Von freed Helena who then ran towards her mother and hugged her.
“Mom, thank you… thank you…”, Helena cried.
Lena smiled and patted her head.
“Helena…”, Victoria sat on the ground, still dazed on what just happened.
Von went to Victoria and lent her his hand, “Sorry about that, young girl.”, he said with a caring tone.
“Senior…”, she extended her hand and stood up.
“You must be confused about Madame Lena’s actions earlier, right?”, he chuckled, “Let Hele tell you the whole story later.”
Victoria nodded.
Helena stopped crying and let go of her mother, wiping off the tears on her face. She looked at Victoria and smiled, “Victoria, I’m sorry about what happened earlier. It’s just that… my mom is a bit overprotective on me… hehe…”, she shyly said.
The girl walked over to Victoria and held her hands, “We’re still friends, right?”
“Yeah… Helena, of course we are.”, Victoria replied.
The warm scene lightened the atmosphere inside Lena’s room.
“Von, what now?”, Lena asked.
“We’ve made a deal with the young boy earlier. It’s time to do my part now.”, Von bowed.
“Deal? Uncle, what did you promise to him for you to do?”, Helena asked.
“Locating his missing sister.”
The two girls gasped, recognizing which person Von was talking about.
“Amelia’s missing? But how?”, Helena worried. Amelia wasn’t having the best of her days because of what happened recently in her life.
“The emperor’s special forces kidnapped her.”
“Do you need assistance? I can have Joey outside to go with you.”, Lena suggested.
“Preferably, yes, but what about these two girls, Madame?”, Von scratched his head.
“Bring them along. It looks like there are some people gathered outside of my room at the moment.”, her temperament changed, narrowing her eyes, “I’ll take care of the matters in the household for now. Go do your part.”, Lena waved her hands.
Mana essence gathered in her body, changing her long white clothes into a set of ginger-colored mage robes. It was styled with a golden collar and golden stripes on the shoulders and the chest.
She exited the room. Von sighed, `What a bloody day this is going to be…`
He knew what Lena was referring to about taking care of matters in the household. She wouldn’t want Helena to witness that.
“Alright, it should be time for you to wake up now, boy.”, he looked at the seemingly unconscious Zachariel.
Zachariel opened his eyes and stood up.
Helena and Victoria were weirded out.
`Thi-this guy was awake all the time? He didn’t catch up to that drama earlier, didn’t he?`, Helena worried.
There were times when boys would make fun of girls for being too dramatic, and she didn’t want to end up like that.
Zachariel didn’t bother to talk to them, “Lead me to my sister.”
Von nodded.
He then grabbed something out of air. It was Zachariel’s polearm.
“You lost this in the public training area earlier. Here.”
He tossed it easily to Zachariel.
“Thank you, senior.”
The barrier flickered and Joey went inside. He was about to say something when Von interrupted him.
“Joey, no time for dilly-dallying. You carry these two along, and follow me.”, Von didn’t want to waste time either.
Joey sighed, “Uncle’s too stern. Alright, you two. Let this brother take care of you.”
The five of them vanished in the room.
‘Whoosh! Whoosh!’
They rushed through the alleys and big roads, traveling at a very fast pace.
`Oh, this boy is something.`
The four people were amazed at the speed and endurance that Zachariel displayed.
`Shadow steps at this very early. Just how damn excellent is his mana control. Most of those Eldens couldn’t be compared to this.`, Von remarked.
Amidst his thoughts, he noticed some people following them.
`What a bunch of pests. Get the f*** out of my sense.`, he gathered dark mana essence and incantated on his mind, ‘Nightmare Devour.’
“Urgh!”, a couple of groans and thuds resounded, which the rest did not notice.
`Bastards. That damn emperor is a nosy piece of s***, isn’t he?`
…
After an hour of running all around, they exited the Imperium Capital City.
Von stopped, “Okay. Our informant’s here.”
The others landed on the ground and were shocked to see the informant Von was talking about.
