She materializes her sniper, enhancing her eyes with magic first, and then looks into her scope to see about 2 centaurs and 5 minotaurs, with 13 goblins and Levronn with a face looking like he's laughing, he's holding the pearl of Enthrallment in his left hand.
"Shooting from this distance will not be effective sir."
"Who cares, just deal damage!"
Katsumi jumps over the buildings, being careful to not be seen and speeding closer to them.
The building they exploded seems to be a warehouse, filled with a lot of gems and ores.
BANG!
Her hit barely misses, grazing one of the goblins and ripping through the flesh in their face. The goblin screams uglily, this alerts the group that they are under attack, one of the goblins stationed farther back is wearing a robe with skulls on it and a shaman staff seems to say some things and is healing the injured goblin.
BANG!
The shot this time is larger, being able to blow off one of the arms of the goblins.
"As expected, shooting from this far of a distance is difficult, hitting my shot back then in Farmin was a miracle." Esther notes to herself
BANG!
Her shot lands true, hitting the armless goblin in the chest, effectively killing him, the goblin gargles slightly from his blood, and dies.
The water sprite starts casting a spell, with magic circles appearing all over its body, one of the magic circles that is pointed straight to Esther conjures a water leash, trying to grab Esther, it is quick and Esther cannot react, being caught by the leash.
Katsumi jumps off the buildings and slashes the connection off, being careful to infuse his blade with his own mana before doing so. He grabs onto one of the wires in the city, and then spins around it and lands on a different rooftop.
"Ouch, the wires hurt."
Three of the minotaurs jump above the buildings, leaving massive cracks in the floor they both jumped off and landed on, screams are heard and blood splatters all around the buildings, painting the windows red.
The minotaurs reach the building where Katsumi is on, with Katsumi standing there with summoned swords above him, with one of them glowing the same color as the midnight sky, and the other 3 being the same color as his aquamarine tunic.
Katsumi stands there, spinning his blade around like it's a toy.
"You guys are my matches? I always wondered how it would be like to fight someone that much bigger than me."
"Amuse me and I'll make your death painless." Katsumi says, his eyes draining of color for a second, and then his eyes turning a very light color of blue, with lines circling all around the pupil.
"LET'S DANCE!" Katsumi shouts as he readies into his stance, holding his MID using both of his hands, before quickly dashing onto the left minotaur and aiming to slash one of their legs.
The minotaur sees his movement and slams into the ground, trying to catch Katsumi using his own momentum.
Katsumi dodges to the left, being surprised that one of the minotaurs maneuvered to block his angle.
He extends his left arm and fires a mana blast, knocking him away from the grab of the minotaur and giving him some distance.
The minotaur seems to be unscathed, and laughs,
"You will rue the day that you messed with the Draca cousins!"
"Aha Ahahaha! What is that name? Man, your parents must've had one fucked up heritage."
"And don't worry, I was just warming up." Katsumi declares, as he speeds up again, dashing straight to the minotaur on his left and slicing off his hand.
"You guys aren't that strong, it's boring."
"AGHHHHHHHH!" the minotaur screams
-Katsumi's POV-
I could see it, every movement they make, they're too slow.
Like the minotaur on my left, he is currently charging at me while the minotaur's hand I slashed off is trying to go to the healer.
I match the minotaur dashing at me, using his momentum to my advantage and dodging slightly to the left and pushing his body to the right, making him crash into a wall.
This is boring, I sheath my MID, hiding it in its scabbard and unsummoning my magic blades, focusing all of my magic into enhancing my body.
I look straight at the minotaur that crashed into the wall and taunt him, telling him to come straight at me in a fist fight.
The minotaur behind me dashes straight at me, but he's too loud. I match his intensity and using his momentum, I use his speed and throw him over.
I can feel it, my mana fueling my body, I can match them to an extent, but I still need to be careful, a single blow can deal a lot of damage to me.
I dash to one of the brothers, pummeling him to the ground, breaking the floor beneath the buildings and sending us straight to the ground floor.
The minotaur that had his hand cut off is coming back, I wonder if I can match their strength in a brawl.
I punched the minotaur in the head that I just pummeled, knocking him unconscious.
I then take a sumo stance, being ready to clash head on with the minotaur that is probably many times heavier than me.
He accepts the challenge and we have a strength clash, with him slowly winning.
The size difference is too much, I think I messed up.
I headbutt the minotaur, making him flinch and letting me escape his grasp for a second, and I unsheathe my MID, being ready to fight again at a moment's notice
"AGHHHHHHHHH, IT IS TIME TO STOP PLAYING WITH YOU, BOY!"
