"AAAAAAAAH"

An extremely heart wrenching scream echoed throughout the Kader Manor. This scream was filled with so much pain that it caused anyone that heard to imagine the worst pain of their lives. Let alone those who were inside the Manor, even the guards who were outside turned towards the Manor with confusion drawn on their faces.

Inside the main hall of the Manor, two figures were currently standing in front of one another. One of these two figures was standing with both of pierced by two earthen spikes, with three needle was sticking out from his chest, while screaming at the top of his lungs.

Wesley has never felt any pain comparable to what he was currently feeling. The old expert's needles didn't directly impale his heart, rather, they only scratched the outer edges of his heart, but it was still so painful that Wesley felt his mind creak.

The old man was intent on torturing Wesley in the worst possible way. His needled only scratch the edge of Wesley's heart so that he doesn’t die too quickly. However, after each needle went in, he would wait a few minutes before sticking in the next one.

He was clearly toying with Wesley, making sure that he feels each needle separately. Every time Wesley's scream's lessened, he would push in another needle. This showed his extreme ferociousness, he also seemed adapt at torture, since his needles were so very accurately placed.

Wesley's face was drained of all color as he felt his blood pressure drop considerably and a small streak of blood ran from his mouth as he continued screaming his head off for ten whole minutes. The old man simply stared at Wesley with a wide smile on his face as if he was enjoying a good show.

After Wesley was done screaming for the third time, he lifelessly lumped down with only the two spikes that were impaling his hands keeping him up. His body could simply no longer withstand the constant pain. The old man spoke once again:

"Don't fall asleep yet. Tell me who sent you, and you'll be done with the pain."

Wesley, whose head was looking down as his entire body was suspended from the two spikes, suddenly started muttered something. However, what he was muttering was slightly incomprehensible. The old man listened for a few seconds but after not understanding, he frowned slightly as he spoke:

"Speak up child, I can't hear you."

Wesley continued muttering incomprehensibly. The old man frowned further as he bent over and brought his head closer to Wesley's face to better hear what he was saying. The moment, the old man was able to hear Wesley's mutterings, he heard:

"Go die."

Immediately, a dark fog spread out from Wesley's body and engulfed the entire hall within a sensing. The entire hall descended into darkness. This darkness was clearly unnatural and seemed to go one for dozens of miles. Wesley didn't dare cast earlier because the old man would never have given him the chance, but pretending to answer the old man's question gave him time to invoke his spell.

The old man's face immediately changed as he realized what happened. He immediately jumped back and muttered something. Almost a second later, as he landed on the floor, he immediately sank into the ground. He couldn’t see anything, so he wanted to leave range of this spell as soon as possible.

The old man sank into the ground at an astonishing rate. Another second later, he was almost neck deep into the ground and descending. However, before he could descend any further, a whistling sound rushed towards him from Wesley's position.

The old man instantly recognized this sound as that of a sword swing, except a little odder. He immediately turned his neck to the left. Less than a second later, the whistling sound reached him and his slashed across his face.

At this point, the old man has already disappeared from the hall. Wesley wanted to kill the old man with the surprise attack, but the old man's reaction and invoking time were simply too fast. Wesley was slightly surprised and regretful at this old man's prowess but he had no time to dwell on it.

His dark sword immediately flew back towards his left hand and he immediately caught it. The moment he caught it, Wesley's body was covered by dark elements and he immediately disappeared from his initial position and reappeared a few feet away.

Wesley used his Dark Port to escape his bindings. He immediately muttered something; soon enough, Wesley disappeared from the hall using a Dark Warp and reappeared a few hundred feet outside the Manor.

He instantly used another Dark Warp and disappeared from the area. Wesley did not dare remain even a second near this place. The second Dark Warp delivered Wesley to the small house he was staying in.

The house was about quarter of a mile away from the Kader Manor, so it was within Wesley's Dark Warp range. Wesley was also in critical condition so he needed a safe place to recuperate.

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In the Kader Family vault where the Kader and Blume family heads were staying, the two heads were currently sitting across from each other speaking about the agonized screams that were reverberating throughout the entire Manor.

Suddenly, from the roof of the vault, a gray robed figure of a man emerged. The figure immediately fell and hit the floor with a thud causing the two heads to jump up from their seats in freight.