“Senior, isn’t this, you?”, Zachariel pointed at another figure that looked exactly like Von. The only difference was that the other Von wore some tight and flexible leather armor.
“Yes, why? Is there a problem about that?”, the two Vons smirked.
“No.”
“Good, I’ll tell you later what this thing is. For now…”, the other Von faded away, “The three of you should stay here.”, talking to the two girls and Joey.
“Okay uncle.”, Joey nodded. Victoria and Helena didn’t object to it either. They were just put outside because Lena told them to do so. Zachariel put his polearm on the ground, thinking that it would be in his way if he carried it all along.
“Follow me.”, Von gestured at Zachariel.
In front of them was a thick small forest, a few kilometers outside the Imperium Capital City.
“There are four people patrolling outside, while your sister and two other people are inside. I don’t know who those people are but they’re dangerous. You know what to do, right?”, Von asked.
He wanted to be sure that Zachariel wouldn’t act like an idiot when things go serious.
Zachariel nodded, covering his aura with dark mana essence.
Seeing the understanding look on Zachariel’s face, Von continued.
“I’ll take those four out then immediately grab your sister out of here. Don’t worry about the other two, I’ll block them.”
They jumped from branch to branch and continued onwards for a few hundred meters. Von landed on the ground, behind a thick bush, gesturing at Zachariel to stop moving.
Zachariel didn’t see anything suspicious, except for the wooden house in front of his eyes. There were no windows in the walls.
Only a single small door stood out there.
Von’s entire body suddenly became a puff of dark smoke. Zachariel readied himself, knowing that Von will be taking his move soon.
‘Whoosh!’
A faint sound resounded. After that, four bodies dropped to the ground. Lifeless.
Seeing the signal from Von, Zachariel rushed to the house.
‘Bang!’
He charged through the door and saw Amelia kneeling on the floor, tied up and blindfolded. There were dried tears and scratches on her face.
“Brother!”, Amelia called out, thinking that Zachariel had come to save her.
Zachariel took three steps, extending his reach to Amelia. Suddenly, two black-hooded figures jumped on both his sides.
The one on his left was big and burly, aiming a punch at Zachariel stomach. The other one was smaller and wielded their fingers, with thin strings attached to them.
“Got you, brat!”, the person on his right spoke hoarsely in a feminine tone.
‘Phantasmal Illusion.’
‘Bang!’
‘Clang!’
Two Vons also emerged on Zachariel’s sides, blocking the incoming attacks from the two hooded figures. At the same time, their eyes widened in shock as well.
“You’re-!”
“Hmph!”, Von took the initiative and blasted the two hooded figures away. Zachariel used this chance to grab Amelia. The ropes and blindfolds were absorbed by his dark mana essence.
He punched through the wall in front.
‘Boom!’
Zachariel exited using windwalk and shadow steps to increase his speed.
“S***, he’s going away!”, the bulky man shouted.
“I know!”
The small hooded figure waved her hands, ‘Strings of-!’
Her attack was cut short as Von punched her in the face. The force was so strong that her body was smashed to the ground, crushing the wooden floor below.
“F***! You’ve f***** up, Ardeannies!”, the burly guy was angered. Von kept him on the bay, exchanging punches and kicks.
“Shut the f*** up, Lerkaroga. You idiot!”, Ardeannies retorted.
‘Boom!’
She jumped out of the house but Von didn’t let her go.
“Get out of my way!”, her strings incessantly fell upon Von but he deflected it with his bare fists.
`This old f*****! How come he’s still coming up strong after splitting himself into two?!`, Ardeannies panicked.
‘Boom!’
Ardeannies turned her head around, only to see Lerkaroga flying in the air, with the other Von trailing on him, ready to launch another attack.
Lerkaroga adjusted himself in the air using wind mana essence, “You damn knight! Take this!”, he gathered dark and divine essence, “Void Punch!”
Lerkaroga’s fist collapsed the space, and then propelled himself towards Von.
