Chapter 9: The Hunt

It was a chilly spring night as the cool breeze freely made its way through Sofenia City, known by many as the city of Alchemy.

The faint fragrance of various pills was weak tonight as many of the city's residents had tucked in early.

It hadn't taken long for the news of the public's number one enemy returning to spread all across the city. They wanted to at least get a good night of sleep today.

They didn't know when they would hear random sounds of thunder or explosions in the middle of the night like they used to 3 years ago.

Boom! Boom!! Boom!!! Boom!!!! BOOOM!!!!

5 explosions, each louder than the rest shook the city as even the deepest of sleepers awoke. Some people were frightened and decided to hide deeper in their blankets while others peeked out their windows.

The city that was usually lit up by the perpetual full moon, was as bright as day. The extra source of light was 5 mushroom clouds of fire.

Each of the mushroom clouds was present in a different part of the city.

Near one of these sites was a group of 11 individuals who were draped in all-black, baggy clothes. They were all thin and tall but you could not discern their age or gender as their face was covered with a black mask.

A black mask without any holes for eyes as instead, there was a red glass-like material.

This group went from building to building, hopping across their rooftops as they ran away from this place.

If you looked just a bit ahead of them, there were people dressed in strange, all-red clothing with hoods.

Their robes made them look like some type of evil cultist.

"Chase them! The young master said that whoever kills the most will get 3 meals made by the matriarch." said one of the men in black.

You could not tell anything about him from his voice as it was distorted by some sort of magic. You could however hear the passion when he talked about food.

"Don't forget to leave one for interrogation!" said another one of them.

"Yeah. Young master always said that the ones who run the fastest always have the most to say."

"That means the guy in the very front is the one we spare."

"I call dibs on that one! Woo!"

"Leave some for me!" yelled one of the guys in the back.

"Kill! Woohoo!" It didn't take long for the group in black to catch up to the red ones as they were faster. They also surrounded the red ones in a smooth matter.

It was a testament to how well-trained and disciplined the group in black as compared to the red ones who were running away frantically.

They all channeled their mana from their core and pulled out either a sword or a staff with an orb on top, also known as a magic staff.

"Hehe, die for our meals you evil blood cultists!" they yelled in unison as a controlled barrage of attacks was let out.

Some cut their enemies in half while others fried them like chicken. It seemed like the red robed individuals were completely and utterly outmatched.

"How dare you attack the envoys of a god! You will all die miserably!" said the red robed individuals. From his face, he was a middle aged man who had gone through a lot.

He had average brown hair and eyes with a scruffy beard but also a deep scar from his forehead down to his nose.

"I beseech you, my god! Give me the strength to fight these heathens!"

The average man yelled a guttural howl and then a red aura burst from him. The same happened to about 6 other red robed individuals. Some of them were young and some of them were slightly old. There were both men and women among them

But they all had one thing in common, the scar from the middle of their foreheads down to the bridge of their nose.

They all leaked a crimson aura of visible pressure that pushed the black clothed fighters away.

These 7 men were the last of the 35 people who didn't die in the first collective attack from the other group. They were lucky and didn't want to waste it.

"They won't go without a fight." said one of the masked men as he stopped himself from falling off the roof of the building. His colleagues did the same.

"We were itching for a good fight too. The last 3 years have been uneventful without young master guidance." another one said as they stood up straight and prepped their sword.

"Let me handle this. I'm the only one who can nullify their evil art." suggested one of the masked men who seemed the least skinny of them.

Instead of a sword or magic staff, he had a silver shield with a lion etched upon it.

"Sheild of Helen's Envoy!" he announced as golden colored mana enveloped the entire rooftop. It formed a spherical shield with the same shape as the lion that was on the man's shield.

The faces of the red robes group had already twisted into a maliciously grotesque shape as their muscles seemed to squirm and balloon in size.

They felt deep anger and hatred, along with repulsion when they saw the golden bubble be formed around them.

"HAAAAAA!!!" they yelled as they pounced toward the masked adversaries with supernatural speed.

