"For our one true god! You must die!" yelled the people in red robes.
They were fighting against the estate and city guards with fervent effort.
Elina and I just stood there as not a single of the attacks could come our way. The commander stood in front of us.
He took care of anyone that was able to get past the first line of defense.
Most of the cultists had 3rd or 4th-Tier mana cores The city guards that came today all had 5th-Tier strength.
They needed at least as much as most of Vornix's family forces consisted of the 4th tier and a good amount of 5th tier warriors and mages.
There were around 100 cultists throwing blades of mana or balls of magic at the defenders. The warriors defended by putting their men in shields and tanking hits.
The mages deflected the magic fired with their own spells. This created mini explosions everywhere.
"Where's the reinforcements?!" yelled one of the estate guards as currently, they were outnumbered.
There were only 40 estate guards at the entrance with 10 city guards. They had fifty fewer people but had better equipment and training.
If it weren't for the city guards being here, the cultists might have even pushed through already with sheer numbers.
They were holding on for now but were slowly being pushed back. They were not too worried as the estate had more guards in other areas who should be arriving soon.
"Reinforcements won't be necessary. Why don't you make a move commander?" Elina questioned the towering and sturdy man.
He had his usual gloomy look as he saw his soldiers cooperating with ours. They were doing a good job at it as they were trained in the same way.
The Vornix clan had access to the imperial family's training manuals.
"Tell your partner to do it. He was fighting for three years against the Purple Phoenix Sect. I want to see his improvement." he said while looking at me.
"Sure, why not? I want to see how cultists are compared to a legitimate sect." I replied. It had been a couple of weeks since I had actually used my sword against a person.
I should try not to get rusty. It was good that I brought a sword along with me when we came.
"Are you sure about this?" asked Elina with a worried look. She knew about the state of my mana core. She didn't want me to overexert myself.
"Yeah. I'll be fine." I say while unsheathing my sword. It was the one I had used yesterday.
It had an ornate handle made of gold and rubies embedded into it. It wasn't my best sword but it would do.
I stepped towards the fighting where all one could see were flashing lights of different colors. Today is a sunny day, which makes it hard to see anything.
I squinted my eyes and started to channel mana through my body and into my sword as well.
Zzzzzzt!!
Arcs of lightning speed from the sword as got into my stance. I held the swords sideways and focused on my targets.
In front of me were my people and the commander's goons, which meant that I had to swing around or over them.
They were spread out so around them wouldn't be possible. Over them it is.
I swung my sword and a 30-meter arc of lighting was formed in the shape of a sword swing. It moved towards the people defending my home at lightning speed.
None of them seemed to notice my attack as they had their backs turned. Their focus was completely on the cultists.
"What the fuck is that?" One of the cultists had noticed the attack coming towards my people.
It confused him as he was probably wondering why I attacked my own people.
before he could say anything else, the arc of lightning swiftly went upwards and then went over the guards.
It then hit a portion of the cultists in a blink of an eye. Lightning was the second fastest element. They could not dodge it being in the same 4th tier as me.
The hit flung them back and small burns appeared on their body in strange patterns.
The 20 or so guys it hit also started convulsing as the attack also functioned as a stun. Some who were hit directly even fainted on the spot.
"Khuk!"I coughed a little. I could feel a stinging pain in my core. I could only do one of these today.
"Ryan!" Elina came up to me and patted my back as I let out a couple more dry coughs.
"It's okay. I used to be able to do at least 10 before tiring." I lamented at how much weaker I had gotten.
"Good work kid!" The commander commended me as he walked up too. "I was expecting around 25 meters but 30 is quite the feat."
He knew of what happened to me during the war as the events were something known by the entire empire by now. At least he didn't mention it. His praise was good enough for me.
"I'll take it from here. They have more coming in." he said.
At that moment, another 50 cultists in their signature red robes entered through the gate.
Before they could join the offensive, Commander Rothensburg reached his hand out into thin air, and a blue portal the size of a basketball opened up.
He put his hand through and pulled out a 5 meter long and half a meter wide greatsword from it. It was pitch black with white accents on the edge. The handle was wrapped in a red grip.
He then leaped into the air and landed right in the middle of the cultist. His blade glowed an eerie black as he funneled man into it.
Before the cultist could even react, he had done a wide swing. The blade directly hit the 50 incoming 50, 5th-tier cultists. He sliced them in half from the waist down.
"Fuck! Why is the guard captain here!" yelled one of the cultists.
They had just lost the group they were going to rely on to complete their mission. Their plans did not include the presence of the commander.
"Retreat! Retreat!" The cultists weren't as clouded by their faith as one would think. They ran as soon as things looked bleak.
They took out red stones from their pockets and were in motion to toss them onto the ground when they froze.
"None of you are leaving!" Came a declaration from the sky.
A man suddenly flew down from high in the sky. He was tall and had black hair and green eyes. He looked very similar to my dad.
He looked at the cultist who had green ropes binding their limbs. He swung his hands as more ropes came from underground.
The ropes took all the blood stones and brought them over to him. He created his own blue portal and threw it in.
He turned and came over to me.
"Good morning uncle." Erina and I greet the man with a smile.
"Good morning children. Have the guards take care of these rabbles. The bigger bugs are running. I'll go get them." He then turned to the commander.
"Wanna come with me?" he asked. The commander nodded and the two men flew up in an instant. They disappeared from sight while leaving behind a gust of air.
Within a minute, the rest of the available guards came in from inside the estate. Some city guards had already arrived to assist us from outside.
I was never worried about the cultists doing any harm to the family. We had more than one powerhouse chilling inside the estate.
Uncle Thomas was the man who had just flown in, he was my dad's younger brother. He and the commander went chasing after the people who came here to do real harm.
The cultists wouldn't have been dumb enough to send only some tier 4 or 5 men. They would have to have at least a single 7th-tier practitioner hiding in wait.
My uncle was 7th tier and currently the strongest in the family so to do at least some damage to us, they would need to match that. Then again, we had more than just our uncle but no one needed to know that.
"They didn't seem to know of the commander's presence?" I asked Elina.
Given their confidence in the attack, they should have been keeping an eye on the estate. They should have seen the commander enter but they were surprised when he attacked.
"About that..." Elina looked away from me and muttered.
While the guards were arresting the incapacitated cultists, I took her aside.
"I was expecting them to retaliate. I was prepared for at least 2, 7th-tier, higher ups of the cult to attack. I would activate our cards and catch them alive.
But they attacked while the commander was here and ran as soon as they saw him. Why didn't their spies find out that he was here?"
I questioned as I wondered about how they could be so incompetent. There was a time last night when Elina left the room for some time.
It was suspicious to me at first but I ignored it.
"You see...I have some of your maids locked in the basement. I also had the masked unit move to secure the path from the garrison to your estate.
Any spies they came across the way must have been wiped." she explained.
"Why did you have them do that? There was no guarantee that he would come today. It made no sense for them to attack the morning right after our attack.
Even if they came, we could easily handle it. You didn't have to cover his path. Why did you do it?"
I was confused and suspicious. As much as I trusted her, she hadn't been herself since I came back. I needed answers now.
"Hah.." She sighed. With a couple of seconds of hesitation and avoiding my gaze, she finally looked me in the eye.
"Would you believe me if I said that time had been reversed?"