The wrong assumptions they made

"They are using their magic to interfere."

The blue light around the pond had turned pitch-black with a scribbling noise. The woman's shiny green hair covered her sky-blue eyes, filled with worries.

It was just a while ago that they saw the man with jet-black hair chasing around their enemy. What was left to watch within a blink of an eye was nothing but scribbling darkness.

Sigh

The blue light around her hand dissipated once she clenched it into a fist. The fragments of the sparkles scattered around in the air.

Once someone interrupted the activity of the ancient relic, there was no way to view the same place again for a while.

That was the reason she had no choice but to sigh. Even if she tried it again, it was bound to fail without yielding any reasons.

"What should we do now?"

He pulled back the crimson-red hair covering his ears, exposing the earring hanging down that earlobe. A nervous, cold sweat emerged on his forehead.

That situation seemed grim to not only him and the woman but also to the other two people. Adrienne was fighting against two people all alone, while they were only watching over him.

"What do you think is better to do right now, Diona?"

Sierra's gaze shifted to her, who was standing, drowning in her deep thoughts. Her tense eyes frowned while trying to decide upon an answer.

The weirdly calm atmosphere made Jaden feel a bit more nervous than earlier. The situation they were in was surely not a good one.

Despite that, Diona was certain about a few things. She took a huge breath before letting out a sigh. The option she chose was the better one in her aspect, at least.

"We should just leave it to him."

Blaise and Jaden hadn't expected that kind of answer. The confusion spread across their faces in no time. On the other hand, Sierra had a calm expression.

She knew how sharp Diona was in decision-making. If Diona had said so, that meant that it had some good reason behind it. She wasn't the type of person to make careless decisions.

No one was aware that there were two reasons why Diona reached that conclusion. That judgement she had made was based on what she witnessed earlier.

The first reason was that Adrienne seemed to have a weird power that he had not revealed to anyone yet. The property she caught on to was that he could teleport using that ability.

If he were to get into a tough situation, he could escape using those powers. Adrienne having a hard time against his foes was not possible, though. Not that Diona had any idea about it.

The second reason was totally unrelated to her observations, though. She came to understand that Adrienne was never revealing his true strength. Surely, that was on purpose.

"Very well. We shall do that."

Sierra was anxious, but despite that, she agreed with Diona's decision. Her worries were simply unnecessary, though. Who would even tell her that Adrienne was far stronger than they knew?

In fact, the strength Adrienne displayed in front of the four was just a mere fraction of his true powers. Those who witnessed more than that never saw the light of the next day.

"Shouldn't at least one person go and aid him?"

Blaise couldn't take what Diona had said lightly. The idea of having Adrienne fight against two people seemed a bit unfair to him. Given how they had monsters with them, the opponent was not to be underestimated.

Jaden nodded his head in agreement with what Blaise said. He had very little information on quite a bunch of people. And Adrienne was, of course, included in them.

If he didn't require their help fending off the enemies, then Jaden could've gotten a chance to learn more about Adrienne's skills.

Sierra could tell that these two weren't planning to sit in one place. She let out a sigh before speaking.

"If you want, you can go. I won't stop you."

The bright smiles that surfaced on their faces were hidden on purpose by them. They both had similar reasons for wanting to observe Adrienne's fight closely.

And now even Sierra's reply has increased the chances of the two fulfilling their goal of witnessing Adrienne's true strength without any problem.

"But..."

That one word was enough to kill their smiles. Their stiff gazes glanced at each other while gulping down saliva nervously in unison.

"Don't meddle in the fight till you feel like he is having a hard time."

Phew

They let out a sigh of relief together upon hearing all of what she said. The condition she put forward was what they intended to follow from the beginning, even before she stated it.

What they knew about Adrienne was that the routine training he provided them with was too tough to undergo.

Then just how strong would he be to give them such difficult guidance? That was the reason these two wanted to see it for themselves.

Tink tink

After hearing Sierra's words, Blaise, unlike Jaden, didn't stand in one place. The melancholy sound of windchimes spread as his earring shook with his run out of the blue light-emitting door.

It wasn't sooner that even Jaden ran after Blaise. They had already known which part of the forest Adrienne was currently in.

Sierra glanced at Diona with a bitter smile. She nodded in response to her gaze.

Without even saying a word, Diona knew what Sierra would say. She slowly walked out of the room while speaking.

"Don't worry, Mother. I'll keep an eye on them."

---------------------

BANGGGGG

The loud noise of the two swords colliding echoed throughout the atmosphere. The subtle dust that rose made the white fog brown in colour.

