In the last two days, Xue Mo and Lu Yao had taken their time to rest and enjoy the nature they were in. After all, Xue Mo had long realized that rest was essential now and then. It sometimes helps in sorting thoughts out, enlightenment, even having figured something out in cultivation wasn't a farfetched possibility.
Although Xue Mo and Lu Yao were resting because they knew that they wouldn't have a calm day after that time, Xue Mo also wanted to enjoy nature, as it is the place he felt peaceful, and where he spent most of his time in his last life.
"Life here is the best!" Xue Mo, with a peaceful look on his face, looked at the sky, and commented.
"It really is." Lu Yao commented back while sensing a melancholy in the air. She knew that this was probably one of the few peaceful moments they would have in the future, and that's why she enjoyed it to the utmost.
In another part of Jade Wood Forest, three people were also discussing their future life.
"We have tried and hunted all we could, let's hope our results are satisfactory and enough to make Sir, No, it's teacher Dio now, to allow Deckim to come with us," Kyle said while wiping the blood on his face.
They had been searching, fighting, and killing all magical beasts with stars on their bodies without rest. After Amro died, they found that it was easy to search for magical creatures. That made them think that Amro could ward the magical beasts off, and for some reason, he had been doing that. That made them even more glad that they killed him.
"Today is the last day. Should we go back?" Lara asked only to get a nod from Axel and Kyle.
While they moved back, they had the thought, 'How was Sir Mo this week?'
***
The sky was dark, while clouds black, showing that it would rain. Right after, lightning thundered, casting a dense fog on the surroundings.
"They would come back any second now," Trevor announced while having an excited look on his face. Today his daughter would come back.
��I think one of them would at least die!" Dio casually said from the side, making the other four around focus their attention on him.
"Why would you think that?" Amro's father immediately asked, his tone laced with worry, while he was biting his fingernails.
"It will rain soon." Deckim, who had a lost look while gazing at the sky, said.
The last person there was looking at Deckim's back with a worried look as he thought, 'Son, I am sorry this is my fault.'
"What are you talking about?!!" Forgetting who he was talking to, Amro's father yelled, seeing everyone ignore his question.
He had been getting a bad feeling for a while, making him worry about his son. That made him forget that although Dio acted as if he knew everyone, his status was incomparable to someone like Amro's father.
Before Trevor could reprimand him, Dio focused his attention on the forest where his eyes shined with a strange glint that no one caught.
Rustle*
After a few seconds, the sound of trees rustling was heard, and a black-robed individual came out of it. His face looked ordinary, and his aura made him seem that he was invisible, but all the people around tensed when he arrived.
On his shoulder was a beautiful white fox sleeping, while in his hand was what seemed to be a makeshift bag made from an animal's guts. It seemed filled to the full and heavy, but the way the man held it proved otherwise.
Noticing all the gazes on him, Xue Mo didn't pay them attention. Instead, he looked at Dio and walked towards him; with every step, he took the atmosphere seemed to get more suffocating. By the time he arrived in front of Dio, everyone had gone silent.
He put the bag down without saying a word and turned around to leave, but before that, he looked at Dio and asked, "Day." It was more of an order than a question, but Dio didn't care and answered, "Tomorrow in the morning."
Nodding his head, Xue Mo continued walking, leaving the stifling place.
"WHAT WAS THAT? HE DIDN'T EVEN RELEASE HIS MAGIC POWER OR SAY ANYTHING. BUT, IT FELT LIKE HE COULD KILL US EASILY!!!!" Amro's father screamed hysterically after Xue Mo left.
Though they saw it as a crazy and worried father talking, they deep down knew that it was the truth.
"He also seemed that if we weren't concentrating on him, we wouldn't see him." Deckim's father muttered in a low voice, but everyone heard him. Thinking about what Deckim's father said, they shivered, thinking that it was the truth.
"Have you also noticed that his clothes didn't seem to have been dirtied? He didn't even look like he had been in the wild for a week." Deckim said with a solemn look. His mouth was open in O shape while he stared at the place that Xue Mo left in and clenched his fist while thinking, 'I wanna be like him!'
"Damn, this was a long week." A voice interrupted the wandering thoughts of the spectators. It was Lara who finally seemed to relax after seeing her father and Dio.
Kyle and Axel were next to her. All of their clothes were either torn, dirtied, had blood on them or scratches on their bodies. The difference between them and Xue Mo was obvious.
Looking around and not seeing his son, Amro's father started yelling, "MY SON?!!! Where is MY SON?!!!"
Only then did the people that Amro wasn't with the group or Xue Mo, which meant that...
"Your son? He's dead." Kyle scoffed while answering. From his tone, everyone deduced that Amro didn't die a natural death.
"y-You bastard?!! Y-you..." Amro's father didn't know to be mad or cry. His son was dead. He was speechless, and he didn't know what to do.
Suddenly his eyes turned red, and he started chanting in a loud voice while aiming at the surviving trio.
"YOU BASTARDS YOU KILLED MY SON SO, FOLLOW HIM!"
"WITH MANA AS MY WITNESS WATER OBEY ME. ICE SWORD!" Right after he said that a big frozen sword materialized in his hand. He started running towards the trio, determined to cut them down.
The three survivors were currently weak, but they wouldn't be able to fight Amro's father since he had superior stats and more trained skills even if they weren't.
"What do you think you are doing?" Dio, who had been silent, intoned.
Right after, lightning descended on Amro's father's head. He fell to the ground, his eyes bloodshot, and the ice sword still in his hands.
"You are attacking students of my Battle Mage Academy! Are you looking down on us?" Dio's tone was chilly, devoid of warmth. His eyes stared at Amro's father as if he was a dead man right after he said that three more lightning strikes descended consecutively on Amro's father, with every new hit stronger than before.
After the last lightning bolt, Amro's father's body was revealed, completely charred, with nothing to recognize.
"This is the fate of anyone who goes against my Battle Mage Academy," Dio said before making his way into the city.
Xue Mo, who was at the side watching in silence, saw that and thought, 'I need to hurry my plans a little.' Although Dio's display of power didn't make him feel threatened, he felt the motivation to improve, the thing that he cared about all his life, and started emerging in him again throb. It was as if telling him, 'stop slacking.'