Chapter 78 - 4th stage
— Minutes earlier, before the attack —
After Caroline left Emma and Emily in the hallway, she went directly into her private study.
"Sigh... that girl explicitly said I should rest, so why am I even in here?" she murmured, tiredly sitting down in her heavy leather chair. She glanced up at the large oil painting of her late husband that hung on the office wall. Warm tears started to well up in her eyes.
"I’m so sorry. I have been unable to avenge you yet, my dear," she whispered in a low, sorrowful voice. "That bastard Vincent is still telling me to wait..."
"INTRUDERS!!! INTRUD—"
Before she could even finish her sentence, she heard frantic, terrified shouting coming from outside, followed immediately by the sickening sounds of metal clashing and wet flesh tearing.
"What’s going on out there?!" she gasped, rushing to the window. Peering out into the courtyard, her blood ran cold. It was an absolute slaughter. Her family guards were being shot down and killed effortlessly in the dirt.
"Ma’am!!"
The heavy study doors flew open, and two heavily armored guards rushed into the office. "There are highly skilled assassins in the estate! Judging by their movements, they seem to be Fourth-Stage Aura users! You have to move to a safe place immediately!" the guard pleaded, his face pale with terror.
"You! Go and grab my daughters! Escape with them right now and take them to Wiltshire town, where the Wilson family is located," Caroline instructed with a deadly serious look.
"What?! What if we just take them to the Main House?! It should be much safer there, right?!" the guard replied frantically.
"No! If they are brazenly attacking our estate in the middle of the day like this, I don’t think the Main House is safe either," she said, narrowing her eyes.
The guard began sweating profusely when he heard her grim reasoning. He just nodded sharply and immediately sprinted out to do what he was ordered.
"And you!" Caroline pointed to the second guard. "Go and inform every single guard and maid in this mansion to evacuate the premises immediately."
"Okay, Ma’am! But what about you? Shouldn’t you be leaving with us too?!" the guard asked with deep concern.
"Don’t worry about me. I can hold them off for a little while to buy some time for you guys and my children to completely escape," she said coldly.
"Ma’am, you can’t! They are Fourth-Stage Aura users! I don’t think you can possibly—"
"Shut that mouth of yours and just do exactly what I told you to do!" she snapped, an intensely angry expression crossing her face. "We do not have the luxury of time for bickering! The absolute safety of my children is the only thing that is important to me right now!"
"Y-yes, Ma’am!" he stammered, quickly leaving the study.
"Bastards. To brazenly come into my home and pull this crap... I’m gonna make you regret this," Caroline hissed.
After saying that, she rushed directly to her bedroom.
Less than two minutes later, she stepped out into the hallway fully clad in heavy black iron armor, with two sharp twin blades securely sheathed at her sides. She marched straight downstairs to the main hall, but upon arriving, she was completely surprised to see three older guards—all Third-Stage Aura users—waiting quietly by the grand staircase in shining silver armor.
"Didn’t I order everyone to leave immediately? Why are you still here?" she asked with a serious look, calmly sitting down on the wooden staircase.
The oldest guard stepped forward, resting a hand on his sword hilt. "Ma’am, you may not know us very well. But the Lord... your late husband. When he was still young and living at the Main House, he secretly helped me and my family when we were facing severe financial difficulties. Although the money he secretly gave us seemed like absolutely nothing to him... to my poor family in those days, it was a massive fortune. With that money, I was able to buy the medicine to save my little girl’s life."
The old man’s voice trembled, and tears welled up inside his eyes. "I was heartbroken when I heard the Lord had passed away. So when Vincent announced at the Main House that he was looking for loyal volunteers to transfer here, I applied immediately. Since I felt guilty that I wasn’t there to protect the Lord... I promised myself I would at least protect his family. Even if it means dying today."
The old guard drew his sword, real determination burning in his eyes. "I may not be in great physical condition anymore, but I can at least provide you with a few extra minutes to escape."
"Can I assume the other two behind you have a similar reason?" Caroline asked softly.
The other two older guards simply nodded.
BOOM! Before they could continue their conversation, the heavy wooden double doors of the mansion were violently kicked open.
"Wowww... what a nice, dramatic welcoming! I never expected the ’weak’ lady of the house—who is only a measly Second-Stage Aura user—to be actively waiting for us in full armor," 44 taunted, stepping inside. A crazy, bloodthirsty smile was plastered across her masked face as she looked directly at Caroline.
"..."
Caroline didn’t say a word. She simply signaled the three guards to attack.
Without hesitation or questions, the three old guards moved simultaneously, charging furiously down the steps!
"32 and 10! You guys should easily be able to handle these old farts, right?" 44 laughed, casually watching the three guards charge.
