"There are a lot of noises from outside the town. Is it Master?" Sandra couldn't help but look at the sky, wondering what was happening outside the town. Even the people in the town had grown restless, wondering if there were demons attacking them.
Tristan had been quiet for some time as he maintained his focus on measuring the sun's position.
While Sandra was looking around with a worried face, Tristan suddenly stood up and grabbed her hand.
"Sandra. We're going." Tristan said while taking a glimpse of the sun's position. This was the position he remembered to be the one directly above his head. "We have to trust Master's plan. He said that no matter how hard it is, we should never look at him and lower our speed. Just focus on crossing the border. Even if you're distracted, I won't and will keep dragging you."
"Don't worry, I know." Sandra nodded with a serious expression.
After that brief conversation, Sandra and Tristan dashed to the outside. They had been waiting at the edge of the town this whole time, so it only took them half a minute to leave the town.
There were no guards as well, considering the battle had taken their attention. Hence, Sandra and Tristan smoothly exited the city and saw the border to the Greenwood Kingdom.
With his right hand, holding Sandra's hand, he pointed at the bricks and shouted, "That's the border. We have to reach that place no matter what."
"Yes." Sandra gritted her teeth, listening to all those explosions. She could only ignore all of it, not knowing if their master was alright or not.
The first minute was completely safe and peaceful. There was no one coming after them. But the moment the buildings had stopped covering them from a certain angle, everything became different.
A loud shout resounded across the area.
"Look at them! There are two kids going straight to the border!"
The one who released that information was none other than the Spirit Grandmaster, who was originally stationed in the city. It turned out he had been bamboozled by those kids.
After recovering from the shock, he confirmed their identity, or more like Tristan's identity.
'What? The kids are there? But there is more than one kid? Why do they appear now? Is there a specific signal? They don't have Spiritual Energy in their bodies, so they shouldn't know that the scout has left the city. Then, how do they know when to leave?' There were a lot of questions appearing in Qiel's mind. However, one thing was clear. Noel had successfully fooled her. "Kh!"
Additionally, Noel took advantage of that split-second confusion to use his full-speed fly toward the kids, positioning himself between the organization and the kids so that they couldn't harm them.
While it was true that they couldn't kill Tristan due to the agreement, they could attack anything around them to stop them. A small injury wouldn't be a problem, especially with Qiel's pinpoint accuracy.
Noel released all his Spiritual Energy, preparing for his last stand. With a glance, he gathered all the information and calculated the time.
'With their speed, reaching the border will require eight minutes. Qiel will release an endless onslaught… I can stop them, but it's impossible to handle the other experts…' Noel gritted his teeth, wondering if Dimitri had finished or not.
When he glanced to the side, he saw a black-colored energy clashing with a red-colored energy. The black energy was overwhelming the other one, but it wasn't completely. It seemed that Nelfer was stronger than he expected.
In other words, there was a possibility that he had to do it alone.
Noel took a deep breath. He could shoot out multiple runes, but the strength of the runes was still lacking compared to his Spirit Abilities.
Hence, Noel gathered his Spiritual Energy in both hands. This time, the right hand received its energy from Ardagan's Spirit Seal, while the left hand received it from Heisk's Spirit Seal.
Since it was impossible to use the Cold Empowerment, he activated the Fire Heart to boost his Fire Ability and the Empowerment Rune on his body to increase his physical abilities.
Qiel had released another arrow straight to Tristan and Sandra. It would miss them, but the explosion would definitely stop the twins.
Noel landed on the ground and raised both hands.
Snow Shield.
Undying Phoenix.
The Snow Shield burst out, releasing a huge ice crystal.
"Do you think you can stop it?" Qiel harrumphed as the arrow released another burst of energy, breaking the ice crystal apart.
"Of course not." Noel smiled. He knew that Qiel was planning to use all her power to defeat him, so it was impossible for the Snow Shield alone to stop it. Hence, he sent forth the Undying Phoenix at the same time.
The phoenix used the little time the ice crystal stopped the arrow to completely engulf it in flame.
