The man had a calm, yet somehow, sinister smile across his face. His bloodred eyes practically pierced into my soul — giving me shivers that ran down my entire spine. “His aura is insane… No shot I can beat him in a fight.” I thought, before backing up a bit more, clenching the gorgan child in my arms a bit tighter. I was terrified, I wanted to run — to get as far away as possible.

  But… I resisted.

  The safety of this gorgan child… Maybe it wasn’t worth my life. But hey, I will be damned if I don’t try to get her out of here.

  “So?” The man spoke again.

  “Shall you comply? All of this can be solved without violence.” The man's voice was practically dripping with sharp venom – his tone somehow both composed and yet, at the same time, cold and emotionless - like a shell, trying to pretend to have a personality inside of it.

  I was frozen for a little bit, before gathering my composure as well – still trembling, I gave an awkward smile. “Somehow, I doubt that those words are true…”

  “Hahahahah!” The man let out a hollow laugh. “Maybe. Maybe not. Who can say for sure? Perhaps you’d like to find out by testing it out?” He reached out his right hand towards me, or rather, towards the child in my arms. Maybe someone else would have taken the opportunity and taken the risk, but something told me that whatever I do, I do not follow this man's requests.

  “But then, what do I do…? I can’t beat him… Maybe… Maybe I can try distracting him and somehow escape?” I threw my gaze all around the place, searching for a potential way out. The original way we entered this place had been destroyed and this facility was deep enough underground that blasting through the ceiling isn’t exactly a viable option.

  Maybe some kind of ventilation system was somewhere that I could use?

  But if that was the case, then more than likely I was the only one who would be able to go through it, thanks to my true form being a lot smaller than a fully fledged human.

  The man narrowed his gaze.

  “It seems you don’t intend to comply…” I quickly looked at him, before just barely leaping away and evading a sudden attack – the same blood blade or whatever, that the man had used to defeat Arvalor in an instant. “Can’t lose focus! Even with ‘Enlightened’ I just barely managed to evade that!”

  Landing to the side a bit, I lowered my body down a bit, before using one of my arms to control the shadows around me, while gripping the child with the other. The man looked at the incoming attacks with an amused expression, before a thin red shield formed around him, blocking the strikes.

  “It’s always amusing to watch people like you squirm to fight. Well, I just hope you can be a bit more entertaining than most others.” The man stated, before moving his arm back under his cloak. Then, the thin shield shattered, before the pieces of it quickly shot forward as thin red beams, piercing through the shadows I was controlling and then shooting directly down towards me.

  “Shit–!” I quickly leapt out of the way, quickly forming more shadows to fire towards the man while sprinting across the room, doing my best to evade or block his incoming attacks.

  Despite each attack being formed in such a thin, fragile manner – they were far, far more durable than anything I had seen up until now. “Actually, perhaps they are a little less durable than the armour that the Southern Guardian had…” I leapt out of the way of a sudden red blade that had flown my way, before quickly creating a large shadow shield around me and the gorgan child, making it as thick as I could so that it could endure the barrage of red blades that the man was firing at me.

  “Come on! Is that the best you can do? I expected more from someone brave enough to raid a base belonging to the Hand Sons.” Hand sons? Is that… some kind of organisation? Perhaps that strange symbol on their clothes is a mark for whatever these ‘Hand Sons’ are?

  Whatever they were, finding out more would have to wait.

  Right now, I had to focus on getting out of this place alive and in one piece. The shadow shield I had created to protect me and the child began to crack, as the strength of the barrage fired by the man increased.

  I shed a sweat, before quickly leaping out from the shield, right as it shattered.

  The man followed after me with his gaze, a disappointed expression on his face. I breathed a bit heavily, before noticing that the child was beginning to burn up. Her breathing was becoming less steady now. “She must have been injured by the people who brought her here… I have to get her out of here and help her… But how on earth…”

  The man sighed, slowly walking towards me.

