29 Chapter XXIX - Trouble

Eric and Pyro got two rooms in an inn they found a few seconds after getting into the town.

How did they pay exactly?

Well, the owner happened to be walking on a relatively quiet and abandoned street... And the sky was getting dark... And he was defenceless.

Regardless, they had gotten a roof over their heads without much effort and they were settled for the night.

But just as they were about to fall asleep, the ground shook as if the end of the world had begun once again.

The two men bolted out of their rooms and ran out of the inn together to investigate the source of the disturbance.

They were surprised to find a pillar of white light shining into the sky from the large temple in the settlement, but what surprised them even more was the fact that no one in the town seemed to be bothered about neither the light nor the earthquake.

"This has just taken a turn for the worse." Pyro said with a sigh.

Eric turned seemed puzzled and itched his head. "You'd think people would care more about the literal end of the world, but it seems like they're only this depressed because today's a Monday."

Pyro sighed and shook his head. "This is not the time for jokes." He said and stepped to the side to avoid colliding with a horse, which seemed to be able to sense the danger.

"Yeah... I need to stop horsing around." Eric said with a straight face.

"I hate you." Pyro groaned and began to run toward the temple's direction, and he was quickly followed by a chuckling Eric.

At the moment, Leiron and his squad suddenly appeared at the other end of the street, where the horse came from. Apparently, the horse belonged to them, and they obviously were trying to make sure they didn't lose it.

The two groups immediately stopped and faced each other with stern expressions.

"What is the problem, you two?" Leiron asked in a probing tone.

Eric shrugged and pointed at the temple.

"That." he said simply.

Leiron growled and barked an order at his squad. "Seize these inhuman scum!"

Pyro frowned deeply. "How did you know?"

Leiron's squad immediately spread out and surrounded the two men, then drew their weapons and began to close in.

"There is a spell placed on this town. Anyone who steps in immediately falls under its influence. All it does, is make everyone oblivious to the Church's business, but it only works on humans," Leiron said as he drew his sword and leapt at Pyro. "The fact that you two are not sleeping soundly means you're not humans!"

A cool blue light shone within the street as Eric summoned Needle and blocked Leiron's attack.

"That's pretty neat," Eric said and pushed Leiron back effortlessly, even though the man was so over-muscled that he looked like the thing steroids took whenever they wanted a boost. Then he turned to look at Pyro over his shoulder and said, "What are you waiting for? Roast these xenoes!"

Just as flames came to life around Pyro, an arrow whizzed past his ear and struck a soldier who had snuck up behind him between the eyes.

The guard fell onto the ground lifelessly, and everyone's attention turned towards the roof of a nearby building, where the arrow had come from. 

A skinny teenager stood at the top of the building holding a long, black bow in one hand.

He had spiky blonde hair, which was shaved at the sides and aligned to the left so its spiky bangs overed his left eye.

Other than some black bands which were wrapped around his lower abdomen, he wore nothing else on his upper body, save a thin bracelet, a black necklace with a silver crescent moon pendant and a stylish fur-lined leather jacket that was a few sizes too big for him.

Attached to the belt that held up his black pants was a quiver, which was filled with arrows, as well as a bandolier which help a few vials containing a red liquid and a small bag that held a book.

"Need some help?" He asked in a youthful voice and jumped from the building, managing two flips before landing gracefully and silently, despite the fact that he had boots on.

A small, mischievous smile adorned his cute, immature face and a similar mischievous glint was present in his bright green eye.

"Uh, no offense, kid, but you look barely a month older than sixteen, I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if I accept your help." Pyro said with a small chuckle and lobbed a fireball at the closest soldier, immediately setting him ablaze.

The kid grinned from ear to ear and an arrow appeared in the throat of three soldiers. "You sure about that?" He asked as his grin became a little sinister.

"Holy shit!" Eric exclaimed as he fought Leiron back for the umpteenth time. "I didn't even see him move his bow!"

"You can't see!" Pyro shouted, a little irritation evident in his tone. He grabbed the wrist of a soldier that tried to split his skull with a club and set him on fire as he stared at the kid. "Fine, but don't act like a total teenager and do some random shit... It's already tough being around one chucklehead already."

