*Rudolf's POV.*
There were many questions that ran through my mind at that moment, while my body, due to the shock wave caused by that explosion, was thrown at very high speed: what had hit me? Who had hit me? Had I been followed by someone without realizing it?There were a lot of things that were bothering me at that moment: from the small wounds all over my body that stung me, to the fact that I had let myself be completely caught off guard, all because of my past; I believed that I had now severed ties with my memories from the past, I believed that nothing would disturb me now.
But finding myself face to face with my "biological" sister was something that reawakened my repressed anger, shattering my idea of a "cold-blooded" soldier that I was desperately trying to build.
" ...Dammit!"
I rapidly created a large spear of ice, and after i the regained control of my body, I stucked my magic weapon in the ground to slow down the fall and avoid further damage; i managed to stop my motion, but with my surprise, i founded myself outside the forest, far away from Elaine.
[...Was the attack that powerful?!] I thought surprised at how many meters I made;
For this reason, I immediately put myself on alert; it was dark, and the visibility was poor; I tried to sense the mana of the bastard that attacked me, but it was as if he had completely camouflaged his energy, making it difficult for me to detect his presence.
Therefore, nervously, I began to move my eyes from left to right, trying to prepare for every eventuality.
I was now ready for a possible surprise attack, just as he had done before; that's why, after a couple of secods, i was shocked when i saw the man who attacked me, emerge from the forest with a calm but at the same time determined glaze.
I immediately tried to identify the man in front of me, to understand if he was a human, or if he was some follower of that stupid family. The problem, however, was that the woods were too dark, and besides seeing the silhouette of that man, you couldn't see anything else: I would have to wait until he completely emerged from that dense forest to get answers.
"Who are you?" I asked the man, expecting a surprise attack at any moment.
"Who am I? Strange, yet we saw each other just a moment ago..."
I didn't immediately understand his words, until, coming out of the forest, the body of the bastard who had hit me was illuminated by the moonlight;
"...So it was YOU!"
In front of me, in fact, stood the elderly man who a few minutes earlier had given me a scare in that dirty village: as soon as I saw the face of that damned old man, my mood got even worse, since back then, my instincts told me that the man was dangerous, and therefore it was necessary to kill him. The fact that he was now standing in front of me was a confirmation of what I thought the first time I saw him.
"Mh? You don't seem happy to see me..." the man said, looking at me with an almost bored look.
"Old man... Do you have any idea what you did?" - I said, slowly getting up from the ground, then removing the dirt from my clothes - "Do you have any idea of the consequences that you... no, that this place could face?"
" It's not a big problem" - the man replied, starting to crack his neck - "Because I will put an end to your miserable life tonight."
I thought the man had something to do with Elaine, but the more I looked at him, the more I realized that he probably didn't even know who or what we were, And that puzzled me, as I didn't understand what motivated him to act. I wanted to ask him many questions, but looking at his fiery gaze, it was clear that the man had not come here for small talk, and that therefore, I would not have any kind of answer.
"Talking is useless, so...?!"
As we talked, I felt Elaine's faint mana shift, albeit slowly, perhaps due to the wound, or perhaps, she was running away: I didn't have time to argue with this idiot, since Elaine could have disappeared again: I hated her, but she was an extremely clever girl. I never thought I would have to waste my time on a human, but as it turns out, they were more stubborn and stupid than I imagined.
I immediately created a huge Zweinhander* sword, with an extremely sharp blade, and then aimed it at the man in front of me;
"Prepare to die, you filthy human!"
*End Rudolf's POV*
--------
"Oh? You're a swordsman..." - said Ron, who looked at that sword carefully; - "Well, then it will be an interesting fight..."
The middle-aged man took off his long black robe, leaving himself with only his tight white t-shirt and baggy black pants. On his belt, however, he carried a long Katana, which he immediately drew out from his sheath; The katana in question was a bit shorter than his arm, but it was extremely sharp and had a strange black color that did not reflect any light.
