-… But in reality, you are just waiting for me let my guard down so you can have your way with…
At that moment Luke lost all patience and gave up trying to convince her with words.
Time is of the essence, so he decided to take extreme measures.
Closing the distance, he raised his hand and…
*SLAP
-huh?
A red hand imprint was left on her face.
- YOU BAS…
Before she could voice her anger, he pointed his gun at her head. A mix of shock and fear took over her.
Mana imbued with killing intend ooze out of Luke, he spoke in a cold tone.
- Listen up girl, drop the bullshit, I don't give a damn about what happened to you. Right now we are being chased by a lunatic who could easily kill us . The only reason I'm helping you is so I can sleep with a clear conscience. So, I'm giving you two choices, either we work together, or I leave you here to get captured, your choice.
A chilling silence took over, under normal circumstances Luke would not act this harshly to someone who clearly went to something traumatizing in her childhood, but these were not normal circumstances, so he decided to force her hand using fear.
Layla on the other hand was shocked, she did not expect a sudden change in the boy's attitude. Memories of a time she wanted to forget started to resurface as she slightly trembled in fear, this only solidified her disgust.
But right now, she could not do anything as she realized that the boy in front of her could kill her anytime he wanted, even if he was weaker than her, so she decided to listen to him for now.
'Also, the screams are getting louder, its only a matter of time he finds us'.
-I'll cooperate.
He withdrew his gun.
-Wise choice.
- Since you had the courage to threatening me, you must have some confidence in your plan
Luke ignored her sarcastic remark.
-Somewhat. That all depends how good you really are with your sword.
- What do you mean?
Layla asked, a little annoyance could be heard in her voice.
- We are going to fight him.
- What?
She widened her eyes at his response, she expected him to have some detailed plan to safely get away from here, not straight up rush into danger.
-Let me finish before you voice any complaints
She gave a simple nod.
He grabbed a branch form a tree and stated drawing a crude sketch of the area.
- Ok, so right now father and duke Perseus are fighting a king class knight on the other side of the palace, while the guards take care of the rest of the invaders, so they are too busy to notice the commotion in the forest, and there seems to be a commotion in the entire city so we can't count on any outside help.
He paused for a few seconds to make sure she understood, confirming it, he continued.
- Escaping right now is difficult since you are their goal and once we get out of the forest, they will come rushing towards us, and hiding here until they come if asking to get killed, so fighting that guy is our best option. Especially right now since he's badly injured and not in the right state of mind.
The princess agreed with his reason of suggesting the fight, but there's still one problem in her mind.
- And how do you suggest we fight him? Because he easily defeated us the first time.
His lips curved at her question.
- One strike.
-Huh?
- We just need to land one strong hit on him, he's already severely injured from the explosion and not in the right state of mind. He will be less focused than in our first encounter.
Luke pointed the branch at her.
- And that's where you come in.
-Me?
- You know another sword technique, aside from the standard royal guard style, right?
His question caught her by surprise.
- How?
- Your moves where the same as the one the guards were using and there's no way a family who come from a lineage of knights don't have some sort of secret technique.
'Who the hell is this kid?? He's a mage yet his perception is better the average knight'.
The princess's surprise wasn't uncommon, since it was the norm that mages would mostly focus on studying magic and different spells, aside from magic knights few mages worked on their physical aspects or battle experience.
- You're right, I haven't reached rook class so I can't use them safely, and if I try my body faces a severe backlash.
Luke organized his thoughts after her answer and formulated a plan.
**
* VOOOSHHHH
A violent wind shot towards a tree, cutting it into multiple pieces. A man with tattered clothes and a body full of burns was holding a sword with streaks of wind around it's blade.
With a frenzy expression, he violently swung his sword, unleashing burst of wind at every direction.
- WHERE ARE YOU HIDING DAMN BRATS!!!
The fiery red man, who Luke and Layla previously faced, shouted out loud, consumed by anger and revenge, the only thing in his mind right now was killing them both.
Ignoring the conditions of his body he continuously unleashed barrages of wind, hopping to catch one of them in its range.
This continued for a few more minutes, until he caught a faint sound coming from the bushes.
-FOUND YOU!!!
A wide crescent slash of wind shot from the sword, cleanly slashing trough trees and bushes. However, no blood was spilled in its path.
He was about to move when his ears caught the sound of something fast moving. He quickly created a wall of wind to block it.
A barrage of small rocks clashed with the wall, unable to break it.
The man broke out a sadistic smile.
- HAHAHAHA THANK FOR SAVING THE TIME SEARCHING FOR YOU! NOW PREPARE TO DIE.
More wind slashes erupted from the sword, each one carrying a dangerous sharpness. Again, they simply took down another batch of trees, while a barrage of various spells were fired on the wilder of the sword.
Fire, earth, light, dark, water, multiple low rank spells rained down, meeting either a wall of wind or missing its target as the man managed to avoid some when he couldn't conjure a wall on time.
The battle of attrition last for a while, when finally, some spells managed to hit its target. Due to its burns the man couldn't keep its consistency up, getting hit by more spells as the time passed.
-YOU BASTARDS STOP HIDDING AND COME OUT!!!!
This only infuriated him more. As another barrage of spikes and spheres of various elements closed at him, a massive tornado surged with him as the origin point. Reaching a wide area, a leveled all the trees in its range, leaving only a barren land.
The man at the center of the destruction was visibly tired, his breathing was erratic, indicating that he spent a lot of willpower conjuring the storm.
Taking advantage of the situation, multiple tendrils of darked surged from all directions completely binding the man.
- WHAT???
-NOW!!
He turned his eyes to the voice, Luke was standing there just outside of the range of his previous attack, His once well-maintained clothes were now full of cuts, indicating that he got caught by the flying debris.
Then as if it was waiting for it, another figure rushed from the boy's opposite direction, her golden long hair covered by mana glowed like the sun.
Laya rushed toward the trapped man, a great amount of mana was condensed in her sword. He quickly unleashed his aura, a blood red wave quickly broke apart his restraints. But it was enough time for her to close the distance.
She pulled her hand back focusing the mana on the tip of her sword, while he raised his sword, clad in a thick aura, to meet hers.
(Romanus secret style, 1st form, conquerors howl)
Their blades clashed, creating a massive shockwave.