Von gathered light and divine essence, “Retracting Punch!”
The collision between the two resulted in a huge explosion.
“Boom!”
It covered a radius of 500 meters, cratering the entire area. The cloud of smoke rose for hundreds of meters, and the explosion was noticed by the guards on the walls.
“Call General Astrid! We need her help!”, one of the captains ordered. A fight of that scale near the Imperium Capital City was worthy of attention, especially by the Imperium Army Generals and the Golden Guardians.
“Sir, what about Madame Lena?”
“You idiot! Madame Lena is still afflicted by the dark mist! Go call out General Astrid. She’s the only one available for now!”
…
“Hmph!”, Von sneakily punched Ardeannies in the face again. She flew for tens of meters, destroying the trees that were on her way.
“Distracted, Templar?”, Von coldly mocked, “I didn’t know you had such camaraderie in your organization.”
Ardeannies waved her hands around, destroying everything in her wake. Rocks were blown to pieces and the anger inside her intensified.
She then stood straight and looked at Von, “Heh, worthy of a title of a knight, aren’t you? Von Augh Meryen!”
Her golden eyes glowed, “This day, one of the Knights of Solus will die!”
She brandished her strings and used divine essence to multiply them.
“Tailored Cage!”
Webs of strings surrounded Von. Each string was thin and sharp.
Von acted, “Immolation: Hellfire!”, gathering fire, dark, and divine essence in his body to cast the spell.
A surging heat burst out from him, devouring the strings, and followed through towards Ardeannies. Von looked like some kind of fire demon as the black and red fire ravaged the forest.
It spread outwards, burning a huge area in just a few seconds. Ardeannies jumped and concentrated her earth-layered strings to push away the hellfire.
“Kyaah!”
The flames were thrown away, landing on the ground like fireballs.
Von snorted and gathered the scattered hellfire to attack Ardeannies.
“Von Augh Meryen, still won’t give up, don’t you?!”, Ardeannies riled him up while moving around the battlefield, evading and repelling the hellfire that attacked her.
“You damn cockroaches are the most annoying thing in this world. I will exterminate your entire species until nothing is left behind.”, Von swore.
Their clashes expanded from the thick forest all towards the mountain nearby. Roads were destroyed and some innocent onlookers were implicated as well.
Their current location was already too far from the Imperium Capital City.
Von noticed the peculiar actions that Ardeannies and Lerkaroga exhibited.
`It’s as if they’re drawing me far away from Zachariel and the rest. This behavior is too contradicting on their part.`
He lost patience and directly charged towards Ardeannies. The latter used her strings to defend, but Von’s mighty physical power exceeded what the strings could hold, snapping them.
“You-!”
His left arm chopped through her neck and sent additional punches to her body and face.
Ardeannies became a punching bag, riddling her body full of injuries and broken bones and muscles. Von then grabbed her head and smashed it at a huge rock with great force.
‘Bang!’
The rock split into two with Ardeannies’s face buried deep. He then grabbed her robes and raised her high then pounded her to the ground and stepped on her face, destroying the doll-like mask that covered it.
A beautiful face was laid out to the world, yet stained by the flowing blood out of her mouth. Ardeannies’s golden eyes were half-awake, staring at Von who looked down on her.
“Von… Augh… Meryen…, looks like your skills as a knight are deteriorating.”, she laughed while coughing out blood.
“Doesn’t matter… at least, we’ve accomplished the task! All Hail, the-!”
‘Splat!’
Von squashed her face. He was contemplating what Ardeannies meant by the accomplished task when he felt a surge of space essence in the direction of where Zachariel and the rest were.
`This is… space magic?`, his eyes widened in shock, `And it’s coming from his sister, Amelia!`
Von only then realized the reason behind the peculiar actions and behavior that the two Templars displayed earlier.
`F***! So their target was Zachariel all along?!`
Von’s heart felt a looming danger, telling him intuitively that if the channeled space magic spell would be activated, and the Templars take Zachariel, Pandragea would be doomed.
