Kingdom's Bloodline, page 499
Even if assassins arrived before Thales, they would discover that their weapons had mysteriously disappeared.
Compared to them, Thales’ longsword seemed to be fated to never miss, and it could not be stopped. Every time he swung his sword, he would definitely break through all defenses, ignore all people who tried to evade his sword, and hit his target.
The eeriness present on him caused the assassins to be in fear.
In a few moments, the number of the assassins were reduced to less than ten.
Stake struggled and gritted his teeth.
He knew that he needed to make a decision.
Thales did not notice Stake’s increasingly unpleasant face. He did not notice the complicated looks on Zakriel’s face. He just poured his mind and soul into sensing his new power.
He could easily take away the dagger from the hands of the enemies before him, as easily as he picked up a teacup from the table.
It was as if distance was non-existent to him.
He could even change the positions between him and the longsword.
He could make it appear in places where it should be.
He could even make the projectiles they threw at him, such as the handaxe just now, change positions.
He could do it as if he was tugging at a fishing line on a fishing pole.
As his movement became more experienced, Thales slowly came to a realization.
Taking objects through a distance and shifting various objects around was no big deal to him.
But he did have some limitations.
Shifting the still dagger compared to the handaxe in the air was easier…
Shifting the longsword in his hand compared to his entire person was easier…
It was easier for him to use his power the lighter and smaller the target was, the shorter the distance between them was, and the slower the target’s speed was.
‘Very good.’
“Retreat!”
The sudden shout interrupted Thales’ train of thought.
The ferocious-looking Stake seized the struggling Marina, he held her before him as a hostage and moved back.
His gaze when he stared at Thales was full of wariness.
‘If this prince has this kind of power…
‘Then his actions in the tavern…
‘Was to let us fall into his trap.’
“Retreat!” Stake roared angrily.
Thales narrowed his eyes. He saw assassins moving as if they had been released from their burden. They retreated in a well-trained manner.
They were about to hide in the darkness again.
“This is why I hate playing hunting foxes, they will run” Zakriel seemed to have turned into a human-sized forbidden zone. Wherever he went, the assassins would flee.
‘But they cannot run away,’ Thales said in his heart.
‘No matter where they run to, all are in my control.’
In the next second, Stake discovered to his shock that Thales appeared in the blink of an eye before him, even though he was previously five steps away from him!
‘How did he…’
Before he could think too much into it, Stake repeated his old trick. He pushed Marina before him and used her as his shield!
*Whoosh!*
Thales’ gaze was still fierce. The longsword sliced through Marina’s waist! The woman’s gaze at that moment made her seem as if she was no longer afraid of death.
Stake shouted in pain. With blood pouring out of him, he rolled one meter away.
Marina thought that she had definitely died, but opened her eyes while shivering to discover that she was completely unharmed. Even the rope binding her hands had been cut at some unknown point of time.
“You are fine, madam.”
Thales stretched out his hand to her and said with a cold sneer, “It seems like you need some help?”
Marina swatted his arm away and stood up on her own. She gritted her teeth and snorted angrily. “I don’t need you rescuing me!”
‘Okay then.
‘What a bad temper.’
Thales raised his eyebrows. “By the way, about the incident that happened just now in the tavern…”
However, Marina’s first reaction when she heard this sentence was…
*Slap!*
There was pain on Thales’ face!
“Pervert!”
Marina gritted her teeth and retracted her palm. She pushed him away with her elbow. Then, she rushed off to find her weapon.
“Bastard!”
As he watched her back, Thales turned around with an unpleasant expression. He mocked himself. “Ah… you’re welcome.”
He bore with the pain and pretended that he did not see Quick Rope mouthing a “wow” with his lips.
Zakriel and Yodel efficiently reaped the assassins’ lives. In the few seconds Thales was delayed in his actions because he went off to rescue Marina, almost all the assassins were killed. Only the blood-drenched Stake was left running for his life.
‘He can’t escape.’
When Thales thought of this, he decided to vent all of the grievances he suffered just now on the culprit.
He instantly appeared in front of Stake!
*Clang!*
Thales’ longsword parried the shortsword Stake drew out of nowhere. He forced the incredibly disheveled Stake to take a step back while his face was covered in blood!
“You know that you could let me go… you know it!” Stake’s arms were shaking as he said these words in a ferocious manner.
Thales replied him coldly, “Eighteen years ago, you, too, could have let Herman Jadestar go.”
Stake was first stunned before his expression became even fiercer.
Thales chuckled. He continued to sense the mystic energy he ‘lost control’ of and was prepared to deliver his final strike.
‘As long as I shift the position of my sword to…’
At that moment, Thales suddenly jolted!
‘Pain.’
A pain that went deep into his bones shot up from within his ribs!
‘AAAAAHHHHH!’
Thales was in such great pain that his movements contorted. His whole body shook, and he went down on one knee on the ground.
He sucked in a sharp breath!
