Bruce's Team

"You're not allowed to go anywhere until we get to Aiden, but first I have to slaughter the demon that possibly killed my friend," Bruce said in a monotone voice, his hand already at the hilt of his large blade.

Hearing Bruce's tone Serena's expression only became more apprehensive, as she wondered how she had gotten into this situation.

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(A few hours ago)

Earlier, while Aiden and Mai were being chased by the demonic being, Bruce and his group were walking through the large desolate wasteland of the abysmal enclave.

"Bruce, do I have to wear this? It's fucking embarrassing!" A male voice tinged with annoyance sounded out.

The person who spoke was a blonde-haired youth with blue eyes, this person was Felix, and at this moment he wore what seemed to be a hat made of leaves.

"I'm not going to repeat myself Felix, shut up," Bruce's heavy voice replied.

Bruce, his brows slightly scrunched up in annoyance had grown tired of Felix's rebellious attitude.

Even though Felix wasn't part of the group, he questioned everything they did, and his unreasonable attitude made him a pain.

Honestly, if it weren't for Aiden, Bruce would have long since left Felix for dead.

Surprisingly, Felix stopped talking instantly after being scolded by Bruce.

After traveling with them for some time Felix had gradually come to know the group, and the more he knew, the more his astonishment grew.

Looking towards the towering figure with red hair leading the group, Felix scoffed in his mind.

This person was called Bruce, and although Felix had only seen him in action once, that one encounter proved that Bruce was way stronger than him.

There was also the fact that everyone in the group seemed to obey Bruce's commands to the letter.

Everyone except the silver-eyed girl whom Bruce carried on his shoulder like a little kid. This girl was called Lila and she was the only person who seemed to be exempt from Bruce's discipline.

This was due to the fact that he treated her like a child, and allowed her to act as she liked as long as she didn't go too far.

There was another thing Felix noticed Lila could do.

The silver-eyed Lila seemed to possess the ability to see through the strength of demonic beasts and Contractors.

Even though they hadn't been involved in any major battles, they had passed by the territories of a few demonic beasts, and before they took action the group would always ask the silver-eyed Lila what she saw.

As Felix thought, he was interrupted by a gasp of pleasant surprise, followed by a yell of excitement from Lila.

"Look, look, more rabbits," her voice sounded out, a visible hint of excitement in her tone.

Looking toward the direction Lila was pointing, Felix noticed that the ground in front of them was filled with dug-up holes.

Next to these holes was a group of rabbits with black dot-like eyes, currently these rabbits stared at the group with child-like curiosity, wondering what these newcomers were after.

Seeing this rabbit Bruce seemed to think of something, and a small smile formed on his lips.

With Lila still on his shoulder, he turned towards Felix and beckoned him over.

Felix, feeling cautious walked towards Bruce with a stony expression on his face, he didn't seem to like the feeling of being ordered around by a fellow newbie Contractor, in fact, he hated it very much.

Bruce on the other hand didn't mind Felix's expression, instead he nodded in the direction of the rabbits and asked seriously.

"Felix, you wanted to know why you are required to wear this grass hat, don't you? Look over there, you see those rabbits, what do you think the color of their fur is?" Bruce asked.

Felix didn't know why he was being asked such a question, but he didn't care, "what does that have to do with-"

"Answer the question, Felix!" Bruce interrupted, his voice akin to a low growl, which startled some people in the group.

The people from Bruce's team the ones with the green tags seemed accustomed to his grumpy nature, but Felix's team being the newcomers, weren't.

Who could blame them though? If Aiden was here, he too would have been surprised by the changes Bruce had undergone.

Excluding the change in hair color, Bruce's physique had undergone a noticeable improvement, he wasn't just a robust guy with a bit of tummy fat anymore, instead, he was akin to a ripped bodybuilder each muscle sculpted in a natural fashion.

That wasn't all though, every move he made seemed to exude some kind of irresistible pressure.

If Bruce were to stand in front of a normal human the effects of this pressure wouldn't just be limited to intimidation like with Felix and the rest of the group, instead, it would be akin to suppression like Lotus's aura back at the stadium but on a much smaller scale.

Bruce's suppression seemed to have some effect on Felix, as he stopped complaining and took a good look at the group of rabbits.

With an uninterested expression on his face, Felix said, "Eh, it looks like some kind of grayish yellow, near white."

"It's blonde," a female voice darted in, drawing Felix's attention.

Turning towards the source of that voice Felix noticed a girl with taunting blue eyes, she wore a grass hat, similar to the one Felix was wearing, and strangely she also wore a large water bottle around her neck, but no one seemed to mind.

This woman was Arlet, and she acted as some sort of scout for the group, once they had entered a new territory she would go on ahead to inform the group of any danger.

The reason she was able to do this was because of one simple fact, she was fast, really fast.