"We can start, kid" said Ron, holding his beautiful sword in one hand, with a thin layer of mana that was emanating from his body; Rudolf looked at his opponent, and after finally be able to measure his mana level, he hesitated on what to do: Rudolf felt that he was stronger than him, he felt that Ron could do nothing to defeat him; however, in that moment, Ron's figure, in his eyes, had become 2, maybe 3 times more giant than he actually was.
Furthermore, the thing that struck him most, in addition to his extremely trained physique, were the scars scattered across his body, making him foreshadow that, in front of him, there was a person with much more experience than he could have imagined. [But I'm stronger, there's no doubt about it! I must not be afraid...] thought Rudolf, certain of his superiority because of their races and because the mana of Ron wasn't stronger and bigger than Rudolf's one.
After letting out a deep sigh, he launched himself at Ron, with the idea of immediately knocking him down by trying to eliminate him with a single, powerful and rapid slash. Ron, however, was not caught unprepared, and with a quick movement of his katana, he deflected the attack, clumsily unbalancing Rudolf, who almost found himself with his butt on the ground.
Rudolf closed his eyes, believing that Ron would hit him, but that wasn't the case, as the latter remained still and observed him, with a slight grin partly hidden by his thick beard.
"We're just getting started, can you try to do better?"
At that moment Rudolf felt humiliated, mocked, and all the anger accumulated for this mission took over, causing Rudolf to lose patience and, in a fit of anger, he threw himself at Ron, attacking him violently with a series of rapid and precise attacks on vital points. Ron, however, was not intimidated, and began to parry the blows with extreme precision, without however counterattacking: he hadn't faced a swordsman in a long time, so he tried to enjoy the fight in every way.
[What's happening?! What the fuck is this?!] Rudolf thought, as he saw each of his attacks being deflected with embarrassing simplicity: Rudolf was convinced that, by strengthening his body with his mana, he would be able to beat Ron with simple brute force : but not only was he unable to overcome him in defense, but he felt that the power of his blows was not enough to defeat him; His doubts then increased when he saw Ron, who with a few simple movements, managed to defend himself from every possible and unimaginable blow.
[W-who the hell is this bastard?! What trick is he using?!] Rudolf thought again, starting to lose concentration, without realizing that his attacks also gradually became more and more imprecise, predictable and slow;
"Oh, an opening!"
The moment Ron noticed Rudolf's moment of panic, he immediately took advantage of it by anticipating a poorly calibrated attack, hitting the young man with a violent knee right in the pit of the stomach; at that moment, the pain Rudolf felt was so high and brutal that he almost lost consciousness.
Stubbornly, the boy tried to hit Ron again, but his attack was so slow that Ron disarmed Rudolf with a kick; then he leapt into the air, and then hit Rudolf with a violent, precise and rapid kick in the temple, brutally throwing him against the ground.
"Hey, is that all you can do, kid?" said Ron, who was rather put off by the boy's level;
"While we were fighting..." - said Ron, as he put his sword back into its sheath; - "I had time to observe you for a long time. I never expected to see an elf try to kill another elf, that was shocking to see, since y'all buddy buddy eachother. Well, I think even elves have become savages over time. .."
"... Shut up!"
Rudolf, still in pain, tried to hit Ron with an ice stalactite created from the palm of his hand; but Ron was still focused, and he dodged the blow aimed at his forehead by casually moving his head out of its path;
" ...Mph! You still have energy.." replied Ron, who for some strange reason, hadn't gave him the final blow yet. Rudolf also noticed this strange situation, given that for several seconds, Ron remained still there observing him; this, however, gave him time to recover, and when he had the strength, he jumped up, moving away from the man who he finally considered extremely dangerous. Rudolf had not yet used his full strength: if he had to make an approximation, he had only used 50% of his strength; the problem was that in terms of experience and technique, Ron was clearly superior to him; and his mana, although much more powerful than what he perceived in Ron, was not at his level in terms of efficiency and control.
