Chapter 54 - 54 : Be Gone (2/2)

With insane speed he jumped at her intending to finish her off, he was already in his lightning form, his appearance looked threatening and ferocious, even Anastassia frowned but didn't show any trace of surprise.

The streak of blue lightning was dispelled by Anastassia who appeared in front of her little sister, she was already grasping one of her daggers and looked angrily at the incoming beast.

Soon, the two of them engaged in a fight, albeit Astrith's low stats compared to Lucy, his fighting was domineering, he would open his mouth and attack with some sort of yellow beam of lightning but to his surprise, it was easily blocked by the black clothed woman.

She merely waved her dagger around and the attacks would vanish as if nothing happened, however, he didn't give up, his attacks were focused only on Sonia.

Naturally, Arthur saw Astrith's action, but he didn't stop him, he wanted to see what will be the outcome of this battle.

..

Astrith created two other clones of himself and rushed at the standing Anastassia, after some exchanges, he deemed to be hopeless to aim at Sonia so he switched his focus to this black clothed woman.

None of his attacks did anything to her and she seemed not be fighting seriously so he could only use trump card.

In seconds, the bright sky darkened and clouds covered the sky, blue lightning streaks hit him endlessly and his body became twice it's original size, he now had two big wings made of yellow lightning and sharp teeth which looked terrifying.

Arthur was surprised as he didn't know Astrith could do that, still, he didn't stop him and continued to watch as Lucy already helped him adjust him and lean on her to feel more comfortable.

This time, Anastassia furrowed her brows as she looked at new form of the lightning beast, she felt a bit of pressure from him which surprised her a little, for someone with her level of strength to feel pressure is very rare, so that only indicated one thing; this beast is strong, very strong!

For the first time, she was the one to attack, she seemed to disappear from her location and appear in front of the beast, however, it was not teleportation, she was just too fast so that seemed like teleportation.

Astrith was astonished by this by he didn't dare daze off, several streaks of lightning were aimed at her as he backed away but to his surprise, his left wing was somehow cut and he couldn't even see her wave her dagger.

The streaks of lightning hit her but they didn't do any damage, she just rushed at the beast yet again to attack.

With no way to escape, Astrith decided to go all out and gamble on it, he opened his large mouth and in just a split second, a red beam which didn't look like lightning came out of it and was aimed at the incoming enemy.

The red beam was even faster than Anastassia which surprised her, she couldn't help but turn serious, she took out her second dagger and in a strange manner, she slashed both of them which resulted in two black arcs coming out of the daggers.

The beam and the black arcs crashed into each other, the sound was ear deafening but there was no damage to surroundings as fortunately both Anastassia and Astrith were fighting high in the sky.

The red beam resisted the two arcs for 20 seconds or so before it vanished while two arcs continued forward until they struck Astrith and cut him in four pieces, he was immediately killed as for Anastassia, she was merely pushed back a little by the impact as it was closer to her than the beast.

Though she only needed to attack seriously once, she didn't dare think that this beast is weak, if she wasn't here, that beast could easily kill Wuji, maybe he can't face all the elders alone but there was still Lucy.

After she sighed and prepared to head down, she suddenly stopped and a look of surprise appeared on her emotionless face, it's rather rare for her to be surprised multiple times in a short amount of time but this time she really was stunned.

She reached her hand to her cheek only to find a 1 inch cut on it as some blood leaked from it, it was most certainly a cause of the red beam but what's strange is that she didn't notice it hitting her cheek, perhaps it was due to the impact but it was highly unlikely, she couldn't help but feel a bit of admiration for this beast as even though he was leagues weaker than her, he managed to make her attack seriously and even injure her albeit being a mere cut.

She soon went back near Wuji and her sister who was still dumbfounded by the fight a moment ago and became more so when she saw the cut on her sister's cheek, even Wuji couldn't help but feel fearful toward that blue lightning beast.

As for Arthur, he only sighed as he somehow expected an outcome like this, he didn't think Astrith was this strong, he really was extraordinary, never did he regret having him by his side, as for his death, it doesn't really matter as he can summon him again after the cooldown is done, maybe it will be not Astrith but he got a strong feeling it would still be the same beast.

”Sonia… we meet at last, very glad to see you.”

Arthur spoke sarcastically to Sonia who was awakened by his voice, she turned her head to look at him was a surprised and complex look.

”A-Arthur… How are you alive?”

