Avery had followed after his son as they journeyed towards Sydenham Town. According to Lord Tommel, it was only a matter of time before either the Burgans or Baron Black attacked the manor. Who would have thought that both possibilities would come through? Lord Tommel's foresight for danger was formidable.

Thus, Avery decided to follow his son in secret. He watched on as Sergeant Kane captured his son and trailed them even inside the mansion. It wasn't too difficult for Avery to infiltrate, given his ability to move long distances in the blink of an eye. He didn't plan to reveal himself until the time was right. It was difficult for him to watch his son become fearful for his life but surprisingly the boy's eyes never wavered.

Avery had followed along even when Sergeant Kane carried his captives along the road to Tommel's Manor. He didn't find it too difficult to blend into the crowd of people who inevitably followed. The townsfolks had heard the noise from the clash between Lord Tommel and Baron Black from the previous night. There was no way Baron Black could approach the manor today without causing a commotion.

Avery quietly waited in the crowd as he watched Lord Tommel exit the manor. All of this was part of his Lord's predictions. It wasn't until Avery realized his son had escaped his bindings that he decided to make his move. Khal had embedded his body with elemental wind before cutting down a guard before moving to the next; it was at that moment Avery decided to strike.

Cladding his sword before embedding it in elemental darkness, he appeared next to Sergeant Kane, immediately grazing the man's cheeks in the process. Kane was a Knight Sergeant - there was no way Avery could cause any major damage to the man from a sneak attack. Although Avery was weaker, his surprise attack had done more than enough. Elemental darkness was different from the other elements. It didn't need fatal contact to carry out its destructive nature. Darkness element was a misnomer, to say the least.

Darkness was an element native to Durmondaes only. It was not known whether there was something special about their bodies or their lands. It was the only element capable of consuming the others. It was known as the anti-element. Not only did it consume spirit energy, but world energy as well. Stronger Elementums, native to Durmond, were even able to travel short distances using darkness by causing the world energy to collapse around them. This had been the number one reason why the world came together to destroy the peace-loving Empire.

"Ahh!"

Kane screamed as the little cut on his face continued to eat away at his skin. Kane began to roll all over the ground, trying his best to stop the erosion. He injected his spirit energy into the wound only to feel it sucking out of his body without his control. Since all living things were made of spirit energy the darkness element on Kane's face continued to eat away at the man's flesh. It didn't stop until the sliver of darkness energy on his face was completely used up. At this time, Kane's face became a mangled mess. He was not dead, however, but the left side of his face was completely gone. Too deranged by the pain to defend himself from Avery's follow up attack, Kane didn't even realize when he lost his head to the follow-up attack.

All of this happened too fast for Commander Fascal to react. By the time he noticed Avery, Kane's head was already separated from his body. "You!" Fascal said as he saw how quickly Kane died. If it was him, he knew he could not defeat the man as quickly as Avery did. "You're not Katarian! You're Durmondae!" He finally screamed as he looked at Avery with fear in his eyes.

Durmondae were seen as evil people, those abandoned by God. Almost everyone in the world shared that viewpoint. It was unclear to the masses where that view first started but it wasn't until the prowess of those people were known to the world that they were truly feared. It was a common law to execute all those suspected of being Durmondae without trial.

Having already used his elemental powers to fight Kane, Avery was exhausted. Although darkness element was strong, the amount of spirit energy required to use it was equally great. Without his elemental darkness, Avery was merely a Senior Knight level combatant. Commander Fascal wasn't aware of the shortcomings of Durmondaes and thus only wearily watch Avery, waiting for him to make the first move.

By this time, Khal had already killed another guard before freeing Nick and Bryce. Although Bryce was still unable to fight due to his injuries, he had regained his consciousness while in Black's dungeon. He had quickly learned about what had happened but was too powerless to do anything about it.

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Khal readied his dagger and embedded it with wind energy before complimenting Nick's attacks. Only 8 guards remained with Baron Black in the background. Together with Nick, Khal was able to attack every time Nick defended against the guards. Using this tactic, they were able to kill another 2 guards before becoming overwhelmed by the other 4. It took everything from Nick and Khal to defend themselves from the onslaught of the four guards.

