"She is here somewhere!" Khaos said as he frantically looked around. He and Mider were standing atop a small hill hidden by tall green trees. They had arrived only a few seconds ago, evidenced by the still smoking line on the ground behind Mider.
"That artifact only works two times, she can't use it to tell me her position anymore". Khaos said, his worry rising, just as his heartbeat. The artifact he was talking about was a pair of small bead-shaped stones.
The stones start out green, then when one stone is cracked, it sends a signal of it's general position to the other stone and both stones turn red. Then when the first stone is broken, it sends another signal to the holder of the second stone before both stones turn grey.
This pair of artifact is what Zara had used to give Khaos her position, and it was priced at only two marks for the pair. It's price was this low because of it's nature as a sort of single use item which does not affect the cultivator's power in any way.
"I'm breaking the ground", Khaos knew that such a feat was not easy. He also knew very well that the underground cavern holding Zara might be only a few meters below or a couple dozen kilometers. His actions could also cause a cave in, potentially killing Zara, not to mention that Khaos would most likely completely exhaust his Flux.
It was almost guaranteed that he would have to fight afterwards, and his full power flight had left his Flux reserves at 78%. Khaos knew all this, but at that moment, he could only think about getting Zara out of there, no matter what.
"Khaos wait, look!" Mider shouted, pointing at a point on the hill that had a piece of cloth poking out of the ground. Khaos' pacing had moved the sand, exposing it.
Before Mider could even inspect the piece of cloth, Khaos hastily pulled it out, revealing that it was actually a large fabric with sand on it to cover the entrance of a cave.
Khaos then bolted straight into the cave, Mider following close behind, but he soon lost sight of Khaos since the cave had many turns. Khaos could take tight turns faster than Mider, who specialized more in straight acceleration. A few seconds later, Mider began coming across bodies.
They had all died in the same way; their heads had been severed cleanly from their shoulders. At first Mider thought that all the dead bodies belonged to the people that had been taken. However, he soon noticed that all of them had died recently, not more than ten seconds before actually.
Taking the next turn, he caught sight of a part of Khaos' robe going deeper into the cave. Khaos had slowed down because he had encountered a group of 10 cultivators in the seventh stage. However, he had taken them out in a few seconds.
Mider, did not stop to appreciate the gore all around him as he directly ran on top of the bodies. One minute and over a fifty corpses later, Mider finally caught up to Khaos, however that was because he had stopped.
Khaos, stood before an opening leading to a larger part of the cave system, it was a circular cavern, with a diameter of 100 meters and the roof was fifty meters high.
A small creek flowed through the center of the cavern, but it's water was stained with blood. Probably from Khaos' earlier massacre. Mider saw the blood covered figure of Khaos standing before a group of twenty or so cultivators, all in the seventh stage.
However, there was a distinct figure standing in front of that group...
"Little sis?" Mider said in shock.
Clad in tight white robes made of Canvax was Milly. Her eyes were fully green and her face had green veins which pulsed slowly with the rhythm of her heart. Her now bright-green hair had grown longer, almost reaching the ground.
"Mider". Khaos said, "Take Zara out of here", he added, pointing at the wall. Only then did Mider notice the dozen bodies hanging from the roof by a couple of chains fastened to their wrists.
Among them was Zara, who was either unconscious or dead.
Milly also turned her head, looking at the girl Khaos had pointed at. She had short blue hair and dark skin, her features were as far from Zara as they could be. "So that's how". Milly said, "Quite smart".
Mider did not stop to listen to his sister, he 'turned to lightning' and in less than an instant, he had each of his hands clasping the chains binding Zara.
"What are you waiting for!?" Mider heard Milly shout, however, he did not even turn to check what was happening behind him. Not even when explosions shook the ground. He only checked Zara's pulse and sighed in relief when he felt her heart slowly beating.
Lightning coated Mider's hands, melting off the chains they held. He then caught Zara's body before turning behind him to witness Khaos laying waste to his sister's minions. 'Okay, i get he is powerful but this is too much', he thought as he ran towards the exit.
A wall of earth appeared in his way but it took only a bolt of lightning to destroy it. Mider ran out of the cave full speed, he did not want to leave Khaos alone, but he had to follow the plan and trust in Khaos's power.
I could not feel Milly's cultivation at all', Mider thought, due to his particular situation, he could feel the stage of cultivators up to the eighth stage, even if he was only in the sixth.
The last time i checked, she was also in the sixth stage, and that was yesterday, but today she is so powerful i can't even feel her power. She must have power in the ninth stage, but how is that even possible?' Mider continued fleeing out of the cave.
Back inside the cavern, Khaos was looking at the figure of Milly in front of him. Like Mider, he had also came to the same conclusion. However unlike Mider, Khaos was not guessing, he was 100% positive that the Flux in Milly's core was consistent with a cultivator in the ninth stage.
"How?" Khaos asked with narrowed eyes as he checked how much Flux he had left. '62%' he thought.
However, Milly did not answer as he glared at Khaos, her green eyes exuding so much hate it was palpable. Khaos also noticed something else in those eyes; there was a tinge of envy and jealousy.
"I will show him". Milly said, "I will show him that i deserve to be his sole successor. I will kill you and prove that you don't deserve to say his name".