Chapter 10: Hunters

Two men, clad in black mantles.  It’s too dark to have a clear view of their faces, but some features were strikingly recognizable. One was tall, and his hairs were like a silver waterfall. Definitely not from here I thought. The other one was a bit shorter, and he looked…kind of normal comparing to his companion. The important thing now was their identity; however, they seemed to know Thera, judging on how they talked about finding her. But something was not quite right.

I glanced at Thera, and she was staring at the men with non-hospitable look. Silence, heavy silence had taken the area.

At last, the man with silver hairs raised his voice:

“Come now. You may escape us once, but there will be no second time.”  Not the voice I heard just before, this voice was trenchant, and powerful.

The shorter man remained silent, but I could feel his eyes were locking at Thera, who now had stood up and readied herself, but for what I wondered.

“I refuse. I cannot allow myself to be captured.” Thera said.

What were they talking about? Escaped? Capture? Was she being chased down by those men? Did this mean the injured back then…

“You may know that even we received order to bring you back alive, we still can’t guarantee you will be in one piece.” The tall man threatening words seemed to make no change in Thera’s expression.

Did this mean they fought each other before? And the result seemed clear to me. Thera merely escaped in one piece. This looked bad, even an idiot like me could tell. If they brought up a brawl to capture her again, Thera would hardly have any chances to escape this time. I had to do something.  But what should I do? And why didn’t he tell me what to do? This was when I need his words the most, and yet…

“Fufufu, looks like you do not understand the situation miss. Let me tell you.” The short man started to talk, “You do not have any options here except for going with us, even if you want or not.”  His speaking pattern was a bit like that of Thera, the only different was the way he spoke, with a creepy smile.

“No, you are the one who do not understand. I can’t and will not go with you.”  Thera faced them; her voice was full of determination as her stance. Was she about to going to fight them now? Then it would turn ugly, for her definitely.

“Stubborn eh, then….” With that, the short man gave the silver hairs a gaze, and in a blink of an eye, the tall figure disappeared, that was when I felt a push and was knocked down, by a strong gust of wind. I heard a loud clashing noise. Raising my body up, I tried my best to figure what was going on. And what I saw told me that they were not human.

The silver hairs man’s arms were moving at incredible speed, made it looked like he had more than two. He was striking with high velocity and yet, very calmly. Somehow, the look of his face showed that he had seen through the movement of opponent and already seen the ending of the fight. And his opponent, Thera, was fencing off his attacks with her bare hands. Even though Thera couldn’t match him in term of speed, but she made it looked like she was covered by an invisible armor. However, Thera was at her limit, I could tell by looking at her face.

Of course, her injury was not fully recovered, and she was pushing herself the whole time. I had to do something, even if he wouldn’t tell me to.

And when I was busy making up my mind, Thera’s defense finally out of its used, and the man knocked she out to the ground. Thera’s coughing, and laying on the ground while the man slowly approaching her.

“You just wasted our time with your fertile effort. Now go to sleep.” He gripped his hand and about to deliver final blow. There’s no time left for hesitation, I gathered all the strength I had and ran toward Thera. And that was when I heard his voice.

“Idiot, what are you doing?”

But it’ was too late, I jumped in between Thera and the man, his fist went straight to my chest, and that was when I understood why their clash made a clanging sound. It was a blade that gone through my body.

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For a moment, the tall figure thought his victory was secured, and he allowed himself to take it easy. Slowly raising his left hand, he looked down to his prey:

“You just wasted our time with your fertile effort. Now go to sleep.”

With an intend to deliver a finishing hit to neutralize the enemy, not to kill her, he released his attack at the girl, but he didn’t think of an unexpected guest.

The boy’s existence was ignored at the first place. To them he was nothing but a bit of dust.

However, that bit of dust now made his stand between the man and his pray. The boy moved so fast that even he himself couldn’t imagine. And that moment, his attack landed at Kai’s chest.

“What the?” the man was totally taken by Kai’s surprise interference.

Still lying on the ground, Thera couldn’t say a word. Partly because of her injury worsening, but mainly because of Kai’s action. Again, that stranger saved her. But this time, he put his life on the line to do that.  That was a truth that she was not able to comprehend.

“Hah, looks like....you owe...me....again...” Kai tried to speak, and then he collapsed on his knee, his face kissed the ground.

“…” the silver hairs man stood quietly for a while, looking at the body of the boy who stopped his attack with his body. Then he turned toward his partner:

“Did you remove the concealment?” He asked.

“As if I did. It seemed like that boy could actually see us, even under the effect of the spell. I wonder…” He touched his chin, thinking.

“Whatever he is, for an ordinary human to take on my blade is just too much; we shouldn’t waste time to concern about that.” And he turned back at Thera, who was at her feet already.

The man from afar was in fact more concerned about that matter. His spell was flawless as ever, the fact that even Thera couldn’t sense their presence proved that. But how did that boy see through it? There was no way for a human to be unaffected.

