16 Chapter XVI - Fights Aren’t Meant To Be This Quick

Ultio pinched the blade with the index finger and thumb of his gloved hand, then snatched the sword away from the dark skinned man. "An enchanted weapon? I'm impressed," He said as he covered his other hand in a shadow glove and ran it over the blade of the sword.

"But don't you know that enchanted weapons have a consciousness? Because, I can sense a lot of hatred directed at you coming from this sword," Ultio said and handed the sword back to the gentleman he snatched it from.

The young man took the blade back from Ultio cautiously with narrowed eyes. "What I do with my sword is none of your concern,"

"Actually, I believe it is," Ultio began with a thoughtful expression, "Because I am directly responsible for the death of your comrade, and you will need a better weapon to have any hope of carrying out your justice,"

"Oh?" The young man seemed surprised by this, then he chuckled slightly. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

The young man rose his hand to his chest and undid the fastening of his cloak.

"Ilago* Del Porro. Designation 'C' of Guild White," He said as his cloak fell to the ground, revealing his full body.

[A/N: Pronounced Ee-ya-go, not Ill-ya-go or 'yago'.]

Ilago wore a sleeveless dark blue shirt under a white hooded vest with a black diamond shaped pattern on its hem, and black, armoured gloves. On his lower body, he wore a pair of black, loose-fitting pants with a silver chain made up of crosses on the right side of his belt, and black boots.

"You want to fight me?" Ultio asked, almost surprised by Ilago's actions. A small smirk grew on his face and he shrugged. "I would advise you to fight like your life depends on it, because in actuality... Your life depends on it,"

Ilago chuckled and stretched out his free hand. Darkness began to crawl from his shoulder to his hand and coalesced into a longer, sharper Ninjatō. "I plan on doing just that," He said as a portion of a skull appeared over his left eye.

Ultio felt Ilago's power expand and become much denser. "A power up? No, you were hiding your power... Fascinating," Ultio chuckled, then he stretched his arms out to his sides.

"Now, I believe we have shared enough words already, so let us begin with the violence,"

*****

The members of Guild Ouranos that had just arrived were having trouble finding the other members of their guild. Without their guildmates, they could only walk aimlessly around the streets of Lont, as they didn't even know which Inn they had lodged in. Furthermore, they weren't with any currency, and they were all quite famished.

They were just about to give up hope, when they heard a loud explosion in the distance, which attracted the attention of everyone in Lont.

"Seems like we have found our guildmates," Verah said with a slight frown.

*****

"I must admit, you are quite powerful for someone so weak," Ultio said as he casually relaxed within a crater formed after he was punched by Ilago Del Porro. Although the force of the punch created a crater, Ultio didn't even seem fazed nor affected by it.

Ilago winced and rubbed his knuckles. "Damn, what's your face made out of?"

Ultio got to his feet and patted the dust and debris off his outfit. "Well, basically the same thing yours is made of," He said with a lazy shrug. "Now, are you done? I believe in letting the weaker one strike first, so now that you're done, I can strike back,"

"You bast-"

BANG!

Ilago couldn't even complete his statement as Ultio suddenly appeared before him and punched him right in the face. However, no one noticed that the form, stance and body posture that Ultio adopted as he punched Ilago, was exactly the same as Ilago's.

As the dust settled, the only sound in the silent street was the sound of Ilago coughing out blood. Ultio put his hands in his pocket and smirked at the man.

"Damn... That was a punch," He chuckled and got to his feet as blood dripped out of from his mouth. He wiped the his mouth with back of his hand and slowly walked forward. "Now, let's dance,"

Ilago's body suddenly shot forward and he threw a punch at Ultio's face once again. The white haired Ultio ducked underneath Ilago's fist and twisted to face Ilago's back before he could turn around.

Ultio casually struck the back of Ilago's knee, and placed the tip of his fingers against his neck like a blade as soon as he went on both knees from his first strike.