The masked ones responded with their own unnatural speed as they started to glow in different colors.

The masked ones moved with grace as they dodged and slashed, trying to keep a form of distance away from these former humans.

The swordsmen kept kiting their foes while at the same time, making space for the mages on their team to to cast spells.

While the robed monsters could dodge the sword swings, magic spells tracked their enemies and didn't miss.

It was an odd site. Seeing hulking humans fighting barbarically against thin adversaries who fought in a systemically trained manner.

It didn't take long for the fight to finish as there was a clear difference between the two groups.

Due to the nature of the golden shield, the robed men only got weaker and weaker, not to mention the spells that did significant damage to them.

Now, there remained 6 bodies on the ground while one of the red robed individuals was still standing. It was the only young girl here with a height of 4 feet and a somewhat cut face.

There were burns and cuts all over her body with the bleeding being prominent. Her robe had already been discarded as she lost superhuman strength and deflated to her normal state.

Her light blue hair was cut in a short bob and her red eyes stopped glowing as they turned to their natural shade of green.

She was panting heavily while her expression was distraught.

"These cults don't even spare the kids." said one of the masked.

"She is either an orphan or her parents are cultists too." said another one.

"Welp, either way, the younger ones are easier to get information out of. Unfortunately, the man we wanted struggled too much."

"She wasn't the one we wanted alive but that will do. That guy was too damn stubborn. He probably would have caved into torture anyways."

"Hey! She fainted. Put the cuffs on her and take her with us. Melina, you will take her back to base."

"Yes sir!" responded a masked one as she rummaged under her cloak, momentarily revealing a slender, feminine figure. She took a pair of black metal cuffs.

She put them on the ankles and wrists of the child and slung the girl over her shoulder.

"Let's head out. The other teams should have finished by now. We don't want the city guards to catch us."

With the final words being said, the group of 11 men and women jumped down from the rooftop they had completely obliterated in their fight.

They blended with the darkness of the night and were nowhere to be seen. The same scene had simultaneously repeated itself near the locations of the other 4 explosions.

By the time the city guards, dressed in heavy knight armor and fancy mage robes arrived, all they found was the aftermath.

A man at the lead of the dozen nights took off his helmet to reveal a handsome yet aged face. He had light blue hair and green eyes that seemed to hold a trace of seething anger.

"Commander! The explosions were caused by concentrated mana bombs of high quality. They only eviscerated the buildings they were in and harmed nothing else." said a knight who was first on the scene.

The blue haired man, the imperial guard commander of this city, looked at his subordinate and just nodded.

"Commander, it seems we might have a mole in our ranks. Someone got to the cultist as soon as we confirmed their locations. This can't be a coincidence." said a mage as she looked at the remains of a 4-floor residential building.

Burnt bricks and wood planks created a massive pile of rubble that might take a couple of days to clear up.

The commander didn't say anything as his towering, 7 foot tall figure loomed over his soldiers. He was deep in thought, wondering what would be his next course of action.

After 5 minutes of personal deliberation, he had come to a conclusion.

He looked at the mage that had spoken earlier and said "Send word to the capital. I want 3 squads from Shadow Tower sent here as soon as possible.

Lower the amount of guards on the walls and station them near the busiest parts of the city."

Then he turned to the knight beside him and ordered "Form a regiment of the strongest knights we currently have. Everyone must be at least 5th tier.

This regiment will come with me to visit the Vornix residence tomorrow morning."

"Sir! Yes sir!" the knights and mages saluted in unison and dispersed as they were assigned different tasks.

The commander was left alone as he muttered under his breath.

"My dear child, once again your father was just a step too late."

The commander took out a pendant from inside his armor and opened it to view the picture inside.

He took a glance at the image of the daughter who was a replica of himself and reaffirmed his will. There was a green gem still glowing intermittently on the other slot of the pendant.

The glow might have been weak but it was still there. That was all he needed.

He closed the pendant attached to the chain and tucked it back under his clothes.

He left the crime scene behind and headed out to recover the bodies of the blood cultists that had been found,

He knew his work was far from over as the chaos had only begun.