“Hold on a minute Ray, there’s something I want to make clear about.” He called to his partner.

“Does something matter?” The tall man answered without looking back. He was carefully watching Thera, even though he knew that she couldn’t make a run anymore. Then, the short man stepped toward Kai’s place. He squatted by the boy and silently looking at him, as if surveying with his eyes. Then he spoke:

“Who might this be? I’m pretty sure you two know each other, am I right?” His words directed to Thera, but his mind locked on Kai.

“No one, a human.” Thera said.

“I doubt that. Now come to think of it, we didn’t pay attention when we arrived. I thought he was just a passer by and ignored him. Even when I saw he was talking to you, I thought it was because your boundary was not there. It made sense if I put it like that. Until…”

“Until he poked his nose into our affair and got what he deserved. Is that enough for you?” The man named Ray interrupted him.

“…” The short man stayed silent again.

“Well, may be I over thought it. You are right. Whatever he did to intervene doesn’t matter now that he is one foot to the grave. Even you didn’t make a fatal move, it was still too much for a normal human to handle it.”

“Isn’t that the thing you should realize from the start?”  Now both of them were facing Thera.

“Alright, now you have two choices miss. Surrender or we will force to destroy one or two parts of you. You can still live with that right?” a wicked smile appeared on his face.

Thera raised her hands, ready for another fight. She made her choice.

“If you insist. Allow me Ray.” Then he walked forward. But he felt something heavy at his right leg, as if it was grabbed. He turned around, and Kai’s hand was grabbing his leg.

“Huh?” a flash of astonishment appeared in his eyes.

Kai raised his half-dead body up. One hand now was holding his wounded chest; the other tugged the man’s mantle.

“Do not...harm…her…” Kai gathered all his strength left and moved his arm. His target was standing right in front of him. It was hard to miss. He punched the man into the face and collapsed the second time, left the other three standing still, stunned.

“Impossible.” The tall man startled, believed that his attack had finished the boy.

The short man touched his face where it was punched, and looked back at Kai. His eyes now opened wider, to see something he first saw in his life.

“Now that’s what I didn’t expect.” He murmured. “Finish this quickly Ray, and make sure to kill this one for good.” He said coldly, all of his interest before had gone.

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From a building nearby, another shadow had watched the whole things.

“That idiot, he should have stayed down for good.”

Then, the shadow leaped toward their direction.

One second after, Thera saw another person who stood for her.

“Who are you?” Ray stepped back and readied himself. He realized that the one before him was not someone to make light of.

“Sorry, but you will not finish anything tonight.” With that, the mysterious figure spread its fingers while murmuring some words.

“RAY, STAND BACK!!!” the short man’s shout snapped him out of the blue. He quickly jumped back, fast enough to avoid ten rays of light fired at his direction.

“Dammit I can’t see, what the hell is that?” He asked.

“Doesn't look like our art. The amount of mana is quite remarkable.”

Didn’t have the chance to finish his speak; he had to move to dodge another wave of light coming at them.

“Fire your blade, aim at the boy.” He said to his partner.

“Roger.” The tall man formed his hand into the form of a blade, and then swung it at full strength.

“Air…Slasher” He called the name of his technique, and a huge gust of wind was blown to Kai’s place.

“Cheap shot.” The shadow said, jumped toward the attack and raised its hand forward. The wind hit the hand and disappeared.

“As long as it helps me accomplish my goal, it’s fine for me.” The shorter man voice came from behind. The shadow turned back to see his fingers pointing at Thera.

“As I said, just a cheap shot.” The shadow now let loose of itself, as if giving up.

“You understand the situation quite fast don’t you? Now would you mind removing your hood? It’s quite dark around here and I cannot see you very well.” He said.

“And if I refuse?” The shadow didn’t move an inch.

“Then I will just tell my friend here to kill this boy, simple enough? I guess you are here for them, or for us? I can’t really tell.”

“A funny guy as rumor said.”

“Oh, so you know me? My pleasure. But really, for a knowledgeable guy, you are actually not really smart. Instead of trying to pick on us, you should have escaped with them earlier.” The man grinned.

“Forgive me but I don’t actually know you, I just confirm that information based on your friend. That friend of yours is quite popular, so I make a guess on his partner. And for the escaping, I don’t have to do it at all.”

“And why don’t you?” That fact made him not quite happy.

“Cause you are just an idiot cannot figure out where your real target is.”

The man quickly looked at his hostage, which was slowly fading away. A decoy, he thought, then turning to Kai’s place. Kai’s body was also disappearing. So it was a light trick.

“Do you see now? For a funny man, you lack sense of humor in times like this. So long.” With that said, the shadow threw a cluster of small marble balls to the two men’s direction. The balls released a blindingly dazzling light when touched the ground. They covered their eyes as it happened. And when the light had gone, the star of the show disappeared along with it.

The short man looked at the place where the shadow was, then spoke to his partner:

“How interesting. Now this is what I call a hunt.” 

-End chapter 10-

Chapter 9
 Chapter 11