Orion had let go, completely. And for the first time in his entire life, he felt euphoria. Pure, unfiltered euphoria. Just then, his defensive strikes faltered and he lost all strength in his body. His entire body tipped forward, and he started falling... slowly—at least from his perspective, it felt slow.
He could hear steps approach, wind compressing, fire blazing. Just as his nose was about to touch the earth, he muttered a single word.
"Burst."
Suddenly, a small cloud of dust emerged from where Orion was, and in the next second, Vael lost all visual of his target.
'Left? Right?.... no.'
"ABOVE!"
Caelynn squinted her eyes from the dust when she heard Vael's scream. She could barely process what was going on before she heard a small 'thud.' Then, something grabbed her arm and pulled it behind her back. She felt a sharp coldness to her throat.
"Don't move. Or I slice her throat open."
After the dust cleared, Vael, Elara and Aelar could see the Orion, who was now wearing a dark red Exo-suit and holding a dark red dagger to Caelynn's throat.
Seeing this, they all complied. Aelar took a small step forward and asked.
"What do you want? Taking her hostage means you know the consequences of a human killing an elf, especially so near the capital."
"You are right, I know the consequences. But I also know that I did nothing wrong and you guys attacked me while I was merely breaking through."
"Maybe, but you are in Elven territory. Human passage into and out of the territory is strictly managed. And given the fact that you said that you have lived here for a year... you certainly did not come here legally right? So please. I understand that attacking you was out of line from your point of view... but please understand, killing her will bring nothing good."
Orion clicked his tongue before adding in a low voice, "Okay, then I want to talk to someone of high rank."
Aelar seemed surprised, "... Okay, I will arrange that. Please, don't hurt my friend..."
20 minutes later.
Orion leaned back against the truck of a tree whilst sitting on a branch. His arms along with his legs were wrapped around the Elven girl tightly like a snake. Vael and Elara were still nearby, itching to attack him. Orion didn't mind and waited for Aelar to return from his trip to the capital. He gently leaned in and whispered in Caelynn's left ear, "So... what's your name?"
Caelynn felt chills run along her body as she answered in a weak voice.
"Um... Caelynn."
"Hmm. What about the other three?"
"The one who went away is named Aelar, the scary one is Vael and the woman is Elara."
"I see. Say, do all elves have beautiful names?"
Caelynn blushed as she answered with a trembling voice.
"no... um... I don't know..."
"Hey... calm down Caelynn. I won't hurt you. I just want to negotiate an escape, you know?"
"Umm... with all due respect... I am not valuable enough for a... trespasser who lived for a whole year undetected to escape like this..."
"I know."
"Um.... what's your name?"
"Me? I'm Orion Blad—"
Suddenly, a deep voice interrupted Orion and echoed throughout the clearing.
"So you are the arrogant human?"
Orion shifted his gaze to stare down and saw 2 squads of 5 elves surrounding him, with the deep-voiced elf leading the negotiations.
"Hmm... I am not arrogant, but I am human, yes."
The elf kicked the ground with immense strength and the ground below his feet spider webbed outwards.
"Listen well human. You are in no position to negotiate or act smart. Two squads of 5 combatants of the Third Realm surrounds you. And I am an Arch mage. So, what I'm giving you is not a negotiation but a chance for you to surrender."
Orion thought for a couple of seconds. 'Having an unidentified human here is a big deal if an Arch-mage is here. And he doesn't sound nice.'
"I'd like to speak to someone from The Council of Elders."
"..."
"..."
"Are you joking—... Sigh" The broad-shouldered elf ran his hand into his black hair while sighing. In the next second, his eyes glowed pure white.
"Kid. You are an unidentified human living here for about a year. Surrender or die."
Orion sighed as well and let go of Caelynn and stored his dagger into his space ring and was about to stand up when three elves appeared out of nowhere and pinned him down.
Following that, the broad-shouldered elf simply spoke. "Knock him out, bring him to the Royal Palace's lowest level. An inquisitor shall question him."
After that, Orion felt a thundering pain to his head and all faded to black.
Crunch—
Crunch—
Snow crunched below Graves Blade's feet as strolled inside the snowstorm.
"This is getting boring. Show yourselves already!"
In an instant, the snowstorm raging throughout the land paused. Then, it somehow reversed and went on in the opposite direction, slightly startling Graves.
"How is...?"
This curiosity of his— as well as his entire being— came to a halt as 2 figures materialized in front of him, standing a couple of feet away on the glowing white snow.
"Hello, Dear High Seats of the Dark Brotherhood" Graves greeted as he stared forward. He knew this was not a winnable fight as it was not fair to begin. It had been a little more than a year since he broke through to the Sixth Realm. However, as an Initial Stage Warlord, he knew that his opponents were both at the Sixth Rank, not only that but also potentially being a few stages in. Additionally, there was also the possibility that one if not both of them were Mages—Conjurers— or Hybrids. And as an experienced fighter, he knew fairly well that mages were hard to deal.
Therefore, he did not seek a frontal dispute but rather waited for an opening to warp out of there.
"Hello there Head of Great House Blade! Prepare to die!"
"..."
"..."
Graves's expression remained somewhat stoic as one of the two High Seats gave a somewhat underwhelming warning.
"Uh... No. I don't want to die yet."
"..."
"..."
Graves tilted his head slightly before asking in a neutral voice.
"Though I do not want to die, I want to talk. I've been wondering for a while. How did my brother die? And also, maybe we could be a bit more... civilized and introduce ourselves? I am Graves Blade, Head of Great House Blade of the Solas Empire and Brother to the late King Toren Blade... You?"
"Hmph! Well if you insist, I am Vex— High Seat of Blood of the Dark Brotherhood."
Vex's appearance was... wild. He was top naked. Lean and muscular. He only wore a fitted pair of suit pants whilst standing in the snow. His hair was blood-red, similar to his eyes. He was very handsome, even by Chosen standards.
"Kaeya—High Seat of Time" As for Kaeya, he wore a simple robe-like outfit with a couple of ornaments here and there, making him somewhat stylish. He had dull black hair and deep green eyes which matched the color scheme of his robe. Let's not mention that he is handsome as this was a given for high ranked Chosens.
Following that, a heavy silence hung in the air as the wild winds of the area howled and slowly became more and more violent.
Graves sighed as his voice slowly turned cold. "So what? You're going ambush and kill me here, like my brother? I knew the Dark Brotherhood were chickens but... not to this extent."
"Ha? Like your brother? You asked how your brother died right? Well..." Vex grinned as he continued, "None of the High Seats moved..."
Hearing this, Graves was startled. From the information given by his trusted spy inside the Dark Brotherhood, it was them who orchestrated or at least participated in his brother's assassination.
"Then who..."
The corners of Vex's mouth curled higher and higher, until the expression he wore was composed of an inhuman and creepy grin. "Well if you really want to know before dying..." Vex turned to Kaeya, who sighed and finally opened his mouth to answer.
However, this was not an answer Graves had anticipated. When Vex said that it was not a High Seat, he thought it was perhaps a spy, a sleeper agent or a strong Low Seat... but... as Kaeya mouthed the identity of Toren's killer and their origin, Graves froze, his eyes widened and his mouth gaped.
"What?"