A Journey Worth Seeing

[Minutes before Explosion]

The group continued their pursuit and they finally entered Riot's vicinity. They were approximately 400m from his location but to their perspective it looked like an empty land rid of everything. Ernest paused their pursuit as they all stood on tree branches staring down on the empty land.

"Angon, scan the area.", Ernest said, then turned his attention the group and simply nodded.

 Angon opened both of his 'eyes'. Well, more to say that his eye-sockets were hollow but there was a silver shimmering deep within them.

"Hmm… there seems to be runes embedded everyone. Its protecting a cottage in the center of this land. We are definitely at the right place. I also detect two auras. ", Angon said.

"Can you see what Runes make up the formation?", Ernest asked him.

"No….", Angon said with a sigh.

"We can't infiltrate if we don't know what we are up against.", Ernest thought.

"Bewildering runes. The core make-up of these types of runes is to deceive us but there are also Nux absorption, Law distortion, Artillery and what's protecting the cottage are definitely physical and Nux defensive runes. The moment we step on that land we are done...", Neil's voice halted everyone's train of thought.

Ernest's surprised face lasted for a second before asking.

"Can you see what grade they are", he asked Neil.

"All them are mid-grade."

"That's good for us. Do you know way be we can bypass them?", Ernest asked.

"Well in most cases we would need to override the inscriptions on the runes to destroy them but there is also another way. Obliterate them with a single overwhelming attack.", Neil said with a smile and continued.

"If we did it the traditional way that would be too time consuming so we will just overwhelm the runes with enough power. Runes after-all have a Nux and Physical threshold and if we can overload them the inscriptions will burn out"

"I see. Lyc, you're up", Ernest said.

"Hit your attack there", Angon pointed in the cottage's direction.

"It would also be ideal if you could land your attack from the air and dead in the center", Neil advised.

"Hphm. Should be a piece of cake.", Lyc had an arrogant smile on his face as he landed on a sturdier tree branch. He unsheathed his sword. It was a long straight blade coated with a red hue that gave an oppressive feeling, it had a golden concentric guard and a standard sized handle that was wrapped in red to compliment the straight blade. The sword's aura made most of group uncomfortable but no one voiced out their thoughts and only looked at Lyc with interest.

Lyc flicked his wrist, slightly swinging the sword to generate an air pressure that boasted his authority giving him an atmosphere of strength. He looked in the direction of the cottage and jumped from the branch. He raised the sword above his head mid-flight as a scarlet luminescence began to swirl around the blade of the sword, it illuminated his vicinity and only grew more concentrated as seconds went by.

Lyc swung down his sword tainting the surrounding proximity into a vivid crimson hue conferring how almighty and grandeur the Law he wielded. The scenery grew grim as an extremely large blade fueled with immense hostility suddenly escaped the sword which soared through the air bypassing even the sound barrier to emit a shockwave which caused the trees and the group to vibrate.

The cottage in sight, an unmoving target? True enough, an explosion rang out as all the runes and cottage collapsed simultaneously a column of crimson energy was made apparent upon contact, it stretched out to a few meters in radius accompanied by a black smoke and indeed absolute destruction set peace to the scenery. Lingering remnants of Lyc's energy remained perceivable and upon deeper inspection, one would be able to identify that the energy continued to eradicate the minute traces of the cottage and environment to which each member assessed and concluded that the man Lyc was indeed dangerous.

Lyc landed on the ground and positioned himself back to the group before swinging his sword horizontally before returning it to its sheath.

 Neil's azure eyes gleamed in understanding, constricting in apprehension of the Law initiated here. A variation of the Law of Sword as a hint of the Law of Explosion was synthesized into it to increase the damage output. Quite ingenious to coalesce a Mid-grade and High-grade Law although his high-grade wasn't complete it still dealt with a substantial amount of damage. It was more accurate to think of this as The Law of Sword Explosion. Then again in Neil's eyes this display of meager ability could not amount to anything and was not worth mentioning but that didn't imply he would write Lyc off only from a single observation but it was adequate to gauge his ability

"They are still alive. There is one person in the debris and another is escaping at 4 o clock.", Angon stated as he roused his Nux. Skyler's eyes gleamed with battle intent as she licked her pink lustrous lips rather sadistically, once more emphasizing her masochistic personality. Lyc remained smiling and Yoke remained silent and looked at Ernest before glimpsing at Neil who remained docile and watched the show. Yoke's eyes slightly narrowed seemingly in thought, but underneath that mask nobody knew what this mysterious individual was thinking.

"We don't know if the trade was successful so we will split up. Me, Lyc and Angon will pursue the one fleeing. Neil, Skyler and Yoke, you three will remain here and kill this guy. If any one of you get [Alstroemeria], meet at the rendezvous.", Ernest said. 

"Let's move", He immediately gave chase to the fleeing figure with Angon and Lyc following in tow.

