Alex was sitting on the bed eating the inn's food because he didn't want to attract any attention to himself. As he was eating, Alex could hear all the commotion coming from two floors under him. The commoners and mercenaries were celebrating due to their winnings from the matches that they bet on. People were either bragging or sulking but in the end, the Inn was making a huge amount of money. Alex couldn't help but smile because it brought back memories of him and his little sister having small parties for their accomplishments. Such as passing a hard test or winning first place in a race, but most of it was to give Alex's little sister a sense of pride. Because the both of them grew up alone, Alex did his best to raise his little sister to the point where she wouldn't have to worry about too much. Even though he passed away so soon, he was glad that she was able to get adopted before his passing. Alex didn't know if it was a blessing or a curse that he was reborn into this family with more siblings because most of them were at each other throats. He knew for sure that he was going to change that, so he would have a loving relationship with them instead. Although it may take some time, Alex is confident he can at least change the way his younger siblings think. As he was lost inside his thoughts a couple of snowflakes fell on his neck, which made him shiver for a moment and Alex got up to grab a towel. When he grabbed the towel he turned around to face the bed to see where the snowflakes came from. Two daggers broke through the window and stabbed into the bed where Alex was just sitting. Alex noticed that there were red glowing inscriptions embedded in the blades. Alex's danger sense was flaring so he quickly busted down the door and made his into the hallway right before the daggers blew up. The room was engulfed with flames and soon mist began to engulf the area blinding every person in the facility.
"Waah!" a child let out as he couldn't see anything.
"Don't worry, Jakob. Mommy is right here," a woman reassured the scared child.
"Who the hell is doing this!" a man shouted in anger. Everyone in the inn began to freak out which caused more chaos.
"The barrier is set along with the mist. We need to move now to conceal our movements, Lena," the old man said to the other nodded figure.
"Why are you always rushing me, Gerald? Besides he is not getting away, we've already gauged his Qi and strength, and he does not have enough power to break your barrier." Lena replied with an annoyed expression as she began to make her way toward the blown-out window. The duo entered the room but was surprised that Alex was not there.
"What the hell!" Gerald shouted,
"Don't worry, even if he made it out he should be too injured to move quickly," Lena reassured. They quickly made their way into the hallway and noticed Alex's figure quickly running towards the stairs.
"I'll cut him off from the front and you chase after him!" Gerald ordered before forming hand seals.
"Movement arts - Shadow Steps!" Lena uttered as she circulated qi towards her legs. Just as Lena dashed towards the stairs leaving behind a black trace Gerald finished his hand seals.
"Seal Arts - Impact Series - Hammer Fist!" Gerald uttered as a circular complex circuit appeared under his feet and he slammed down on it with his fist. The floor shattered leaving nothing but fragments behind, and Gerald landed on the next floor just a couple of feet from Alex who just made it to the middle of the hallway. Alex stopped in his tracks and turned around so he could find another way to escape. But Lena soon appeared with two daggers in her hands behind Alex from the stairs blocking his escape route.
"Just be a good boy, and come with us quietly," Gerald commanded while holding his hand out,
"Or you could make this fun and fight back a little," Lena added while licking the back of one of her daggers. Alex was trying to think of a way out but knew that he couldn't fight his way out. He could sense that these two people were more powerful than him, but when he put his back against the wall he could feel that it was not very strong. So he came up with a plan to break through the wall and try to alert the guards. He was glad that there was mist in the air so he could use it to compensate for a Water Jutsu with half of the Chakra required. Alex quickly performed the animal hand seals in a quick session and the duo could feel the atmosphere around Alex change. So the duo quickly put their guard up,
"Seal Arts - Barrier Series - Earth Dome!" Gerald uttered after finishing his hand seals and a brown transparent barrier formed around him. Lena on the other hand just began to circulate her Qi towards her legs while uttering her Movement Arts once more.
"Water Style Jutsu - Water Vortex!" Alex uttered after finishing his hand seals and the moisture around him began to get sucked in creating a vortex around Alex. Once the vortex became large enough Alex pushed it out towards the duo. The water crashed against Gerald's barrier and the pressure was becoming quite intense for Gerald who was shocked but quickly regained his composure.
"Movement Arts - Shadow Cloak!" Lena uttered as her body morphed into a shadow-like figure and she merged into the wall to avoid the vortex. The water pressure soon became too much for the hallway to handle and the walls behind Alex soon broke down allowing him to escape to the outside. Alex couldn't cushion his fall from the fourth level, so when his body hit the ground the impact was more devastating than he initially thought. Even though Alex could feel his arm was broken and his body was aching tremendously. He powered through it and dragged his body towards the entrance,
"What in the hell was that?" Lena asked as she came out of her shadow.
