What exactly are we looking for here?" Lucien asked.
"A camp. They had to sleep somewhere," Simone said.
"The only thing we're gonna find is trouble, I'm telling you," Lucien grumbled.
The group kept climbing the hill.
Tony, on his side, was trying to constantly feel the æther. He wanted to sense it all the time, not just when he needed it. But he avoided looking directly at the æther because of that thing. He felt he could have seen it through the æther, but his soul screamed that something catastrophic would happen if he laid eyes on their bodies at that level. It wasn't too complicated for him, but his limit was a hundred meters: beyond that, he couldn't feel the æther anymore.
Now I need to keep this up until it feels natural, Tony told himself.
Twenty minutes later, Asti, who'd become downright paranoid, kept glancing around and straining his ears.
"I told you to stay on guard, but now you're overdoing it," Hikiri said.
"I know, but I've got a really bad feeling about this," Asti replied.
"What's giving you a bad feeling?" Hikiri asked.
"This hill. Look at all those trees! It'd be the perfect place to hide or hunt," Asti explained.
"Haha, hunt? Are you serious? Stop it, you're gonna stress me out," Hikiri said, laughing.
Suddenly, Tony and Asti shouted at the same time: "STOP!"
The group froze and turned toward them.
"What's going on, Tony?" Simone asked.
"Movement."
At those words, everyone got into a defensive stance.
Asti cautiously approached Tony and asked, "How do you know there's people out there? And why are your eyes closed?"
"It's training. But how did you know?" Tony replied.
"The smell. It stinks like shit," Asti said bluntly.
Tony cracked one eye open and gave him a suspicious look.
"Poop, okay? Want me to draw you a picture or what? And since your eyes are closed, want me to be your eyes?" Asti added.
"Thanks for the offer, but no. Right now, I can see… well, with a different kind of sight," Tony said.
"So, where are they?" Asti asked.
"Look behind the tree on the right," Tony pointed out.
A hundred men on horseback burst out from behind the tree Tony had indicated. They were all clad in armor and wore helmets that eerily resembled human skulls.
"Alright, this'll be good training. I rely too much on my affinities. I'm gonna take you all on with just my æther sword," Tony declared, breaking away from the group and heading deeper into the hill.
Ten riders chased after him. "He's completely nuts! Tony, meet us at the bottom of the hill in three days!" Simone shouted.
"I think we'd better deal with these guys before worrying about Tony," Hikiri said.
"Stop!" yelled the man leading the group.
"Draw your machetes!" he ordered. The others behind him followed his command. "Strike with the flat of the blade. We need manpower. Otherwise, you can beat them to a pulp, but don't kill them, obviously. Go for it, boys!"
Nine riders charged at them, grinning ear to ear.
"Everyone, get ready, they're coming!" Simone shouted.
"Alright, you want to turn us into slaves? I'll leave you for dead!" Hikiri roared, rushing forward.
"What a temper! That one's mine!" one of the riders said.
"Do what you want, walking corpse!"
The one they called "walking corpse" outpaced everyone and grabbed Hikiri violently, catching him off guard with his speed. He dragged him up the hill.
"They took the strongest one. Except for that purple-haired girl, they all look weak. Let's save the girl for last," another rider said.
"Good idea, but let's deal with the others first."
"I'll handle them," Sonia announced.
Leaping off her horse, she barreled toward Asti at full speed and pummeled him with a flurry of machete strikes to the stomach, so brutal that Asti passed out.
"Leave him alone!" Lucien yelled, trying to attack her from behind.
Sonia spun around and grabbed Lucien's spear.
"You? I'll take you on with my bare hands!"
She yanked the spear so suddenly that Lucien was pulled toward her. She hammered him with a series of right hooks, always aiming for his face.
Pausing, Sonia looked at him. "Well, the right side of your face is nice and swollen, and you're bleeding like a pig. Time for you to sleep."
She raised her left leg to finish Lucien off with a final blow.
Bang! Bang!
Sonia dropped Lucien's spear and dodged the bullets fired by Dina.
Lucien collapsed to the ground, having taken too many brutal hits to the head.
"Well, look at that, the dessert wants to stand out! Come here, I'm gonna devour you before the others," Sonia said with a grin.