Chapter 14

The two men who had stolen the crystal were moving towards the group slowly. They looked confident that the students could cause them any problems at all.

'Dammit! The Inquisition just had to make their move now.'

Julian was a little angry. He wasn't too happy with the fact that someone else was vying for the Crystal Tear. In his past timeline, the Inquisition didn't seal the tear until after Julian had turned 22. For some reason, the events in this timeline were happening much earlier than expected.

"Outta the way punks. We've got an appointment with our superiors to get to."

The blonde man went to push Julian out of the way but Julian grabbed his hand before the man could touch him.

"Oh? Hey Mamba, looks like we've got a fighter here."

"Just leave him be, Ape. We don't have time to deal with punks."

The dark-skinned man called Mamba stepped behind the blonde man called Ape and removed Julian's hand that was gripping Ape's wrist.

"Julian. I don't think we should get involved with them. The one with dark skin is the one they call the Black Mamba, and the blonde guy is the one they call the Drunken Ape. They're specialists from the Inquisition."

Shio looked scared as she spoke to Julian. This surprised Julian just a little. He had heard of these two in his past timeline, but he had never met them.

"This girl knows her stuff. Then you should know that you can't beat us, so just scram or we're gonna have to hurt ya."

Drunken Ape was grinning as he spoke. His eyes said that he was itching for a fight.

Julian wasn't going to let the Crystal Tear go so easily, at least not without a fight.

"No. I don't think we will."

Everyone was stunned. Julian was going against two specialists of the Inquisition. He was sure to be killed.

"Are you seeking death, punk?"

Black Mamba stepped in front of Julian's face. They were about the same height with Black Mamba only being about an inch taller.

Julian didn't answer but instead signaled for the others to step back. The group moved towards the back wall and watched in fear.

Julian pulled out a few talismans from his pocket and placed one that increases speed onto his chest.

"I'll be taking that crystal off your hands if you don't mind?"

Julian jumped at Black Mamba and threw a fit at his face. Black Mamba knelt down to dodge his punch and swept his leg towards Julian's feet to knock him over. His leg missed its target as Julian was too fast and dodged it.

Drunken Ape tried to join in on the fight.

"No! This is my fight. You take care of the other punks."

"With pleasure."

Drunken Ape grinned as he moved towards the rest of the squad. Shio was the first to act. She pulled out her daggers and activated Illusion Blade. Her blades were furiously swiping at Drunken Ape's chest, but he was dodging every strike.

Julian continued fighting with Black Mamba on the other side of the room.

"Give it up. You can't win against me."

Black Mamba had yet to get serious, but neither had Julian. What Black Mamba didn't know was that Julian was setting up his trap. While he was moving about acting like he was striking, Julian was actually placing talismans onto Black Mamba's back.

"What the hell? Why are my attacks suddenly so slow? I can't be tired already."

Black Mamba tried to dodge another attack, but this time he was hit square in the fast. His aura had plummeted and his speed was too slow to react.

"Are you kidding me?! What is happening? I'm being pushed back by some kid!"

Julian had placed two talismans onto Black Mamba's back. One of them reduced his speed, and the other channeled the drained aura to the talisman on Julian's chest.

"Looks like the Inquisition isn't all that powerful if you're a specialist."

Julian laughed and continued his attack. Black Mamba was angry now and he activated his ability. A purple gas began leaking from his pores and began filling the area.

'It's a good thing I already placed a barrier around us.'

Julian's barrier kept the gas from reaching the others, but now it was very dense inside of the barrier. It was very hard to see anything inside.

"No what are you gonna do? You may have kept my gas from reaching your friends, but now you're stuck in here with me. It won't be long before my poison gas kills you. Then I'll kill your little friends. You should have left when you had the chance."

Black Mamba wasn't affected by the gas at all, but the same couldn't be said for Julian. He was coughing blood as the poison entered his body. It was an incredibly painful experience.

Julian quickly pulled out another talisman and placed it over his nose. When he activated it, he immediately felt oxygen pouring into his lungs and expelling the poison gas from them. He prepared this talisman earlier for when the group went swimming in the lake. He planned on searching the bottom of the lake for anything with high concentrations of natural aura. Julian had no idea that he would use it in this type of situation.

"It looks like you have a handy ability. No matter. I'll just end you with my bare hands. You may be able to breathe now, but the poison that has entered into your bloodstream will still slowly kill you."

Black Mamba moved towards Julian to end his life. Julian then let out a small wind blade.

"Do you think a puny gust of wind could harm me?"

Black Mamba laughed and didn't even dodge the wind blade. It was so small that it didn't even look threatening at all. This was his biggest mistake.

The wind blade connected with his chest and slammed him against the barrier. It knocked him unconscious and left a gaping cut across his chest that was bleeding out.

Shio and Drunken Ape were still fighting on the other side of the room. Shio had bruises all over her body from where she had been hit. Luna and Iris tried to help but Drunken ape would dodge their attacks and punch them against the wall. Luke and the shop owner were in the corner watching everything unfold.

"You runts thought you could go against me? They don't call me the Drunken Ape for nothing. My ability boosts my strength to that of a great ape, while my martial skill doesn't follow a particular moveset. It's all about the flow of the fight. To my opponents, it just looks like I'm making random movements, but I'm actually calculating every move based on the movements of my opponents. This is a fighting style that I have crafted myself. I call it the Drunkard's Dance."

As he was talking, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. Julian had kicked him from behind while he was speaking, and Drunken Ape dropped the box with the Crystal Tear.

Julian swiped the box before Drunken Ape had gotten up off the floor. Drunken Ape saw the Black Mamba was heavily wounded and needed treatment immediately.

"Looks like we won. You had better grab your friend and scurry off before I end your miserable lives."

Julian glared coldly at Drunken Ape.

"Tch! Fine, but we will report this and come find you. Now that we've seen what you can do, we won't make the same mistake next time. You'll be dead for sure!"

Drunken Ape ran over to Black Mamba and lifted him onto his shoulder. He then jumped out the window and fled.

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