"Then who are they?", Aldo mutters with a frown.
When Diane was about to reply, the footsteps coming from the group of people are already near. The sound of shoes hitting wood can already be heard showing that they're right in front of the house.
Aldo's expression darken, he sneakily got out of the bedroom and close the door behind him.
He looks to the side and finds the shadow of the group of people already in front of the door. Even the sound of their whispering can already be heard. Aldo took his sword before he hides beside a cabinet in the kitchen.
Since the house is pretty small, the kitchen is just right beside the guest room.
There is no living room in this house so the guest room that is just beside the door is the living room. Aldo ducked down beside the cabinet while listening to their whispering.
But no matter how hard he tries to hear their whispers, the rain muffled their voices.
Creak...
Aldo's body stiffen when the door is slowly opened by the group of people, he unconsciously held his breath while waiting for the perfect moment to strike, 'This is the least I can do, I need to take down at least two so Diane can take care of the rest', he thought.
Peeking at the group of people, Aldo finds that they're all wearing robes.
The robes are black in color with the edges glowing emerald color. One middle-aged man that has a muscular body that also looks to be the leader is giving Aldo the most wariness, he can feel that the middle-aged man should be quite strong.
But Aldo pulls back his head when two other people are walking slowly toward the kitchen, he calmed his breathing in case they will hear him.
Thud...
Thud...
From the footsteps sound, the two people are already nearing his hiding spot.
Aldo glance to the side and finds the middle-aged man is about to enter the bedroom where Diane is. Taking one huge deep breath, he gripped the sword tightly before he stands up and swung at the first person that he saw.
Swish!
"Kyarrghh!", the man squealed after getting his hand severed easily.
Upon hearing this, the other people there snap their necks at Aldo's direction before they saw one of their group got injured by him. All of them draw their swords in response to the sudden appearance of Aldo.
"Who are you?! Why are you here?!", Aldo shouted while putting the sword in front of him.
With nothing but a thought, his body slowly got covered by a red aura while he gets into his battle stance in case these people attacked. The middle-aged man looks at Aldo with his cold eyes before he waves his hands with a scoff.
Immediately after that, two people lunge at him with their swords ready to be swung.
Both of them swung their swords from above with a heavy swing but Aldo blocks both swords rather easily, this sparks confusion in Aldo's face, 'They're not Ego Fighters?'
Tilting his sword to the left, both people got thrown off balance. Aldo uses this opportunity to throw a left hook on one of them in the face.
Aldo's hook landed squarely at that man's face slamming him to the ground and cracking the wooden floor. The other draws a dagger on his waist intending to stab Aldo with it. The daggers glow emerald as the man tries to stab Aldo.
Seeing this, Aldo wanted to block it but he can't.
But upon stabbing the red aura surrounding Aldo's body, the dagger got stopped unable to pierce through the abnormal thick red aura. Recovering from his off-balance state, Aldo slashes his sword leaving a nasty wound on the man's chest.
Thud!
"Impressive...", the middle-aged man mutters while looking at Aldo fight.
Hearing this, Aldo readies himself again while looking at the middle-aged man intensely. With two down, only three more to go. Even though the other two are probably not an Ego Fighter, the middle-aged man is certainly an Ego Fighter.
Aldo can feel it, he may be an Ego Fighter in a higher circle than him.
The middle-aged man looks at Aldo calmly before he said, "I'm searching for Thea Feline, this is her previous house so she must be here. Please be honest, we will not hurt you"
"I don't know who you're talking about!", Aldo replied harshly.
These people barged into the house as if they own the place and even searching for someone he didn't know, this alone makes him quite angry. Aldo is sleeping just a moment ago, but he got woken up by these brutes.
A momentary silence covers both of them as the middle-aged man gazes at Aldo.
But after a moment, the middle-aged man then opens his mouth, "Search the house, check every nook and corner of the house. I'm sure she's here"
"Yes, Captain!", the other people in robes replied before intending to enter the bedroom.
Seeing this, Aldo dashed at them not wanting them to disturb Diane who is inside the bedroom scared of the rain. But just as he swung his sword, another sword parried him.
Aldo looks at the sword and glanced to the side, it was the middle-aged man.
Not only does he doesn't move from his spot to intervene in Aldo's dash, but he also doesn't even glance at him and only positions his sword at the right moment to stop Aldo's dash.
The sword is also not an ordinary sword, it's half steel and half emerald green.
From the way it glows green covered with a green aura and has a physical shape, it's clear that this middle-aged man is a full-blown second circle. He even might be higher, Aldo doesn't know.
Gritting his teeth, Aldo swung his left hand intending to punch the middle-aged man.
But his fist was blocked by the middle-aged man's hand and pushed him a couple of steps, this brings a surprised look on the middle-aged man's face. It seems he didn't expect such power coming from Aldo's punch.
The middle-aged man slowly gazes at Aldo, his expression turns back to stoic again.
In the next second, Aldo widen his eyes when he saw the middle-aged man's hand is already grabbing his head. After grabbing his head, the middle-aged man then grips it tightly before throwing Aldo outside.