"Hey!" Eric said defensively, as he was, of course, the chucklehead Pyro was referring to.

His attention, however, was snapped back to his fight, as Leiron grabbed his arm in a vice grip.

"This can't be good." Eric said plainly, before Leiron threw him about thirty-odd metres into the sky.

Having dealt with Eric, Leiron immediately turned to the kid with a snarl. He was behaving more aggressively than before, for some unknown reason, which was making him seem even beastly.

However, before he could even take a step, Needle suddenly flew through his chest, before being yanked back and dragging him along with it into the sky.

Armour, flesh, bone, nothing could stop the all powerful Needle.

With their leader gone, the soldiers were quickly dealt with, and not long after, Eric landed dramatically on the ground and stayed in that position for a few seconds and only got up when Leiron's body landed behind him.

"I'm the best there ever would be!" Eric said with a playful chuckle before dismissing Needle.

Pyro huffed in annoyance and the kid gave Eric a thumbs up.

"What's your name, kid?" Eric asked as the group resumed their charge towards the glowing temple.

"Ulysses." The kid answered without hesitation.

"Nice shooting, Ulysses."

Ulysses gave Eric a nod of appreciation, before focusing on keeping up with the two older men.

As they got closer, the three of them could feel the tremors and quakes getting stronger and stronger, to the point where they had to slow down or risk falling to the ground.

It wouldn't hurt, but it would be very embarrassing.

They managed to get even closer to the temple before the next problem appeared.

The tremors got so strong that the ground actually began to split open- No, it wasn't that the ground was splitting open, it was that another realm was interfering with this one.

"Hell..." Ulysses muttered as he leapt over a large crack in the earth that spilled out red and orange light, as well as the smell of sulfur.

The three of them silently agreed that the ground was no longer safe, and they needed to avoid it.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Pyro exclaimed in annoyance as a pair of wings made entirely of fire appeared on his back, which he used to soar through the air.

Eric summoned Needle and flicked it forward into the side of a building, then pulled the mana thread attached to its pommel and followed after the sword.

As the three men sorted themselves, Ulysses suddenly picked up the pace and slung his bow over his shoulder.

"Kid... You might wanna leave the ground soon," Eric said as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop like it was the most casual thing on the planet. "And by soon, I mean right now!" He exclaimed as he spotted a large chasm that appeared a few hundred metres ahead.

It blocked the street entirely, and was still even expanding.

Ulysses smiled lazily and ran even faster than before, getting ahead of both Eric and Pyro, two men who defied logic with every single thing they did.

"Impossible..." Pyro muttered as he saw Ulysses run beyond him. However, his awe soon turned to panic when he discovered that Ulysses had no intention to stop. "Kid!"

Already at the edge of the chasm, just a single step and he'll fall to his fiery doom in hell, Ulysses suddenly jumped into the air and kicked off the air itself before equipping his bow and firing an arrow at a building beyond the chasm.

The odd sound it made as it cut through the air made the two men realise that there was a length of rope attached to the arrow, which carried the kid along with it, and hence, over the chasm. 

After landing with a roll, Ulysses got back to his feet and flashed the two men an upward pointing thumb as he imitated Eric and ran along a series of rooftops.

"That's that spirit, kid!" Eric said with a loud laugh as he jumped onto another building.

Pyro sighed as he flew over the chasm as well. "What did I tell you about random shit, kid?"

Ulysses merely chuckled loudly in response and kept moving forward.

A little while later, they burst into the church, ready for anything that might come their way.

Well, anything but the giant, red suit of armour which was holding Meghana above its head with its two arms, clearly in the process of splitting her in two.

Other than the dozens of Elite Soldiers that filled the temple and fought against Hermes, a few mages were surrounding a white haired man, who was no doubt Ultio, chanting in a weird language. Their chant seemed to weaken him, which explained why he was kneeling on the floor with a dazed expression.

"... Shit." Eric said, turning the attention of everyone present to the three newcomers.