Mystical Journey

Everyone inside the expo hall buried their heads. Only after the smoke and dust had cleared, then people were able to start making out the situation inside the hall.

A white haired man with a long red sword was walking towards the hall, and in front of him was a brown haired girl struggling to get up on her feet amidst the rubble.

Obviously the main entrance wall was blown open by this girl just now.

What was even more shocking was how the hall was now littered with heavily injured or comatose people. Corpses and limbs were also all over the place. Amongst them there were some Argentists and some folks of unknown origins. The floor was filled with shrapnel and bullet marks, the air was thick with the scent of gunpowder.

The crowd in the hall suddenly turned into a mess as some tried to run through the exit formed by the explosion early, but were quickly shot to death by a quick succession of silenced bullets.

"Ish….looks like our drinks tonight will have to wait another day," the old man took a deep breath and mumbled under his breath.

"Didn’t you say to trust the government?"

Garen asked bemusedly.

"That belief depends on situation," The old man balked at Garen talking back at him,"you little one, later just watch out and follow me. We must find a way outta here, this place is too dangerous! Damnit, why did this have to happen on my rare day off?! What shit luck do I have to deserve this!"

The girl called Ophany squatted by the side, upon hearing the two of them joking about in a situation like this, her heart started to calm down.

The crowd now all stared at Flamingo, nobody dared to raise their voice or breathe too loudly in fear of attracting his attention.

While Garen was talking to the old man earlier, Flamingo had easily killed two assassins who attempted to attack him, all while casually blocking a rain of bullets.

Through all of this, his steps never changed, he continued walking towards the girl.

Four old men’s bodies were covered in blood, two of them had their heads and bodies in separate spots, while the other two were heavily injured.

Flamingo looked at everyone in the room calmly. Not too far away, a few police cars started to stop around the perimeter, but none of the policemen who got off dared to come close. With Flamingo as the epicenter, nobody dared to walk to close to him within a hundred meter radius, and nobody could leave either. It was as if an invisible force field had covered this entire area.

"What a pity. Is this your surprise for me? By suppressing my blood’s power?" Flamingo said plainly,"in my eyes, you are all like worthless trash. Nothing but stronger ants."

Julie struggled to get up.

The monster in front of her had gotten stronger again. Compared to the time they fought in the Water City Moyako, Flamingo’s sword was now at least twice as tough as his last one. It was even able to slice through her telekenisis abilities.

"You still talk a lot of crap, when all you want is to just show off how powerful you are." As she spoke, blood flowed out from her mouth, making her look incredibly miserable.

"We’re done, we’re so done. The more we know the more likely we’re going to be killed," the old man’s face started turning bitter, even his bodyguards were starting to lose their cool.

"Boss, isn’t that a little un-auspicious to say?" one of his bodyguards asked.

"We’re about to die, screw being auspicious!" the old man’s face scrunched up.

"We can’t be sure, who knows maybe he’s a good guy, and it’s because of what happened that’s why he did what he did," Garen interjected.

"Does his face look like a good guy to you?!" the old man was dumbfounded.

"Well, I know that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover."

Garen suddenly smiled softly like he just noticed something, he reached out his right hand softly and his skin was glowing a soft white gold.

"Excuse me, I need to go now, I have something to do."

The old man and Ophany looked at Garen stunned, especially the old man who was still dumbfounded, he opened his mouth like he wanted to say something.

Ding!!

Suddenly a loud ring echoed from a distance.

In a split second, Garen disappeared from where he stood and turned into a shadow, alongside two other mysterious white shadows, they all dashed towards Flamingo.

The three shadows appeared almost at the same time in front of Flamingo. Boom!! A big ball of fire exploded from Flamingo’s body.

"You lot!!!" in the explosion, one could hear Flamingo angrily yelling.

The three shadows dispersed and stood in a circle around Flamingo, turning into three humanforms. Turns out it was the King of Nightmares Stephen, Andrela and Garen.

The three of them had completely surrounded Flamingo.

The King of Nightmares excitedly licked the dagger in his hand.

"Since you’re out, don’t go back."

"It’s you!" Flamingo’s pupils shrank, like he recognised the King of Nightmares. Right now, Flamingo’s left arm hung limp on the side of his body, seemingly broken after the initial hit.

"If I want to leave, none of you can stop me!" Flamingo did not spare any more chatter, and dashed backwards in retreat, in the direction of Garen.

"Divine Statue, Thunder Sprint!"

One of Garen’s hands expanded and turned into a greenish black colour, swinging directly in the direction of Flamingo.

Boom!!

His palm and Flamingo’s sword collided and burst into a ball of sparkles. Flamingo was pushed back by the impact, leaving behind two footprints dragged through the floor.

At this point, nobody cared about the Argent Mirror anymore, everyone had their eyes on the four of them fighting in the middle.

The King of Nightmares and Flamingo were having a arch nemesis reunion, their eyes were especially filled with anger towards each other.

"You guys stay out of this, let me handle this alone!" Stephen raised his hand, indicating Garen and Andrela to stand their ground.