Brak!!
Aldo got burst out of the house through the wooden wall before screeching on the ground.
Since the sky is still pouring down heavy beads of water, the ground is slippery and he manages to stop after about 100 yards away. He coughed a couple of times before shaking his head.
The sound of the middle-aged man's footsteps makes Aldo stands back up.
A piece of the wood from the wooden wall that he burst out from scratched his shoulder, the red aura is broken by the middle-aged man and thus he got scratched by that piece of wood.
Without backing down, Aldo readies his sword again and charges at the middle-aged man.
Aldo readies his sword at hand before he jumped right in front of the middle-aged man, he swung down the sword in a heavy slash but got parried by the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man then counterattacked with his emerald sword after the initial clash.
Seeing the middle-aged man slash the emerald sword, Aldo jumps back just barely able to avoid the slash. The middle-aged man's movement is precise and even more honed than himself. This along shows the experience this middle-aged man has.
Aldo rushes in again raising his sword, he tries to distract the middle-aged man's attention with the sword and sent a straight kick to the middle-aged man's stomach.
As if he already anticipated this, the middle-aged man side dodge the kick easily.
Both Ego Fighters attack each other back and forth amidst the heavy rain. If either of them launches an attack, the other will either parry or dodge it before launching a counterattack. The heavy rain hinders their visibility and the slippery ground makes each movement they made saps more stamina.
Their fight is relentless and keeps on going, one can see that Aldo is more on the offensive while the man is more on the defensive. But from their exchange, it's clear that the middle-aged man has the upper hand in this fight.
Everything that he could think of to open up the middle-aged man, Aldo already tried and failed. Nothing seems to be working in his favor.
Clang!
Aldo manages to block a heavy slash from the middle-aged man that pushes him back.
Straightening his back after sending a slash, the middle-aged man then looks at Aldo with interest before he said, "You're quite good, What is your relationship with Thea?"
"I don't know who you're talking about!!", Aldo replied almost with a shout.
Hearing this, the man frown but he stretches his hand to his front before he asks, "Why don't you join our organization, we could use someone with so much potential like you"
"You attacked me in the middle of the night and expect me to agree?!", Aldo replied again.
Even though he doesn't know who these people are, it's clear that they are bad people. Not one good person will barge into someone's house in the middle of the night like this, and they even started to question him of a person they're searching for.
The middle-aged man shakes his head before pointing to his back where the two other people have already held Diane by the arms, "If you don't know Thea, then why are you in the house with her?"
"DIANE!!", Aldo roared ignoring the middle-aged man's question.
He saw Diane helplessly being brought by the two people, and she was scared. Aldo can see it through her expression, she's very scared.
Once again the tattoo on his right arm glows red enveloping his body with the same thick red aura. After doing that, Aldo waves his sword before rushing to save Diane who doesn't even retaliate while being brought away by those two people.
Seeing this, the middle-aged man activates his green aura too and even his eyes glow green.
While rushing at the middle-aged man, Aldo's eyes turn fierce before he activates the muscle in his throat. He then jumped while his neck is starting to steam with fire.
The middle-aged man was surprised upon seeing this.
But Aldo didn't give any chances before he opens his mouth and shot flame onto the middle-aged man, he kept burning the middle-aged man trying to pierce through the green aura.
After doing that, Aldo slashes down with his blazing sword, "Raarghh!"
Clang!!
"Argh!!", the middle-aged man was surprised when a blazing sword suddenly descend down slashing his chest, he was dealing with the fire breath but Aldo didn't give him any breather.
A nasty burning slash wound was left on the man's right chest all the way to his waits.
Seeing that the middle-aged man is hurt, Aldo glanced at the two people that are bringing Diane away. Two other people that Aldo knocked down before are alive and they also join the ones that are bringing Diane away.
Just when he was about to run after them,
Slash!!
Aldo feels a swift cut on his left arm and saw that his entire left arm is severed, a green arc flew past him cutting his left arm entirely.
His eyes widen upon seeing this, and in the next second, "AAARGHH!!"
With the overwhelming pain that he suffered from his left arm being severed, Aldo falls to the ground holding his left arm with his forehead on the ground. It was so painful and his body can't move because of it.
Aldo tries to open his eyes and saw the middle-aged man walking toward him.
"I don't know about you, but you seriously need to get your hands dirty. I notice that you're not aiming for my vital parts, and that's your mistake", the middle-aged man squats beside him with a pitying look.
But just as he said that one of the people in robes came back, "Captain! We need to go!"
Hearing this, the middle-aged man stands back up while still looking at Aldo. Stomping on Aldo's head ruthlessly, the middle-aged man then said, "You're strong, but you're mentally a loser. Don't you ever cross with me again. Considering you're now crippled, I doubt that will happened though"
While being stepped on by the head, Aldo's eyes bulged grinding his teeth in anger.
After saying that, the middle-aged man then turns around before he left alongside the other people in robes leaving Aldo lying on the ground creating a pool of blood that can't even be washed by the rain.
"Fuck... I'm such a loser"