Phantom and the Wolf

It was midnight when her eyes snapped open. Her eyes seemed to glow as she turned to look at the door to her right. She stood up from the chair and walked to the door on the other side of the room; this was the exit and she locked the door behind her soon after.

Outside the door, she came face to face with a group of men dressed entirely in black. Each of them wore a mean face, and they all looked like military experts of some sort.

"You found this place after all", She commented in a chilling voice.

The leader of the group stared at her with a cold gaze and answered with one word— "Phantom".

"You've grown, Wolf. What rank are you at now?" she asked in the same chilling voice.

"My rank is none of your business" The man replied with a nasty smile on his face. "But you can ask your son and daughter-in-law, they know my rank" He added.

The woman's face took a dark turn when she heard that and her tone plummeted into ice-cold territory. "You are not getting past me this time" She finally said after a small pause. "Besides, you found us too late, and no help is coming" She added soon after

"It doesn't matter, we only need to take him back to the Upper Realms" The man grinned.

She froze for a moment before her expression turned gloomy.

"Not while I am here," She said to them, taking a fighting stance as she said those words.

"We'll see about that... Get her out of my sight" The man growled and the men standing behind him moved...

These men moved at blistering speeds, easily beyond what could be considered human.

In the blink of an eye, they were attacking. Even more surprising was the woman who managed to hold her own against the attacks that sounded like explosions on impact.

The man ignored the fight, walked up to a window and punched it; a punch that sounded like a thunderclap, however, his hand rebounded off the glass just as quickly as he struck.

The instant that he punched, a small smile appeared on her face. He turned to look at her like he knew that she understood what had happened but saw that she was focused on the fight. With that confirmation, he turned to the window and continued punching, each sounding like an explosion that was bent on bringing the house to the ground.

It took a while, but she was finally able to beat them all, sending them crashing into the ground, every one of them unconscious. She looked up just in time to hear the man mock her for the win…

"Say, Phantom, you're still a big bully, aren't you?" He started. "I thought you might still be just as big a bully as you were back then, so I brought a few more friends" He added.

These were words that annoyed her, and she frowned when she saw what he meant by a few more friends. As he said those words, twenty people, dressed in the same black outfits as the first few stepped out of the shadows.

Her expression told the whole story at that moment. Twenty was too many to take on at once. She took a glance at the house behind her and sighed at the unfortunate circumstance, following which she gritted his teeth and got into a fighting stance, waiting for them to attack.

"Please mow her down" The man ordered.

He had barely completed that statement when all twenty men charged at Phantom. Unlike the previous ones who had charged in blindly, these guys worked splendidly together to cut off every escape route, cover for each other and deal the most powerful attacks possible.

She blocked the first hit and the realisation hit her immediately. The punches were stronger than she expected they would be, but before she could rein in those thoughts, things took a bad turn as another attack hit her. This one was very different because it carried flames with it.

She blocked this one as well, but it left a burn on her arm. She looked up from her arm to see three more attacks coming at her. At that instant, there was no dodging, no running from all three attacks; so, she gritted her teeth, preparing to block the attacks she could, dodge some and find an opening.

However, the blows never came, instead, a shockwave swept past her, one that sent the attackers flying. Some of them were severely injured by the shockwave while the others disintegrated before they even hit the ground, quickly fading away into nothing.

The man, Wolf was shocked... The woman was stunned for a moment, but that feeling faded when she saw a figure, standing in the distance. Seeing that, a smile appeared on her face. Wolf noticed her smile, and it gave him a bad feeling immediately.

He turned to look and immediately shrank back. There was fear written on his face as he ordered with a loud voice...

"Run!!!"

This was the command he gave what was left of his men. They did not hesitate when they heard the order, turning to run immediately. She watched Wolf and his men frantically try to escape and did not bother chasing after them before because they disintegrated one after the other.

Wolf had run the farthest and was the last to disintegrate. It started at the tip of his clothes, and a few moments later, he was gone with the wind. Looking around, there was almost no evidence to show that any of them had been there a few moments prior.

"Took you long enough," She said to the newest arrival.

"What do you mean long enough? I had to let you show your abilities, didn't I...? I must say you are rusty, too underpowered" The man taunted as he walked toward her.

"Don't start...!!" She warned.

"You know what I mean. You used to beat me in a fight; now you are overwhelmed easily by a tiny fraction of a thousand"

"I can still beat the hell out of you if I want to. Don't forget who I am" She frowned.

As the man appeared in front of her, his features became clear. He looked just like her and could easily be described as a male version of her.

"It's nice to see you, sister" He greeted with a smile.

"You got stronger"

"I had to. You gave up your strength. Do you know how much of a tyrant he has been since you left" He responded.

"He has been disturbing my peace, so, yes… I know" She retorted. "The kid, unambitious as he is, doesn't even know that the upper realms exist"

"I can see why he would be bothered. It's happening already, isn't it?"

"Right, I almost forgot, let's go," She said and walked to the window Wolf tried to break earlier.

The two of them simply phased through the wall, stepping into a room that was bright as day. In the middle of the room was a boy, floating in the air.

The light was coming from his body, but on taking a closer look, runes were running all over his body. As an answer to this discovery, the light dimmed, showing the runes more clearly.

The two watched as some writings in an arcane and inscrutable language appeared around him. The floated around him like puzzle pieces suspended in the air; a fact true to the fact that they began to rearrange themselves. It was also at this moment that she spoke.

"Did you bring it?" She asked.

The man did not answer the question, choosing to pull out a book instead. Rather than call it a book, it would be more apt to call it a grimoire given the designs etched into the cover. She took the grimoire from him and threw it at the boy.

The grimoire as soon as it got close to the writings stopped mid-air, opened and each page was ripped out. The cover was not spared from this and was ripped to shreds, following which, the ripped pieces joined the rearrangement circle. They took their places next to the writings, fitting into each other like puzzle pieces.

"Knowing him, it is entirely possible that he doesn't use these things," She said with a smile.

"Why are you happy about that possibility? Wouldn't it be better if he is strong enough to protect himself from an Immortal Emperor?" The man asked

"I don't care what Rahul does. I will do my best to keep him away. All I want is for him to live life as he wants" She replied. "If there is a need to work, he'll find a way"

The man took a glance at the boy for a few moments before he turned and walked out of the room the same way he came in, saying the following, just before he phased through the wall…

"It's up to you to protect him, and I'll do whatever I can to keep Rahul away for as long as possible"

She heard his words and nodded. She continued to watch and it was only when the rearrangement of the writing was coming to an end, that she let out a sigh before walking to the door and leaving the room.

When the rearrangement was completed, the writings slowly vanished, leaving the room in the simple state it was in prior, while the boy slowly floated down to the bed, oblivious to what had just happened.

…

The sun had risen by the time he woke up. The sun's rays poked their way through a gap in the curtains, lighting up the room as he sat up on the bed. He squinted, wondering why it was so bright before he stood up and pulled the curtains back to see the sun, high up in the sky.

Did I oversleep?

Why didn't Grams wake me?

He was stuck in that state of confusion for a while before it hit him. He was missing some crucial piece of information; one that would explain why he slept till noon.

He dashed out of his room to find that no one was in the house, except him. He went to check the kitchen, and as he ran past the dining table, he saw a container sitting there. Next to the container was a small note and reading it eased his thought for a moment, but it brought a few more questions like…

Today is a weekend?

Wasn't I to submit the assignment I copied from Devin?