Let’s go back to when the field had just changed to a desert.
The Tertitus group were teleported to a random location near an oasis.
“Oh? We’re lucky to be teleported here.”
Said Cait as she looked at the oasis.
“You’re right.”
Ren nodded in approval.
“Even though it’s slim, there’s a chance that there’s a woman, who was sweating from travel walking through the desert, bathing over there.”
He said with a serious face.
“It’s decided, let’s go investigate!”
“No.”
Cait said while slapping him up side the head.
“Be serious. We’re in the middle of a battle of geniuses. One wrong move and we could be defeat—oi, why are you striping while I’m talking to you, you son of bitch?”
Cait said as she looked at Ren, who had taken off his jacket and held it in his hand while unbuttoning his shirt.
“What, you say? I’m going to take a bath of course.”
Ren answered.
“I told you that there’s no woman bathing over there!”
“Ah, I know that. It’s just that mentioning it made me feel like having a bath.”
“We’re in the middle of a battle you know?!”
She then pointed at the sky.
“Not only that, we’re being watched you know?”
“So? If we just consider it fan service it will be fine.”
He said as he started to unbutton his pants.
“Wait! If you want to bathe so badly then go! Just strip over there!”
“Alright.”
He then started to walk away with his shirt and jacket in hand.
He then stopped and looked back.
“You aren’t going to peek are you?”
“I won’t! And why are you acting like you have an ounce of shame?!”
“What? You aren’t?”
Ren suddenly looked disappointed.
“And here I thought I was going to be able to show off my big magnum.”
“I don’t want to see it!”
Cait shouted with a slight blush.
“Get it over with, you damn pervert!”
“Wanna join me?”
*Boom!*
Ren was hit by a blast and was sent crashing into the oasis.
“……I feel so ashamed to have two younger brothers like this.”
Said Kirika, while holding her head.
“Why? He was a pure gentleman.”
Alec said with a proud expression.
Cait turned her back to the oasis and sighed.
“Why are the men in our clan like this? Hey, Sura-”
Cait froze in place when she looked towards Sura.
He was only in his underwear and held his clothes in his hands.
“……….”
“……….”
The two silently stared at each other for a while, before Cait finally broke the silence.
“…..You wanted to have a bath too?”
Sura nodded.
“…..Fine. Just go.”
Cait said while holding her face in her hands.
Sura nodded and went towards the oasis.
“Again, why are the men in my clan like this?”
Kirika nodded because she could understand Cait’s pain so much it hurts.
It happened while Cait was waiting for Ren and Sura while leaning on a tree.
“Hm?”
She suddenly felt like she was being watched.
She looked in the direction she felt the gaze was coming from, but she didn’t see anything.
However, she didn’t let her guard down, but the opposite.
‘An enemy? It looks like they’re using the Mors Clan assassination techniques to throw me off.’
She thought to herself and stopped leaning on the tree.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Who is it? The Primus and Secundus branch are both closely related to the Mors clan so it can be them.”
She activated her own Qi and spread it around her.
‘No, who it is doesn’t matter. What I should be focused on is what kind of technique are they using. Is it just camouflage, that turns them invisible? Or is it Reprint that can paste your presence at any location?’
She then took a step back towards the oasis.
It was at that moment that a hand appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her face.
“Crap!”
Her head was then smashed through the tree and into the sand.
*Boom!*
She immediately drew a dagger from her waist and slashed it in front of her.
The hand disappeared, as if the attacker had retreated.
She held the dagger in her hand while scanning the area.
‘They bypassed my Qi and attacked me? There’s only Branch who developed a technique that can do that.’
She thought.
“Stop with the hide and seek and come out, Quintus Branch!”
The moment she said that she heard something cutting through the wind and jumped to the side to avoid some shurikens.
Immediately after a sword stabbed towards her head from her blind spot.
She moved her head and avoided it while striking towards where the sword came from.
The moment she felt her palm making contact, she twisted it and a burst of Qi shot out.
*Boom!*
She saw someone appeared out of nowhere while being blown back.
Cait chased after them and pulled out a baton.
She jumped and swung the baton down on the person’s head.
*Boom!*
The baton strike forced their upper body deep into the sand while their lower body stuck out.
“As I thought, it’s really someone from the Quintus Branch.”
She said as she looked down on her buried attacker.
“They were wearing a mask. I remember correctly Hal and Kane both wore masks. Wait…”
She then remembered the mask the attacker was wearing.
It was a blank white mouth mask.
She then compared it to the ones Hal and Kane wore.
They were black and had designs on them.
“It’s not them!”
The moment she realized that, a blade was already stabbing towards her.
She turned around and thrust her palm out.
The sword stabbed through her hand and stopped inches away from her eyes.
“?!”
Cait was shocked when she saw the face of her new attacker.
“A soldier?!”
At that moment, someone appeared behind them wearing a black gauntlet with long hooked blades near the knuckles.
They swung their hand and the hooked blades ripped into Cait’s defenseless back.
“Ahhhh?!”
Cait screamed out in agony as blood sprayed out of her back.
She gritted her teeth and spun around with a kick of fury, but she hit air.
*Boom!*
At that moment chains burst out of the ground and wrapped around her leg that was in mid swing.
“Wha?!”
Her leg was then pulled under the sand which made her lose her balance.
She fell on her back.
Immediately after her back touch the sand, five blades pierced through her back and came out her front.
“Guh?!”
Blood stained her clothes and flowed out of her mouth.
