Chapter 10 : Greeting the guests.

"What's happening? Why is there a sudden surge of spirit energy gathering in their direction? Is someone having a breakthrough?"

"That shouldn't be possible sir. I can feel a great amount of fire energy being released as well. It could not be Kuro Kiba as he and his spirit contract are both of the ice element nature."

"It can't be Max either, even though that kid has a special eye power, he still hasn't formed his spirit core yet, there is no need to use fire elemental crystals to nourish a spirit core."

"Then that means, the phyonet is condensing a second core? It hasn't matured yet how it can already use two elements."

"Shouldn't such a beast be contracted to our beast race? How can it show its full potential in the hands of a human? We must find a way to get our hands on the phyonet."

The three beast people were not people of firefly village. They were Elder Loxious's secret henchmen that he uses to do his dirty work behind the villager's backs.

This time, they were ordered by elder Loxious to find an opportunity to kill Max secretly.

Elder Loxious is a cautious person by nature, he wouldn't make his moves within the village walls, not to mention he was unwilling to offend Kuro Kiba.

But, after his grandson's arm was crippled, he could care less about offending Kuro Kiba. Though he will become the prime suspect for killing Max, there is no way they can trace Max's death back to him.

One of the three people monitoring Max and Kuro Kiba suddenly frowned.

"What's happening? The phyonet already finished forming a second core, but it's suddenly dead silent. I can't hear any wind or bird noises. Sanwa, look around for any abnormalities."

Sanwa left for a few seconds and came back.

"Your right boss. It looks like we're trapped in an illusion formation."

"Someone discovered us. Both of you pack up and cover your faces. We're leaving."

But before they could attempt to crack the illusion formation, a person entered their field of vision.

"You guys are leaving already? Shouldn't you greet us first since you have been watching us for so long?"

"You're Kuro Kiba right? Hehehe. It looks like I underestimated you. It looks like you do have some abilities. No wonder you become a guard at a medium-sized city."

"It seems like you already have a lot of information on us. But why have not seen your faces in this village?"

"Of course, you kids couldn't have seen us before. After all, the three of us are the greatest thieves of all time, we are the Shadow cats."

"Eeeeh. Big brother, how come I never knew people of the Blood Hyena Temple were associated with the Shadow cats? How peculiar."

Max appeared beside Kuro Kiba. Max was wearing a dark mask with a mysterious glowing pattern. In his right hand, he held a blood-red spear. The spear radiated an extremely evil presence.

As Max mentioned Blood Hyena Temple the expression of the 'boss' become extremely cold.

"It seems you were playing us for fools all along. I never thought your father had passed on the information he found about us to both of you. It seems we can't let the two of you live."

"Even though were trapped in this isolation formation, the two of you cannot kill all of us. We're going to let the higher-ups know about you. You can never live peacefully knowing about our secret. Sanwa, leave this place. Martyn and I will hold them here."

Sanwa escaped without hesitation, leaving behind his two comrades. Looking at the escaping Sanwa, Max hastily pursued him.

"Where are you going? Are you ignoring the both of us boy?"

Martyn fired a lightning arrow toward Max, but it was neutralized halfway through by an ice wall separating them and Max.

"How can you raise your hand against a child? Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"

"Grrr. Martyn, leave that boy. Sanwa can deal with a pipsqueak. Help me deal with this guy, he uses Ice element. He has an elemental advantage against my fire attacks."

On the other side of the wall, Max caught up to Sanwa and mercilessly attacked him with the spear. There was no hesitation in Max's eyes as he aimed for Sanwa's vital organs. Max intended to kill Sanwa quickly.

But Sanwa was an experienced killer, how could he not detect Max's attack? Sanwa easily evaded Max's attack and stabilized himself.

"For someone your age, you're courage is noteworthy. To aim for my vitals without any hesitation, it seems you have already killed someone. Underestimating you would be a crime. Attack me with all you got."

Max didn't reply. A faint glow was exuded by Max's left eye behind his mask. The spear in his hands radiated extremely thick evil energy.

Without a wasted second, Max fiercely attacked Sanwa. In Max's hand, the spear beautifully danced. His attacks were fast and aimed precisely toward Sanwa's vitals.

Sanwa suddenly felt extreme pressure dealing with Max's attack. Max spear attacks were frighteningly quick and had great strength behind them. Sanwa couldn't find a way to counterattack, so he could only defend with his sword.

As time passed, Sanwa felt grave danger from Max. Each of Max's attacks devoured his spirit energy and strengthened Max's next attack.

After a couple of minutes, Sanwa fell to the ground. His body was decorated with stab marks and cuts from Max's spear.

His eye showed extreme reluctance. Sanwa was reluctant to accept his defeat. He had been defeated by a kid. While he was not even able to land one hit on Max.

While Sanwa was still feeling despair, Max unhesitantly stabbed him straight in the heart. Before Sanwa could even utter a word, his body was hungrily devoured by the evil spear in Max's hand.

After devouring Sanwa's body completely, Max shot like an arrow toward Kuro Kiba's direction. On the other side, Kuro Kiba had already completely frozen both his opponent.

Max looked at the relaxed Kuro Kiba and nodded.

"Max. We need to be more careful in the future. Sooner or later they will be suspicious of us. If you keep killing them the moment you find people from Blood Hyena Temple, one day they're going to identify you."

"I'm sorry big brother. But, even with the demon sealing mask on, I can't hold myself against Blood Hyena Temple."

"I KNOW!! But I can't lose you too. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?? We will get our revenge one day for what they did to father and Yamato. BUT, NOW, IS, NOT, THE, TIME."

"But... I understand. I will be patient."

"Go and devour them. We cannot let the village find out."

"Yes, big brother."