95 The Charm of That Shield

The dying Chris felt Hydra Kilika's dozen something tentacles ignoring his corrosive blood and twisting tighter around his body. They even fused together with him during the process as they melted. At the same time, he stared at Simon, who was on the opposite of him as he sighed. "How did you even fail to avoid this with your speed?!" 

"I don't know." Simon struggled frantically but realized that his limbs were not listening to his orders. "I felt like I lost control of my entire body, it was as if I gave myself up…"

The tentacles brought the two of them to their master. The Blood Mystic could be heard sighing. "Thank you for not jumping up and down anymore… I can finally have a good meal again."

Chris and Simon were slightly shocked.

"You know," the Blood Mystic was smiling as she said, "ever since I was hit by that damn cannon by the dwarfs, I have been somewhat weak."

Under Chris and Simon's terrified gaze, the Blood Mystic gently finished the last words of her speech. "I need some replenishment."

The next moment, the Blood Mystic extended her hands and caressed their faces with a smile.

…

"Absolutely not!" Katerina's expression was solemn. "This black coffin was named after the Dark Night God's title. What makes you think that a criminal locked away by the gods is safer than the Blood Mystic?"

"Of course, turning more than ten chunks of sticky morsels that can move about is so much safer," Serena replied sarcastically.

Thales lowered his head as he thought about the pros and cons of the situation. But suddenly, a voice was heard coming from behind him.

"So, who exactly is lying in this matter?" A gentle voice came through.

All three of them shuddered and turned around.

The Blood Mystic was standing atop one of her tentacles, which was made out of broken limbs and blood. She smiled as she stared at them.

Thales tried his best not to look at the wiggling, broken limbs and nausea inducing organs in her tentacle. He then felt the two figures next to him moving in an instant!

"Hey!" Thales stared at the sisters' departing figures and was only able to say one word.

However, to his surprise, he immediately saw that both Katerina and Serena were shaking at the same time. Both of them had no control over themselves as they leapt off the black coffin and walked towards the tentacle below the Mystic's feet. 

"What is going on?! What did you do to me?"

Katerina trembled as she walked forward one step after another, terrified and angry that she had fallen into the blood hole made by the tentacles. "Where is Simon?"

"Moron, is this not obvious enough for you?"

Serena also trembled as she moved, and she was twitching when the tentacle wrapped around her. She clenched her teeth and said, "She has control over our bodies!"

"I just recovered some strength… It has been a long time since I last used it, so I am still not too proficient with it." The Blood Mystic was laughing when she encased the two sisters into her tentacle made of broken limbs. "Do not be anxious, I still need your blood later…"

The maiden turned her head around to face Thales.

The second prince felt his skin crawl, but he met the Blood Mystic's gaze squarely.

His heart started to beat furiously once again.

Last time, something like this… seemed to have happened in a chess room at Red Street Market.

The tentacle moved while the Mystic's blood-drenched, teenage face slowly leaned closer to him.

"You."

The maiden was scrutinizing him carefully. 

The Blood Mystic took a deep breath. "The blood flowing through your body has an indescribably familiar feeling to it."

'Blood?'

A shudder wrecked through Thales' body during that instant. 

'Right.

'I still have my last move.'

He cleared his throat.

"Although I am not able to remember it, but for the sake of this blood, I will not let you suffer." The blood red maiden laughed when she extended her palm to him.

"Wait a minute!" Thales yelled.

"Er… Miss… Blood Mystic?

"I..." Thales squeezed his eyes shut and hesitated for a moment before he spoke with much difficulty.

"I am also a Mystic."

The Blood Mystic's expression froze for a moment.

Thales gently opened his eyes and calmly voiced out the truth that he was most worried about, "We are of the same species."

The Blood Mystic remained unmoved as she spat out one word, "Lies."

She pressed her hand against Thales' face.

"Wait a minute!

"I-I know Asda Sakern, the Air Mystic!" Thales immediately opened his mouth to talk again when he felt the warm blood on his face. "According to Asda's words, I am a new Mystic born after the Battle of Eradication!"

The Blood Mystic caressed his face with her bloody hand.

"Asda? Newborn Mystic?"

The maiden giggled. "How smart of you to choose that fellow who has just been sealed to vouch for you."

"I speak the truth!" Thales' spirit almost left his body due to fright as he raised his hand and said, "I can prove it! With that type of 'losing control'!"

The maiden still had a smile on her face.

However, her tone of voice changed.

"Losing control?" she said softly.

"How did you lose control?"

Thales was momentarily stunned. He still knew too little about mystic energy.

He could only try his best to recall the night at Red Street Market.