"!!!" Qiel could see her own Spiritual Energy being reduced to nothing and the arrow ultimately disappeared before it could reach Noel.
The other experts caught up, trying to go straight past Noel and capture the two kids. Without orders, they knew what to do not only to distract Noel, but also to get their objectives.
"Tsk." Noel flapped his wings, using the Fire Gale.
The intense heat, coupled with the high temperature of the desert, brushed off their skins.
A portion of their clothes started burning. The Spirit Masters persisted for a moment but ended up using their remaining energy to let out a burst to disrupt the flow of energy, protecting the Spirit Grandmasters. The latter had their skin reddened by the heat like a boiled shrimp, but they continued chasing their target, ignoring the damage on their bodies. As long as they could get these two kids, capturing Noel would be easy.
Noel couldn't see any way to stop them anymore.
Additionally, Dimitri's side didn't seem to be good either.
"You won't be able to help them, Dimitri!"
Boom
A shout followed with a loud rumbling sound echoed in the area. Nelfer had just smashed the ground, causing it to tremble. His body was covered in wounds to the point that his skin became red because of his blood.
It was clear that if Dimitri continued, he would be able to kill Nelfer.
But Dimitri actually positioned himself not far from Noel and the others. In other words, Dimitri realized that the situation was much worse than he originally thought and chose to be near so that he could help at any moment.
'Killing Nelfer would give a great blow to the organization, but…' Noel thought for a second. But seeing how Dimitri couldn't finish him off this whole time, it seemed that he still required a few more minutes. In addition, there was another plan that appeared in his mind. That plan might allow him to complete his objective, so Noel ordered Dimitri out loud. "Dimitri. Protect the kids!"
"!!!" Dimitri widened his eyes, hearing his master's order.
"You can't!" Nelfer hurriedly punched him but ended up piercing through Dimitri's body as the latter turned into shadow and went straight to the kids.
The seven Spirit Grandmasters that managed to slip past Noel saw the incoming Dimitri. Six of them immediately turned around, trying to stop Dimitri, while the last one caught the kid.
Unfortunately for them, Dimitri was so fast that he could loop around them.
The Spirit Grandmaster, who was about to catch the kids, extended his hands, trying to grab their collars. However, his face soon got kicked by Dimitri as his body was blown a few meters away.
Dimitri had caught up to the two kids as he shouted, "Keep running!"
Sandra was already scared from the intense fight. Tristan was the same. His body was trembling, but he continued running without looking back. He still remembered the first thing Noel said when rescuing him. He told her that if he didn't follow his order, something bad would happen.
No matter how much he wanted to do it, he couldn't look back. Seeing Tristan gritting his teeth, Sandra could only steel herself while doing the same.
Still, the one who took advantage of the moment was not just Dimitri; Noel and Nelfer had done the same.
Noel tried to catch up and stop the six Spirit Grandmasters while looking out for arrows. On the other hand, Nelfer was more clever.
Nelfer jumped into the air, ready to smash the ground. If he could turn the ground into a crater, it would be hard for the kids to leave. Hence, that was what he was planning to do.
"This is your biggest mistake, Dimitri!" Nelfer shouted in anger, releasing all the frustration from being suppressed the entire time.
"…" Dimitri glanced at Tristan and Sandra for a bit, knowing what would happen to them. In the end, Dimitri tossed his blade to the left hand while catching Nelfer's punch with his right hand.
"Kh." Dimitri felt the pain and weight in that punch. With the current condition, he could probably stop the punch if he didn't mind a broken bone, but since he couldn't afford such injuries. He actually kicked his own hand, directing the force of the kick.
"What?!" Nelfer was completely stunned because that kick changed the direction of the punch, causing the shock wave to hit the left direction instead of the kids. As expected, a crater was created in a fan-shaped area, but the kids were still safe.
Dimitri immediately jumped back while raising his sword, but his right hand was completely down. His bone might not be broken, but his hand must be so numb that he couldn't even hold his sword.
There were only four more minutes before the kids could cross the border and the situation seemed to have favored the organization. Would Noel, once again, lose to the organization, or would he prevail this time?
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