A blast of wind poured down from the sky in a straight line, showering Wan Jinju as he stood motionless and participated in the staring contest with his opponent, the forsaken and fearsome necromancer Dor Sayan who also had his own army of undead demons ready to compensate for the difference in the levels of power.
Jinju's robes flapped away violently as if he was standing at the edge of a pirate ship bobbing up and down with the trigonometric rhythms of the sea.
I'll need to get back to Bain first, I can deal with this piece of sin later.
Wan activated his speedy time perception, experiencing the world at 1/100th of a second per second. It took him years to master and even then, he knew that this skill was still very fresh for him. An unknown marksman from one of the Sirutov helicopters had already outpaced him in terms of speed.
Wan turned around and sprinted across the grass till he reached the nearest wall of the Hon estate mansion, placing his feet up and continuing to run up the wall vertically without worrying about gravity being able to drag him down; his speed was faster than the 9.1816 m/s per second that the Earth's mass could offer.
But something or someone moved very fast almost at his own speed, sticking a sharp object into his back.
Looking around, he jumped off the wall in an upside-down somersault, landing back on the ground with his legs bent, one hand touching the grass and the other holding his katana blade up high at an angle.
"
No wonder why they labeled you as a wanted level 5 threat
," Wan positioned himself for an offensive stance now, rotating his wrist and giving his katana a few trial swings as a warm-up.
Can't believe that there are atleast two people alive who can match my agility, even at this absurd rate! Before that, I'd be more interested as to why Sayan holds a grudge against the Akamine.
He grabbed the dagger stuck in his back, holding it in front of him to appraise the make of the blade.
Ammollite. But not from Earth. It seems… otherworldly.
He threw the dagger back to its owner, who grabbed it midair without breaking a sweat.
Sayan charged forward, moving so fast that the grass where he stepped on burnt into black soot as his legs seemed to be sliding smoothly across the ground without even having to lift them up for locomotion.
Sayan's dagger met Jinju's katana, a deadly kiss of metal on metal that sent out a hypersonic frequency of sound so sharp it made both their ears lose consciousness for a moment.
"
Pay attention to whatever comes out of a Dor's mouth
," Sayan talked normally, meaning he was at the same speed as Wan. "
I was going to spare you since you don't look like a proper Akamine member. But now that I've seen your power, I cannot let tiny weeds potentially grow thorns for pricking me
."
"Oh really?
" Wan pretended to be surprised. "
Where do you get so much anger from? Who hurt you, li'l bro? You can tell me. You can trust me
."
"
Trust?
"
Their melee weapons retreated before clashing again, this time in a perpendicular shape of a right-angled corner near Sayan's shoulder.
"
You really think trust is going to help? What a moron
!" the blue-haired necromancer continued. "
If I asked you the same questions, what would be your answer? Will you trust me?
"
"
I would
," Wan brought back his sword again, watching his opponent do the same. "
You're human, after all. You don't know what a demon is like. No matter how much you'd hate me and I'd hate you, we'd still have each others' tru—
"
This sneaky buzzard!
His katana had been snatched from his grip by a quick swing of the dagger that severed his right hand at the wrist, blood spilling out from the stump of his forearm although very slowly like a crimson jelly still clinging onto the flesh.
Wan rejoined his arm with the hand while it gently parachuted down to the ground. They were still traveling very fast compared to the actual real-time rate.
His rapid stem cell regeneration ability easily fixed the wound.
Wan was not impressed.
"
Alright, kid, joke's are over
," Wan grabbed his katana. "
I don't want to increase the burden anymore, not for you nor for me."
"
Thanks to you, I think I'm about to increase my rank
" Sayan brought his dagger to his lips, with tiny drops of Wan's blood imprinted on the surface. His tongue slithered out, caressing the liquid like a lover coming to his partner in bed. "
Hmm…. Ordinary human blood. So you're not the kind of monster I expected
."
I don't think he's even listening to me at this point.
Wan got pushed back and smashed into a wall of the building behind him, with Sayan's palm spread out wide over his chest. His heart could feel the throb in the necromancer's veins, while Sayans' did the same for Jinju's cardiac cycle.
What's he doing? Oh no! He's not seriously trying to do what I think he is?!
"
You know?
" Sayan purred with a hint of pride in his voice. "
I'm not just a necromancer. Only my worst enemies know me by a different name. A pity that I had saved it up for a different target.
"
Sayan attempted to tap into Wan's soul.
His head visualized the shape and form of what kind of spirit lurked inside the Akamine demon hunter. Sayan was a renowned soulstealer.
"
Huh?
" Sayan was about to get a glimpse. But he saw two eyes and a being far too powerful for his own mind to comprehend. He quickly stepped back from Wan, Sayan's eyes opened wide with fright and a scared curiosity of discovering something he was never meant to. "
Wh-wha-what are YOU?!
"
They both disabled their speed perception back to the normal rate of time.
"
What do you mean?
" Wan cleared away some dust from his dark-green shirt where Sayan's hand print had temporarily been etched by creases of cloth. He seemed a bit confused by Sayan's remarks. "
What am I? Can't you see? I'm just like you
."
Jinju spread his arms wide to emphasize his words.
"
No!
" Sayan seemed way too stressed to be acting. "
I've… I've never seen anything like this before. Your soul… It's – it's—
"
Sayan caught sight of someone else behind Wan and decided to pause his conversation and make a run for it.
Wan could hear Hon Eolum's voice booming and about ten pairs of shoes headed towards them. Arkain mages and warriors also hastily climbed atop the walls and opaque fences surrounding the perimeter.
Great! First the puppets of the law meddling with Sirutov matters, and now we have two more factions willing to mix in the mud. This isn't only going to be a national headline anymore, I'm thinking it would cause an global uproar. As if I'd wish to let that happen!
Wan dashed ahead of the fleeing necromancer, grabbing him from the front with a magical grain of an alien plant in hand as he muttered the spell to teleport.
"
Azgerdos!
"
Hon Eolum saw them disappear just as he had almost arrived within the range of swinging his iconic axe staff to behead them both. He took a moment to catch his breath as his butler, Vamir, approached from behind.
"
Sir, we've found your daughter alive and safe
," Vamir informed. "
But she seemed to be using the forbidden stairs to escape down to the basement. An unknown girl with brown hair was also spotted following her.
"
"
What!
" Eolum's voice itself sent a shockwave of air that rattled all nearby loose objects. "
The forbidden stairs?! Oh no… no, no, no, NO, NO!
"
He stomped on the ground with his foot with each "no".
His own set of bodyguards crowded around him silently while Casio's men and women also joined in, walking closer to the man of the house for further instructions.
The moon was still red, although a shade more dull than before. Demonic corpses littered around, with the Sirutov helicopters nowhere to be found.
"
Vamir!
"
"
Yes, sir?
"
"
Grab my battle gear
," Eolum had a tiny razor in his hand, taken out from a pocket. He slid it across his face, shaving off all his facial hair with one long >-shaped sweep. '
Damned Sirutov and Akamine agents. So you think you're smart enough to discover my secret? I must hurry. Not sure what madness drove my own darling daughter to go down there, but I must not let her ever see what lies below our house
.'
"
Gentlemen
," he turned to his bodyguards. And then to Casio's units. "
And Arkains. Please… Leave this matter to me. You can make yourself busy dealing with onlookers and news dealers instead. This is a matter of the Hon family. You are dismissed for now.
"