Chapter 91
The way he spoke sounded strange, yet he was still using the Talazze Lirei language, making the two of them exchange glances before looking back at all of them.
'What kind of mixed accent is that?' Zavi wondered in confusion, though he could still understand the man's words.
But in truth, there was a secret hidden behind all of it.
'Ah, so they're people from Vinohoshi.' Aaron frowned as he realized that fact.
The flames from the explosion outside the university gradually dimmed as the cold night wind blew harder than before, causing the atmosphere around them to freeze while the river current slowly calmed.
"Are they all Receivers?" Zavi asked in a near whisper, making sure of it.
Aaron turned his head and answered quietly, "Two of them, maybe, but the others seem to be my prey." He sounded certain after noticing something strange clinging to the shoulder of a man standing in the far right corner and a woman standing in the middle. A Hollow.
However, in the blink of an eye, a man with dark brown eyes wearing a hat suddenly walked calmly around the two of them with an expression filled with composure, yet hiding deep scrutiny. Their jaws tightened, their pupils widened, and their minds went blank for a moment.
"I'm impressed by the courage you two have," the man muttered. "Do you two even know who we really are?" he asked as he stopped walking, standing right in front of them.
The man was extremely tall, with a striking appearance and an arrogant way of speaking. He was probably over twenty centimeters taller than Zavi and only five centimeters taller than Aaron, who stared at him indifferently. 190 cm.
"Not entirely sure," Aaron answered calmly. "But you must be from the 'Intersection Society' or the 'Black Cage,' right?"
The moment Aaron finished that last sentence, all of their expressions turned pale as panic stabbed through their backs.
The man slowly stepped backward after realizing that the two people before him were not ordinary people like they had assumed.
As for those two groups, the 'Black Cage' and the 'Intersection Society,' they moved with precision and caution to the point that whenever they acted, they left behind no traces whatsoever. Even The Devils is Here had difficulty tracking their locations and uncovering the details of their organization.
And yet... these two could identify who they were and even know their temporary hideout, making his panic spiral even further out of control.
But in reality, The Devils is Here had already discovered their trail the previous day.
Moreover, the three people who had escaped earlier were also here, and Zavi genuinely hadn't realized it because his eyes were too tired to properly make out their faces under the dim light.
"The Devils is Here?" The man kept backing away until he stood several meters from his other companions.
'Didn't they say the information seeker from that group was already killed by those six people?' the man thought as he glanced toward his companions while the arrogance on his face slowly faded.
Doubt began creeping into his mind as he realized two things: the fact that Karl might not actually be dead, and that there existed a group far more terrifying than they had anticipated.
"What are you talking about?" Aaron said in complete confusion.
Meanwhile, Zavi felt a strange sense of pity and even laughed a little inwardly as he realized that all his efforts to reach this point had not been meaningless. It had cost him sacrifices to the point where his sanity had slowly eroded over several years as he repeatedly looped through the aftermath of drinking that herbal potion. And in the end, he had become a wanted man for such a ridiculous reason; saving his mother, yet causing all of this to happen.
But he did not mourn his fate, one that was no different from before, back on Earth. He chose to keep moving forward, never give up, and stay firm in his desire for freedom and justice in this cursed world.
"I'm sorry for deceiving you..
"I'm sorry for never thanking you.
"Forgive me if I acted polite.
"And... allow me to avenge your death and fulfill my wish."
At those final words, a relieved yet horrifying smile spread across his face as his eyes sharpened toward them, causing everyone who heard that whisper to freeze in vigilance.
One of them immediately prepared for battle, including the man who had spoken to the two of them earlier, stepping back from his previous position and distancing himself from Zavi and Aaron after realizing they intended to attack.
Not long after that, Zavi lowered his hat to cover his face before his body froze for a moment, summoning several foxes around himself before detonating them.
