"Master John! The Sage Baro has betrayed us and is trying to kill us all! You must help us fight him," Maria shouted. She knew that Master John was at least as powerful as a sage. If he decided to help them, their chances of success would increase.
That's what Maria thought, at least. But then she saw the Sage weapon of Kasuur in Master John's hand.
At that moment, her face turned pale. Master John noticed her expression, but said nothing as he slowly began walking towards them. Wuma wasn't doing anything either. Lima seized the opportunity to try to heal Nomier's wound as quickly as possible. But while Nomier looked on in shock, Malehit observed everything closely. Not only had Wuma betrayed them, but John was also in a suspicious situation. He was covered in blood and holding a sword that wasn't his. How could they trust him?
How could they trust him?
"Kasuur's sword... why do you have it?" Maria managed to get the words out. At that moment, the tension in the atmosphere rose frighteningly.
John stopped walking. Surprisingly, he stopped right next to Wuma. The air grew cold and darkness was about to fall. A cold wind blew. The grass swayed in the wind and the young people's hair stood on end. But it was unclear whether this was due to the wind or to danger.
"Kasuur is dead. We fought Sorgon; after he killed Kasuur, he left. I managed to escape."
John spoke without hesitation, his white hair ruffled by the wind. His words were enough to convince the young men before him.
"I didn't think you'd fight by my side," said Wuma. He looked surprised.
"You didn't expect me to return after all these years either," said John, but he said nothing more on the subject, leaving those around him truly unaware of the bond between them.
Wuma just laughed. Taking a few more sips from the bottle of liquor, he looked at Malehit, whose skin had turned completely grey. He was completely at ease. So was his power. By this point, nobody believed that Wuma was a second-stage sage. It was simply too illogical.
It was illogical for him to counter a sixth-stage power without using any technique. Even if he had used a technique, he shouldn't have been able to injure Nomier so easily.
Nothing made sense.
"Why are you here, Wuma?" John asked suddenly. Nomier needed a little more time to recover. His enemies hadn't made a sound for this reason, but Wuma frowned at this question.
"I thought we'd have this conversation later. And since when have you been so disrespectful as to address your master by name?"
The handsome middle-aged man turned his head and looked at the man sipping his liqueur. Wuma's aura was growing stronger. His sword shone brighter and his power increased. The others might not have known what was happening, but John did.
At that moment, a smile appeared on the middle-aged man's face.
"You should know when. After all, you're a father too."
PIRCH!!!
Wuma caught the sword with his hand the moment he felt the pain, but John had already thrust half of it into his body. Wuma looked at John with a sullen expression; he had betrayed him.
"You—"
"Attack!"
Malehit and Nomier leapt up at the same time. A white and grey sword illuminated their surroundings and headed for Wuma's head. Wuma knew he couldn't fight them both with one hand.
'Damn it!'
He let go of the hand holding John's sharp sword. As the sword sank a little deeper into his body, he struck John's face, which he was covering with one arm, hard with his free hand. John was thrown backwards, still holding the sword. The sword also came out of Wuma's body in the process. Meanwhile, Wuma responded with all his might against the capital's two powerful geniuses.
Not just with his fists. With his pale metal sword!
DING...!!!
Sparks flew when they first clashed, but this was not the end. It was only the beginning. Nomier and Malehit were not very well coordinated, but there were two of them and only one of Wuma. Nevertheless, Wuma displayed brilliant techniques one after another and stopped them. He even overpowered them. Although he had perfected most of the mid-level Sage techniques he used, Wuma was only a 2nd-level Sage. It was incomprehensible how he could fight against this duo. Moreover, using so many techniques in succession would exceed the capacity of his two Tao cores.
Still, if anyone was going to run out of energy before him, it would be Malehit. The Stone Heart transformation didn't seem like it would last long. Malehit had raised his defence to the seventh level with his technique. Even though his other attributes were at the sixth level, he still had techniques he could use to reach the seventh level. Furthermore, thanks to the mid-level Sage technique, his speed had reached the 8th level. Nevertheless, despite all this and Nomier displaying at least 6th-level power, they couldn't defeat this 2nd-level Sage.
To make matters worse, Wuma was already injured!
"Liqueur... don't make him drink it!!"
At that moment, John felt he could breathe again. Seeing the beauty beside him, his thoughts returned to the world. Although he spoke immediately, only the two girls could hear him.
Maria couldn't trust him because of what had just been said about Kasuur, and because he was holding Kasuur's sword. But she had just seen what he had done. For now, at least, he should be on their side.
Still, she couldn't help but hesitate.
After spitting out the blood in his mouth and regaining his composure, John continued speaking.
"What makes him so powerful is the liquor... He's using a transformation technique!"
Maria and Lima weren't the only ones who heard this. Nomier and Malehit heard it, too. Without hesitation, Nomier swung his sword at the bottle of liquor. It was a sudden and decisive movement. The words seemed to trigger a reflex.
'Vanishing Effect!'
A mid-level sage technique. Combined with the power of the sword, its strength was equivalent to that of an attack from an Eight-Level Sage. On top of that, it was an unexpected attack.
DING...!
Wuma's sword, held in his right hand, stopped Malehit's weak sword. His left hand attacked Nomier's sword with impressive speed. His aim was to stop him, but at that moment, the white sword vanished and Wuma's fist missed its target. The sword reappeared directly in front of the test subject.
"Keep dreaming."
CRACK!!!!
Something broke, but it wasn't the pot.
Nomier was surprised when he realised that sharp pieces were flying past his eyes. He realised, albeit too late, that they were tiny shards of glass. At the same time, he realised that his sword hadn't hit anything. It had passed by Wuma's waist. But when had Wuma turned his body? That fist? He could see it out of the corner of his eye. It was coming towards his face. He saw a shadow rise behind Wuma. Was that someone else? And what were those pieces reflecting the light? Ah, now he understood what they were.
Wuma's sword shattered Malehit's.
'Too fast!'
Wuma had suddenly sped up tremendously.
Nomier was falling to the ground. He had lost his balance. Wuma's fist was approaching with tremendous momentum. If the back of his hand hit his cheek, his brain would be shattered. He would die here.
That shadow. It was approaching, too. But it wasn't fast enough.
He was going to die.
"Watch out!"
At the last moment, he heard a voice call out to him. He saw a grey hand step between him and Wuma's fist.
Then came a scream.
"The first gate has been activated."