"Asda wanted to kill me, but my power appeared to interrupt him… There was an explosion… He said that only mystic energy could intercept each other…" Thales frowned. "He also said that I am the first in the last thousand years… He would guide me…

"If you need me to prove…"

But, he did not continue speaking.

"Enough." The maiden stared solemnly at him.

"So, it is real. You are a Mystic."

Thales widened his eyes.

'Just like that… Does she already believe me?

'Isn't this too easy?'

However, the maiden seemed to notice his confusion. "Your blood and life force are telling me… That you are not lying."

'Blood? Life force?'

Thales recalled the control Asda had with air.

Curiosity rushed up within him.

"You really… believe me?" he asked once again for confirmation.

But the blood red maiden ignored him.

"So, you are a person who has the potential to become a Mystic… the first in the past one thousand years?"

Thales breathed out a sigh of relief.

It seemed like his life was spared once again.

"Asda said so, he also said—"

The maiden did not let Thales finish his speech. "So, Asda found you."

Thales could only shut his mouth and nod.

The Blood Mystic only stared at him as she asked warily, "Which faction are you going to choose? The Extremists, the Obscurists, the Moderators or the Magic Empress?"

"Ah?" Thales had a confused expression on his face.

The maiden furrowed her brows.

"Did Asda not tell you about the history of Mystics? The Three Mystics' Civil Wars and the Three Main Treaties?"

Thales shook his head because he was not clear about these things. His confusion became stronger and greater.

"The Mystics… Civil Wars? Are Mystics not immortal? Why did they still participate in a civil war?"

The teenage Mystic stared at Thales.

"Did he also not explain the 'Three Deaths, One Prohibition' rule among Mystics to you?" 

Thales widened his eyes and shook his head.

The blood red maiden's facial expression became increasingly sour.

"Did Asda inform you about the difference between 'matter' and 'concept' as well as the connection between 'chaos' and 'purity'?"

Thales sighed and shook his head in a resigned manner.

"In that case, which stage are you at in the Four Stages of Mystics? You should know about this, right?"

Thales still shook his head in shame.

The Mystic stared intently at him, as if she was going to dig a piece of his flesh out of his face.

Thales felt the pressure becoming bigger with each passing moment.

"Then, which of the Magic Tower's knowledge did you inherit?" After a few seconds, the maiden spoke words that Thales had once read from books but he had no idea what they meant. 

"Alchemy Tower? Soul Tower? Or Ascetic Tower? Or could you be an independent scion who wandered about in the outside world?" 

'What… what the hell?'

Thales' face was twitching. He was already numb to all the terms she threw at him.

The second prince only shook his head stiffly.

The maiden stared at him in disbelief.

"So, you do not even know the connection between mystic energy and magic, and the difference between Mystics, wizards and witches? Wait, do you know about wizards?"

Thales stared at her with an innocent expression on his face.

"You know nothing… How did you become the 'newborn' Mystic that Asda claimed?" The Mystic let out a long sigh.

Thales lowered his head and spread his hands out discreetly.

'No teacher, no education… it is not my fault.'

"You are no different from a normal person now," the Mystic said quietly.

Thales did not know how to respond to that.

There was silence.

Giza suddenly chuckled before she said, "Was it because of you that the idiot, Asda went to the capital?"

Thales scratched his head. "About that. I do not think so. It was a coincidence that we met."

'But, it was indeed because of me that he was sealed,' Thales secretly thought.

'But of course, I cannot let you know about that.'

The maiden suddenly said softly, "Giza."

Thales' mind suddenly went blank for a moment before he lifted his head. "What?"

The Blood Mystic moved her eyes up. "Giza Streelman is my name. If you are also a Mystic, or even a Mystic's candidate, then you have the right to know my name."

The two of them fell silent in an instant. 

'Very good. Her enmity has disappeared.'

Thales felt much calmer.

'Then, the next step…'

"Uh, Miss Giza," Thales said cautiously, "I have a few friends from earlier—"

"Why?" The blood red maiden, Giza cut him off before she laughed and asked.

"Ah?" Confusion showed up on Thales' face.

Giza stared at him with a profound expression in her eyes. "If you are determined to become a Mystic. Why do you still want to mix around with humans, elves and those Blood Clansmen?"

'Darn it, who wants to become a Mystic?

'A Mystic that is always detested by others?'

But of course, he could not say it out loud.

Thales scratched his head. "About that… After all, I was born there…"

"Ah." Giza shook her head and laughed silently. "You cannot break away from the past, is that right?"

Just when Thales thought about what to reply… something unexpected suddenly happened.

The next moment, the Blood Mystic, Giza pressed her hand against his face once again!