"You've lost. Now tell your friends hiding around to sod off," Ultio whispered into Ilago's neck before letting him go and turning to Veronica and Rena. "You two... Let's move; your guildmates must be worried, and also there's the more important discussion we need to have with them,"

But then at this moment, someone began to clap slowly somewhere behind Ultio.

"Incredible," The person said. A man, judging by the voice and the shape of the figure underneath the white hooded cloak.

Ultio turned around and shrugged. "It's nothing all that incredible. Am I correct, Mister Porro?"

Ilago, who was sitting on the floor with a small smile chuckled and rose a thumb in agreement.

"Precisely. So, I believe you, sir, can forget about this incident and be on your merry way, yes?"

The man was silent for a while as he seemed to be analysing Ultio, before he chuckled lightly. "Do not be mistaken, sir, I am not here to fight you," He said and stretched out a hand protected by a white glove from underneath his robe.

"I am Apollinus Murcielago, but you can call me Apollo. And I... Am the leader of Guild White,"

Ultio couldn't detect any negative intention from the young man, so he went forward and shook his hand for politeness' sake. "As you had heard earlier, I am Ultio V, but it would be more convenient to call me Ultio," He said, a little irritated with himself for selecting the letter 'V' to be his last name, but he had just felt compelled to at that time.

"A unique name, if I must say so," Apollo said as he let go of Ultio's hand. He was silent for a moment and seemed to be evaluating Ultio once again, now that he was right in front of him. "Mister V..." He began, but paused after seeing Ultio frown.

"Ultio. Call me Ultio," Ultio said, slightly irritated.

It was obvious that Apollo had lost a brownie point already.

"Ah, my bad." Apollo apologized immediately then continued with his words. "Mister Ultio, I know I'm interrupting something, but can we have a simple chat over a drink?"

Without thinking, Ultio turned around and began to walk away. "No." His reply was simple and short, without any emotion to imply any sort of intention.

Apollo chuckled and nodded. "I understand, Mister Ultio, my apologies for interrupting. I would like to share some advise with you, if you don't mind,"

"Shoot," Ultio said.

"I like your dressing a lot, Mister Ultio. But you'll look better in white," Apollo said as he turned and left. All the members of Guild White in the vicinity immediately began to follow their guild leader, and Ilago was no exception.

Veronica narrowed her eyes at Apollo's retreating figure. "That bloody bastard is trying to recruit you,"

"Do you have a problem with that?" Ultio asked and leaned forward till his face was just a few dozen inches away from Veronica's.

Veronica began to blush rapidly and looked away to avoid Ultio's gaze. "N-no," She stuttered, fumbling over her own words.

"Good. Even if you did, it would have been best to keep it to yourself, because I couldn't care less about your thoughts," Ultio said and turned to Rena.

'There's the arrogant bastard I've begun to love to hate,' Veronica thought with a small smile.

"Are you alright?"

Rena nodded once and remained silent. Whatever she was thinking or feeling was perfectly hidden by her mask, however, Ultio could hear her breathing heavily as he leaned closer to her.

The reason he leaned towards the women when he asked about their well-being was to determine the answer himself. He didn't know much about social etiquette, so he didn't know how much of an intrusion it was to come within someone's personal space without permission.

Furthermore, with his appearance and demeanour, being too close to a woman would definitely cause her to be absentminded.

"Good. Now you can lead me to the your guild leaders so we can have our little discussion." Ultio said and began to walk away.

"Actually, there's no need for that," A woman's voice came from behind Ultio as two people landed on the ground; an indication that they could both fly. "We're already here-"

At the sound of the voice, Ultio turned around to find a young woman with light brown skin dressed in a white and gold outfit, as well as a young man dressed in traditional warrior armour of The Empire.

At that moment, Verah found herself choking on her words as Ultio turned to face her. She felt her heart race and her face burn, as she looked away to avoid his gaze and his inhumanly attractive face.

"Holy shit!" Troy exclaimed, seeing Ultio's face and Verah's reaction. After all, it didn't take a private investigator to know what was happening in Verah's mind.