Hearing this blue-eyed woman speak Bruce added, "Yes it's blonde. These rabbits are the reason you have to cover your hair." He said.

Hearing this Felix felt a brief moment of confusion until he heard a familiar sound.

"Caw!"

A few pricing bird cries sounded out from the distance prompting Felix to look above him.

What he saw was a flock of familiar pink birds circling the sky above them.

Felix was badly startled as he stared at the birds and his instinctive reaction was to use the power of his Contract.

But before he could, Bruce put a hand on his shoulder as he said, "Don't be in such a rush Felix, they're not here for you."

At first, Felix didn't understand, but then he saw something.

"Caw!"

The pink demonic birds let out a large cry before diving down at the rabbits below, their movement was so fast that they left a streak of white in the air a testament to their speed.

The rabbits finally noticing these birds of prey frantically jumped into their holes, but the ones that weren't fast enough were met with unlucky fates.

"Bam!"

A muffled collision sounded out as the birds landed on the defenseless rabbits.

What the rabbits were experiencing was all too familiar to Felix, a single hit, strong enough to cause the rabbits to go into shock followed by nasty injuries caused by the razor-sharp claws of these birds sinking into the flesh, all happening simultaneously.

After catching their prey the pink birds would fly away, disappearing into the distance as they cried out in celebration of a successful hunt.

Throughout this event, the birds hadn't attacked Felix and the group even once, it was as if they were invisible to them.

Felix might be rash and unreasonable, but he wasn't dumb.

Turning towards Bruce he asked, "These birds, they classify anything blonde as prey, am I right?"

"Ding ding ding," Lila who sat atop Bruce's shoulders intoned before adding, "You finally got something right, it seems you're not so dumb after all."

Lila's provocation was met with a scoff from Felix who turned towards Bruce and said, "I'm sorry for questioning your instructions, it won't happen from now on."

Felix's apology was met with a gasp from Ethan who tapped David on the shoulder, "Did Felix just apologize?" He muttered as if he had seen the strangest thing in the world.

Bruce on the other hand nodded his head, "at least you know when to take a step back," he said.

Bruce had used that opportunity to show Felix that whatever the group did, no matter how strange, they did it for a reason.

"Sorry to interrupt your moment guys but I think I found Aiden," a voice cut through the air.

Turning his head Felix could see another formidable member of the group, a woman he had been secretly observing for quite some time, it was a good-looking female with brown hair.

There was no shortage of good-looking brown-haired women in the world, so Felix wasn't attracted by her appearance, what attracted him was three simple things about her.

The first thing one would notice when looking at this brown-haired woman was four rhombus-shaped shards rotating in an orderly fashion above her head like some sort of halo.

The second thing one would notice was the fact that she wore a black blindfold, completely hindering her vision.

And the third thing one would notice was the fact that she wore a pair of black headphones, hindering her sense of hearing.

This woman was called Thalia and at first glance, she seemed unsuitable for combat.

That was what Felix thought at first, completely overlooking the fact that Thalia was able to move around freely with a blindfold on.

He attributed her natural movement to the fact that her blindfold was see-through, and also overlooked the floating shards above her head thinking that she was just practicing and would have to stop sooner or later.

But after a few hours of walking Felix discovered to his utmost astonishment that she was still going as the shards remained above her head.

After some inquiries Felix discovered that Thalia was blind, that was the price for using her Contract.

Her natural movement could be attributed to her abysmal sense of hearing, her sense of hearing was so acute that she had to wear special headphones to avoid hurting herself.

And as if that wasn't enough, even though she was blind she knew where everything was due to the fact that she had developed her own kind of echolocation, so movement wasn't a problem for her, because of her hearing ability Bruce would always ask her to pinpoint the general location of the beasts in their path before sending Arlet to scout.

"Blindness in exchange for unlimited telekinesis, and super hearing, what a nice bargain," Felix thought in envy.

Ignoring Felix, Bruce asked Thalia, "Are you serious, did you really find Aiden?"

"Yes I did," Thalia said calmly before explaining.

"At first I heard the sounds of collisions, but I assumed that it was just two beasts fighting in the distance so I ignored it. But then I heard the sound of a large disturbance followed by some strong water currents, such a large disturbance drew my attention so I took off my earphones and listened in and in that brief moment I swear I heard the sound of a young lady cursing Aiden."

Hearing Thalia's story Felix's first reaction was utter confusion, he knew she had advanced hearing but did it work like that?

Bruce on the other hand didn't seem skeptical at all, instead, he hurriedly said, "What are we waiting for let's move then."

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(Present)

"Swish!"

The sound of a blade tearing through the air startled Serena as the details of her flashback were pushed to the back of her mind.

Bruce had unsheathed his large sword, a heavy aura emanating from him as he gazed at the demonic being in front of him.