"Butler Go."
"Yes, Young Master."
A single call summoned the aged assassin dwelling in the shadows.
"Do you have an aviary kind of Soul Partner? Preferably something with high speed."
"I have a Shadow King Raven who glides through the night. As it is the full moon, its speed is comparable to even that of a Lunar Roc."
"Good then, call it, I'm going to use it and go somewhere."
Colt said in a severe tone. He sounded urgent, and Butler Go couldn't argue with him. He wanted to ask what was going on, but he first called a four-meter large feathered beast.
The Raven soared to the skies, Skrriiiii! Its screech pierced the skies.
Butler Go bowed as he asked, "Where should I deliver you, Young Master."
"No, you stay here. I'm going out alone. This place needs someone to protect it. I have a bad feeling that someone might come to attack us if you leave."
"That proves to be impossible, Young Master. Dark Shadow doesn't follow a stranger's orders."
"That's right, puny…"
PaH!
"Shut up."
A crisp slap fell upon its face—it instantly got tamed by Chick.
"There, solved." Colt turned his back to Butler Go and mounted the Raven while dragging the flabby cat. He then asked Chick to order the Raven, "North, Chick."
"You heard him, go north."
Skriii, a rather unenergetic screech echoed. As they left, they passed by a bright red hawk, but Colt didn't bother with it.
Colt and his Soul Partners soared beyond the clouds, and as Colt reached a few hundred meters away from his destination, he saw a dim magic circle that had the radius of twenty meters circled the supposed hill where Gilbert and his Wife's residence was.
Seeing this caused Colt to worry.
Fluff who was acting as lazy as ever jolted up as it felt something, the Chick was the same. The two of them stood on the Raven's head, both staring at the hill.
The Chick was worried and stomped on the Raven's head, "Hey, chicky, put your back to it. Hurry up, or else I'll crush your head."
"YES!" The Shadow King Raven did not dare dally and cut through the air upon hearing the King's order.
But Colt was still in the dark.
"What's the situation, you two?"
"I don't know how you predicted this, but there is indeed someone similar to Olivier in that hill. And this one, the strength of its Light is far stronger than Olivier's." Fluff gave a dire answer.
"But is it strong enough to affect Gilbert's mind? Gilbert should be as strong as Father or Teacher, is his mind going to be infected with their Light?"
Fluff began to think and considered the different factors in play. The lazy cat was in deep thought for some time, "If we're talking about the red bear-like human I met back then, I supposed he shouldn't be affected. It will cause him to be confused, but he should be able to shake it off. His mind seemed strong enough."
Colt clicked his tongue at his words, "What if his mind was weakened? Do you think he'll get devoured?"
"There's a strong possibility." Fluff answered quickly, "The Light Element could devour and play with anyone's mind. This Light might not be as strong as an Apostle's, but it should be enough to deal with the weakened human."
"…" Colt was silent. He stared silently on the horizon, his mind occupied by many thoughts.
The Chick's voice then echoed, "I can feel the fluctuation of the Light Element."
Colt was panicked until Fluff's light took over his mind. With his mind clear and devoid of useless thoughts, he considered many options of attack.
He could sneak up on them and try to take them out in silence or gamble. He was considering the former, but a flash of little white light entered his sight and quickly instructed, "Dive, Raven."
"Yes!" it didn't dare defy.
Colt's eyes turned sharp. The Shadow King Raven swoop in faster than any arrow could. But a commentary of the Light Element from the Chick alerted Colt and caused him to stand up and kicked the face of the Raven to send himself darting forward like a bullet.
He drew his sword and clad himself in dark aura, hiding from detection to some degree. Colt's blade glided through the air, and as the white light devoured Gilbert's visage, his sword was already in the midst of a slash.
Slash!
The swing was fully realized! Colt's aim was the neck. He was not going to let this so-called Priest get away from him.
But then, something bizarre occurred. With three fingers clad in Healer's Mana, the Priest caught Colt's sword.
The Priest turned its head towards Colt, and when it saw his visage, the Priest's amiable expression disappeared.
"I am baptizing him. Do not bother me!"
The Priest said, and without him noticing, a Chick somehow found itself on the tip of Colt's sword. It looked at the Priest and then turned its tiny beak into the most effective weapon—it poked the Priest's eyes!
