I vanished and appeared by the cart. I saw two women standing by it. One with black hair and another with blonde hair. I formed a ball of pure red chaos mana in my hand.
"Who are you people?"
Both of them turned around.
"Isaac?"
...
I activated the 5th stage of my Kansatsume on both my eyes.
"Who are you?"
Ashley walked towards me.
"Do you really not remember us? I'm Ashley and she's Maria."
Maria spoke.
"Are you really Isaac?"
I saw Ashley prepare her daggers secretly.
"Hmph. Let's cut the chitchat since it's clear you want a fight."
I vanished and targeted Ashley as I rammed the ball of chaos mana into her. I realised I missed when I felt a blade coming behind me. I dodged to the side as I took hold of my sword. I swung it at her chest, narrowly missing her as she parried it with her twin daggers. I then felt a huge amount of magic from my right.
"WINDSIDE PALM"
A huge gust of wind came at me. I managed to quickly swung my sword around and blocked it in time. I activated my partial Vermillion Mode as red aura surrounded me. I instantly appeared above Maria and swung my sword downwards. She quickly turned around and blocked it as a huge shockwave was released from the impact, breaking all of the windows in the vicinity. Ashley came running towards me once she saw an opportunity to strike. I looked at her and spoke.
She was suddenly pushed away as I used word magic to forcefully push her away with a powerful gust of wind. I got away from Maria and stood still as the aura around me dissipated. I sighed as a number of soldiers suddenly surrounded us.
"I will meet you two outside in the plains."
I vanished as both of them followed suite. We arrived at the plains by where the cows are sent to graze. The case (will use 'case' instead of 'sheath') of my sword fell to the ground with a heavy thud, leaving behind a shining grey blade with a black line running down in the middle. I started emanating chaos mana vigorously. My hair turned red as it slightly spiked up.
"I don't know what you people want from me or how you know me, but I will make sure you'll tell me everything."
Maria spoke.
"But Isaac we..."
Ashley's hair started turning green as a lively green aura appeared around her.
"Don't bother Maria. The only way we can get through to him now is if we bring him to his knees."
I smirked as I vanished. I appeared in front of Ashley and swung my sword downwards. She barely dodged it as I managed to scrape her shoulder. She was furious.
"DAMNIT ISAAC!!! ARE YOU REALLY FIGHTING TO KILL!!!"
I ignored her as I swung the sword around and targeted her waist. She lopped over it. Maria came rushing in with her fan blades. I could predict the movements she would make by watching the change of temperature in her muscles as the nerve signals moved along her body. I dodged her attacks in advance and shielded my back by using my sword as a shield. I kicked off of Maria and in the same movement and backflipped behind Ashley. I placed my hand on her back.
"VOLKANO"
The blast drilled into her back as it sent her flying. I quickly teleported in front of her and stuck my sword out. Maria quickly got her out of the way by using wind to divert her path and then attacked me. I blocked her attacks with my sword but I soon realised how burdensome it was in a close quarters fight. Because of its length and weight, I have to make large movements if I want to use it but Maria wasn't giving me any time to breathe. I looked for chances to evade and found one when she made a large movement as she slashed her fan blade at my stomach. I blocked it with my sword and swung my leg up as I kicked her in the chest and head. She stumbled backwards and I swung my sword at her. I managed to cut her abdomen as she fell to her knees in pain. I attempted to use the same swinging motion to spin around and aim for her arm but Ashley blocked me. She imbued mana into her throat and screamed loudly. I became disoriented and when I recovered, they were gone. I sighed.
"So annoying."
Using the blood on the ground, I attempted to trace where they went but I couldn't find anything. It was like they vanished from the face of the planet. I sighed
"This...may turn out to be more annoying than I thought."
I walked over and picked up my sword case and put my sword inside. I closed it and placed the sword on my back and frowned.
"No matter what, I have to cripple them before they can escape. But that skill of theirs is interesting. To erase your presence so well that even blood tracer can't find you? I have to learn it."
Familia Mansion, Dimensional World
Ashley and Maria were breathing heavily. Renata and Camila were attending to their wounds. Renata spoke.
"But was that man really Isaac miss Ashley?"
"There's no doubt about it. That man is Isaac."
"But what makes you so sure?"
"They way he fights is the same. When we first met, a part of me did think that maybe he was Isaac's kid or something."
Maria was shocked.
"KID?!?!?!?!"
"I know how weird it sounds but I had to consider the possibility since when I looked at him, he clearly didn't know who we were and he also genuinely saw us as enemies."
Renata spoke.
"But then what made you think he was not his child but really Isaac himself?"
"Like I said. It was the way he fought. Even when you have a child and teach them all of your moves, they will still develop their own style of fighting. It is impossible to copy movements exactly. Isaac's way of sword fighting is exactly the same. That's why I'm convinced it's him."
Maria spoke.
"But how will we talk to him now? Knowing him, he'll instantly attack us the moment we approach him."
"It's simple. We have to lure and trap him somewhere with barrier magic. He still has the head of the bandits right? Then it'll be simple."
