Saquin staggered forward.
His breathing grew shallow as his hands clutched on the arrow.
As he felt himself grow weaker and weaker, a sense of fear grew in him. A rational fear.
The fear of the death.
But soon enough, even the fear got drowned out in his constant spiralling thoughts.
Did that fucker just show me his status?
To show that I evaluated him wrongly?
True, I did think he was a fighter type dye to his sword and gait.
How had he planned it out?
Most importantly, how the fuck did I not pick up the arrow with my Spatial Awareness?
The thoughts were on a constant flow even as his eyelids grew heavy.
He walked, staggered, over to a nearby tree and plopped down by it.
Just then.
He felt the earth tremor.
Something was coming from below.
Soon, his blurry vision took in the sight of a Rhinard jumping out of the ground.
Following after it were two humans. One was a familiar face, Xavier. The other was a woman dressed in black and white, with a simple shoul over her face.
"Here to steal another's man kill?"
Despite this being the first time he had seen the veiled woman, he could tell her identity. The fifth Divine Level Talent.
"This is the first time we are meeting, Eminence Saquin." The veiled woman said. "I am Princess Mia."
"Hmm." Saquin said absentmindedly. At the same time, he could feel three objects enter his Awareness range. Arrows.
Thud!
Three thuds resounded as the arrows dug into a rock wall created by the Rhinard.
"Seems the prince is getting feisty." Xavier said with a crooked smile.
"Understandable. He really thought the bunch of Candidates that he had instigated with his bloodline could stop my Underbeast army." Mia chuckled lightly.
"Ha, that explains a lot." Saquin eyes brightened a bit. He finally pieced it together.
It seems this Mia had some Underbeast taming ability or Core. With it, she had amassed her own army.
To stop her advance towards me, the prince had used his party, instigated by his bloodline power, to stop them in their tracks.
The leading battle result.
[ Population: 231. ]
And the numbers were still dropping.
Ruthless.
"Eminence Saquin is really as bright as rumored." Mia smiled. "And handsome too. It is too bad."
Saquin did not respond.
His mind was disarrayed.
What the fuck?
"I know the behemoth behind Your Eminence would later find me out." A small blue crystalized dagger appeared in Mia's hand. "But at that time, I would have realized my powers."
She knelt down before Saquin, the distance between them was not up to a meter. Saquin could feel her body heat, with her fragrance drifting over.
"You are beautiful." Saquin's voice had grown extremely weak.
A pleased smile spread on Mia's lips. "We could have been a couple if you were not the abomination."
"I would pass on that." Saquin smiled bitterly. "I will probably die soon, but you would die before me."
Just then.
Puchi!
Mia could not fully process Saquin's statement when a blade stuck out of her chest.
"Xavier." Mia spat out, a mouthful of blood followed right after.
"I am sorry princess, but I am not really a patriotic citizen." Xavier stood just behind Mia, his hands crossed behind him and a smile on his face. "Plus, I kinda prefer more busty women."
"Fuck you." Mia cursed. He body gave in as she fell sideways, the spear still stuck in her chest.
Laid there, her veil had lifted and Saquin finally saw her face. Just as he thought, she was stunning.
A delicate but mature beautiful fair face, with eyes that drew one in, finally complimented by her muti-colored hair.
"Kill him." She muttered weakly.
A roar resounded as the Rhinard Boss entered an aggressive phase.
"Futile." Xavier scoffed.
He drew out his two spare spears and lauched them.
One for Saquin, the other for the charging Rhinard.
The spears had a sheen of earth-yellow, snake shaped, energy around them.
They both struck true.
The spear pierced through Saquin's chest, and from it, a violent energy poured into his body to destroy him from within.
The other also pierced through the Rhinard's chest.
But.
It was still charging forward.
"It is way stronger than shown." A fuck you smile was on Mia's face.
"Still futile." Energy burst forth from Xavier as an energy snake, a python, construct coiled round his body.
He blast forth and closed in on the Rhinard.