[If I don't go to full strength... This bastard will definitely kill me!] Rudolf finally decided to get serious, thus unleashing all his power: his body, due to the mana, seemed to have become more toned; his gaze was sharp, serious and focused, and he seemed ready to do anything to take Ron down.
Furthermore, this time he didn't have a sword or spear in his hands: this time, he had fashioned a huge bow out of ice, but it didn't feature any arrows; on the contrary, the bowstring gave off a strange white light.
" Mh... it seems that now you want to get serious..." said Ron, who however had not yet drawn his sword.
"You better take me seriously, or you seriously risk getting hurt, old man..."
"Really? I'm looking for it." said in a quiet tone of voice Ron, even though his whole body at that moment was in extreme tension, thus preparing himself for action.
Rudolf, without wasting any more time, took several rapid steps backwards; he imbued some mana into his left hand, and with the same hand he stretched the edge of his bow; the bow began to absorb his mana, and as soon as Rudolf took his hand off the bow, three thin but fast beams of light shot towards Ron, ready to strike down the middle-aged man; Ron, however, despite being oblivious to the danger, was always on alert, and dodged those arrows with a rapid but composed movements of the body; Ron believed that those arrows, other than being made with ice, were harmless; but as soon as one of the arrows touched one of the numerous trees around them, it slowly froze, until it became a block of ice and somewhat surprising Ron, who realized that now he needed to take Rudolf a little more seriously;
" I have not finished yet!"
This time, Rudolf pumped in even more mana than before, and this time, a dozen of those cold, rapid arrows were generated, all pointing in Ron's direction; Rudolf was convinced that this time, there was no chance to escape for Ron, given that in addition to having increased the number of his arrows, he had exponentially increased their speed, and consequently, the potential damage they could do was increased.
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However, he was disappointed and frustrated to see that not only Ron dodge every attack with incredibly absurd speed, but Ron didn't even need to make any big movements, as he remained still in his place. At that moment, Rudolf finally realized the gap he had with Ron was way to bigger: although he felt that Ron's mana was always at the same level, it was impossible for the old man to move that way with that kind of power, even with all the experience in the world.
But at fisrt, it was difficult for Rudolf to accept that a "wretched" human, could be stronger than an Elf, and this sent him even more into a tailspin.
[He must be using some trick that doesn't allow me to detect his level correctly... it must be like this!] thought desperately Rudolf, who began to tremble from nervousness, but above all, from fear: without realizing it, he had entered the cage of a ferocious beast of blood.
" How old are you?" said Ron suddenly, who had now noticed Rudolf's fear; Rudolf did not want to answer that question at all, but Ron's icy stare caused chills in Rudolf, who, after stopped his attack, answered without even meaning to.
"26... What do you need this information for?"
" 26?!... You have a talent for magic, but you use it in a totally wrong way. That's why you suck so badly, not to mention that you also have a Deviant element; your bow attacks were interesting, but nothing more ...Have you ever trained properly, boy?"
"...Are you kidding me old man?" said Rudolf, glaring at Ron, who didn't bat an eyelid.
"Seeing your character, I understand why you are so incompetent... Well, let me show you the advantage of training with dedication..."
Suddenly, Ron's body was enveloped in a strange whitish mana; at first, it appeared as a faint curtain of smoke, enveloping his body; but then, what seemed like a faint mist, gradually became brighter and brighter, starting to expand with each passing second.
Then suddenly... an explosion of light engulfed the forest, with a luminous column rising to touch the sky. Ron's energy was enormous, immense; it was something Rudolf had never seen before: an exceptional amount of pure mana, and a control that bordered on perfection; the animals and magical beasts of that place, even several kilometers away, as soon as they felt the immense power, began to quickly disappear, for the fear of being killed by that being who at that moment, for them, seemed like the utter evil.