The minotaur declares as he calls over the remaining minotaurs, with the goblin shaman behind him,
"DO IT NOW!"
The shaman starts trying to cast a magic spell, with even the unconscious minotaur having a magic circle written on him.
"Beautiful Thanatos, well-wreathed with poppies red as blood,
black-winged god, fleet-footed one, bearer of the sharp-edged sword
with which you cut a lock of hair from each who enters Hades' realm:
some call you merciless, hard of heart, O god who takes
from us those we most love–and yet, dear Thanatos,
yours is a mercy great and freeing, a boundless comfort,
a final peace. O god who gives us life's last blessing, I praise you."
"I offer my whole to you, Thanatos, my soul and my life, take it and bring chaos upon this world."
BANG!
The shaman gets shot, hitting straight on, leaving his torso with a massive hole.
The magic doesn't cancel however, and the minotaur I knocked unconscious is being eaten by the magic circle, disappearing completely, and the minotaur in front of my eyes is growing stronger, bigger, and horns are starting to appear from his head. His muscles are enlarging, getting more dense, and overtaking my physique by a mile.
Oh Athena, protect this child of yours.
"HOW IS THIS FOR AN AMUSING BATTLE, BOY?!" The minotaur shouts angrily
"Well, just what I needed." I reply back, with confidence
I may have seemed confident, but I don't fully know how to deal with this.
I should probably retreat for now.
I use my MID to recalibrate my mana into my speed, and dash out, the minotaur notices and follows behind me, only being slightly slower, I jump on top of the buildings, and try to get a scope of the area.
Esther is currently fighting the water sprite, the centaurs, and the goblins, taking positional advantages on rooftops and blind spots to try and shoot them down.
So taking this guy down will be purely up to me.
I stop running and get down on the plaza, being ready to match the minotaur in a head on fight.
"Have you finally gotten tired of running?"
"Nope, I was just choosing the right place to kick your ass in."
I dash to his legs and ready to try and slash them in conjunction with my mana swords, he sees my moves and stomps on the ground, imbalancing my movement and making me topple over, he then jumps from the ground diving straight into my position.
I roll over to the right and he misses me, I jump back up and run on his arms and try to slice his head off.
CLANG!
It's too hard, I can't cut it off.
I jumped off his head, propelling his body a few meters from the impact.
Well you know what they say, if swords can't cut, then bludgeon.
I sheath my sword again, and start dual wielding these hands.
"Already giving up?" The minotaur confidently laughs
"Nope, I think it would be better to see your face smashed in rather than sliced."
The minotaur doesn't wait around and grabs the statue and throws it at me.
He then charges forward, using the statue to block my vision, I jump to another building as I see the minotaur crashing into the house and breaking apart everything.
Let's try using magic. I command my mana swords to try and pierce through his arm, to see how strong his defenses are.
They leave small scratches in his skin, suggesting he's weak to mana, then I've got a plan.
I need to get to his head again.
The minotaur punches the building I'm standing on, I silently move to another building, making sure that he doesn't sense my mana and surely enough, the walls fall down and the building collapses, the minotaur is standing proudly at the work he's done, and smashes the collapsed building.
"This is the power you're fighting boy!"
"Looks like not that much to me, since you're hitting nothing."
"Are you gonna do nothing but run?!"
I dash straight to him, leaping above and mounting his head, taking grip of his horns.
"You!" The minotaur retaliates by running to another wall head first.
I make sure to infuse my fists with as much mana as I possibly can, turning off my summoned swords, and punching his horns as hard as I can.
POUND! CRACK!
His horns fly off his head, leaving a small dent of his old horns remaining, he screams in pain loudly, being unable to handle the pain, but still keeps rushing head first into another wall.
I'm not fast enough, I try to coat my entire body in my mana before he hits the wall to reduce damages, but my mana reserves are starting to take a hit, and I am battered by the hit.
"AGH!" I scream
The minotaur shakes me off his head, making me fly off into the plaza yet again. Just before I hit the floor, I aim my magic at the floor, propelling me slightly, giving me enough time to fix my landing position.
I'm running low on mana, I have to bet it all on one attack.
I conserve my mana and stop using it for my enhancing, and rush to the minotaur, still slightly dazed by his lost horn, I mount his neck and shove both my palms into his head, he tries to knock me away, but I steady myself using my legs, not letting him get away.
He hits my legs with his arms, brutally injuring them and making me cry out in pain.
"AGHHHHHHHHH!"
I steady myself and my thought process, and I focus as much mana as I can into my palms, which are gripping his head, and with one final outburst, I explode his head, making a ton of blood spray onto me and the floor.
