Chapter 76

Forming into the shape of a person, I saw Athrun emerge out of it, and he attacked the person who had just come out of the plume of smoke.

However, a bright red ball of fire formed between them and more around Athrun. I could barely make out his expression, but I think I saw him grimace as he turned into lightning, as another loud explosion exploded between them.

Hearing someone clicking their tongue, I was surprised to see Boras was the one who did that and that he was frowning.

Muttering beneath his breath, I heard him say something about that person being here and ruining his fun.

Who is this guy he was talking about? Is that person an ally or not? But seeing Athrun fight him, I doubted it.

“If you would excuse me, I will have to deal with some unwanted guests.”

Boras began moving toward the fighting, where Athrun and the guy he was fighting were.

I was about to yell at him to get back, but I stopped because I saw Skis suddenly begin to chase him.

Seeing that, I was surprised to see Skis look extremely tense, almost panicked under a cool expression, so I took several steps back, began sprinting, and jumped, following Skis. Reaching the rooftop, I ran and jumped between the narrow and winding streets to the next building.

I tried to catch up to Skis, but because I’m a child, I couldn’t keep up. I shouted out toward Skis to slow down and tell me what was going on, but he ignored me and kept running.

Athrun’s Perspective

After Sarah had set up a barrier and the room they were in had exploded, Athrun’s playful expression vanished, and he ran into the room and jumped out of the hole in the wall.

His body turned into lightning, and he moved toward the person responsible for the explosion.

Far from the hospital, a figure wearing a red mask with black markings watched from the shadows. He clicked his tongue, seeing that the spells he had cast on the bodies of the Lucendi black knights, whether they were dead or not, didn’t blow up the hospital.

He saw an arc of lightning flying through the air in his direction. Seeing that, he immediately began retreating in the direction of the base, where the Lucendi’s black knights were stationed.

However, he stopped as lightning struck the ground ahead of him and reformed into a human. Athrun spoke, his playful demeanor gone, now with a serious and wary expression.

“I didn’t expect to see your face here, Redra.”

“Me too. I also didn’t expect to see you. Why the hell are you here?”

“I should be asking you that. Why are you working with the Lucindi’s Black Knights?”

Shrugging his shoulders, “It’s just a clean-up job, to clean up the mess of a certain someone.”

“Someone? Do you mean Boras?”

“Oh, I see, so you do know him. I’m surprised.”

“Not really, I just got his name from the young lady.”

“Interesting, are you going to tell me why you are here and helping the young lady?”

“She might be valuable to us. I'd rather not have her dead. You don’t want your name on the list, do you, right?”

Redra narrowed his eyes at Athrun's threat; he knew what it was, and he would rather not be on the list.

“If you don’t mind, stop this meaningless chaos you are causing.”

Smirking. “You and I both know what you can and cannot do.”

Hearing that, Athrun sighed slightly.

“It seems that we will have to fight then.”

With that, both their hair glows brightly, Athrun's is a bright golden, and Redra’s is a deep, bloody crimson.

Electricity sparks around Athrun while Redra forms balls of flame around him. Redra made the first move as the ball of red flame suddenly exploded in a bright explosion, acting as a flashbang.

Then he began to run and moved to dodge the lightning passing through the explosion. Athrun suddenly flashed before him and swung his sword.

At the last second, Redra took out his dagger and blocked Athrun’s sword, but he immediately let go of the dagger, knowing that Athrun was going to send electricity through his sword.

Flowing his mana through the dagger, Redra made his dagger glow red, the same as his glowing hair, causing it to explode, directing the explosion and shrapnel towards Athrun instead of letting it blow up between both of them.

Seeing the glowing red dagger, he transformed into lightning, making his body intangible and allowing the shockwave and shrapnel to pass him by. Then, in the form of lightning, Athrun was up high in the air, since he couldn’t actually see anything with his eyes in that form.

Athrun scanned the area, but he clicked his tongue because he lost sight of Redra. So, closing his eyes, he tried to sense his mana signature, but Redra had already stopped using mana and was suppressing it. Not deterred that he couldn’t sense Redra, Athrun took a breath and sent out a pulse of electricity that was very weak, barely noticeable to a normal person.

