Chapter 25 - 『Angel of Death』

Halfway there with no speed limit or governor installed, he was crushing the gas as far down as it could go. The motor continued to roar and his sister continue to cheer. Her hand in the air, one leg on her seat and the other arm wrapped around the cage. He could see the massive smile across her lips from the corner of his eye.

Shizu's hair was whipping around behind her head as she was looking out towards the Katze Plains which surrounded the path. Her eyes drifted from undead to undead, all of them were lower levels. Easy targets and something she was used to seeing.

The loud sound of the machine he was driving, was definitely getting their attention.

While some of them tried their best to shamble and run after them, they couldn't match forty miles per hour. Even if they were undead and had nearly unlimited stamina.

Jack's eyes rested off in the distance. The world in front of him, it was unexplored by the eyes of Nazarick. The Kingdom was one realm he had already become familiar with, just what did the Baharuth Empire offer?

His tongue traced the inner layer of his lips in thought, before his eyes darted to the side. There was uniform movement, coordination, between more than one form.

His eyes centered on a massive construct moving through the fog which was forming along the plains. A construct of bones and negative energy. He could see four blaring red eyes and for a moment, skeletal wings cut through the light grey that clouded the vision.

Just below it, running away, were four individuals. His eyes rested on them, the motor continuing to roar as the kart began to pick up even more speed.

"Interesting," his eyes watched as they were casting spells at the Undead Dragon. The spells didn't even dent it's Health, let alone do any damage. He frowned seeing this, it was clear they were outmatched and incapable of taking it on.

Why was there a group of people attacking that thing anyways?

He could see arrows flying at the monster, bolts of magic energy, even weak divine and holy magic.

All it took was one swipe of its tail and they'd be dead. "Eve, Shizu."

"Yes, Oniisama!?"

"Your Orders, Cipher-sama?"

"Just call me Jack, like Momon did earlier," Jack said quietly as he looked over at Shizu, before dipping his head in the direction of the monstrous undead.

"I permit covering fire, shoot at the dragon, transfer that things Aggro onto us!"

"Understood!" the two of them shouted out, drawing their weapons. Shizu with her Magic Gun which took a form reminiscent to an AUG A3 assault rifle, with a heavy-looking piece on the front of it. On the other hand, Eve was armed with dual magic machine pistols.

Within a few seconds of being given the order, the sound of 'pew' would be filling the air.

Bolts of blue energy would be soaring at the enemy as Jack turned the kart off road and towards the Dragon. Generally pulling its attention away from the weaker natives of the world.

Jack knew that just shooting at it, wasn't going to do anything. He needed to fight it personally, or use some high tier magic. His eyes still though moved between the monster and the people whom were pulling out. However, they were running directly towards him, or at least in his direction.

They were still in harms way!

Tsk'ing his tongue, Jack would turn his head to look over at Eve who was excitedly unloading several bolts of magic energy at the monster before them.

"You'll be taking the wheel it seems!" He'd shout over the noise being produced by the engine and the roaring of the undead skeletal dragon made from negative energy that had collected in the area.

"Yaaay!"

"Oh hush!" Jack reached over, grabbing his sister by the waist and moving her between his legs in his lap prior to carefully standing up with his legs spread so she could have the seat. Once she took the wheel and placed her foot on the gas, his wings spread from his back.

Like a parachute, Jack was pulled back by the wind coursing past the kart, allowing him to hover a bit behind the kart as it reared off to the side.

Drawing his spear, the Blade of Azael, he stood there with the weapon pointed towards the monster.

The people below who were once running, have skidded to a stop, staring at a man with wings above them. Jack was with the sun at his back. It was as if he was in the center of a massive halo.

That's when Jack witnessed one of the people double over and puke at the sight of him.

