Chapter 98 - Shock

Bernard quickly moved through the building and headed to the secret passageway on the second floor of the Hall of Skills. As he sprinted towards the place he was feeling immense anxiety at the thought of the Twin Stars being captured or worse killed.

Those two were so young and were already close to the Grandmaster rank, with their talent they had a chance to reach the peak of the Grandmaster rank. In both the Empire and Zothril, there hasn't been a rank ten Grandmaster for centuries. If they were to fall today it would be a loss to Zothril and humanity. 

Even though both the Empire and Zothril were at peace in this era, it was just a shallow peace. Even now in the darkness, there had been numerous exchanges between the two sides. Also on both sides, there were those that want to continue the war and end the other side once and for all. Aside from the threat of the Empire, there were also the weaker nations that surround them that have been trying to infiltrate their ranks.

If it was before during the warring times, Zothril would have annihilated these smaller nations for provoking them, but now in the current era if the reason is not good enough and with the lack of evidence they could not make a move. If they did something without going through the proper procedures, public opinion on the government would fall. In Zothril once the public was enraged it could lead to numerous disasters and a reshuffling of the current governing body, thus weakening Zothril for a period of time. 

On the other hand, the Empire didn't have that kind of problem as the Emperor was not affected by public opinion, those that oppose his decision would usually be executed. As for those weaker nations, the moment one nation that's weaker than it provokes the Empire, that nation would surely be destroyed. So at this time, Zothril's peace was hanging by a thread, and they needed the next generation that would shoulder such a burden to be strong, which was why the Twin Stars were important. Zothril wouldn't necessarily fall immediately without the Twin Stars, but Zothril could be weakened enough that it would be hard to defend from all the other enemies Zothril has.

...

When Bernard arrived at the passageway he was surprised at what he saw. Numerous unconscious bodies were laid on the floor. Based on their uniforms they were part of the Star of Dawn. He was expecting it, but seeing that they were truly able to infiltrate the building and even know where the passageway was, meant that there was a spy within their ranks.

Bernard had no time to think about that for now, and he didn't care that these people were still alive, what was important was if the Twin Stars were here. Bernard looked around trying to find the Twin Stars. 

He then spotted the two in the middle of several dead bodies, unlike the others the soldiers that were near the Twin Stars were all dead. Bernard approached the two and quickly checked if the Twin Stars were still breathing. 

Bernard sighed in relief as he saw the two were still alive. He also found something weird as he checked their bodies, for some reason he could not sense their inner energies. Bernard could not understand what had happened here, as there were too many questions that had no answers. While he was in a state of confusion, Bernard finally noticed that just a few feet away there was another unconscious person and it was someone he knew.

He just met this young man a few hours ago and was surprised to see him here in the secret passageway. Bernard approached Loki's body and was relieved to see that aside from his tattered clothes and a few wounds on his body he was alright. 

'So he was still in the library when this all happened. Based on his position just slightly ahead of the Twin Stars, did this kid protect them?' 

Bernard looked at the unconscious soldiers in front of Loki's body and seeing the bruises they sustained he felt that Loki did try to protect the Twin Stars. 

'Still, even if he did all that he couldn't possibly fight all of these soldiers that were equipped with anti-martial artist weapons and survive. Even a rank ten martial artist would have found it difficult to survive in this situation much less an unranked martial artist.' 

While Bernard was deep in thought, he suddenly heard a loud explosion coming from the outside. Bernard no longer delayed and carried the three young martial artists out of the passageway. He wasn't sure what was happening outside but he needed to hide the three unconscious young ones in a safe place. 

'What's happening, how could they still have so much firepower? With Niko supporting the guards the battle should've ended already, did they have reinforcement? Also, why is the Elite Dragon Brigade not here yet?!'

Bernard was about to put the three in the panic room near his office when something crashed into the room. The person that came crashing into the room was none other than Grandmaster Niko who had fainted and was missing an arm. 

Bernard could not even express his shock when he suddenly sensed danger coming his way, so he quickly tossed Loki and Twin Stars to the side. Bernard then quickly raised his arms to defend himself from whatever was coming. He saw something flash before his eyes and at that moment something heavy had hit his arms. Bernard gathered every bit of inner energy he had left into his arms, but even then that heavy hit had broken past his guard and he was blown away into the wall. He saw another flash but could not move his arms to defend, so this time he was hit on the face. 

Bernard gritted his teeth as he tried to remain conscious, but he could no longer keep it together when his consciousness became fuzzy. As his consciousness was fading he saw that person that attacked him was a young man that look no older than thirteen years old.

"Who are you?"

Bernard asked before fainting.. The young man approached the now unconscious Bernard and raised his arm about to finish him off, but as his heavy fist was about to descend on Bernard's face it stopped as something had wrapped around his arm.