Trip to the Enchanted Zone II

'They're tailing us. I can sense their mana pressures. So what's the plan Peter?' Noah asked, getting serious.

'We'll pick them off one by one. I'll switch with you once I get a good distance into the forest. Use the shadow steps spell to catch them off guard and take out as many as you can. I can hear 7 distinct heartbeats. I don't know what their cultivation ranks are but if we assume that they're all the same rank as us, we're at a clear disadvantage.' Peter rehearsed his thoughts, mapping out a plan.

'That's fine.' Noah replied, going silent again.

Peter's speed suddenly tripled as he catapulted forward using the shadow steps spell. Dark pads formed under his feet every time he took a step. When he felt he was a safe distance away from his pursuers, he ricocheted off the trees climbing to the tip of one of the large trees.

'I'll take it from here.' Noah said switching control with Peter and took off the bandage around his eyes. He immediately covered his mana pressure, and looked down at the ground, waiting for their pursuers to arrive. The darkness didn't help him see much but he felt much more comfortable seeing a little than being completely blind.

"Where the heck did he go?" A frustrated voice resounded from below Noah.

"I sensed his mana pressure here just a moment ago!" One of the other students replied.

"Spread out! That cripple can't have gone far. Evan don't worry we'll find that freak and when are the others coming?"

"They'll rendezvous with us shortly. First we need to find where he is."

The group of boys discussed stretching their senses out wide to find the hidden cripple but to no avail, they couldn't even sense a speck of his mana pressure.

'7 boys, 4 are in the 2nd stage like us and the other 3 are in the peak of the 1st stage. Their bodies however are radiating a different mana pressure. They're probably body cultivators.' Noah assessed the situation down below.

Body cultivators were people who only focused on strengthening their bodies, using unorthodox cultivation methods such as 'The Iron Body' - Beating oneself constantly and augmenting the body with mana to toughen the skin. Body Cultivators could be essentially classed as living tanks due to how tough their bodies were.

"Okay Split up!" The one at the front spoke, taking one of the others with him whilst the other 5 split into 2 groups and began running in different directions.

'I'll leave the leader for last. First let's get rid of the duo pair. One of them should be a body cultivator and the other is a peak rank 2. This will be tough.' Noah also began moving, using the Shadow steps spell to ricochet from tree to tree.

In a matter of minutes he had arrived on top of another tree. He had predicted the direction they were going in and got to a spot they would cross before them. Now he waited, holding his black sheathed sword. He didn't want to kill the kids, only knock them out, so he decided if he was going to use his sword it would only be to attack whilst it's sheathed.

When he spotted the duo pair, he immediately activated the Shadow steps spell, instantly catapulting downwards towards the Stage 2 Novice Rank Mage.

"What the-" The boy raised his forearms in shock to block the swing that was coming for his head but Noah had other plans.

He created a pad of darkness under his feet while mid-air allowing him to jump over the boy, spinning like a tornado. He then twisted his body and hit the nape of the boy's neck with his blunt sword, instantly knocking him out.

"Jamie!" The body Cultivator shouted, pouncing forward and throwing a powerful punch towards Noah's head.

Luckily, he was able to evade by leaning back, 'That was close.'

Noah leapt backwards creating some space between them.

"That damned cripple is here. Come to my location!" The Body cultivator shouted into his bracelet, before charging forward.

'I'm running low on mana. I need to finish this quickly then recoup my energy.

Noah's sword dematerialised as he switched to hand to hand combat with the boy. Whilst he dodged the boy's heavy blows, he also countered with his own swift attacks utilizing the First form of the Ethereal Arts Martial art. Every time he'd throw a punch, another one would connect with the boy's tough body.

Suddenly, Noah felt a surge of mana gathering in the boy's fist as he roared and punched with all his might, the change of pace happened so fast that it caught Noah off guard.

Noah had no choice but to block the punch by raising his forearms in an X shape. He gritted his teeth as he could feel his radius and ulna bones in his right arm break a little.

