CHAPTER FIVE - EARTH REALM - A FORMIDABLE OPPONENT

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"Tell me exactly what he stole"

"A money-bag of thirty silver coins and two red Buddha Koshi"

The storekeeper, who had been in charge of supervising the gambling operations, replied.

"Alright…That'll be enough for now but don't let the boss find out about this"

"Why not?"

"I have my reasons"

Hazel replied and gave the storekeeper a threatening look.

"I won't take overlook it if you disregard my order "

At once, the storekeeper suddenly felt nervously frightened to his marrow and didn't realized when he swallowed a lump of saliva into his plaintive throat the instant he became paralyzed with fear.

"I promise…not to tell him…"

"Good to hear…You can leave us and go attend to the customers"

The storekeeper left and Kido, who had been standing beside Hazel since his discussion to find out what actually happened before the thief ran off, came to face Hazel.

"So, what do we do now?"

"We'll have to retrieve what was stolen before the boss finds out"

"But the thief could be out of reach or could be long gone by now"

"Don't worry…Judging by the time he left, he hasn't gone far or out of the village yet"

"Then I guess we better go after him"

Kido remarked heading for the door.

"Wait, don't go yet—"

Hazel said and turned around. Kido stopped abruptly and

"What is it now? The longer we stay here, the harder it becomes to catch the thief"

"You're right but sadly, you aren't going…I am"

"What?! But—"

"You have a duty to safeguard this place in my stead while I go join Erwin and the others who are already in pursuit"

Hazel retorted walking towards the door but stopped a few meters behind Kido who already had his back turned against the door.

"Keep an eye out for the storekeeper for me in my absence"

Hazel whispered plodding towards the door.

"Is that your reason for leaving me behind?"

"Not really but if you refuse to obey me and desert your post to join the chase, you'll definitely be punished when this is all over and I'll make sure of it"

Hazel warned and walked out of the shop through the door. Few moments after Hazel left, Kido went after him but discovered that Hazel had vanished from the streets of people passing by the shop. Kido looked left and right for Hazel's shadow but there wasn't any sign of him. Kido became puzzled with Hazel's surprising disappearance.

"How on earth…..? He left just a quarter minutes ago and he's nowhere to be found. Where did he disappear to?"

Kido questioned himself and ran a short distance away from the shop but he still didn't find Hazel. Then he returned back to the shop, completely bewildered by Hazel's unwarranted disappearance.

"Let him go now, I said",

I pleaded but Erwin still remained adamant after several minutes of being persuaded to let go of Lucan.

"No, I can't do that...not until you surrender and come with me"

"Never...I won't surrender for something you and I clearly know we ain't not guilty of"

"Then your friend dies"

Erwin replied taking two steps further backwards. The rest of guards who were lying on the ground got up on their feet and one after the other; they crawled away clenching the part of their body where they were struck hard and gathered behind Erwin trembling in fear of me as did Avaron.

I knew I was wasting much time doing nothing to save Lucan from Erwin and seeing that the guards were up on their feet again made the situation more difficult for me tackle than it was earlier when I had knocked them down with my bare fist. I wasn't getting through to Erwin who refused to be persuaded by my words not to mention the commoners were staring at us from where they were hiding out of range where the fight had occurred waiting to see what I would do to release my friend from bondage.

I had to act fast if only to stop Erwin from stalling and to save Lucan before Hazel arrives. I hadn't thought much about what would happened if Hazel were to show up now that Erwin has Lucan as his hostage but I know for a fact that I was ready to go against anyone that tries to arrest us by force for something I know Lucan and I are completely innocent of.

"Erwin....hand him over or I'll be forced to fight you"

"Go ahead...It's not like you can fight a whole lot of us if we attack at you once"

He replied not convinced of my threat.

"If you're still stubborn as ever...Then I'll make you release him"

I said and infused more of the inner energy I could gather from within into my limbs using the same technique I had done before. But this time, it was different. In anger, I had unknowingly channeled the energy to my two fists and what appeared around them it was fiery aura of fire. The apparition surprised everyone especially the commoners who were watching and the guards became more afraid than ever. As for Erwin, his face had completely lost color and it turned pale the moment he saw the fiery aura surrounded both of my fist. He knew at that instant that I was going to launch a second attack like I had done to the rest of the guards before and tightened his grip around Lucan's neck whilst strengthen his left grip on the sword's handle.

Then I bolted quickly towards Erwin before they could react defensively, which placed him and the rest of his guards in a vulnerable spot.

"Just knock Erwin down...and everything will be over"

I said to myself as I got close enough to deliver a decisive blow to Erwin jaw but in the midst of the frightening speed.....

*SWOOSH!!!*

"What the—"

*BANG*

And then, a ghastly blow hit my left head. It knocked my senses out and hauled me to the ground. It came as a shock to everyone who saw me fall down instantaneously, that blood was issuing forth out of the side of my head right where I lay on the ground after sustaining a fatal hit on the cranium.

Out of the blue, the intruder had stopped my attack on Erwin which was somewhat alarming to the spectators. My eyes dimmed as I tried to decipher the bodily shape of the attacker but my vision was too vague to see properly as a result of the wound on my head.

"I see you know how to use a Shibori technique...."

"Hazel—"

Erwin intruded. His voice was faint but it was thanks to Erwin that I realized that it was Hazel standing next to where I lay covered in a pool of blood.

"Hazel? How did he.....? He must have blocked my attack when I was focused on Erwin. Exactly how on earth was he able block my fist with such surprising speed and where on earth did he come from?"

I tried getting up but the pain and the shock was too tremendous for me to recover my senses. Hazel and those standing beside him watched me as I fell down thrice when I failed to get back on my feet again. Avaron was the first to recover from the shock and he came to meet Hazel extremely relieved that not only had Hazel appeared to the scene in just in time but he had knocked me out with the least expected blow on the head though it was clearly an attack that caught me by surprise.

"Hazel, thank goodness, you are here to clean things up"

He said cheerfully but Hazel gave a sharp reply.

"What have you all been loitering around with the thieves for?"

"That—"

Avaron replied unable to continue any further. He started scratching his head shyly and hid himself behind Erwin to avert Hazel's anger. The fears of Erwin and the rest of the guards including Avaron have now shifted from me to Hazel whose ferocious eyes made them shudder amongst themselves.

"Erwin! Explain this mess"

Hazel barked when the guards failed to give him an answer. Erwin lowered his sword and sheathed it into his scabbard but still held Lucan hostage.

"Pardon us for the delay but we couldn't know that we were going to be up against a Shibori"

"Shibori? You mean..."

Hazel turned around to look at me and the center of attraction was pinpointed at where I lay down trying to recover from the ghastly blow.

"Yes..that's right...that peasant caught us by surprise when he showed his hidden Shibori powers"

"Shibori powers? He doesn't look like a Shibori to me or smell like one"

Erwin and Avaron both stared at each in confusion at Hazel's remark.

"But we all saw what he did to us"

"We are telling you the truth"

Another guard from behind holding his left chin, rejoined.

"Erwin was the only one that didn't get hit by his strong fist"

"Believe us..He really in fact is a Shibori.."

"I still don't believe so but if you insist, I am willing to find out for myself"

Hazel replied waiting for me to get up.

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