A/n: Help me reach my Goal on P4treon & Join Discord! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel or Google "Donovel Linktree" ⬅️
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"MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!"
It was now or never, she had to run.
She doesn't know the reason why things are turning out all wrong when it comes to that certain young man but she can't be more right when she says he's the most dangerous scoundrel she ever ran into.
He defeated a beast warrior in one on one barehanded combat.
There was one fundamental fact in this world that was known by almost everyone. A human may have the best potential to grow but they are the weakest race in normal cases.
That… that was not a normal case. If you can beat down a beast then you are a monster yourself and from monsters, people run, people cower, people hide.
Ruth had a wagon carrying her possessions at the back of the Saloon. She jumped at the coachman's seat and just drove it into the street.
People, hundreds of them were in the way, Ruth just pushed forward as she forced the horses to run through.
"RUN!"
"YOU MAD WOMAN!"
"AH! MY LEG! I CAN'T FEEL MY LEG!"
She ran into people like it was nothing and ran over some of them.
"That whore!" Jessica went pale from shock, "She'll get the crowd against us."
One thing was certain in Jessica's mind, those who were injured will target the saloon and the girls. This is not ending well.
"On it."
Leon, however, rushed through the front door, leaped in the air, and landed right next to the wagon.
"AACK!" Ruth definitely saw him and she didn't even stop but rather hit the horses as hard as she could.
"EARTH!"
Before things would escalate, Leon somatically sent his Mana through the Earth, made a small wall in the middle of the street, and pushed the protestors aside.
"Save the fallen! Carry them to the Saloon, the girls will nurse them." He shouted at the protestors and they heard his strong voice.
Instead of being angry at the saloon, they rushed to it for help. One look between Leon and Jessica conveyed her gratitude and informed him she knows what to do.
He can now focus on this pain in the ass woman.
"LEAP!"
In one push, Leon leapt like a beast and hung on a wall then leapt once again and climbed it over. Immediately, he rushed over the rooftops watching the double-horse wagon.
At that time, more faces arrived at the scene.
"My Lord! There he is." Zal pointed.
It was no mistake that this is Leon but a flying Leon felt more terrifying than anything anyone could anticipate.
"He'll fall he'll fall he'll fall he'll fall!" Without any introductions, Lance went into a panic attack immediately.
"Oh, have some faith. My Lord runs the roofs like nothing."
"I am going after him." Lance ran.
"I'm coming." Lara followed.
"Those two are impossible to predict." Erielle went after them.
"We need to do something about that riot." Vadim pointed at the chaotic protest.
"Wait, is that Eden Newman?" Eleanor pointed at the old man who was being escorted by an entourage of strong youth, "I'll have a word with him."
"My Lord, Zal is coming to…" Zal wanted to run after Leon but Vadim held him.
"You're staying with me." He said.
Zal could only be dragged away as he watched the chase disappear around the intersection.
Leon wasn't going to let Ruth go. She gathered clues about the escaped nobleman from the stormy night two months ago and wanted to sell them. They were all indifferent rumors but Leon can't risk it.
By now, anyone with a good head on his shoulders should know why Leon was obsessed with getting rid of her. No one cared about that night but Ruth did and she had a good head to figure the mystery out. Once she saw Leon fight, she realized that he is not just some lucky catch, he is the unluckiest thing she ever came across.
He's the one she was after, she wanted to hunt him, now she's being hunted and he is relentless.
"HYA! RUN RUN RUN!" She screamed at the horses to push and run but all she could hear was that laughter.
That creepy laughter.
"Burn it all! Hahaha!"
Whenever she looked back, she would see him jumping between the buildings, through them, everywhere, left, right, above.
She can't outrun the devil, she never will.
The devil flew above the wagon and he just tossed something on it. It was a spark then it became fire, and the fire spread.
"NO! YOU BASTARD!"
Everything was gone, her fortune, her collection, her expensive possessions. It was all lit aflame. She just let go of the reins and jumped on the wagon with her big dress. She cut its strings loose and took it off her then started putting off the fire with it.
"All shall burn!"
Leon's twisted laughter and voice echoed and she screamed as she kept putting off the fire.
At that final moment when the horses were running as desperate as they could in the wider streets, Leon landed on the wagon.