"..." He just stared down at the small blonde human. She looked like a doll with all her delicate features. She was wearing some sort of pink top with some other sturdy clothes. Overall she was cute. "How rude," Jack would muse before turning his attention back to the level seventy skeletal dragon coming directly towards him due to his now focused holy radiance causing ambient damage to it.

He kept his weapon pointed at the dragon. Watching as it continued to gain altitude to match him. It was coming for him and it looked hungry… Too bad it couldn't see the level difference between the two of them. While most magics below the sixth tier wouldn't effect it, that in no way would stop Jack.

"『Triple Magic』『Reality Slash』 !" Three hardly visible crescent shaped projectiles were sent forward from directly in front of his spear, cutting through space time itself.

Letting out a deafening roar, the Dragon continued towards him, unaware of how damaging the wave was coming towards it. Then as the three slashes tore through the skeletal head and continued through its body. Reality would appear to twist in half, causing those watching to stand with mouths agape and staring at the scene in awe as the massive body of negative energy began dispersing amongst the plains like fine powdered snow.

Floating down to the ground in front of the group of four, his eyes looked over the group in front of him. His facial features were stoic again, trailing over each one of them.

He easily took note that there was one half-elf present, the three others looked entirely human. It seemed the unidentified individuals, all of them, were all caring for the small blonde who vomited down the front of herself.

"Are you okay, Arche?" The elf seemed to be asking, patting her on the back and keeping her standing with her own arms.

"He...he..." She seemed to be trying to say something, but the taste of puke was definitely settling in her mouth. She brought a gloved hand up to her face before looking up at Jack.

Sticking the small blade of his his spear into the ground, he let out a huff of air through his nose. However after he did so, he quickly noticed the glowing blue eyes of hers. "Hm?" Humming in thought, his eyes moved towards the two males of the group.

The shortest male was patting the girl on the back, while the taller one that was dressed as a templar of some sort, was watching over her.

They all seemed to be chattering with one another, trying to assure her she will be fine.

"How is this even possible..." Arche was able to suddenly sputter out of her mouth, still overwhelmed by the magic aura which was radiating off of him.

"Huh?" Imina, the purple haired androgynous elf, didn't quite catch what she said as she was rubbing Arche's back.

"Interesting Talent," Jack uttered with a suppressed chuckle as he would pluck an object out from his item box, a silver ring with what looked like a sapphire embedded onto it, to be exact. The moment he placed it onto his right ring finger, the aura would die down, allowing Arche to quickly recover so she wasn't hunched over.

Yet she still stood there, holding onto her staff for support.

Termite, the shortest man there with blonde hair with a red stripe through it, raised a brow at the man. His presence, his glow. He seemed to be powerful in the divine affinity. "Thank you for your support! We really thought we were going to be goners for sure! Haha."

Much like the Swords of Darkness and the lower level adventurers in E-Rantel, it appeared all of them except for the templar were in leather armor.

The Templar, Roberdyck stepped forward, "May the Gods praise you for your work against the insidious undead!" He had his two gauntlet like weapons pressed together as he gave him a respectful bow of sorts.

Imina, the elf, nodded in agreement as they were thanking him.

Yet Jack and Arche were just staring at one another. The fact he had put on the ring and his aura disappeared, made it seem as if he was going to hide his power. Though it was mostly just a convenience for her that he had done so.

"Are you citizens of the Empire?" Jack's eyes snapped to look at the others who were standing in front of him. He could hear the Go-Kart doing donuts in the distance. Dirt and grass kicking up from the plains, Jack was trying his darnedest not to shake his head at his little sister's antics.

However as he was asking this question, he stepped forward as he took a handkerchief out of a pouch of his clothes and went to lightly dab Arche's chin before she could wipe remnants of vomit from her face with her own sleeve.

"Yes… We are," Terminite said awkwardly as he watched the man closely.

Arche hardly moved when he wiped her face, her arm had been just inches away. Her eyes stared up at him, he was so tall compared to her. That's when she noticed, they all noticed, his wings were gone.