“There you are,” he muttered under his breath and found Redra going through some back alleyways in the direction of the slums.

Turning back into lightning, Athrun arced through the air and struck the ground in front of him.

As Athrun’s form solidified into a human, Athrun sent out lightning in the narrow alleyway Redra was running; however, Redra blocked it by making a wall of flames.

Fire and lightning clash in the alleyway, both canceling each other out. Once things were settled, Redra spoke first.

“Geez, how do you always find me? I even suppressed my mana signature, and you still found me.”

“Why should I tell you that?’ Athrun replied.

Redra shrugged his shoulders, then crimson balls of flames formed around him that grew brighter and brighter.

Athrun raised his eyebrows as he saw Redra begin to run, but Athrun did not chase him because the balls of flames Redra created were about to explode, which would kill innocent people in the surrounding area.

Watching Redra run away again, Athrun cursed at himself because Redra knew he would do something like that from their previous encounters. Athrun didn’t expect it because they were in an alleyway, meaning the shockwave coming from the explosion would have severely injured them both.

Focusing on the orbs of flames, the only way to minimize the damage was to move them away from the alleyway.

With that in mind, Athrun emitted electricity from his hands and directed it toward the orb of flames.

Like a web, Athrun chained them together, and he turned into lightning, dragging the orbs of flames that grew brighter and brighter.

Once Athrun was above the building, he went further up and threw the orb made out of flame, which was now crimson, high into the air.

A massive explosion filled the air Athrun was in, and Athrun turned back into his human form once it subsided.

Free-falling through the air again, Athrun began to sense where Redra was and moved toward him. However, Athrun didn’t try to engage him because Redra was running through a street filled with people.

Redra was the type of person who was willing to kill almost anyone for his job, even if they were not the target, which was why Redra had one of the highest bounties on the continent.

Athrun remembers the last time he saw the number, roughly a year ago, which was around 1200 large platinum coins.

So for the time being, Athrun had to follow him while not using any mana so as not to be detected by him, till there wasn’t anyone near him.

Athrun ran on the rooftops, watching Redra running through the streets, passing numerous people, until Athrun saw that he suddenly turned into a back alley.

Seeing the opportunity, Athrun thought it was now or never for him to deal with Redra. So Athrun jumped down, cutting off Redra from running back to the streets filled with people.

Without a word spoken, Athrun swung at Redra. Redra dodged, and he closed in to get into hand-to-hand combat.

Athrun took several steps back to get some distance as Redra pressed forward, but Athrun emitted a large amount of electricity, forcing Redra back.

Being forced back, Redra's hair glowed, and he raised a wall made out of flames, followed by a crimson-colored flaming lance.

Athrun, only seeing the walls made out of flame, was about to turn into lightning and fly through the air, but the wall of fire dispersed, and the crimson flaming lance flew toward Athrun and the people down the street.

Clicking his tongue, Athrun’s hair glowed brightly and slightly stood up as lightning spewed out of his entire body and formed into a veil around him.

Athrun fired off the lightning around him to the crimson lance. Their magic clashes, and Athrun manages to deflect the lance with his spell, upward into the air, deflecting it away from targeting him and the people in the streets.

Hearing the explosion in the air and feeling the shockwave, Athrun began running, chasing Redra, who was about to slip out of his sight.

Athrun followed, running through alleys, keeping his distance from him due to the chance of Redra firing a spell at him.

Watching Athrun, following him, and catching up, Redra made a trail of crimson, fiery orbs between him and Athrun. Athrun immediately stopped running and prepared to deal with them, but Redra snickered under his mask, dispersing the crimson orbs.

Eventually, after running far enough, Redra stopped and turned to face Athrun. Athrun also stopped because he didn’t know what Redra was planning.

A short silence followed, and Athrun warily spoke first.

“What are you planning?”

“This.”

Redra smirked, and he raised his right hand. On the rooftop of the building to his right, the burning bodies of the Lucendi’s black knight started burning crimson. Then, a magical circle that was branded on their backs started glowing brightly.

Sensing mana building up in massive quantities above him, Athrun realized that Redra was going to do the same thing he did at the hospital.