The Rhinard swung out, a rock pillar shot out from the ground towards Xavier. But just like a snake, he weaved round it, and struck at the Rhinard with his open palm. The maw of the python located at the palm was also simultaneously attacking.
The huge arm of the Rhinard came for Xavier from above.
Unbothered in the least, he titled slightly, using the bae minimum amount of movement for the dodge. While his attack connected.
His open palm squarely hit the Rhinard's chest. The python construct disappeared into the Rhinard's chest.
"Easy." Xavier retracted his hand and jumped to the side, putting a distance between him and the Underbeast.
Almost immediately, he had to duck under and push off to a side as arrows filled up his former location.
He looked up to see the prince had closed in.
Shit, the transportation Core is faster than I thought... Wait, is he still not dead.
Xavier looked back to see that Saquin was still alive. He had a petty smirk on his lips too.
This motherfucker held on so the prince could get here. Petty.
"You two are good."
"Tch." Xavier looked back up to see that Greader had finally reached the scene.
"Well, can't say I didn't expect you guys interference. But I expected the madman over there to die quicker, especially from such a perfect shot." Greader jumped down from the hovering platform.
"Too bad, he is too tenacious." Xavier chuckled.
"True. I also factored such a thing too. Which I was sure if he was tenacious enough to survive my shot. I am pretty sure you guys won't even able to kill him before I get here." Greader walked forward with confidence.
"Of course, you anticipated my betrayal." Xavier nodded. If he was in the prince shoes, he would also had arrived at the same conclusion.
In fact he did, which was why he threw the spear with a lot of his energy imbedded in it. Unfortunately, it seems he had still underestimated the strength of the Abomination.
"So, what now... We duke it out?" Xavier raised a brow.
"Come on... You can't match..."
"You guys sure you predicted it all?" Saquin's frail voice cut into their conversation.
"Yes. Don't try to act all mysterious, no matter how strong you are you are handicapped. I am completely sure of this." Greader scoffed.
"I gained my freedom about a day ago. In this short while I have discovered two things I don't like about people." Saquin started. "First, you think you know stuff. Letting your scope of knowledge to judge it all."
Both Greader and Xavier frowned. Freedom?
"An example is like right now. You thought you predicted it all, but you didn't. You clearly are not aware of the lady behind this tree right?"
Just as Saquin said that, a silhouette slipped from behind the tree to his front. A dagger flashed and slice through his neck.
"What? How?" Greader and Xavier were shell shocked.
Casel.
The elegant, easy girl was smiling at them. Specifically, at Greader.
"Hehe. You are so cute my prince. You know, I have always idolized you. I wish I could just have your head framed in my bedroom, but father disagreed." She giggled at Greader.
Greader felt goosebumps rise on his back.
"Shit. I think she is from a Earth noble family." Xavier cursed as he took a step back.
"Yep." Casel nodded with a eerie smile. "Eminence Saquin should be too."
She turned towards Saquin after she said that. Just as she thought, he was not dead, at least not yet.
He held shut his neck wound as white fog poured into it, gradually freezing the wound.
"That is futile, Your Eminence. My Soul-Bound dagger has poison inlaid. You would die in the next few seconds." She told him gently.
Saquin did not reply immediately. He could not, not until the wound was frozen shut. And in the next second it was.
His eyes went over to a screen near him.
[ Population: 5. ]
Afterwards.
He staggered up.
He was a pitiful sight. A arrowhead peeking out of his chest, accompanied by a spear. Across his neck was a line of ice, his cloth disheveled and burnt in several places.
"The second thing I hate." His hoarse voice struggled out. "You don't listen."
At that moment.
The blue shine in his eyes grew brighter as his form blurred.
"What?!"
The next second, he was kneeling near Raythra's body, a pitch black spear stabbed into its head.
He lowered his head, his gaze travelled to the sight behind him.
"I told you..."
His low, hoarse but dangerous voice lingered in the air for a few seconds.
"I am fast..."
[ Population: 1. ]
"...Scary so."