Chapter 216: Sky Walk

"I knew this was a horrible idea!" Fors whispered loudly in terror as she watched Adryan being cut down by the Nighthawks.

They had rented a hotel room a few yards from Darkholme's house so they could keep an eye on him more comfortably.

Speaking of the drunk, he was sleeping on the bed.

They had witnessed the whole brutal fight that couldn't have lasted more than 2 minutes.

"Just when Teacher was so close!" Hazel grunted looking outside worriedly.

Charlotte looked out the window and growled.

"How will he get out of there? He's surrounded."

Xio for her part said nothing and looked outside with a frown.

Sasha looked outside with a calm look.

"We have to go."

Hazel looked at the giantess with wide eyes.

"We're leaving him?! We can't do that!" she growled barely able to contain her voice.

Sasha looked into the noblewoman's mask eyes and shook her head.

"How do you plan to help him? You plan to jump in there and fight the Nighthawks?" 

"But we can't leave him behind!" Hazel growled in annoyance.

"Remember what he said? If it came to this situation. We had to leave him behind, he'll be able to escape on his own. Or don't you trust him?" Sasha asked as she placed a hand on the noblewoman's shoulder.

Hazel bit her lips not sure what to do. On one hand, she wanted to help her Teacher but on the other, she knew she would only be a hindrance.

The fight earlier proved how big the difference was between her Teacher and them.

If anyone could escape from there it was him.

So, with tears threatening to spill from her eyes, Hazel nodded weakly.

"Mr. Kenway will be fine. I've seen him escape from extreme situations." Xio spoke, looking at the masked woman. The fishing house explosion was still fresh in her mind.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Fors looked nervously at the window.

"If you've finished your talk we have to go now!"

Everyone inside nodded and quickly opened the door to the room and ran out.

Darkholme was still asleep on the bed, oblivious to what was going on.

...

Nightmare Watson Ulbi couldn't believe what was in front of him.

"Mr. Kenway?"

He asked stunned, and his team was the same way.

Monster Alicia and Sleepless Kevin had their mouths hanging open as they looked at the man who was supposed to be dead!

Adryan smiled at the man and gave a small bow.

"The one and only~"

Bang! Bang! Bang! 

Multiple gunshots rang out behind him and moving from his spot to the side, the red-haired man gave a quick glance at Qilangos who was already facing the Machinery Hivemind who were shooting at him but the bullets were bouncing off his skin.

The moment of chatter was over.

Aiming with the revolver they had on hand, Kevin and Alicia fired at the red-haired man. 

Bang! Bang! Bang! 

"Tch* Seriously? When did I ever do anything to you?" Adryan growled as he jumped to the side dodging the shots.

Mighnight Poet Charlie put his hand to his chest in a graceful posture and tried to recite a poem but was forced to stop as he had to dodge the fireballs that also attacked Alicia and Kevin who had to dive to the side.

Even if they received the fireballs full on the only thing they would receive would be some light burns, the redhead greatly reduced the power of the attack.

"Like I'm going to let you do that genius!" Adryan said amused but his smile immediately faded as he felt the change.

Forcing himself awake, Adryan opened his eyes again to see how a revolver was in front of his face.

Bang!

Moving his head to the side, Adryan grunted hearing a beeping sound in his left ear.

'He woke up so fast?' Watson thought stunned but before he could do anything a powerful kick to his chest sent him flying backward.

Despite having seen their captain sent flying, the Nighthawks kept a cool head and pointed their revolvers at Adryan.

At that moment, a high wall of fire manifested itself in front of the red-haired man, cutting off the street again. Separating the Nighthawks from the redhead.

The Nighthawks covered their faces from the heat of the flames and took several steps back.

"Shit" Kevin growled feeling like he was standing in front of an open factory oven.

Turning around, Adryan didn't look back and yelled with a laugh.

"I'm sorry but I can't stay and dance! I have things to do~!"

He sped towards Qilangos' mangled arm. 

On this was a glove that looked like it was made of human skin!

Qilangos was attacking and defending himself as best he could from the Machinery Hivemind who couldn't seem to hurt the man.

The bullets kept bouncing off his skin without being able to penetrate it.

'I can't fight here! If I escape Qilangos won't be hard to track down. Without Creeping Hunger to hide his scent and with those wounds he'll be easy prey!' The red-haired man thought sharply as he grabbed the arm off the ground and pulled off the glove. He quickly tossed the arm aside and burned it with a fireball.

The man quickly removed Vecchio Pomodoro and put it in his pocket as he quickly placed Creeping Hunger in his left hand.

FUSSHHHHHHHHHH

At that moment, a mighty gale roared furiously down the street and blew the Machinery Hivemind as well as Adryan and the Nighthawks away.

This was the work of Qilangos who didn't miss the opportunity and quickly used his wind control to fly high into the clouds!

"Tch!" Clicking his tongue Adryan tried to take advantage of the opportunity created by Qilangos to also escape using the shadows...

His pupils shrank.

He couldn't sense any shadows to jump to!

Knowing who the culprits could be. Scarlet eyes moved to the Machinery Hivemind that was rising from the Pirate's attack, more specifically to one of the men who carried a completely black mirror in his hands.

'A sealed artifact? Is that what's blocking the Burnt Band?' 

And that didn't seem to be the only artifact the Machinery Hivemind was carrying!

He also saw how the only woman in the group was carrying a thick blue-covered book and was looking at him with a pale face.

The woman opened the book and pointed it at him!

The pages glowed and Adryan instinctively crossed his arms in front of him as he jumped back.

In that instant, he felt as if something inside him had repelled something.

CRRIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCKKKKKK

A horrible screeching sound rang through the street and everyone present covered their ears.

The woman who was holding the book dropped it with a scream of pain.

