(A few hours ago)
After Draven and Sarah saw the Clown's invitation to the abandoned circus, Sarah immediately went to work her magic in her workshop.
"Weird,"
"What is?" Margoth appeared over Draven's shoulder. The two of them saw two distinct lines, one red and one green on the screen before Sarah. To Margoth and Draven, the lines meant nothing. But to Sarah who was an expert in etherian energy waves, it meant something interesting and weird.
"You see these two lines. They are transferring an etherian signal back and forth,"
"Yes, it clarifies so many things to us," Margoth's voice oozed with sarcasm.
"There might be something inside the warehouse communicating with something outside,"
"Something or someone," Draven frowned.
"Can you locate the other source?" asked Draven.
"On it," Sarah tapped the mirrors, doing her work to pinpoint the location of the energy waves' endpoint.
"What the hell?" Sarah's brows arched up.
"Now what?" asked Margoth.
"The energy waves are going from the abandoned circus to the steel factory,"
"The one we just left?"
Just like Margoth, Draven was also surprised by Sarah's answer. When they left the abandoned steel factory, it had only rusty machines. He wondered what could receive the etherian energy waves from the circus.
"So are we going there?" Judging by Draven's look, Sarah wouldn't be surprised if he ordered her to fly the ship to the steel factory.
"Hmm," nodded Draven.
"But not before making a detour,"
The Sword had become his warship and a warship was incomplete without its cannons. At the moment, the sword was equipped with fake ammunition to simulate a battle. But Draven had other plans. He wanted to get as much ammunition as possible before investigating the abandoned steel factory. It was evident to Draven at this point that the Clown was planning something. Although the CLown was just a mortal with no superpowers, his evil brain made up for his lack of powers. If Draven went unprepared, there was a high possibility for the Clown to escape him as he always does with the Black Knight.
"Set sail to the Layne family warehouse in Grayford,"
The ammunition-acquiring mission went as smoothly as possible. Several guards tried to take down Draven when he landed right on top of them. Draven just beat out a few and the rest scattered away. After that, Draven just strolled into the warehouse, grabbed as many crates full of cannonballs as possible, and left the warehouse without any problem. When Draven returned to the Sword, he entered a loading room on the ship. It was just a small room lit with red orbs. Loading the cannons couldn't be any easier. He just had to take the cannonballs, put them in a tube and the ship would load those cannonballs into the ship's cannon automatically. The ship was truly a cutting-edge technology mangled with magic.
"It's done,"
Sarah turned around to see Draven,
"What's the plan?" asked Sarah.
"Let's go see what's happening in the abandoned steel factory. We still have two more hours to crash the Clown's party,"
The ship purred as Sarah moved the sticks forward. Everything had been going according to Draven's plan. While Sarah was flying the ship toward the abandoned steel factory on the outskirts of Velan, Draven sat on the chair next to Sarah. He couldn't help playing with the sticks that controlled the cannons. Noticing a glimpse of Draven's old playful self, Sarah felt both pleasure and pain in her heart.
In the small screen attached to the dashboard, Draven saw the crosshairs. If he wished, he could fire the cannons one by one or all at the same time destroying his target with a single push of a button.
"Change of plans, we will deal with the Layne research facility after I get rid of this Clown," said Draven. His voice might have sounded calm but Sarah could feel the murderous intent. Knowing Draven, it would take a few miracles to save the Clown from him.
"I literally cannot wait to taste his juicy evil soul,"
"Taste this taste that kills this kill that, can't you talk about something else?" Sarah rolled her eyes. She truly hated this alien creature for driving Draven into a dark path.
"Everything else just bore me. When you find something more interesting than killing an evil human, let me know,"
"I will," said Saraha. There was a strange sense of confidence in her tone. Due to the ship's speed, they arrived at the steel factory sooner than they initially expected.
"Open the hanger," Draven rose from his chair. The ship gradually slowed down until it came to a halt directly above the steel factory.
"Be safe," said Sarah before Draven disappeared from her sight. After leaving the sword, Draven flew straight down, breaking through the abandoned steel factory's rusty roof. When he landed on his feet, Draven was pleasantly surprised. The previously abandoned steel factory riddled with rusty old machines was nowhere to be seen. Instead, something or someone turned the factory into a tropical garden. Every corner of the factory was filled with exotic plants. The smell of nature, earth, and the sweet fragrance of the flowers permeated the air. In the center where Sarah used to have her temporary workshop was four gigantic venus flytrap. They were almost big enough to trap a fully grown man.
"This is new," Margoth sounded surprised in Draven's mind.
