The instant the ring of flames vanished, Ethan didn't waste a second and shot toward the opening that his father had created in the wall. As a level 4 warrior mage with the lightning element, his normal speed surpassed those of the same level.
Ethan's figure turned into a blurry shadow as he crossed the large meeting room and headed for the opening.
The five masked figures watched with desperate looks underneath their masks. Christopher was right in front of them, so they couldn't get to Ethan; they could only watch him as he made his escape.
"Don't forget about me, you aren't going anywhere!"
At this moment, a mocking voice rang out as another blurry figure flashed across the hall and appeared in front of Ethan just before he could reach the opening and successfully escape.
A kick came swooping towards Ethan's head and he had no choice but to block with his arms crossed in front of his face.
BAM!
The kick slammed into Ethan's arms with force, and the impact sent him flying backwards and crashing into some chairs.
Everyone looked at the culprit, who turned out to be Charles. He had a mad grin on his face as he stared at Christopher after preventing Ethan from escaping.
"Hehe, I'll make sure that the two of you die here." Charles spat before turning to the figure with the great sword. "Hurry, we've caused a lot of commotion, and others will be coming here soon; we don't have much time." He urged.
But before the figure could reply, Christopher lunged at Charles, leaving a trail of red flames behind him as two huge fire claws formed around his hands.
"Then I'll kill you first!" Christopher said coldly.
Just before he could reach Charles, his eyes darted to the side and he hurriedly twisted his body to the side. This action caused him to change directions and give up on killing Charles but it allowed him to dodge what was coming from behind him.
Swoosh!
Just a split second after Christopher moved out of the way, a great sword sliced through the air before slamming into the ground and leaving a long cut on the hard floor.
Had he been a second later, that would have been fatal.
The figure with the great sword didn't stop there and immediately went after Christopher.
"Unfortunately, I can't let you kill him." He said as he stabbed out rapidly at Christopher's flaming body.
In response, several fireballs appeared around Christopher and flew toward the swordsman.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The fireballs exploded after being stabbed by the tip of the other party's sword and a searing heatwave swept out, pushing the figure back and forcing him to defend himself with his sword.
Christopher was about to follow up with another attack when he saw that two of the figures were going for Ethan. He immediately turned around and punched in their direction.
Roar!
A flaming dragon that was several meters long flew from Christopher's punch and flew at the two figures with extreme speed.
The sudden appearance of the flaming dragon forced the two to halt their attacks and retreat, the flaming dragon kept flying until it crashed into the other end of the wall and left a scorched mark on it.
But saving Ethan had left Christopher's back open, the other three figures immediately took this opportunity and went in for the assault.
The double daggers user was the first to arrive behind Christopher. Bearing the severe heat that was coming from the flames on the man's body, he slashed his two daggers at his back.
However, Christopher wasn't a level 5 warrior mage for no reason. His body turned at an even faster speed, and he directly grabbed one of the daggers with his bare hand while his other hand grabbed the other party's face.
The dagger user was shocked and immediately tried to break free, but it was hopeless; Christopher's strength was just too much for him.
BOOM!
Flames exploded from the hand that was grabbing the figure's face.
"Ahhhhh!"
An anguished scream resounded through the meeting room as a surge of blazing flame swallowed the head of the dagger user. His screaming abruptly stopped the next second as the fire immediately consumed his head, not even a drop of blood was left.
Thud!
Christopher released the headless corpse and let it drop to his feet before turning to face the others.
"Who wants to die next?" He asked, his eyes scanning the remaining four figures and Charles.
Ethan watched from behind, he was silently observing the opening and still planned to make a run for it once he saw the chance.
"Careful, don't let him touch you no matter what." The figure with the great sword warned his remaining three allies.
They had witnessed how the dagger user died; it was no wonder that the head of the Castellan family was feared by many.
What was scarier was that he knew Christopher wasn't fighting at full strength because he didn't want to accidentally kill Ethan and possibly destroy the Castellan mansion.
Christopher watched them silently but a different thought was on his mind.
'Is Ivan okay?'
....
A while ago, around the same time that the argument broke out in the meeting hall.
Ivan was still staring outside through his window, his mind lost in thought about the future invasion of the Skrivalok and how he was going to find them once he had enough strength.
He might have been a General back then, but he didn't know the exact locations that the Skrivalok scouts used as their hideout to slowly nurture Earth.
