The moment the name left Miles' mouth, Kair froze.
"Cilica City?" Kair asked, disbelief painting his face.
Miles smiled politely, repeating himself.
"Yes, Cilica City. I take it you've heard of the city before?" He asked.
Kair's confusion deepened, disbelief flashing through his eyes. His weird behavior was obviously noticed by the two guards, who subtly put up their own guards, their eyes twinkling with a hint of cautiousness.
Seeing the guards react like this, Kair quickly wiped the expression off his face, instantly coming up with a lie to justify his sudden shift in demeanor.
"I'm sorry, I was just caught off guard. My late father who used to mention Cilica City very often whilst he was alive, and would tell me stories about it. It could be that I'm mistaken about the name though, my memory being faulty as it is." Kair explained, subtle yet noticeable sadness leaking into his tone.
Well, it wasn't really a full lie. After all, his father indeed had passed.
This reasoning instantly disarmed the guards, allowing them to release a breath that they had subconsciously been holding
"Oh, we are sorry to hear that. Our condolences." Nick scratched the back of his neck.
Miled echoed the sentiment. He sighed, his face revealing a trace of sadness along with exhaustion, his composure coming loose.
"It's been getting too dangerous lately, especially with the recently increasing run-ins with the N-" Miles however couldn't finish his apology, a sudden and powerful explosion in the far distance sending shockwaves through the earth.
"Fuck! The Nox are back! Kid, get inside the city walls." Miles left commanded, brandishing the blood-red spear he had been holding
Kair however, didn't move. His mind had utterly come to a halt. Those names the guard had mentioned... It was like a hurricane was wreaking havoc in Kair's mind.
Not a single coherent thought could be formed in his mind. Could he have been rein-
"Get inside. NOW!" Miles' voice cut through Kair's thoughts, a tangible pressure emanating along with it.
Kair jerked back into reality, staring at Miles with wide eyes whilst also shocked by the immense authority Miles' command was radiating. Then, he turned around and started sprinting through the gate and into the city, the baby bird in his arms somehow still being asleep despite Kair's sudden movements. His movements looked robotic, his mind empty. He ran as fast as he could.
Staring at Kair's back, the guards finally relaxed their breaths, letting the air flow out of them in a rush as they turned towards the direction where the explosion had come from.
Then, as if a switch had been flipped, their entire demeanor changed.
The air became heavy, a palpable force pushing down on the ground causing minute cracks to spread along its surface. As if gravity had multiplied many times over, it became difficult for anything to move, even for insects and even the wind itself, as if the area surrounding the guards was bowing down in respect.
Their faces were the representation of indifference, not a hint of emotion leaking from their bodies.
Nick suddenly clenched the spear identical to Miles' which he had been holding, tensing his entire body as if in preparation for something. Then, he whispered a chant.
"Overload."
BOOM!
A deep and powerful explosion rocked Nick's body.
He keeled, over coughing blood.
Meanwhile, his surroundings were thrown into absolute chaos. As if some invisible force had descended and decided to run rampant, everything was torn apart. The ground Miles and Nick were standing on splintered even further, bits of dirt and pebbles being flung away.
The air around Nick started violently twisting and turning, forming a cyclonic current revolving around him.
Miles stood next to Nick wholly unaffected, his own mana creating a defensive shield around him.
The mana around Nick continued to wreak havoc for a few seconds before it gradually calmed down, the winds dissipating and returning peacefulness to the now destroyed area.
Nick wiped the blood from his mouth, standing up with a back as a straight as a javelin.
He smirked, looking at Miles who was now shaking his head.
Seeing Nick's glee Miles shook his head, sighing lightly.
"Useless..." He muttered.
Catching the remark, Nick's smile grew. Raising his free hand to the sky, with a deep voice he issued a command.
"Gates of Audracium, awaken."
BOOM!
This time, the explosion graced the entirety of Cilica City. Each and every single human inside flinched, then after a moment of stupor started running into the underground shelters for safety.
Meanwhile, the winds outside started to whistle, the majestic walls surrounding the city quickly starting to lose their transparency and darkening. The gates themselves closed and started transforming, becoming one with the walls.
Nick clenched his fist, his forearms' veins bulging with strain as a bead of sweat dripped from his forehead.
"First Chant: Encasement."
The ground trembled, another tremor running through the city as the walls suddenly started to grow, stretching high above the city. They raced upward at incredible speeds, finally coming together at the apex to form a protective dome around the entire city.
Faint veins of purple ran up and down the dome, almost making the structure look alive. Sparks of bright purple travelled back and forth at inconceivable speeds, really making it seem like a nervous system.
"Second Chant: Fortification."
The walls throbbed again, condensing out of nowhere then doubling in width. The veins thickened too, the purple pulses getting stronger.
Nick looked at Miles.
Miles looked back at Nick.
"What?"
"Fuck do you mean, what? Tell me what the monitor says!"
Nick urged Miles, annoyance lacing his voice.