His eye shot right open because, if it weren’t for Sarah creating a barrier to block off the room from the rest of the hospital, that blast would have taken out multiple floors, if not the majority of the wing they were in.

Athrun immediately rushed in toward Redra, trying to stop him from casting his spell; however, he soon realized the mana that was building up in the bodies on the rooftops had reached a critical point, and Redra stopped sending mana to them.

Gritting his teeth, a massive explosion filled the alley, and Athrun was forced to turn his body into lightning, letting the shock wave and debris pass him.

At the same time, Athrun arced through the air, up high as the explosion settled down, and he scanned for Redra for his mana signature. Quickly locating him, his entire body crackled with golden lightning, and he hammered a massive lightning bolt down at Redra.

The bolt of lightning hit a crimson sphere made out of fire that glowed brightly with Redra’s mana, protecting Redra from Athrun’s spell and the explosion he had made.

In doing so, inside the sphere, Redra's hair started dimming because he had used up a third of his mana reserve on the explosion he had made and a quarter on his sphere. Accounting for the mana he spent on the explosion in the hospital and the other spells he had cast, he was nearing his limit, leaving barely enough left.

This was, however, to be expected in his improvised escape plan when he had to salvage his original plan of escape since he gave himself enough time to run back to the Lucendi’s Black Knights' base to get help.

Redra wanted to curse out Boras for not telling him about Athrun and his party, but he knew what kind of person Boras was, so he wondered why he even took this job other than the high pay.

However, Redra threw those thoughts aside because it would slow him down if he thought of it any longer.

A barrage of lightning is coming toward him in a wide wave, but Athrun had to stop because Redra began leaping across the rooftops above a street, where a decent number of bystanders filled the area below.

Redra was close to the Lucendi‘s black knight’s base after doing it several more times while using the absolute minimum amount of mana to counterattack Athrun when he couldn’t.

Getting close, Redra saw a man with glowing green hair who had a scowl on his face, like Redra was disturbing something important, coming toward them. Seeing that Redra couldn’t help but show a small smile at him, Boras promptly sent a blast of air straight at him and Athrun as well.

Redra was hit by the blast of air due to not having enough mana to guard against the attack. It sent him flying into the air before crashing onto a rooftop, shattering the tiles beneath him as he landed. As for Athrun, he was also hit by the massive blast of air, caught slightly off guard from focusing too much on stopping Redra as fast as possible, but he managed to react just in time and turned himself into lightning.

Landing on a rooftop, he turned back to his physical form and glared at Boras.

“Boras, I presume.”

Smirking, Boras nodded and said. “My. I am flattered that such a high-ranking adventurer knows my name, but I must insist you leave and stop interfering with my game.”

Confused, Athrun said, “Game?”

“Yes, again, I must ask you to leave.”

Athrun looked at him and said, “No.”

Narrowing his eyes, Boras asks, “Why is that?”

“I’m afraid that is classified.”

A bit annoyed by Athrun’s answer, Boras turned to Redra, who was slowly getting up and reeling from his attack.

Slightly glancing at Athrun and having a serious look, hearing their short conversation, Redra spoke as he took out two potions to drink, one health potion and the other mana potion.

“I choose life over telling you.”

Seeing the unexpected reaction, Boras had a slight smile.

“Really? You, of all people, are afraid of something even though you’re hunted by every single kingdom on this continent?”

Redra did not respond, and a silence filled the area they were in until they heard something running.

Everyone turned and saw Skis jumping between rooftops, followed by Nyx in the distance.

Surprised to see him, Athrun spoke first. “Skis? What are you doing here?”

“Athrun? I can ask the same for you, but why the hell is Redra here?”

Nyx’s perspective

Catching up to Skis, I was surprised to see Athrun here and what seemed to be a standoff. I heard Skis ask why the person with glowing crimson hair was here in an extremely wary and cautious way, shown by his expression and body language.

Not only him, but Athrun too. Was he an ally or an enemy? But why did Boras attack him for some reason?

My thoughts were answered when Skis spoke without taking his eyes off him. “His name is Redra; he’s a terrorist. Be wary; he’s extremely dangerous.