"Ah!" Thales cried out in surprise, "You…"

"Do not worry, I will be quick," Giza said indifferently. Her tone was filled with a terrifying coldness.

"You will die silently and motionlessly. Die without any pain and suffering."

Thales' pupils immediately contracted until they were mere slits!

"Wait!

"Why?!" he yelled furiously.

"Why do you suddenly want to kill me again!

"Are we not of the same kind?" Thales asked angrily and in shock, "Your motive is to save the Mystic in this coffin, right?

"If you want to save him, then why would you want to kill me?"

Giza stared at his expression, which was twisted in anger and she started to gently caress his cheek as she put on a gentle smile, then glanced at the black coffin and asked softly, "Who told you that I wanted to save the Mystic inside this coffin?"

A shudder ran through Thales' body!

'Seriously? She did not come here to rescue that Mystic? Then why did she go through such trouble…'

An idea then blossomed in his heart.

Thales trembled while he asked in disbelief, "Is this part of the Mystics Civil War that you mentioned just now?"

Giza gave him a faint smile but did not reply.

"You… We are already against the world, and we are at a great disadvantage." Thales did his best to hold back the panic inside of him while he tried to organize his words. "Why do you still want to kill one another!

"If you kill me, the support you will have in this world will grow less!

"At least, take a moment and consider the future of the Mystics!"

Giza laughed. This time, she sounded even happier than before, but the laughter also contained more anguish than before. 

"The future of the Mystics?" Giza closed her eyes and slowly shook her head.

"Asda and the Moderators he belonged to may still have the thought that eventually, the Mystics will win back their future…"

Thales discovered to his surprise that the bloody hue on Giza's face slowly faded away to reveal elegant facial features, which she originally possessed.

But he had no strength to observe her appearance.

"However, I have already given up a long time ago." Giza trembled as she laughed. It sounded more like crying to Thales. "It would be better… if those like us become fewer!"

'What?'

"The pain in our bodies and also the pain that we create are already enough… Why do we still need a newbie like you to endure and bear that burden?"

'This…' Thales' eyes moved about as he stared at Giza, and his heart was filled with panic.

Giza gently covered his face with her hand.

The blood in his entire body started to shake restlessly. 

"Be reassured, child, you will die peacefully here." Giza looked at him pitifully and gently caressed his hair.

"You will never become a Mystic… I will never let you bear… the pain as a calamity.

"This is for your own good…"

At that moment, the second prince mustered up all the grief and indignation he could bring up from both his lives. He wanted to shout those three words to his heart's content, 'What the f*ck!'

…

*Plop!*

Wya fell to the ground weakly, unable to pick his sword up anymore.

Putray lay limp on the ground as he stared helplessly at Istrone, who effortlessly picked up the immobile Wya.

'Damn it.'

"You are that little bastard's attendant? God knows how much I hate him."

Istrone laughed nastily and bared his fangs at Wya's neck.

However, his expression suddenly changed. He became very serious, after which he let go of Wya before abruptly disappearing!

*Clang! Clang!*

Sharp claws and a sword beam crashed into each other in the air. Sparks flew in all directions!

"Who are you?!"

Istrone roared angrily as he staggered away from the sword beam and took three steps back. 

A young swordswoman with black hair stood before the Blood Clansman and stared coldly at him. Her expression was unwelcoming and her features were heroic but intimidating.

She was wearing a pair of thick, black gloves and holding a cross-shaped sword in her hand. The sword had a thin blade.

Istrone then narrowed his eyes.

'That sort of strength and angle in which she delivered the attack… Is she another fellow who has mastered the Power of Eradication?'

*Gallop…*

The sound of more than ten horses galloping could be heard coming from behind the thicket!

"They're just right in front!"

Putray's spirits were immediately lifted. He recognized that it was the veteran, Genard's voice!

Istrone's expression changed.

'Reinforcements?'

While he was deep in thought, the woman's sword beam closed in on him.

Istrone executed his moves with such speed that almost no man could match it. He avoided his enemy's attack in an instant. 

An attack at this speed was just child's play to him.

He moved towards the swordswoman's side!

'I'll dispose of her, and then…'

But Istrone had no chance to think anymore.

To his great surprise, he felt a threatening, metallic chill moving to attack him right in his face!

*Rip!*

Istrone stopped in his tracks.

He lowered his head and looked at his heart.

The swordswoman held her saber backwards and did not spare a glance behind her. 

She had thrust her blade out from her underarms.

The blade pierced through Istrone's heart directly.

Istrone trembled as he reached his hand out to touch the blade.

"When did you thrust your sword?" he asked in disbelief.