His body falls to the ground, with me still on top and his blood keeps spilling, painting the floor red, as if a shower of blood occurred.
Thank god he lost his intelligence, that would have been impossible to fight if he knew the slightest thing about martial arts instead of being an animalistic beast.
My legs aren't working, they're too damaged from the fight, I can't move, how is Esther doing? I need to check on her.
I try to crawl as much as I can, but all I can do is crawl a few meters before passing out.
-Esther's POV-
BANG!
That's the 8th shot I fired, I've taken out about 4 goblins, but the centaurs keep getting in my way.
Not to mention that water sprite, I can't take good positions without it finding me quickly, I need to take a risk and kill Levronn quickly.
"There's nowhere to hide!" Levronn with his high pitched voice exclaims, with an ugly sounding laugh after
"You look like a good product, maybe I'll sell you off to a brothel, as used goods!"
He's disgusting, I can't risk damaging the pearl, that is the only reason I haven't shot at him yet, but I have to take the risk now.
I look into my scope, charging my sniper, and I shoot before the water sprite can find my location.
BANG!
"You're cheeky, hehehe! I think the customers would like you!" The goblin says, completely unharmed.
"You see, this little beauty here that I stole from the queen, it is quite good, it summons this fancy water creature thing here, and it does whatever I want! You can't touch me with those little bullets of yours!"
He's right, the pearl does do that, but he's wrong about me not being able to kill him, I am just worried it may break the crystal if I aim wrong.
First, I'll kill everyone else, then I can make him surrender it.
I disappear into my shadow, looking for my newest spot to go to, the only downside of this form is that my vision is limited to the shadows, I cannot see ambushes.
I choose a spot a bit farther, one of the clock towers, I appear on top of the clock, and I look into my scope and ready my aim.
I aim for the centaur, going for his head, I'll make this one strong, I charge it for 3 seconds, knowing that the enemy will notice me quicker, but it's too late, they can't catch this.
BOOM!
A sound akin to thunder is heard, and what happened next was like a thunderbolt, piercing through his head in an instant, before he could even hear it.
I could see it, fear in his eyes, he doesn't know whether he can block this one.
I charge another bullet, not putting much into it, only a fraction of what I used before, and I shoot.
BANG!
One of the goblins falls dead straight to the ground, and the others start fleeing, seeing their leader fail.
Good, the less there are, the less enemies I'll have to deal with.
Wait.
They're heading in Katsumi's direction aren't they?
I focus my vision hard, trying to find Katsumi, only seeing him lie down on the floor unconscious.
I lost focus, the water sprite already got to my location and trapped me. I tried to struggle to get out of it, but it's futile.
There's no other way.
"FRY IT ALL, HEAVENS ABOVE!"
I conjure a magic circle on both my hands, electrifying both myself and the sprite using the conductivity of the water, the wrap around my body disappears. It leaves me stunned for a few seconds, but I'm far enough that the others can't reach, right?
The centaur is running up the clocktower's walls, digging his feet in so that he doesn't fall, and reaches up to me, he raises his battle axe up high, and slams down.
I can still use magic, idiot.
"Judgement day, fall before me."
I make a magic circle using my entire body to write it, and make a burst of lightning pop out, electrifying the centaur, and he loses his balance and falls off the building, I can only hear the loud thud that follows, presumably him falling to his death.
But that is nothing to worry about right now, I stand up slowly, still feeling the tingle and my mana reserves running low, and I look into my scope, finding the 6 goblins running, and Levronn being left in the clearing.
I need 30 more seconds, will I even reach in time?
I charge my sniper, and get ready to shoot as many shots as I can
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
I heavily breathe, with my mana draining quicker and quicker.
4 of them fall down, I can feel my heartbeat getting quicker, my blood rushing quicker, my mana flowing more vigorously.
It's like I'm palpitating, I can feel the adrenaline.
I look into my scope, but my hurried breathing can't stabilize my shot, I need to make these shots count.
BANG! BANG!
Only one of them lands, and the other goblin gets to Katsumi, getting ready to stab him.
No, no no no not again, not again.
The goblin strikes down, mid way through his strike, he gets petrified and turns into stone
What was that? Why did the goblin get petrified? Wait no, that isn't something I should worry about right now, I need to kill Levronn.
The water sprite launches a volley of water bullets at my location, seeing my vulnerability.
My 30 seconds are up. I disappear into my shadow and choose another location, this time choosing an alley.
I run towards Levronn and aim my sniper straight at his skull, without giving him time to run or process it.
"Bang."
His head blows off into a million pieces, his blood painting the walls red. Along with him, the water sprite disappears, as it was a creation using the pearl.
