The lead Raider's visor glowed as he took a slow step forward. His hand rested on the hilt of his energy blade.
"Step aside," he ordered once again. "We're searching the vehicle."
"Wait… wait… It's not what you think it is..." Agastya hurriedly stopped them. Before they react further, he called her out. "Thea, come out, my dear."
Thea's breath became heavier, but she eventually took a deep breath and slowly opened the compartment door, and emerged from the front passenger seat before stepping out of the vehicle.
Agastya spoke sincerely. "Sir, she is my niece. She lost her identification chip, and I was worried that she would get taken to the authorities."
Before they react to his lie, he dramatically fell upon his knees and pleaded to the lead Raider, grabbing his hands. "Sir, please don't hurt her. I saved around 8000 credits so far. I will hand over my entire savings to you, sir. Please show us mercy."
The second Raider's expression shifted slightly at the bribe. However, the lead Raider pulled out a scanner from the backpack and pointed it at Thea's face, which filled with fear. "Before I believe your story, I need to check whether she was on the bounty list or not."
The moment the Raider's scanner finished processing, a notification flashed across his visor alongside the image of the princess.
68% match.
The lead Raider's grip tightened on his weapon. "Looks like we have a problem. What are the odds that the princess of Iberica escaped the prison last night and a lookalike appeared in the dawn?"
Thea barely had time to react before the other raider lunged forward, grabbing her arm.
Agastya's mind raced at once. He had planned for almost every scenario, except this one. His bribe was useless. His cover story had failed. It appeared that there was no talking his way out anymore.
In an instant, Agastya's facial expression changed at realization. The goofy smile and sincerity he displayed earlier turned cold, and he moved.
With one swift motion, his hand snapped up, grabbing the second Raider's wrist and twisting it violently.
*Argh..."
A sickening crack echoed in the night air as the man howled in pain.
Agastya followed up with a brutal kick to his chest, sending him crashing into the side of the vehicle.
"You..."
The lead Raider had barely reached for his energy blade, but before he even got to take it out, Agastya closed the distance. With a sharp and precise strike to the throat, he crushed the Raider's windpipe, leaving him gurgling for air.
A final kick to the head sent the lead Raider crumpling lifelessly to the ground.
In a matter of seconds, the Raiders were defeated, and Agastya started returning to the vehicle with an intense, serious gaze.
He grabbed the frozen girl's wrist and pulled her toward the vehicle. "Let's go."
They had seconds before a sharp, high-pitched beep suddenly filled the air.
Agastya's head snapped toward the second Raider, who managed to just send the Emergency SOS to their command center.
Emergency Bounty Alert: Celestial Bloodline Suspect Escaping.
The words displayed on the holographic panel floated above the Raiders' wrists.
"Damn it. If I knew it would be like this, I would have gone at night... I made a mistake..." Agastya wasted no time. He went back and grabbed the man's helmet and took it, slamming it against the metal frame of the vehicle, before giving a swift punch to his face, ensuring that he was completely unconscious.
Then, he yanked the door open, shoving Thea inside. "Buckle up."
She barely had time to obey before he slammed his foot on the accelerator and changed the gears. The modified hauler roared to life before it screeched through the road at high speed, making sure to get away from the location as far as possible.
"You should have killed them…" Thea said. Her voice was barely a whisper.
"No, that would make it even worse," Agastya muttered, gripping the wheel tight. "
He exhaled sharply, engaging his mind with possible escape routes.
"Hang on, Princess, things are about to get messy."
And with that, he changed the gears again, speeding the vehicle to the max.
Roughly an hour later, the vehicle reached the barren lands outside the city.
At first, it seemed like it was alone in those lands.
But then, all of a sudden, a missile struck the vehicle right from above.
A deafening explosion shattered the vehicle at once, flipping it into the air like a broken toy. Fire erupted from the vehicle, but luckily, both passengers were thrown from the wreckage in time.
Agastya hit the ground hard. Blood trickled down his forehead, and his ears were buzzing. However, there isn't a single burn mark on his skin.
A shadow loomed over him.
"Mister…"
Thea, who also seemed completely fine, thanks to her healing ability and the clothes she wore, lifted him and dragged him away from the burning remains of their vehicle.
Meanwhile, an attack helicopter materialized in the sky, coming out of its stealth. A few bounty hunters climbed down the ropes, landing on the ground, with energy cannons in their hands.
His half-lidded eyes widened as Thea suddenly let go of him and stepped forward. Right then, white wings burst from her back, and a golden aura surrounded her as she unleashed her angelic form.
"Restore."
With a soft whisper of a basic incantation, she placed a hand on Agastya's chest.
Warmth flooded through him, mending his broken bones and sealing his cuts at once.