A subtle wave resembling white smoke mixed with gray spread rapidly as around ten foxes with dark purple forms wrapped in pale grayish-white aura appeared instantly, surrounding them both, causing the man who had retreated earlier to freeze after realizing the foxes' forms were unstable and crackling with sparks.
The moment he saw that, Aaron immediately moved backward.
Boom!
The foxes exploded within seconds, causing dust to flood the stone-paved road while dry leaves around them scattered aimlessly into the air.
Zavi's body jerked as he regained his freedom of movement, then he quickly fixed his gaze ahead, believing none of them had died from that attack.
As the dust covering the stone road and the towering branched trees above them, as though forming an umbrella over where they stood, was slowly swept away by the wind, a sealing talisman suddenly shot through the air at high speed straight toward them.
That sudden attack was effortlessly stopped by Aaron as the shadow constantly circling beneath his feet leapt upward like a whale bursting from the sea, swallowing the talisman before merging back into the shadows.
"At least they didn't die that easily, right?" Aaron muttered while waiting for their counterattack.
However, a few seconds later, the man Aaron had previously suspected burst out from the dust while protected by a blue rhombus-patterned barrier that had shielded them from the earlier explosion.
The man's movements were incredibly calculated, as though every single step had been thoroughly planned in advance, namely to kill them before their allies arrived.
Zavi immediately looked at Aaron and tossed him his knife as a weapon while telling him to fight the man, while he himself would support from behind.
"Looks like you're relying on me now," Aaron muttered mockingly.
"That's right," Zavi answered without the slightest hesitation. "So hurry up and beat that guy."
Aaron clicked his tongue, his heart briefly feeling empty as he found himself forced to fight the man.
But what puzzled him was this: where was Celina, the woman who had fought him earlier?
Zavi immediately retreated while the man closed in further as Aaron advanced, searching for an opening to stab him with the knife.
One punch landed squarely on Aaron's face, then Aaron retaliated with the back of his right hand while the knife seemed ready to kill the man with a single slight movement.
Seeing that opening, the man immediately struck Aaron's hand, but his attempt failed because Aaron released the knife from his grip while the man ended up taking a direct hit from Aaron's own hand.
He staggered backward, his jawbone feeling shattered as he slightly opened his mouth.
"You bastard..."
A few seconds later...
Bang!
A gunshot rang out not far from where he stood, and from the corner of his eye he caught a faint glimmer atop the university building while realizing a bullet was speeding directly toward his head.
Aaron's head instantly exploded.
An ordinary bullet, but when a woman like Celina pulled the trigger, she added magnetic weight to the bullet, making it capable of crushing a human skull in a single shot.
Blood burst out like a fountain from the bullet hole, followed by Aaron's body collapsing as the blood pooled around his upper abdomen while he fell face-first onto the stone pavement.
From behind, Zavi had not sensed anyone's presence at all, and he was slightly shocked when Aaron's head exploded instantly right after the gunshot echoed out.
Celina immediately descended from the rooftop of the tall university building by transforming her body into black smoke, reforming herself from her feet to her head until she stood completely beside the man.
"Looks like," the woman said, breaking the tension, "you could earn as much money as you want with acting skills like that, Kwok Aaron."
Aaron's body, which had previously been standing right in front of the woman and the man, shattered into shadows before seeping into the cracks between the stone pavement like rainwater.
Meanwhile, Zavi heard the sound of deep, measured, rhythmic footsteps directly behind him. Then a pair of legs with no upper body appeared standing right beside him, and several seconds later Aaron fully restored his form, though he had returned to his previous attire: a knee-length coat with a white shirt underneath and black pants.
"That's exactly what I wanted to say," Aaron replied with an exhausted expression, though the corners of his lips lifted into a confident smile as he tried provoking all of them.
After thinking for a moment, Zavi finally realized why the others had not come out from the cloud of dust earlier, while at the same time sending the two of them out as though deliberately stalling for time so they could do something.
