Gabby stared at Jason, bewildered. "What did you just say? A vomiting princess? What—no, who's that?"

She let out a weak loud sigh and asked, "Jason, who is this princess you're talking about? Another survivor?"

Jason took a moment to control his breathing and the chuckled lightly. "Oh, that? It's Sam," he said nonchalantly.

Gabby's face was expressionless, like a robot failing to process what the hell he was saying. She shook her head when she began to feeling a headache forming the more she thought about Jason's words. Deciding to ignore it, she continue, "so where's Sam? Why isn't he coming with you?" Her voice was puzzled.

Jason took another moment before replying, his voice tinged with frustration. "It's a bit... Complicated. I will tell you all the details later, but for now, let's just trust he will survive."

Gabby noticed the sudden change in his tone and narrowed her eyes. 'What's causing Sam to be unable to retreat with Jason?'

Jason tried to change the topic. "By the way, what happened to both of you? Why is Kaya... Uh... Crying?" His voice was mixed with puzzlement and disbelief. She's the most powerful person he knew and the fearsome leader of the Stormbringers group, now she's crying and sobbing on her sister during a battle? If Jason told anyone from the Stormbringers this, they'd laugh at him and call him crazy. He smiled bitterly as he remembered his friends back on Stormbringers.

Before Gabby could answer, Kaya pulled herself from the hug and turned around to face Jason. Her eyes puffed up with snot running down her face and it popped like a bubble. Seeing his leader like this, Jason barely contained his laughter from erupting at the worst possible time. He turned his head away as he's trembling from holding it in, he slapped himself in the face with his right arm, and tada! The laughter that was on the verge of bursting out immediately vanished.

Gabby and Kaya watched him slapped himself in confusion. 'Did he just slap himself? Did he hit himself on the head or something? Why did he slap himself out of nowhere?' They both thought.

Before they could continue their little conversation, a low growl and grunting came from Emanuel, immediately alerting the three of them. They turned their head at Emanuel, Gabby and Kaya quickly noticed something strange, he was somehow getting uh... Smaller. His imposing muscles which seemed to be carved from marble, were now reduced to almost.. nothing.

"No.. it can't be! My power! They're.. they're leaving me!" Emanuel muttered, distressed, looking down at his body.

Kaya asked Jason, "Hey Jason, what did you do to him? Did you put a curse on him or something?"

Still unwilling to look at Kaya, Jason replied seriously, "I'm a Knight Of Vow, not a Knight Of Curse. If there's some kind of hidden skill appeared out of nowhere, maybe, sure. But otherwise, there's no way I could cast a curse on him."

"My best guess is he's on a time limit of some sort," Gabby chimed in weakly but still audible.

"That's definitely possible, but I don't think that's the case here," Kaya muttered, looking thoughtful. "If that were the case, he would've tried to defeat me as soon as possible. But throughout the fight, I didn't sense any urgency from him. Instead, he took his sweet time fighting me."

Kaya raised her head and gazed at Gabby again, she frowned and her eyes narrowing. She couldn't get used to seeing her sister so heavily wounded. Turning to Jason, she asked, "Hey Jason, do you have any healing potions to spare? Gabby really needs it." Her voice was mixed with hope and anxiety.

Unfortunately, Jason didn't have any potions left. "I'm sorry, Kaya. I don't have any potions left," he replied, chuckling weakly while shaking his head. "If I had any, I would give it to you and I would definitely love to heal my left arm."

Kaya clicked her tongue in frustration and disappointment. She then gazing at Jason's disfigured left arm, she asked, "Jason, what the hell happened to your arm?"

"I—" when Jason about to began explaining, they were interrupted by horrifying screams and the smell of burning wood coming from Heaven's Gate settlement direction. The three of them exchanged looks, their faces turning grim as they feared for the worst—the blank eyed man was here.

Emanuel got up and started walking toward Heaven's Gate, but after only taking three steps he stumbled to the ground and shouted like a madman, "No!! It's impossible!! W-who dares attack my settlement?! My stats shuttle... My power... No!!!"

Emanuel now looked completely like an average person without the muscles he had before. He snapped his head at Kaya and accused, "You!!! This is your doing isn't it?!! I should've known you purposely lured me away from my settlement to launch an attack!! You fucking bitch!!" His voice was filled with fury and rage.

Kaya was stunned, looking at him blankly while trying to process his ridiculous baseless claim. Gabby replied, "No, it's not us, it's—"

Emanuel snapped at her, cutting her of, "Shut your fucking mouth you whore! I don't fucking remember talking to you."

Kaya immediately frowned at his rudeness toward Gabby, but before she could step forward Jason stopped her. He took a deep breathe and began speaking on her behalf. "Wait, please listen to what we have to say, I promise—"

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

Emanuel snapped again, this time at Jason. "Oh, you shut the hell up!! I don't need to hear a talking gorilla!!"

Jason was instantly dumbfounded by this guy, 'How could—'

Kaya suddenly push Jason aside interrupting his thoughts. She slowly walked toward Emanuel using her spear for support, as she approached, she said, "if that's the case, then I also don't need to head fucking nonsense from a dead man. Your voice is dirtying my ears." She stabilized herself to stood straight, and then she pointed her spear at Emanuel's head, ready to kill him. As she pulled her spear back to thrust, the forest went dead quiet. There's no more, screams, no sounds of beasts or even a single owls, only the distant crackle sound of Heaven's Gate settlement burning.