I grab the pearl of enthrallment from his hands and run to Katsumi.
His legs are brutally damaged and his mana is nearly all expended.
I pick him up, carrying him on my back, now the question is, how do we get out of here?
The entire district is destroyed, multiple buildings of merchants broken, and I doubt they'll count us out of the responsibility for dealing with this.
Where are the guards? Their magic force? What are they doing?
..
The pearl.
Crafty bastard, is that why he only attacked now? He was busy controlling the guards so none of them mess with him.
I infuse my mana into the pearl, claiming it as my own for the moment, and replacing the old owner.
I turn off the pearl's mind control, making the guards take notice of the chaos, and running as quickly as I can in the confusion.
I reach the exit, with it undefended due to the chaos, and run out of the city. Of course, I don't forget to nab Katsumi's sword, in case we need it..
Mission success, I guess.
-CoP-
Karuka and a person wearing a robe with dark black on the outside and red cloth covering the inside of it. His hair is slicked back and his skin seems pale, his eyes normally colored a crimson red, resonating with a blood red moon. He wears a smile, and is currently speaking to Karuka outside of the Hunter Glaze's mansion. Karuka is currently pacing back and forth, and says,
"You cannot be serious, there is no way that he isn't here."
"The Hunter Glaze is not here right now, queen of the Atlanteans."
"You will let me speak to him, or I will scorch your entire building to the ground."
"Very well, let's have a family reunion."
"I will hold you to that, if you do not come through in the next day, say goodbye to your fancy mansion."
"Understood, I sure do hope you considered our offer." The person replies, with a wicked smile
"You guys are sick, you sicken me the most, Ark."
"Thank you for the compliment, hehe." Ark disappears, turning into a massive swarm of bats.
Karuka leaves the mansion, and there is nothing but wilderness.
"I'll head back for now then, I must apologize for scaring my people."
Karuka dives into the water, going back to her castle.
-Esther's POV-
I escaped from that mess, somehow. I am currently passing through the Mystics forest, and I can feel my strength fading. I used too much mana.
Not right now, I can't pass out right now, it will be alright if I reach the corey.
it's futile. i don't have enough strength to go.
I pass out, losing consciousness.
..
I open my eyes, smelling the faint smell of smoke, and scented candles.
"Oh wait, you're awake, uh, what do I do now?" A guy looking like in his teenage years is there, trying to seemingly smoke a pipe
His clothes seem very modernized, with jogging pants and a pink shirt with a brand of alcohol written on it. He doesn't have any remarkable features, other than his silver white hair that is ruffled around.
"Uhh, oh boy, what do I do with this?" The guy scrambles, looking at his pipe, before throwing it aside.
"Well, well, you guys shouldn't pass out on the road like that, especially you, little missy." the guy says as he stands up and pats his clothes.
".. Who are you?" I struggle
"Oh boy! I've been waiting for this moment my whole life! Not a lot of people pass out around here though." The boy excitedly jumps around
"Oh wait, ahem, I meant I am the Laziest Ultimis, they call me the cook around here, or well I want them to."
Laziest Ultimis? Is this guy playing with me?
"Your friend is just a few feet beside you, just look to your right."
I look to my right, and Katsumi is there surely enough, with his mana flow becoming more stable.
"Your friend had some serious injuries in his legs, though he should be fine, I am quite good at this."
"Also don't mind the pipe, I don't actually smoke, it was just for a cool entrance effect you know?"
"Hello? Can you talk?"
This guy's energy is a bit annoying, it's hard to deal with him.
"Thank you for all you have done." I respond
"You're welcome! I'm not very good at entertaining guests though, I just wanted to check something off my bucket list, so can you like, get out now, please?"
I try to stand up, and I can do it, but it's difficult, my strength hasn't fully recovered yet.
"Hmm, I really want to be alone so like, you can take this." The boy aims his palm at me, conjuring a magic circle unlike anything I've seen, the lines aren't protruding from the middle, instead forming a cross. It's revolutionary.
His magic spell finishes, and I can feel my mana returning, and my injuries healing a little.
"Take the child with you too, I need to cook, oh and also, your orb thing, here." He hands me the pearl of enthrallment that he must've gotten from my hand when I was unconscious.
The teenager walks towards a desk, sitting down and turning on his computer.
"Cook what?" I ask, finally being curious due to his skill in magic
"Uhh.. Let's say it's a hobby of mine, do not ask more, just go, you have given me enough."
I bow to the teenager, and get Katsumi and put him on my back, leaving his solitary home, and getting back on the road.
"Now let's see, we need to add ephedrine.." Esther's ears were tickled by his words, but she decided not to bother him further, she had already been granted grace. Especially that mesmerizing magic of his, a genius at work, per se.