But before he could utter a word of gratitude and get up, one of the bounty hunters struck from far away.
Energy chains were shot at her and wrapped around her limbs. "Argh…" She tried to get free, but the bounty hunter smirked and pulled. "Kyaaaa," She let out a cry as she was pulled toward the group of bounty hunters.
Agastya's heart pounded as his eyes witnessed the scene. His fists clenched at once, and his muscles tightened in seriousness. "Looks like I have no other choice."
His fingers found the locket around his neck, and with a slow, deliberate motion, he pulled it off.
A wave of power erupted from him. The bounty hunters stopped in their tracks while the energy chain that was pulling Thea dissipated on its own into specks of light, taking the bounty hunters by surprise.
"What the..."
The air swirled violently around Agastya's battered form as he slowly got up.
Thea, who got free, hurriedly flapped her wings to return to him, but one of the bounty hunters didn't want to let her get away. He raised the cannon and shot an energy blast.
Just as Thea was about to be hit, she saw Agastya disappear from the spot where he had just there a second ago. And then, she felt a presence floating right behind her.
As she slowly turned around, she saw the broad shoulders and the big frame of Agastya, who was floating in the sky, with his hand stretched forward and blocking the blast.
"You can fly too?" Thea murmured in a daze while Agastya paid his attention to the bounty hunters.
"Cap, what to do..." A bounty hunter asked their leader, swallowing in saliva.
But before the captain even gave the order, Agastya raised his hand, and in the next instant, a divine glowing bow materialized in his grasp. It looked like a simple bow in blue color at one glance, but the leader of the bounty hunters stiffened when he saw it, recognizing something. His eyes widened in disbelief when his eyes fell on the bow. "That bow…"
He immediately roared in urgency, "Pilot... shoot him down, now."
But Agastya didn't give them time to act against him.
He pulled back the string while aiming it at the Helicopter hovering tens of meters away in the sky. Pouring his mana into it, he conjured an arrow of pure divine energy between his fingertips.
"That's..." Thea's eyes widened in recognition. "That's divinity. He is a celestial bloodline, too."
"Agni shakti Astra, heed my command and burn down my target." Words escaped Agastya's mouth before he let it go.
The single arrow transformed into a ball of fire as it struck the Helicopter at blazing speed. The Pilot didn't even get time to steer the vehicle away, and the fireball completely destroyed it. An explosion was seen in the sky.
Just as the bounty hunters momentarily stared at the sky, Agastya turned his bow toward them. He once again murmured. "Agyenastra, heed my command and burn down my enemies."
"Shoot him down..." The leader once again roared, and everyone immediately pointed their handheld energy cannons and began to shoot.
Agastya didn't care about the rounds fired at him and simply released the arrow.
The arrow that was released from the bow then turned into dozens of firing bolts of arrows, striking them one after another nonstop.
A heartbeat later, five of the six bounty hunters were burned to death. Meanwhile, Agastya's body, which was struck by multiple energy blasts, started to heal on its own without any external support.
Only one enemy figure still stood.
The bounty hunter leader, trembling with third-degree burns all over his body, with his weapon shaking in his grip, "I'll kill you."
Even in such a state, he lunged at his peak speed with his body enveloped by sparks of lightning, increasing his speed to the point that it only took a fraction of a second for him to cover ten meters. "Ha."
Just as he almost about to strike Agastya, a pair of giant red arms emerged from his body, and one of those arms suddenly caught him.
*Argh...*
The bounty hunter felt like whatever strength he had left had been crushed by the mighty strength of the giant arm. He looked like he knew he was going to die.
The man coughed out a mouthful of blood and stared at him. With a voice barely a whisper, he asked, "The divine bow… and the two giant arms… There's only one person who can have both of them. You're… cough... You are the Flame Emperor, The Rebel Commander AGNI… How… how are you still alive…?"
His body slumped without being able to hear the answer.
Agastya remained still, staring down at the blood-pooled corpse. In the end, he let out a sigh and murmured. "Return." The divine bow and the arms were dismissed and returned to his body.
As he took out the locket from his pocket and once again wore it, Thea pushed herself out of her daze and asked the question that had been troubling her even from the start. "Who are you?" she asked.
Agastya didn't meet her eyes.
Instead, he raised his hand, pointing his palm in one random direction, and in the next instant, another vehicle that looked exactly like the one that they just rode earlier and was destroyed by the missiles, a cargo hauler, materialized out of nowhere.
As her gaze was momentarily grabbed by the vehicle that just came out of nowhere, Agastya spoke. "My story is a bit long, Princess. Let's go. I'll tell you on the way."
With that, he started the engine, and the vehicle continued its journey through the wastelands.