After departing from the ruins, Finn moved with urgency towards the location where he was set to meet the spy embedded in the neighboring kingdom. The journey took him through various terrains until he reached a temple ruin after an hour of walking. The building stood mostly intact, an eerie backdrop for what awaited him.
"Nora, come out." He said as he sat down on a bench, waiting for his spy to report her findings. A trap door near the choir opened up, and the scent of blood filled the whole temple, making Finn get up from the bench as he approached the trap door, only to find a woman with one missing arm resting against the wall. She wore loose pants cut off just below the knee, woolen stockings, and a thigh-length blouse. The woman lifted her head up as she looked at Finn.
"Greetings, my Lord. I'm so sorry that you have to see me in such a state." Finn shook his head as he went inside.
"Nora, what happened?"
"My Lord, my identity was leaked. I don't know who did it, but all I know is that it's someone from our kingdom. But I did find something out. The La'faurians are working with the CHILDREN OF THE FALLEN. Cough Cough Some of their forces have already infiltrated Zebha." Finn's whole body trembled at the statement.
"And also cough cough my Lord, trust no one." With that, her body started swelling up.
Finn immediately jumped out of the trap door as he ran out of the ruins. But at the same time, the place exploded, with the explosion covering the whole ruins.
"Phew, that was close." Finn said as he stood far away from the explosion.
"Soul bombs, huh? They clearly let her go on purpose. But what did she mean to trust no one," Finn thought to himself before vanishing.
Timothy and Jake were busy sparing with neither besting the other. Their combat styles were different. Jake moved like a lethal assassin, all his movements were quick and well-executed, and Timothy was like water. His style was fluid like water, going from soft to hard and hard to soft. Neither of the boys could break the tie. They continued sparring until they both passed out on the ground, breathing heavily.
"Jake, have you noticed how the bulkier one of those two people is looking at me with hostility?" Jake didn't respond.
The two people in red kept looking at the two boys until they fell asleep.
"Ever since we started working under Lord Zaloz, I've never heard you speak, not even once. Are you mute?" The bulkier one of the two asked. Without waiting for a response, he continued blabbering.
"Why do you think he places so much importance on these two? Do they have runic markings? Well, that Mesa boy clearly doesn't. We both saw that. Is it the yellow-skinned one? Plus, he does look like something special," the man said with lustful eyes directed at Jake.
His partner beside him stood up to leave but after taking three steps, "thud," collapsed on the ground.
"You did a good job resisting the poisonous smoke. You should have never let me light the fire. That was your mistake," he said as he slowly went to the boys.
"You Mesa bastard, you have been such an eyesore," he said as an orange aura enveloped his whole body.
"And now I'm going to squash you then go play with your two friends before I dispose of them too," he said raising his foot above his head. As he was about to stomp it, a sword pierced him from the back, making him twitch as he looked back to see who did it. To his surprise, it was his partner, the one he thought he had killed.
"Ho-cough* how?!" He asked, bursting into a fit of coughs.
"You talk too much," a cold female voice reached his ears.
The man started laughing crazily as his body began to swell up.
"It doesn't matter. All of us will be buried here, and I will be reborn in the fire. Hahha coughs."
The woman in the red cloak moved so fast it was invisible to the eye as she grabbed Timothy and Jake and ran towards the coach Ver was sleeping in. She threw them inside, closing the door as she started weaving hand signs. A light radiated out from her body as it started expanding and covering the coach and horses with many symbols on the surface of this protective barrier made from light.
"You think that will protect you. Hahaha," with that, he exploded with so much power it blew away the ruins, destroying everything with him.
The protective barrier shielding the red cloaked woman started to crack as the power contained within the explosion was much more than she expected.
"Sigh* humans are incompetent," a childlike voice rang out.
Immediately, the woman in red felt a huge burst of mana enter her body and assimilated itself with her spell, making it even stronger. Countless purple chains appeared, covering the whole barrier. The woman in red didn't know or understand what was going on, but she kept her spell active until the explosion died down.
Finn, who was running as fast as he could towards the ruins, suddenly heard an explosion and saw a cloud of smoke rising up from the direction he was headed. This made him pick up his speed, arriving a few seconds later. He saw nothing but smoke and dust, but he didn't panic , releasing a dense aura from his body clearing away all the smoke and dust .What he saw amazed him.