Three blurry figures followed him as he was recklessly riding the roofs and performing his cartoonish feats. If not for Erielle, Lance would have run ahead as fast as he could to catch Leon before he fell.
But Leon was just standing on the wagon and balancing himself like nothing. Ruth, on the other hand, was kneeling not to fall off the wagon.
"You…" She cried.
"Me?" Leon tilted his head innocently.
"What have I ever done to you?" She asked.
"Oh, honey." Leon spoke with a pitiful face, "I was not even going to let you do anything."
He laughed even more but then he turned serious.
"On a serious note though, I am just cleaning the trash."
It was just that, cleaning the trash. Leon hates backstabbers the most so he had it a little bit personal there.
"Oh, and…" Leon then took out his last Molotov Cocktail, "I always wondered how horses react to fire."
He instantly threw that bottle which was carrying a flame and it went past Ruth who raised her arms trying to catch it. The bottle flew past the wagon and the horses before landing fifty feet ahead of the speeding vehicle.
*Splash* *Fire* *Neighs*
The horses panicked, they started stopping and tried to coordinate in order to avoid the fire but that was on the cost of the wagon. As soon as they took a sharp turn, the wagon's pole broke, the parts down there crumbled, and a wheel started flying off the side.
Leon was already jumping high up and backflipped gracefully before landing as he watched the speeding wagon detach from the horses which escaped safely and for everything to just fall off all over the street and catch fire all over again.
Ruth, who was in the middle of this mess, somehow made it on top of a piece of her luggage which was soft enough to cushion her head but she still took the full force of the crash. Her body rolled without stopping for a few meters and rammed against the pavement.
She was still alive and conscious even.
"No! No no no no no!" And the screams rolled out.
Where she landed, she had a first-class seat to watch all her life's savings simply burn in front of her eyes.
"Curse you! Leo, I curse you! I curse the day the river spat you out! I curse the hands that saved you! You should have drowned you, you should have died, you bastard!"
Mentally, she couldn't take this at all. She was the most materialistic person in the neighborhood and she loved her possessions and money. She was greedy and avaricious that she was blinded by rage over her items.
But even a greedy pig has a survival instinct.
"You want to curse me, do it to my face!"
And Leon walked towards her through the fire with a sword in his hand.
This scene of an angry devil walking through the flames he sat in her life and walking towards her to claim her life, this was what pushed Ruth up and without thinking, sent her running like no tomorrow.
For there is no tomorrow.
She ran off the main street, stereotypically the worst mistake to do when a killer is chasing you but it was either that or getting halted by the crowd of people who were gathering as they had absolutely no power to stop someone of Leon's caliber.
From one side street to the other. Ruth exhausted herself running with her torn dress and the people watching would comment and point on the madwoman.
Those who noticed Leon holding a sword and casually walking behind her felt extreme fear save for a few brave souls that wanted to stop him from harming a seemingly innocent woman.
They tried alright, one was slapped out of where he was standing back to the pavement and another was kicked into a crowd. No one was seriously injured and they all realized that Leon is no ordinary person.
He's someone who has levels.
"Help! Please! Stop him!" Ruth ran, begged, fell down, stood up again, sprained her ankle, and finally fell down.
She was crying in agony, cursing in hatred, submerged in shame and defeat.
"Giving up already?" Leon spoke as he casually walked beside her and raised her chin with the side of his sword.
Behind him among the crowd appeared Lance and Lara who followed closely to watch while Erielle hid somewhere far from the eyes of the public.
"You… what do you want?" Ruth asked.
Leon kept on smiling to provoke her even more. She gnashed her teeth knowing that her death was just a moment away and in a desperate attempt, she decided to bite back.
"IT'S HIM!" She yelled as loud as she could so the world could hear her, "It is the one the Aristocrats were chasing two months ago and locked the bridge. The Guard Killer!" She screamed.
Silence!
The people around showed nothing but blank faces and silent reactions.
Ruth was expecting mayhem to break loose but she expected her head to fly sooner. She was already closing her eyes but she gradually opened them and looked around.
It wasn't natural, it wasn't at all natural until she saw Leon's face.
He was naturally staring at her.
"And?" He asked.
And who cares? That's what he meant.
No one is stupid enough to mess with an Aristocrat or interfere in their business. Well, there are few rare exceptions but not that they would ruin their lives interfering with matters they know nothing about.