Even Elaine felt that enormous energy as she walked away at a turtle's pace, remaining amazed but relatively, since when the two had come into contact shortly before, she had perceived a tremendous strength dormant in the man.
At that moment Rudolf, looking at Ron's cold and merciless eyes, had a strange feeling of Deja-Vu: that immense energy, confidence and fear of nothing... he had seen it only in one person, that is, that whom he now considered as his new father.
However, at that moment, he felt that the man in front of him was even more ominous and dangerous than the one he considered the strongest in the world.
[He... stronger than our Lord?! I-Impossible!] thought Rudolf, but the more time passed, the more he felt that the first sensation was correct, although he refused to accept the fact that a mere human was superior not only to him, but also to his "Father".
"Mind you, this isn't even my 30%..." said Ron, who immediately decreased the level of his mana, until it returned to the level he had used during their fight.
"This is our difference...Well, let's end it here, there's no point in continuing any further."
Ron slowly approached Rudolf, intending to kill him; Rudolf, meanwhile, remained lost for several seconds. But then he came back to himself, also due to the enormous bloodlust directed towards him, and at that moment he began to tremble like a leaf: he knew that his time had now come, he knew that there was nothing that could do to save himself; for a moment, he thought about running away, but then he realized that a man like Ron would probably have managed to kill him even from a distance.
However, while he was thinking about how to save himself from that dramatic situation, he realized that a strong man like him, if he really wanted to take him down, would have done so from their first meeting, on sight; yet none of this had happened.
Rudolf looked at the situation with a bit more cautions. And only when he calmed down completely, that he realized that it was almost as if Ron was trying to...
[He's trying to intimidate...me?!] - He wasn't sure about what he was thinking, but judging from what had happened, there was a chance his deduction was correct.
By now, he really had nothing left to lose, so he decided to try everything to stay alive; at first, he thought of revealing everything to him, to save his own skin; but then, he realized that if he opened his mouth about their plans, and he returned empty-handed this time too, then he would surely get punished, suffering a penalty worse than death itself.
"No matter what i do, i'm fucked!" Rudolf whispered, as he continued to back away in fear, thinking about what he could do.
But it was at that moment that, he realized that he could reveal everything, but at the same time, nothing, while issuing threats that that old man, although he could not trust his words, would listen carefully. It was a risky plan, yes, but Rudolf at that moment saw himself now dead.
"Stop, you damn bastard!" said Rudolf, with a strangely curious air, leaving Ron perplexed, who didn't understand what this radical change of mood was due to;
"You know, I admit you're a fucking monster... but I don't think it's a good idea to kill me!" - said Rudolf, who took out a strange amulet from one of his pockets;
> *The amulet had a round shape, engraved with strange characters embroidered in gold; it had a dark green color, and appeared to be made of an extremely expensive material, with an emerald placed in the center of it*
"..."
Ron looked at the amulet, and after having observed its details for long seconds, he immediately recognized that medallion, and his expression, which in itself was serious, took on a terrifying expression, leaving Rudolf stunned, who almost he fell on his butt. At that moment, Rudolf was scared as hell, but somehow, he seemed to have managed to catch Ron's interest, who had stopped chasing him.
"In just over 2 days, I will have to return home, and if they don't hear anything from me, they will send a myriad of men here in your stupid and insipid kingdom: maybe you will manage to save yourself, but what do you think will happen to those idiots of your fellow villagers If you won't let me carry out that girl?"
Ron didn't open his mouth: at that moment, he was thinking about what to do, whether he could really or not trust the words of that damned elf who had threatened the little town he loved so much: in normal conditions, he wouldn't have hesitated to blow his head off, but after seeing that medallion, he knew he couldn't act lightly. So, despite his hesitation, he made the decision that made the most sense for him.
"Okay, I'll let you go..." said Ron, who lowered his guard.
" Good, now I'm going to get my Sister... I hope you don't interfere..."
