Stepping into Saul’s house, Anfey felt something different in the atmosphere. He could usually see a few servants at the entrance, but no one was there today. Anfey stopped, trying to sense the room. His face grew serious and stern.
Hesitating for a moment, Anfey lifted his foot, walking straight forward.
Passing an arch, Anfey met two men in swordsman suits guarding the entrance. They saw Anfey as well, and one of them laughed. "There’s one more! Kid, come here!"
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Anfey asked loudly.
"Quiet!" A swordsman kicked Anfey with full force, making him wobble forward. He patted Anfey’s back several times with both hands. It seemed like he was checking to see if Anfey carried any hazardous goods. He pushed hard on Anfey’s shoulders. "Get in!" With his almost neglectable magic surges and ridiculous magic wand, people could tell how "powerful" he was. The two swordsmen disregarded the magic apprentice.
Anfey stumbled toward one of the swordsmen. He already knew that these people had some evil plans, but… how daring were they to make mischief in Saul’s house? Unless they were not forced, no one would dare to bother a top archmage’s family. It was hard to imagine the consequences of angering an archmage.
The corners of his eyes laid on the sword shaft of one of the swordsmen in the front, as a group of people walked in from the back yard. After seeing who they were, Anfey dispelled his own ideas.
Niya, with a blank face, walked in front. She was followed by an intermediate mage in a light-green magic robe and a senior swordsman. There were seven or eight guards after them. They were all dressed in the uniformed armors of the Sacred City Palace Guards.
Niya had dirt on her clothes, and her hair seemed messy. She still wore her sword sheath on her waist, but the sword was gone. It looked like she had been through a tough battle.
Anfey couldn’t believe what he had just seen. He had been in Sacred City for a while and had heard a lot about Niya from the students in the Mage Academy. Niya was pretty young and not yet mature enough, but no one could deny the fact that she was an important person. There were few people who dared to challenge her. There was one more thing that confused Anfey. Where was Ernest? Did they catch him as well?
Niya glanced at Anfey. It was probably embarrassing for Niya to be seen like this. She combed her hair back with her hands, sighed, and continued her walk.
"What are you looking at? Go!" Anfey was poked hard on his waist with a sword shaft.
Anfey screamed and crouched down with his hands on his lower back, moaning in pain.
The senior swordsman waved impatiently, and two guards came out, grabbed Anfey’s arms, and took him away.
Anfey felt darkness in front of him, and then he was tossed past the living room and into the living room. Luckily, there was carpet on the floor, so Anfey wasn’t hurt too "badly." Only, his moaning was getting louder and louder.
"What are you doing?" Christian yelled. Anfey felt that his neck was held by someone’s arms. The force on his neck wasn’t much, though. "Anfey, Are you ok?"
"Hurt…" Anfey screwed his face up in pain. He opened his eyes and quickly glanced at his surroundings. All of Saul’s students came. Their faces were blank with rage. They volleyed questions at Christian. It was strange for Anfey to see each of them wearing dark and shiny bracelets on their wrists. The bracelets looked so tight that they were digging into their flesh. Were they… cuffs? For mages?
"Bastard! This is ridiculous. I am charge you!" Blavi squeezed himself out, pointing at the face of senior swordsman and yelling, "Who gave you the authority…?"
The senior swordsman slapped Blavi, smacking down the words he had not yet finished, and then he kicked Blavi’s stomach. Blavi fell hard on the floor, curling up in pain like a cooked shrimp, with his hands on his stomach.
"Zeda! Don’t hurt them!" The intermediate mage, who was watching Niya, yelled.
"Did you forget the order from the Lord? Who is going to be responsible if something happens to them when the Lord pursues this?"
"I will be fine. As long as the pearl of the Sacred City, Miss Niya, is okay, we will be okay." The senior swordsman named Zeda snickered. "These trash… Haha, who would care about them!"
An intermediate mage was a lot stronger than a senior swordsman in terms of power, but their positions were not merely ranked by power. Saul and Ernest’s power were almost the same, but one was an archmage in the palace and the other was a skillful master swordsman wandering around. Children from the royal family enjoyed wealth and power, which made it hard for them be outstanding in regards to their power and skill, but they were all in high positions. Niya was an example of that.
Among these unexpected guests, Zeda seemed to be the leader.
No! Coldness flashed in Anfey’s eyes. It was obvious there was only one lord in the Sacred City. He was Wester. After Yolanthe passed away, only Wester could take command of the Palace Guard Troop. It didn’t matter if Wester was trying to convince Niya, use her to blackmail Saul, or both, he did not want to do it with force. He saved some room for himself if things did not work out the way they wanted. Just as the intermediate mage said, only Wester had the authority to give orders on how to treat Saul’s students.
