Chapter 49 - Mistakes Have Consequences: Despair

"So the kid, Ailan, was tortured and Jackal took him to get more 'stones'. I can assume that Jackal is dead and you teamed up with these brats to rescue this little girl. I still wonder what gave you the courage to betray me and lie to my face. I guess you guys are with the old fucker who caused me these injuries. Ocelot is nowhere to be found. He's probably dead too," Sagat said as he looked at Roxanne as if she were a corpse. The children and Roxanne were trembling with fear as they slowly backed away. Sagat began to walk slowly towards them.

"I guess if that tramp had killed me, you wouldn't have anything to worry about. Strange you didn't run away, you should have had plenty of time to escape from my hands, but I'm afraid it's too late now. Unlike Ocelot, I don't play with my food," Sagat continued as the anger inside him boiled over, almost materialising. His killing intent was sky high and this caused the children to be completely paralysed. The great power of a Qi General, much greater than they were, made their bodies barely able to resist falling to their knees.

The Will of a Warrior, which could materialise and extend itself to the outside world, was something that would cause any other Warrior or Adept of lower ranks to be incapacitated. And Sagat was releasing all his Qi and exerting all his pressure on this group. On the one hand, to vent all the bitterness he carried inside him for all the events that had happened today: Roland's betrayal, the death of his subordinates, the destruction of his lair. On the other hand, discovering that Roxanne had also betrayed him made his anger completely overflow.

Perhaps this was the result of his past actions. After all, Sagat himself was a traitor to his kingdom, so betrayal likewise haunts him. The Balance of EON is inscrutable.

Nerun stood beside Arbak staring at Sagat. While he was enormously worried, he knew that anguish would not get them out of this predicament. He had to think of something quickly to try to counter-attack and immobilise Sagat long enough for them to turn the situation around and flee.

When Sagat reached Roxanne's side, he extended his hand towards her. Nerun for his part shouted just then. "LOOK AT ME". Sagat looked up for a moment at Nerun, who had a golden halo surrounding his pupil in his eyes as he said,

"Καλειδοσκόπιο" - /Kaleidoskópio/

Roxanne, who had seen Nerun's technique previously, took advantage of this moment to quickly swing her blade towards Sagat's neck. Silvester likewise jumped with all his might and used his Qi technique. However, these acts were of little use.

Sagat looked into Nerun's eyes, but barely blinked, without his hand stopping. Nerun for his part fell to the ground as he began to scream out a howl of pain, with blood emerging from his eyes, nose, mouth and ears. The backlash of using a mental eye technique when there is such a difference in power fell entirely on Nerun.

Sagat didn't even look at the blade approaching his neck, and although his hand seemed to move slowly he quickly reached Roxanne's neck before the blade did. Sagat wasted no time and while still looking at Nerun he lifted Roxanne up and squeezed her neck while the others shouted at the same time "NOOOOO".

Crack!

Roxanne's neck snapped and Sagat tossed her aside as if she were a dirty rag, Roxanne's eyes completely blank, her life completely snuffed out, while despair was evident on her face. Sagat for his part looked at Silvester who was already on top of him with his hands clasped together as the glowing Qi was drawn into them. Sagat didn't flinch either as he raised his hand and a tiger claw materialised in front of Silvester sending him flying towards the opposite wall.

Silvester was vomiting blood from his mouth profusely, both of his arms were broken in several places, his left leg was also broken, and several of his ribs had fractures, one of which punctured one of his lungs. He had lost consciousness, while his breathing became almost agonising. The only reason he was still alive was that his Central Meridian was Terra, which greatly increased his defence, in addition to the enormous amount of fat on his body that served as an extra layer of protection. However, this would only delay the inevitable, for if he did not receive help soon, he would still die without remedy.

"SILVESTER. Brother, Silvester, respond," Nerun began to shout in desperation, his bloodied face looking distinctly grisly. Desperation and remorse showed on his face. He knew this was his fault, that he should have made the others flee. If he had not insisted on staying, none of this would have happened. His naivety, his young age, his manner and character, many were the factors that conditioned his previous decision. But now there was nothing he could do about it. Roxanne was dead, and Silvester was one step away from passing away as well.

Ailan and Eliana sobbed as they hugged each other. Everything seemed to be coming to an end. The cave trembled, as if bidding farewell to their lives. The tremors, the result of the struggle between Sylas and Maikal, caused a drumming sound that to the children's ears was their funeral march.

...

When Maikal had shouted Plan D, Elijah rushed out of the cave at full speed and started to run through the Forest in the direction of the city of Corona. He needed to contact Ansem's army as soon as possible, but he himself did not know where to look, so his first decision was to reach the city of Corona and call on the city's army while inquiring about the Regiment's location. If the Regiment was nearby, he could approach it to give the report, otherwise he could only report the find, then return at full speed to meet up with his brothers.

Elijah was using <Flash Walk> over and over again without rest, overtaxing his Qi in order not to waste any time. He saw several groups of adventurers, but barely stopped for a few moments when he again disappeared from the scene. To the adventurers and mercenaries in the forest, Elijah was like an apparition.