"Go ahead," Garen shrugged.

"Don’t take too long," Andrela stood in attention, blocking one of Flamingo’s potential escape routes.

For someone as powerful as Flamingo, nobody could be sure how many secret techniques he had hidden under his sleeves. Folks like the King of Nightmares, Flamingo and Sylphalan had reached such a level that even if they fought each other, they would not be able to be completely sure that they could kill their opponents.

To be able to defeat each other and killing each other were two distinctly different levels of difficulties. Just like the time when Flamingo teamed up with other skilled fighters to hunt and catch the King of Nightmares, while they were able to almost defeat him, a slight mistake still allowed him to break through and escape.

Julie studied the arena and was stunned. Earlier she was struggling to even put up a fight against Flamingo, yet here he was being surrounded by these three bastards so easily. Looks like the trio had come just to hunt and kill Flamingo. They had all forgotten about her existence at this point.

Killing Flamingo? An elder level member of the Immortal Palace Alliance?

She couldn’t make out their motivations, for the Immortal Palace Alliance were undefeated across the board, they ruled every land they stepped on, where did these people muster the stupid courage to even launch a hunt and kill operation against one of their elders?!

Julie instinctively went towards her teacher for answers. On the wall, half lying down against the wall, was the old woman. Like Julie, the old woman was also at a loss of words. Evidently, nobody saw this coming. If they had known that someone was coming to kill Flamingo, they wouldn’t have wasted their efforts on trying earlier.

"Garen, are you sure you want to become an enemy of the Immortal Palace?" Flamingo was struggling to defend, and looked absolutely miserable as he yelled at Garen between punches.

Garen’s face was unfazed, like he hadn’t heard him at all.

"Garen?" the old woman’s face suddenly turned into a shocked expression,"could it be…?" She started carefully studying Garen’s face,"didn’t the Old Man Gregor once say that he had no potential? How can this be?"

"Teacher, can you tell the origins of these three people?" Julie ushered up to the side of the old woman and whispered.

"I too, am unsure…."

"Teacher didn’t you once say that normal people would not be able to hold up against Telekenisis users like us? What’s happening now then?" Julie was filled with questions.

"I can’t be wrong, these three people are so powerful, they must have some hidden talent!" the old woman was certain she’d nailed it this time.

Hidden talent her ass that is….

Julie was helpless. Her teachers had spent too much time locked within their own confines, even with the truth right in front of their eyes, they still deny it, believing that one can only become powerful if they possess the talent at birth.

She saw that since amongst the original three elders, two were dead and one was injured, she was better off just standing where she was and observing the situation.

The old man who was still crouched on the floor looked at Garen with an expression like he was constipated.

"I actually discussed about antiquities for a half a day with a terrorist! I must be going mad!"

Ophany on the other hand, showed no signs of distress of fear.

"I feel that, that man is a not a bad man…"

"You’re still young, you still can’t see pass their facades hiding their evil side." the old man shook his head in disagreement.

"Boss, I think it is better if we retreat for now," one of the bodyguards carefully advised him.

"I dare you to move, I bet in a split second you will find your brains hollowed by bullets if you even try!," the old man grunted.

****************************

Garen stood alone in his part of the arena, occasionally blocking a stray shrapnel or two casually.

The way the King of Nightmares fought Flamingo was different from usual, it seemed as if Flamingo had been downgraded to an amateur from a master. The way he was swinging his sword was like a young boy just learning about swordsmanship for the first time. The Sword of the Sprites in Flamingo’s hand was twisting and turning, slicing nothing but air over and over again, like he was playing along in a play fight with Stephen.

However, Garen could tell from Flamingo’s strict face that he wasn’t giving way, instead he was pushed to a really tough spot by his opponent.

Unconsciously, Garen clenched his fists in pain. After blocking Flamingo’s sword with his bare hands earlier, he seemed to have sustained some minor damage to his fist. If he was still using the Giant Mammoth Secret Technique from back then, even if he was at the peak of his Body Hardening Technique form, he probably would not stand a chance in a direct hit like that.

"Oy, speed up! We’re running out of time!" Garen nagged.

The King of Nightmares did not respond, but he started speeding up his attacks.

Stephen’s body allowed him to attack from different angles as his arms could twist and turn like noodles. His eyes were even more mysterious, their beautiful blue hue were like the ocean, attracting the attention of anyone who looked at him, and subsequently distracting his opponents.

Garen and Andrela stared at Flamingo attentively, anyone at Flamingo and Stephen’s level would definitely possess an unusually resilient amount of life force. Especially some who has lived for so long, they must have a plethora of tricks to extend their own lives, should a small mistake be made, Flamingo could easily escape.

Clang!

Suddenly there was a loud noise, one of the stray gravel hit the metal box holding the Argent Mirror. An oval white and silver mirror slowly rolled out from inside the box.

"The Argent Mirror!" the old woman beside Julie exclaimed,"Julie!"

"Understood!" Julie’s body bent in aggression and dashed towards the mirror immediately.