"10 is not here. But it won’t matter, since these old guys are just weak Third-Stage Aura users," 32 said with a calm, bored voice.
"What?! 10 is completely gone?! Where did that old man even go? Wasn’t he just standing behind us a second ago?!" 44 complained checking around
"I’m not his babysitter, you know that, right?" 32 said, smoothly stepping in front of her and casually taking out a long, deadly spear. "You should watch your own toys better."
"Whatever. Who cares about that grumpy old man anyway? Maybe he went out back to take a shit or something," she shrugged, not caring at all. She then leaned against the wall to casually watch the guards clash with 32 and 86 stood next to her.
"Die!!!" The old guard at the front shouted furiously, violently swinging his heavy sword straight at 32’s neck.
"Sigh. Fighting slow Third-Stage Aura users is the worst," 32 mumbled lazily, effortlessly dodging the lethal attack as if it were absolutely nothing.
"Hey, 32! Stop playing around and kill them already!! What the hell are you stalling for?!" 44 yelled impatiently.
’I just dodged a single time and she is already yelling that I’m stalling,’ 32 thought, rolling his eyes under his mask. He carefully watched the sloppy, predictable movements of the three guards. The one in the front was aggressively charging forward as if he wasn’t remotely afraid of dying.
’For a Third-Stage, he is intentionally leaving way too many openings. Is he trying to be a decoy or something?’
Then, 32 glanced back at 44, who was showing clear signs of getting impatient and angry. ’I should just get this over with quickly. It’s not like these weak Third-Stage users could ever do anything to me.’ His face became serious under the mask.
Suddenly, his body blurred with blinding speed. He completely bypassed the three charging guards, instantly appearing right behind them, standing at the bottom of the stairs directly in front of Caroline!
"I felt something incredibly fishy with those three guards, like they were desperately trying to bait me," 32 laughed mockingly, staring up at Caroline on the stairs. "But you, the ’weak’ lady sitting at the back and watching with her guard completely down... as a mere Second-Stage, you are the absolute perfect target. What kind of trap could you possibly pull off?"
When Caroline saw that 32 was standing right in front of her, she only smiled warmly. Her eyes suddenly started glowing with a terrifying, piercing green light.
"Second Stage, huh?" she whispered.
In a fraction of a second, Caroline unsheathed one of her twin blades. She drew the steel so impossibly fast that even a Fourth-Stage expert like 32 was completely shocked by her blinding speed.
"32!! GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE! SHE’S FUCKING DANGEROUS!!!" 44 yelled in absolute panic.
"Huh?!"
32 jerked his head up, his eyes widening in sheer terror. He saw Caroline completely enveloped in a massive, dense vortex of glowing green Aura. Her twin blade was practically humming with concentrated power!
"Shit! So you were actually in the Middle Stages this whole time?!" 32 yelled, frantically trying to flood his own body and spear with his protective blue Aura.
But he was too slow. Before 32 could completely cover himself with his Aura defense, Caroline’s glowing green blade had already violently slashed straight through the air.
SHING!
"Aaaaaahh!!!" 32 screamed in pure, gut-wrenching agony. His severed right hand, still tightly gripping his spear, hit the floor with a heavy thud.
Caroline didn’t even give him a single chance to recover. While he was stumbling backward in shock, she aggressively grabbed him by his dark cloak, pulling him forward. She raised her glowing blade to plunge it directly through his heart.
THWIP!
Suddenly, an arrow coated in blue Aura flew blindingly fast straight at her face! Caroline was forced to let go of 32’s cloak, swiftly tilting her head to the side to cleanly dodge the lethal shot.
"Let go of him, you bitch!" 44 roared with intense anger. She was standing by the door, aiming a large bow directly at Caroline, her hands shaking slightly.
Gasping and breathing heavily in pain, 32 completely covered his body with blue Aura and desperately dashed backward to where 44 was standing. Gritting his teeth, he tightly concentrated his remaining Aura on his severed stump, forcefully trying to stop the heavy bleeding.
"That bitch is so fast! What the hell is wrong with our Guild intelligence?! Didn’t they say she was only at the Second Stage?!" 44 cursed angrily, keeping her bow aimed.
"With her terrifying speed and aura density... she must be at the Fifth Stage!" 32 gasped, clutching his bleeding stump. ’I couldn’t even react to her blade! I didn’t even see her swing it!’ he thought in terror.
"No, I am still technically in the Fourth Stage," Caroline said. Her voice was completely calm and steady as she slowly walked down the wooden stairs, her green Aura violently whipping the air around her. "It is just that I am currently at the Peak of the Fourth Stage."
"Peak Stage? What the hell is that?!" 44 yelled, thoroughly confused.
"It simply means that out of my own free will, I chose not to advance to the Fifth Stage and I can advance if I want too... idiot," Caroline smiled coldly.