Chapter 11: The Awakening pt 2

Kars nodded and walked away from the trio. He wasn’t aware of their precise combat power, but in total, he already knew they were much too weak to face off against Regalt. In fact, it would only take 5 of these mages to blow them to bits. Especially since Regalt had probably already deduced their relic capabilities.

He turned away and walked off. “Very well, you take care of this.” He waved his hand dismissively and walked off. “Whatever you determine is a necessary punishment for their failures is in your hands.”

Regalt nodded and tossed Rel over to Ora and the others. “You guys stand very little of a chance in this matter. However, your problems are with myself and these three. I killed the young red head. But I do have a question myself.”

The group looked at Regalt blankly.

“How was it that you guys were able to find our encampment?”

“It was because one of you them went back to Essen Sei’O huh.”

At this point, he was conversing with himself.

“It must have been you, Lawrence. You all still hold yourselves accountable for the mission don’t you?”

“It can’t be helped. How do you three feel now? Even in the face of the opposition, wishing your death is the same as wishing the death of the kingdom itself. Do you still hold onto that remorse?”

Rel slowly regained consciousness, standing himself up drowsily.

Regalt could tell by the look on their faces that he was correct. They had returned to the city in order to atone or apologize. And it lead to this.

“Your actions clearly have compromised our positions and caused the deaths of two mages. If they were a stronger enemy, we’d have been endangered. So I ask you this, what do you care more for? Your country, or your atonement?”

The way he spoke was nonchalant as if he was speaking about any other subject. And as he turned to face them, the trio seemed to feel an overwhelming aura around his being. “I told you all we mustn't return to the city. Yet here we are.”

“So…deal with your problems. If you want repentance over allegiance to your own country, then die at their hands. If you truly desire to serve your country through any situation, then you will do what must be done and handle it.”

Sheik nodded and closed her eyes. Her blades slowly withdrew from her sheath. “I ain’t got no remorse for killen yer red friend. The rest of ye’ll have ta die here.”

Mikhail also nodded. He felt a deep-seated regret for having killed an innocent lady, but aside from that, he was apathetic to plague children.

Then there was Lawrence, whose will had already given up and failed to take the opportunity before him. He had previously let Lynx run right past him. Surely with his hands hesitantly reaching the blade, he could avoid what he had done last time.

Alel understood what Regalt had meant by this. They were to fight off against the three who killed their master. In anticipation of battle, her arms heated to the point that red smoke could be seen leaving them.

Lin connected to various different eye sights and visions, while Rel rested to regain his strength. For a good portion of this battle, he was going to use his relic as a support type.

Then there stood Ora. Vibrating with energy and the immense need to kill. Yet, he held no means of exacting that revenge. He didn’t know what power capability he head, nor what he would do in this situation.

The people he hated the most were right before him, yet, he had no answer to what he can do.

The trio slowly paced towards them and before them all, Lawrence motioned everyone to stop. He walked himself halfway between the two groups and knelt right in front of Ora. The two had talked and traded pleasantries before when they walked with Lady Amai.

The scene here was now completely different.

Lawrence knelt before him and closed his eyes. “I can’t begin to apologize enough for what we’ve done. I know you can’t understand it. I can’t even understand it myself. At that moment, when we fought. If there was anything that could have been done differently, I would have done it. We hesitated too much and were inefficient in our skills. We caused him to suffer greatly before killing him.”

Shiek scowled and kicked at the ground. What cowardice was she witnessing? To see Lawrence bring himself down to his knees before everyone. It was unprofessional.

“He suffered entirely because… we didn’t want to kill him!”

“I know we’ve done some terrible things to you guys. But please…leave here. Do not force us to do any more harm. This is my only attempt for atonement. Leave here and live your lives. The possibility of winning here is-“

“NOT A CHANCE!!!” Ora’s rage welled up within him. His glare was now burning with immense hatred. “YOU KILLED HIM WITHOUT EVEN UNDERSTANDING WHY?! AND YOU EXPECT US TO JUST SIT AND LET THAT STAND? YOU GUYS…YOU GUYS ARE LITERALLY THE WORST. EVEN IF I KILL YOU ALL HERE, I WON’T FORGIVE ANY OF YOU!!!”

