Near (1)

“The baron is not doing his job well. He does whatever he wants in the territory, and the taxes are way too heavy. I decided to do something about it to make the Rio territory peaceful again.” Wade smiled as he spoke.

Angele stared at them in surprise. He finally realized that they had betrayed the baron.

“Wade, you decided to betray my father, too?” Angele felt a bit sad because he actually liked Wade.

“Too? Ha, Young Master Angele knew about this already?” Wade was a bit surprised. Angele looked way too calm, so he felt a bit worried.

“Well, since Young Master already knows about this, we could make things easier for you.” Wade said.

“Easier? Ha?” Angele laughed. He then drew his sword slowly and disappeared from their sight.

“AH!” Suddenly, two guards outside the door yelled. Angele slashed their neck open, and they died without knowing what happened. Their blood splattered all over the ground.

“I have no need for traitors.” Angele said.

Wade never expected this kind of scene to unfold, so he forgot to react. He started to sweat profusely. Angele could see the sweat all over his forehead. Wade could not figure out what Angele just did. He was a mid-level knight, yet Angele was much faster than him.

“Top level knight?!” Wade said, his voice shaking.

Angele lowered his sword with a facial expression that screamed indifference, seemingly uncaring at all. He had slain two guards in but a second, and he really did not think Wade could do anything to him. There was a wide disparity between each level.

“You are a top level knight?!” Wade stepped back with a pale face. The young man just killed two guards easily, and at this moment, he was nonchalantly trying to wipe off the blood on his sword. It was as if the act of killing was something of a normal occurrence to him.

“I really… did not expect you to be a top level knight…” Wade knew he could not escape Angele’s sword, so he just stood there.

“How could Angele Rio…” He finally made up his mind and took out a black iron claw.

“You took care of me for so many years. I will do it swiftly.” Angele looked at Wade and said.

“Heh…” Wade knew his plan failed because no one would’ve expected a playboy to be a top level knight.

“You can kill me, but you can’t save Karl.” Wade calmed down, and he laughed.

“Yea?” Angele asked coldly.

Wade yelled and started to run down the stairs like a ghost. He also threw something towards Angele’s waist.

Dang!

Angele blocked the black knife easily, and the knife flew towards the stone wall. He then rushed towards Wade like a white flash, which was much faster than Wade. The two ran out of the living quarters and reached the training grounds. It was early in the morning and there were about thirty people training there.

The two ran outside the castle quickly, and they were so fast that they looked like two shadows. One of them was white, while the other was black. The white shadow occasionally struck the black shadow, and people around could hear the noise of metal clashing against each other. No one actually knew who the two were, but they knew the two were at knight-level.

The training grounds became lively, and the students were completely interested in the identities of the two. Only several teachers saw the clothes that the two were wearing, but they never thought that the two were actually Angele and Wade.

Angele was right behind Wade. He had trouble reaching him. He could kill a mid-level knight, but if Wade was just trying to run away, Angele would not be able to kill him like how he killed the two guards. They kept running, and they were already several kilometers away from the castle. Angele was going so fast that the trees on the side became blurry.

“Wade, you think you can run away from me? I am young and you are old. You won’t last too long. How about you stop and tell me your whole plan. I can probably let you go. You served the family well all those years, after all.” Angele said while chasing.

“Let me go?” Wade laughed and stopped talking. Wade thought Angele was just like his father, so he really did not think that Angele could keep promises. The baron had just killed two guards after making promises at the training grounds. There was no way for Wade to trust Angele.

If Wade kept running, he could probably escape Angele. Angele was a bit nervous. Though Wade was old, he still had his seed. The seed could help him increase his power within certain duration, and it could also boost his speed. Angele also wanted to make Wade spill the beans about the situation of his father.

Angele grabbed something from his pouch and threw it right towards Wade. Wade heard something was coming and tried to avoid by leaning to the right, but his left arm was still grazed by it.

“It’s poisoned!” Wade screamed and jumped away. He stopped at a large stone by the roadside. Angele stopped there, too, and looked at the old man that served Rio Family for so many years. He was having complex feelings about Wade.

“Any last words?” Angele asked calmly. Wade tried to make his wound stop bleeding, but it seemed like nothing was working. He knew the poison was going to kill him.

“I guess I am done here. I did not expect a result like this, I just…” Wade laughed.

“I will leave you here, but I will take care of your family. Also, I did not kill you.” Angele sighed, and he took out a black card. There was a bloody red spider shining on the card.

“You are an assassin from the Dark Emblem? You are just fourteen years old and you already have ability like this… How talented you are.” Though Wade was not sure if Angele was the assassin, or if Angele killed the assassin and grabbed the card, he knew he could not win this fight.

Wade took a deep breath; the poison had already paralyzed half of his body.

“I will tell you where the baron is, and the actual situation. Just make sure my family is taken care of.” Wade said, and then he started to tell Angele of all the things he knew.

**************************

BOOM!

Audis was blown away and flew towards the bush on the side. His blood that splattered on the ground left a trail. In the forest, the baron was holding his greatsword while still standing. Blood was still trickling out of right eye slowly, and there were wounds all over his body. He had a crazed expression on his face while glancing around.

“We were the best group in the army, but now…” The baron suddenly started laughing. Chris and Lisa were standing by the trees, and the three formed a triangle. Chris had a wound on his left arm, but it was not deep.

Lisa was severely injured and her waist was almost cut open.

“Karl, everything has to end today!” Lisa yelled in pain, her shaking voice apparent. Audis finally stood up in the bush and spat out some blood. He tried to support his weight using his sword. It looked like he was hurt, too.

“I thought we were on the same level…” Audis laughed.

The baron’s long hair was covered in blood, which made it look like it was glued together. However, he still looked wild and gentle.

“I treated you like my own blood, Audis! You’ve really disappointed me…” The baron said.

“Disappointed?” Audis laughed.

“You had all the power in your hand, and you had Kirin, too! I gave you my silver mine and my son’s girl! Why?! Why did I do all those things?! You are going to die!” Audis yelled.