After losing their commanding officer, Sergeant Kane, the guards were enraged. Their attacks were stronger than before since they no longer paid any attention to defending themselves. They had committed themselves to risk their lives to avenging their lost leader. Their crazy attacks left little room for Khal or Nick to attack. Dodging an attack aimed at his chest, Khal jumped back, only to slip on Kane's blood.

Boof!

Falling on his back, Khal rolled before a blade came crashing downwards. Realizing that the guards had a longer reach than he did Khal sheathed his dagger. He grappled around before he picked up Sergeant Kane's sword. He was only given enough time to grab the hilt when another attack caused him to parry another blade aimed at him.

Sheeng!

Avery quickly looked towards his son as he parried the blade, preparing to intervene if needed. Noticing Avery's distraction, Commander Fascal quickly cladded his legs before rushing towards Avery. Avery barely realized what had happened before he placed his sword in front of his body and prepared for impact. Fascal removed his thin blade and quickly cladded it before slashing at Avery.

Crack!

Avery's blade quickly cracked a little. The quality of his weapon was leagues below the Commander. A few more strikes and the blade would be completely destroyed. Foregoing attacking in favor of defense, Avery lasted for a mere 20 seconds before his blade was destroyed. Just as Fascal was about to deal the finishing blow, Avery disappeared and reappeared in front of one of the guards. He quickly broke the man's wrist with a cladded punch before stealing his weapon.

The guard was quickly cut down by Nick as Avery turned to face Fascal again. "Hehe, you're not as strong as you appear Durmondae scum," Fascal said before he attacked Avery again. Teleporting again to dodge the man's quick attack, Avery found himself drenched in sweat as he found it difficult to concentrate on the battle. His spirit energy was almost zero and he needed to rest. He began feeling dizzy and his body became heavy with exhaustion.

"Papa!" Khal shouted as Avery snapped back to reality, a little too late to completely dodge an attack aimed at his heart. Blood dripped on the ground as Avery's hand dangled lifelessly at his side. Fascal's blade had managed to sever the nerves needed to move his left hand.

Panting for breath now, Avery raised his sword again as he faced his opponent. At this time, Nick had finally killed off all the guards with Khal's help. Although the fight was too fast for either man to jump in, they waited just in case Fascal made an error they could capitalize on.

"Enough!" Baron Black shouted out as he noticed Fascal under pressure. He turned towards Tommel again to end the fight once and for all. If the enemy intended on putting up a resistance then he would just have to take matters into his own hands. His son must be saved by all means! He had already risked everything. Nothing else mattered once he got his son back. If only he could kill Tommel then he could write the narrative for this situation when the Court Marshall comes. He would blame Tommel for colluding with the Burgans only to be cut down by him. It would become one of the biggest merits in Seabo causing him to receive a promotion.

However, as soon as Baron Black turned towards Tommel, he saw the man remove a small blade from the handle of his cane. With feeble hands, Tommel jumped on Black, stabbing his small blade into Baron Black's left eye. Black quickly lost his balance from the unsuspecting attack causing Tommel to fall on top of him in the process. Without remorse, Tommel disregarded the fall to continue stabbing the fat man's eye over and over until his large body stopped moving.

Lord Tommel heaved ferociously. It was the first time in years he had physically exerted himself to this level. He found it too difficult to get up after his remarkable feat. Without his cane and any more energy, he was unable to even stand on his own. Looking towards the left, Lord Tommel could see Khal and Nick itching to join the fight with Avery and Fascal. What Tommel also saw was that the injuries on Avery were beginning to accumulate. It was only a matter of time before Avery was defeated then the Burgans would have conquered the town.

Splat!

Avery's right leg received a deep gash as blood leaked profusely. His heavy body was moving like lead before, now it was as though he was pinned in place. This was the end. There was no way Avery could continue to dodge any more of the man's attacks. "Durmondaes are nothing more than the past!" Fascal shouted as he descended on Avery's exposed neck.

"No!" Nick shouted. "Papa!" Khal exclaimed. There was a deafening silence permeating the place even though they were both shouting. The feeling felt so surreal. Avery smiled as he noticed for the first time how grown his son had become. He didn't bother to look at Fascal, he maintained his eyes on his son, the only person that meant anything to him.

I will go meet your mother first Khal. There is no need to rush to visit us. We will wait for you till the end of times. Become a man that we can be proud of. I love you Kha..

Clop!

Blood covered Avery's face as he felt the warmth of the substance flooding his face. It was the last thing he saw before he fell to the floor.