Chapter 96 Revision

"Dammit!!" A red line of energy slammed into a tree, destroying a good chunk of it. The woman who had created the energy held her mask and crushed it with a single hand.

She was standing in a forest completely alone. "Those useless idiots couldn't even take care of a few children!! What good is the power you were given it you can't handle a single enemy on your own!" She punched another tree and bark went flying all over.

"Not only did I let the mission fail, three of our guardians are dead... How do I explain this to the Master." Jenna, the cultist who attacked Leo, had a dejected and scared look on her face.

***

Several hours later and within a dimly lit room, a man with a wooden mask on his face was sitting behind a desk. There was a knock on the door, followed by a blonde woman entering.

She got down on one knee "I've returned, Master." Her voice conveyed a lack of confidence and the Master could tell.

"You failed me again didn't you, Jenna?" The Master spoke calmly but there was a clear tone of disappointment in his voice. "What happened."

"We did as instructed and attacked the town. The two guardians that were sent with me engaged in combat with Leofalors group while I seperated him from them. I did my best to fight without killing him and succeeded in defeating him, but as I was about to complete the mission and capture him, I was attacked by his group. It seems the guardians failed to defeat their opponents." Jenna explained quickly, trying to give all the information she thought was necessary while also pinning the blame on the guardians.

"Did the guardians survive?" The Master asked. Jenna hadn't even considered their lives until this point. To her they were not important enough to warrant remembering. "I don't believe so. I wasn't able to confirm their deaths with my own eyes, but based on the situation it..." Jenna was interrupted by hand grabbing her by the throat.

The Master was now holding her up with a single hand. Jenna hadn't seen the Master stand up, let alone move across the room and grab her. One second she was speaking and the next she was being strangled.

"Let me make sure I understand. You went in there having more powerful abilities than them and an equal number of fighters, yet you lost. You didn't even bother to check if the guardians were dead, alive or captured. You had already defeated their most powerful fighter when you were attacked by his group but Instead of fighting a bunch of half dead teenagers who had lost their strongest member YOU CHOSE TO RUN AWAY!!" When the Master shouted the entire room shook and a shiver ran down Jenna's spine.

"I-m so-rry... P-lease forg-ive me..." Jenna pleaded for the masters forgiveness as tears ran down her cheeks, her words disjointed as she struggled to breathe.

"You have proved to be just as worthless as I presumed you to be. Your time in this world has come to an end. Goodbye." A crunching sound, followed by the impact of a body hitting the floor resounded through the room.

A few seconds later two men entered the room and dragged Jenna's deceased body away. The master sat behind his desk and pulled out a file filled with several images of different people.

Each image was connected to a document containing the information of the person shown. The master flipped through several images before he stopped on one that caught his attention.

"Hmm... This one will do. He took to the process rather well. I'll make sure he adjusts to our organization quickly." The Master took the image and document of a boy with short brown hair and placed it on his desk.

The door to the room opened and a man walked in. He wore a mask like all the cultists did, but he didn't have a cloak on. Rather he appeared to be wearing what could be considered a butlers outfit.

"We've disposed of the body, Sir. Is there anything else you'll be needing?" The butler asked. The master gestured to the file and the butler stepped forward to pick it up.

"Send that one to me. He's going to become the new head of the guardians by replacing Jenna." The Master said with a commanding tone. With the folder in hand the butler left the room and the Master began going through the various files currently on his desk.

***

The sun came rising over the horizon and lit up the room, waking Leo up from his much needed rest. The pain in his body had mostly dissappeared thanks to his Regeneration skill and Rene's healing, with the only thing still in a lot of pain being his shoulder and arm.

Leo sat up on the side of the bed and looked around the room. Everyone had moved to the least damaged rooms within the tavern, with Leo choosing one that had a slightly caved in ceiling and a small hole on the wall.

The memory of his conversation with Cain flashed through his mind and he began contemplating it. 'Her body was in a terrible condition but there was no blood anywhere near her. Thats certainly strange but I've never heard of anything like it. The easiest explanation is that it has something to do with the cultists that attacked last night... But what exactly did they do to her?' Leo thought about how strange the cultists were and how the one he fought even had several abilities.

The memory of Rosalia showing a complete stranger like him kindness made Leo feel the weight of his failure even further. Getting up from the bed, Leo made his way downstairs into the bar area.

When entering the room, the first thing Leo noticed was that Rosalia's body had been removed from the spot it was in last night. 'I suppose we can't just leave her body in the middle of the tavern...' He then scanned the room and saw the destruction a bit more clearly.

There were several holes in the ceiling and some of the wooden support beams looked like they might collapse if they weren't repaired soon.

Leo's entire group were seated at a circular table at the center of the room. When they saw Leo they all greeted him, each of them displaying depressive moods.

As Leo sat down at the table, Clay addressed everyone "We need to talk about what happened last night. We need to talk about how we all abandoned this town..."