  “I am most certainly disappointed. I assumed that the intruders would be more entertaining this time around.” The man stared down at me with a cold gaze, before a single red line formed in front of him.

  “Decapitate.”

  Then, energy rushed into the line, before a large blade shot out towards me and the gorgan child. I quickly placed the child down, before stepping over her and with the combined efforts of ‘Shadowlord’ and ‘Venom Mastery’ I formed a scythe, swinging it at the incoming blade to try and intercept it with a large venom blade. My attack slowed down the strike initially, but was destroyed and the blade kept rushing towards me.

  In a panic, I gathered as much of my own magical energy to form another scythe in my other hand, using both of them as a shield to block the blade. A dust storm was kicked up as my attack intercepted the incoming attack. I felt the sheer power of this single blade fired by the man – it was nearly as powerful as the breath of the Southern Guardian. Worst of it, it looked like this man was barely even scratching the surface of his power.

  I held out against the blade, being pushed back by it a bit, before I finally managed to deflect it, sending it up into the ceiling. I dropped to my right knee, one of the scythes shattering. “It’s strenuous enough to upkeep one of these weapons, wielding two of them drained my magical energy by half…” I looked at the man, breathing heavily. He looked rather impressed, before laughing and then applauding. “Bravo! Perhaps I was too harsh with my criticisms! Sure, you just barely managed to fend off such a simple technique, but the simple fact that you did manage to do it, speaks wonderfully to your potential power!”

  Then, his voice dropped low.

  “Unfortunately, ‘potential power’ doesn’t equal ‘actual power’.” Then, three more lines formed above him. “Threefold slice.” Then, as the simple sentence that he spoke suggested, three red blades shot towards me from the lines. I gripped the remaining scythe in my hands, before swinging it towards the incoming attacks.

  The first one I managed to slice apart, the second I barely managed to deflect to the side and then the last one hit me head one, pushing me back, but thankfully, not managing to damage me, as I managed to hold out until the blade dissipated. “How can such a small attack carry so much power…”

  “Hm…” The man didn’t say anything.

  More lines formed in front of him, before narrowing his eyes. “Barrage.”

  I quickly spun my scythe, launching it at the man, before flipping around and grabbing the gorgan child into my arms, before quickly leaping into the closest shadows, just barely managing to escape the incoming barrage of the blades sent by the man. The man casually caught the scythe, before examining it and then dropping it to the ground, shattering it with his right foot.

  “I know that you’re still there. Accessing the domain of reflections won’t help you here.” The man looked around, before launching at a very specific patch of shadows, with his right arm he dove straight at them. The arm sunk in the shadows, before he pulled me and the child back out, tossing us across the room.

  I managed to shield the child using my own body, however… I myself was beginning to feel every strike on my body — minor or not. I looked at the man, who brushed off his hands. The arm he had sunken in the shadows looked like it had been incinerated, singing gently, before beginning to regenerate. “Honestly, I hate facing those that can access the domain of reflections. It is so irritating.” He looked at his regenerating arm, before looking back at me.

  “Any more tricks? Or is that where we can end this short game of cat and mouse?”

  I shed a sweat.

  While based on the way his arm was damaged, it appeared he was unable to enter the shadow world I had access to, I myself was unable to exactly utilise it to fight him. It drains my magical energy to remain in the shadow world and this man is still able to track me, even when I’m inside it. He can even reach in to grab me - even if it damages him.

  Though, I suppose his regenerative abilities are so strong, that some light damage from the shadow world was nothing…

  “What do you need this child for anyway?” It was a stupid question. I already knew from Avy that the child had been kidnapped to be used for a ritual to summon spirits from the Underworld, but in case there was more to this, I figured it was better to hear what this man had to say.

  The man looked surprised, before he chuckled.