"AAhHH!
The Priest screamed in pain and held onto his eye. With one hand on his eye and the other on Gilbert's face, the sword was now free.
"Die for me!" Colt made a slash and cut through the man's body. The Priest's blood spurted like a fountain.
And as his grip on Gilbert's face loosened, Colt delivered a devastating kick on the Priest's chest, sending him spiraling to the air!
As Colt performed somersaults and twisted his body multiple times, his left hand found itself on Gilbert's head. He initiated absorbing the Light Element! But as soon as Colt sensed the amount of Light Element injected in Gilbert's mind in such a small timeframe, he was left speechless.
'This amount is surprising, to say the least, and this power, it's stronger than a Ninth Circle Mage's Mana.'
Colt could feel his bones cracking. The World Devouring Mark writhed and twisted as it continued absorbing the Light Energy.
Colt's arm swelled as he continued to absorb more mana, but as the mark spread from his left palm to his left shoulder and even chest, the Light Element was finally out of Gilbert's system.
'This is too potent; I might die if I try using this.'
The Light Element was a versatile Element, but what he just absorbed was too strong to increase his strength. There was a possibility it might burst his mind if he used it now. That's the no-no ending he wants to avoid.
"Ngn."
"Sir Gilbert, are you all right?"
As Colt heard Gilbert's groan, he went to his side, inquiring for his well-being. Gilbert slowly lifted his body from the ground. He was still groggy and disoriented, however.
"I'm fine, thank you…but what are you doing here, young Edgeworth?"
"I heard of your Wife's condition, and I left to check on you."
Colt lied as easily as breathing.
Gilbert opened his eyes and clutched on his head. He looked ahead and saw the Priest lying on the ground with a pool of blood.
"Did you do that?"
"Yes, I saw him attacking you and acted on my own. Why? Do you know him, Sir?"
"I don't know him, he came here and asked of me to do something egregious and attacked when he threatened me…wait, are you okay, Colt?" Gilbert noticed that Colt was sweating bullets as Colt limped towards the Priest's body.
He wanted to dispose of it.
His face was pale, and he seemed to be struggling.
"I'm…not fine. I'm actually struggling to keep a straight face." Colt turned to look at Gilbert.
"Why? What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, I—" Colt was talking when he suddenly shifted his body back and tried his best to swung his sword in retaliation. The Priest made its move while Colt was distracted.
Colt managed to dodge the first strike. But then, three fingers managed to break his sword and stab his right hand, effectively incapacitating him.
"What!?" Gilbert's eyes widened as he saw Horus slowly appearing out of mid-air. He was supposed to be dying from blood loss, but there he was, appearing before Colt with bloodshot eyes.
Gilbert glanced at the place where Horus lay and saw a dissolving body, "Illusion?"
Another illusion managed to pierce the already heavy mind of Gilbert.
While he realized what was happening, Horus had already successfully taken care of Colt's right hand. Unlike Gilbert, Colt actually saw what the Priest did.
After all, no illusion could fool his mind. He was unaffected. Yet he still failed to dodge him, and Colt noticed that the Priest' wound had already begun to close.
'He's stronger than before?' Goddamn, two-stage bosses.' he cursed.
And with Colt's left all fucked up and unusable at the moment, Colt was sitting duck and was an easy target to kill.
Horus then opened his mouth to speak, "You're the one who killed my Senior, right?"
Gilbert was still groggy from the effects of multiple mental assaults. Gilbert moved to help Colt, but it would be too late already if he reaches the two. If Colt receives anything severe, then there's a chance he would die.
Colt saw a pair of deranged eyes, and as he saw Horus' bloody fingers aiming for his head, Colt made an immediate decision to use the stored Light Element in his body.
Calling forth one-eighth of the Light Element, the World Devouring Mark writhed and reached the left side of his face. An imaginable amount of pain assailed his body.
The Chick quickly noticed what Colt had done and activated its gift, slightly alleviating the pain.
'I have five seconds to deactivate this.' he made a quick estimation.
With what little he had and the Chick's assist, Colt was given five seconds to live through this encounter.
He was now a Rank-9 Warrior. With his right hand fucked and his left hand would explode from the overwhelming amount of Light Element if he uses it; thus, he used his head and headbutted Horus.
Bam!
Horus was taken aback.
