The light falling on all of the streets and market areas of the underground was from gas lamps, which were fixed in pillars every 2 to 3 meters along the path in the underground area. The street Henry and James were on looks like it's 20 to 24 meters long.
The rope binds Henry's upper body, which he is now unable to move. His legs still open, he tries to run or walk, but before he could do so, the rope got tightened, and his body felt like it was on fire, and that fire was soaking his whole body in and burning it.
He turned his eyes to the cloud, which was 1 to 2 meters, nearly touching the roof of the underground area of Caelvara. Henry looked a little worried about those clouds. He tightened his jaw out of anger and thought in his hurry.
Now what? This is getting out of control; I can't withstand these hot ropes of blood. He narrows his eyes to all sides to find a clue.
But then James leans in close to him and puts his gun on Henry's chest and whispers, "Poor royal guard, now look at you; you can't even move your body." He moved around Henr, circling him while touching his gun on his body. Hehe added, "Now I'm curious what you will do next."
The air between them gets tight, and both of them are now staring at each other. The sound of a flickering fire came from the nearest gas lamp's pillar. Henry laughed roughly while looking at him with his one glowing eye. The eye was glowing in a grayish color.
He whispered slowly and with a creepy smile, "Did you even know what my powers are?" James' eyes widened a little, but then, closing his arm, she looked away from him with narrow eyes and whispered, "Well, what is it? I don't care; you can't even use it anymore."
Before he looks at Henry, he snaps his finger, and those clouds above Henry roar with blood-colored lightning in them. Henry, instead of being worried, smiled and blinked, and in that blink, he vanished into the air and became blurry and invisible. The bloody ropes with bullets fell on the ground, and the clouds stopped roaring.
The yellowish lights of gas lamps fell on Henry, who was standing behind James; his clothes were burned from parts where those bloody ropes caught him. James's eyes widen open, and his jaw drops out of surprise, and he whispers with fear in his eyes and voice, "H-How did you?"
James fell on the ground on his legs, and then, after some time of staring at Henry, he started crawling backward while facing Henry. Henry starts moving slowly to chase him. During the chase, he whispered with a creepy smile, "You thought ropes could hold me? I bend sound itself."
"The moment you spoke, when the clouds roared with lightning—your voice scattered into the air, and I dissolved into those vibrations. That's how I slipped away." He kept giving that creepy smile to James until James held a wooden stick, which was barely the size of his hand. He fired all the bullets at Henry, which Henry dodged without any problem.
But this time, Henry dissolved in the air and stopped those bullets and removed them as sound particles, then came back to where he was before, in front of James. He saw that James wasn't on the ground; he was now standing on his feet while holding that wooden stick like a sword. Henry flicked his teeth in anger and stepped one foot closer to James.
James closed his eyes, and then he whispered these words, "O pride, lend me your dark powers so I can turn my blood into a sword so I can give this human's soul to evil and darkness."
As he had spoken those words, the blood came out of James's hands and started flowing in the air around that wooden stick in his hand. Those particles of blood release massive energy from themselves, and after a short time of spinning around a wooden stick, those blood particles start getting absorbed by that stick, and in a short time, all those particles become one and form a sword in James's hands.
The sword's hilt was the same wooden stick, which was now covered in blood but still made of wood, while the blade, which was 18 inches long, was purely made of blood; the drops of blood fell in the air and again dissolved in the blade.
James stared at Henry and whispered with a serious tone, "I'm done being a coward; now it's time for the real battle to begin. You will witness the true meaning of having blood."
Henry's face sweats a little in fear of seeing the bloody sword and the aura it was releasing. But then he moved his left leg and disappeared into the air again with a blur and ended up at the nearest gas lamp's pillar. And then he punched it, which made it break from the inside, and a gas lamp with a pillar fell on the ground.
He grabbed the pillar, which was holding a gas lamp on its top, from its edge, broke it into pieces of 13 inches, and grabbed it from its ending edge, like a sword. He smiled and whispered, "Now it'll be a fight of honor."
They both move forward to each other and are ready to clash their swords. They first clash with each other with their weapons. James forced his bloody sword to cut through the pole Henry's holding. But Henry keeps it hard with the power of sound and never lets James's sword touch the pole he is holding.
James moved his left hand, which was not holding a sword, to hit Henry on his body. He covered his fist in blood, and his claws got big like wild animals in blood color. He tries to hit Henry's chest. But misses because Henry disappears in the air.
Henry came back to his original form behind James and gripped the pole he was holding. The blur covered the pole, and as he was about to hit James, James turned around and blocked his attack before they could clash. Henry again disappeared into the air and tried to attack from the other side, but again James blocked him.
Henry clenched his teeth in awkwardness and kept doing the process of attacking him from the other side after disappearing in the air. And James keeps blocking his attacks.
Is he also using sound to find out where I'm coming from… Henry looked confused, thinking while keeping up the attack on James at the same sound speed. He thinks again while landing on the ground. Wait, my blood—he is tracking me because of my blood. He can control blood, so he can sense my blood too… He is tracking because he can hear my blood flow.
Henry, stop attacking and stand on the ground, and give a death stare at James, and smile while whispering a little, "Let's end this; you only know some percent of your powers, don't you?"
