Chapter 43 - Three Way Battle

Nerun and the other two youngsters were in the corridor immediately before the cells, heading towards them, when they suddenly felt the tremor, caused by Ocelot during his confrontation with Elijah, spreading through part of the cave. Nerun and the other two boys were paralysed for a few moments by the quake, as they didn't know what was happening.

"Earthquake?" wondered Ailan a bit frightened. But soon they realised that the shaking stopped, however, they began to hear footsteps rushing towards them, as well as screams. The three boys looked at each other, and realised what was coming. They tried to turn back, but it was too late, because soon, in front of them were 5 guards, 4 men, all of whom were Qi Masters, and one woman. This was precisely Roxanne who got a bit nervous when she saw the three kids, however, she kept quiet as she stayed one step behind the other 4 mercenaries, who were menacingly approaching the 3 kids, until they cornered and surrounded them.

Silvester and Nerun took up a defensive position, while Ailan stood behind the two, although when he saw Nerun, who was bravely standing in front of him defending him, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, since Nerun was much younger than him, and besides, the person they were risking their lives for was his own sister. Emboldening himself, he then stepped up to the same level as the other two children. Nerun and Silvester looked at Ailan with some surprise and then smiled at him. They had certainly not expected to be found so quickly, but they were not afraid at all.

Nerun saw the four men approaching them and raising his hands said, "Are you really going to attack just three small children?

The four mercenaries sneered, while looking at them as if they were trapped rats. So Nerun could do nothing but sigh and looking at Roxanne said, "I guess it's your turn". When the 4 guards heard Nerun they stopped for a second, trying to understand what he had said. Suddenly, they thought of an impossible idea and tried to make a break for it, but it was too late.

Roxanne took two daggers from her legs and swiftly stabbed two of the mercenaries in the back. Another of the mercenaries was retreating back towards the wall, when Silvester leapt towards him and by building up Qi in one of his arms pushed him against the wall and knocked him unconscious. Nerun disappeared from where he was and with a wrestling kick with both legs attacked the fourth mercenary in the head as well. In this way and quite quickly they were able to incapacitate the mercenaries guarding the cells.

"What happened, why was the alarm raised?" asked Roxanne quickly and nervously. If they were found by Ocelot or worse, Sagat, their fates were sealed.

"That was the alarm? We don't know what happened," replied Silvester.

"We just felt an earthquake throughout the cave, which seems to have come from the direction we were coming from. It seems that Big Brother Elijah encountered some trouble." Said Nerun somewhat concerned.

"Where is my sister, is she all right?" Ailan asked a little agitated, especially since the alarm had been raised in the lair, and all the mercenaries would know that people had infiltrated the cave, which would make Eliana's rescue all the more difficult.

"Damn, what could have happened? It's possible that Ocelot found your brother. He's the only person I know besides Sagat who could stand up to him, especially since you already got rid of Jackal," Roxanne said. Then she continued, looking at Ailan, "Your sister is fine for now, but we'd better hurry. Our escape will be much more complicated this time around. Let's go with her for now.

Roxanne quickly led them to a nearby room, in which there were several cages, wooden and metal crates, barrels, and other things. When Nerun and the others entered, they quickly saw a young, curly-haired girl with freckles on her face. This was Eliana. Ailan ran towards her while shouting her name.

"SISTER. SISTER Are you all right, did they hurt you? It's my fault Sister, I'm sorry I got you into this." said Ailan as he looked at his sister, tears and snot on his face. The latter was surprised to see her brother, but was also very happy to see him, however, seeing Roxanne who was one of the mercenaries guarding her, she thought that Ailan had been captured.

Nerun and Silvester were glad to see that Eliana was well. Nerun looked around the room and was struck by the fact that there were no other prisoners, except for the central cage, where a woman with long black hair covering her face was chained. She looked rather weak, but for some reason Nerun felt his hair stand on end just looking at her. The lady looked up and both Silvester and Nerun were extremely surprised to see a woman who looked so very, very beautiful.

"She's prettier than Sister Maya," said Silvester almost stammering.

...

When the earthquake was felt, Ren and Malo were continuing their silent process of infiltration, when suddenly they felt the cave shake. The two looked at each other, and began to hear screams throughout the cave, and soon found themselves surrounded by many mercenaries who looked at them with unfriendly faces. 'Damn' the two thought in unison, and began to fight with the mercenaries surrounding them.

"Beastmen of Rhodnius" the mercenaries began to shout, shouts that scattered throughout the cave, with everyone in the lair quickly thinking that they were being invaded by the Rhodnians and had been betrayed by them.

The mercenaries fought fiercely, but Ren and Malo quickly disposed of them, lacerated and mutilated bodies all over the floor and wall. Malo in particular was quite brutal, and his way of doing things made him somewhat restrained previously, due to the stealthy infiltration. Now he was able to unleash his true nature, and there was a fanatical grin on his face as he gloated, bathing in the blood of his enemies.