"It seems that he has been hiding a lot more than we initially found," Gerald replied as he lowered his barrier. The duo walked towards the giant hole in the wall and looked downwards to see where Alex had gone. Gerald let out a sigh before jumping down and Lena soon jumped after him. Alex soon made it to the entrance but when he tried to walk out something kept him from advancing. Alex began to push against the barrier but it kept morphing around his hands like rubber. At the same moment, Gerald could feel that someone was attempting to escape his barrier and quickly made his way towards the entrance. Lena was quick to catch on and uttered her Movement Arts leaving Gerald behind. Alex could sense that Lena was getting closer at a rapid rate and Gerald was on his way too. Alex quickly made his mind up,
"Fuck! I hope my body can withstand this for a few seconds," Alex cursed himself before circulating three-fourths of his max Ki around his entire body.
"Kaio-Ken!" Alex uttered as a dark red aura began to envelop his entire body. His burst of intense aura pushed back the approaching Lena, causing her to tense up,
"What power aura! We underestimated this child!" Lena said to herself just as Gerald appeared next to her.
"It seems like we need to inform our client that we need a pay raise when we complete this job," Gerald said. Alex noticed that the two hooded figures were just a few feet from him but they were just observing him at the moment, so he decided not to waste any more time. Alex turned his full attention to the barrier,
"Original Arts - Cardinal Series - Metal Tiger Strike!" Alex uttered while circulating the rest of his chakra into his arms and making a claw posture with his hands. Alex then slashed downwards with his hands and a loud tiger's roar could be heard coming from the attack along with six translucent silver claws emitted from Alex's chakra. The attack clashed with the barrier with a giant thud sound and it created six holes that were 5 meters long. Gerald let out a sigh of relief before motioning with his head for Lena to advance toward Alex. Alex's Ki reserves were soon depleted within seconds of using the Kiao-ken and using his Origin Arts drained three-fourths of his chakra reserves. Alex's legs soon gave out and he crumbled down like a sack of potatoes with little strength to get back up.
"That boy had me scared for a moment. With that much aura, I thought for sure he was going to break the barrier but it seems that I have overestimated him. Although if he has this much intensity of an aura then his future will be unimaginable." Gerald praised before Lena began walking toward Alex who was on the verge of unconsciousness.
"Would be," Lena said with a devilish smile as she pulled out her daggers, but before she could get close to Alex. A giant sword Qi appeared from a few feet beyond the barrier and clashed against it creating spider web cracks all around it. Soon the barrier shattered into many fragments and Lena quickly retreated to Gerald, who was already creating hand seals to create another barrier around the duo.
"Who in the world?" Lena asked in confusion before another Sword Qi strike appeared clashing with the barrier once more. Gerald tried his best to keep the barrier up but cracks slowly began to appear on it. Multiple Sword Qi strikes began to come from the same direction and soon Gerald's barrier failed at maintaining its power. A figure, dressed in silver armor with wings engraved on the shoulder armor, along with two small wings on the helmet that had one long slit across the facemask revealing two sea blue eyes. The figure began walking slowly toward the semi-unconscious Alex and knelt next to him to check his condition. Once the sliver figure confirmed that Alex was still breathing and only semi-unconscious due to lack of Qi, he turned towards the duo with his sword visibly glowing with a silver aura.
"Silver Flash Christopher," Gerald stated while bringing his hands together with small movements.
"Gerald the Wicked," Christopher replied before turning towards Lena.
"Twin Tails Lena," he added before bringing his sword up and pointing it towards the duo.
"I, Christopher Vicon, sentence you two to death for injuring and attempted kidnapping of the fourth prince Alexander Ruin!" Christopher declared before charging at the duo. Lena charged forward while Gerald quickly performed hand seals to support her. Christopher and Lena clashed with their blades which created sparks each time they collided. Lena was doing her best to match blow for blow but Christopher's strength was too much for her. Soon though Gerald was able to finish his art and support her,
"Seal Arts - Devil's Breath!" Gerald uttered and a magic seal with three sixs appeared under Lena. She could feel her body being fueled by the magic seal and she began to match Christopher's strength.
"Twin Dagger Arts - Twin Fury!" Lena uttered as her Qi began to flow into her arms and daggers. Her slashes began to pick up speed along with more force behind each slash, but Christopher was able to parry most of them which caused most of the strikes to lose their momentum which eased the other strikes that did land on his blade.
"Seal Arts - Lich's Curse!" Gerald uttered after he finished another set of hand seals. Multiple purple magic circles appeared around and under Christopher's feet. Christopher quickly avoided the seal under him and also the others stationed around. Soon black tentacles sprouted from the seals along with green poisonous mist that began to rot anything caught within the circle.
