Chapter 94: Gale Projection
— At the Thorne Estate — (Ian’s home)
10 arrived at the shattered front gates of the estate, casually carrying Emma over his shoulder like a sack.
"You have been way too quiet, little missy. Is something on your mind?" 10 chuckled, glancing back at her.
"...?!"
Emma didn’t say a single word. She just dangled there, staring blankly at the dirt path with completely hollow, lifeless eyes. There were no tears left on her face.
’Everyone is dead... and it’s all my fault,’ she thought, her mind completely shattered. ’Dion, Emily... and the sweet maid who was helping me escape. I didn’t even ask what her name was before he just left her in the woods, bleeding and screaming.’
’What did we even do to deserve this?’ Emma thought numbly. ’I always tried to help people who needed it, whenever I got the chance. That is what Father taught us to do...to be nice to other people, but is this world just... not meant for good people at all? Because father who was always good died just like that or is this world just not for the weak.’
"Tsk... you ain’t fun anymore," 10 sighed. He roughly dropped Emma onto the ground and started dragging her forward by the back of her collar. "And you are kinda smelling really bad, too."
"Should I just slit your throat right now and be done with it?" he muttered, stopping for a second to press his bloody dagger against her neck. He stared down at her, waiting for a reaction, but her eyes remained completely dead.
"Tch... you seem already dead to me. This won’t be fun at all. Let me just drag you inside to 44. Maybe she will appreciate my hard work," 10 grumbled, continuing to drag her toward the main doors.
"Mmm... by the way, why is it so quiet in there?" 10 frowned, pausing at the threshold. "With 44’s sadistic character, she should be laughing like a maniac or screaming at that poor newbie boy right now... Wait... did they already leave and abandon me here?! Leaving me, the team leader, surely they wouldn’t?!" 10 started slightly panicking.
"Aaah!!"
A desperate scream suddenly echoed from deep inside the main hall.
"Ah! Of course they wouldn’t leave without me. They are still inside," 10 chuckled, feeling instantly relieved when he heard the scream of pain.
But the moment he strolled through the double doors dragging Emma, he froze in absolute shock at the scene unfolding before him.
’Huh...? Who the hell is that?’ 10 thought, his jaw dropping as he watched a red Aura guard desperately running for his life, being chased by Caroline.
’And what the hell happened here?! Is that... 32’s dead body? And the newbie kid’s?!’ 10’s hand suddenly started trembling as he looked at the corpses littering the ruined hall. ’What about 44?! God, I can’t even spot her body! Did that crazy bitch actually run away?! That wouldn’t be a surprise but leaving 32.. surely she would not.’
From the floor, Emma’s hollow eyes suddenly darted up.
’Mom... she is alive!’ A tiny, fragile smile appeared on Emma’s face when she saw Caroline fighting, but the smile quickly faded into pure despair. ’She is alive, but Emily is... sniff...’
The hollow dam finally broke. "MOM!!" Emma cried out at the top of her lungs.
"EMMA!!" Caroline screamed, completely panicking and skidding to a halt in the middle of her pursuit.
’That’s my chance! I am not staying in here with this crazy woman!’ The red Aura guard thought. Using Caroline’s moment of distraction, he pushed all of his dense Aura directly into his legs and dashed forward with blinding speed.
"Hey!! Don’t you dare move! I will kill—" 10 started to yell seeing the guard was hearding to his direction, but before 10 could even react, the red Aura guard had already blurred right past him toward the exit.
"Run if you don’t want to die today," the guard whispered urgently into 10’s ear as he sprinted past him out the door.
"Run...? What the hell is he talking abo—"
Before 10 could even finish his sentence, a terrifying, suffocating gust of wind violently blew from Caroline’s direction, nearly knocking him off his feet.
"W-What is this energy I’m feeling?!" 10 gasped, his voice shaking uncontrollably. The dagger he was holding started to rattle in his trembling grip. ’My instincts are screaming at me to run!’
Seeing 10 completely frozen in fear, Emma gritted her teeth. Throwing her body backward and she headbutted him directly in the face!
"Gah!" 10 stumbled back, his grip loosening. Emma desperately scrambled out of his grasp and sprinted across the ruined hall toward her mother.
"Aaah! You little bitch, I will—!" 10 roared, clutching his nose.
But before he could step forward, the raging wind in the room violently compressed, rapidly swirling around Caroline’s twin swords in a blinding vortex of green energy.
"This wind... this isn’t Aura at all!! It’s mana!! Were you a Mage this entire time?!" 10 panicked, his eyes going wide behind his mask.
’Mage? What is he talking about? And did this bastard just call my daughter a bitch?!’ Caroline’s eyes darkened with pure, murderous intent. She glared at 10, who had already coated his body in his red Aura and turned to flee out the front door.
"Do you honestly think you can get away from me?!!" Caroline roared, crossing her glowing blades.
"Twin-Tailed Gale Blade Art – Third Stage: Gale Projection!!"
The exact moment she shouted the technique, time seemed to completely slow down—or perhaps she was simply moving too fast for a mortal eye to track. She swung her crossed twin blades violently outward.
A massive amount of compressed green wind aura erupted from the blade, shooting directly toward 10 at the speed of sound.
"What the hell is that!!!" 10 screamed, looking over his shoulder as the blinding green projectile tore through the courtyard toward him.
’Shit! I can’t dodge it!!’
Boom!!
Before the thought could even finish processing in his brain, the Projection slammed directly into his back. The impact launched him through the air, smashing him into the thick stone wall of the estate. The wall cracked, and 10 instantly lost consciousness, slumping into the dirt.
’That didn’t kill him...’ Caroline thought dizzily, staring out the door at 10’s unmoving body.
Thick, dark blood was slowly leaking from Caroline’s eyes, ears, and nose. She was still standing upright, trying to look as intimidating as possible, but her legs were trembling.
’Tsk... must be at my limits.. my body can’t handle any more of this.’ She thought look at blood on her hand. ’If I use another technique, I will surely die.’
"Realising aura that’s my first time seeing it being used .... but surprisingly this guy not dying from that attack. Mmmm ....he might have been carrying a defensive artifact, that is why your attack didn’t kill him at all," a calm voice noted.
The previous guard with missing an arm suddenly jumped down from the top of the courtyard wall, casually walking over to examine 10’s unconscious body. The blast had shattered the bottom half of 10’s featureless mask.
"You are still here..." Caroline spat, frowning deeply as she struggled to keep her swords raised.
"Don’t worry, Lady Thorne. I’m not gonna do anything to you," he said, throwing a glance at her bleeding face. "And besides, even if you are out of energy, I know you won’t go down without a fight. I would prefer to avoid any more conflict with you for now anyway."
"Then what do you want with him?" she asked, her breathing ragged as she watched the guard take 10’s unconscious body over his shoulder.
"It’s just his face, reminded me of someone I used to know a very, very long time ago..." the guard muttered, staring down at Freddie’s exposed jawline.
"Anyway, I will be leaving for real now," he declared. He suddenly covered his body in his red Aura and completely vanished from the courtyard, taking 10 with him into the night.
"Mmmm..."
The exact second Caroline could no longer sense the guard’s Aura, her eyes rolled back. Her twin swords clattered to the stone floor, and she collapsed entirely unconscious.
"MOM!!" Emma, who had been hiding behind a pillar during the standoff, immediately rushed forward and fell to her knees beside Caroline’s bleeding body.