”Again with that question… that's in the past, more importantly, we have some matters to talk about… however, it's really a pity, if I didn't promise your friend, I assure you, you would have already been dead by now”

As he said that, Arthur stared coldly at the beauty as his killing intent began to spread but it was unexpectedly overwhelmed by the killing intent coming from Anastassia who was looking at Arthur with a piercing gaze.

”T-Talk about what?”

Sonia asked with a confused look hanging on her face, it was totally different from her usual demeanor.

”You still have the nerf to say that? Did you already forget what you did?”

Although he said that, Sonia was still as confused as ever, she looked dumbly at Arthur not knowing how to answer.

Anastassia put her daggers down and retorted

”There is nothing to talk about, I have decided to spare you, go back to where you came from.”

Then she turned around to walk away seemingly not caring anymore, however, to her surprise, Arthur burst out in laughter for a couple of seconds before speaking

”Ha ha ha! Spare us? What a joke! I will NOT leave this place until I find out WHO WANTED US DEAD!”

Suddenly, Arthur who was leaning on Lucy stood up and his killing intent resurfaced again, but this time it was many times stronger and thicker, as if it would suffocate anyone, his eyes turned jet black as he stared at Anastassia who was also looking back at him.

Anastassia was perplexed now, the matter behind that 'order' is quite complicated so she gave them a way out but he refused to leave to it left her in a dilemma on whether to finish them off now or do something else.

After a couple of seconds of thorough thinking, she sighed and said

”..... Alright, as you wish, since you want to know what happened then follow me, it's better to talk inside..”

She didn't want to cause a bigger commotion, plus she knew that dealing with him and Lucy would not be that easy, probably Lucy alone can be defeated by her but if he attacked too it would be troublesome, she noticed his current state but regardless of that, deep in her heart she felt that fighting him now will only lead to disastrous results.

Arthur gazed at her surprised for a couple of seconds, he didn't think she would easily accept, he held some suspicions as maybe she would ambush him, nevertheless, he followed her with Lucy and Saly.

Lucy was already holding Saly as they followed behind Arthur.

Sonia and Mary were with each other and Wuji was next to Anastassia, all of them entered the pagoda as for the few female disciples who were present, they soon dispersed but they all knew they must keep what happened a secret or else the only way out is death.

In a certain Palace which was entirely white, there was no decoration whatsoever, it was literally empty.

There was a middle-aged man sitting on a similarly white chair with a kneeling woman in front of him, she seemed to be afraid of him as she didn't dare raise her head and look at him in the eye.

”Explain what happened..”

Although he only said 3 words, the woman knew by his tone that he seemed irritated and that was definitely not a good sign.

”Lord Kem, I found what you were looking for, however, I was interrupted by someone..”

The man slammed his fist on the chair angrily and retorted

”Don't dawdle around like that, explain clearly, don't make me angrier than I already am!”

The woman trembled yet again and replied with a somewhat shaky voice

”Y-yes.. It was a skeleton... I don't know how but it used some kind of vortex to throw completely out of the lower realm, it even erased my memories about which planet it was...”

”A skeleton you say? Fool! Can't even finish a simple job! That staff is beyond important and you lost it just like that, DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW LONG I HAVE BEEN SEARCHING FOR IT? I only sensed it's existence again a year ago, and in the lower realm too, just how is it there...”

The woman only stayed silent and waited for the man's orders, after a couple of minutes of silence, he waved his hand indicating for her to leave so without delay she left without speaking and left the man alone pondering about something.

'Almost...I almost got it....'

In an endless dark void where you cannot see anything but stars far away, there was a man flying around and laughing maniacally, he seemed to be crazy but if one knew him they would certainly know he is enraged.

'X' searched for his 'subject' for quite some time now but he never found it, not even a trace of him, it's like he doesn't even exist anymore, he even managed to somehow return to Earth but he was not there, what angered him is not losing Arthur but what's inside him, he spent millions of years if not more creating that with the help of some luck so losing it like that angered him to the extreme.

It just didn't seem logical for him to disappear like that, he should have been reincarnated to the designed planet, so how come he isn't there?

He searched his whole area but to no avail he found nothing, even in the neighboring areas he wasn't there, this left 'X' astonished, if he wanted to search everywhere for him that would take a LOT of time but that's the only solution so he began roaming randomly into planets and searching them one by one, of course, he instructed Belos and his other subordinates to the same and immediately inform him if they find anything suspicious or even a trace of that bastard.

'You won't run away... Arthur, don't forget I have something you need...don't forget'