Were the wings real? Or were they part of an elaborate form of flying magic? They were becoming curious of the man who had saved them from a dragon.

"Tha-thank you..." Arche spoke in a quiet voice as she inspected her lower lip with her hand.

His eyes rested on her iron rod for a staff and smiled slightly. The one thing he could tell was despite having leather attire, they did have better gear than the Adventurers.

"Oh.. Our savior not only chuckles, but he smiles too," Termite cracked with a grin of his own, friendly placing his hand on his hips.

"So you've noticed," Jack casually returned his little observation with a sly tone. "Now, tell me why you're out here in the Plains fighting a Skeletal 'Dergan' on your own."

The group all looked at him oddly when he had said Dragon in a strange fashion. Though he had completely done it on purpose. None of them felt the need to correct him though, he had just saved their hides from being eaten.

"We were hired by the Empire to clear out the undead in preparation of the annual war in six months from now." Termite said as he was the leader, he was talking with his hands moving in front of him, he seems to the social one.

Jack's eyes trailed over towards the elf who was eying Termite. He almost immediately recognized the relationship between the two before returning his gaze to the man.

"So you're workers… Adventurers Guild wouldn't have sent you," Jack said as he was aware of the rules pertaining to sending adventurers out onto the field. The Guild often protected adventurers from such a condition if they weren't strong enough to handle it.

"Yes!" Termite said as he held out his hands in front of him as if to ask for at least one of Jack's hands to shake. "We are known as Foresight. This is Arche Furts," the man gestured towards the small blonde, "I'm Hekkeran Termite, this is Imina and Roberdyck Goltron."

His eyes narrowed on Roberdyck, he had an interesting last name that reminded him of Voltron. Then his eyes moved towards Arche, her last name reminded him of farts which almost made him snort. Though the most interesting of all was the man who introduced everyone. His surname, it was Termite! "You're the enemy of all wood," Jack couldn't help but let out the cheesy joke.

Arche, Imina and Roberdyck all seemed to chuckle to themselves.

Hekkeran shook his head with a smile across his lips, accepting the hit without much care. It was a name with a curse of being made fun of, it didn't phase him.

"My name is Jack Graham," his eyes trailed on over to the Go-Kart which speed passed them and started to circle them haphazardly. "Those are my little sisters… Eve and Shizu."

Arche immediately perked up hearing him say he had little sisters, she immediately looked over towards the kart as it was going around them repetitively at high speeds.

"Hm.. They have odd names," Termite would chuckle, placing an open fist against his chin.

"Eve means Living, and Shizu means Quiet," Jack responded with a mundane tone, he found their names rather weird too. Though Arche and Imina seemed to have the more normal names compared to the two men here.

"Lemme Guess..." Imina pointed at the go-kart. "Eve is the one driving the contraption and Shizu is the one quietly going along for the ride?"

"Living definitely translates to Lively." Jack snorted at this, "You're correct."

"What brings you out here?" Termite returned the question he had asked earlier about why they were out here alone fighting undead, and a skeleton dragon.

"We're heading to the Baharuth Empire, me and my sister come from the far West, a fallen Island Kingdom past the hordes of the Beastmen Nations. We're currently looking for a new place to start off," Jack responded with a slight frown, a serious tone.

Arche turned her attention back towards him, hearing him speak of his past. "So you already passed through Baharuth Empire to get to the Re-Estize Kingdom?" She'd inquired with a brow raised.

"No, we used teleportation magic to escape a collapsing building. Turned into quite the incident… We were supposed to end up in the 'rumored' Dragon Kingdom." His eyes rested over towards the horizon to the south east. "Ended up in the middle of the Great Forest of Tob."

"That sounds rough..." Termite sighed, scratching the side of his nose with his index finger.

Squinting at his chest and robes, Arche stepped forward and went to knock on his chest. When she did, she was surprised to find that she was knocking on a chest plate and not necessarily fabric of a robe. "Wha..."

