'Damn, I must find a way out of this quickly.' Arslan thought as he took a step back after seeing them getting closer.
"I don't know where you found those techniques of yours, but they won't save you from 2 Middle-stage cultivators of the Earth-level," Walter said as he grinned at Arslan.
"Tsk, what do you think to achieve by fighting me 3 against 1?!" Arslan said nervously, trying to provoke Walter not to fight against him with such an advantage.
"I DON'T CARE! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! Now you are gonna feel what I felt when they told me my arm would have been like this forever!! Ray, Paul, go cripple him!" Walter ordered to the other two, who immediately jumped in Arslan's direction.
'Reasoning with him is impossible' Arslan thought as he protected his chest with his arms crossed.
"DEFENCE BREAKER!" Ray, the first of the two cultivators attacked with a strong right kick on Arslan's arms.
Arslan made several steps back due to the strength of that hit,
'Damn, I can't last long using only a thin layer of Darkness covering my body. He almost broke my left arm.' Arslan thought as his chest was now exposed for the next attacker.
"PIERCING FINGER!" Paul, who came right after Ray not to leave any time to Arslan to recover, stretched his whole body to make it more aerodynamic, aiming for Arslan's uncovered chest with his right forefinger. He seemed like a human spear.
Arslan turned his body on his right and was able to avoid the attack,
"Woah," Arslan said as he didn't expect the enemy to be so fast,
'If I had been a little slower, I would have died!' He thought as he tried to distance himself some meters away from his pursuers,
"Walter there is no need for all of this! We are on the Academy's grounds! If you were to be found, your whole family would pay for this!" He tried to reason with Walter once more.
"HAHAHA, don't you worry for me. This fight will end in a few moves! Finally, I can see you suffering!! Can you imagine what it felt like to come back home in that condition and look at my parents after telling them that a F*CKING BLOODLINELESS BEAT ME!!!! A LEVEL 4 BLOODLINE CULTIVATOR!!!" Walter said in anger as he remembered those moments, while Ray and Paul were preparing for the next sequence of attacks.
'Damn it, his brain is gone. What can I do? Too many disciples come to this forest every day... I can't cause a ruckus again... Elder Oak wouldn't let it go this time. And these two cultivators seem to be quite coordinated with each other... they must be used to fighting together. If I fought any longer, they would kill me for sure,' Arslan thought as he looked at his opponents, 'I'm lucky Walter is not fighting.'
"But I know that you can't understand... after all you don't have a family." Walter said as he remembered this information about Arslan's life. The satisfaction he felt for thinking about this was visible on his face, where the anger was substituted with a worrisome toothy smile.
As those words were spoken, Ray and Paul felt a sudden pressure,
"W-What was that? Did you feel it, Walter?" Ray said confused by the feeling he had for just a brief moment. He turned to look if Walter was fine. Paul did the same, due to the same worry he had.
"Ray, Paul have you finally gone insane?" Walter said, with his usual arrogance as he didn't feel anything at all, while looking at both of them with a disgusted face.
Ray and Paul watched each other and convinced themselves to have just imagined it.
'I almost lost control. Luckily I stopped in time,' Arslan thought as he sweated for the risk he had just taken,
'It's time to get away from here.' Arslan thought as he turned as fast as he could and ran away.
"HEY, STOP HIM!!!" Walter screamed at Ray and Paul, who pursued Arslan just a second later he started running.
Walter followed them but remained behind for a few steps, as he clearly remembered what happened the last time he faced Arslan. His nervousness was visible through his trembling hands, but he would have never let such an occasion to take revenge go to waste.
--
--
--
A minute passed,
"How can he be so fast?" Paul wondered as they were getting fatigued by the exhausting pursuit.
Arslan was in front and neither gained an advantage nor he lost it.
"I don't know, but we need to speed up!" Ray answered. Walter was being left behind as he didn't have a technique for moving faster.
At that moment, a hand came out of a bush and grabbed Arslan's arm, pulling him inside.
"Woaah!" Arslan got surprised by the event.
"Use it." The person who pulled him in said.
"John!?!?" Arslan said shocked by seeing him there.
"Come on, use it!!!" John insisted on Arslan.
There were a lot of questions running in Arslan's mind at that moment. Why was he there? Did John follow him? Did he see the fight from the beginning? Was he still using that stealth skill of him?
But there was no time to think, due to the pursuers getting closer. Arslan's face changed instantly from surprised to serious and determined while looking at John,
"Steps Of Silence." Arslan whispered. In the blink of an eye, Arslan grabbed John and both of them ran away.
A second later, Ray and Paul arrived at the bush, but, when they looked inside, they found it empty. Thanks to Arslan's technique, they were able to get away so fast, that the 2 Middle-stage couldn't even see them.
"F*ck, we lost him." Ray said in frustration as he kicked the tree on his left, making its leaves fall down.
"How did his presence disappear like that?" Paul wondered confused by not being able to feel Arslan's presence anymore.
"I don't know. We must tell Walter about this... he won't be happy to know that we failed." Ray said as his frustration got substituted by fear of Walter's reaction.
A few moments passed and, when Arslan and John thought to be far enough, they stopped running and looked at each other,
"Wow, that technique of yours is truly powerful!" John said surprised by Arslan's speed.
"Pant, pant... John, what are you doing here?" Arslan asked while being visibly tired, with sweat running down his forehead and his upper body bent forward with his palms on his knees to sustain the weight of his body.
Bringing John on his back was 2 times tiring for him, but John's stealth technique allowed them not to be perceived by anyone else, thus, the sum of their techniques made their escape from Arslan's pursuers easier.