‘No, no, no!’
He was familiar with this kind of pain.
He felt this sort of pain before when he faced the assassination in Eternal Star City, when he withstood the Mystic Guns before Broken Dragon Fortress, and when he faced off the Blood Mystic in Dragon Clouds City.
But the pain he felt back then was not as severe as it was currently.
But without a doubt, this was the… price of using mystic energy.
At that moment, Thales felt as if he woke up from a dream. He was taken out of that amazing state.
‘I am…’
He sensed the pain in his chest, and Thales leaned against the blood-stained longsword. He examined his body from top to bottom in a disbelieving manner.
‘I am… I truly…’
It was as if all his feelings: panic, fear, and hesitation surged back into his mind in just one breath.
At the same time, the emotions he had while he was in his logical state: calmness, fearlessness, and decisiveness no longer came to him naturally.
Pain was not the only thing he sensed. He seemed dust and blood. Heard the sounds of battle and a jumble of other sounds. He saw the dark tunnel. He instantly perceived all these things through his eyes, ears, throat, and mouth. They reminded him of his current situation.
He wiped the blood on his face away, only to discover that he was completely covered in blood, and he was sticky and wet.
Not far away from him were the heads and limbs he chopped off from his enemies, and those enemies he slain, as well as their missing parts, laid all over the floor around him.
There were eight to nine of them.
Thales suddenly shuddered in fear.
‘This is… my doing?
‘That’s right.’
His memories were still clear.
‘But… when I look back at the process of the battle just now, it’s as if I was watching another person doing those things.’
Another version of a calm Thales.
“Thales!”
An anxious shout traveled into his ears.
Thales came back to his senses.
*Whoosh!*
The sound of wind come towards him!
Thales instinctively wanted to use his mystic energy, but the pain increased in his chest, and it made his face contort. He fell to the floor weakly.
‘Shit.
‘Shit!’
*Bang!*
At the critical moment, Quick Rope came crashing into him from the other side and knocked Thales away from the tip of Stake’s sword!
Quick Rope carried him and rolled a few steps away. When he stood up, he slapped Thales!
“What is wrong with you?”
Quick Rope looked at Thales. He was in a daze. Quick Rope gritted his teeth and said, “Just now, you were being all stoic, and now, you’re daydreaming…
“Did you take drugs?”
The pain called Thales’ attention to what was happening. While badly shaken, he stared at Quick Rope as the man sat on his body. He recalled the entire process from the moment he lost control until the moment now.
‘Mystic energy.
‘Knocking on the Door.
‘Taurus.
‘Girls.
‘Anchor point.
‘Decision.
‘It’s as if I was in a dream.’
“I… I don’t know,” Thales said in a daze.
‘Maybe.’
On the other side, Stake struggled to his feet while he endured the pain in his body. He then lunged into the dark.
When he left, he did not forget to throw a projectile weapon at the two of them!
*Swoosh!*
Thales was shocked. He pushed away Quick Rope, and he instinctively went to touch his longsword!
But after half a second, Yodel suddenly appeared in front of them!
*Ding! Ding!*
His grey shortsword danced in the air. Metallic clangs rose into the air, and Yodel managed to block all the projectiles.
Thales felt relieved. His hand, which had grabbed the longsword too late, was no longer tense.
But Stake had already disappeared into the dark. He vanished without a trace.
On the other side, as Zakriel dealt with the last assassin, the last assassin’s torch fell on the ground.
Their surroundings instantly became dark!
Thales then realized that the battle had ended.
The pain in his chest, caused by activating his mystic energy, was slowly disappearing as well.
He then slowly registered what had happened.
The passage was silent.
“Wow.” Quick Rope let out a sigh of relief, and leaned against the wall while in pain.
“Finally…”
On another side of the corridor was Marina, and she stared at the corpses on the floor in a daze. Tampa sat at a corner. He shredded his clothes through gritted teeth before he began expertly bandaging his wounds.
In the darkness, Thales silently stared at Yodel, who was before him. He then looked at all the blood on his own body, and he suddenly felt felt awkward.
“I… Just now…”
But right when Thales opened his mouth, he was interrupted.
“I know,” the Masked Protector said calmly. He lifted up Thales from the ground.
“I know.”
For some unknown reason, Thales felt relieved.
He looked at the ground angrily and rubbed the blood on his face. It was still hard for him to believe what had happened just now.
‘Why…
‘How could I adapt so easily to the killing just now…?’
“A happy day, isn’t it?”
“This is the last one… if we do not take into account of the one who ran away.”
On the other side, Zakriel picked up the torch, and started counting his kills while he spoke to Yodel, “I suggest that you catch up to him to prevent any possible future complications… Your power is the most suitable to handle Shadow Shield.”
Yodel turned his head around and cast a deep glance at the depths of the tunnel.
“Don’t worry, he can’t run away,” The Masked Protector said coldly.