'No use stressing over it, I'll think about that when the time comes.' Ivan thought to himself, deciding to focus on present events.
At this moment, his eyes suddenly narrowed and he turned to look at his door. The door was locked but Ivan could sense something behind it, something that he was very familiar with.
Killing intent!
Although whoever was behind the door tried to conceal this intent, they just weren't good enough to hide it from Ivan.
Ivan didn't stand up right away, instead, he quickly scanned his room, searching for anything that he might be able to use to defend himself.
Whoever was behind the door obviously wasn't just here to talk.
But before he could even find anything useful, his door was knocked down.
Bam!
The door was sent flying to the other side of the room and a leg came into view. Ivan watched with a calm expression as the leg retreated and a long figure stepped into the room.
'Level 2 warrior,' Ivan thought, instantly realising that this person was far stronger than him.
After all, he awakened a few days ago and couldn't even be considered a true level 1 warrior yet.
Dressed in black clothes that covered their whole body and a mask on their face with only a pair of cold eyes revealed, Ivan and the figure exchanged glances.
"Who are you?" Ivan asked, still not standing up. His fingers gently brushed the book next to him.
The figure didn't reply and observed Ivan instead, he was slightly surprised that the boy didn't show any sign of fear and looked so calm.
Maybe he didn't know the situation he was in yet.
"Who I am doesn't matter, I'm here to take your life." The figure replied after some time. Mana rose from his body, taking a visible shade that slowly condenses into a red gauntlet on the figure's right hand.
'A weapon user,' Ivan thought.
"I see, why do you want to kill me?" Ivan asked calmly.
The figure "..."
He was speechless after hearing Ivan's question.
'Something is wrong, how is he still calm even after knowing I'm here to kill him?' the figure thought.
Ivan's calmness was making him hesitate, wondering if it could be a trap.
Ivan obviously noticed this as well; he could tell that the other party was being cautious, which was why they hadn't attacked yet.
Ivan could still see people moving outside, which meant that this person had snuck to his room without anyone noticing. In that case…
"Help, there's an assassin here!"
Ivan suddenly opened his mouth and screamed at the top of his lungs. He wasn't foolish to think that he could defeat a level 2 warrior with the weapon class on his own, not even with his experience as a General.
His body was currently only at the level 1 warrior rank; the best choice was to call for help, which was what he did.
The figure was startled by Ivan's sudden scream and his eyes flashed with a murderous glare; he didn't expect the boy to react so shamelessly.
"You bastard, die!" No longer hesitating, the figure shot toward Ivan at full speed.
He knew that people would rush over soon after Ivan's scream so he had to kill him quickly.
Ivan's gaze hardened, the other party was so fast that he couldn't keep up with his eyes. But he didn't panic and reacted expertly.
He grabbed the book and threw it forward, at the same time, he ducked and rolled from the front of the window.
Just a second later.
Swish swish!!!
The sound of the wind being cut through sounded. The figure had shredded the book into pieces with his gauntlet, but this had caused him to miss Ivan.
He turned around and saw Ivan running towards the door, trying to go outside.
"Get back here, you little punk!"The figure shouted and went after Ivan.
He felt extremely angry right now because Ivan had played with his intelligence twice. How could he allow someone who had just awakened to toy with him like that?
At this moment, the entire mansion trembled as a loud boom rang out.
Ivan's eyes flashed. Something was going on outside; this meant that people would probably be late in coming to help him.
He would have to survive till then.
'Will I be able to survive long enough for help to arrive?' Ivan thought as he turned around, mana rising from his body and forming a large round shield.
The gauntlet user was already upon him, and he couldn't dodge; he could only use his weak ability that he had awakened some days ago.
Ivan didn't block the hit directly. Instead, he tilted the body of his shield to welcome the gauntlet before pushing it to the side, trying to parry the attack.
Unfortunately, it didn't work entirely. His shield was just too weak, the gauntlet immediately sliced through upon making contact and left a bloody gash on Ivan's arm while the force of the hit sent him flying to the side.
Bang!
Ivan's body crashed into the side of the wall, a wave of pain spreading through his body. Blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, and his arm that was holding the shield previously was dangling by just a bit of flesh.
Still, his expression remained calm and he didn't react to the pain.
If there was something he was proud of, it was his ability to ignore physical pain; he was just too used to it!