"It's here" three men stopped right before a giant structure. The structure that bared their way was a large earth dome.
"Are you certain" one of the men asked? He had a mole at the corner of his mouth and he spoke with a slur. He stood in the middle, and posed the question to the man on his right.
The man on the right nodded. He had a huge nose that occupied most of the space on his face. He pointed confidently at the earth dome to show that it was the target of their search.
"He can't be wrong. The devices master gave us are always accurate. This is where their auras disappeared." The words came from the last member of the trio; and the only lady in the group. She wasn't spectacularly beautiful, but she was still very pretty. She was confident that the device that their master had given them couldn't be wrong.
Abelard was right about those who received the 'blessing'. Their masters were able to control their lives. Their masters also had the ability to tell whether they were alive or not. Simply put, once they die, their masters would be aware. Abelard knew this, yet his resolve to torture those men remained. He could have transported them to a secure location so that he would deal with them safely; however, he did not. Because of his decision to disregard safety and dish out punishment anyway, once the men died their master felt their passing. Wielders were dispatched to the location of where their auras disappeared in the hopes that the culprit would be apprehended.
"What a fool. Building a barrier can fool anyone but Master" The pretty lady held nothing but disdain for the person she regarded as retarded. "Indeed. Nothing can hide from Master's eyes" the man with the huge nose assented. He too believed that the culprit was a fool to think that he could hide from their master with nothing but a simple earth barrier. He pulled out a strange looking device and watched it intensely. The device resembled a very large compass and its pointer was directed at the earth dome. It beeped incessantly, proof that they were indeed at the right destination. After watching it for a while, the huge nose man commented
"The culprit is still indeed. What an idiot. He should have left the moment he finished the job." He spat on the ground as he marveled at the stupidity of the one they were after.
"Don't underestimate this person. There shouldn't be anyone on Zandor with the power to kill above-mortal realmers. But the evidence speaks for itself. We cannot take the opponent lightly." The man with the mole on his face advised. Unlike the other two, he didn't believe that the opponent was stupid. He wasn't chosen as the leader of this group for nothing. For a person to remain after killing their men could only mean two things: either this person was confident in his ability to deal with anything that came his/her way; or this person was indeed a fool.
He rubbed his chin in contemplation. He doubted that it was the former; meaning the latter was more likely. He may be at the 1st stage of the Profound Realm but he wasn't going to take such an opponent lightly. After all, three above-mortal realmers, one of whom was at the 6th stage were killed. The opponent couldn't be taken lightly. However, before he could even come up with a strategy the woman leapt towards the earth dome. She was tired of waiting. Surprisingly she was stronger than the leader. The aura of a 2nd stage Profound Realmer oozed from every fiber of her being. The huge-nosed man smiled at the sight. He too followed her. His aura was just as strong as the leader's. He was also a 1st stage Profound Realmer.
"Those fools" the leader barked angrily and followed suit! He had no choice but to go along with their plan; which wasn't really a plan. It was more of a 'let's destroy everything we see' battle strategy. This was the problem he had with his team. His master had put him in charge because of his superior intellect. However his strength was only average, and there was even someone with higher inner energy. Even the huge-nosed man – although he possessed the same amount of inner energy – was stronger than him. Because of this, they rarely listened to him. But even he was surprised by what he saw when he entered the dome through the makeshift entrance the woman had made.
"You are brasher than I thought" Abe looked the pretty woman in the eye as his hand remained lodged in her chest. She choked on her blood, and her eyes were filled with regret. If only she had been more careful, she wouldn't have fallen into such a trap. As for the huge-nosed man, he had set of an earth mine and had been blown to one side of the dome. After he steadied himself, he finally realized that the pretty lady he always admired was on her last breath.
Abelard removed his arm from the woman's chest, and watched her breath her last. It was pitiful. A false 2nd stage Profound Realmer had fallen due to her carelessness. She had no one but herself to blame. There was a metallic glove on Abe's hand. It was because of this glove that he was able to penetrate the lady's defenses even though he was an earth realmer.
"It truly is a marvelous artefact" Abe gently caressed the blood-soaked glove Alexis had gifted him. But he didn't get to admire it for long. A voice filled with rage and malice shook his ears and brought his attention back to the present.
"AHHH" the huge-nosed man screamed in anger! He disappeared from his location and arrived before Abe in a thrice.
*Bang*
Luckily for Abe, he reacted pretty well and blocked the attack. "A wind wielder" Abe observed. The speed of the man was exaggerated for a false Profound Realmer. His speed was reflective of a wind elementalist. But although he was quick, his attacks weren't strong enough to break Abe's defenses. Maybe it would be a different story if the attack actually landed on him. However, there was no time to think about the unknowns and the maybes. Abe quickly dived out of the way as a figure landed on the ground he formerly stood upon.
*Boom*
Abe squinted his eyes to catch a clear glimpse of the attacker. He noticed that the one who attacked him had his hand covered in flames. "A fire wielder" Abe mumbled. "Well that complicates things a bit" he analysed. If the wind wielder was good enough, he would be a good partner for the fire wielder. As long as they worked together, Abe would have a really hard time dealing with both of them.
"You idiot. Don't go running off on your own. A wind elementalist is naturally disadvantaged against an earth wielder. I know you are angry, but get it together! I also want revenge. But that can only happen when we work together!" the leader barked at the huge-nosed man who was ready to go on a rampage. His words were effective, for the huge-nosed man didn't make any subsequent moves.
"Alright then. Two against one huh." Abe smirked as he looked at the two men regrouping. They were false Profound Realmers, which meant they were comparable to at least 8th stage above-mortal realmers. They may have more inner energy, but Abe was itching to have a go. He took off his cloak. It was going to restrict his movements. After doffing the cloak he gently caressed the black glove; his eyes were still on his opponents. He knew better than to take his eyes off them.
"Activate" he gently commanded, and something bizarre happened. The glove extended, growing exponentially and covering his entire body. It wasn't a simple glove. It was an armor. His transformation didn't go unnoticed by his opponents. The leader squinted his eyes as he watched Abe's transformation. Abe looked like a black knight, with the only his head exposed. A ridiculously large hammer with an abnormally long handle appeared in his hand. The Western Empire's Prince smiled broadly at his opponents. Although they were supposed to be stronger, Abe didn't feel any pressure from them. He had finally found someone – nay, people – to test his new artefact against. He could feel his aura ballooning to its peak, and when it did it exploded magnificently.
He smiled and said, "This is going to be fun".