They immediately thought that the assassin has reached the vault causing them both to feel intense fear. However, after a closer look at the figure, they both noticed that it was their Master Arnua.

Arnua's face was currently covered in blood and the entire right side of his robe was also covered in blood. His looked ragged as he held his face. He screamed loudly, however, his screams were those of anger rather than agony.

Arthur and Neya looked at each other with worried expression. Neither of them expected Arnua to be injured. After hearing those agonized screams earlier, they believed that the assassin was already captured and was being questioned by Arnua.

Arthur was the first one to organize his thoughts after half a minute, he immediately spoke with a shaky voice:

"M...Master Arnua...Wh.."

Arnua immediately turned to look at Arthur. A long bloody wound stretched from his right to his eye. His entire right eye was most likely gone. And although the wound was not too long, it was deep enough that the bone could be seen.

Arnua stared at Arthur with his one good eye radiating intense anger causing Arthur to take a step back out of fear. Arthur saw that Arnua was currently enraged beyond words, he worried that Arnua might take his frustration out on him.

Arnua growled slightly as he spoke:

"Don’t you dare say a word. I'll go find that bastard, then I'll come back and deal with you."

Arnua immediately sank into the ground and disappeared from the vault. Arthur and Neya were left with astounded looks on their faces. Arthur was worried about Arnua's 'I'll deal with you' however, Neya was surprised for another reason. She immediately spoke:

"A...Arthur. Didn’t you say that no one can use a spell to enter this vault."

Arthur who was in deep thought, was awakened by Neya's question. He immediately looked at her with a complicated look and spoke:

"I don't think a meager metal plate can stop an Elder from going where they want."

Neya was rather surprised. A regular made was already rare enough, and Elder's were those who stood at the peak of all mages. To meet such a figure was already astonishing enough, but that wasn't what surprised her. She immediately spoke again:

"Then who is able to hurt an Elder so badly."

Arthur was also thinking about this. Neither of them dared think that the assassin was an Elder, however, to be able to cause such a great figure like Arnua to be so ragged, they couldn’t have been simple. Arthur immediately replied:

"I don't know. But it seems our hidden enemy is extremely powerful. No one aside from the four kingdoms could wield such power."

"Indeed."

By using various methods, Arthur and Neya were able to get a glimpse of a web of intricate spy network weaved throughout the third district and perhaps further. From what they were able to see, these networks were laid by an expert and contained numerous traps and layers.

They reached the conclusion that this was established by a tremendous power with astonishing wealth over a few years. They suspected that this was established by a local power, however, they discarded that assumption now.

Aside from the four families, no other local power had nearly enough wealth to establish such a network. And now that they saw the level of the assassin sent by whomever is behind this entire thing, there is no one aside from the four kingdoms capable enough.

"Neya. I don't know what you'll choose to do, but I'll head to the sanctuary."

Neya's eyes immediately widened in surprise as if Arthur was speaking nonsense. She immediately spoke with some anxiousness:

"Arthur. It is not our turn yet. We won't be able to explain it to the predecessors."

"I know it is unconventional. But, I can't risk the survival of my family. What you do is unto you, but I'll be taking a few promising youngsters from the Ranes and Wayle families, then head to the sanctuary. We'll retreat there for a while, until things blow away."

Neya closed her eyes and frowned deeply. After a few deep breaths, she opened her eyes with new conviction present in them and she said:

"I see. I'll go as well."

"Good. We'll leave immediately after Master Arnua returns."

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Wesley was currently sitting cross legged in the middle of the small house with his eyes closed. There were three bloodied, earthen needles laying across from him and blood was oozing out from his chest.

Wesley's heart was not directly impaled so he was not in any immediate danger of dying. However, his heart was still wounded and bleeding internally. His blood pressure also slowed greatly due to his heart bleeding. It was only a matter of time before Wesley's heart bleeding led to his heart stopping due to shock. Wesley was expanding tremendous amounts of mana to speed up his heart's healing.

Normally, it would take a small amount of mana to clot a small wound such as the ones on Wesley's heart, however, this was not the case now since the heart's constant beating interrupted the clotting process, forcing Wesley to use a lot more mana than normal.

