards the gray-robed man really fast. He knows that the other robed men cannot be touched unless he took care of the gray-robed man first.

"Fire Wall!"

A collective chant came from the 4 brown-robed men. A blazing wall appeared between Cygmund and the gray-robed man.

"Wind Howl!"

A blast of wind came from Cygmund's mouth when he opened his mouth after the chant. It blew away a portion of the fire wall, its size enough to let Cygmund through. His target is still the gray-robed man.

"Earth Wall."

An earth wall grew up from the ground and attempted to block Cygmund's advance. Cygmund's Wind Howl is not that effective against solid defenses.

Cygmund punched through the earth wall, readying his other fist to attack the gray-robed man. However the latter was ready for it and pre-emptively ducked. When the debris flew away from the site of the earth wall, Cygmund was surprised to see a ducking man. He punched downwards, but the man intercepted the gauntlets with his sword.

"Wind Blast."

The man used a formidable wind attack channeled at the tip of his sword, and blew back Cygmund even with Hex: Arm-strength and Hex: Leg-strength. The man was blown back as well, due to the recoil of his own attack going against a boosted Cygmund. The latter thought of his next move. He decided that this time he must show his hand and stop reserving magic.

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"Wind God Boost!"

Winds gathered towards Cygmund and swirled around him. He feels lighter and more agile. He charged towards the gray-robed man again, a gust of wind blew past him.

"Fire Wall!"

"Hex: Agility."

The other robed men chanted their fastest, and a fire wall formed once again. Meanwhile the gray-robed man chanted his own buff.

"Shredding Wind!"

Cygmund tore through the fire wall and towards the gray-robed man.

To his surprise, the gray-robed man dodged his attack, leaving the other magi defenseless. Cygmund thought this was a bait, but if he halted now he's going to be in more danger, as he laid sandwiched between the gray-robed man and the other magi.

He rushed straight at the other magi. One of the surprised magi gasped, and it was his last as Cygmund's Shredding Wind ripped him to shreds. Pieces of bone and flesh splurted at the ground, some of them at the other magi. Without wasting another second Cygmund turned towards the other magus on his right while being wary of his surroundings.

"Wind Slicer!"

The other magi were still disoriented, and the magus that was in Cygmund's line of sight was split into half diagonally by the Wind Slicer. A third magus had his stomach blown up by Cygmund's boosted punch.

Cygmund turned to the 2 remaining magi. The remaining brown-robed magus was able to run towards the gray-robed man. Surprisingly, the latter put his arm around the shoulders of the former, and without warning, stabbed him with his sword.

"What?!"

Cygmund let out a really surprised shout.

But he saw this as an opportunity. He can now go to the back door of the burning orphanage, try to save the kids who were not harmed in the fire and escape from there, no matter how heavy it would be for him. He dashed straight towards the back door.

To his surprise, he encountered another group of robed men. What's even more surprising is the identity of one of the robed men.

He saw Headmaster Rhey, the headmaster of Tancam Academy. His friend. He was wearing a gray-robe, and carried a decorated wand on his right hand.

"Rhey? Why? Why are you with them?"

"Why? I was always with them."

Rhey sneered at Cygmund as he replied to his question.

The latter noticed something amiss with the group. One of them was carrying something, or rather, someone. It was a little girl with scarlet hair, unconscious on the shoulder of the robed man.

Without any hesitation, Cygmund blasted towards the man carrying the child. He knows his Wind God Boost does not last indefinitely, it will last only until his mana runs out. And so he determined to save the child, even if he had to dive into the group.

"Ground Manipulation: Fortified Greater Earth Bind!"

Rhey, who wasn't Cygmund's target this time, was able to create an Earth type binding magic, but not before 2 of his comrades fell to Cygmund's careful but precise wind attacks. It's more accurate to say, however, that he made his comrades the bait. The binding magic started from the feet, and climbed up the legs, up the lower body towards the abdomen finally fully binding the entire body. It even covered Cygmund's mouth.

The Wind God Boost only made him feel lighter, but it didn't make him stronger. Furthermore, the winds couldn't cut the earth no matter how strong they slashed. The binding magic was so strong it was more than enough to resist Cygmund's Hex-strengthened arms and legs.

Cygmund struggled in his earthen shackles, but to no avail. He was powerless.

Rhey approached Cygmund with a dirty look on his face.

"I've finally used my trump card to defeat Meharea's Wind Beast! Oh how I've dreamed of this day! Don't look too down, my friend. I'll take care of Cynthia, every nook and cranny of her! Hahaha!"

Cygmund stopped struggling. He was betrayed. And maybe this is the end of the line for him.

Those children. Those lovely, innocent children. He only hoped to make them happy. He only hoped that they won't experience what he has gone through.

The other gray-robed man came back. He was wiping off the blood stains on his sword.

"I guess this is the end for you, bastard! We'll take off your head to give as a gift to Leader! Hahaha!"

Rhey threw one final insult, before trying to cut off Cygmund's head by tightening the bind on his neck, like a garrote.

"Too slow."

The other gray-robed man said, with an uninterested voice.

"Earth break."

He broke the earth bind that was tightening around the neck of Cygmund.

Slash!

He cut the head off clean.

"Come, Leader might be tired of waiting," the man told his comrades and took the earth cage containing Cygmund's head with him.