Henry moves again at the speed of sound while whispering these words, "Echo of sound. Three hundred inner damage." And stand behind James and hit him on his spine with the pole he was holding. As he hit the pole to James, a quick whispered out-of-pain pass through his lips, "Why… didn't I hear—"
Before he could complete his whisper, he felt like someone was hitting him with iron sticks from inside, and then his eyes went blank while his nose and mouth started bleeding out. But before he could, Henry whispered with a smile, "You can't hear my blood flow sound because I block it for you." He threw the pole away from him and tightened his left fist, then added.
"And you also don't know how to use your powers properly. Your belief in the sin of pride is more than your belief in your powers."
After finishing his words, Henry grabbed James by his black hair and punched him in his face with his left fist, knocking him down. He let out a sigh and whispered, "Geez, you were a little tough. I can't even imagine how you would face yourself if you knew your whole power."
"I have to learn my powers more deeply, too. I think I should go to Droswick to visit Cologne Cathedral. They must have books for my core script."
Henry moved down to touch James. He grabbed him from his waist and then closed his eyes; in the blink of an eye, James disappeared from the street. Henry stood up and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his arm and let out a sigh.
In the Tavern of Ordre du Miroir Noir…
Éloïse Moreau is sitting on the counter, eating the last bit of her apple, which she brought from the upper part of the tavern. She threw the remains of the apple into the dustbin, which was lying beside the corner of the counter.
She let out a sigh and started brushing her hat's feather like she was brushing a cat's body. Then suddenly James fell in front of her inside the counter; she stood up at the sudden appearance of James.
She smiled a little and looked at the tavern's door, where Henry was standing with his burned suit. He raised his one hand and shook it in the air, then whispered, "Madame, your order has been delivered."
Éloïse turned to her order's members, who were staring at James with shock, and then whispered, "Boys, bind him in one of the empty rooms. He is Henry's prey." The members of the order nodded and then picked up James' unconscious body.
But before they could enter the room, which was near the big oak door where Henry and Éloïse came from, Éloïse spoke up with a smile, "Take this bottle of perfume, put it on his body parts, and he will heal up a little so he doesn't die."
One of them caught the bottle of perfume that Éloïse tossed toward them. And then they enter the room. Henry came toward the counter and sat on the nearest chair. He looks at his clothes and narrows in awkwardness, "Seriously, he burned my 200 Aurex suit. What the hell. Geez, I have to buy another."
In the meantime, somewhere in the kingdom of Lunévare…
The area was covered in darkness, but it was clear enough to see the person in that area. A female sound emerged in the darkness while eyes glowed in crimson color; the voice was full of charm and felt most like flirty, "One of Pride's followers has been captured. It's my turn now. That boy, who manipulates sound. Sounds like a bad enemy. But lust eats everything in its way."
The darkness gets cleared with golden light coming from the door of the area. A girl walks into the room from the door. That girl had crimson red hair and pitch-black eyes, which were narrow around the room. She examines the room before bowing in front of a woman who was covered in a crimson cloak from toe to head.
The room was empty, and it was built of white stones. There wasn't a single candle or anything to light up the room, not even a window. The room only lit up because the golden light was coming from the girl who had recently entered the room.
She bowed in front of that cloak-covered woman and whispered, "Milady, everything is ready; you may now proceed with your invasion of Cologne Cathedral." As she speaks, a proud look shows on her face, and she stays still for a reply.
That cloaked woman didn't answer but stood up from the ground. The ground where she was was a golden pillow, and after she stood up, that golden pillow disappeared and faded into a crimson color.
She put her hand on that girl's shoulder and whispered with a charm in her tone, "Stand up, darling, I have work for you."
Palace of Velgravia, in the library of King Augustus…
"Well, he lost because of his own mistake. He seeks power from pride but forgets that his powers aren't following the path of pride." King Augustus stood near the window and stared outside the library.
The morning sunlight hugged his royal clothes; he bound his hands behind him and stood calm. A voice echoes in his mind, whispering with anger, "But you always lose like this, Augustus. Your army is your biggest weakness. You don't bother yourself to teach them how to use the power of a sin."
King Augustus replied with a playful tone, "Well, it's because they learn mid-fight. And who said I lose every time? Those shadows were using the power of light. And you sinners leave me behind all alone. That's why I lost only that day. And that day the sin of pride was born."
King Augustus moved from his place and ended up sitting on the couch and picked up a paper from the table, while whispering, "Anyway, that boy Henry. So he manipulates sound, and now, moreover, he has joined forces with Éloïse Moreau and her order. Both are in danger now."
He put his other leg on his other leg and then picked another paper from the table nearby, then added, "Let's see if the sin of lust is enough for them. If she does defeat them, it's helpful to me; if she doesn't, it's also helpful to me."
Then suddenly, a voice came from outside the library's room. A guard hurriedly spoke, "My lord, Princess Louise is on her way back to Velgravia."
King Augustus smiled and replied with a serious tone, "It'll be time when she returns. Until then, keep preparing the things I ask you to prepare."
The guards replied, "Yes, my lord." Then the voice of the guard disappeared in the air, feeling like he had already left.
Outside of the library's window, a white pigeon was sitting in the nest next to the window, in a tree. As it flew, its wings fell on the ground. And after a short time, it gets far away from the Velgravia's palace.