2 seconds passed; 3 seconds remained, both his eyes were now bloodshot from the overflowing energy.
Colt twisted his body to the side and raised his right leg.
1 more second passed.
Colt drew everything he had and spent one second before delivering an axe kick, "Die."
Swoosh!
Horus' left shoulder took the direct impact.
BAM!
Crack!
The ground formed under Horus formed a web-like crack.
Spurt!
Colt's right leg was now destroyed. A bone stuck out, and a fountain of blood filled the area. The Light Element was ejected out of his mind; the accumulated pain assailed his body. From his eyes to his toes, everything creaked.
Horus was also in pain, but he used Healing Magic to regenerate and regain as much strength as quickly as possible and used the Light Element to stop the pain from interfering.
Putting three fingers together, he aimed for Colt's head.
However, Colt locked eyes with Horus and whispered, "Checkmate."
Horus was flabbergasted, but before he could even react, an enraged Gilbert gathered his strength and delivered a punch so devastating that it sent Horus flying dozens of meters away.
Gilbert looked at Colt, but the only thing he heard was the injured young man, shouting, "Go! Don't worry about me and kill him, tis but a scratch." He said with a bone was sticking out of his leg.
Gilbert passed Colt and attempted to finish off Horus, who was still bouncing off the ground like a ball.
Gilbert didn't hesitate. He could see Colt was sure that he'd be fine.
"Fer, come out, I'm going to hunt."
Another ring of his shone a green light and what came out was a wolf. Zara exploded in Gilbert's body, and his body began to mutate.
Fer's red fur appeared all over Gilbert's body. His forearm, legs, and his sideburns grew out the fur.
His body became leaner than muscular. He became more of an Apex Predator than a human.
His speed became faster, and his senses as a Hunter increased. He doesn't want Horus or anyone else to escape.
The Illusionist must be hiding somewhere else. Gilbert decided to deal with that person later.
But then, as Gilbert appeared right on top of Horus with a clenched fist, a child with Golden hair appeared.
"Hello, there."
A girl around the age of eighteen appeared before him, she reeked of Prana, yet she held a knife.
She stabbed forth, targeting Gilbert's eyes.
Gilbert quickly went to parry her blade, but his hand passed through her first attack, and the same hand that disappeared before him reappeared next to his head and had already deeply stabbed into his left shoulder.
Gilbert roared and suppressed the pain. He could feel his shoulders growing numb. He deduced that the knife must have been laced with something.
His right hand was still perfectly fine, however. He gathered his strength and delivered a powerful strike, "Wolf Fangs."
Gilbert punched and aimed for Horus and the mysterious girl, but when he did, the only thing he managed to hit was thin air.
"Fer, where are they? Go and find them!"
He called out, but then, he heard tittering followed by a playful voice from the golden-haired lady, "Heh, heh, heh, not that I think you can actually search for us, but do you really think you have the time for that? Why not try looking up?"
Gilbert looked up and saw the activation of the half-baked Supreme Spell.
The Supreme Spell was half-baked and was not finished. But it was an Area of Attack. Thus, it was something Gilbert could not ignore, especially it was targeting his home.
The mana gathered, and then, it swirled. A red beam came from above. It seemed like a laser.
When he saw this, Gilbert quickly made his move and jumped onto the roof of his house and then sprung up to face against the Supreme Spell.
With him was the Giant Wolf Fer, who, together with him, ripped the spell before it could even reach the ground.
Fwooooosh~ Bam!
Gilbert landed on the ground and gazed towards East where the woman with the golden-hair escaped to. He was rather pissed and confused as to what just happened.
As for the woman with golden hair, she was already a few hundreds of meters away and looked back at the hill, "That Edgeworth Kid was dangerous, all of my illusions didn't work on him. Good thing the Supreme Spell managed to be charged to operational status. If not, that guy may have been able to track me down."
She was afraid of Colt despite being a Grand Pantasia-Class Illusionist.
And as they escaped, Colt was biting on his shirt as he endured the pain of the consequences of his actions.
Chick managed to convince him it would be better not to use the World Tree leaf because it was too valuable. And because Colt wouldn't die from blood loss, he was persuaded to wait and be later healed by a proper healer or in the most ancient way—by waiting.
'Come on, Colt, don't cry, come one, you can do it!'
He cried.