An ominous chill crawled down Kaya's back, before she could realize what was happening Jason suddenly pulled he back quickly.

Kaya turned to Jason and asked, "Jason, what are you do—"

Jason's pointed using his right arm to the air, he frowned and said, "That son of a bitch is here.."

Kaya's gaze followed his pointing finger, and when she saw what he's pointing at she was shocked and enraged. Hovering in the air not far from them was the blank eyed man, the one responsible for destroying the Strombringers group and taking the lives of many innocent people. His pupil-less eyes looked down at them as if they're ants.

Suddenly, the blank eyed man spoke, his voice ringing loudly in the air, "So, you're here. I guess it didn't take that long to meet you all again, don't you think? Happy to see me, dear human?" His voice was flat and cold.

Kaya gritted her teeth as her anger boiling rapidly, but then Gabby called her.

"Kaya, don't.." Gabby said weakly, shaking her head. Blood dropped from the corner of Kaya's mouth as she closed her eyes, trying to calm down.

Once again, Emanuel voice rang out with full hostility. "Who the fuck are you huh?! Are you the one who's in cahoots with her?? How dare you attacked my settlement while I'm away, you spineless coward!! You... I will kill you as painfu—"

Before he finished, the blank eyed man interrupted, his voice tinged with irritation. "What's up with this barking dog? Begone, filth." He waved his staff, and several magic circles appeared in the air, launching magic missiles at Emanuel. With no way to defend himself, Emanuel was hit by all of them, his body torn to pieces, blood and chunks of meat splattering everywhere.

Gabby, Kaya, and Jason felt their stomach churned at the gruesome sight in front of them. The blank eyed man spoke again, "Now, where was I? Ah yes, nice to meet you again." He said, a creepy and inhumane disturbing grin spread across his face.

The three of them felt a chill on their backs. Out of the tree, Jason steeled himself and spoke. "It's... normal to meet you again. What's your business with us?" His voice was wary and anxious despite his effort to try to look as calm as possible.

The blank eyed man tuner to Jason. "Oh? Who do we have here? I thought you were dead when I sent you flying, impressive. It seems like you have good luck, huh."

He closed his eyes and gazed at the three of them with his completely white eyes. "On my way here, i just stumbled upon that settlement by accident, might as well burn it down," He said, pointing at Heaven's Gate settlement direction.

He continue, "And to simply answer your question, i'm just hunting you down because... It's fun, I guess?" He tilted his head creepily to an extreme degree, the noise of cracking and snapping coming from his neck filled the air.

"Jason, take my sister away from here or else we will all die here," Kaya said gravely.

Gabby retorted weakly, "No, Jason, take Kaya away. I'm too much of a dead weight, you should be able to escape quickly with her."

Jason stayed silent.

"Jason?" Kaya and Gabby asked.

"No, it's not just a matter of saving one of you. I just.. don't see any possibilities of us escaping him." He finally responded, his voice low and serious.

The blank eyes man voice rang again. "Alas.. it's quite unfortunate, as much as I would like to continue hunting you, I need to wake up mother." His voice, though flat and cold held a hint of genuine disappointment.

He pointed his staff at them. "It's been fun, but now, please die." Numerous magic circles appeared behind him.

"Magic Missiles: All For One." His voice echoed as soon as he spoke, then the magic circles began to merge one by one, forming into a humongous magic circle.

"Release," the blank eyed man muttered. Soon after he said that, an enormous blue magic missile began to come out of the magic circle, heading straight at them.

"Well, I don't think Knight's Vow is going to cut it this time" Jason said, nervously gazing at the enormous Magic missile.

Jason closed his eyes, took a deep breath and exhaled. He then began to chant his binding vow for the very first time,

"By the sacrifice of my flesh and bone, I bind a part of my body to the creation of this sanctuary. I'm offering my entire left arm, i summon a shield of unyielding strength to defend against the onslaught. Let this sacrifice be the testament of my resolve, that no force shall breach this scared space. With my lifeblood, I forge a barrier unbreakable, a sanctuary impenetrable. So I vow, so it shall be."

A golden dome covered with white flames enveloped the three of them. Soon after, the enormous Magic Missile collided with Jason's protective dome barrier.

BOOOMMMM!!!!

The explosion rang into the air loudly and shaking the ground. When the dust settled, the blank eyed man saw the three humans completely unharmed, protected by the golden dome.

He frowned and narrowed his eyes. 'What's that golden dome? A domain skill?

The blank eyed man muttered again,

"Magic Missile: One For All."

The humongous magic circle began to separated, returning to their original positions.

"Release," he commanded.

Numerous magic circles shoot out Magic Missiles continuously at the golden dome for about 30 seconds, when the dust settled once again, he saw that the three humans still remained unharmed without a single scratch.

The blank eyed man frowned deeper and more serious.

"Commendable," he said. "What a formidable protective skill. But now, playtime is over."

Hovering above the golden dome, he descended slightly and tapped his staff in the air.

"Domain Expansion: Corruption," he intoned.

The area was immediately engulfed by a shadowy dome, plunging everything within 50 meters into complete darkness.

The blank eyed man gazed down and crossed his arms. "Let's see how long you can survive this.

Meanwhile, not far away from the shadowy dome, Sam was running toward Kaya's battle location. But then he saw something as he ran, he muttered under his breath, "What in the nine hell is that?"