He was sent flying backwards and into a large tree; his body slid down lifelessly, as the damage he took was too much.

'Noah get up! They're almost here.' Peter's warnings chimed like alarm bells but Noah was too busy groaning in pain. It seemed that the Body Cultivator kid used all of his mana into that punch.

'I was stupid to pursue hand to hand combat with a body cultivator. Sh*t!' Noah sat up straight, before taking out 2 minor healing potions and chugging them down, as well as a minor mana potion.

'I should get out of here.' Noah stood up, almost activating the Shadow step spell before ropes made of light mana wrapped around him from all sides.

"Where do you think you're going? You damned cripple."

Noah heard a powerful voice reverberate from in front of him. He could see the gray outline of the figure in front of him and the other figures appearing next to him one by one. Their numbers seemed to increase.

'Cr*p!' Noah couldn't help but curse at his situation. All of the cultivators here were either stuck up nobles that boosted themselves with resources that their families invested into them or had another form of strong backing.

All of the boys and a few girls gathering now were all in the 2nd stage of the Novice Rank.

Noah's only chance was to run.

'Brother, hurry up and unbind yourself from the chains. We have to run!' Peter said, feeling the leader of the group slowly walk closer to the chained up Noah, 'Brother, why are you not moving?!'

"So you're the cripple that hurt Evan." The boy spoke in a mocking tone, "My name is Emanuel by the way, the current rank 3 of Class 48. When Evan told me of the cripple that abused the Ice Queen and he was in this class, I couldn't help but rejoice."

That was when Peter felt something different occur in his body.

"Shut your mouth. Your breath stinks." Noah said, looking at the blonde haired boy with cold eyes.

"How dare you-" Emanuel stopped mid-sentence, feeling a dense killing intent engulf his whole being.

"How dare I what? Go on. Speak." Noah's voice echoed out in all of the people's ears clearly and they also couldn't fathom the oppressing feeling that was engulfing them right now. Noah's killing intent spread wide causing the inexperienced students to freeze in fear.

The Stigma on Peter's body's neck glowed red momentarily before a surge of darkness mana exploded from Noah's body. Dark tattoo-like lines trickled up his face and his sclera turned pitch black, giving him a demonic outlook. His hair fluttered up and down and his veins bulged.

Black smoke began radiating from his body, causing the chains made of light to disintegrate. A murderous mana pressure emitted from Noah's body right after as he took a step forward.

'Kill. Kill. Kill… Kill them all Noah!' A powerful and devilish voice roared in Peter's head.

'Who is that? What's going on?! Noah!' Peter shouted frantically, scared of the sudden devilish voice that played in his head. He knew something was wrong and had no knowledge of what.

"No! Stay back! Get away from me." Noah shouted, causing a wave of mana to push Emanuel back. The tree behind him began to rot away and so were the leaves and life around him. The luscious green around Noah began to darken and become corrupted.

'Kill them Noah! Kill them… They don't deserve your mercy!' The devilish voice echoed in Peter's head, cackling.

Noah grabbed his head, shaking it before roaring out in pain, "NOO!".

Suddenly, the Earth underneath them began to shake like an Earthquake was taking place. Purple Runic lines glowed from underneath the students' feet. Large cracks formed on the ground and spread out at a rapid rate like spiderwebs, making some of the girls scream whilst the other students leapt back in fear.

"Run! Earthquake!" Emanuel snapped out of his fear and began running in the other direction, as the Earth shook in anger.

'Noah! Gather yourself! We have to run. Snap out of it!' Peter constantly tried to reason with his brother's confused mental state but nothing seemed to be working. He then resorted to forcefully taking back control of his body with his mental strength.

After a couple seconds, it seemed to work and Peter had finally regained control of his body but he was a tad bit too late.

The ground under him completely shattered and his body already began falling into the large hole that had formed in the earth, as he lost his footing.

Peter tried his best to somehow reach land using the shadow steps but his usage of the spell wasn't as good as Noah, who could use it without a footing and in mid-air.

Peter could do nothing as his body fell into the deep and dark abyss under him…