Faust frowned as an intense and painful pressure assaulted him. A skull-crushing pain shot through his head. Felix could not move at all. He opened his eyes wide but had no control over his body. No sound escaped his mouth.
‘What the hell?’ slight fear gripped him. ‘Is this a bad dream?’
He was still in bed, Leona sound asleep on his chest, cuddled up against him. Her soft body pressed against his chest, covered by the blanket. Normally he would have enjoyed this, had it not been for the slight chuckle he heard from the balcony. The door was opened a slit.
‘Who the hell is there?’ Faust attempted to look, but couldn’t. His heart beat wildly, threatening to jump out of his chest.
He heard steps on the wooden floor.
“My, my, a cultivator. Albeit a weak one. A pity.” A mocking, male voice said from his right side.
Hearing this Faust immediately struggled with all his might, to no avail.
The male voice snickered.
“You can try all you like… you haven’t even begun to cleanse your mana paths… I can see it clearly! Oh, and don’t worry, your beautiful girl is unconscious… or worse?” the voice laughed.
‘FUCK OFF YOU BASTARD! DON’T EVEN THINK OF TOUCHING HER!’ Faust looked about frantically, struggling with all his might to break free, to finally see what was assaulting him.
Then, he could finally see the man entering his vision. It was a dark silhouette wearing a cape.
Within the darkness, where his eyes were supposed to be, Faust saw two red, fiery orbs, glaring at him, sending shivers down his back. He slowly leaned over Faust and Leona, he reached for her blonde locks, sniffing them and moaning softly.
Faust wanted to vomit here and there. Struggling ever as strong, yet his efforts were futile, as he was unable to lift as much as a single finger.
With her golden hair still between his fingers, the crimson eyes stared into Faust’s, and he got so close, that Faust could feel his breath on his face.
“Stop struggling… or I will refine you and your little girlfriend here.” Faust heard a hoarse laugh.
Then the man stood up.
“I do not know you. But I could sense you from a mile away. Your mana is leaking out of your body in amounts surpassing even late-level one cultivators.” He swiftly turned to Faust again and hissed.
“Yet all I find is a pathetic, weak, and useless little toy like you, who hasn’t even reached middle stage yet.” He spat on the ground before cracking his neck.
“I will ask you several questions… such as to how you have become a cultivator.” He raised a finger into the air. “But, first, I will show you, what will happen to your girlfriend here, if you refuse or lie to me.” He smiled and walked out on the balcony before returning with a hissing and scratching cat in hand, holding it high.
‘No, no, no, NO!’ Faust screamed in his mind, struggling to move harder than ever before, pouring his entire soul and willpower into the task.
‘I WILL NEVER WATCH AGAIN IF SOMEONE KILLS THE ONES I LOVE!’ he screamed and his body reacted. How? He did not know. The desperation and pain from Poplia appeared in his mind again. Faust felt something within him crack. Though not in a negative way.
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“Watch closely.” He cackled devilishly and brought his free hand in front of Felix, who viciously clawed at it.
‘YOU WILL NOT SUBDUE ME!’ he roared. Something stirred within him. His entire body cooled down to an extreme degree. Energy seeped out of his heart with each beat, arriving in his limbs.
‘I WILL NOT GIVE UP! I WILL NOT WATCH!’
“What are you doing???” the man exclaimed, looking at Faust, who moved his little finger.
Immediately, more strength assaulted him, yet Faust did not consider for even a second to give up. More and more mana flooded his body, originating in his heart.
“A feisty one… how can you resist my shackles? Well, not that it matters… even if you could move I would just crush you…”
Then, his right hand lit up with a strange, light green color.
‘MANA! OUTSIDE OF HIS BODY!’ fear gripped Faust, not even Chiron had done that.
Small tendrils of energy left his palm and drifted to Felix, latching onto the cat’s body like glue, slowly covering him within.
After a mere second, the cat’s assault on the intruder slowed, before stopping entirely, with its legs hanging down weakly.
Felix looked at Faust, meowing weakly, looking at Faust with its button eyes.
‘YOU MONSTER!’ Faust thought as Felix’s fur stated turning grey.
The intruder laughed and continued to absorb energy from the poor animal, that wound itself, slowly aging.
Faust managed to move a hand as he felt mana within his entire body, surging outwards, he even managed to speak, straining his body to its limits, even reinforced with mana. He felt brimming with power, but without an outlet. He felt as if he would burst anytime soon, but he did not care. He would never take a step back again. No matter the cost, he would protect those dear to him.
“Who… are… you?” he pressed out, and the man grinned.
“They call me… the Venerable.”
At this very moment, with a loud crack, the door flew out of its angles and crashed against the opposing wall. The Venerable dropped Felix immediately.
Faust could not see clearly as it all happened too fast for his senses. A blue blur shot into the room from the hallway and with a loud battle cry assaulted the Venerable at full force.
A red energy covered the Venerable, yet both he and the blue light shot into the wall facing the harbor and absolutely obliterated it, crashing through the thick stone, and out into the darkness, where they crashed into another building.
Faust could no longer see them.
“Wh-What?” Faust said dumbly as the pressure had disappeared entirely within just the blink of an eye. It hadn’t even taken these events a single second to happen. The wall was gone and he could see the dark harbor. No trace of the two flashes of light.
‘Was that… Chiron?’ he remembered the monk's performance when they first met, where he left azure traces of mana in the air in his performance. ‘It must be him. He is fighting the Venerable. Can he even win?’
All the energy that gathered within Faust threatened to break out of his body. He wanted to shout and punch something. He never felt an urge this strong. It felt like the itch for action he felt for the last weeks, just amplified by a dozen times. Leona groaned on his chest, slowly coming to.
Faust struggled to remain calm and focused on his breathing to distract himself from the rising amount of mana within his body.
‘Go back where you belong!’ he cursed before realizing he didn’t know where it came from. It most certainly wasn’t his mana core. He panicked briefly as his body cooled down even further.
Clenching his teeth, Faust made a decision. He attempted to gain a hold of the mana and surprisingly it listened to his will and he focused as much as he could, forcing the mana into his chest.
‘Mana Core, Mana Core, Mana Core! Where are you?’ he shouted mentally. It took him several seconds to feel his Mana Core, though not as clearly as during meditation, he could still feel where it was and a small connection to it. It was as if his body exactly understood what he needed. It felt like an instinct. The natural thing to do.
As if a voice was telling him:” Do it!”
He clenched his teeth. ‘I will never watch! NEVER!’ his nose and eyes started to bleed from the pressure, as his body could no longer maintain the mana within it.
He took one last breath, before forcing the mana from his body into his Mana Core. His eyes lit up in a dark blue. His face had blood running down all over it. His body convulsed, and the mana flowed into his Core. He could feel his Mana Core expanding rapidly and he felt the need to throw up. A part of his Mana Pathways was being forcibly cleaned of impurities by the excess mana and his entire body started to heat up until he was burning. Deep blue flames appeared on his skin and aggressively latched onto everything around him.
A half-asleep Leona shrieked and jumped away when the flames touched her. They quickly latched onto the linen and started to spread. Leona ran for the door. With his body set on fire and his Mana out of control, Faust’s eyes rolled into the back of his head, and darkness engulfed his consciousness.