Another long silence settled over them, each person eyeing the others, waiting for one of them to make the first move, until Boras spoke up.

“My, how boring. This won’t do.” Looking at Redra, “Deal with those two; I desire to continue with my game with my lady, alone.”

Redra scowled at Boras and responded back. “Why should I? This was not in the contract. Am I going to get compensation for this? If not, I’m leaving.”

“I see, then, how about doubling our original commission?”

“That would do, but.” Hair now glowing brightly after drinking a mana potion, Redra created three lances made out of flames that suddenly turned crimson.

I saw Skis grip his sword tightly and Athrun readying to counterattack with his lightning.

Redra pointed them roughly in the direction of my family’s Black Knights' base, which made Boras frown.

“Hurry it up, or else I’m going to have to kill that maid over there.”

“Either you do it or I do it. Just finish this game of yours quickly.”

Redra and Boras glared at each other for a moment, and Boras relented.

“Fine.” Then, turning to me, “Lady Rita, please come; it seems we have to end this much more quickly than I anticipated.”

Hearing that, I said, “I refuse” to him, not wanting to let him have his way; however, he shrugged his shoulders and said, “Oh well, that shouldn’t matter; I’m sure this would work.”

Boras smirked ominously, and I narrowed my eyes at him. His hair glowed green, and I watched as he jumped up high in the air, moving from building to building toward my family’s Black Knight’s base, and debated whether to follow him.

However, as soon as my attention was focused on Boras, Skis suddenly yelled out.

“Nyx, move!”

Feeling a force pushing me away, I saw Skis push me away as a crimson lance came my way.

Skis, using his sword, swung at the crimson lance coming for me when my attention was away. His sword glowed, brighter than I had ever seen it before, but the crimson lance was not disappearing, and Skis was forced back, clashing with it, until a bright flashing light came from Skis’s sword, and what seemed to be a layer of blue-colored mana extended out of the blade.

My eyes shot right open seeing that, but Athrun flashed beside me and carried me away on his shoulder.

“Athrun, what are you doing?”

“Nyx, you can’t fight him; he’s way too dangerous for you. And you will get in the way of me and Skis from stopping him.”

Hearing that, I watched as Skis began fighting that Redra person, watching as Redra fired off explosions one after another, setting fire to or outright destroying the nearby buildings.

Once we were sufficiently far away, Athrun set me down and turned to look at where Skis was fighting.

“Just don’t do anything; wait till Sarah gets here with Alex, Wendy, Lucia, Chelsie, and Maria. I presume Boras is just as strong as Redra from his mana density, so don’t fight him, and if he shows up, call out for me.”

Taking a deep breath, I felt powerless that I couldn’t do anything, but it couldn’t be helped.

“Good, this should take a minute, and then we could focus on Boras and find Clare.”

Turning back into lightning, I watch as he arcs into the air and appears right behind Redra, fighting him until I hear a voice that I did not want to hear right now.

Immediately, I yell out for Athrun, not expecting Boras to show up so quickly, but no voice comes from my mouth.

Wagging his finger, I turn to him, rage starting to build up again, till I saw… I saw Boras have a sword stab through Clare’s chest.

The world felt like it truly stood still before what I saw with my eyes. My blood boiled, and yet it turned simultaneously cold.

I could barely comprehend it, but it was right in front of me before my very eyes.

A sword, held in Boras’s hand, had impaled Clare in the chest. Her blood covered Boras’s clothes as he smiled.

I… I… I felt something had snapped in me, but strangely, anger, grief, confusion, despair, and a whole host of other emotions felt choked off before they could surface. A coldness settled in, as if my thoughts had frozen over.

Cold logic filled my mind, and I spoke in a voice that didn’t seem like my own. In a voice devoid of any trace of emotion, robotic in nature, I said, “Subject exceeds emotional parameters; mental barriers have activated.”

“Hmm, what are you saying, my lady? I don’t believe I recognize that language.”

“Primary Objective: Securing hostage—failed. Secondary objective: neutralized threats—in progress. Target, danger level high, low chance of success. Suggest time dilation raised to maximum; neurological damage deemed negligible.”