Soon, Elijah, who in a short amount of time was already close to the borders of the Forest, stopped at the sight of two familiar people. They were Captain Serena and Reyes, the latter with a group of mercenaries who were about to conduct a search of the craters in the Forest. Captain Serena had been tasked with this investigation and she had sought the help of the Night Ravens to do so.

Elijah soon appeared in front of Reyes and Serena, both of whom tensed slightly at the sudden appearance of a Warrior, raising their weapons, but soon calmed down when they noticed it was Elijah.

"Elijah, my boy, how have you been? I was just looking for you to propose that you accompany me on an expedition that Captain Serena has entrusted to us, but I heard that you had already left for the Woods," Reyes said with a good-natured smile, while Captain Serena looked at Elijah with a slight frown on her face, since Elijah kept looking at her.

"Brother Reyes, thank you for your concern, but I'm in a bit of a hurry at the moment, I apologise for my bad manners. Captain Serena, I need to know where Commander Sebastian of the Army Regiment is, there is something I need to communicate to him urgently," Elijah replied with a clear tone of concern and haste in his voice.

Captain Serena was a little taken aback by Elijah's attitude, and looking at him a little surreptitiously replied "Exactly what has happened young Elijah? If you need to communicate something, you can tell me directly and I'll be sure to pass the information on if it's relevant." Serena spoke in a professional and somewhat cool tone.

"Captain Serena, I know you are more than capable of helping me, but right now it is a life and death emergency. The head of the Violent Tigers' mercenary group, Sagat, has teamed up with people from Rhodnius, and is selling them some material he obtained from the craters in the Woods. My brothers are trapped in the cave where they are, please I have no time to lose," said Elijah with a clear dismay in his tone of voice.

Serena's and Reyes' faces changed at the same time at Elijah's surprising words, and Serena was about to ask for proof and for Elijah to explain himself better, but seeing Elijah's clear uneasiness, she could only keep quiet. Finally she told him "About 10 km from the entrance to the Forest in a southeasterly direction the Border Army Regiment has made a temporary Camp. The Commander is there."

No sooner had she said that, when Elijah thanked her without finishing listening to her and ran off in the direction of the Regiment at full speed.

"Wait. You won't be able to get through unless you have permission from a Captain or other higher rank" Serena shouted, but Elijah didn't give her time to finish what she wanted to say and didn't listen to Serena's warning.

His mind at the moment was focused on notifying the Army Commander as soon as possible, this was the only way to make sure that his father and siblings would be alright. Besides, if the Rhodnians took the Fruit of the Mountain God, in the future a new Legend level Warrior could appear in enemy territory, and that was something that as a citizen of Ansem, he didn't want to see either.

Elijah ran in the direction indicated by Serena and before long found the waving flags with the coat of arms of the Royal House of Ansem, as well as the army. There were several soldiers patrolling the surrounding area and several tents, all neatly arranged and lined up. In the centre of the camp were two large tents, indicating the presence of the two most important people in the camp.

Elijah had already been spotted by the lookout on his way to the camp and was stopped by several soldiers at the entrance to the camp, many of whom looked at him with unfriendly faces. Among the soldiers who stopped him was Captain Apollo, who still had a grudge against Sagat and his men, but also against Elijah for the events that had occurred days before in the city of Corona.

"Where do you think you're going? Do you think the Ansem Royal Army Camp is a place where you can come and go as you please?" said Apollo, getting into a direct confrontation with Elijah. As Captain, despite the punishment he had received earlier, he had jurisdiction over the entrance to the camp and all the soldiers carried out his orders.

Elijah said, "Captain Apollo, I have an urgent message to relay to Commander Sebastian, please let me in to speak to him, or take me to a superior officer I can talk to." Elijah's tone of voice still had that same hurried, worried tone.

Apollo had no intention of helping Elijah, however, and with a sly smile, he replied, "The Ansem Army is not a place where any scum can just walk in whenever he wants. Do you really think that because you want to talk to the commander, you'll be able to speak to him? Get out of my sight before I order your arrest. Don't stand in the way, our soldiers have work to do."

Elijah tried to rebut and convince Apollo, but Apollo rudely interrupted him, "I don't care who the hell you are, you can't come into the camp. I find your stubbornness too suspicious. Guards, arrest this individual for attempting to sneak into the Army Camp. He could be a spy."

Apollo's attitude was clearly hostile to Elijah, but none of the soldiers dared say anything - after all, Captain Apollo was their superior. Elijah began to look at Apollo with angry, almost red eyes. At a time when his family could be in grave danger, he never thought he could be obstructed by such a mean and dastardly person. Apollo was waiting for Elijah to lose his temper and attack him, otherwise he could perhaps lock him up for a while, but he would certainly be released eventually. So he was looking for a way to push Elijah's buttons. When Elijah attacked him, then he would have a valid excuse to finish him off.

What Apollo wanted was not long in coming. As the soldiers approached Elijah, he disappeared from his position. Apollo began to smile that his plan had succeeded, but this joy was short-lived, when he saw that Elijah's speed was superior to that of any Praetorian and even some Centurions. Elijah appeared at Apollo's side and although Apollo tried to put up a hasty defence, Elijah was quicker and hit him hard in the face with all his might, smashing Captain Apollo to the ground, to the stunned gaze of the rest of the soldiers.