Skyler, Neil and Yoke made eye contact with each other and none spoke a single word, immediately nefarious thoughts occupied their psyche. They each wanted the maximum rewards possible because after all this was Zur, 'cooperation' is only formed on the basis of a common goal, 'friendships' to seek opportunities. Skyler smiled with murderous intent being projected at Neil and Yoke, it was obvious she would not hold her desire to murder the two right now but then again, she knew that to defeat the individual in question they were all necessary to the succeed. As she was about to say something, a figure began walking out of the blackened smoke coughing hoarsely. It echoed very much so in the ears of Skyler, Yoke and Neil who turned their attention to the silhouette.

The silhouette continued coughing as vivid crimson superimposed his entire figure. The silhouette was identified as male and his tight-fitting clothes were torn asunder but remained attached in the most secluded of places. His silky brown hair once boasted sheen was burnt into oblivion leaving a bald grotesque scalp embroided with patches of darkness centered in stains of coagulated crimson blood. The right side of his face complimented his scalp quite precisely, symmetry was evident. The left side of his face remained infallible as the rest of his body was sculpted with scars and burnt patches which could be critically acclaimed as a work of art. A single eye stared down the trio with inherent malice, murderous intent and hatred as vast the seas that split the five continents. Today he would don the pseudonym "Grim Reaper" and take the lives of the trio.

Thee could only be Riot, he walked out of the smoke in a horrendous and distraught manner. Neil, Yoke and Skyler took center stage.

"Hehe, lets end this quick', Skyler stated with her tongue hanging out her lips, licking them as if a delicious meal had been placed in front of her. She began walking forward as a black radiance congregated around her figure showcasing her power in the Ethereal Aspect. She immediately attuned herself with her Law, [Depravation]! Everything/everyone she touched would literally 'Deprave'. This centers around the same context as 'Decay' but was not. While [Decay] would cause decomposition, [Depravity] would corrupt whatever it touched.

Skyler tread forth, abundant in killing intent and intense aura that brought dread upon Riot. The gap between the two individuals closed in an instant as she took the initiative to do so. Upon entering Riot's vicinity, she swung her left arm that coalesced with her Nux, her Law of [Depravation] embedded within. Her arm and fingers maneuvered in a way that would allow her to execute a horizontal 'karate' chop to outright decapitate him. Despite his wretched appearance Riot was still a threat and his perceptive capabilities burst with full power, his observation decreed the unique omission of Skyler's Nux and velocity. In response he quickly crouched to avoid the chop then countering with a counterclockwise 360-degree sweep kick with is left leg targeting Skyler's right ankle which would cause Skyler to fall off balance and make contact with the ground. An exquisite execution of combat with no flaws perceived.

As Skyler fell to the ground, she would immediately plant her right palm onto the terrain using her initial momentum to flip forwards, successfully executing a front handspring landing on both feet unharmed. Skyler turned to look at Riot with a smile, through such a transition, Yoke and Neil pounced upon the opening Skyler laid and kicked out with their left and right leg respectively to initiate a powerful roundhouse straight for Riot's head. The follow up can be considered almost flawless, such 'teamwork' indeed was worthy of respect but then again is extremely simple. True teamwork worked on a basis of trust which none of them had for each other so the teamwork inclined to happen would only be on a basic level.

Riot switched up his perception gazing upon the attack laid by the trio. He understood that Skyler's initial contact was a distraction and the real threat were Yoke and Neil albeit in a very simplistic form of teamwork, it could be fatal if not prepared for such an encounter. Riot saw no openings but that didn't mean he was out of options. His already horrendous appearance now grew demonically as he gazed upon Yoke.

Yoke and Neil were meant to make contact with him but they actually proceeded to kick one another sending each other flying in opposite directions. An unexpected sequence of events had just occurred which made Skyler frown and retreat from Riot. Her guard raised to the zenith.

'That ability, seeing it in person is really different from simply hearing about it. It will be tough to defeat him even when his weakened. How annoying', Skyler thought.

 Riot then reappeared in Yoke's previous position before the kick. It could only be one thing. A successful manipulation of space had just occurred. The Law of [Limited Displacement] had just displayed its elusive prowess. Riot took a breather and ingested a star-shaped before exerting a large amount of Nux causing the ground behind him to sink. His energy levels were skyrocketing.

"I hope you are all ready because I'll be burying you all here", he smiled demonically. It was actually terrifying to him this way because of his grotesque appearance.

Neil and Yoke, both raised themselves from the ground and frowned. Their frown deepened when they looked at Riot ingesting an unidentified object. They raised their guard and took battle stances.

 Through this whole encounter Neil was absolutely exhilarated, every emotion conveyed was simply what he wanted Yoke, Skyler and Riot to believe. He could've avoided Yoke's kick with minimal effort but judged it was not fatal and thus didn't reveal any more power than required. Yoke and Skyler also did the same thing. The trio remained cautious and aware of each other because betrayal could strike upon any of them. So, each one awaited the correct moment to deliver a fatal blow.

Riot's growth in Nux and Aura definitely made the trio alert and as they all looked at with caution-ness.

'Hehe. This is going to be fun. Maybe I can test that 'out'…', Neil had a smirk on his face.