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Wesley was sweating profusely. He has already used almost half his total mana with two Dark Warps and a Dark Domain, and now he was forced to continuously use his mana to maintain his heart. Wesley was still refining to ensure he didn't run out of mana, but his refining speed could at best match his consumption rate.

Wesley was in no hurry, so he didn’t mind the slow refining speed. He would simply fix his wounds, then worry about completely replenishing his mana later.

Suddenly Wesley's eyes opened immediately. A tremendous mana fluctuation caught his attention and caused his heart to churn, and a feeling of fear engulfed him. He immediately held his dark sword and used Dark Port to reach the closest window.

Wesley unhesitatingly jumped out of the window, disregarding the glass and wooden railings. The moment Wesley crashed through the window, the entire house behind him was compressed into a cube. Such a level spell was simply too devastating.

Wesley rolled on the ground for a few feet and then looked back at the cube that was a house only a moment ago. Dread filled his eyes as he spit out a mouthful of blood. An enraged voice that seemed almost fanatical suddenly reached his ears:

"Little shit. You thought you got away from me. Today is the day you die."

Wesley looked at the source of the voice only to see a gray robed figure standing on the roof of one of the houses near the cube that was his house. Seeing the one eyed figure that was standing there, Wesley couldn’t help but curse his luck; this old man was absolutely an Elder, and he was intent on killing Wesley.

The old man spoke once again, this time almost roaring:

"Too late to regret. You can die."

Wesley was not going to wait for this old fiend to make his move. He immediately used Dark Port and appeared fifty feet away, which was the limit of his Dark Port. The moment Wesley disappeared from his original spot, an earthen arm appeared where he was.

Wesley felt his heart ache even more every time he moved causing him to spit mouthful after mouthful of blood. Wesley didn’t even look back at the old man as he continued using Dark Port after Dark Port.

"That spell of yours is impressive, but I wonder how long you can keep it up."

Every time Wesley ported, a hang or spike would appear where he was at. Wesley knew he couldn’t keep this up, his mana was already less than half, and he needed a portion of that to maintain his heart.

Hundred feet away from where Wesley was at, a shadow on a certain wall suddenly got darker. Wesley immediately used another Dark Port to appear fifty feet away.

However, as he was about to land, the earth on his target suddenly distorted and an earthen spike emerged from the ground.

"Shit."

Wesley cursed this old man from the depths of his heart. The old man's casting speed was already too fast, but now he seems to have deciphered Wesley's spell range. This old man's experience and ability caused Wesley to feel extremely apprehensive.

Wesley immediately twisted his body mid air and swung his sword at the same time. Wesley's sword met the spike and slashed its sharp tip off. Wesley immediately crashed against the blunt spike shoulder first.

Wesley felt a cracking of a bone come from his shoulder, but it was better than spike running through his chest. He immediately used another Dark Port and disappeared from the spot before a few more spike materialized there.

"Stop struggling you little shit. I'll have your life tonight."

Wesley paid no mind to the old beast's rantings. He immediately reappeared in front of the dark shadow of the wall and jumped into it head first, disappearing without a trace.

Arnua's eye almost popped out of his head as he saw this sight. He has used the needles to sense Wesley's location before, but now, there was no trace of him anywhere. He simply disappeared into thin air.

Arnua mistakenly believed that Wesley went inside the house, so he immediately muttered something and a few short seconds later, the entire house was also compressed into a cube. This time, however, multiple screams of agony resounded throughout the house as it compressed, and no Wesley rushed out.

Hearing those screams, Arnua was enraged even further. He didn’t know whether Wesley was dead inside the house or not, however, he felt that Wesley was not going to be so easy to kill because he not only managed to injure him, he also evaded him for so long.

Remembering how this little child cost him his eye and evaded him for so long, Arnua's face shook with anger and he howled towards the sky. This was simply the most embarrassment he has ever endured, and he felt that he didn’t have any face left.

...................................................................................................................................................

As Arnua howled in range towards the sky, a tremendous mana fluctuation spread from his as the epicenter. He was not sure that Wesley was dead so he was planning to flatten this entire area, in hopes that Wesley was still within his range.