"I did not," the swordswoman said coldly, and she pulled out the saber with her right hand, which clad in a black glove.

"You were the one who came to it."

Istrone covered his pierced heart and fell down without a sound.

Wya Caso, who was struggling on the ground, clenched his teeth and raised his head. "This Power of Eradication that compels its enemy to follow its rhythm… The Pegasus' Music!"

The swordswoman turned around and helped Wya up.

Wya stood up strenuously. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of a mighty, flying falcon holding a branch in its beak. The falcon was embroidered on the swordswoman's black gloves. 

"White-Backed Flying Falcon? You are…" Wya was momentarily stunned as he said the name.

"You are Miranda Arunde.

"The 'seed' from the previous batch in the Tower of Eradication!" he shouted loudly.

However, Miranda ignored him. She coldly pressed him down to sit under the tree.

More than ten cavaliers, who were holding the Double Cross-Shaped Stars Flag and the Peculiar Starlight Flag came out from behind the thicket. They then dismounted before Miranda and Wya.

"Sir!" Genard walked to Putray's side anxiously.

"Go and find the prince!" Putray stood up with difficulty as Genard assisted him. "Prince Thales, he—"

"Do not worry," Miranda cut him off coldly.

"Lady Sasere will handle this."

Wya picked up his saber and got a shock when he heard the name!

'Lady Sasere?'

He looked at Miranda as emotions of surprise and delight rose in him at the same time. "Do you mean that she came here personally?

"Her Excellency, the Fortress Flower?"

…

The day's experience affirmed Thales' belief that the best noun to describe the Mystics was: Lunatics.

'They are just a bunch of lunatics!'

The prince yelled at the bottom of his heart.

But he could not move his body, and the blood in his entire body seemed to start boiling.

Thales could only shut his eyes and resign himself to fate. 

Right then—

"Eh?" Giza paused in her movements and straightened her back to look behind her.

*Whoosh!*

An extreme rushing sound came from the direction she was looking at!

Thales let out a sigh of relief and could not help but open his eyes.

*Rip!*

A tentacle beside Giza suddenly exploded!

"Argh!"

An angry cry rose into the air.

A female warrior, dressed in armor with blood all over was holding a two-handed sword. It was half a human's height. She advanced courageously through the blood that exploded and splashed everywhere.

Rage burned within Giza's eyes as her other tentacle immediately intercepted the woman and attacked her.

Silver light shone on the blade.

*Rip!*

The female warrior's two-handed sword swung in an exaggerated arc and chopped the second tentacle into pieces.

Blood landed on her armor and even on her face, but the female warrior was not bothered by it at all. She kept on attacking with a zealous expression on her face!

She came to Giza's side.

Giza sneered and lifted both of her hands. Numerous small tentacles appeared on her body and shot towards the female warrior.

"Be careful!" Thales yelled loudly. "She can regenerate!"

Then he saw a scene that he would never forget till the end of his life.

The female warrior threw away her two-handed sword without any hesitation. With lightning speed, she took out a grey, metal shield shaped like a rhombus from her back.

Giza's small tentacles turned black, withered, and eventually crumbled into ashes the moment they got into close proximity with the grey shield.

Giza's facial expression changed for the first time.

The female warrior roared furiously when she held onto the handle of the shield and forcefully swung it outwards.

*Bang!*

Giza was struck to the ground!

Then, with much agility, the female warrior held onto both sides of the shield and smashed it down ferociously. She used the shield to suppress Giza, who had a ghastly expression on her face.

Thales was dumbstruck when he stared at the scene before him. 

'This is…

'Captain Ameri—no…' Thales saw the pattern of the Double Cross-Shaped Stars on the warrior's armor. 'Captain Constellation?'

"I am Sonia Sasere." The female warrior's face was filled with a burning fighting spirit.

"I brought a gift for you, Your Excellency."

The Blood Mystic—Giza's facial hue became really ghastly under the shield. It was as if the flesh on her face had been scalded by hot steam. Blisters kept appearing on her face and her face continuously withered into ashes.

Giza stared unwaveringly at the shield and spat out a few words in defiance. 

"No! This is…"

"Yes!" With her left hand pressing against the shield, the female warrior grinned and said in a heroic manner, "Allow me to introduce you to… The legendary anti-mystic equipment."

Sonia Sasere raised her right fist, slowly clenching it tight as she laughed.

"Supreme Shield!"

After she finished speaking, she ferociously punched her fist down onto the center of the silver shield, right in front of Giza's disbelieving gaze.

*Thud!*

Giza screamed furiously. She exploded into countless pieces of flesh and pools of blood, which immediately turned into flying ash and disappeared before the two of them.