"Isn't it obvious? He wants everyone else to die except you, young master Leriat."
Like a child's play, Leriat tried to trap Anthony by displacing his summoned barrier to his position. But for Aron, who had trained Leriat and other bodyguards assigned by Leriat's father, reading such a move was effortless.
He knew every trick in the book. As he watched the futile attempt, a smile crept upon his face, knowing he would soon teach his student a valuable lesson.
Aron snickered after lunging back. "Woah, calm down, Young Master. Don't worry, your father won't be mad about you running away."
Leriat just hissed at hearing such crap. He unsheathed his iron sword alongside Anthony, who joined beside him.
"Three versus one, Aron. You are too cocky," Anthony exclaimed. With Vis that he had gathered, Anthony prepared some flying rocks around him.
"We'll see about that." Aron smirked.
Using his Vis to morph fully into a cheetah, Aron wasted no time charging ahead relentlessly. This time, his eyes and gallop direction fixated on Teres.
The Visbeast's frightening speed alarmed the heavily wounded young bodyguard. Teres had no time to channel Vis and there was no way he could outrun him. Not even Anthony's rock barrage was able to hit even once.
"NO!!!"
Anthony and Leriat both shouted in unison as they tried to catch up to Aron. But their efforts were in vain as a deafening cry pierced the air, followed by the gruesome sound of powerful fangs sinking deep into flesh.
Without hesitation, Aron then dragged Teres into the dark, lifeless forest, leaving Anthony and Leriat behind, struggling to keep up with him on a bloodied trail.
***
As soon as the four had moved away from the horse carriage, a woman in her twenties emerged from her hiding place amongst the dense trees and bushes. This was the moment she had been waiting for, and she couldn't let anything get in her way. Leriat's formidable Vis of Praesidium posed the greatest obstacle to her plan. Now, there was nothing between her and Claire.
"Hello, Granny." She pushed her glasses up the nose bridge. Her face twisted in a scowl as she stepped forward, her brows furrowed in displeasure.
She didn't like this moment at all, and it showed on her face. Despite her best efforts to hide it, her expression gave her away, revealing her deep-seated disdain for the situation at hand.
Contrastingly, Claire was not that surprised. But the truth that this moment was inevitable still weighed her.
She let out a breath before gently mentioning another Leriat's bodyguard name that worked under his son.
"... Giori ...."
Although Giori had prepared for this moment, steeling herself to the coldness of a bottomless abyss, memories of her time living alongside Leriat and Claire spoke otherwise.
Giori's heart grew heavy as she spoke, her voice shaking with regret. "I'm so sorry, Granny, for things to have turned out like this ...."
Her eyes grew cloudy as she tightened her grip on her wand, aiming at the old lady's chest.
Claire was too old to put up a fight. So she sat still.
Giori raised her wand, but her hands were trembling. Tears finally went down her cheeks.
"Granny, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry ... that I couldn't rebel against his wishes. My father, mother, and sisters' lives were at stake, and I had no choice but to comply." Her words were filled with pain and regret.
"I know, my dear. I know," Claire replied, her voice filled with understanding. "So long as you take care of Leriat for me, that would be enough." Her wrinkled face broke into a gentle smile, a testament to her unwavering love for her grandson.
Giori hesitated for a brief moment before clenching her teeth and focusing the blue Vis of Aqua towards the tip of her wand. She took a deep breath and whispered her final goodbye.
"Goodbye ... I will always love you."
With that, she released the condensed Vis in a powerful burst of energy, sending a small water drop penetrating Claire's chest. The impact was so intense that it even broke the cushion behind her, leaving a gaping hole in its wake.
The water jet-shot sound echoed in the silent forest with clarity. Anthony and Leriat could not help it, but were concerned about it while on top of worrying about their opponent, who had Teres as hostage.
Aron in his cheetah Visbeast form had a distinct impression. He was sneering. One of their main objectives had been cleared.
The Visbeast then opened its jaws, and with a sickening crunch, it released the gravely injured young bodyguard, dropping him to the ground like a rag doll. Leriat watched in horror as his friend's body tumbled to the earth, blood puddling around him.
"T-Teres! Hang on!" Leriat shouted, his heart pounding with fear and desperation. He could see his friend's life slipping away before his very eyes, and he felt utterly helpless. Teres's eyes flickered open, and he struggled to speak, his voice barely a whisper.
"L-Leriat ... I-I'm sorry …."
Later, as Anthony and Leriat stood helplessly, the sound of footsteps behind them sent a chill down their spines.
Out of the darkness stepped a figure. Its face wore a grim expression underneath a set of glasses. The womanly figure approached them slowly, her leather boots footsteps echoing through the silence as her wooden wand gripped tightly in her right hand.
"S-sister Giori ...." Leriat trembled in his word. Both of him and Anthony did not expect her to show up here.
"Giori?! Why are you here?!" Anthony added.
Despite their surprise, Giori just remained silent. She then tossed a silver necklace laced with blood in front of them.
Leriat's eyes widened in recognition, his heart pounding in his chest as he stared at the necklace. He knew exactly to whom it belonged.
Suddenly, Aron's voice slipped in, interrupting the tense moment. "Hehe, seems like you did your job well, Giori," he said with a hint of amusement in his tone.
Leriat's heart sank as he gazed at the necklace that Giori had thrown. It was his grandmother's beloved possession, laced with her blood.
A sickening realization dawned on him, and he knew that Giori had killed her. The grief and devastation that he felt were overwhelming, and he struggled to keep his composure as tears went down.