'But what? I don't know, but I feel like I know this plan. If it's what I think it is, then they're definitely waiting for someone's arrival, or more precisely... that demon horse?'
Zavi's thoughts grew increasingly chaotic as the atmosphere around them became suffocating, making it hard to breathe while his chest pounded harder than before.
Suddenly, what he had feared earlier truly happened as a woman emerged from the dust barrier separating them, accompanied by all of her companions.
Celina and the man beside her instantly stared deeply at their companions, as though realizing what was about to happen next.
Then something strange crawled out from the tip of the woman's black boots, slithering across the stone pavement, causing Celina and the man beside her to immediately close their eyes as that strange thing moved toward Zavi and Aaron.
No, no, no.
They truly had no idea what it was when Aaron's ability instantly sent warning signals straight into his mind, allowing him to sweep away the fear generated by the woman's Recipestele ability.
"Damn, fear manipulation, huh? Not bad," Aaron praised, his face growing paler as he used the first-stage Exorcist ability, Retrieval, which could save him from death by sacrificing the lingering spirits, ghosts, and demons he had defeated.
But there was a side effect, making Aaron's body feel like that of a fragile old man while also making him breathe like a newborn baby fresh out of the womb.
"Actitus," Aaron said while trembling, his face twisting painfully. "Buy us some time. I'll handle that Recipestele. Meanwhile, you beat all of them and get the information you wanted."
Zavi sneered after hearing that statement.
"You sound pretty good for someone who's about to die, Aaron."
"Your eyes, dead," Aaron muttered with twitching lips. Then he continued, "That knife's already destroyed, but hold on as long as you can. Just five minutes."
Hearing Aaron continue rambling, Zavi immediately stepped forward with furrowed brows.
'You're seriously incredible, Aaron. I wasn't wrong to bring you along on this search,' Zavi thought as he stared at the twelve people standing not far from him.
Then Zavi considered using a fifth-level fear manipulation spell to wipe them all out at once while they were under its effects. However, it wasn't as easy as he imagined because naturally, chanting a spell like that required time, and the enemy certainly would not allow them to do it freely.
'If only I had time to memorize it,' he thought regretfully, hoping luck would take his side before Zuhen and Felina arrived to help him.
He didn't know whether they had already defeated that man, and he genuinely had no idea whether they were currently searching for him somewhere within this massive campus.
'At least I won't die before getting information about Ascension and those bastards who act however they want.' he thought bitterly while looking forward to fighting one of the Finiscya sect members, especially their leader, Conwuqoam.
A few seconds later, the skeletal serpent that had appeared earlier emerged from the man who had previously spoken to him and rapidly charged toward him.
Zavi's pupils widened as he felt something stab into his chest from within while the skeletal serpent lunged toward him, releasing scorching heat and violent winds that slammed into both him and Aaron.
He raised his arm to shield his face as he was thrown backward before crashing into the building behind him.
Crash...
The two of them were separated, leaving Zavi trapped within the grasp of the skeletal serpent while Aaron was flung into the area beyond the small iron fence dividing the different sections.
"Damn it." Zavi wanted to unleash every animal form he had ever created before, but failed because the serpent kept pecking at him while instantly releasing waves of heat that peeled away his skin together with the violent winds battering him every time he tried attacking it.
"You bastard. Damn it. I'm seriously pissed off and I'm going to kill you, you fucking monster."
He truly went all out, summoning every animal form he had ever created. One-third of them took the form of box jellyfish to kill all of them, including the man who had spoken to him earlier, while the rest protected his body.
Realizing Zavi had gone motionless like a statue, the skeletal serpent immediately accelerated and swung its fish-fin-shaped tail straight toward Zavi's chest.
Thud..
The sound of cracking bones and screams of pain echoed through the tense night, turning the atmosphere darker, like a silent graveyard, as the serpent shattered into pieces before disappearing like mist swept away by the wind.