Journey To The Mage Domain II

"Why are they attacking us?" Phoenix asked in a whisper with a puzzled look on her face and their eyes averted to their coachmen lying on the floor with arrows protruding out of their chest which they hadn't noticed until then.

"We've crossed over the boundary to our kingdom. This is their territory now." Weng replied flatly as his black eyes peered into the thicket of bushes.

Xuan(Xuanming) unsheathed his crystal like sword from its white scabbard and Gai followed as he unsheathed his golden sculpted sword from his scabbard, angling it at the direction of the bush.

"But we haven't arrived at the Mage domain yet." Azure stated with a small voice glancing back at the bush which was now eerily quiet all of a sudden.

"Their raid is carried out in desolate forests where foreign travellers venture. You don't expect them to attack their own kind, now do you?" Lei spoke with a sheepish chuckle leaving his lips.

Their heads whipped to the thicket of bush which rustled heavily and it was definitely not the midnight breeze blowing on it.

Their eyes narrowed to the bush as dark figures with a mask concealing their lower faces emerged from the bush and merging with the darkness as the dim moonlight contrasted to them.

Azure and Phoenix unsheathed their swords along with the vampire brothers as they lunged it at the masked figures about fifteen, who encircled on them but with no weapons of their own.

"Don't take another step. We are the Royals of Guandi Kingdom and I'm the king, so drop your weapons." Weng ordered with an air of authority as he pointed his sword lazily at them, but they didn't flinch in fear or run away, instead they remained in the same position rooted to the ground.

"In this dead forest you are no one but a victim of circumstances, so you have no influence here." One of the masked men spoke with a gruff voice.

The clans and the vampires were astounded by their defiance. The Vampires were feared throughout the kingdom and beyond and the utterance of their names made spines tingle in fear yet the mage bandits didn't seem to bat an eyelid.

"Death awaits you all then." Weng proclaimed as his face twisted into a frown and black eyes glinting with murderous intent.

"Kill them!" He ordered to his entourage and they proceeded to attack.

Their swords swayed vertically above the air as they proceeded to decapitate them but they halted when they saw a ball of glowing green mist of light encompassing their hands.

Their hands poised with the green mist floating in it ready to lunge it at them.

Lei ran with inhumane speed toward the masked figures with his sword suspended keen to strike them with it.

"Lei, no!" Zhulong exclaimed as he saw Lei surging toward them.

Everything transpired in a blink of an eye.

The green mist erupted from their hands to blast them but they blocked the attack swiftly with their swords although Lei was unlucky.

The effect of the magic colliding with the sword made their feet shift back and a spark of green mist flew in the air.

Their eyes narrowed to Lei who was writhing in pain on the ground but with a dead masked figure lying beside him with his head neatly dissected from his neck and blood spurting out of it like a rivulet of crimson.

Lei's left side midriff had taken the blast from the magic but not before he decapitated one of the masked bandits. His rib bones impaled out of his flesh as his skin shrivelled up to expose them, with blood oozing out of it.

Their gazes averted from Lei, although they wanted to help but they couldn't, not after they had gotten rid of the masked bandits with a surprising rank of magic.

The bandits encircled closer on them as another mist of green light emanated from their hands. The green mist of light erupted from their hands flying midair at them.

They parried their swords diagonally in front of their body but before the attack could be blocked, spikes of earth propelled out of the ground where some of the bandits stood and impaled them from the aftermath, making decapitated limbs fly mid air with blood sparkling like red diamonds under the dim moonlight.

The spikes shooting out of the earth with a rumbling effect encircled them.

"Lord Lei is out there!" Azure panicked as she yelled frantically, losing all composure.

"Then go out and get him." Weng said with a nonchalant look on his face.

Azure swallowed the foul words threatening to spill from her lips knowing it was the king.

A blast echoed against the earth causing splinters to fly and a stretching crack broke through the earth shield.

"Some survived. It won't hold for long." Gai informed as he outstretched his arm and more spikes sprouted from beneath the earth to enclose on them.

"It never does." Ying muttered beneath his breath.

"I was trying to avoid impaling your brother." Gai was angry now as he spoke the words in a hiss.

Zhulong quickly scrutinized Azure's body for any signs of hurt but she was fine and he sighed inwardly in relief.

"We're not going to hide here forever. Break it down so it crushes on them." Weng suggested with a bored look on his face.

"Your brother?" Gai questioned with raised brows.

"He's probably dead." Weng replied, not a hint of emotion swirling in his raven black eyes.

Gail scoffed.

"We don't know for sure. Asshole." Zhulong remarked as he glared at Weng but the last sentence was mouthed so Weng didn't catch a word.

Another blast echoed and more splinters of earth flew as the green mist exploded on the earth shield nonstop.

"Brace yourselves." Gai said as he swung his sword to block his front.

Zhulong clenched his teeth as he hovered his sword in front of him before shielding Azure with his body.

"Don't do that." She said with a faint voice before moving away from him but he didn't respond to her and shielded her again with his body but there was no time to argue anymore as the shield crumbled down to debris of earth fragments.

Before they could stem up another green mist erupting from their hands, the vampires and the clans moved with a rapid speed, not giving them the space to emanate another of their deadly magic.

All odds were against the few surviving mage bandits as the vampire brothers harnessed an inhumane speed. They couldn't quite comprehend why they didn't run away even after realising all odds were against them.

"Cut off their arms!" Ying cried out as he draws his sword horizontally across a bandit's forearm with an undetected movement as he moved like the wind, his figure could not be glimpsed and in a flash, both the forearms came off along with the others.

Zhulong moved with only the whooshing of the wind heard, not the faintest glimpse of him could be seen as he swung his sword horizontally across the forearms of the bandit's, detaching the forearms of three bandits before they could process what was happening.

His movements were effortless and precise as though he had done it countless times and hazy memories of his ruthless murders fleeted through his eyes in a split moment.

They fell to their knees writhing in pain and he didn't waste another second before pivoting his sword across their necks. Their decapitated heads half rolled on the floor, blood jetted out of their necks and a sadistic grin tore though his face as the ground streamed with blood dispersed with decapitated bodies.

The stench of blood in the air drew him like a poultice.

Azure's voice broke him from his trance like state as he took a strong whiff of blood and death mixing itself with the wind.

"Lord Lei is alive!" She screamed hysterically in joy as she knelt beside him, trembling hands hovering above his ribcage sticking out of his shriveled flesh confused on what exactly to do.

Zhulong moved toward Azure crouching beside Lei who was half unconscious. His flesh very slowly extended over his ribcage to conceal it.

"I need blood..to heal faster." Lei said in a hoarse voice as he roughly pulled Azure's wrist toward his mouth ready to take a bite but almost immediately, Zhulong pulled her wrist away from his grasp with a frown on his face.

"Take mine." He said flatly and without waiting for his reply, he shoved his wrist right into his mouth forcefully to bite down on it.

The bones sticking out rapidly covered up with his flesh as they stitched back together.

Lei sprouted up on his feet with a loud holler feeling rejuvenated with life.

"Our coachmen are dead and the journey to the Mage domain is still farther away. We still have to go over the yellow river and the gloaming valley of darkness. I feel like worst fate awaits us." Phoenix grumbled with a scowl on her face.

Zhulong wondered if worst fate awaited them or she was merely been irrational. The Mage bandits were just an unfortunate coincidence they came across or so he thought.