Mystical Journey

"Enough talk! I’ve heard about you for a while now, now let us Black Snakes get acquainted with you!" The woman of Black Snake couple yelled with a shrill. "Attack!"

In an instant, the plaza echoed with guns firing and bullets wheezing. Gunners swarmed the plaza from all directions and fired at the Bishop of the Argentists, who dodged the bullets with ease.

The Black Snake couple brandished their guns, attacking the Argentists with a series of aimed shots. Together with Chris’ attacks, they managed to keep the Argentists at bay.

Only the Bishop managed to avoid the attacks simply by stepping left and right. He walked straight toward the box despite the bullets wheezing at him.

Determined to win, the Black Snake couple threw their weapons away and charged at him.

The three exchanged blows in the plaza. Within seconds, the Black Snake woman was hit by a palm strike and shot away, the Black Snake man was also pushed back. Soon, the Bishop would have caught the box.

An obviously empty bullet thudded against the floor tile in front of the box. Weirdly, the bullet did not pierce the tile, instead it rebounded straight at the Bishop’s face.

Bam!

The bullet exploded, spreading a flame that devoured the Bishop.

The Black Snake female smirked and wiped away the blood on her forehead. "This is my first injury this heavy, let’s see you dodge this Snake Bite Bullet!"

The explosion blasted the box high up once again, this time toward the other direction.

The Bishop grunted and covered his face, but alas, he suffered a minor burn. "Die!"

He ignored the box and bolted at the two Black Snakes.

Both sides were the strongest elites in Picardi, each having their own fame and followers. The Argentist’s influence was strong in Picardi, and Black Snake was a top assassin syndicate in neighboring countries. None of them had a simple background, anyone from their organizations would be considered fierce and ambitious. Meeting here was definitely not planned.

Both of the parties have long been trying to fight each other, this was a good opportunity to do so.

Black Snakes are assassins with a kamikaze attitude. When they saw the Bishop charging at them, their eyes reddened and charged back at him.

By that time, some of the lesser underlings had already retired from the battle, leaving the more witty, agile fighters on field with their injury.

The main battlefield was for the leaders. A pillage-turned-head on fight was not expected by the Black Snake. However, Black Snake wasn’t planning to avoid the Argentists either. They weren’t good at surprise attacks, but they are famous for their ruthlessness within the other assassins nearby.

Both parties intertwined exchanging blows mixed in with the occasional gunshots, somehow forcing the battle into a stalemate. All over the ground were numerous debris and scraps broken in the fight. Street lights kept falling after fracturing.

Boom!

Flame burst between the three leaders, forcing them to separate once again.

Regaining balance, they were prepared to start the assault again.

A sudden red silhouette shot at the box with the Mirror of Secret Texts.

"Don’t you dare!"

The Argentist Bishop and the Black Snakes yelled simultaneously in fury. Trying to snatch the box in front of the three of them? That’s a provocation of the highest degree.

Without much thought, the three attacked the figure in red. The Bishop rushed over and the Black Snakes fired two shots aimed at the red figure.

Boom!

The two shots exploded together, causing two balls of scarlet flame to erupt in mid-air.

At the same time, the Bishop’s hands struck at the figure. He wore silver gloves on his palms, bringing a storm-like gust with him. Striking the figure in the chest, he seemed to want to rip his opponent into two halves.

Psst!

A sword shone red.

Argh!

The Argentist Bishop yelped and took a few steps back, his steps quicker than before.

At the same time, a fine red line spread outward, reaching the Black Snakes in an instant. They both cried aloud before furiously retreating.

The fire slowly dispersed revealing a sharp-featured man standing there in stillness. In his hand was a red long sword with runes sparkling like diamonds.

Shing!

Placing the sword in front of him, he used his hand to caress the sword.

"Worlds will moan, Sprites begone!"

Fwoosh!

His eyes glowed a fluorescent red.

A terrifying huge psychic explosion burst out like a storm ravaging the plaza.

If there were people who can see the source of this outburst, they would have seen a red peacock. Its massive tail feathers flowing gently in the storm, spraying crimson sparks periodically.

***************

Inside the hall, Garen suddenly feel a massive mental threat from outside. It felt familiar.

"Maybe it’s time..."

He scanned around at the other people.

The gentleman was mumbling something under his breath while holding an item with one of his hands.

