Chapter 27: 27?
Sadly, he would never get to realize his visions.
Out of nowhere, Ray's speed multiplied by 50%, letting him narrowly dodge the fire. Since the attack was aimed upward at Ray's head, the remains of the attack burnt through the ceiling of the sewer pipe.
At that moment, Ray and the enforcer happened to be fighting underneath one of the busiest markets in the city. Just a second ago, thousands, if not tens of thousands of people were walking through the mall, shopping for daily goods.
With the collapse of the tunnel came a multitude of consequential disasters. A sinkhole sprung out of nowhere, creating the destruction of most buildings in a mile radius around.
People started screaming and the tunnel was collapsing, but the enforcer didn't let his eyes off of Ray for a second. No distraction could keep him from his reward—his future promotion was running away from him in plain sight!
The enforcer tried running after Ray, but he realized within seconds that his speed was nowhere near Ray's. The only way he could get close was by abusing short-distance teleportation.
He grit his teeth in frustration, then decided on teleporting once more.
Such a situation rarely happened when he fought other cultivators. With a single spell, he annihilated countless cultivators under the third rank. Ray would have joined the list of dead cultivators, but with his speed and an element of surprise, he was able to dodge that fate.
The enforcer was wasting mana with every spell, but Ray wasn't thriving himself.
He couldn't use the power of friendship to get a speed boost, rather it was his continued use of overclock.
Although he used only an overclocked state for 20 seconds, the side effects were already catching up to him.
Nothing might seem wrong at a glance, but Ray could feel his organs taking a beating under the doped state of his body. Not to mention the blood which was slowly seeping out of every pore in his skin.
'40 seconds!'
40 seconds was all he had until his body would show signs of giving out. He could potentially keep this state longer than 40 seconds, but only one outcome would greet him: death.
After a couple of seconds passed by, Ray was already at the end of the tunnel, freedom within sight.
He momentarily slowed his pace to reduce the internal damage, but a disturbance in his mana vision bolstered his cautious attitude.
Just before Ray could exit the sewer, alarms rang in his head, warning him of an impending danger behind him. Without any other thought, Ray slammed himself against the walls of the sewers.
As his body sunk into the concrete walls, a ball of dense particles zoomed straight through the place he was just at.
Even though he dodged the brunt of the attack, it didn't stop there. The scales of Ray's skin which were closest to the ball were violently ripped out and sucked toward the dense mana.
The entirety of Ray's front side was skinned of its protection, leaving his bloody flesh in plain sight. Ray could feel the pressure on his flesh to separate from his body, but he managed to resist the intense gravitational pull.
The enforcer came close to Ray in the time that he had to dodge the attack. Ray managed to get up and moving, but he could practically feel the enforcer breathing on his neck.
Despite the short distance between them, Ray didn't dare to turn back and attack the mage. He was close to running out of steam, and the enforcer still had unknown cards left to play.
As long as he made it out of the city, he would be free to relax momentarily.
As Ray regained his pace, the enforcer could only watch Ray escape from him. The one advantage cultivators had over mages was their agility in maneuvering their physical bodies. However, if Ray faced the enforcer in a 1 on 1 fight, this advantage would be useless, since Ray would be blasted into smithereens.
The enforcer's expression turned dark, and his figure stopped in its tracks. The gravitational ball was his last attempt to kill Ray from afar; now, nothing was stopping Ray from escaping the city.
With the speed he witnessed so far, the enforcer didn't have much confidence in killing Ray in the open.
Just as he was about to give up, a familiar voice greeted his ears.
Jax appeared a few yards before the enforcer; he couldn't ignore the spontaneous collapse of his city.
His eyes were narrowed and suspicious. Jax's tensions were high ever since the enforcer arrived. Despite their alliance as the same empire, Jax didn't trust the enforcer one bit, since he knew the enforcer could care less about him and his city.
"What are you doing?" Jax shouted sharply.
The enforcer turned to face him, an expression of anger remaining.
"None of your business," he spat. "Just doing my job."
"Then why is a fucking Tiefling running amok?" The blood vessels on his forehead were bulging, and his voice was rising.
The enforcer ignored Jax's attitude since his current position wasn't the best, but only contempt lay in his heart.
'A mere cultivator talking down to me, a mage?'
Under normal circumstances, Jax's future could have been said to be over.
The enforcer remained silent for a moment, but he replied, "That demon has some sort of relic in his possessions. Why don't you work with me—I'll split the capture reward with you."
Once Jax heard the relic, all the anger in him vanished. He was still in disbelief, but if what the enforcer said was true, everything would make sense.
Even though he was more nervous than angry, he maintained his furious expression. "I–I accept. Let's kill that Tiefling."
The enforcer wasn't expecting Jax to accept so readily, but he didn't think too much of it. While the enforcer was distracted with Jax, Ray already left the city—there was no time to waste around.
Furthermore, he wasn't confident in his ability to catch Ray alone. With Jax's help, killing Ray was still within the realm of possibilities.
On the other hand, Jax was worried about the enforcer obtaining the relic. If the people of the capital discovered his misbehavior, he could only pray to God that he come out in one piece.
Jax steeled his mind: the second he gets the chance, he would crush the relic with zero hesitation. It was simply too risky to keep such evidence afloat.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Radiant2
Radiant2 5 ap tests coming up, wont be updating frequently for some time
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone