C30. Zomatsu's Fears

The brothers watched the carriage leave for a while, they just stood there dumbly, waiting for something to happen but it never did, they both calmed down and threw the worries out their minds. It wasn't their job to worry, if the boss hadn't said anything to them then it must've be above their pay grade. They both left the sidewalk and went to wait for the boss in the guards office.

Zomatsu sat in the luxurious carriage in great discomfort, he anxiously tapped his foot on the floor waiting to get out of this torture box. As he sat there in torment, his mind slowly trailed back to what had happened two days ago.

•••••••

He dashed off the moment he sensed the most terrifying energy he had ever felt in his live. With his enhanced speed, plus his gear tempered for agility he was like a blur to the others around the campfire.

Even Though he had no problems with his incompetent teammates, they still weren't worth risking his life to save them, he decided it was best to just leave them with a warning. If they were smart enough to react the moment he spoke then they had the chance to survive.

He blew passed them like the wind, making his was through the dangerous Darknar forest like it was his backyard. After spending years here already, he already knew how to transverse the forest without attracting any monsters. Even if he did, with his ability he would be able to avoid the monster before it ever sensed him.

After making it out of the forest, he had thought he was home free. The boarders to the Sentro region was up ahead, no matter how powerful the demon was he wouldn't want to antagonize the Zorak family. Still, what happened next surprised him, he had travelled so far yet the terrifying amount of negative energy had already caught up with him. His momentarily stop had doomed him, he was blasted with the remanent aura and lost consciousness almost instantly.

He had been sure it was a noble, an high ranking noble that should be at the same level as Lord Aur, that wasn't something that he should worry about, even with the immense difference in strength between him and Lord Aur, as an assassin type fighter he was confident in his survivability prowess. If he really put his mind to it he was sure he would be able to get away from the pursuit of someone at the same level as Lord Aur, but reality slapped him flat on the face.

••••••

The trip to Aur's castle was only 45 mins but for Zomatsu, it felt like a 5 hour ride. He alighted off the carriage and walked in through the castle's entrance, the two guards were surprised to see him but made no attempt at stopping him, they hadn't even bothered to announce his arrival to lord Aur.

He walk by them and they greeted him with a nod, walking into the castle, he went up through the stairs and soon arrive at the front of the door belonging to lord Aur's office.

*Knock. Knock.

"Enter."

Aur's voice came from within the room, Zomatsu then opened the door and entered the room, Aur was back at his seat reviewing paperwork. He raised his head and saw Zomatsu enter his office, his constantly stern expression twitched for a split second before returning back to normal.

He looked at Zomatsu and asked "Did something unexpected happen?"

"Yes." Zomatsu gave a quick and short response before walking to the sofa at the side and taking seat without Aur's permission, it was obvious he had special privileges in the family.

Aur calmly waited for him to calm down before speaking again. "What happen?" Zomatsu got up and paced back and forth for a bit, he then stoped and answer. "At first, I thought it was just a noble from a lower family wanting to investigate why the five are so interested in the castle, instead of just an old fashioned last demon standing wins, but then, I... i... I felt something else. My senses are never wrong but, even i, doubted them."

"What was it?"

"I am not sure myself, it was like nothing I've ever felt before, the level of power I sensed, it felt, it felt.... I'm not sure how to describe it but, that's not the important part."

"Not the important part?"

"Yes... Before I could even try to expand my reach more an absurd amount of negative energy exploded from that thing, I tried my best to escape, i used every single skill i had but i was only able to make it a few feet away from the forest before i passed out."

There was silence in the room for an uncomfortable amount of time, the air was tense and the pressure was ridiculous. Aur finally spoke to break the tension. "What do you think it was." Zomatsu walked to a seat directly opposite Aur and sat down, he place his left hand on the desk and started tapping, "I'm not sure, the only time I've ever felt anything remotely close to this is from him." Aur narrowed his brows, then sighed loudly, he rested his chin on his hands in a thinking posture.

"So, you think a leader has made a move?"

"That's the only explanation, not even a behemoth has that much power."

"Hmm... that leaves only the four." Aur got up from his seat and walked back to the window, he thought for a while before turning back around.

"Return back and try to investigate what happened as discreetly as possible, I'll have backup ready in case you run into any trouble, i am sure if it was a leader, they would've realize their identity would be exposed if they hung around any longer so I'm sure it's safe. I'll also send information back to the elders, they'll decide our next move." Zomatsu didn't seem pleased with the order and frowned, still, he opted not to refuse it, he slowly got up and left the room without saying another word.