The blood on Blavi’s mouth seemed to tell Anfey that this was not "unleashing some of their rage," but beating Blavi to death. Normally, Zeda should not have dared to go against Wester’s orders, but what he was doing was trying to intensify the conflict on purpose. Something was wrong with him!
A swordsman walked in front of Anfey. With two clicking sounds, Anfey received the same kind of bracelet on his wrist.
"They even used an anti-magic bracelet on you…" Christian smiled bitterly.
A grinning man walked into the living room, bowed, and greeted them, "Mr. Zeda, I have opened the lab’s door, and shut down the magic arrays. You can send people there at any time."
Anfey looked up, smiling grimly inside. That man was his enemy Maris! Judging from the malicious look he gave Anfey before he left, Anfey already knew Maris would not let what was between them go. However, he could not kill Maris. Who would expect this… After a period of only several days, they got the chance to meet again, but the situation had totally switched. This time Anfey was in the disadvantaged position.
"Good job!" Zeda smiled.
"Thank you, sir," Maris flattered with a satisfied smile.
Seeing the way of Blavi was being treated, Christian and others didn’t dare to yell and curse, although they hated Maris for what he did. They stared at Maris with hatred to unleash some of their anger.
Maris’s smiled even brighter once he saw Anfey. The way he looked at Anfey seemed like he had found some treasures. He slowly walked toward Anfey. Anfey pushed away Christian, straightening his back and staring at Maris.
If Maris hadn’t shown up, Anfey would have pressed down any desire to wait and see what Zeda wanted to do. But now he couldn’t take it anymore, because he wasn’t sure how much torture he would have to endure from Maris.
"Anfey, Anfey, have you ever thought… you would be like this one day?" Maris approached with a sneaky, kind smile and patted Anfey’s shoulder.
"Yes, I did." Anfey gave him a sneer.
"Huh?"
Anfey looked up at the ceiling and slammed his forehead into Maris’s face. Everybody treated Anfey as a magic apprentice. Zeda and his fellows didn’t think he vould pose a threat to them. Christian and his fellows did not believe a magic apprentice could change the situation. Maris even thought of Anfey as a toy, imagining all kinds of ways to torture him. This fierce and venomous strike turned Maris’ dream into stars in front of his eyes!
Anfey grabbed Maris’ throat with his left hand with lightning speed. Maris’ scream was constrained by the tightness around his throat. Anfey lifted Maris up by his throat and used him as a shield, running towards Zeda.
Zeda was in such shock that he didn’t have time to move back. He pulled out his sword and stabbed at Maris’ back. Zeda’s sword was thrust towards Maris’ side. Anfey threw the body at Zeda, forcing him to lift his sword up, which left an area exposed to attacks. Zeda howled and gathered his combat power, ready to take Anfey’s strike. Anfey had neither a weapon nor combat power. Zeda thought there was no way that Anfey could hurt him.
Even seeing how Anfey fought, Zeda still underestimated how fierce Anfey could be. He only had himself to blame for that. In the time Zeda spent trying to gather his combat power and pull out his sword, Anfey had already poked Zeda’s eyes with two fingers.
Anfey’s attacks were too fast and the distance between them was too short. Zeda only had time to close his eyes before feeling a sharp pain in his eyes. Anfey’s index and middle fingers were already stuck in his eye sockets.
As a well-qualified assassin, he could kill a person without any weapon!
Zeda painfully uttered a piercing cry, stumbling backwards with his hands on his eyes. Anfey reached out to the shaft of Zeda’s sword with his right hand. He pulled the sword out from Maris’ body, and blood spattered everywhere.
All these happened too fast. When Maris’ body was still flying in the air, Anfey had already beaten Zeda! Anfey slid to the side. He was already two meters away, rushing toward the intermediate mage behind Niya. Anfey was able to accurately and correctly calculate everything in this battle. He did not rush to attack the mage. Instead, he slid twice. It seemed so unnecessary, but in fact it was all part of his calculations.
From the angle he had fought from, he could avoid magic attacks, but Christian, behind him, could not. With his position changed, he not only ensured the safety of Christian and his fellows, but also used Niya to half-block the intermediate mage. From their previous conversation, Anfey knew they didn’t dare to hurt Niya. If the mage wanted to use magic, he had to step sideways to start the magic. Anfey was sure the time taken to slide would be a lot less than the time needed to sidestep. Instead of losing, he had won!