[Vertigo]!
Jason’s eyes glowed yellow, and the man’s gaze swam with hundreds of swirling images as he was immediately affected by the disorienting skill! The man cursed, but he was still able to fall to the ground, and he quickly sank through and vanished from the [Land of Lost Shadows]!
Jason immediately deactivated the [Land of Lost Shadows] and returned to the real world, and Jason saw the two attackers standing opposite him. The man had a tense look on his face, and his eyes were closed so he wouldn’t be affected by Vertigo, and the woman, Reaynar, was standing in front of the man protectively while helping him stay upright! Reaynar had a sword that she held in front of her threateningly, and she guided the shapeshifting man to slowly move back. Jason spread his senses out, and he was shocked to realise that this woman was an Avaran as well!
’A TITAN Rank III.’
Unlike the man who was far weaker than him, the woman was only one rank below Jason, and Jason realised that this was why she was able to shake his Shadow world so easily. The shadow world might be powerful, but it was still a construct made of energy, and it could be shaken if you released a surge of mana that was strong enough! That was the same way the [Beast of the Apocalypse] managed to break out of the Alternate World during Jason’s fight with it! Jason eyed the two Avarans closely as the tension in the room began to build into something intense!
Unlike Jack, who had been slightly playful and unserious during their confrontation, Raeynar did not look like she was here to play at all! Her black eyes were narrowed dangerously, and the muscles in her arm were constantly twitching in preparation for anything! Reaynar’s eyes were fixed on Jason like a hawk, and she took in a slow, tense breath before releasing it!
BOOM!
Suddenly, all three of them moved at the same time! Reaynar and Jack charged out of the castle by breaking through the wall, and Jason flashed after them so fast that he left afterimages from his movement!
’Slow them down!’
Jason shouted a message to one of his Bengari subordinates, and the woman raised her spear from the ground and threw it towards the running Avarans! The spear tore through the sky like lightning, and flashed straight towards Jack, but Jack easily noticed the incoming danger even with his eyes closed, and he avoided it by shapeshifting his lower body so that it was shorter! Raeynar was still moving quickly while managing to stay ahead of Jason, and Jason realised she had to have some sort of movement skill!
[Time Dilation]!
Jason flashed forward faster than the eye could blink, and appeared behind the running couple with his sword raised high! Reaynar turned around with wide eyes and brought up her sword to try and block Jason’s swing! But that turned out to be her biggest mistake! Jason’s sword carried so much weight behind it that her sword didn’t stand a chance, and Jason easily carved straight through her sword before taking off her arm at the elbow!
SLASH!
"AHHHH!"
Raeynar screamed in pain, and Jason reached out to grab her, but Jason was shocked when a Dimensional Tear opened behind Jack and Raeynar, and they both fell inside and vanished into thin air! Jason’s eyes narrowed immediately, and he put his hand out and tried to reopen the Dimensional Tear, but no matter how much mana Jason released, it just wasn’t enough! Jason frowned in annoyance as he realised that the anti-travel rune that Azrael had erected was still active! That meant that no one should be able to open a Dimensional Tear inside here!
’That portal was similar to the one I felt in Hondura. They’re working with the Mind Apostle.’
This Dimensional Tear wasn’t like the normal Tears that mages could use to travel across worlds! Whenever a Dimensional Tear was about to open, there was always a surge in mana that warns the people around, but Jason didn’t feel any mana at all before that Dimensional Tear opened! It was as if someone had simply ripped open a portal in space! That meant the portal was similar to the one used by the Mind Apostle on Honduras.
’The King’s Guard are working with the Court of Apostles?’
This thought crossed through Jason’s mind, and Jason’s frown deepened! Jason spread his senses out to try and track where the couple had gone, but no matter how much Jason searched, it was impossible for him to find their mana signature!
’I can’t sense them anywhere. They could be on any world in the Primordial Expanse. Or if not, then are they using some sort of artefact to mask his presence?’
Even when Jason had been walking around the castle earlier, he hadn’t been able to sense Jack’s mana until he entered the ballroom. That meant that Jack had some way to hide his presence from even the Primordials! But the most worrying part of all this for Jason was the fact that Jack managed to sneak out of the [Land of Lost Shadows] earlier in the fight. Jason always believed that his Arcane Art could never be countered by anyone weaker than him, but Jason now knew that Jack had some skill that allowed him to phase through the Arcane Art like it didn’t exist!
Jason cursed! If Raeynar hadn’t interfered, then Jason would’ve been able to capture Jack and find out more about what was going on!
’Jack the Ripper. He sounds like some sort of assassin. Do you have any information on him?’
Jason asked this question to the system, and the system brought up a tab.
[The system cannot find any information on [Jack the Ripper] in its database.]
Jason’s eyes narrowed as he heard this, and he stored the man’s name away in his mind. Jason already knew that Avarans had the ability to absorb powers from any creature in the Primordial Expanse, so there was no way for Jason to pinpoint exactly what ability Jack just used to escape from the [Land of Lost Shadows], but Jason couldn’t believe that there was actually something out there capable of bypassing an Arcane Art!
Roar~!
A low roar came from the side, and Jason turned to see one of his dragons flying up to him with the arm that Jason had severed from Raeynar in its mouth. Jason smiled at the dragon and pet its head, thankful, as he collected the arm and Jason decided that this could be useful in tracking those bastards.
’Come out here.’
Jason called on multiple Moonlight Wolf subordinates, and they landed on a large black platform and immediately ran up to Jason! The wolves jumped around him excitedly while rubbing against his body, and Jason grinned and pet a few of them before he put the arm down and told them to sniff it! The wolves took long sniffs, and they picked up the scent of the woman, and once they were sure they had the scent, Jason told them to scatter!
’Search through all the worlds parallel to this one and look for where they might be. Get back to me once you find anything.’
This was Jason’s order, and the wolves all howled before they fell into the shadows and vanished! Once they were gone, Jason put the arm away, and he frowned and looked around calmly while thinking back to the conversation that he just had with Jack. Jack spoke like someone who had been a soldier in Avaran, so Jason was sure he worked with his father. But Jack’s speech about there being someone out there that was gathering Avarans for a war actually made Jason worry. It wasn’t too long ago that Jason spoke to his brother, Hendrix, about their oldest brother and how much trouble he was causing for the family. If there was anyone with the power and authority needed to gather the Avarans together, then it had to be Gregory.
’Fuck. I can’t ignore this anymore.’
....
A/N: Please Vote with GT!