"How could you?" he managed to choke out, his voice filled with rage and disbelief. "She was my grandmother! H-how could you d-do something like this?"
Giori's expression remained stoic as she looked at him, her wand then pointed in his direction. To her, Leriat was like a little brother. But now, everything has changed for good.
Leriat's fists clenched at his sides, his anger boiling over. "Sister .... You killed an innocent woman!!! You betrayed me and everyone else who ever trusted you!! How could you live with yourself?!"
Giori's eyes narrowed. His words left a protruding pain in her chest. But her face was unchanging. To her, words would not be able to bring the dead back. The atrocity she did was beyond forgiving.
Leriat was left standing there, his world shattered. Clutching his hand tightly, he knew that everything would never be the same again.
'I never expected things to turn out like this. This is bad.'
Anthony gritted his teeth, feeling the situation spiraling out of his control.
"It's three versus two now, Anthony," Aron snickered. He then grabbed Teres in the neck and raised him up. "And it'll be two versus two."
A glowing dark-red Venevisium blade formed in Aron's hand. Not long after, a horrific memory etched into Leriat's mind.
Teres' blood dripped from his chest to the ground. He was no longer capable of uttering a single word, not even a scream.
Leriat's heart was in turmoil, caught in an emotional windstorm. He wanted to do something, anything, to help his friend, but he could only just clenched his hands in a whirlpool of complete powerlessness.
Aron's eyes glinted with an insane delight as he gazed at the limp Teres. His lips twisted into a twisted smirk before he threw back his head and let out a chilling, maniacal laugh that echoed throughout the forest. The sound was filled with triumph and sadistic pleasure as he saw Leriat in desperation.
Anthony's hand firmly rested on Leriat's shoulder as he spoke, "Come on, buddy. We can't give up now." As a seasoned bodyguard, Anthony was no stranger to combat, but seeing the devastation in Leriat's eyes stirred a deep sense of empathy within him.
He knew they had to stay strong and push forward, no matter how dire the situation seemed.
"Leriat, please. What we have now is your grandma's wish. We can't fail here now."
"Anthony ...." Leriat sobbed. His bodyguard's words sparked a little light in his heart. Like an escape rope to this hell.
"Cruel world isn't it?" Aron cackled. He threw aside Teres' body. "If only you had listened to your father, Young Master."
"ENOUGH!" Leriat shouted. "I won't be a pawn in his wrongdoings."
"Then let's have enough of this and get you home already." Aron started running towards them with the dark-red Visblades in his hands.
Anthony quickly responded and later clashed swords with Aron. He realized that they couldn't take them down. "We have to run!" he shouted to Leriat, who nodded in agreement.
Without hesitation, Leriat took the opportunity to dart past them, his heart pounding in his chest. He knew they couldn't afford to stay and fight, not when they were so out-powered.
Aron attempted to reach Leriat, but Anthony would not move away from him. "Giori, don't just stand there and let him run away!" Aron yelled, his frustration evident in his voice.
That woman with an eyeglass clicked her tongue. It was obvious, and she knew what to do. She had remained calm to concentrate on her Venevisium. Later, Giori swung her wand in the boy's direction.
A sudden rush of water later burst forth and rapidly caught up to Leriat. Within seconds, the water had enveloped him in a sphere, completely encasing his body. He tried to dive through it, but Giori could adjust the water sphere position with a little swing of her wand.
At the same time, Aron, who had transformed into a cheetah, finally was able to pin down Anthony on the ground.
'Darn, is this all we can do ....' Anthony muttered. Desperation creeping into his heart as he saw Leriat gasping for air inside the water bubble.
'My resolve and dignity ... all for nothing?'
'No, no .... It can't end like this!'
Anthony had never felt any emotional attachment towards Leriat's family beyond his role as a personal bodyguard. But remembering how he watched the boy grow as he held the righteous belief, it sparked a sense of a selfless deed in his heart.
"To protect what is right!"
His word was the same thing that Claire had said before they embarked on this journey.
Inside his Venevisium system, Anthony breached his Vis pool. Releasing its content like a giant wave that crushed a dam. This sudden burst of Venevisium did not need to be channeled as they were flowing freely. But if he did not use it, much of the Venevisium would be wasted.
Anthony's eyes glowed with a bright light. Under the command of his Vis of Terra, he bent the earth to cover his body and pushed Aron with another clump.
Aron—in Visbeast form—swiftly rebounded, but Anthony just ignored him and sent another batch of Vis towards Giori. Powerful earth shockwave that crumbled the ground traveled towards her.
With sharp eyes, Giori—having the same Aspect of Terra as Anthony—countered the attack with her Vis. Once her Vis were in contact, she repressed the earth shockwave as she kept the water bubble intact. She undoubtedly had a higher Vis level than him.
Seeing his attempt failed, Anthony then flew towards Leriat by moving his earth armor, crashed the water bubble, and grabbed the boy out.
But since his earth armor now was in contact with Giori's water bubble, her Vis now was also inside Anthony's earth armor. Knowing this, Giori quickly regained control of the earth armor movement.
Anthony was stalled mid-air, as he was also fighting for the Vis control of Terra from Giori.
"Run! I'll hold them!"
"B-but, you—"
To their surprise, Aron flew swiftly with his eagle wings and was aiming to grab Leriat. He was stopped since Leriat was able to conjure a barrier from the Vis of Praesidium around him.
"No need to worry about me. I'll be right behind you!"
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