Ron didn't like this situation, but rather than endanger his lifelong friends, he would have preferred to sacrifice that girl he didn't even know.
"Okay... But let me be clear with you: If u hurt again that girl, i will kill you; if you touch some innocents people, i will kill you; If you even try something strange, i will destory you... Nod if you get it, kid." - said Ron, scaring Rudolf again, who, to get away before that "monster" could change his mind again, nodded quickly, and then disappeared into the woods, chasing the faint trace of the girl's mana.
Finally, after he almost died because of Ron, He was one step away from completing his mission.
-------
*Erwin's POV.*
I had just finished working, and after cleaning the inn, I took some of the leftovers I had left and put them inside a small backpack, then headed towards the beach, hoping to meet that girl again; As I walked, I imagined what to say to her, such as apologizing if I had scared her, or to ask her if someone wanted to hurt her.
I was immersed in my thoughts, when I felt an intense, pure and violent mana energy explode a few kilometers from me, with a strange explosion of light that illuminated, for a fraction of a second, all of Hakvill: that energy was truly frightening, to the point that for a moment, I couldn't understand who that energy belonged to: but then, feeling the energy, I had a strange sense of deja-vu: that energy, there was no doubt, belonged to Ron, but it was at a level that for me, at that moment, was unimaginable.
Two years ago, when i get trough the "Awakede" process, Ron showed me some of his energy; backe then, he telled me that it wasn't even the 5% of his power, and I thought it was a bluff, but now I was certain that what he said wasn't bragging bullshit, but the pure truth: for the first time, I realized that the gap between me and that old man was damn wide, to the point of convincing me that perhaps I should have listened to Ron more and stopped believing that i knew what I was doing, when in truth, It wasn't the true.
But as I stood fascinated and at the same time petrified before such energy, a question arose;
"What the hell is going on?" At that moment, I began to believe that maybe, Ron was training, or maybe... that he was fighting someone! I began to try to sense other sources of mana, but I was not yet able to find sources of energy not as present as the one that Ron was at that moment, and i wasn't able to sens mana that were far to me: so, forgetting a little about my main objective, I headed towards the source of that energy, in the hope of not getting caught.
I accelerated my pace, heading towards the northern part of Hakvill, characterized by a thick forest, curious to know what was happening. But my run was abruptly stopped when, just outside the forest, with the tail of the eye, I saw a body lying on the ground, with a familiar energy coming from it: carefully, I approached the body, and only later I realized that it was the girl I had seen on the beach in the afternoon: but what was she doing here?!
Furthermore, she was sweating terribly, and had a strange wound on her abdomen, apparently similar to a burn." Hey...Hey! Wake up!"
I hit her face, also starting to shake her body and scream to her aloud ; then, while I was checking her condition, I realized that her body was really strange, compared to mine; they were similar, yes, but her body seemed much "harder" than mine, and her features were even slightly different, with those strange pointy ears that kept distracting me.
"… I need to focus on her health first!"
I kept trying to wake her for a few minutes, until the girl slowly began to regain consciousness;
"Hey! Are you okay? What happened to you?!"
" You...You...you're the boy from the beach, right?" the girl said in a low voice, giving me some difficulty in understanding what she was saying.
"Stay still, I'll take you somewhere safe now..." - Gently, I lifted her from the ground: it was the first time I had touched a girl like that, and it embarrassed me; The girl also seemed somewhat embarrassed too, starting to give me annoying dirty looks, but without saying anything.
"A-Ah Ah... we'll be there in a moment...S-Stay strong..."
I was now ready to leave, when, suddenly, a spear, made of ice, grazed my face, tearing my cheek with extreme ease;
[...W-Woah...That's the second time!] I thought terrified: I hadn't noticed anything, yet at that moment, I was about to die in such a banal way...
At first, I believed that it was the girl who had attacked me again, thus looking at her in a bad way; but I had to change my mind, when, looking at her gaze turned away, I saw in her an enormous sense of despair and terror.