Ren looked at Malo seriously and said, "You need to calm down. You know that when you start massacres you lose control of your emotions, and that can put you in danger. If we've already been discovered, we have to get the material Commander Roland wants as soon as possible."

Malo seemed to nod to Ren, but clearly his eyes showed a certain bloodlust. Malo loved the battlefields and war, he was very loyal to Rhodnius and the Sacar tribe, however, his taciturn personality and his loss of control when committing massacres meant that despite his strength and reputation he had not been able to rise through the ranks quickly, as was his desire.

Although Ren knew that Malo was not in the best of shape at the moment, he had no choice but to separate himself from him. Right now getting the information was the most important thing and with high speed he began to investigate the lair, killing any guards he could find, and trying to avoid the crowds. While he was a Praetorian, much stronger than Qi Masters, if enough Masters surrounded him, he could be injured and even killed if he was attacked by surprise.

Malo, for his part, at first tried to follow Ren's advice, but soon with each battle he lost more and more control. Eventually he began to run and ram every mercenary and servant he saw inside the lair without paying particular attention to where he was going.

...

Multiple afferimages could be seen in the room, as well as the clash between two people fighting at high speed, and without quarter. Elijah with his three claw-like Qi Blades in his hand was attacking Ocelot fiercely, but the latter was defending himself with two metallic tonfa in his hands. Elijah's Qi Claws were powerful, but they left only small scratches on the weapons of Ocelot, who seemed to be studying Elijah with his small eyes.

"Your Qi is exuberant, even though you are young you are already a Qi Praetorian of great abilities, not like the young men who grow up in greenhouses, but you have grown up fighting and fighting, which is commendable. You use several quite powerful Warrior Techniques, and your auxiliary meridians are open to near perfection. What is your origin, boy, Ansem or Rhodnius?" Ocelot asked.

Before Elijah could say anything, however, Ocelot answered himself: "Hehehe. It really doesn't matter. I must thank you, if you hadn't infiltrated, I wouldn't have been able to sound the alarm and thus called Sagat back. With this, the deal with the Rhodnians will fall through and what I want will be mine." Ocelot's eyes showed a strange zeal, almost as if he were possessed. Yet his movements clearly showed how calm and coldblodded his spirit was. It was more like a controlled mania, which in Elijah's eyes only made him more dangerous.

"I'm afraid you must die," said Ocelot as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

He then disappeared with a speed even faster than Elijah's when using Flash Walk, and appearing in front of Elijah he attacked with one of his tonfas at breakneck speed. The speed and force of the attack ensured that Elijah's head would explode like a watermelon if touched by the blow.

Elijah, however, remained calm at all times, and standing half-sideways, unsheathed the sword at his waist with great speed.

CLASH!

The two weapons clashed, creating a thud that spread throughout the room. Ocelot took a few steps back to shake off the inertia, while Elijah had to retreat several metres, again verifying the great power of his adversary. Elijah gripped the handle of his sword with both hands and calmed down, while with his two eyes he turned his attention to Ocelot, who was still trying to unnerve him with his words.

"What a nice sword. Its rank must not be too low. What a fantastic gift you have brought me," said Ocelot, as the tonfa on his right arm began to spin with great speed.

Just then, they both heard a roar coming from one of the nearby corridors. They both turned to see the source of the sound, when a humanoid creature over two metres tall, with greyish skin and a horn on its forehead appeared, its eyes bloodshot, and its clothes and fists stained with blood, which were clearly not its own. This was precisely Malo, who, while wandering senselessly in the lair, arrived at the site of Ocelot's battle.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. More. I want more." Malo suddenly started laughing uncontrollably and without another word ran at high speed towards the person closest to him, which turned out to be Ocelot.

Ocelot's eyes became quite serious, and planting himself on the ground, he used his arm with the spinning tonfa as he attacked Malo who was running towards him in a frenzy. The tonfa stopped while facing Malo and a metre-long seal made of Qi formed at the tip of it, with strange engravings on its surface. <Seal of Power> said Ocelot.

BOOOM!

Malo was thrown backwards with great force given the force of the attack and slammed into the wall, smashing into it and creating another small earthquake in the cave. Malo's arms showed blood and bruises, but little else. His bloodshot eyes seemed to have calmed a little with the attack, but his ferocity did not diminish.

Ocelot had to retreat several steps and lost his balance, given the onslaught of the Beastman, an opportunity that Elijah did not miss to close in and attack with his sword, which glowed with his Qi. Ocelot managed to defend himself with the other tonfa with difficulty, and was thrown several metres. Although he had not taken severe damage, a trickle of blood was visible on his lips and the arm with which he defended himself was trembling slightly.