This was going to mean the death of thousands of people, but Arnua has already lost his mind to rage, he was not thinking about the consequences of his actions, he only wanted Wesley dead. However, before he could go through, an aged voice reached his ears:

"You might want to reconsider your actions friend."

Arnua stared at the source of voice with a red eye and spoke in a growling voice that showed his rage:

"Who's there. Show yourself before I bury you."

A white haired old man wearing a white and gold robe suddenly appeared on the roof across from Arnua. Seeing this, Arnua's eye brows twitched slightly, but he still stared at the man with menacing eyes.

The white haired old man only smiled at Arnua and spoke with a soft yet authoritative voice:

"I don't know why you're so enraged friend. However, there are many innocent people who will die if you continue with your actions."

Arnua stared daggers at this old man. He knew this old man was not a minor figure, but he wasn’t scared one bit as he spoke:

"`This doesn’t concern you 'friend'. I'll flatten this entire city if I so desire."

The smile on the white haired old man still remained. He simply shook his head resignedly and spoke:

"Am afraid I can't let you do that. You'll either stop now, or die a pitiful death."

The white haired old man's voice was stern and held no indication of being a bluff. Arnua's brows knitted together, he immediately felt the killing intent in his heart flare up. However, before, he could make a move, the space behind the white haired old man, six azure robed figures appeared.

Seeing these newcomers, Arnua's face turned ugly. He immediately put aside any notions of fighting the white haired old man and spoke with frustration clear in his voice:

"I am hunting a Dark Mage. Do you dare go against the Hall."

At Arnua's words, the face of the white haired old man changed and his smile immediately disappeared, and his eyes turned extremely sharp causing Arnua to take a step back. The white haired old man spoke again:

"This is Blackreach City. The Hall holds no authority here. However, you can go ahead and die for mentioning them."

Arnua's face immediately turned ugly. He immediately jumped backwards and wanted to sink into the ground. However, the moment his feet touched the ground, rather than sinking, a pillar of earth emerged from the ground and pushed him into the sky.

"Wait..I...."

Arnua's face was extremely ugly. He knew that he could no longer escape, and fighting these seven people was out of the question. Arnua wanted to plead with the white haired old man, but before he could even speak, one of the azure robed figures flickered brightly and disappeared.

Almost instantly, the figure appeared behind him and punched him in the back towards the place where the others were standing. Before Arnua could even registered what happened, a green light emerged from the hand of one of the azure figures and headed towards him in astonishing speed.

Half a second later, Arnua's head was chopped off and his headless body fell at the feet of the white haired old man. One of the blue robed figures stepped up and threw a fireball at the body, turning it to ash in seconds, while another blue robed figure caused a wind to scatter the ashes away.

The white haired old man simply stood there apathetically. One of the azure robed figures looked at the white haired old man and spoke with a concerned voice:

"Headmaster. Wouldn’t the Hall be enraged if they find out we killed one of their own. I don’t think we can..."

Another of the azure robed figures spoke before the other could even finish her words, his voice containing some anger:

"So what if they get enraged. They are still licking their wounds from twenty years ago."

The first one that spoke looked at the other and spoke with some annoyance and disdain in her voice:

"So what if they are not as strong as they were in the past. Are you confident you can face those old monsters."

The second figure frowned at the question and only turned his head in annoyance. The white Haired old man simply shook his head:

"Stop bickering you two. As for the matter of the Hall, if that child was from there, he wouldn’t have dared to make a ruckus here. Clearly he only wanted to intimidate us with their clout. He most likely didn’t know about the event twenty years ago....."

The white haired old man stopped speaking for a moment and looked ahead thoughtfully. The six azure robed figures looked at him closely. After almost a minute of utter silence, the white haired old man spoke again:

"However, he did speak about a Dark Mage. I don't know if he just said that as a bluff, but if he was telling the truth, considering how injured he was, we have at least a Grand-Master level Dark Mage in this City. We'll need to find him and have him leave."

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Hey guys.

Here's the chapter as promised. Slightly later than i wanted, but better late than never.

Anyway, some of you wanted to know why Wesley must hide his magic, this gives you the answer for that, ignore the fact that there is now a bigger mystery. :):):)

Enjoy