At the same time, in the distance, a young man appeared before us, whose energy and presence stirred me; admittedly, he was not on Ron's level, but neither of us stood a chance against him.
I tried to figure out who the man in front of me was, but because of the darkness of the forest, his face was not clearly visible from that distance.
"If you take another step with that girl, I'll turn you into Gruyère: leave her down, now." male voice said coldly, making me understand that he wasn't bluffing.
At that moment, my head told me to let it go and save myself; but if I had done something like that, I would have been forever ashamed of it .
"Leave me... please.." said the girl, with an extremely pale face and with her body temperature that start to become hotter; - "I'll... find a way to...urgh!"
It was clear that at that moment the girl would have died if I had left her in that state. In that moment, I cursed myself for even thinking of abandoning that girl to her fate!
I then leaned the girl next to a tree, but instead of turning back, I cautiously approached the man in front of me, with the latter saying nothing at first.
Arriving at a safe distance that nevertheless allowed me a good view of his face, I had a little gasp; his face in fact was extremely furious and frightening, and this, combined with his omnious bloodlust, made me a little nervous;
Apart from this, however, there was something else that left me bewildered: in fact, both the girl and this idiot in front of me looked very much alike, and they also shared those strange features: at that moment, I wondered if they were brothers....
Also, on his face and somewhat on the rest of his body, i saw slight wounds, with a strange burning smell hovering around him;
[Burning smell...wait, does that mean he fought Ron?! But if that's the case, then...where is Ron?] I thought, looking around moving nervously my eyes from left to right.
I had many questions running through my mind at that moment, with the prospect that maybe, the reason why Ron wasn't here, was because this bastard in front of me killed him; I didn't know what to do, I was about to panic, when, however, feeling his energy, I realized again that he could not have defeated Ron...it was impossible fro someone like him.
Perhaps the latter was busy with other rogues; perhaps, this bastard had managed to escape without Ron noticing!
If this was the case, then... I certainly couldn't let him get away!
I completely turned off my brain, and without thinking of the consequences, I attempted to viciously attack the enemy in front of me with a violent kick, a blow that was, however, parried with great ease by the man in front of me, who, however, did not counterattack, leaving me stunned.
"...What the hell are you doing?" I puzzledly asked the man in front of me.
"Don't ask stupid questions, boy... Leave the girl down, or I'll kill you."
Once again, I was intimidated again, frightening myself even more, but once again, he did not attack me; looking at the face of the man in front of me, I realized that in addition to being angry, he was looking around nervously, almost as if he expected, at any moment, a sudden attack.
"Well, if this is the case..."
I knew I didn't stand a chance against this bastard, i knew that the chances of dying against him were extremely high; but at the same time, I was convinced that the man in front of me was running away from Ron, and that the latter was going to come at any moment.
Putting my trust in the man, therefore, I took a deep breath, and concentrating hard, I prepared myself for the fight, strengthening my body to the utmost of my ability. I still hadn't figured out why he didn't want to attack me, but I was going to use that situation to my advantage to try to buy Ron more time!
"I know, I don't have the slightest hope against this bastard, but... am I sure Ron will come here!"
"Ron...You...do you know that old man?"
"Yes, he is my grandfather, kinda..." I replied, moving closer and closer to the man.
"You know you don't have a chance, right? Look at you! Even your body is shaking with fear!" said the man, pointing at me with his index finger: it was obvious that he was in a hurry, even from the way he was looking around : yes, I was sure that he was afraid of Ron!
As for me... was I really afraid? Yes, in a certain sense, I was afraid of dying; however, at the same time, while my heart was beating wildly, I felt that there was not only fear inside my hearth: for the first time, I felt a strange feeling of excitement in facing what was my enemy: instinctively, I got into position, ready to throw hands.
"...You are crazy!"
END OF CHAPTER 6 – False Hope