Three more soldiers then emerged from under the sand and surrounded her.
“Target neutralized.”
Someone appeared out of nowhere, and walked up to Cait who still had swords sticking out of her.
It was Kane.
“It took a lot of trouble but thanks to you moving as predicted I was able to have you as my captive.”
He said while looking down on Cait.
“Damn….that kid really knows how to use his soldiers.”
Said Momo.
“Of course. Hal and Kane both lead their own regiments in our army and are well versed in combat tactics. They were also trained in assassination, so they’re well groomed soldiers.”
Al-Shura boasted.
“Hal isn’t with him though. He must be hunting a different prey.”
Cait looked up at Kane while breathing heavily.
‘I fucked up. My organs were spared purposely, so that they get cut if I struggled. It’s his way of telling me that he could’ve killed me if there wasn’t a rule preventing that.’
Cait thought.
‘What should I do?’
“I advise against the meaningless struggling.”
Kane interrupted her thoughts.
“You’re already trapped. The rest of my soldiers are already doing the same thing to your teams.”
He explained.
“Hahahaha!”
Cait suddenly started laughing.
“Sorry to break it to you, but I’m the weakest of the three of us. Those two are several times stronger than me, especially Ren. There’s no way they’ll allow-”
Cait was unable to finish her sentence because she saw five soldiers marching out of the oasis.
On their shoulders were two posts that had two naked people tied to them.
They were naturally Ren and Sura.
“You were saying?”
Kane said as he indicated at the soldiers.
“What the hell are you two doing?! How did you let yourself get captured?!”
Cait shouted.
“Well, it’s a bit of a long story.”
Said Ren.
“I felt someone creeping up on me and thought that it was you who was trying to take a peek of my big magnum, because you couldn’t fight the temptation. The next thing I knew, I was jumped and the rest is as you see it.”
He explained.
“Kill you! I’m going to kill you when this is over!”
Cait became enraged and started shouting.
“I understand, little brother. I’ve too have fallen for the same trick when I was younger.”
Alec said while nodding.
“I thought that it was a beautiful fairy, but it was a giant tarantula.”
“……….”
Kirika really felt the need to erase her brothers from history, but she realized that wouldn’t be enough to erase the shame she felt.
“Listen, you damn pervert!”
Cait shouted.
“Yes?”
“You better save me and forced Kane away….!”
She smiled wickedly.
“If you don’t, I’ll post your incognito browser history all over the clan! All five branches!”
“Evil! You’re too evil, Cait!”
"Shut up, and do it if you don’t want everyone to hear about what you searched for or what site you visited believing in your privacy.”
“You monster!”
Ren shouted.
“Shut it, and fight!”
“Fine! You win!”
Ren grumbled a little while he was still tied up.
It was then it happened.
He stuck out his tongue allowing everyone to see a strange tattoo on it.
It was Alchemy sigil.
It lit up and the pole and rope used to tie him, which were made of anti-magic material, were reduced to dust.
He twisted his body and landed on all fours.
Immediately after a huge magic circle appeared around him and the soldiers.
“Desert Coating!”
The desert suddenly became alive as the soldiers were devoured by sand.
The sand then forced its way inside them through their mouths.
Two sigil appeared in the palms of his hand.
He then snapped his fingers.
“Furnace.”
The sand and the soldier were then surrounded by an extremely hot burst of flames.
Shortly after, it disappeared leaving the soldiers encased into pillars of glass.
Kane saw all this and was amazed by the techniques Ren used to turn everything around in a split second.
However, he didn’t let his guard down and placed a sword at Cait’s neck.
“Don’t move.”
He said as he made the remaining five soldiers surround Ren.
“I don’t need to.”
He rapidly closed and reopened his eyes to reveal a pair of sigils in his pupils.
“Wha?!”
Under Kane’s shocked gaze, Ren eyes projected the two sigil to appear in front of him.
They quickly multiplied and surrounded him like a wall.
*Boom!*
Hundreds of weapons then shot out and skewered the soldiers in a split second.
“His body has been modified?”
Kane muttered in shock.
When he was born, Ren was a frail child with a weak body and poor health. To prevent him from dying young, Alexus and the other top alchemists in the Tertitus Branch used Alchemy to strengthen his body.
However, they went past simple strengthening.
They modified him into a walking Alchemic grimoire.
Every inch of his body was engraved with countless Alchemy techniques and teachings, allowing him to excel in Alchemy at an unbelievable rate.
He could also use Alchemy in ways no one else could. For example, having Alchemic sigils being projected from his eyes.
Ren was an alchemist’s dream, but also their nightmare.
“Looks like I have to retreat.”
Mumbling that, Kane disappeared from where he stood.
“Sorry, it’s too late for that.”
Ren said as a giant sigil covered the entire area.
The area then started to turn cold as all the heat left the sand and floated in the air and condensed together into a giant ball.
“Game over.”
With a snap of Ren’s fingers, the ball of scorching air fell on a certain spot and exploded.
“Guuaaaaaah?!”
Kane reappeared at that spot being roasted as he screamed.
*Boom!*
The hot air explode again causing a sandstorm.
When it faded away, Kane was seen standing in a spot that had turned into glass, because of the heat.
He tumbled over and the sound of his emblem shattering could be heard.
(Special Announcement. Team Tertitus has taken the lead with 20 points, have also received an extra 50 points for breaking an emblem. Thus giving them a total of 70 points!)