Father and Daughter

BOOM

"?!"

Amy braced herself. The room shook vigorously and it took all she had not to fall over.

Markus moved ahead of her, he broke into the room that Hyde was being kept in.

"Ah."

Markus caught sight of the Valian right next to Hyde and immediately attacked. A beam of light headed straight for the Valian.

"Uwah~ That was dangerous."

The Valian chose to dodge instead of taking the attack head on.

"Identify yourself!"

Markus shouted at the Valian and pointed his sword at him.

"I can't really do that."

The Valian answered and ran towards Hyde once more. However, though he was fast, Markus was faster.

Traveling in a beam of light, Markus arrived right in front of the Valian in an instant. He swung his sword and a giant wave made of light threatened to cut the Valian apart.

Once again, the Valian managed to dodge the attack. The light cut through the building itself, however, Markus had no time to care for collateral damage at the moment.

He covered his sword in light and took a stance.

"If you refuse to identify yourself, then it'll be perfectly fine for me to cut you down."

Markus didn't wait for the Valian's response. He appeared right in front of the Valian in the same manner as before and the two engaged in combat.

Amy arrived and after briefly analyzing the situation, went over to take Hyde.

"———"

Suddenly, Amy heard some unfamiliar language and saw a woman appear from the hole created on the floor. She then saw a ball of fire head straight towards Hyde.

Amy quickly unsheathed her sword and used light to disperse the flames.

"What is that power?"

Amy and the woman locked gazes. With just a look, Amy managed to discern that the flames weren't made from energy.

The woman was surprised, but she wasn't dumbfounded. She quickly moved her hand holding the staff and talked once more using that unfamiliar language and multiple fireballs threatened to swallow both Hyde and Amy whole.

She blocked them without any problem but just as she lowered her sword...

"Agh!"

Amy groaned. The air beside her had suddenly exploded. Though she managed to defend herself in time, it felt as if the side of her body was hit by a giant hammer.

'Multiple elements?'

That was troublesome.

There were abilities that allowed other Inheritors to control more than one element at once but the downside to them is that most of them should be weaker than an ability focused on one element.

However, the attack Amy was hit didn't use energy and was at least as strong as an Adept's attack.

"I thought you didn't have any attack power!"

"Even I can handle an Apprentice."

The Valian and the floating woman exchanged words nonchalantly. Markus was still holding the advantage but it didn't seem like their battle would end anytime soon.

"Handle an Apprentice? Ha!"

Amy laughed. The woman frowned and glared at Amy.

"What are you laughing for?"

"Well, if the limit of what you can handle is an Apprentice, then you're going to have a problem."

Amy flashed a knowing smile at the woman and opened her mouth.

"Wings of Light."

There was an explosion of light. The woman covered her eyes but even that didn't help.

Once the light faded, there stood Amy with wings. Unlike when she transformed in the past, there was also a faint aura of light wrapping around her and the wings.

"Annoying."

"What an honor."

Amy chuckled and disappeared from her spot.

"?!"

The woman looked around in alarm but before she could even turn her head, she was hit from the side.

"Agh…"

Before she could regain herself, another hit came from a different side, then another, and another.

The woman was hit by a barrage of attacks from varying angles. Though each one didn't exactly pack a lot of power, having been hit by many was still troublesome.

"Oops."

The Valian escaped from Markus and carried the woman away from Amy's attack. Amy disappeared from the woman's spot and reappeared a ways away.

"You're pretty fast."

"The target…"

"Sheesh. I know, just get the teleportation ready."

The Valian let go of the woman and stepped forward.

Markus arrived right next to Amy. Behind them was Hyde who was still bound and gagged. He had a blindfold on as well, so other than the sounds, he shouldn't know of the current situation.

The Judge had arrived and was ready to take Hyde away at a moment's notice.

Amy attacked first. Using the speed given to her by her wings and the light aura wrapping around her body, she landed an attack on the Vallian.

"Ha!"

The Valian staggered slightly at the attack but quickly regained his footing. With a shout, he landed a punch with his burly arms. Amy managed to block in time but she couldn't cancel out the force behind the attack and was sent flying back.

Markus appeared right in front of the Valian with a single step.

"Bisection."

The Valian felt a chill so he jumped from his spot without hesitation.

Markus' sword had cut through his previous position and a wave of light emerged from the sword and cut apart the remaining wall behind them. It felt like that if that attack had hit, he would definitely be split in two.

