"Does everyone even know where these things are pouring from anyway? What is the cause for the sudden invasion?"
As the voice came, the Knights clad in black armor suddenly flinched and parted a way for the person walking from behind to pass.
The person that had spoken was a tall figure carved from muscles and shadow. Long black hair cascaded around sharp ears that rose like a wolf’s, framing a face both calm and somewhat sleepy.
His crimson eyes glowed faintly beneath the mark etched on his forehead—a dark star that seemed to drink in the light. He walked with an unspoken menace, a sentinel born of night and strength.
He stood in front of the girl that had climbed out of the disaster she wrought.
She looked up into his eyes.
"Aren’t there any other areas that require your attention, brother? Or are you just latching on to me because you don’t want to do anything?"
The man looked down, his eyes half closed.
Then he crouched down like he was actually going to sleep where he was.
His gaze fell wearily on the mangled monsters. Then the next second he bent down and started puking.
The lady, standing in front of him, recoiled away from the vomit with a mix of anger and disgust on her delicate face.
"Seriously, third brother! If you hate the sight of blood so much, why are you even here?!"
The boy gasped as he struggled with more vomit.
"First brother said I can’t sleep when the Clan is under attack... said something about common courtesy— bleurghh"
He emptied the contents of his stomach mid-sentence. Then brought out a black napkin that he used to clean his mouth.
"What does that even mean? Common courtesy... since when did that become a thing within a family of slaughterers? I think First brother is just way over his head because of Uncle’s return. I heard Uncle used to be his favorite person before his disappearance..."
The girl in front of him looked at him with some leftover disgust before stepping aside.
"I am not going to gossip about First brother with you. If you have a problem, go to him. And please, please, third brother, don’t follow me. You can follow first sister, she can condone you, but please, let me be... huh, okay?"
The man looked at the girl, dark circles beneath his drooping eyes.
He then smiled foolishly.
"Cute."
The girl recoiled at the word but did not waste another second. Instead, she launched and flew into the air, in search of more monsters to slay.
Meanwhile, the third brother bent down there, looking down.
Suddenly though, the entire place trembled greatly. His expression faltered for a second, the dark knights behind all observed their surroundings with caution and growing suspicion.
Then the ground towards their west side suddenly exploded, spraying shards of stones in all directions.
The Knights were all alerted, staring at the sudden explosion with maximum guardedness. A cold red light emanated from the darkness of their visors.
They raised their shields and readied their swords.
But the man that was bending down earlier was still bending down, staring down at his own vomit with a cold and indifferent expression.
People were climbing out of the hole in the ground, and although the fog of dust was quite strong, the knights could see the vagueness of their figures.
One knight stepped forward, placing his sword on the rim of his cone-shaped shield as he cautiously stepped forward.
"Don’t you dare move forward. Stop there! All of you!"
As the sound boomed across, movement stopped. The man bending down turned his head to observe them all; he tilted his head slightly as he did.
"Hmm..."
He suddenly vanished from where he was, and the dark knights saw him no more.
Meanwhile, inside the fog of dust...
A large boom suddenly resounded, the shockwave of it scattered and dissipated the fog of dust in an instant, everything became clear, and behind them, a young man with black long hair and sleepy eyes was holding Nebulous Lord’s fist.
Nebulous Lord was covered with a grey cloak so his identity does not leak; he had also totally suppressed his aura at Annette’s request. He was tasked with guarding the second party that took the tunnel route to the Kageyama territory, in order to inform them of the danger.
Somehow, the strange young man had sensed what was supposed to be insensible.
Zahir was here and he couldn’t even sense Nebulous Lord’s aura after he hid it. But somehow the young man had.
He turned down and slowly lowered his scarf covering his mouth.
"We have not come to fight..."
It was barely a second later before they were all surrounded. More Knights had flown over, and a few other distinctive people. About three of them.
The little entourage of people that came to relay the message of urgency were surrounded from all sides.
However, Zahir was unfazed. But the lady next to him, however.
The girl with electric blue hair—she had been calm for most of the journey, but Zahir knew her for a bit. She, him, and Gourdon had been on the elite team of Tharion for the longest.
In short, the lady was mad. And her madness was not going to work in their favor.
As they were surrounded from all sides, something flashed in her eyes. It was like her activation code was inputted and then she came online.
Her calm passiveness suddenly vanished, replaced by a dangerous demented smile, one that stretched from ear to ear.
He immediately turned to his back, signaling to Ryan who was behind him.
The lady suddenly flared her hands; they snapped and twitched. She was about to launch herself off the ground when she suddenly stuck to it.
Her leg, up to the knee level, was suddenly frozen.
She glanced at Zahir in confusion and snarled at him like a schizophrenic monster.
"You and your mutt."
She lowered her lower body and with one hell of a ferocious might launched into the air, completely turning the ice that froze her legs into shards.
But Zahir al’Noor was fast. He vanished like white smoke and collided with her mid-air. The two of them crashed on the ground and tumbled towards the left, away from where the members of the Kageyama clan were standing.
He hooked the lady on her neck with one hand and pressed her to the ground, while she snarled at him viciously like she wanted to gouge out his nose and crunch it with her teeth.
The knights surrounding them were at high alert; they’d seen all things. But they were not sure if they’d seen their assailants assault each other instead. Even monsters had the decency to be more organized and cooperative than this.
A man stepped forward from the remaining crowd of people. He was an ashen-haired man with a gentlemanly face and aura.
He bowed politely before them and spoke with measured cadence. He was utterly poised and demanded attention with softness.
"My name is Sael of the White String. We have come for an audience with the Patriarch... concerning the fate of our continent."