  “Curious, are you? Well…” He scratched his chin. “I suppose there’s not much harm in telling you… Haha..” He then burst out into a strong laughter, before crossing his arms. “Did you think that I was going to say that?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “This isn’t a fairytale. What kind of man opens up about his plan to someone just like that?” He asked, before shaking his head and clicking his tongue gently. “Only a fool does something like that.” Then, he extended his right arm out towards me. A small red orb formed in the palm of his hand. The man smirked gently.

  “Exterminate.”

  The orb then shot out towards me as a powerful beam. There was no way I would be able to evade or block this thing – not while protecting a child at the same time. “Oh god! I have to—” Then I remembered at the last moment.

  I’m not here alone.

  There’s someone more powerful than me. In the split moment of panic, right before I was hit, I gathered up as much air as I could into my lungs and shouted. “Avy—!”

  Then, right as the beam was about to hit me, a white magic circle formed in front of me, which blocked the beam, holding it off for a bit, before the beam disappeared. The man looked surprised. “Oh?” Then, I saw as Avy leapt through the air, tossing the mangled corpse of one of the henchmen down, before landing in front of me. She exhaled, looking back at me.

  “Seriously? You couldn’t even fight off someone this weak?”

  “Save your sharp tongue for later. Can you keep him busy?”

  Avy looked at the man, who now had an amused expression, smiling lightly, before scratching his chin gently. “Oho?～ Your magical energy is far more impressive than that snake monsters behind you…”

  He extended his arm out. “May I assume you’re stronger as well?”

  “If you want, it doesn’t matter to me.” She adjusted her glasses, before stepping towards the man. “So, perhaps you can give me a better fight than these nobodies?” She looked at the cloaked corpse she had tossed to the floor moments earlier. The man smiled. “Nobodies…?”

  Then, he laughed.

  “You know what? I like you. Tell me, what’s your name, young lady?”

  “My name?” Avy took a defensive position, preparing for a fight. “Why would you want to know something as trivial as your opponent's name?”

  “Consider it a sign of respect. When two warriors meet and introduce themselves, it can be a sign of either side showing respect. I prefer to know the identities of those I find interesting.” He sharpened his gaze. “So, may I know your name?”

  Avy remained silent for a moment, before unleashing her talons. “Avy. You can call me Avy. And you?” She narrowed her eyes. The man kept a wide smirk across his face, brushing his chin. “Avy huh? It sure has a nice ring to it.”

  Then, the man took a step back with his left foot.

  “Well Miss Avy, allow me to introduce myself now.” He bowed gently towards her. “I am known as Erwin Margot, however my real name is only known by a very small portion of people — instead, perhaps you know me by the title of ‘Blood Sorcerer’ or even perhaps….” He lifted his head up, his deep red eyes glowing gently, before red liquid, blood, began to rise up in the air behind him, forming three large magic circles behind him.

  From the magic circle, blades seemingly made of blood slowly came out – dripping from their blades all the way down to their hilts. “The Sinner.”

  I shed a sweat, while Avy raised an eyebrow.

  Neither of the titles rang a bell for me and seemingly her as well – yet this man acted like they were a big deal. Could this perhaps be something most of the world was aware of, yet only appeared after Avy was imprisoned in that seal by her mother?

  Who could say.

  “Well then Erwin…” Avy began, before launching at the man, her talons outstretched and shining with sharpness. Erwin's eyes widened alongside his smile, before two of the three blood blades he had summoned flew into his hands, the man grabbing them and then with a gentle spin, blocking Avy's attack, holding her down. Avy narrowed her eyes. “Enjoy the air while you can, because I’ll make sure this is the last time you breathe.”

  “Fiesty and straight to the point… I really am starting to like you a lot.”

  Erwin pushed Avy back, before spinning his blades around again and then leaping at her – slashing the two blades at her, which Avy dodged rather easily, before swinging her talons at him back. “I sure do hope you can bring me good entertainment.” Erwin stated, before blocking one of her attacks and pushing her back again, leaping after her immediately afterwards.

  With those two locked in a fight, I now had the opportunity to look for a way out. Literally anything that would allow me and Avy to get out of here safely and with the gorgan child would work. And we needed to do it fast because….