"Welcome to my little paradise," Out of nowhere, a melodious voice echoed through the garden. Draven couldn't pinpoint the voice's direction since he felt like the voice came from everywhere.
Gradually, a thick green tree grew from the ground several meters away from Draven. When the tree stopped growing, it slowly split open in the middle, revealing an alluring woman. Her breast and privates were covered in heart-shaped green leaves. With wavy emerald green hair dancing around her shoulder, she stepped onto the ground. The moment her feet touched the ground, tiny flowers sprouted on the ground. Perfect beauty was an understatement to the women before Draven. Every inch of this woman was beauty redefined. Her porcelain skin, green eyes, and red cherry lips were enough to make any man drool.
"Lillian James," The woman halted her steps when she heard Draven address her by her real name. A glimmer of shock emerged in her eyes. Except for her and a few others, no one knew her real name. But somehow, the stranger in front of her knew it as well.
"Interesting. But I go by the name Scorpion nowadays," Lillian licked her lips. The red lips quickly turned jade green,
"How should I call you handsome? Some call you the dark one, the murderous psychopath, and my favorite, the Reaper,"
"The Reaper huh? I like that one. Menacing, short and sells the point we deal in death," Margoth admired the name.
Ignoring Margoth, Draven focused his gaze on Scorpion. Because Draven was once a hero, he had access to all the villain profiles in UFH. So he knew everything about Scorpion, including her powers and how the air in the garden was filled with poisonous gas. It was obvious she was waiting for the poison to take effect. Unfortunately, Draven was immune to all the poisons and harmful gasses thanks to Margoth. The ancient god would suck everything and turn them into breathable air.
In addition to poisoning the air and creating poisonous clouds, Scorpion also possessed the power to make plant life do as she wished. She could have used her powers to reforest and create various cures for illnesses. Instead, she used them to kill, steal and terrorize innocent people.
"Any moment from now," Scorpion said to herself. Just as he expected, the killer rolled his eyes. He stumbled a bit before collapsing to the ground.
"No wonder this kingdom is doomed. They were wetting their pants because of a weakling like you," Scorpion sighed.
She gracefully walked toward Draven who was lying on the ground without moving an inch.
"Waste of time," Scorpion said, lifting Draven from the ground by his neck. For a delicate woman, she was quite strong. She picked up Draven without showing any signs of struggle.
Pulch!
However, the moment she picked Draven up, she felt a sharp pain in her gut. She slowly looked down to see a sword attached to Draven's wrist sticking into her gut. Blood oozed out of the cut.
"Argh,"
Scorpion spurted out blood when Draven twisted the sword in her gut.
But to Draven's shock, Scorpion laughed.
"Look there," said Scorpion, looking over her shoulder. Draven noticed the four venus traps slowly open their petals. Inside each venus trap was someone held hostage.
"You're a sneaky bastard," Scorpion coughed up blood when she tried to snicker.
"Don't bother teleporting near them. I injected them with something special. Trade your life for them," Her words shocked Margoth. She asked for his life like it was candy.
Draven grabbed Scorpion by her neck and tightened his grip,
"You…have…a minute…" Scorpion grumbled.
Draven clenched his fist. On one hand, he had Scorpion. On the other hand, he had two soldiers and two commoners.
"Don't even think about it, Draven," Margoth threatened Draven.
A long silence haunted the garden. Draven couldn't make up his mind.
"System, can you give me a cure for them?" The helplessness of the situation made Draven turn to the system.
[The system level is too low. The next upgrade of the system will cost the host 5000 Legendary Points].
[Upgrade the system to unlock more abilities and store items]
Unfortunately, the system gave him an answer which had nothing to do with the hostages.
"We can't always expect this system thingy to bail us out of a thick situation Draven. You know that," said Margoth.
It wasn't an easy decision for Draven to make. His decisions always ended the lives of evil, not innocent people. Although Draven always knew he would have to make some tough decisions on his path, it still made him reluctant. Once again, Draven looked at the four hostages. Their skin turned green and a white form came out of their mouth. Judging by their look, they didn't have much time to live.
"If I die, you might let them go. Sooner or later, you will hurt hundreds of more innocents. But," Draven pulled his broken sword out of her gut. Blood spurted out from her gut and mouth.
"If I kill you now, these four will be the last people you hurt," his voice turned colder. Scorpion tried to squirm herself out of his grab until she felt a sharp pain in her chest. She slowly looked down to see the sword sticking into her chest. Before everything turned dark, she saw an ethereal figure of an alien create materialize over Draven's shoulder.