Letting a small smile distort his features, Miles nodded his head and pulled out a monitor from his wrist which came seemingly out of nowhere. It was a holographic display, its light blue features giving it a futuristic look.
After analyzing the information comprised on the display Miles turned back to Nick, this time with a serious look.
"The radiation indicates that the Nox is above third grade. We need the third chant."
"Fuck!" Nick cursed, his emotionless demeanor peeling away to reveal a grimace, probably from the strain the gates were placing on him.
"I have an emergency replenishment vial, it should be enough to get your reserves back to full given you set up the chant properly." Miles said, taking a vial out of a storage band on his wrist with a pensive look.
Relieved, Nick loosened the restrictions on his mana circuit and pumped mana through them faster.
Then, he roared into the skies.
"Third Chant: Fortification!"
A large, purplish wave of mana descended on the environment, then starting being sucked towards the walls. Purple arcs of lightning boomed in the skies making it seem like the world was ending.
Meanwhile, the walls were still greedily sucking up the mana, the veins sparking with joy as the continued feeding.
They started getting brighter and brighter before suddenly, the mana transfer was suddenly cut off with Nick falling on his ass.
Miles flashed towards Nick, catching him in time before he fell completely. With an annoyed look, he took the vial which was the size of a fingernail and shoved it into Nick's mouth.
Not resisting, he swallowed it whole and immediately his complexion started changing. His pale skin started to regain its luster and Nick's breathing calmed.
Whilst Nick was regaining his strength, the veins were constantly getting brighter, fuller and bigger. A few seconds after Nick had finished the chant, the veins were fully loaded.
Stopping their vacuum on the mana, an orb of extremely condensed purple mana started forming on the apex of the dome. All the veins pumped their stored mana into the orb, the reserves drying up in an instant.
The orb then fractures, a thing yet powerfully bright beam of purple shooting into the sky. It tore through the clouds and into the night, illuminating a few kilometers' worth of area.
Then, the beam itself started disintegrating. The purplish mana started forming an umbrella of sorts around the dome, coming closer and closer till it sank into the pitch black walls.
Feeling the presence of mana the walls rejoiced, ingesting them greedily.
A few seconds after, a dome with hexagonal patterns sprung up seemingly out of nowhere around the dome, pulsing softly.
Witnessing the sight, Miles turned towards Nick with an incredulous look.
"Y-you.. you achieved higher mastery of fortification?!" He sputtered.
Nick grinned, standing up with Miles' help.
"I'm not exactly dumb you know, considering that we're both about to be promoted to A- ranked hunters."
Miles sighed, also grinning.
"You value your achievements too much. Come off it."
Nick laughed, Miles joining in.
However, another explosion came from the direction the original one had come from and their banter stopped.
Again losing their expressions, Miles glanced at his monitor again and his eyes shook.
Seeing his reaction, concern flitted across Nick's brows as he asked in a cautioned voice.
"What is it? Don't tell me it-"
"It's quasi fifth grade." Miles cut Nick off, his voice wavering slightly.
Nick immediately lost the will to speak, shock coloring his features.
Not even daring to assume the state-of-the-art measurement device was wrong, sweat started forming on his forehead.
"W-what do we do?" He asked, looking at Miles desperately.
Looking back with similar emotion, Miles turned toward where the radiation was coming from.
"I guess we fight. At least until the Slayer department gets here." He muttered, caution painting his voice.
Nick grunted, also turning his attention towards where Miles was looking.
If their vision had been any better they would've been able to make out a grotesque figure walking towards them, four long tails billowing out behind it. It had inhumanely long arms and legs, yellow eyes with cat-like pupils looking greedily exactly at Nick and Miles.
An extremely disgusting grin was plastered on its face showcasing the Nox's razor sharp teeth.
Wherever it walked, plants would whither. Trees would die and any average living creatures like insects would be choked to death by the radiation mana that was rolling off of the Nox in droves.
Sweat continuing to mar both their foreheads, Miles and Nick looked at each other.
"Do you think we can take it?" Miles asked, uncertainty evident from his tone.
"I don't know, but we have to. Besides, we're working together. We should be able to hold it off until the slayer department gets here." Nick said, a hint of confidence visible in his demeanor.
Miles suddenly chuckled and shook his head, laughing at Nick.
Nick looked at Miles with a confused and embarrassed look.
"What? Why are you laughing?"
"It's noth... pfff" Not being able to hold back Miles burst out in laughter, pointing at Nick whilst clutching his stomach.
"Y-you made such a serious face wh-while saying something so c-cringe!!" Miles continued laughing at Nick, calming down slowly.
Slightly red in the face, Nick looked away from Miles and back towards the Nox's direction, scratching his head.
"Stop joking around, we need to-"
Nick was cut off.
They both froze.
Nox that they couldn't see before was now barely half a kilometer away from them, walking in their direction with a nasty grin splitting its face.
The feeling it gave off was... not something both the half-brothers had ever experienced.
It felt stifling, it felt evil.
As if an incarnation of fear, it burrowed into their very souls and shook them to their core.
His voice trembling, Nick whispered.
"It's here."