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  The gorgan child coughed, her breathing becoming harder and heartbeat slowing slightly. “I have no clue how long this child will last.” I threw my gaze around, before closing my eyes and maximising the effects of ‘Enlightened’, scanning the entire place for any potential exits we could use. Ventilation shafts, small tunnels only I’d fit in, nothing, nothing… Argh!

  There had to be some way for us to get out of here unscathed!

  A loud blast roared from the right side. I threw a look over at what was happening between Avy and Erwin. It looked like the man had used one of those exploding orbs again, as an entire section in the wall had been destroyed, with Avy leaping out of the smoke, with Erwin following after her.

  In the air, Erwin slashed at Avy with his blades — which Avy just barely managed to block and deflect, before her right hand talons shone a bright white colour, and she slashed down with them at the man.

  Fae Light arts, Enhanced Slash.

  Erwin just barely managed to dodge the attack, a bit of his cloak being ripped. His eyes widening, Erwin quickly uncoupled his cloak, allowing Avy to rip it off as the two of them landed back onto the ground. Avy looked at the cloak in her talons, before tossing it to the ground and stepping on it, looking at Erwin with a cold look.

  Now his clothing under the cloak was revealed – a skin tight suit, with these barbed wires around his upper arms and a pair of loose trousers – all of which had a consistent glowing red line pattern going over it. Erwin chuckled.

  “Not bad… Fae Arts? Now that’s a rarity to see… Only Fae and those who are taught by them know how to use something like that.” Erwin stated, before standing back up straight, spinning his blades around, before the third blade that had been floating above him the whole time flew down in front of him. Destroying the blade in his right hand, he gripped the larger blade, before pointing it at Erwin. “Though, I have to say, I am disappointed.”

  “Disappointed?” Avy raised an eyebrow. “In what way?”

  “You still hold back against me.”

  Avy’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. ‘Holding back’? No way, she was using all her strength, at least, all the strength she had access to. “God damnit… I am still recovering my strength after being in that seal for so long… This guy is mocking me.”

  Erwin narrowed his eyes.

  “I believe you’re using only a third of your strength. Come on, don’t hold out on me. Give me everything you’ve got.”

  Avy smiled, laughing. “What are you talking about? This is everything. I’m not holding back – that’d be just disrespecting my enemy.”

  “Oh? You wish to lie then? Very well.” Then, Erwin disappeared and in a split second closed the distance between him and Avy, which surprised Avy, as he slashed the big blood blade down at Avy, the girl just barely managing to block the strike using her talons. She struggled a bit, as Erwin leaned in closer.

  “I will just overwhelm you until you finally show me what you really are capable of.”

  Avy shed a sweat, before pushing Erwin back and then leaping into the air above him, both of her hands lighting up with a powerful white light, before it turned bright blue and green, as she shot down at Erwin.

  Fae Nature arts, Impact.

  Erwin dodged the initial attack, however before he could react, Avy leapt at him once more, with her right fist engulfed in a green glow, before she threw a powerful punch at the man, smashing straight into his chest, knocking out a bit of air out of him.

  Fae Nature arts, Mountain Punch.

  Erwin was launched across the room, straight into the wall. Avy then followed the attack up by launching herself after Erwin, her left leg engulfed in a similar green energy, as she crashed into the spot that Erwin had smashed into, a large dust storm kicking up and the entire facility shaking, with debris falling all over the place.

  Fae Nature arts, Mountain Kick.

  Tarsh and Leing quickly escaped the main room, running off into one of the hallways, just to escape the damage being caused in the main room, while Faofa was forced to dodge the falling down debris, transforming to his snake form for a second, before pulling the child with him underneath some cover, where he returned to his human form.

  He looked up at where Erwin and Avy had crashed into.

  “Did she get him..?”

