"What the?" Budeen was staring in shock. On the floor laid a headless Marco. Budeen had searched thoroughly under the collapsed corridor for several hours and only now did he come back up the mine with nothing in hand.
"What happened here?" Budeen questioned the Rudi who still sat there on the ground.
"M-m-master! That kid that you questioned was at least a second stage septem user as he was able to control two septems! When Marco was about to kill the boys, that Kioxe had used a sneak attack on Marco and given him no chance to even defend." Rudi explained.
"No wonder I couldn't find the soul nectar under those stones. That kid must've already drank it. So he dared to play tricks with me huh...." Budeen was enraged. His lifelong search of the soul nectar was stolen by a little boy. Not to mention the boy getting away scot free.
"Tell me, what were his two septems?" Budeen's eyes gave the daggers.
"I'm sure one was a diamond sword while the other was a buckler. I'm not too sure but the buckler was probably made up of adamantium." Rudi didn't believe what he was saying. Surely, his eyes had played tricks on him.
"I see....and to think that you weren't paying enough attention to figure out such a thing?" Budeen really was infuriated by how much Rudi had messed up.
*smack*
Giving no heed at all, Rudi's head had already been flung to the floor, dislocating his neck.
"It's a good thing my septem is that of the silvertip grizzly. He can run, but he can't hide!" Budeen laughed sinisterly as his nose was already picking up on Kioxe's scent.
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"You can put me down now." Lily suggested. Kioxe had carried her for a couple mile or so now and was still running strong. Although Lily would voice her complaints, Kioxe ignored it and kept running.
"This Kioxe....he's too headstrong." Lily could only chuckle in her heart. Lily could only watch as Kioxe was trying his utmost in carrying her. Suddenly,"Ahhh!" Lily shrieked as Kioxe dropped her on the ground.
"I'm sorry, my right arm just felt like it was becoming more and more numb." Kioxe cried out in embarrassment.
"I told you! Should've listened to me. Now what did I say."Lily cried in a mom-like tone.
"Forgive me, it won't happen again. But first, let me stretch my arm. It feels so tight for some reason." Kioxe stared in puzzlement. "No wonder...." Kioxe muttered. The place that he had been injured from the dart moleman was awfully purple. "I must have been poisoned when that dart hit me."
Using his life energy to repel the poison out of his body, Kioxe was surprised to see that the poison was stronger than he expected. It turns out that the poison had a life energy of its own. Truly, this poison was also a septem ability of the moleman for there to be life energy in it.
"Let me help you with that, I still remember a time when Sasha was bitten by a snake and my daddy had sucked the poison out of her legs." Lily recalled. Moving closer, Lily daringly took hold of Kioxe's right arm and started moving her red lips upon the puffy purple arm. Sucking the poison in her mouth, she then spat out a gooey black liquid onto the ground.
"Thanks?" Kioxe cried in a daze as it all just seemed to happen in a blink of an eye.
"I'm not done yet." Lily replied as her lips returned upon the arm. Only after seeing Kioxe's right arm have less of the purple shade of color did she wipe away her mouth and smile in satisfaction.
"....." Kioxe was kind of shock. He would have been able to get rid of the poison with his own life energy, but Lily had done such an act and help him get rid of the poison even faster. "Uhhhhh.....thanks a lot. My arm feels great now because of you." Kioxe didn't know what to say and gave a little flex with his arm.
"It was nothing..." Lily looked down upon the ground. She didn't seem to have understand why she was compelled to do such a thing.
"Let's go, we don't want to sleep in the woods now do we?" Kioxe watched as the sun was coming down.
"I won't mind as long as I've got you." Lily blurted out. Not seeming to hide her opinions.
"Okay, then let's find someplace for us to rest for the night." Kioxe looked around.
"How about that log over there?" Kioxe suggested. Pointing at a large trunk of tree that had fallen down long ago.
"Sure?" Lily went along with Kioxe's suggestion.
Giving Nahlia a bit of life energy, Kioxe was able to cut the inside of the log to make a short term shelter.
"Ahhh, a septem user." Lily had admiration in her eyes. Although Lily had wanted to be a septem user, she was only seven at the time she was kidnapped and then never got a chance to reach the first stage.
"What stage are you at?" Lily asked excitedly. She knew that Kioxe had fought with the men that worked for Budeen and must've been at least in the second stage to defeat the men outside the shack.
"Fourth stage..." Kioxe didn't give it any thought as he told Lily the truth.
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"Aren't you ten like me? How? You must be a genius." Lily cried in shock.