"Sword Arts - Spatial Series - Vast Vacuum Slash!" Christopher uttered before using a horizontal slash which shot out a large silver sword Qi that sucked in anything in its path. Lena quickly used movement art and escaped into the shadows to avoid the sword Qi's path. Gerald quickly performed hand seals and right when the giant sword Qi was just a few feet away from him,
"Seal Arts - Barrier Series - Lich's Throne!" Gerald uttered and a giant throne made of skeletons appeared behind him along with multiple walls also made of skeletons came out from the ground surrounding him. The skeleton walls were five meters long and had a circumference of four meters. The giant sword Qi clashed with the skeleton walls and it created a loud thud along with a dust storm with raging winds. The inn behind the battle was getting hit with debris and most of the windows had been shattered leaving shards of glass everywhere. Alex on the other hand was blown away another meter or two due to the shockwaves and was knocked unconscious fully. Lena was making her way stealthily toward the unconscious Alex so that she could grab him and quickly run away. Once she got close enough, Lena felt a tremendous aura locking onto her. She looked around to see who was there but didn't see anyone besides Christopher and Gerald still clashing. She wanted to approach the unconscious Alex but every time she tried to the tremendous aura would lock onto her again. Soon Christopher noticed that Lena was creeping near the fourth prince and quickly sent three Qi sword wave strikes her way. Lena felt the hair on the back of her neck become cold and quickly utilized her shadow movement skill to evade the attack.
"You dare try to attack the fourth prince!" Christopher shouted as he began to charge toward Lena, but Gerald began to form hand seals so he could help her out. Skeleton hands came bursting out from the ground in front of Christopher's path which made things difficult for him.
"Sword Arts - Elemental Series - Dragon's Breath!" Christopher uttered before slashing downwards with his sword that spat out a giant flame dragon. The flame dragon quickly made its way to the fleeing Lena while destroying all of the skeletons in the way.
"Seal Arts - Barrier Series - Six Demon Gate!" Gerald uttered after finishing his hand seals and three giant gate walls appeared in the path of the flame dragon. The dragon crashed into the first gate and it was only able to withstand the impact for only thirty seconds before collapsing. The second was also only able to withstand forty seconds, the next two were only able to stand for another forty seconds before collapsing. The fifth gate was able to stop the flame dragon fully but not without sustaining multiple cracks all around its frame. Lena, who was on the other side of the sixth gate, began to circulate Qi throughout her body.
"Twin Dagger Arts - Nightmare Flurry! Movement Arts - Shadow Cloak! Domain Arts - Thief's Den!" Lena uttered all together. Her daggers were coated with red Qi, along with her body which was shrouded with a black aura, then everything within a fifty-meter radius was covered in a dim-lit mist field. Gerald and Christopher were caught inside her Domain Art, which was beneficial to Gerald but not so much for Christopher. Christopher could feel himself losing some of his senses and soon he couldn't see, hear, or feel anything. Lena could feel her body being powered up by her domain and she could feel a smile creeping up on her face. She rushed toward the senseless Christopher and began to let out a flurry of slashes with her Qi-infused daggers, but to her surprise, he was able to dodge and parry most of her attacks. Gerald was currently recovering his depleted Qi so he was only able to watch from the side and was also surprised by how Christopher was able to evade Lena.
"Domain Arts - Sword Warlord's Throne!" Christopher uttered and Lena's domain art was engulfed by Christopher's domain art. Soon all of Christopher's senses came back and he was empowered by his Domain. Lena and Gerald, on the other hand, were weakened to an extent due to the immense pressure of Sword Qi within the air of Christopher's Domain Art. Gerald realized that if they continued to fight then they would surely perish so he pulled out a talisman and tore it. Once the talisman was torn it created a small portal in the sky and something came flying through at breathtaking speeds. It soon landed between Lena and Christopher, who were about to engage in close combat once more and created a huge dust storm.
"Jeez, Who the hell called me while I was working!" a mysterious man shouted while he began to stretch his entire body. Christopher swung his sword to clear the dust that gathered around him and soon noticed the mysterious man. The man stood at five feet and eleven inches and had shoulder-length dark green hair, pale white skin, and emerald green eyes with slit pupils.
"Faus!" Christopher shouted with anger before circulating his qi rapidly,
"Christopher, my dear friend. How is our leader?" Faus replied with a sly smile.
"Sword Arts - Spatial series - Black Hole Crater X cut!" Christopher uttered before slashing out and the X cut began to glow white while a dark black color could be seen inside the bright white light. The giant X began to suck up everything within five meters of its path. Faus just looked at the attack coming his way with a giant smile.