The old part of Cardio City. An area close to abandoned buildings, covered in cracked roads and rusted metal.
Two groups were fighting. One side was from Joker Roulette, and the other from the Arcane Keepers.
Joker Roulette was pushed back. They had lost in numbers.
Liam and Milo were holding most of them off, including their leader, Jasper.
On the other side, Ridley and Owen were handling the rest of the enemy forces.
At their back, Willow crouched low, tense and ready to jump in if any of her teammates got hurt badly.
"Hey, have Asher and Noah not come yet?!" Owen yelled, glancing around in frustration as he blocked an attack.
"Not yet," Ridley said, kicking an Arcane Keepers member down with a swift blow to the chest.
"I believe the boss said they couldn't come because they're fighting other Arcane Keepers members somewhere else," Ridley continued, knocking another enemy aside.
"Bullshit!" Owen shouted. "Look at them! All their members must be here already!"
"Well, I don't think they've sent all of them yet," Ridley said, breathing heavily. "But it is weird for them not to come. I mean, he can always teleport here immediately."
"That's right!" Owen said. "I already knew from the beginning Noah was suspicious! He must be a traitor!"
"I heard that, you know?"
A voice came from behind them.
Ridley and Owen immediately looked back. Just as they thought, a familiar handsome face stood there. It was Noah. Next to him was Asher, the guy with the mohawk hairstyle.
"I knew you guys would doubt me," Noah said as he crossed his arms. "So that's why I brought this guy with me. Even though it was a pain."
At first, Owen and Ridley didn't understand what Noah meant. Noah and Asher were there, obviously. But then they noticed who he was talking about.
At Noah's feet, a body lay on the ground, not moving at all.
"No! Isn't that Alexis?" one of the Arcane Keepers members said in shock, recognizing the body.
"How?" another said. "Isn't he supposed to be guarding our headquarters?"
Fiona, who had stayed at the back of their formation, couldn't help but gasp in surprise. Her eyes widened.
"No way!" she said. "He isn't dead, is he?" She turned toward Hairo.
As a healer, Hairo could sense someone's life force. He could always tell the condition someone was in, including whether they were alive or dead.
He shook his head. "Sorry," Hairo said with regret. "He is... already gone."
Fiona gulped hard.
"What happened at our headquarters?" she asked—the same question that now plagued the minds of every Arcane Keepers member present.
Taking the chance, Owen punched another enemy down and looked back.
"So you guys really fought with Arcane Keepers members," he said, stating the obvious.
"Someone owes me an apology," Noah said, raising an eyebrow and smiling mockingly.
"I won't apologize!" Owen yelled.
"Sorry for doubting you," Ridley said quietly.
"Hey! Who said you can apologize to him?!" Owen yelled at his friend, annoyed.
"Enough with your nonsense," Ridley snorted. "This fight was your fault anyway. Boss already told you we're not ready."
"Grrr!" Owen growled. Ridley was right, of course. He couldn't think of anything to argue back.
Noah was clearly happy about that. Making Owen embarrassed was fun, but he had something else he was more interested in right now.
Noah glanced toward Liam. He had been curious to see how the boss fought, but all he saw were kicks and punches. No superpower.
"Still holding back, huh?" Noah said to himself, while dodging an incoming attack from one of the Arcane Keepers. "Why, though? Is he waiting for something?"
"Or someone," Noah smirked slightly. The last two members. They might appear soon.
Noah knocked out a nearby enemy while his eyes shifted to Milo. Unlike Liam, Milo was the one actually fighting for real.
Noah had heard from Asher about Milo's power. But seeing it with his own eyes was more fascinating.
Milo's ability was called [Barrier Blue]. He could create a blue shield out of thin air to protect himself. But that wasn't the only thing it could do.
The enemy leader, Jasper from Arcane keepers launched a barrage of lightning from his palm, but Milo blocked it smoothly. He protected both himself and Liam without much effort. Jasper attacks unable to bypass that barrier of his.
The barrier itself didn't even need to be that large. As long as it's enough for covering him and Liam body, Jasper barrage of lightning was meaningless to them.
"Dammit!" Jasper shouted in frustration. He can summon bigger lightning attacks, but if he wasnt careful, he might accidentally hitting his members instead, so he can't go all out yet.
Jasper can't help but admit that Milo barrier was formidable, indeed. And the worst part was, defending wasn't the only thing he can do.
When the right moment came, Milo could throw his barrier like a weapon. When shaped thinly, his barrier can became as sharp as a sword.
And that's what just happened. While Jasper stepping back a little bit to think of new strategy, A chance appeared for Milo. He cut off one of the Arcane Keepers member's arms in a swift motion.
"Argh! My hand!" the guy screamed, blood pouring from the wound.
"Go back!" Jasper ordered. "Hairo, hurry and heal him!"
"Right away!" Hairo replied, already running forward.
In terms of numbers, Joker Roulette was still at a disadvantage—even after Noah and Asher joined the fight, they were still outnumbered. But in terms of quality and skill, they were clearly ahead.
That's kind of weird, Noah thought. The only one with a power that could really threaten them was Jasper. And even he couldn't make much progress because his weak followers kept getting in the way.
But if that's all there is to the Arcane Keepers, he kept thinking, then they're actually kind of weak. They shouldn't have been able to capture those three guys from before.
With that, Noah came to a conclusion.
"Are their strongest members not coming?" he wondered. "That's disappointing."
Noah, lost in thought, stopped moving.
But then he noticed something. He looked back and saw this new guy approaching.
"Hey, sorry to make you guys wait," said a short guy in a convertible jacket.
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