Zavier immediately switched his consciousness to the clone that had relayed the news to him.
But the atmosphere surrounding her looked anything but that of a friendly girl. The space around her was constantly being bombarded by bolts of lightning. It was like even the air around her had been charged to the extreme and would shock anyone in the vicinity without any reason.
Zavier could feel the amount of mana that had been compressed in that space enclosing Nadia. It was as if the mana was somehow alive and the lightning bolts were like dragons swimming through that pond of mana.
Anything or anyone that Nadia deemed as her enemy would be burnt to a crisp with enough lightning to drown them completely.
Zavier was shocked to see the sight of her enjoying her serenade through the forest with a smile on her face while her enemies were tumbling and jumping around trying to escape the surrounding lightning.
At that moment Zavier felt how much he had underestimated his little cousin who used to pester him to teach her basic illusions and who loved to hear his stories. He had never imagined that this chatty girl was so powerful in reality. Not to even mention how strong her mental fortitude was for being able to beat down so many enemies without flinching. Her attacks really left no space for mercy as she didn't even bother to glance at her fallen enemies.
Zavier could finally feel at ease. The girl wasn't a pampered girl who was fragile as glass as he had previously imagined. She really was born among the Adam family that was famous for geniuses like Valerie. How could she have been ordinary?
Zavier berated himself for thinking that she would not be able to handle herself. He had forgotten that like him, she too had gotten the recommendation based on her true strength and potential. She had been the ruling queen of the sophomores and was considered to be the strongest among her year.
Looking at her foolishly while she took care of the enemies surrounding her with ease, Zavier felt immensely proud of the girl. Like him, the clones beside him were standing still as if they wouldn't move if they didn't receive command from him.
Nadia didn't take long beating down the stooges and came towards the three masked individuals. She was curious about the three people who had been looking at her from afar but didn't make any move. They neither moved against her nor did they show their intentions towards her.
Nadia wanted to find out about their intentions but more than that, their attire seemed to have attracted her. She was curious as to who these three individuals were and why they were wearing those masks. She could tell that they belonged to the same team even though they were dressed differently.
They were all supporting different masks on their faces but their physique was almost the same. She wanted to know what was behind their masks and why were they hiding their faces.
She wondered if their faces were scary since they wanted to hide them so badly.
As she got near the three of them, she looked at them apprehensively and opted to ask them the question that had been in her mind.
"Do you want to take my card as well like the others who came earlier?"
Although her tone had no indication of any animosity, Zavier knew that Nadia would really burn his clones to a crisp while supporting the same cheerful smile on her face if needed.
Zavier didn't dare to play around with her; after all, her skill looked to be quite troublesome.
"Not interested in the card of a little girl. We were just passing by." Zavier said with a deadpan expression as if he wasn't the least bit interested in her card.
"That's good then."
Zavier nodded in response.
"Why are you all wearing masks? Are all of you perhaps ugly?"
Zavier let out a laugh and looked at Nadia lovingly. Of course that was all hidden behind the mask and Nadia couldn't see his expressions.
"Guess?"
Nadia pouted in response for being teased by the masked man in front of her. She wanted to blast him but she could not bring herself to do so. There was something familiar about the person.
"What is your name? I think someone was looking for a girl of your description. She seemed to be a little worried about you."
Nadia brightened up at the thought of getting together with the others from her school.
"Who was it? Was it Kacie who was looking for me?"
Zavier could see her happiness. The chatty girl was walking around alone in the forest so he was sure that she was feeling bored and was in dire need of someone to talk to.
"No I think that girl called herself Shiranui."
Although Nadia was a little disappointed that it wasn't Kacie but she still wanted to meet up with the others from her school.
"Where is she now?"
She impatiently asked the three masked men as if she was suddenly in a hurry to go somewhere. Her feet were already in motion while she waited for the three to point her to a direction.
"It's not very far from here. Follow my instructions carefully and you will be able to see her soon."
Nadia looked at the three with a questioning gaze.
Seeing that her patience was running out, Zavier told her in detail where Shiranui was at the moment. He didn't mention that he was there with Shiranui as well because he knew that she would recklessly run to him in that case.
He wanted her to be careful as she made her way to him while he sent his clones to look for the others in the meantime. He didn't have the manpower to spare for keeping an eye on her, after all.
Zavier didn't linger around her for long after he had disseminated the required information to her. He knew that she would eventually make her way to him and Shiranui so his mind was at ease.
He ordered the clones to move and locate the remaining two girls, Dahila and Kacie. The team of three fanned out in order to cover more ground but the expanse of the forest could hardly be covered by the three of them. Therefore, the process was taking longer than Zavier had initially expected.
In order to speed up the efficiency of the search effort, Zavier would ask any individual he came across about the two of them. Some told him voluntarily what they knew and the others had to be 'asked' more thoroughly before they became more obedient.
Zavier came across some teams with different compositions. Some were teams of five while others had seven or eight. One thing he was sure about was that the team composition of three was long since obsolete. Only his teams comprised of a trio as far as he could tell.
Whenever Zavier asked whether those teams had seen Kacie or Dahila in the wild, the only answers he received were in line with 'piss off' and 'eat sh*t'.
Zavier wouldn't have taken any offense at their foul language had they told him what they knew but the arrogant kids needed a beating to be set straight.
His cold flame danced and turned into various shapes as he beat the crap out of them all. Sometime it took the shape of a blade as he hacked and slashed at them like a samurai out of the movies while sometimes it was in the shape of gauntlets that wrapped around his hands as he punched them all in the gut. Wherever the cold flame touched them, it burned but not because its temperature was high but because it froze their very cells. The temperature was so close to absolute zero that it froze their body parts over giving them frostbite. A little threat of a frost bitten limb oiled their tongue that didn't stop afterwards.
Zavier's strength was a powerful deterrent to all of them which was the reason that anyone hardly ever tried to be smart in front of him after he had beaten them to within an inch of their lives. His conventional fighting style and the cold flame that danced around him was something that any regular mage could hardly fight against and Zavier had yet to even use Blood Blade, the source of his true strength. If only those kids knew that Zavier was still holding back, they would have committed suicide out of shame.
Though most of them knew nothing about the girls and hadn't seen them, he appreciated their honest answers and did not take their cards.
The first news he heard was about the cold as ice girl who had been with him on the mission where they had encountered one monster after another. And from the looks of it, she was in need of his help if the statement of the recent couple that he had come across could be counted credible.
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