"Yeah, I guess?" Kioxe didn't give it much thought as he went inside the log.
"Kioxe.....c-c-can I use your lap as a pillow? This log is rather hard for my head." Lily asked craftily.
"Sure, go ahead." Kioxe couldn't think much of it. After giving his approval, Lily had crawled over and set her head upon his lap. It didn't take long for the girl to cheerfully fall asleep. After confirming Lily was fast asleep, Kioxe decided to take in several drops of the white liquid.
"Arghh!" Kioxe moaned quietly. The soul nectar was rather painful at first as it was freezing cold. Only after it reach his head did Kioxe become jubilant. Three drops was all it took for Kioxe to get to the fifth stage. With a smirk upon his face, Kioxe finally decided to go to sleep.
*Crunch* *Crunch* *Crunch*
A sound resonated in Kioxe's mind. "What the?" Kioxe concentrated upon the crunching sound which clearly was heading towards his direction.
"Hmmm?" Lily woke up as Kioxe got up.
"Shhhh! There's someone here. Stay here while I see who that person is." Kioxe left the log.
Upon walking out of the log and seeing the incoming Budeen, Kioxe became completely worried. "How?" The word rang in his head. For Budeen to even find him miles away was something Kioxe couldn't accept.
"You thought you could get away boy?" Budeen chuckled. "Although you were able to fool me and run, that was all useless. I can smile your scent miles away." Budeen couldn't help but point out.
"Tell me now, did you not take my soul nectar?" Budeen stared with hate.
"So that's what that white liquid was called. It truly is magnificent as I was able to get to the fifth stage of septem." Kioxe bluntly proclaimed his achievement.
"It really is as legendary as the legends. To help a boy at the age of ten get to the fifth stage." Budeen couldn't help but admire the soul nectar and what would've transpired had he obtained the nectar.
"Since I still have one drop of soul nectar, can you spare my life if I hand it over to you?" Kioxe tried to compromise.
"What? You still have a drop of soul nectar?" Hope gleamed in Budeen's eyes.
Revealing a drop of soul nectar, Kioxe let it drop onto a leaf. "If you don't swear to take an oath to spare Lily and I, I can't say that I'll touch the nectar and consume it. Then your hopes of reaching the seventh septem stage would be all but naught." Kioxe taunted. Budeen was said to be at the peak of the sixth stage, which was only the hardest bottleneck to overcome. It's only natural that Budeen would have to make an oath if he ever even hope to reach the seventh stage.
Seeing as there was still a bit of hope, Budeen wouldn't let his chance go. "I solemnly swear as a man of integrity that I will not harm you or the girl in the log if you are to hand over that drop of soul nectar." Approaching carefully, Budeen wanted to grab the soul nectar right away.
In just a moment of time, Budeen was only a meter away from Kioxe. "Here, catch!" Kioxe flicked the leaf and watch as the soul nectar drop fly into the air.
Wasting no time at all, Budeen reached out for the soul nectar. Though right when his hand came into contact with the soul nectar, Budeen couldn't help but let out a painful howl. The soul nectar was probably colder than Budeen had ever thought it to be and when it reached his mind, his soul was becoming that of the seventh stage.
Not wasting his chance, Kioxe quickly gave a slash aimed at Budeen's neck.
"You!" Budeen cried mentally. He had reached the seventh stage finally at the age of eighty five, only to have his life taken away. As Budeen's head rolled about on the ground with shock in his eyes, Kioxe couldn't help but smirk.
Call him underhanded, but Kioxe knew that after getting the soul nectar, Budeen definitely would have decided to kill the two. It wasn't as if Kioxe had made a promise to not kill Budeen or anything. It was only through the use of such an underhanded method could Kioxe kill someone who was much more powerful than him.
Walking to the corpse of the dead man in front of him, Kioxe quickly removed the ring from the wrinkly fingers of Budeen. "Thanks for the trade." Kioxe could only laugh hysterically. The wealth inside of Budeen's ring was surely at an astronomical value considering the shady business Budeen had ran for years.
"Lily, go back to sleep. We've got another long day ahead of us." Kioxe walked slowly back to the log.
Authors' Note:
Will be slowly going back to correct my chapters one by one as I really do suck at past tense/present tense (hard for me to differentiate so pointing it out would help>_<).
I'll also make my chapters slowly longer and longer. So no worries there (shout out to Lucifer'sReincarnation on giving me good solid/valid points to improve).
Other than that, hope you all enjoy! :D