Storm

Morde, who returned from the call, sent all his guards out to keep watch over the perimeter. It was only Zayne and himself in the room. 

The first thing he did after everyone left was to erect a barrier. 

" You hid quite deep, you little twerp " he said conversationally, as he walked in front of Zayne. 

Zayne was sitting in a chair. The magical belt that Morde tied him was tied at his elbow level, tying his upper body tightly to the upper half of the chair. 

Behind Zayne's back, Calamari is wrapped around the belt, increasing the temperature underneath its arm. 

" You are the ones who raided the paradise beach, killing the armored turtle, correct ? You must have had quite the haul from the place. No wonder that little bitch was able to run so fast. " he said to Zayne, his tone still conversational. 

While talking to Zayne, Morde opened his phone to check the just arrived E-mail. It was the report from the team that invaded the paradise beach. 

" However, how did you go to the mice field ? The elemental from the team survived ! didn't he ? " Morde threw an arrow in the dark, hit the bulls eye. 

" hmm… so, he took you to the mice field. What did you get there ? " he asked seriously. 

" What mice field ? " Zayne feigned ignorance; 

" There's no need to act. I already know. The mackerel you sold in the market are tropical mackerel. Even if your brother had been to the paradise beach, paradise beach changes season every few years. When your brother cleared the dungeon, it was still in the winter season, so the fish should be Atlantic mackerel. Kid, it's not my first rodeo. You can speak now, or speak after getting beaten up. " Morde settled in front of Zayne. 

" I have no idea what you are talking about. Nor do I care. But one thing I can tell you. You will never get what you want from me. " Zayne resisted. 

" Ohhhh.. ! You kid have some grit ! I like little twerps like you. It's too boring when they give in too fast. " Morde said, gathering mana in his hands. 

This mana had a visible purple color, one could tell it's poisonous just by looking at it . 

Zayne could feel the danger from the poisonous cloud. The moment that mana enters his body, he will lose control, he felt so. His eyes widened in surprise and fear as the hand neared him. Just as Morde was about to thrust the mana ball into his stomach, the belt around him was burned through. 

The moment he felt the pressure around his arms ease, Zayne kicked with his legs, falling backwards. The poison ball met empty air. Zayne turned on the ground, bringing his feet away from Morde. Next second, Morde thrust his fist down. Zayne rolled away, narrowly missing the poison fist. 

While he rolled away, Zayne conjured fire balls, sending them straight into Morde's fist. The moment the fire touched it, the poison ball fizzled away. 

Even so, it took eight fireballs for it to vanish. 

Seemingly, the mana after the ball was fizzled away was absorbed by Morde. 

This is the worst sort of opponent for Zayne. Calamari returned to it's home, zayne's mana core. There, it continued disturbing the mana core every minute. 

Zayne, for the first time, conjured the sword wrath in his hands. 

He swung the sword, cutting away the poison fist that Morde sent towards him. The spiritual pressure on him increased all of a sudden, forcing him to his knees with how powerful it is. 

Zayne had to use all his strength to raise his sword. 

However, the moment the sword reached the zenith in his over the head grip, the sword started absorbing mana from the spirit pressure. It is Morde who was left scrambling to withdraw his mana from the area as fast as possible to avoid being sucked dry. 

" What is that thing ? " Morde asked, pointing angrily at his sword. 

For a gangster who made his living by hiding his identity, he really does not hide his emotion, Zayne thought. Then it struck him. Morde thought Zayne could not get away from him. That is why he did not even bother to hide his feelings, or the sensitive information. 

' I will prove you wrong ' Zayne thought with determination. 

This time, instead of the firewall, he activated the fire whip. The whip surrounded Morde, tightening around the purple armor he conjured. The purple armor sizzled away with the fire whip. This time, the whip was too strong for the armor to withstand. 

" Why do you know the Rhafyre name ? " Zayne asked the corrupt officer. 

" Why wouldn't I know ? " Morde asked, ignoring the whip, and conjuring the poison ball in his hand. Zayne flicked his finger using the other hand to shoot a fireball, which fizzled out the poison ball. At this time, Morde opened his mouth, and spewed out a whole lot of poison mana straight at Zayne. 

Fortunately, he has Calamari, who can be used as another point of release anywhere on his body. Thus, fire spewed all over Zayne's body, snuffing out the poison gas. Zayne did not lose his grip on the fire whip during this time. 

Morde's expression has shown fear for the first time. 

He tried breaking through the fire whip, but the links are made from the prisoner arm cuff, from the awakening stone. These links are made using a more complex magical structure than the most complex spell in the library he copied. As such, their mana can't be absorbed by Morde, nor could they be destroyed easily. 

" Don't play games with me. My brother's not famous. Why would a random guard know his name unless he went looking for it ? Tell me why you know the name Rhafyre ? " Zayne pressed on, making a fireball float around Morde. 

" ha! Fooled you. " Morde cackled, while thinking frantically. 

Morde's mana is almost all burned out. He did not expect the little Rhafyre kid to have such explosive mana regeneration that he would be fine in a day after shooting starfire. 

On top of that, what's with the chains binding him ? No one likes using chain or whip spells because of the amount of mental focus they require. However, the boy is using these sort of sturdy chains with extra need for mental focus while being affected by his poison ? just how strong is his will power ? 

The girl from yesterday ! To be able to see the barrier with mirror eyes is one thing but it's entirely another to actually create a stable gap in the barrier. Did the main branch catch on to them ? 

Morde pushed against the chains once more with his mana, but the chains still stood firm, despite the boy's focus being shaken. 

He frowned. 

In this case, he had no choice but to attack the boy. 

" Your brother was famous in the hunter circles for having married a whore. It was a scandal back in the old days. " he said, intending to anger Zayne. 

Zayne's anger reached its peak. He knew his sister in law. She just does not fit the bill, in more ways than one. 

He conjured eight fireballs the size of a pill with the flick of a finger, shooting them straight into the joints of the man. If he does not want to talk, he may as well die, preferably as painfully as possible. 

" You can talk, or you can die. " he spoke, eight more fireballs circling against his finger. 

" Don't .. I'll talk. I'll talk. " Morde said as he fell down on the ground. The fireballs are small in size, but they are as powerful as industrial lasers. Eight holes oozed blood slowly on his body, two on his knees, two where his feet connected to ground, two through his elbows, two through his wrists. 

He would be unable to move for a long time to come. 

" There.. There's a book listing the possible elementals. The Rhafyre family is one of them. " 

" Where's the book ? " Zayne asked. 

" In my phone. " Morde answered. 

The phone was on the table beside him, so Zayne picked it up. 

He placed the thumb on the print to open the phone. Like any woke school kid playing with an adult's phone , the first thing he did on the phone was to change the settings to remove all the passcodes. Since Morde was nearby, it was easy to use both face codes, and register his own with full access. As soon as he did this, Zayne set himself to higher admin rights than Morde's own fingerprints. 

It's the absolute right thing to do, given that the next minute, there was a loud bang, lighting up the mana barrier that Zayne did not know existed around them. 

Morde looked at the barrier in utter surprise. 

He himself put that barrier. 

Every one of his underlings knew better than to assault that barrier. It explodes like a mana bomb, destroying the contents inside and outside. 

' Boom ' the sound reverberated through the enclosed space, cracks spreading from where the sound originated.