Chapter 150 - Sword Fight: Into The Swamps arc (5)

The cityscape was unapologetically urban, which was to be expected. Unlike the area around the building Arnold had just been inside, there were no trees or city planted blooms next to the roads, just monoliths of concrete soaring out of the sidewalk in an exact grid pattern. At night it was beautiful in its own way, so many lights and people. But everyone relied on the sky to let them know that it wasn't a monochromatic world, just one in which the people were too busy to appreciate the art that the world was trying them to show. For over a couple of generations progress had meant the teaching of specific skill sets to the children of the metropolis to let them live in the beautiful yet often misunderstood, city of Angels.

In this city people only work and eat, there was no time to sweep fall leaves or plant spring flowers, hardly even enough to notice the starry sky above. A group of people were desperately trying to be a part of the 'elite' society. While there was another group of people with designer clothes and a variety of sports cars, these people were living busy and yet fulfilling life... Arnold didn't know why, but it filled him with pain to see these people going about their lives as if nothing was wrong with their country, while for the people on the eastern counterpart, death could come and knock on your door at any time. Why were they, the ones who had to sacrifice their lives so that these people can have 'fun'? The fact that Arnold knew the reason only disgusted him more but he couldn't do anything about it. All he could do was to try and rebuild the place once again.

All of this added to the fact that Nicole too could also have a system made Arnold's mood go down dramatically.

For the first time, he was thankful that his system wasn't fully operational or otherwise who knew what Arnold would have to do.

'Wait a minute! If she too has a system, she probably knows that I have one as well. If my system can inform me about the others then they must have the same ability as well, and it's my system that's offline and not hers, so it could very well be possible or at least that's what I think... it all keeps getting confusing. No! I've got to get a hold of myself! Right now let's just focus on the task at hand.' Arnold thought and lightly slapped himself on the cheeks, but he forgot he wasn't alone in the car.

"Don't tell me... you're not having a panic attack, are you?" Nina asked as she took another turn with a smug look on her face, "Are you being overwhelmed by seeing the city after so long?"

"I-Its nothing. Living around the monsters can be tiring. And being around you is even worse." Arnold tried to dodge the question, "It's just that the people here at tensed and relaxed at the same time, unlike the eastern side, where one can only have fun if they enjoyed killing the monsters."

Nina nodded in agreement, "You're right, it's not all fun and games out there. Even I was stationed at Zone 1 as Azyriah's assistant for about a year, so I know how harsh things can get there, especially for the zones which don't have a Section Chief, because then the Brigadier Generals of different bases often end up arguing with each other rather than working together. But it's not like all is well on the west side either. More and more dungeons have started popping up around different parts of the country, so we've all been busy as well."

Arnold nodded, agreeing with her comments yet the sense of envy and anger lingered on.

"I thought I landed near the HQ of the Syndicate, so are we taking a detour or something?" Arnold asked Nina.

According to Allen, the place Arnold landed was close to the HQ, yet they have been driving around the city for a while now and it didn't look like Nina was planning on stopping the car anytime soon.

"Yeah we were near the HQ, but we aren't going there, not for now at least. Instead, we are headed towards the Black estate. All of the members of our family stay there and that's where everyone lives, just like the old times." Nina replied and drove off, "By the way, who told you about the HQ?"

"I have my sources."

"Yeah, and when did you make those 'sources'? When you were in a coma?"

****

"Here we are!" Nina exclaimed as she slowly drove the car through the main entrance as the gates automatically opened up.

The estate was a replica of the previous one, almost as if the old estate had been uprooted and shifted here in its entirety. Nostalgia was hitting him hard, he was home after a long time.

Nina quickly drove towards the main mansion of the estate, the one where the head of the family resided.

Once they reached the mansion, the duo got out of the car and headed into the mansion. As they reached the main hall, they heard the loud noise of clashing steel. Arnold narrowed his eyes.

"Someone is practising sword fighting at this time?" Arnold asked Nina, who just smiled.

"Let's go and see." Nina led the way towards the training hall.

The closer they got to the sound the more Arnold was impressed, 'These swords are not supposed to be used for practice, as they are enchanted with magic. Only accomplished swordsmen could be duelling there.'

Arnold was immersed, however, his face fell when he saw who were the ones fighting among themselves. It was Nicole and some other guy Arnold didn't know. He was about to take a step towards them but Nina grabbed his shoulder.

"Just watch."

Arnold did what she told and analysed the duel. Although Nicole was drastically smaller in size than her opponent, her agility was much more than what her opponent could handle. The man was swinging hard with his sword, showing his strength, but Nicole was using her size as well as her agility to her advantage. She was already smaller than her opponent yet she bent down a bit more, forcing her opponent to Fight in an uncomfortable position. It looked like the man had enough of it and he raised his sword above his head and violently swung it towards Nicole. A big mistake.

Even a blind man would've been able to see that attack coming, Nicole, gracefully turned sideways to dodge the attack and placed her sword lightly on the man's neck, indicating she had won. Watching her move was like watching a river flowing through a river. Nicola dealt her strike with speed and precision, us she hadn't stopped, it would've been the end of the man.

"Wow..." Arnold mumbled.

"She's been practising daily since we discover her powers, and you can see the results yourself." Amanda explained, but Arnold wasn't listening, this duel made him realise something.

'I'm sure she has a system, there's no denying it.'