  As the dust cleared, Avy’s eyes widened. Erwin had blocked her kick with the giant blood blade, before he looked at her with glowing, bright eyes. “Not bad! But still too weak to face me!” He knocked her back, before spinning the giant blade and launching in at her, launching for a stab.

  Avy dodged the stab by a hair – a bit of her feathers and clothes scraped by the blade, before using her legs to kick the man in the gut, sending him into the ceiling before landing back onto the ground. However, she didn’t get even a moment to recover her breath, as the man suddenly appeared on the ground in front of her, swinging his blades towards her at a monstrous pace. Avy kept backing up, dodging and blocking the man's strikes, while Erwin had a sinister smirk across his face — blood spilling and flying all over the place as he swung at her.

  “Come on! Show me more, more! I want to see real power!”

  He kept swinging at her, each swing becoming more powerful and faster. “I want to see what you can do!” He flipped around, sending the big blood blade and then the smaller one crashing down at Avy, which caused her to gasp lightly, catching the big blade with her hands, however just barely managing to deflect the smaller one to the side with a quick magic circle.

  “Stop holding back!”

  He shouted, before kicking her in the face, launching her across the room.

  Avy hit the ground pretty heavily, however managed to recover and get back up on her feet, brushing off the blood from her nose and mouth. Erwin stepped towards her, his two blood blades dripping, while his sinister grin was plastered across his face and his deep blood red eyes, which were glowing the entire time, glared her down. It was as if a demon had awoken. Avy stood up, her body gently shaking.

  “Damnit, those strikes of his are stupidly powerful… How on earth? If he’s a sorcerer, he shouldn’t have this kind of physical strength.” Avy thought, looking down at her right hand. Then, she turned to look at her left one. She was shaking. Her body was beginning to reach its limit. “Tch– If it weren’t for mothers seal, I’d be able to defeat someone like him with ease…”

  “Is that all?”

  Erwin asked, stopping before lifting the big blood blade up and resting it onto his right shoulder, looking at Avy with wide eyes, filled with disappointment. “After all that, you still won’t show me your true power eh?”

  Avy prepared a defensive position, bracing for any attacks he would launch at her next.

  Erwin sighed. “Well, it would appear I won’t get what I want. May as well end it here.” He stated, before the smaller blood blade shattered, the blood making it up flowing up and around the big blood blade, starting to surge energy. Avy’s eyes widened, while Erwin closed his eyes.

  “Do try your best to dodge… if you can.”

  I could feel the magical energy in the air around us be sucked up by Erwin, all transforming into power that surrounded the big blood blade. It appeared that Erwin was charging up an attack — and one that I doubt Avy would be able to live or block. “Damnit it… I have to help!” I was about to leap out to do something, however suddenly I felt something grab me. Looking at the source, it was the gorgan child, who seemed to now be slightly awake, breathing heavily.

  She looked up at me. “D…Dadd..y?”

  “Shit, why did you need to wake up now—?!” I threw a look back at Avy and Erwin, as Avy cast several shields in front of her and Erwin finished his attack. “It was nice knowing you Miss Avy, I’m disappointed that you didn’t show me your true strength.”

  “Avy–!” I called out.

  Techniques of the First Blood, Doom Stab.

  Erwin lunged the blade forward at Avy, the energy exploding as a giant force of energy, shattering through all the shields Avy had cast, before it approached Avy, making the entire world fall silent for a few moments. In this moment, it felt like time had slowed down, as I watched the attack inch closer and closer towards Avy, about to annihilate her. I felt a spark of energy rush through my body.

  “I can’t—!”

  [Serpent’s Wrath] available for use.

  Would you like to—

  …Before the message could finish, the ceiling blast open with a white beam. The beam traveled down between Avy and the attack launched by Erwin, intercepting it and causing Erwin's eyes to widen. Avy and Faofa also looked in disbelief.

  Between Avy and Erwin now stood a Knight dressed in white armour, who had blocked the attack with a shield – before scoffing. “This isn’t what I expected to find, but it’s a welcome find either way.” Then, the knight easily pushed back the blood sorcerer's attack with his shield, before unsheathing a longsword and launching at the man. Erwin reacted in the split second it took the knight to close the distance between them, barely managing to block the knights slash.

