Atticus followed the woman's gaze to the distant sky, but once again he felt nothing. Whether her senses were simply sharper than his, or his own perception was dulled by the limits placed on his power, he couldn't tell, but he knew better than to dismiss her warning.

"How many," he asked quietly. "And what direction?"

The woman fell silent, long enough for Atticus to notice the first streaks of light tearing across the sky, then dozens more, cutting through the clouds as they closed in from every direction.

She spoke only then.

"…everywhere."

The figures slammed into the ground around them, their impact sending dust and debris billowing outward as trees cracked and toppled under the force.

"Ah! If anyone ever told me I'd get to fight you again, I'd have called them mad!" a familiar voice rang out. "But to think I'm the mad one."

Atticus stared as a figure emerged casually from the haze, a long staff resting behind his neck as though this were nothing more than a stroll, a wide, excited grin stretched across his face.

"Hey, man! It's me, Raziel," he said cheerfully. "You know, the guy you just killed. Remember me?"

He laughed at Atticus' silence, leaning forward slightly.

"Of course you do. What man forgets the one who killed their woman?"

"Raziel."

Atticus' eyes darkened at the sound of another voice. Off to the side, a hunched figure with a disfigured face descended slowly from the sky, a staff clenched in his hand.

Atticus' fists tightened as those scrutinizing golden eyes settled on him.

'Ordan.'

"Huh?" Raziel glanced over his shoulder. "What is it, old man?"

"Don't forget our objective," Ordan said coldly. "We need him alive for—"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember all that crap," Raziel cut in, digging a pinky into his ear before blowing on it dismissively.

"You need him alive so you can escape this prison, right? Well, I don't really care about that."

"But—"

"Urgh! Weren't you supposed to be smart?" Raziel scoffed. "You still haven't figured it out? I lied. I couldn't possibly find him alone, right? I just needed you to do the searching for me. Now that that's done, I can do whatever the hell I want."

"…you don't want to leave this prison?" Ordan asked.

Raziel laughed, planting his staff firmly into the ground.

"The outside world would be boring without him in it."

"Wa—"

Raziel vanished before Ordan could finish, reappearing directly in front of Atticus in a flash.

"Time for round three!"

His staff came down with brutal force, but Atticus was already moving, his body flowing smoothly through the attack as though guided by instinct, his fist driving toward Raziel's midsection.

The moment before impact, a crushing heaviness settled over his arm, dragging it downward and forcing the strike between Raziel's legs.

'Gravity…'

Atticus' eyes narrowed as the sudden increase threw him off balance, his momentum pitching him forward just as Raziel's second fist tore toward his head.

Fire surged through his body, and he flickered sideways, the displaced air slamming into his face as the punch screamed past where his skull had been.

He stepped in again, driving his fist toward Raziel's face, only for the heaviness to return. This time, Atticus reached for the space element and wrapped it around himself, countering the pull as his fist exploded.

Raziel's eyes widened in shock as the blow smashed into his face, sending him hurtling backward through the forest.

He was about to move when the Marquis closed in from every direction, their killing intent surging as attacks rained down on him all at once.

"Die!"

"This is revenge!"

Atticus let his body dissolve into the air, slipping through the converging strikes as they tore past where he had stood, reappearing beyond them in a blur.

Behind him, the forest shuddered violently as the missed attacks collided, the concussive force rippling outward and sending shockwaves through the ground.

The Marquis turned toward him in unison, faces twisted with hate, but Atticus didn't spare them more than a glance.

'They can wait.'

There were only two people he needed dead before anyone else. Raziel was one. And the other…

Atticus narrowed his eyes at the empty sky.

'Where is he?'

He had only taken his eyes off him for a second. Ordan was dangerous, far too dangerous to be left unattended. Atticus swept his surroundings hastily, then froze as a cold wave washed over his back.

He twisted aside on instinct, the rush of wind tearing past him as a blade carved through the space he had just left.

Ordan slipped into view at the edge of his vision. The hunch in the old man's back was gone, his posture straight and composed as he advanced, a gleaming blade held in one hand and the long shaft, what Atticus had mistaken for a staff, in the other.

Ordan was on him before he could think, his blade thrusting forward with enough force to tear the air itself.

Atticus shot upward, evading the strike then twisting into a spinning kick aimed at Ordan's head, but Ordan blurred away from the strike, reappearing an instant later as his blade snapped forward in a storm of rapid thrusts that swallowed Atticus' vision.

Atticus flickered again and again, evading by the narrowest margins while firing back kicks and punches of his own, each one read and avoided before it could land.

'He's affecting my movements somehow…'

With every exchange, Atticus felt his speed slipping away, his movements growing heavier and more sluggish, while Ordan's only sharpened, his presence becoming harder to track.

If Atticus had learned anything from their brief encounters, it was that Ordan was a man in absolute control over how the world perceived him, and trying to unravel the mechanism behind it mid fight would be pointless. This had to end now.

'Logoth.'

A wave of disorientation crashed into him instantly, and an excruciating pain tore through his head. Atticus forced himself out of Logoth at once, but even that brief lapse was enough.

A sharp pain flared through his arm. He glanced down to see a deep gash torn across it, blood spilling freely as Ordan's blade retracted and drove forward again, aimed straight for his chest.

Atticus clenched his teeth and thrust out his arm. Fire molecules surged between them in dense swarms before detonating in a violent explosion, the blast hurling both of them apart.

He skidded across the forest floor, digging into the earth to steady himself before finally bringing his momentum to a halt. His breathing came heavy as he lifted his head and scanned his surroundings.

Ordan had already regained his footing and now stood at a distance, silently observing him once more, while the remaining Marquis closed in around them, watching with caution.

And just beyond them stood the strange white haired woman, calm and unmoving as she observed the chaos unfold.

Atticus had almost thought of her as an ally, but her complete idleness in the face of it all shattered that notion entirely.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.