The cold air that blew the thickened layer of fog fainter was eerie. The dust had already dissipated within two minutes because of the swing of the swords that followed.

Swish

The black sword in his hand trembled every time it came into contact with his enemy's. He gritted his teeth, trying to muster up more strength to withstand those strong blows directed towards him.

Kuh

His blurry face had a visible tint of red liquid, which soon fell to the ground, drop by drop. The strength in his arms was getting weaker with every blow he tried to block.

'He is above the swordmaster?'

His ears couldn't believe what his comrade had yelled at him. The frustration he was feeling was what kept him from losing the grip on the black sword.

Barely had he managed to reach the rank of swordmaster himself, yet his enemy was already above that rank he worked so hard to reach?

That was simply unacceptable for him, who had been polishing his sword skills for years. Even if he yelled about it, it would've been of no good.

Regardless of that, he gritted his teeth furiously. He glanced at the man sitting by the tree beside him. When did he even reach that place while fighting? He didn't notice that at all.

"He is a sword emperor? The reports weren't perfect, I see."

Ace brushed off the blood that trickled down his lips. The internal injuries he had suffered by taking the heavy blows head-on were no joke.

Jack grinned while closing his eyes. He had known Ace for quite a while. That was the reason he was certain of what his next words would be.

"If I defeat him, then I will prove to be stronger than him, right?"

The crazy yet lousy grin on Ace's lips stayed bright while he glared at Adrienne. Just like Adrienne was going easy on him, Ace was solely relying on his unique origin magic and not on his true abilities.

Jack nodded lightly while standing up. He wiped the blood that leaked out of the cut on his left cheek.

Hah

He threw aside the black glove he was wearing on his left hand. The cuts that made his body bleed from every other limb healed up as a strange green light glowed on the back of his hand.

An alphabet was engraved on the skin of his hand like a tattoo. The fancy-looking letter 'J' was coloured black on the lower half and red on the upper half.

"I suppose it's time for the round two."

Hearing what Jack said, Ace grinned at himself and stabbed the ground with the black sword as hard as he could.

Swoosh

A black light radiated from the cracks that formed, stemming from the sword. The mist that poured out from those gaps in the ground slowly moved to form countless swords.

Adrienne had no worries about it whatsoever after being able to judge their strength. That's why he stood still, purposely giving them time to do what they were doing.

If he had deemed them to be a threat to himself, there was no way that they would've been still breathing. Adrienne would've, without hesitation, killed them before they even got to act.

Fwip

Jack shook the sword he picked up from the ground. The magic that he had poured out into it made it glow purple by the edges.

Unlike Jack, whose wounds had gotten healed, Ace was still bleeding out from cuts. But that had gotten smaller compared to before.

Why was it that the bleeding on his body had reduced? It was because his body's speed of healing was greater than that of a normal person.

"Leave the head for me."

They both pointed their blades at Adrienne while standing side by side. Seeing Ace's grin, Jack shrugged his shoulders since he couldn't care less about it.

When they first clashed their swords with Adrienne, both of them assumed that they were losing because he had separated them.

That unfortunately incorrect assumption made them spout the words that seemed nonsense to Adrienne. His lips slowly curled up, witnessing the tips of the swords pointing at him.

The black flames that surrounded them grew darker as he took a step forward. The shoulders of the two in front of him felt a heavy weight on them. Maybe that was just their imagination?

'This feeling...'

Jack gritted his teeth finally figuring out what that cold sensation across his body was. That wasn't just their imagination.

It was Adrienne's immense murderous intent directed at the two who he had regarded as his enemies.

Puh-

He tried to contain his laughter while approaching Ace and Jack. A chill ran down their spines upon hearing the cold tone in which he spoke.

"Take my head? You will?"

He wobbled while covering his face with his left hand. The sword hanging down along with his right hand was raised up at his shoulder level. He swung it on his right side.

THUDD

The trees that stood in a line fell down with a single swoop. The air pressure the swing of the sword created cut apart the wood as if it were paper.

The cold gaze in Adrienne's eyes swallowed the two's vision within a moment. The darkness they were witnessing was something they had never seen ever before in their lives.

Swoosh

The blade that just cut apart the trees pointed at Ace and Jack. They gulped down their own saliva simultaneously after Adrienne's expressionless face came into their field of vision.

"We will see who will take whose head."

The laughter that followed those words ascertained Jack that it wasn't going to be easy to take down this man. No. Was defeating this monster even possible?