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C1310

Though Klea's theory was confirmed to be accurate, she showed no signs of happiness.

On the contrary, the Egyptian Queen's stance was filled with vigilance.

Grand Magus Zenonia, the main suspect behind all the recent incidents, stood in front of them with a faint smile.

Behind the woman were four magus-level figures. Even though their dark robes and the mask on their faces concealed their identities, their clearly-bared fangs could not hide their desire to ravage their prey.

Klea felt inexplicably uneasy, but Magister Griffith did not seem to share the same sentiment.

"I suggest you stop whatever it is you're trying to do here, Zenonia. It's over, we've caught you!" The magister confidently said in a matter-of-fact tone.

The female grand magus's smile did not waver. Chills ran down Klea and the three's spines as the woman glanced at them, "Where are your enforcers, Griffith? I only see four poor little acolytes."

"One word, and hundreds of enforcers will be here within seconds."

Unexpectedly, Zenonia's smile deepened.

"What word?"

Before any of them could react, a powerful burst of energy engulfed them all. In the next second, they found themselves standing on top of the sand in a vast, heated desert.

"How could this be…!" Aiko exclaimed in confusion.

Like her, Klea also had a deep frown on her face. With her innate talent in spirit reading, she could feel that the scene they were perceiving was not an illusion. Moreover, the head of the Darkness Institute was known to be a powerful grand magus of space and gravity.

All of them, in fact, had been transported to another place.

Aware of this fact, the magister's previous calm quickly turned into rage. "Zenonia, you dare!? Release us from your domain right this instant!"

Magister Griffith immediately took out a sword and aimed it forward. The weapon emitted sparks of lightning and, even from afar, violent crackles of energy could be felt from it.

The female Grand Magus answered the Magister's challenge calmly, "Come, I have a few minutes to spare for you."

Without waiting for the woman to react, Magister Griffith swiftly dashed forward in the form of a thunderous bolt.

The two grand magus clash brought about powerful sparks that pushed not only the four acolytes, but even the four robed figures a dozen meters back.

Klea could hear alarms of danger ringing in her head. If they got caught up in the two's battle, there was no guarantee they would be able to make it out in one piece.

"We need to get out of this place and warn the others!"

"I am with you on this, Klea, but how are we going to do that!?"

At that moment, Anas felt a hand tap his shoulder. What greeted him was the sight of Sigurd looking elsewhere.

The huge dark skin Titan bloodline had gone into a battle stance with his ax ready in hand. In the direction he was looking, the four cloaked figures were staring straight at them.

It seemed they would not be able to escape without a fight.

Four half-blood magus, all of them at the crescent moon stage. Furthermore, it was clear they were all masters of shadow, as Klea and the others did not detect them approaching before.

Klea, Anas, Sigurd and Aiko immediately stood back to back. The situation had escalated beyond their expectations, even the powerful Sigurd was anxious.

As they continued to approach the four, one of the magus in dark robes began to speak.

"Hahaha, these acolytes really think they have a chance against us. How cute."

"I want that beauty… she must be delicious."

"No! The patriarch's order, that girl is off-limits!"

"Arrgh, then the other one."

As soon as he finished claiming his prey, the particular black figure swiftly dashed toward Aiko, only to be quickly stopped by Sigurd's heavy ax.

BANGG!

With just one strike from the other party, Sigurd, the strongest among them, quickly dropped to his knees with a growl.

Klea swiftly used her most potent lightning spell while Anas used his flying weapon. Although it failed to injure their opponent, the robed figure was forced to stop his advance.

The robed figure gave a mocking grin to them, but his face quickly darkened when his prey, the girl, was nowhere to be seen. In that instant, Aiko the Jade flash appeared behind the magus and pierced two daggers into his back.

Splatt!

The robed magus seemed a bit surprised by the attack. However, when his eyes met Aiko's determined glare, the magus grinned once again.

In just a split second, the man turned and harshly pulled Aiko away, who was helplessly unable to resist the magus power.

"No!!!" Klea hurriedly rushed forward to chase, but one of the other robed magus jumped in to stop her while the other two had also surrounded them from the other sides, ready to engage with Sigurd and Anas.

"We had to stay in hiding for days… let my friends have some bit of fun."

Klea's eyes widened in rage.

"You freak bastard!"

[Wind Shard]

Following her command, the air around them gathered. Several shards pointed at their enemies were quickly formed, and Klea swiftly shot three of them right away.

All three of the sharp blade-like energy shards were blocked perfectly. The magus looked at her with the same grin on his face, as if mocking her futile attempt.

However, Klea's expression didn't change. In the first place, she was not aiming for the shards to actually hurt him.

Instead, she was aiming for their freezing after-effect that rendered his movement and decisively changed toward the half-blood with a purple lightning sphere in her hand.

[Lighting Torrent]

Baaaaamm!!!

The abrupt explosion of lightning not only injured the magus but also stunned and electrocuted him. Giving her enough room to slip in to save Aiko.

Seeing her dash toward their ally, the other two half-bloods tried to go after her. However, Sigurd went berserk and stopped them while swinging his ax like a madman. And before the two could take care of the Titan, Anas swiftly threw his flying weapons to support him.

"Aiko!!!"

Klea dashed forward as fast as she could. Yet despite that, before she could reach the two, the robed man had already sunk his fangs into her neck.

Aiko's skin turned pale as she was helplessly hung by the half-blood's grasp.

Klea's was a little too late.

The robed man casually threw Aiko's body at her, one that no longer had the warmth it previously had.

Aiko the Jade Flash died on Klea's arm.

To be continued