Jack's eye shifted down towards her as he grinned now, the glamour spell deactivated, and his divine-class armor became fully visible. The gem on the higher area of his chest piece, was glowing a bright blue. "Glamour spell, useful in hiding the truth from one's enemies."

"Kind of like the ring on your finger..." Arche observed the item he had put on his ring finger which hid the aura which had initially overwhelmed her talent of the all-seeing-eye.

"Since we're new the Empire, do you think we can join your team for a while? The more people you have, the bigger the jobs you can taken." Jack asked as he looked towards Termite. "We don't cost anything."

This man's power was extreme, the members of Foresight knew this. When he had asked them if he could join their group, they weren't suspicious, but they were surprised. Someone of his caliber could go it alone, plus he had two little sisters with him.

The four of them would watch the Go-Kart take a few more laps before dematerializing as it ran out of juice, sending the two young girls tumbling through the grass. Eve was laughing her head off, that was evident. Shizu however just sat right back up and observed her surroundings, before mechanically making her way over towards Jack as she got to her feet.

"Are you not wanting money as payment?" Roberdyck asked as he stepped forward, that was the only thing that caught his attention. People don't typically work for free.

"I prefer Goods or Services over money, so letting us join would be a service on its own..."

Termite raised a brow at this. Joining them would allow them to learn about the Empire as well as to how Workers operate. Perhaps this was like an apprenticeship? Despite how overpowering this fella was to begin with. On top of that, it may even make their name spread far and wide, especially in the Arena. Though that's when his eyes rested on the weapon in Jack's hand.

It had this strange feeling of benevolence, despite the fact that it could kill someone near-instantly should it be used to stab or cut deep into someone's flesh.

"That weapon..." Roberdyck seemed to have noticed the strange feeling from it as well. "Does it have a name?" His eyes shifted from Jack to the weapon and back.

"The Blade of Azrael… But it is more commonly called Benevolent Death, as it has been said to have belonged to the Angel of Death, hence the Benevolence." Jack said with a casual tone and expression on his face before watching as his sister hopped up to her feet and began to follow Shizu over to the group. He then turned his gaze back to Termite, waiting for his answer.

"I… I don't see a problem taking you under our wing, your sisters can stay with the girls, and you can stay with us?" The young party leader of the worker group suggested.

"I was actually thinking you could help us find a place we can buy as a home. We'd be happy to share it with you as a headquarters. That way you don't have to sleep at an Inn, if that's what you've been doing." Jack was aware of the life style of an adventurer. He could only assume that life as a worker was very similar, aside from the pros and cons that came with either profession.

Arche blinked a few times hearing this. Buying a house? "Could… I bring my sisters to live there with us?" She asked instinctively. At this given moment, her team didn't know of the problems that were going on in her home, especially the financial ones. As she had only recently joined the team in order to do more cooperative missions that is…

Jack's eyes rested on Arche for a moment before he nodded, he could see the desperation hidden deep within her eyes. Her emotions were under lock and key, but he could see them, being naturally empathic towards others in some form or another.

Reading people made it easier to fight them, or in this case, manipulate them into forming a bond.

"I'm sure my sisters would be happy to be with them," Jack believed they would be able to easily take care of two children. Considering Eve was certainly with a brain of a child, with a heart of a woman, and Shizu… She followed orders.

Shizu was now standing beside them, listening to the conversation, nodding in agreement. The idea of taking care of little sisters sounded cute, she secretly couldn't wait to paste stickers on their faces.

Jack glanced over towards Shizu for a moment, then to Eve who was strolling over like nothing happened. Though there was definitely some grass stains on her cheek and on her dress, whilst there was oddly nothing on Shizu's outfit.

When his attention was brought back over to Arche however, he noticed she was smiling, a slight tinge of pink on her face. Jack with a straight face, just stared, tracing over her facial features with his eyes.