"Why did you take so much of Unicorn's blood?" Helena curiously asked as she watched Amira and Reina collect a few Medicinal Flowers they had come across in a clearing, their delicate petals glowing faintly in the dappled sunlight.
"It's a treasure and a key ingredient to some very precious potions and pills. Unicorn Blood cannot be forcefully extracted, if you do, then it is poisoned. And these Celestial Unicorns would never willingly give you some Blood." He smiled. "If you ever find Unicorn Blood in the market, you can bet your money on it that it won't be pure. Some alchemist must have used some method to neutralise and cleanse it of the poisoning, but by then, the blood would have lost a lot of its magical properties."
"Oh." She was surprised at the new piece of information and saved it in her mind.
"Did it hurt them when you took their blood?" She curiously asked.
"No." He smiled. "Did you find them in any discomfort?"
"No." She recalled the event and shook her head.
Helena was quite curious about that red Aura that was lacing Keith's hand when he extracted the Blood from the adult Unicorns and had seen how it instantly healed up the incisions after he had collected enough Blood.
The Unicorns seemed to be quite relaxed, and the ones who had offered the Blood had, oddly enough, been feeling very happy.
Since Keith had refused to talk about it to them, she did not raise the matter, but then something else clicked in her mind.
"Minami said that Zaverian Horses are closely related to the Celestial Unicorns."
"Yes, they are. Celestial Unicorns are where the Zaverian Breed comes from. Though extremely rare, sometimes, the Male Unicorns do mate with other breeds of Magical Horses in the wild, and their offsprings are very precious Magical Beasts, who are used to breed the Zaverian Horses." He smiled when he saw that little Gigi was silently absorbing all the information. "And one of the things I plan on creating is a Blood Purifying Potion for the Zaverian Horses that we have. This potion will help them improve their bloodline and their talent. All the horses that are not the Empyrean Breed, will become an Empyrean Breed afterwards."
"Wow!" Helena's eyes shone in excitement, and it was because she owned one of the Zaverian Horses that they had won in the Auction.
Since she was the youngest in the Family, Kiara gifted one to her, and Helena picked the beautiful Red Mare, who was the most friendly of the lot. Ever since that moment, she had been very excited and almost spent the entire day playing around with her horse.
"When will you make it?" She eagerly asked, and he smiled at her.
"It will take time. You would be at the Archon Imperos by then." He patted her head. "I will send it to you. Don't worry."
"Thank you." She smiled at him and then cooed to little Gigi as if she were a baby, and the latter giggled in happiness.
Amira and Reina finished collecting the flowers in the transparent cases, and they happily came over to hand them to Keith.
"Good job." He smiled when he saw that every flower had been carefully plucked and was in the perfect state.
The twins knew exactly which flowers had matured, so, they only picked the finest of the lot.
"Let's fish!" Reina excitedly suggested, and Keith had only just nodded his head when his brows furrowed and he turned to look towards the south.
The girls curiously looked in the same direction, and soon they picked up on some noises as well.
Had it not been for the cry of a Child, they would have ignored it, but now, they hopefully looked towards Keith.
"Let's go and check what's going on." He said and then took Gigi from Helena's arms.
The girls chased after him when he blurred from his position, and he moved at a pace that they could keep up with.
A minute later, they came across a heart-wrenching scene, just outside the caves they had explored earlier today.
Dozens of bodies lay on the ground, including people and Beasts, and a group of twelve Aurors, together with six Magical Beasts, were now surrounding a family of five.
There were two women, one of whom was hugging a baby protectively, and the other woman was hugging a child of six. Both of them were injured, with their complexions pale, and blood dripping from their mouths. Thankfully, their children were safe.
In front of them, was a man who was littered with injuries, guarding them. He refused to die, knowing well that his family would be slaughtered if he fell. And next to him was a Yellow Tiger Beast, who was growling at the enemies rather menacingly. Its body too was littered with injuries, but the madness in its eyes was what was keeping the enemy Magical Beasts away.
"Tell us where you hid it, Jaun. I promise I will spare your wives and Children." The man with a thick beard, who was well over eight feet tall and a powerful Martial Tyrant, coldly spoke up.
By the looks of things, he was the Leader of this Mercenary group who was surrounding the Family right now.
Jaun angrily smiled as soon as he heard those words and tightened his grip on his sword.