  However, then the big blood blade in his hand cracked.

  Erwin quickly let go of it, leaping back as the knight destroyed the blood blade, landing gently onto the ground. The blood that had composed the blade quickly flew back to Erwin, who shed a sweat. “God damnit… What on earth is…”

  He clicked his tongue, looking at the man with a furious, yet also at the same time, terrified expression. “What on earth is a Dragon Knight doing here?!”

  The Knight rose up to his feet, while I was lost for words. Avy in the back also seemed equally shocked, but she also seemed horrified to see the man. Then, it finally clicked. This knight — he was the same one Avy and I wanted to avoid. The one who had arrived in Ordial recently. The knight brushed off his armour.

  “Passing by. Or rather, I was searching for a certain individual – who I appear to have found.” He looked back at Avy over his right shoulder. Then, he laughed. “Though, I never expected to also find a Harbinger of Tritery in the same spot. What do they say… Knock out two birds with one stone?” Erwin scoffed, before his smile returned, though this time, it wasn’t as confident as the other times. In fact, it was a nervous one.

  “Well, I never thought I would have to come face to face with one… I suppose you wouldn’t be willing to let me get away scott free?”

  “Not even a chance.”

  The knight braced, lifting his sword up and his shield in front of him. Erwin shed a cold sweat, looking at the knight with a nervous gaze. “This situation is bad… the intruders are one thing, but there is no way in hell I can beat a Dragon Knight…” His eyes drifted over to Faofa, who was together with the gorgan child. Then, he clicked his tongue. It would be such a huge loss if he was forced to abandon that child… But he also didn’t want to take his chances fighting the Dragon Knight either.

  It was basically a scale — of what currently holds more value.

  “...I must survive. Lord Dinyu will surely understand.” Erwin then smirked once more, before stretching out a bit. “Well then, I suppose I’ll just be forced to face you then..” He stated, placing his arms behind him, before pricking his index finger, flicking a small drop of blood onto the ground, before that drop quickly escaped into the nearest vent. Then, Erwin formed another giant blood blade.

  “I hope a Dragon Knight can show me a better performance.”

  The Knight exhaled. “Usually, I’d entertain you by fighting and then capturing you to bring you back. But considering that I have other matters to attend to…” He shot a gaze at Avy once more for a moment, before standing straight and placing his shield onto his back. “I will make this quick.”

  He lifted his longsword up above his head, the blade of the sword beginning to shine with a bright white light, strands of white energy moving up around his body and then into the sword. Erwin scoffed, launching at the knight with a spinning motion, the blood blade engulfed in a black energy.

  The white light around the knight's blade grew in strength, before his eyes shone brightly. Then, he swung the blade down at Erwin, before launching it as a powerful stab.

  Techniques of the Pale Dragon, White Roar.

  The white light of the knight's attack turned blinding, engulfing the entire facility. Then, a powerful roar echoed, causing the entire ground to tremble. Erwin was engulfed in the powerful light, his body and sword being disintegrated by the attack.

  I was just barely managing to hold on, tightly hugging the gorgan child to shield her from the powerful energy.

  Once the attack was over and done, not even a trace of Erwin remained. The knight took in a deep breath, before sheathing his sword and then stretching out a bit. “Those techniques always leave me so sore.” Then, he turned around and looked at Avy.

  “Now then, I have finally managed to find you – daughter of the Owl Empress.”

  Avy stared at the man with fear and anxiety in her eyes, while I just looked at the knight from the side with disbelief. “That power… the aura that surrounds that man…” To describe it as ‘powerful’ would be an understatement.

  Even Erwin's and the Southern Beasts auras combined didn’t come close to matching this knight. That just went to show how much more powerful he was than either of them.

  “I think I know why Avy didn’t want to run into him so badly now…”