And on top of that, that was two months ago. The Northern District is too noisy to keep track of everything that happened last week let alone a couple of months ago.
And even if they remember, who will believe? A desperate woman running for her life would say anything. Also, when the Knights stopped looking for the killer a few months ago, they all thought this was the end of it and he was found.
Leon crouched down on one knee and held Ruth from the back of her head before pulling her closer then he whispered some words.
I won't kill you now… that was a clear thing he said at first.
He then said something that made her shiver, something that made her even more scared than before. He looked at her face and snorted before standing back up.
"Forgive me!" She shouted.
"Now I will kill you." He quietly replied.
"NO!"
There was no more room to negotiate, she's doomed no matter what she does. She knew that yet she desperately ran off the streets.
She ran and ran like hell but she wouldn't run far.
The people were surprised by what happened. Even Lance, Lara, and Erielle were tilting their heads.
No one heard a word just now. No, not the whispering. In fact, Leon made no one hear anything from the start. Those three could also sense a hint of magic from him.
Leon has formulated a spell that can cancel voices from leaking out of a certain space and called it "Wind Whispers". It is a spell that controls the air vibrations which carry sounds but in this case, Leon suppressed all these vibrations from the start.
What the people saw was just two people silently exchanging words. That's why they were blank and silent.
When the woman started running again, Leon smiled back at them.
"I apologize for the disturbing scene but due to the departure of Mr. Hector Norman, a few citizens of our community will be relocated for the sake of the greater good of our society. Bless you, good people and please, get back to what you were doing."
There was no mistake that Leon said that this is Twilight Syndicate business and the people immediately shuddered. No one must interfere in the business of the crime bosses especially when they go after one another.
And so as the people dispersed, he went back after Ruth.
Speaking of which, there was no longer an escape for her, she was already caught before Leon reached her.
"Brother, put the woman down." Lara said.
"She wanted to sell him out. She wanted to give him back to those bastards." Lance spoke as he choked the life out of Ruth.
"You rotten bro-con." Lara shouted quietly, "She's already dead."
Amidst his rage, Lance could no longer see reason as he chased after Ruth before even Leon made his move. No one shall hand Leon back to those who took him after they already come this close to taking him back.
"Dead? … right."
Lance let the motionless corpse drop before getting rid of the white glove he was wearing in the hand that killed Ruth and exchanging it with a fresh one from his pocket.
"I am troubled to…" Lance wanted to say something to Lara but she looked past him.
"Lance." She said, fixing her eyes at the figure who seemed to have been there for a while now.
Leon watched that last part. Normally, he would be thankful if someone killed someone he wanted dead but that new someone turned out to be quite the bothersome opponent. Very strong and on top of all, a Dark family member.
Two of them in fact.
Very problematic!
Well, he would just turn and walk away and he was already willing to.
"Wait!" Lara spoke.
"Leon!" Lance shouted and wanted to run to hold his little brother but…
"Stop!" Erielle appeared between Lance and Leon.
"Mother." Lara spoke seeing her mother-in-law stand between the long-awaited reunion.
"You get close to him and he will attack you without a second thought." Erielle said.
"But…" Lance wanted to refute yet Leon interrupted.
"You managed to figure me out that well, huh?" He said.
"Believe me, child. It was a team effort." She replied.
"Hmph!" Leon shook his head with a smile as he revealed the knife and the crossbow he was holding.
"In due time, we will introduce you to each other." Erielle spoke to Lance then turned to Leon, "And Leon, please meet us as soon as you can. We need to have a serious conversation."
"I have one last thing to do in the city. I'll leave when it is over." Leon said and turned around before suddenly getting submerged in Darkness, "I doubt it is something important anyway."
Once the darkness receded, Lance spoke.
"Lara, where did he go?" He asked.
"Two possible directions. I can't see through the Darkness." She replied as she focused her senses.
"Three, in fact." Erielle said, "The two magic trails are just misdirection. He's already on the rooftops."
Everyone looked up as Erielle finished her words.
"You two must start to learn not to pursue him. He'll get under your skin each time he vanishes in thin air anyway."
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A/n: Help me reach my Goal on P4treon & Join Discord! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel or Google "Donovel Linktree" ⬅️