The moon was already rising in the sky and Evian dashed at the full speed he possessed at his current level of decadence to get himself out of the Larnak Territory and into the Stygian.
The yells of those Evian had killed were bound to call others to the scene but he was not there to welcome them.
"Sound the alarm!"
"HE HAS BEEN HERE!!!"
The guards who came upon the site of the corpses of their colleagues yelled out and before long, the news circulated and it was deduced that Evian was definitely out of the Estate.
"Where do you think he's going?" A third Order guard asked.
"Where else do think?" snapped Captain Amira with a deep frown, "Everyone to the boundary line. He's trying to cross into the Stygian Territory!"
Evian was too far away from the site to hear the order but he could practically feel a shift in the air as Guards rallied against him to stop him from crossing over the boundary line.
The interesting thing was, as Evian approached the boundary line, there were Guards around the vicinity either patrolling as per orders or just keeping guard of the region, and somehow, they all received the orders Evian couldn't hear.
'How much says they have communication bracelets just like Daria?' Evian asked himself to no answer.
He grinned as he met a blockade line of Larnak Guards. In a second, he used his Phasing Spell and suck into the ground only to cancel it and emerge on the surface right behind them.
There were two obvious choices on what to do next;
Keep running towards the boundary line or take the chance at some more Soul Points.
Greedy as he was, Evian picked option B.
He grinned widely as he felt the pressures coming off the Guards.
Reminiscent of what he had faced already, they were split between the Second and the Third Orders. Clearly, those two Orders made up the bulk of Larnak's forces.
With the Guards in the blockade still stunned at Evian suddenly vanishing into the ground, they were practically sitting ducks who quickly lost three members of their ranks to Evian's sword.
A stab to the back of the neck of one, a complete decapitation of another, and a clean cut of the third's spine.
Of the three Guards Evian attacked, two were at the Second Order and the third at the Third Order.
The Third Order Guard was the one whose spine was cut and the paralysis of a broken spinal cord quickly set in before Evian put the finishing touch to his attack with a final swing that freed his opponent's soul.
By the time the rest of the blockade turned around, Evian had already eaten the souls of their colleagues bringing his Soul Points tally up from 710 to 830.
Of course, the points were second place to Evian at the moment. Much more exciting was the taste of the souls he just consumed.
"Oh, yes. Oh a massive yes!" he yelled out with a massive sadistic grin.
With gritted teeth, the rest of the blockade made to put distance between themselves and him but they did so while simoultebously slamming him with their collective pressures.
*BAM!*
The pressure was concentrated from above and directed to smack him into the ground as they were all well aware that pushing him away would only get him closer to the boundary line.
Evian pulled himself up slowly and the Guards bombarded him again with their Pressures.
"Don't let up!" one Third Order Guard yelled rallying the rest of his colleagues to keep up the barrage of pressure and keep their opponent down.
"What now?" one Guard asked.
"We're supposed to capture him." another answered as the Guards all cautiously neared Evian.
"Not to worry," said the Guard who had rallied them earlier, "We shall bind him with our spiritual pressure."
Evian ignored them and their barrage of Spiritual Pressures while directing his attention inward.
"This is as good a time as any," he mumbled.
'Open the Decadent Store,'
The store opened with the rectangular holographic interface and Evian quickly selected the [Spells] section for the very first spell on the list. A spell he remembered from the last time he was in the Store.
[•Eldritch Arrow (Attack): 500 Soul Points.
Conjure up an arrow of Eldritch energy to strike your enemy from a distance and watch them shrivel up as their soul is extracted for you.
Has a five-second cool-down time.
Effective against enemies at the Wraith level of Decadence or lower.]
He clicked the spell.
[Confirm your purchase?] [Yes] [No]
He clicked 'Yes', and his Soul Point balance dropped from 830 to 330 as the Eldritch Arrow spell's information flowed into his mind.
To him, it took about fifteen seconds to truly digest every bit of information pertaining to the spell but in reality, that time was even shorter.
When Evian opened his eyes, it was sparkling with new knowledge he was just itching to try it out.
He raised his head and the Third Order Guard rallying the others came into his sights first so, of course, he was the one he tested his new spell on.
The Pentagram appeared in his mind as he conjured up Eldritch energy in the form of a swirling deathly arrow.
*Spffff*
The sound was quiet but it was piercing to the ears of its target whose eyes widened in horror as the arrow stabbed into his chest before he even had the chance to comprehend what it was.
"Ack- Wha- What is this-?"
Those words were thick with shock.
In all honesty, while the Eldritch arrow was fast, there was still a possibility the Guard dodged it or maybe at least contended against it with Spiritual Energy but he was caught unaware of all scenarios, and hindsight was pointless.
His body shriveled up, his skin turned leathery and stretched against his bones while his eyes turned lifeless as he fell to his knees and keeled over. Dead.
His soul was pulled out of his body and even without prompt, Evian's mouth opened to swallow. The entire action was completely automatic.
[Soul Points: 410/500]
With the peculiar death of another one of their colleagues and a very outspoken one for that matter, the others once again became cautious but did not let up with their barrage of Spiritual Energy.
Evian contended against the collective pressure with a cloud of Eldritch energy and finally returned to his feet.
The Cool-down time of the Eldritch arrow made it unspammable at least on an instantaneous metric but by the time he was completely on his feet again, only two seconds was left of the cool-down time.
The moment he could use the spell again, he shot it at yet another Guard.
The fact that every single one of them had just watched a colleague die from the very same attack was of no consequence. They still did not understand it.
The Arrow hit its target perfectly and siphoned his soul for Evian's hungry self.
As his victim's body shriveled up and fell, Evian dashed forward and took advantage of the shock they were all feeling, as well as the relenting of their Spiritual Pressure barrage, to stab another Guard in the chest. Reaping not one both two souls at the Third Order.
[Soul Points: 610/500]
The Cool-down time ended and Evian shot an Eldritch Arrow at yet another Guard but the results were different. Finally learning from his fallen comrades, this Guard had the good sense to shroud himself with Spiritual Energy.
The Arrow hit the shroud, failed to pierce through, and instantly dissipated into an Eldritch mist.
Learning from the success of their colleague; the Other Guards put up Spiritual energy fields for protection as well and Evian's lips twitched as he watched them.
The fact that his opponents were now coated with spiritual energy and were stepping towards him as one did not worry Evian one bit. He was ready for them.
Especially those of the Second Order who he was sure were powerless against him. Spiritual Energy shroud or not.
And then Evian heard/sensed something streak through the sky.
He reacted and moved to dodge it but it moved much too fast for him to avoid it completely.
*Skch*
It cut him.
It drew blood.