Aur watched him leave and close the door behind him, his expression didn't change much but one could tell the aura around him now was more intense. Zomatsu got special privileges because of his innate ability, Superior sense. It made him the family's number 1 scout even though his fighting ability wasn't up to par.

This didn't sit well with Aur as he felt the most important thing ever was strength, with zomatsu's personality also rubbing him the wrong way, he ended up despising him. However Aur was a demon noble and wouldn't act so childish as to interfere with him for such petty reasons, which was why this gave him the perfect opportunity. The order he gave Zomatsu was logical but he knew he wouldn't see it that way, which might cause him to take that item with him providing Aur with a reason for his actions.

"Aika, send someone to monitor Zomatsu. If they notice that item on him, let them find an opportunity where finds himself in a dangerous situation he may not be able to handle. Then make sure he wouldn't survive it."

"Yes my Lord." An ethereal and ghostly voice echoed in the room as it faded the same way it came.

Aur then went back to his seat, he sat down,he then placed a hand in his breast pocket and soon he pulled out a pocket watched with a gold chain attached to it. He flipped it open and took a look, it was still morning, he snapped it back closed and returned it back to his breast pocket. He sighed and got up, walking to the bookshelf by the side, he pulled out a single green book and placed a finger in the magic circle on the wall where the book had been, a secret door opened next to the bookshelf and Aur entered through. It was a small room and had only one item floating in the center.

Aur entered the room and the door closed behind him, the room went dark instantly with the only source of light being an orb giving off a faint green glow. He approached the orb, it was the size of a tennis ball and just as round, Aur walked over to it and held it, he didn't try to move it from the center of the room and just held it in place for a while.

He stood there for more than ten minutes before blurry green figures started to appear all around him, the room had changed at some point in time and was now a boundless colorless space with no wall or structure.

The blurry green figures were huge, they were like green holographic projection standing about 5 meters tall with everything below their waist constantly fading away giving them the appearance of genie. There were 10 green figures around him, four of them looked female while the others were males.

"Oh... it's the young master's favorite lad, little Aur"

"Why have you called an elders meeting, you're not even an elder."

"Ha ha it's been a while since i last saw you old fools, i was hoping to hear about your deaths, ha ha"

" Sigh... i am busy, what's this about."

"fu fu fu... look i'm fading."

They all spoke on top of each other with some being thrilled and some annoyed, Aur cough and tried to apologize. "I am sorry, bu..."

"Shut up and get to the point." Aur was a little startled, he really did hate interacting with the elders and would rather handle the situation himself but this time was different, the mere possibility that it involves a Leader was enough to take the situation out of his hands.

*Cough cough. "We noticed an unusual amount of strange activities in the area near the king's castle, Zomatsu had sense what he believed to be a leader in the area. We are conducting more investigations as we speak." The room went oddly quiet for a bit, soon some of them started muttering to themselves and each other. "Quiet!" A female voice silenced the noice, she had been one of the few that hadn't spoken a word since the beginning.

Her figure was blurry but one could make out her sharp cold gaze that made Aur shuddered in fear. "The implications from having a leader break the rules is very severe, this is not something to joke about young lad, are you absolutely certain." Aur almost instinctively took a step back but stopped himself.

He fought against the pressure with all his might and answered. "This was brought to my attention by Zomatsu, i am sure everyone here knows his ability very well, so unless there is someone out there with strength equal to that of a leader which is impossible i am confident in his judgment."

No one spoke again until the lady broke the silence. "Very well, we shall discuss this with the young master, when your investigation is complete, report back to us, oh and one more thing, if this turns out to be a waste of our time, know this, neither you nor Zomatsu will escape your punishment." With that said the blurry green hologram figures disappeared one at a time with some laughing and others waving Aur goodbye.

The room had returned back to it's previous appearance and Aur walked out of it as quickly as he could, once he was out he started panting heavily, the pressure was insane and no matter how many times he did this he would never get used to it. "Ha, Ha hahahahaha...." He laughed manically for a while until he finally collapsed on his seat. "Looks like I'll finally be able to rid myself of you, no matter what happens next, your life is as good as gone." He laughed some more untill he started coughing.

Aur stood up and went back to the window, a beautiful scenery was in front of him, this was the royal borough, being on a hill the sight below came to view. There were exotic trees planted everywhere, the large mansions all around, combined with the fancy carriages with gold inlaid, the people that walked the streets were well dressed, the ladies wore fancy dresses and Jews and the gentlemen wore suits with half top hats and carried cains.

He could see the fountain in the centre of the street in front of him, there was a couple getting there portrait made in front of it, unlike most large cities in the human continent, the air here was surprisingly clean and fresh. Aur took a deep breath as he calmed down watching his beautiful city from above.