The half-clothed mage fired a blast of pure Rek as soon as Kyra took a step, and the short one, like the coward he must be, ran out of the house through a little door.
Ashviel ran after him, and caught up with him a few seconds after the man left the building. Master Wayne has given the order not to leave anyone alive, and Ashviel was not going to allow the guard escape. He knocked him down, and the guard, instead of fighting, only begged for his life, which made Ashviel conclude that he must be a weed or fledgling. No matter how weak a novice was, Ashviel was sure that they would still fight back a fellow novice.
"I beg you," cried the short man. "I only followed him here."
"I have orders to kill you nonetheless," replied Ashviel, advancing with his sword drawn. "Give me a reason to spare you."
"You have none, sir," said the man.
"I am a novice, not a knight."
"Even so, please don't kill me."
"You kept an innocent woman in captivity, and now you plead for mercy."
"Believe me," said the man on his knees, "I only came here two days ago."
"What difference does that make?"
"I did not know about the woman until yesterday."
"How am I to believe that? You're only dallying until your comrades come to your rescue," Ashviel said, and then formed a fireball in his hand, intent on blowing off the man's head.
"How about I give you this," cried the man and then revealed a bag hidden under his shirt.
Ashviel hesitated. "Open it."
The man did as he was asked, and Ashviel saw that the bag contained a number of vials holding a light green liquid. The man held up the bag with great care, as if it contained eggs of a blue dragon.
"What's that?" he asked.
"You don't know?" the man asked too, and the fear on his face became a mixture of shock and confusion.
"I would not ask if I do," said Ashviel.
The man brought out one of the vials. "This is a circuit-forging potion," said he and Ashviel's curiosity overstepped his murder intents.
"Drink it," said Ashviel. For all he knew, he could be buying a pig in a poke. Worse, it could be a poison.
"Are you sure?" asked the man, still surprised that Ashviel did not recognize the potion. "This is priceless, you know."
"I said drink it!"
The man opened the vial and gulped it down hurriedly. He smiled as he felt a slight tingle in his torch, and Ashviel waited to see if anything else happens.
"If only I had a circulation technique," said the man.
"Toss one," Ashviel said.
He opened the vial, and looked at it intently. Even if it contained a poison, then his body-honing technique should be able to counter its effect. Moreover, the man before him was a complete weed, and so he would have died if the liquid had been poisonous.
He closed his eyes and drank it. The effect was slow in arriving, because Ashviel had numerous circuits already. All the same, he felt it reaching for his torch and dissipating as it went further. He spread it around his circuit with the circulation technique, and after a while, he became assured that it was an authentic circuit-forging potion.
"Alright," said he, "I'll have it."
The man sighed, relieved at being spared, or so he thought.
Ashviel placed the bag in his space pouch, and then increased the intensity of the fireball in his hand.
"I thought we had a deal," the man said fearfully as a painful realization occurred to him.
Ashviel was not listening. He shot the fireball at the man, but the blast went a few inches from the man's head.
"I did not miss," said Ashviel. "Now run before I change my mind."
Barely understanding the event that had just happened, the man stood up and escaped into the wind.
Ashviel ran back and got in just in time. Elena had been released, and the half-dressed mage was lying in a corner with a gaping hole in his battered head. Zyair had also taken care of Hans, and the party was just about look for Ashviel when he entered breathless.
"How did it go?" Kael asked him.
"All well," he replied.
"Did you kill him?" Sir Zyair asked.
"Of course," said Ashviel.
"Well then, so far so good."
"It's a success," said Kael, raising his sword high up in the air.
"It is too soon to celebrate," Kyra cautioned him.
There could still be an enemy lurking in the shadow, and there was no doubt they would be toast should Master Larry himself appear.
He looked at the woman they had come to rescue. Even though she was weak and looked rather scrawny from imprisonment and maltreatment, she still looked attractive, and Ashviel concluded that the painting was not much of an exaggeration.
"Thank you, Zyair," she said, fighting back tears.
They walked out of the house, and Ashviel wondered what technique Sir Zyair had used against Hans. His head was turned to the back, and his chest was riddled with three holes that must have been made with the shooting sword.
Transcending all difficulties, they had completed their first mission, and the future with Master Wayne appeared even brighter.