"You will spare them, yes. But can you swear that your men would do the same?" He asked back, and seeing the smiles on the faces of his enemies, he sorrowfully glanced at his family.
He knew that the only reason why these Mercenaries had kept him alive was because they wanted to know where he had hidden the thing that they were after, and by the looks of the things, even if he was killed, these enemies still had some ways to locate the thing.
Perhaps they planned on torturing his wives and children to reveal the location or perhaps they had some other plan in their minds.
To Keith and the girls, it was certain that the man's family was going to die here today if they did not intervene, and the girls were already frowning and debating what they should do.
They were all weak, and they knew that they could not save this family on their own. Only Keith could. But they did not want to put him in harm's way either.
"Did Amelia teach you how to create a Dread Formation?"
The sudden question caught Helena by surprise, and she immediately nodded her head.
He was going to act and save the family...
"You have three minutes. Place these Formation Discs around the vicinity. Start from the South as another group is coming from there. Make sure that these Discs are well hidden." He handed her a storage ring and then transferred Gigi to Amira's arms. "Pull back. I will meet you by the stream."
The Twins nodded to him without any hesitation and silently escaped, utilising the Movement Art to the fullest. And Helena went to work as well, turning herself into a girl of thirteen, and shrouding her body in Darkness.
Keith looked back at the caves and saw Jaun sacrifice a Magical Treasure to attack his enemies, perhaps his last effort, and regrettably, his enemies were prepared for it.
They managed to survive the menacing attack with just a few injuries to the weak Aurors and Beasts, and the others were fine.
"Just tell us where you have hidden it." The Leader asked again as he played with the battle axe in his hand, and then he slowly started walking forward.
The Yellow Tiger roared in a warning, which was ignored, and then it rushed forward to meet the enemy head-on.
"Baal!" Jaun tried to call back his Magical Beast who was about to sacrifice its life for him, and the pain in his voice was truly heart-wrenching.
"You have always been a nuisance, Kitty." The man laughed as the Tiger attacked with its lightning powers, surrounding him inside a cage before sending bolts after him which were powerful enough to kill even a Martial Master.
And that was not all.
The Beast covered its body in lightning armour as well and was on its way to slam right into the lightning cage and the enemy.
Keith was rather impressed that the Beast managed to crush the Earth Wall and Magical Shields that the enemy created to stop it, but it was too weak and tired now to pierce through the Aura Armour that covered the man's body.
Perhaps, if it had not been injured and was at its prime, the attack would have succeeded and gravely injured the enemy, but it was not possible in this condition.
"My turn." The man grimly said as he sharpened the blade of his Axe, utilising his Wind Element, and then just lunged forward to attack the tired Beast like a brave man.
The moment his Axe was about to meet the Tiger's face, Jaun used the last bit of his strength to throw the shield in his hand, skillfully intercepting the attack and saving the life of his Beast.
But then his heart sank as the enemy blurred from his place and appeared behind him, swinging his Axe at his wife who was hugging his child.
"No!"
A loud scream resounded in the vicinity, just as the shockwaves erupted and a loud clank was heard by everyone.
Everyone was shocked at the sudden appearance of the man, who had blocked the Axe with his Sword, and who was not even budging under the strength of the Martial Tyrant.
"Who are you..." The Mercenary Leader tried to ask, but his words were choked in his throat when Keith twisted his blade, parried away his Axe, and swung his blade right at his neck.
Had he been any less experienced in battles than he was, he would have surely lost his head under this attack. But the man moved up his left arm, parried away the sword with the gauntlet that he was wearing, and immediately pulled back.
Keith did not proceed to attack again. Instead, he created a Magical Barrier that covered the two women and their children.
"Do not exit it." He softly said, and the woman whose life he had just saved obediently nodded her head.
"Whoever you are, you wouldn't want to get involved in this matter..."
"I already have. So, shut up." He cut the man off and then focused on the group that had entered inside the boundary of the Dread Formation.
Helena had already finished her job, and he had received her signal.
As soon as the group closed in, and before anyone could act, he Teleported away with the people inside the barrier, dropped them outside the Formation, and then returned to his spot to activate it.
Everything happened in a matter of a couple of seconds and everyone was left perplexed. By the time they realised what was happening, the Dread Formation was already active.
Keith smiled at the anger that flashed on the faces of the people whom he was going to slaughter today.
"You better put up a good fight. Or I will turn you into ashes." He playfully said, and his words successfully unnerved the enemies even more. "Shall we?"