Blood poured from her eyes and she fell to the ground unconscious, next to the book that was changing.

The book that fell to the floor, still open, cracked in half, and the once golden pages blackened, and a black liquid began to flow out of it.

Adryan looked rather stunned at what had just happened. 

'Did Hunters Hallow just act?' he thought dumbfounded but shook off those thoughts, now was not the time.

Taking advantage of the distraction, he tried to escape again by running into an alley but he had to jump backwards to dodge a hail of bullets.

The place where the bullets hit was now also covered with a strange blue liquid.

Turning to look at the source of the bullets, he saw what appeared to be the captain pointing an automatic rifle at him.

Behind him, another of his team was carrying the woman away from the battle. The rest of them pulled out more automatic weapons and pointed them at him.

"Adryan Kenway you are under arrest. Surrender or we will be forced to use lethal force." The captain of the Machinery Hivemind ordered.

'I feel like I know this guy...' Adryan thought internally as he saw the man's face, after a second his eyes lit up in recognition and he couldn't stop a smile from growing on his face.

"Haha~ And what do you call what you just did? Wasn't that lethal force?" Adryan laughed in amusement, out of the corner of his eye he saw how the Nighthawks were running towards them from the other side.

Without waiting for a response from the captain, another wall of fire formed cutting off the view of the Machinery Hivemind and the Nighthawks.

Turning around, Adryan sped down the alley and ran towards the wall, he climbed it to the roof in no time.

But he barely made it halfway across the roof before someone cut him off.

"Sigh* Really Mr. Watson? Unlike you I don't want to hurt you" Adryan said as he looked at the Captain Nighthawk before him.

"Give up Mr. Kenway. You have nowhere to run." Watson said with narrowed eyes.

The redhead's lips turned up in a grin. The glove in his left hand taking on a majestic golden color.

"Nah, I got it." 

Suddenly, flashes of red lightning appear in Adryan's eyes.

Psychic Piercing!

Watson froze and blood poured from his nose. Adryan took advantage of the man's temporary daze to jump to the next building and begin his escape.

But again he was cut off, this time by the captain of the Machinery Hivemind.

Automatic rifle raised and pointed at him.

Ratatatata!

Adryan jumped to the side dodging the bullets, with his enhanced senses he also heard how a group of people arrived where Watson was.

He also saw how the rest of the Machinery Hivemind arrived and stood next to their captain and raised their automatic rifles.

Adryan calmly watched this.

Click...

A small click reached his ears and Adryan's eyes lowered to the alley that quickly filled with blue smoke.

His spirituality and instinct told him that he should not inhale or touch whatever this smoke was...

Letting out a sigh, he returned his gaze to the Machinery Hivemind and the Nighthawks, both pointing guns at them and ready to pull the trigger.

Adryan remained calm, despite his situation he was with his mind cold.

'Looks like it's time to give it a try...' he thought.

He looked at the captain of the Machinery Hivemind and smiled.

"You're Ikanser aren't you? I'm sorry I didn't recognize you before. I must say I'm a fan." 

'He knows my name?' Ikanser thought in a daze before shaking his mind and frowning.

"This is your last chance Mr. Kenway, there is no escape. Surrender and you can get out of here alive." 

"The only reason we haven't fired is because you haven't attacked or hurt any of us and your acts of heroism but make no mistake. We will still pull the trigger." Watson said with a snarl with his revolver pointed at the man.

The red-haired man's serene face watched all this.

After a few seconds, he gave a small smile to the group in front of him.

"Mr. Red Underwear I will ask you a question. When I can't run left or right, and I can't move down either. Which way is left for me to move to?"

The man's face flushed with embarrassment at the nickname. But the red-haired man's question rang in his head.

Adryan's smile grew.

"Let me give you a hint." Raising a finger, he pointed to the sky.

The eyes of those present widened but before anyone could do anything, Adryan brought down the hand he just raised with force.

A wave of flames shot out of it pushing everyone present backwards. 

Turning around and running with speed towards the edge of the building, Adryan jumped high...

Fush*

And in mid-air, before gravity could pull him down, and without anything touching his foot, he took a step, propelling himself higher.

Fush*

And he took another step, and another and another, rising higher and higher.

Recovering from the red-haired man's earlier attack, the Machinery Hivemind and the Nighthawks watched in amazement as the man was walking on air!

Fush! Fush! Fush!

With every step he took, an explosion shot out from the soles of his feet, lifting him higher and higher!

"Hahaha! Better luck next time!" Adryan shouted as he quickened his steps.

This was the technique he had practiced so much in Calamity City and he could finally use it in real life!

At first, he had tried using controlled fire propulsion like Iron Man to fly but that consumed too much spirituality... So he had to think outside the bag and try something with more...Flavor.

Taking a page from the 6 powers of One Piece, he recreated the technique of walking on air with his fire control!

Using small controlled explosions on the soles of his feet, he could basically fly!

This was his new technique, Sky Walk!

Watching as Adryan flew farther and farther away, Ikanser could only grit his teeth as he turned to his team.

"Hold fire! We can't risk a stray bullet landing on a civilian!"

Watson gave his team the same order, and everyone could only watch helplessly as the man disappeared into the clouds.

...

"Hahahahha! This is fun!" Adryan shouted with laughter as he 'flew'.

"You're crazy... princess...." Flora said exhausted, already barely able to stay awake.

Adryan smiled and quickened his pace. Quickly moving through the sky.

"You can rest now Flora! I'll finish this!" Adryan shouted with a sharp grin.

He was following Qilangos' trail through the air!

"I'll leave the rest to you..." Flora said before falling asleep.

Adryan just nodded at the woman's words and focused on following the Pirate's trail.

He was going to finish this today.