"Grand Judgment!"

A pillar of light suddenly crashed down onto the Valian from the skies. It looked as if it planned to devour him completely and leave nothing behind.

The Valian landed on the floor. Unfortunately, Amy's power was too weak to pierce through the Valian's tough skin. Other than leaving some marks, the Valian was fine.

"Divine Punishment."

Markus muttered.

"O-oi…"

The Valian got up from the rubble surrounding him and looked up. The skies themselves were changing from that one attack. The clouds parted to create a giant circular opening.

"Tsk!"

The Valian threw caution to the wind and charged at Markus. The amount of energy that Markus had used for that attack was enough to destroy him many times over. He refused to believe that it could be used so easily.

"Heh."

"?!"

Alarm bells rang in the Valian's head after seeing Markus' smirk.

Markus stopped channeling mana into the skies and thrust out his sword.

"Divine Break."

Light shot out of the tip of his weapon in the form of a sword as if wanting to tunnel through the Valian.

"Aaaghhh!"

The Valian wasn't able to dodge Markus' attack in time and was forced to defend. Though he wasn't cut open like what Markus had intended, his forearms were still greatly injured.

"Tch."

The Valian clicked his tongue and retreated. Though he really wanted to just kill Hyde, Markus and Amy were too fast. Though he could handle the latter easily, having Markus at the forefront served to impede him greatly.

His arms were damaged, but they were already slowly healing. The blood from the laceration had stopped almost immediately. Valians had great vitality and tough bodies. They were immune to most diseases and couldn't easily be poisoned. At the very least, poison enough to kill an elephant would have to be used to produce any minor effect.

Accompanying those qualities, they also healed very fast. Compared to a normal human, they healed at least ten times as fast. Sometimes, even faster.

And, unlike when normal humans who have to get sutures to force a wound to close, Valians would simply have to wait. Unless they had something in the wound that prevented it from healing, it would heal easily.

However, as if to compensate for their superior abilities, the fertility rate of Valians is shockingly low. The only reason they have yet to take over the world with their numbers would be because it'd take years for a new Valian to be born. Though, Valians do regularly live over a hundred years.

"Lightning Pillar!"

"?!"

The Valian was suddenly hit by lightning. It wasn't very powerful, but it still electrocuted his body. He turned his head towards the source and saw Sebastian.

"Crap. We're getting out of here! I can't take both him and Markus at the same time."

"Step over here. ———!"

It appeared that she had been preparing that spell for a while. After a brief moment of a glowing circle appearing beneath them, the two of them vanished.

"..."

Markus dropped his sword. Though he could've used another attack as they were teleporting, he was dazed by the Valian's words.

'He wouldn't be able to take me and Sebastian at the same time? What did he mean?'

As far as Markus knew, Sebastian was many times weaker than him. Markus could even flick his finger and kill Sebastian with his energy.

Yet, the Valian he had some trouble with was scared of facing both of them at the same time? He considered Sebastian and Markus as two people of the same level?

"Are you okay?!"

Sebastian quickly rushed to check on Amy first. She had some injuries, but nothing too serious. Sebastian breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that she was fine.

"Was that the Valian you met in the academy?"

"Yes, he is. I don't know who that woman with him was but judging by what just happened, she was the reason he managed to escape the school."

"Yeah…"

Amy dusted off her clothes and with Sebastian, walked over to Markus who was staring into the place that the two of them had teleported from.

"Father?"

Amy called out to Markus, but he hadn't responded. She called out one more time before he turned around to face the two of them.

"It appears that Valian was the one Sebastian encountered inside the academy."

"I see."

Markus looked at Sebastian for a few moments before checking on Hyde.

"He was acting weirdly."

Sebastian whispered.

"I wonder what happened…"

Markus wasn't the type of person to get frustrated from not being able to finish a battle. In fact, he'd prefer not fighting at all. That's why Amy couldn't understand why he was so out of it.

—Sebastian, we have another problem on our hands.

"?"

—The woman earlier, that wasn't an ability. She was a sorcerer, the same kind as Merlin. If they have sorcerers under their wing, it's going to be more troublesome than we thought.

Though few in numbers and power, sorcerers made up for it in versatility. Few knew of their existence, but those who did, fear them.

Sebastian looked at the place the Valian and the woman disappeared from and couldn't help but sigh.