As they were assaulted by the wind from every direction imaginable, the two cultivators noticed something odd about Reinhart's spells. Although the individual attacks didn't appear to be very complex, Reinhart was casting them too quickly for an extraordinarily long period. There were some spells that came in the form of many separate attacks, but those spells generally required a long casting time and lasted for a period that was at most equal to the preparation time. However, Reinhart's spell didn't appear to be like that. Spells higher than advanced spells were capable of this, but they didn't believe Reinhart could use a spell like that and were convinced that some trick was involved.
While Reinhart continued to push the two of them to their limits, Kate finished off her last opponent. The Earth Realm cultivator might have caused her some trouble if he was able to stay out of her range, but once he was taken care the rest couldn't provide much resistance.
Kate turned to look at Reinhart's battle and was certain that his victory was a matter of time. She possessed a few means of grasping victory if she wasn't able to close in on someone with a cultivation in the early Earth Realm, but she knew that once Reinhart got started with this technique the most she could do was hold out. She wasn't completely clear on how it worked, but the basis of Reinhart's technique was using certain poses and rhythmic moves to trigger predetermined spells, thereby shortening the casting time. Additionally, the spells would increase in power the longer the technique was used for.
She had never seen it, but apparently he was able to unleash the might of a late Earth Realm cultivator once given enough time, so she was more interested in how long the two would last. While looking at their fight, she recalled that she hadn't captured the Earth Realm cultivator that she knocked away, but when she checked for his location with spiritual sense, there was no longer any trace of him. It had only taken her a few minutes to defeat her other opponents, so she hadn't expected that he would recover and escape in that time.
"Ugh, I guess I was a little too careless. I wonder if Senior Brother will get mad at me."
There was no strong reason for her to kill him, but since he hadn't escaped because she allowed him to, Kate scolded herself and gathered the others that she had dealt with. Two of them were dead while the last one had their limbs broken so they wouldn't be able to move. She could attempt to read his memory, but she didn't like the sensation of invading someone's mind so she generally left that task to Reinhart.
There were no surprises and Reinhart eventually defeated the remaining two threats. It had looked like they reached a stalemate once the two focused on defense, but when Reinhart's power entered the range of mid Earth Realm, they weren't able to hold out for long. Reinhart tried to restrain himself so the Earth Realm cultivator managed to survive, but the other one was torn apart. After restricting the one that remained whole, Reinhart asked Kate about how things went on her side. When he heard that she let one of them escape he shook his head, but didn't say much about it. Although she was strong enough to defeat early Earth Realm cultivators, there was a chance of her being in danger if she had chased him without thinking.
When Reinhart was about to read the memories of the Earth Realm cultivator, Kate heard footsteps approaching them. The steps seemed calm, but there was a hint of uncertainty within them. She wasn't sure why, but her heart began to race once she detected them and even though she knew where they were coming from, it was hard to look in that direction. Eventually, the steps were so close that Reinhart also noticed them. Despite her lower cultivation, Kate often detected approaching presences faster than him so he checked her reaction first, and was baffled by what he saw.
She appeared flustered with both joy and worry evident in her expression. He couldn't understand why she would be like this, but once he saw who was coming towards them, everything made sense.
"Have you finished your business, Shui?"
"Yes. I was heading back to Silver City when I sensed a battle happening, but I didn't expect to meet you here."
Reinhart had more questions, but he knew that he didn't belong in this scene. Once Kate heard his voice, she clenched her fists and finally turned around. Looking at her with a slightly awkward smile, was a face that was even prettier than she remembered.
"Shui!"
Kate ran and jumped into Shui's opened arms. If he had been too weak then they would have probably toppled over to the ground, but it didn't look like she would have minded that.
"It's uh, been a while."
"You idiot! Do you know how much you worried me?! When I went to see Mom, she said she didn't know what happened to you, and I, and I..."
Although he had gotten taller, Kate's head reached his nose. She kept her face down on his shoulder so he couldn't see her expression, but Shui could hear her sniffles and the instability of her voice. Whenever anyone asked her if she was worried about him, she answered that she knew he would be fine, but even after getting confirmation of his survival, she still feared that some misfortune would befall him. In her mind, there was no one more deserving of the title 'genius' than him, but during her time in Storm Sky Manor it was firmly imprinted in her mind that even geniuses needed time to grow.
"Sorry, it took me a while to recover and get out of the mountains. I wasn't there when everything happened, so, Uncle Bartos-"
"Don't say anything more. Knowing Dad, I'm sure that he didn't regret laying down his life. And while it would be nice if he was still here, it's enough that you're alive."
"...Thanks."
Shui couldn't find any more words to say, so he comforted Kate by patting her on the head. Reinhart also maintained silence while reading the memories of their assailants. There wasn't any solid evidence, but based on the description of the one that ordered the attack, it was clear who was behind it. Now that they had found Shui they would soon return to the manor, but danger was still afoot.