Chapter 499: Wounded Pride

Startled, Don swiftly jumped up, returning his focus to reality, and looked towards the source of the dreadful anguish that came from just in front of them.

What he saw, made him look shocked, his body was shivering, trembling under the anxiety, the fright that suddenly washed over him. 

The fierce, ferocious duel in front of them between the blond amazon, Naybeah, and the hulky brawny warrior came to its already expected conclusion. Yet, the scene that greeted Don was still beyond his expectations. Down on the ground, forced on his hands and knees, the once-proud warrior was reduced to the messy, bloody pile. He was in an utterly sorrowful state, only torn, shredded remains were left of his studded, reinforced dark leather set of armor, the leather cap was nowhere to be seen. Ión its place several deep gushing, ugly wounds festered, blood slowly but constantly were escaping, dripping on the ground and painting the once beautiful emerald meadow into the ominous shade of vermilion. 

His face, like the top of his head, was bruised beyond reason, the mark of his shameful defeat retained its mark, ruining his otherwise handsome visage.

Though he has not suffered any mutilations, the dozens of wounds, marks of the path that the amazon's humungous weapon has traversed were clearly visible. 

As he heaved with great difficulty, the man coughed up once again, his gurgling, hoarse voice spat out yet another mouthful of blood and saliva beneath him, further staining the ground.

"I…" With even more difficulty, he seemed to be wanting to speak, yet found not the required stamina to complete this selfish request with ease. Still, he forced himself, gathering the strains, the leftover energy in his depleted tanks to forcefully raise his head, contort his battered, bruised face into a thin, weak smile, as he looked at the woman standing above him and force the words one after another out of his bloodied throat. "I…"

Witnessing his man's sad state, Captain Don was shivering as a tumultuous storm raged inside his heart. He was about to jump forward as the anger began to overcome his reasoning, but suddenly he felt a strong force pushing him back, forcefully keeping him in place.

Looking down, he saw the young master, the black-haired boy, raised his -compared to his trunk-like, muscle-bound physique-, lean arm stretched out and blocking the path forward. 

However, what was shocking is that despite how measly his action looked, Don found himself unable to push the arm away or escape through the side and rush in. For some reason he found his legs rooted on the ground, unable to take any action. 

Before his confusion could set it, he suddenly heard that same, terrifying, thunderous voice rumble and reverberate around him. Though the boy didn't even turn towards him, he could feel the pressure in his words, that sleeping, monstrous entity that frightened him to the very depths of his soul before, spoke to him coldly once again.

"Do not make a move. I told you to learn to control yourself. He is fine, despite how it looks. He will be restored before we depart."

Forced to passivity, Don could do nothing but grit his teeth, clench his teeth and take a couple of deep breaths to try to calm down and regain his reasoning. After a moment, as he gradually regained his senses, he understood that the boy was right. There would be no point for whoever was controlling everything to lose the chess pieces before the match started. He or she would certainly make sure that each of his little soldiers would be in their best conditions when they departed to complete his or her bidding.

With that thought, he took several deep breaths as he slowly regained his senses.

Meanwhile, the beaten man, gradually forced the words of his submission, blurting the word "…concede…" after great difficulty, just before he finally succumbed to his injuries and lost consciousness.

However, what happened next, brought back the already spent Captain from his thoughts once again and forced yet another shocking bewilderment to settle on his aged face. 

As his man lost the battle and finally conceded, before his head could hit the puddle of blood, his listless body suddenly stopped falling. As a colorless bright light engulfed his body, he was lifted into the air, as a calming, soothing warmth could be felt radiating from his body.

Whilst the captain was stunned into confusion once again, Aiden only smiled, as his gaze wandered once again towards the painted window frame of the mansion's study. Just as he expected, the Mistress, Sara's mother, would not let her precious little pieces crumble before they completed their assignments. As the grounds of the mansion were completely under her domain, she was like an omniscient entity, all-seeing and all-powerful. 

Though this place was her prison, it was also her bastion, her hollowed ground. She was fully in control of the mansion's grounds, nothing could escape her knowledge. Though she wasn't too adept at utilizing the power of light, or nature… she could still fix up these superficial wounds and let the rest be done by Aiden's little protegé, who she was now aware of being capable of using some incredibly potent restorative spells. Also witnessing her skills as one of the fabled and long-forgotten Runecasters she wanted to give more opportunities to the girl to showcase her abilities, so she merely saved the man from the brink of death.

In mere moments, the warming light began to fade, slowly placing the unconscious but much better-looking man down on the ground. Though his wounds have not disappeared, they were at least closed up, leaving the man no longer being in danger. With his condition stabilized, the light faded in a few fleeting seconds.

"Great job, Naybeah!" With a smile on his face, and without care given to the man lying on the ground, Aiden was the first to speak and reach out with his right hand inviting her to come to him, which the girl instantly obeyed. A wide, warm smile plastered on her face, she nodded silently at the boy and accepted the offered hand as she stepped to his side, enjoying the rare reward. 

Sara, who was standing at Aiden's side a couple of steps from them only, frowned as she saw this. Still, she didn't object, allowing Naybeah to enjoy her just reward, but at the same time, promising herself to not fall behind her competition. 

Seeing the scene, and how nonchalant, uncaring the boy was towards the unconscious, badly beaten member of their team, Captain Don, couldn't help but exclaim with slight anger in his voice.

"Good? Who was that any good?! Have you forgotten the goal of all of this? Was there any need to be this brutal?!" He yelled, pointing his finger at the smiling, calm blonde woman who was currently enjoying her 'just' rewards and hugging Aiden's right arm as if it was her most precious treasure. 

"And you, amazon, did you not understand the conditions beforehand?!"

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