The girl Ophany stood behind the gentleman uncomfortably, looking a bit fearful.

Sounds of bombing and guns firing slipped in occasionally, scaring the survivors from even moving. Most of them were elites from the city itself, some were even higher government officials.

Placing their trust at the government and the Argentists, everyone were waiting for the chaos outside to subside.

Garen calmly observed the rest of the visitors, not finding Andrela and King of Nightmares. He wondered where these two went.

"Don’t worry, trust the government." Garen looked at the scared Ophany and soothed her in a soft voice.

Ophany gulped, nodding in anxiety.

"Not bad. This is the headquarters of the Argentists, they will soon arrive to calm the situation here." The gentleman nodded in agreement. "Trust the government, that’s a good one." He stared at Garen with appreciation with a sense of ’not bad, I expect great things from you’.

Garen was dumbfounded with the comment and was prepared to step out to join the battle.

A few streams of mental pressure only slightly less than Flamingo’s surged into Garen’s senses. It was so subtle, only a Grandmaster of Combat was able to detect through their enhanced senses.

"Flamingo! I didn’t expect you to be sent!" A tiny voice belonging to an old woman came from outside.

"It is him." Finding the answer he seeked, Garen hesitated, and decided he would follow the original plan, which is to wait for Andrela’s signal. He calmed himself and continued to wait.

****************

Outside, Katyusha and the owner of the Mirror of Secret Texts hid behind the wall behind the entrance, peeking out with caution.

The situation at the plaza was as if a bombing plane barraged, scattering rubbles, soil, and earth everywhere. The pillars had fallen with the statues left at the side. Black street lamps were sliced neatly in halves. The air was reeking with the thick scent of gunpowder and artillery fire.

Both Black Snake and Argentists were heavily injured by the man who appeared out of nowhere.

The only one left from the five main forces of Black Snake was her. Wendy and the other three either escaped or were killed. The two Bosses of Black Snake were also badly wounded, having both their left arms cut off in an instant during the battle.

Not only them, the Argentists had it worse.

The one with the title Unwavering Shield, the black man Marvin, as well as two other Grandmasters of Combat got knocked down during the ring of red line and haven’t been able to get back up.

The Bishop of the Argentists had his palms cut off by the wrist, his blood spilling out from his sleeves. He glared at Flamingo with fear and disbelief.

This man, even with so many elites attacking him at once, was able to cut them off one by one, as if he was killing chickens. The illusionary red light possess extremely damaging powers. It didn’t matter if it were bullets, explosions, or melee, as soon as the red light flickered, any incoming attacks were nullified.

In front of this man, all of the elite fighters were just like livestock, he could kill any one of them any time he wanted.

As if that wasn’t enough, anyone who saw him was immediately paralyzed, with the exception of the Bishop and the two Black Snakes.

If it weren’t for the newcomers, they would have all been exterminated.

"Flamingo! I didn’t expect you to be sent!"

About ten meters in front of Flamingo were four old people dressed in black. Beside them, a good looking brunette girl wore two golden metal claws, lengthening her reach like ten cold steel spikes.

The one speaking was a gray haired woman. She stared at the white haired man coldly, as did the other three. They all had a dark gold crest on their chests in the shape of a Three-headed Hydra.

"You again." Flamingo frowned, as if he recalled unpleasant memories. "Last time you almost made me fail, how dare you appear in front of me again."

"The Argent Mirror is not something you can touch." The old woman said, "Julie, all yours."

"Leave it to me." The brunette answered.

****************

Some time had passed as Garen hid in the hall. He could hear the gradually softening sounds from outside. The backup forces from before had somehow disappeared, he heard nothing from them since.

Subconsciously, he touched the spot on his chest where the book pendant had hung. He had previously hid it in the hotel room safe together with the Golden Sword Throne out of worry that it may be destroyed.

"What’s happening? Why has no sound came from outside?" The old gentleman asked, confused.

"Not sure, but let’s not go out yet." Garen shook his head, "If it was safe to go out, someone would have come looking for us."

"You look pretty composed. Not bad. After all this is over, I’ll let you have some of my wines I’d just gotten from Tina’s Winery." Not one scent of worry was seen on the old man’s face.

Bam!

Before he could finish, the entrance door as well as the wall around it was blasted open by an invisible force, revealing the situation from outside.