“Then go.” Zakriel gestured at him with his chin.
“I am still here.”
Yodel gently nodded. He then turned and patted Thales’ shoulders.
Thales forced a smile on his lips.
“Go, do what you must do.”
Yodel nodded his, and in the next second, he disappeared into thin air.
As he watched by the side, Quick Rope sucked in a sharp breath.
He covered his mouth with one hand, and pointed at the place where Yodel disappeared in terror. His gaze flitted back and forth. “He-he-he… man… ghost…”
Thales did not pay attention to him, he just waved his hand in an unconcerned manner.
“Quick Rope, go and find something to do, please.
“Jokes are what we do not need the most right now.”
Quick Rope’s fear was frozen on his face. He turned his head around in an embarrassed manner.
On the other side, Tampa and Marina stared at each other hostilely.
But Thales could no longer care about all these.
Perhaps Marina had an awkward identity, perhaps Tampa was well-informed of matters, but keeping them here was not a good thing. However, right now, Thales just wanted to get a good sleep.
The Disaster Swords lost their leader, and they suffered terrible losses. The remnants of Shadow Shield were destroyed here. The Northlanders did not have enough men to cause a stir. Besides, the Secret Intelligence Department had also set up an ambush on the surface.
The only problem was perhaps Quick Rope…
With the longsword as his support, he leaned against the wall behind him and sighed heavily.
‘Oh my God, mystic energy.’
Today, he had consciously used his mystic energy.
‘But…’
Even though it was better than randomly vomiting blood in the past, this state had its own limitations as well. There was a huge limit placed on how long he could his mystic energy. There was also limit on the things he could do.
“Ha.”
Thales scoffed softly. He suddenly felt tired.
It was not just his body that felt tired. His spirit, too, felt tired.
Zakriel slowly walked forward. He looked disheveled. The man frowned.
“Hey, boy.”
Thales raised his head tiredly and stared at the brand of criminals on Zakriel’s forehead. He forced himself to smile at the man. “You did a pretty good job in shaving your stubble. And…
“…thank you.”
But Zakriel frowned.
“That psionic ability of yours is not perfect, right?”
The Knight of Judgement placed his torch on a corpse to light up the place. He then used his sleeves to wiped the very much chipped saber.
“Or else, you would have used it when you were held hostage.”
Thales knitted his brow deeply.
‘As I expected, I still need to explain it to him…’
Thales sighed, and he placed his forehead against the sword hilt.
“Let me guess. There is a time limit, and it would damage your body greatly?” Zakriel asked calmly as he leaned against the wall beside him.
Thales sneered gently. He believed that all the people around him had seen his current state.
“You could put it that way.”
But Zakriel’s next question made Thales slightly stunned.
“Why didn’t you save him?”
‘Huh?’
“What?” Thales lifted his head in shock.
“You could have saved young Yodel right from the beginning,” Zakriel said with a chuckle.
“But you gave up. Instead, you had me help him.”
The Knight of Judgement turned his head around. “Why?”
‘Save… Yodel?’
Thales tried hard to recall the amazing experience that seemed to have happened a century ago, even though it JUST happened. He tried to recall what he was thinking during that time.
At that time, he seemed to have wanted to mess up the positions of the enemies who bound Yodel, and then…
The Thales who was rational, calm, and decisive…
“Urk… perhaps you were more suited for the task? After all, there were four of them…”
But Zakriel shook his head.
“No, I can tell that you value him highly. He is also very loyal to you,” Zakriel sighed and said while he tapped the wall behind him.
“If you could save him, you would never have given up that easily.”
Thales frowned.
‘Wait.’
“It was not that you did not wish to save him.” Zakriel stared the light from the flame. He then said in a profound manner, “But you could not save him.”
Thales’ eyelids twitched.
“What do you mean?”
‘I couldn’t save him?
‘Wait.
‘Just now, I think I tried defeating the second of the four enemies holding the chains, but..’
Zakriel turned his head around and grinned at the prince. His disheveled and unkempt appearance made him look rather ugly.
“That sword.”
Zakriel said calmly, “He kept holding on to it with his right hand.”
Thales shook a little bit.
‘That sword?’
His first reaction was to look at Ricky’s sword, which he held in his hand.
But in the next second, Thales understood what Zakriel meant.
When Thales realized something, his face turned pale, and it made his hair stand on end.
‘That sword.’
The Knight of Judgement sighed. “It’s precisely because of the legendary anti-mystic weapon, the Supreme Sword…”
‘The Supreme Sword.’
At that moment, Thales began breathing in an absent-minded manner.
‘What is he talking about…?’
“…that your power was useless against the chain on his right shoulder,” Zakriel said calmly.
Thales opened his mouth laboriously.
“Zakriel, you…”
The Knight of Judgement leaned against the wall and lowered his head. He chuckled, “It’s not strange. I met something similar before this… Prince Thales, did I call you by the right name?”