I reach the shore where I left my corey, and I pull out my MID and surface it.
"Open."
I place Katsumi in the backseat, placing him in a sleeping position. I enter the driving seat, ready to go.
"Close."
I designate the direction on my MID, setting it to my mom's castle.
Without noticing, I can feel myself becoming drowsy, my physical health feels fine, but I am still mentally exhausted, and I can feel myself slipping until my eyes close and I drift soundly to sleep.
-6 hours later-
The corey surfaces with Katsumi and Esther still asleep.
The light of the moon tonight is beautiful, and the multitude of stars fill the night sky, coloring it as if it were chiseled by the hand of God.
Karuka arrives at the docks about 20 minutes later, rising from the water and shaking her head to get rid of the excess water.
She puts on her robe and her crown, and sees the corey, with a sleeping Esther and Katsumi inside.
-Karuka's POV-
It warms my heart to see Esther let her guard down, she could never do it after that night. I cannot help but say sorry to her, I could not raise her right, I was too angry at Li Zhong, but most especially myself, to raise her right.
By the time I had noticed my wrongings, she had already grown too old, too used to what I have taught her.
It is good enough to see that she is alright without me, I do not have to worry anymore.
I walk towards the inside of my castle, seeing Raine waving like a child and jumping like one as she sees me.
She was just mad at me the last day, she changed her mood so quickly.
"Yoo hoo!"
"Welcome to my castle, master, I do hope you do not blow it up."
"I won't, I won't!"
"I just maybe happened to notice your science lab seems kind of lifeless lately, so you know, maybe I can have some fun there?"
I sigh, knowing this was coming.
"Please wait a few days, I will have my team organize it to be a spatial room like yours, so it doesn't explode from your antics."
"Yay!" Raine cheers, jumping around excited
"So I trust you are going to help me?"
"I always was, my student."
"But how about we have a drink? For old time's sake?" she asks, while pulling out two small bottles from her pockets, labeled, "Raine's special concoction!"
I know what that is, the last time I drank it, I was having constant hallucinations and it felt like I was high.
"How about no?"
"Awe, that's too bad, I'll save them for another time then."
Please don't, throw them away.
She stores the bottles in her pockets again, pacing around, and asking her burning question.
"So, Li Zhong, where is he?"
"In the guest room, incapacitated."
"Damn girl, I didn't expect you'd do that." Raine chuckles, grinning
"No, I did not, he broke his contract with Ares."
"Oh."
"He isn't dead yet? No mortal has ever been recorded to survive breaking a contract."
"And yet he is right now, it is unprecedented, but who are we to claim that we know everything?"
"Do you have a room for your teacher?"
"We do have a kids room.."
"Hey! Just because I like being a kid does not mean I want a room that looks like a kid's room!"
"Very well, you may use one of the guest rooms located there." I tell her, pointing to the left hallway
"Well alright."
"I trust you brought the things you want with you?" I ask her
"Yep, got them all with me!" she tells me as she flashes me her bag, containing a bottomless pit of potions, materials, beakers, and all the like.
"There's even furniture in here! Thank the gods for these Lilliputian's skill in tech."
"If only they weren't rascals." I say
"Well, you get the good with the bad, so just be happy with it!" Raine tells me, grinning from ear to ear
"I suppose so, have you prepared what I asked you a decade ago as well?"
"Of course, I may be old but I am not senile!" She replies, still smiling
"Then please be ready, it will be tomorrow."
"That's early, did something happen, Karuka?"
"Maybe it is a feeling, but a storm is brewing, and it has been many decades since he contacted me but Poseidon told me, the seas are changing."
"Poseidon? That old man? It's been so long since I met him, he ascended or something and hasn't left me a letter since! Though, if he's telling you something, then something must've happened."
"Master, you're near divinity yourself aren't you? So which gods do you thank?"
"Well, none I guess! I suppose I did follow Zeus back in the day, though that was a few centuries ago."
"Do you ever plan to tell me your story?"
"Maybe, if you grow wise enough, but for now, you're still a child!"
"Yet someone can confuse me for your mom."
"Well, just hush! Responsibilities are boring!"
"Well, one day it will come, but if you'll excuse me, I have to go prepare some things for tomorrow."
"Very well, but uh, maybe warn your people, they may hear some explosions."
"No, no explosions for now master. Please leave your antics for when your room is prepared."
She gives time to ponder upon my words, and contemplates her choices on the matter.
"Finee." She grumpily whines, and stomps to her room, even if her steps are barely generating any noise.
A storm is brewing huh. What do you mean by that, my Lord?