Streets of Rubin, Winchelin, Sunrise
I was walking down the streets after taking the money from Avis' vault and checking to see if the guards took good care of the slaves. They were sent to a pretty good orphanage. Rumours about the death of Avis Sikim spread to the entire city. Most were overjoyed although they didn't show it. I walked to the Mercenary Guild. I saw the bounty reception and went to it. A young woman was attending there.
"Hello sir. How may I help you?"
I cancelled the illusion spell on the blocks of ice containing the heads of the slave traders around me and put the blocks on the desk with telekinesis.
"I assume these men have a bounty on them?"
Everyone turned around to look at me. There were murmurs and some shocked gasps. The woman in front of me recovered from her shock and smiled weakly.
"Yes. They do have a bounty placed on them."
She tried to grab the ice but I lifted them instead with telekinesis.
"Where to?"
"Um, please follow me sir."
I followed her down the stairs into a big underground room. It looked like a hall. The room was lit with blue lights.
"Magic stones?"
"Yes sir."
"You don't mind if they break do you?"
She was confused.
"Um, what do you mean sir?"
I sighed.
"Come out. I know you're hiding and it's annoying."
It was silent. Soon a woman appeared by the door. She had an indigo dress that was slightly revealing and white hair with bangs that covered one eye.
"It's a pleasure to finally speak to Sir Isaac."
"..."
"Lucy. Please leave us alone. I want to talk with Sir Isaac."
Lucy left the room as she scurried back upstairs. The woman came inside and walked over to me.
"Excuse my rudeness Sir Isaac. My name is Amiri Baraka."
"..."
"Um, Sir Isaac?"
I kept getting the feeling I was being watched and couldn't relax my guard. My eyes kept darting around looking for the source. Little did I know that Ashley and Maria were hidden in a void corridor. They were waiting for the perfect chance to attack.
"As soon as he faces the front, we go for it okay Maria?"
"Yeah. Let's do this."
Ashley's eyes sparked.
"Chance!"
She came out of the void corridor and kicked me in the back. Before I could recover, Maria blew me away with her Windside Palm. Ashley put her hands on the ground.
"6 ELEMENT BARRIER SEAL"
A barrier appeared around me. I could feel a vein flinch in my head.
"I see. So it's YOU TWO again. Tell me. Why are you after me?!"
Ashley stepped forward.
"You may leave now Amiri."
She then looked at me.
"We will not give up until you can remember us."
"How annoying."
I activated my Hasunome. My eyes turned white and I began looking for any weaknesses in the barrier.
"Your Hasunome won't help you."
I was shocked.
"How do you know about my ski-"
Maria lost it.
"BECAUSE WE'RE YOUR WIVES YOU IDIOT!!! DO YOU REALLY NOT REMEMBER ANYTHING ABOUT US??? ABOUT HOW YOU TAUGHT US MAGIC?!?!?! ABOUT OUR TIME AT THE ACADEMY?! ABOUT OUR FIRST TIMES TOGETHER?!?!?!"
Ashley held Maria.
"Calm down."
"NO I WON'T CALM DOWN UNTIL HE REMEMBERS US!!!"
Tears started coming out from her.
"Isaac please. You can't forget us. Not like this. For 20 years we've been looking for you. We had to hold ourselves back from thinking you were dead. Now we heard news you might be alive. Do you know how happy we were? We were saddened when you lost your memories but please Isaac. Please just stop running from us. We'll find a way to regain your memories so ple-"
"I've heard enough. No matter how much I try, I don't remember you people so stop talking. It's annoying. Do me a favour and remove this barrier."
Ashley frowned.
"Like I said. We're going to keep you here until that stubborn brain of yours functions normally."
I smiled.
"I see. So you've chosen...death."
My chaos mana flared up inside me. The barrier which was sealing my strength up until now started to crack. Ashley lost her mind.
"IMPOSSIBLE. HE SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO INVOKE ANY OF HIS STRENGTH AT ALL!!!"
My hair started to spike up and my teeth became canines. I grunted as I powered up more. Maria screamed.
"WE HAVE TO ADD MORE POWER TO IT!!!"
They both poured their mana into the barrier. I was getting angry. The barrier was surpressing my strength to the point that I couldn't even invoke one tail of mine. The world principles inside the barrier were also a mess so I couldn't use them to utilise word magic at all. It was a battle of pure strength and will...and I wasn't lacking in either. My mana overflowed as I fought back against them. My hair turned into a bright shade of red. I pushed harder as my eyes turned into a crimson red. They kept on adding more mana and it felt like a massive weight was pressing on top of me. It was now a battle of attrition, of whether I would break first before they ran out of mana or I would be able to hold out until the bitter end when they collapse from exhaustion. But I didn't want that. I wasn't willing to stay suppressed.
"Grrrr! Just...Let...Me...OUT!!!!"
Soon, blood red chaos mana emerged from me as two of my tails shot out. The intensity of my chaos mana increased. Cracks started to form. Ashley knew it was pointless.
"Maria. Quickly evacuate everyone here."
Maria knew there was no point in arguing. She rushed out and left Ashley alone. Ashley continued pouring mana into the barrier. I kept on pushing. Since she was alone now, I could release more and more of my powers. Soon, two more tails emerged, then another four. I had eight tails worth of power and in one final push as my eyes went blank, I released all of it.