“Please, Ora. I don’t want to have to do this. I know we were wrong for what we did. What right did we have to come from a completely different country to interfere with the affairs of this world? We had to uphold the duty of our country. You understand that…you understand that right? You can at least see where we’re-“

“Not a chance.” The sharpest, most swift kick pummeled the kneeling Lawrence and sent him launching into the sky 30 feet up before he crashed down and rolled beside Shiek and Mikhail.

Rel dusted himself off, walking from the debris. He had just now utilized his ability to move transparently to the pleading Lawrence.

Lawrence lay, stunned, his eyes blankly staring at the clouds that rolled by. Such power. He sighed, and sat upwards, seemingly unperturbed by the hit. “I see…then I’m sorry. But it must come to this. My only consolation is that I tried.” He picked up his sword and commanded.

“Kill them. All of them.”

“Heh, about time.” Shiek said. With that, a blaring windy aura picked up around his blade ‘sever’. With a quick toss, he launched the shredding blade at the trio.

Ora recalled when Shiek firs through the blade and it cut Lynx’s cheek despite the fact that it was 10 feet off mark. His eyes widened as he realized it would cut through the entire group.

It had a radius that was much more potent than its size. The knife was maybe only 1foot long, but the propensity for it to cut was 10 feet.

“Everyone out, run!” Ora shouted.

Rel jumped into the sky, 40 feet up. While Lin had grabbed Alel and Ora and pulled them down. He was able to see through Shiek’s eyes, so he could perceive the invisible cutting radius. Rel landed from the skies, pummeling down on the trio with a powerful punch.

They immediately dodged the punch and Lawrence swiftly kicked Rel in the stomach, stopping him just short of the ground. This was followed up by a spinning elbow. As Rel was sent flying back, steam seemed to emit from Lawrence’s body and he sped forward even faster than before. He was able to catch the body mid-air and slam Rel into the ground.

Lawrence's armor was a body augmentation relic. It increased his overall speed tremendously. This was the relic known as Velocirni. He could either increase the speed of certain parts of his body or the speed of his body as a whole. This was similar to how Kars utilized his armor as a relic.

The sequence of actions was disturbing. It unsettled the whole group to see Rel rag dolled like that. But perhaps it was better to be Rel than anyone else.

Out of the group Rel held a tremendous constitution. While he remained limp in Lawrence’s hold, he woke up rather quickly and grabbed Lawrence’s arm.

With his superior force, he flipped back and sent Lawrence tumbling into the ground. “Heh. Weak.” Blood dripped from his lips and his voice was ragged as he said this.

With Lawrence handling Rel, Mikhail launched his fist forward at the Alel and Lin. The fist flew out and both Alel and Lin managed to dodge the strike.

“DUCK!” Lin shouted. And both him and Alel complied instantly. Only Lin could see the dangers it possessed. The hidden field behind it that destroyed everything it touched was completely visible to Lin.

To avoid being taken out all at once, they split different ways. Ora, Lin and Alel all spread 20 feet from each other, and Alel made a bee-line towards Mikhail.

Lin remained in the back, watching any hidden advances. With his support, nothing secretive should come out of their offense.

Shiek cursed “this is boring me.” She withdrew her only blade and came towards the only opponent of hers not participating. “Remember me boy?”

She dashed straight for the white-haired Ora. Closing in the distance before anyone can realize, her blade bludgeon came toppling down on him. Ora attempted to dodge the strike, but was much to slow and the blade grazed his right side, just above the hip.

The impact was immense. He had prepared himself to be cut, but he was not expecting such a tremendous blow. He felt most of the bones on his right side shatter upon impact. Insane! What the hell kind of relic is that…. His consciousness faded and the world around him went black.