Extra And MC-Chapter 174 - 170 - Crossroads

The moment the holo message ended, a wave of unsettling silence descended upon the group.

And this silence, stuck around for a short while, only to be broken by something far more sinister.

Anna, despite haven’t ever tapped into it for the longest time, released a terrifying wave of bloodlust.

This immense wave, was only further amplified by the one Aiden and Flynn were currently trying to reel in and it was far worse than their mother’s.

If there was any non-ranker within vicinity who was unfortunate enough to be there at the moment, they would have felt like their skin was been torn apart from the sheer malice present in the bloodlust wave.

All three had their eyes turn deathly cold, the fatigue from battling with the Inferno Dragons seemingly disappearing in an instant.

However, after a brief while, knowing fully well that it would affect the others around them, they did their absolute best to seal it all in an instant.

Caroline, Ivelia and Ivar, whom had unfortunately been the recipient of it at point blank, let out deep breaths of air, one to which the Duchess and her sons swiftly apologized for.

"It’s fine. I would’ve done the same too if I could" Caroline, whom had been the first to recover waved off the apology.

The twins however, despite having recovered, were still very much shook by the incident.

However, after a brief while, their real emotions, completely overwhelmed their entire being.

Ivar, seemingly just stood there, fists clenched in so much fury, his nails were beginning to dig straight into his palms and drawing blood.

Ivelia on the other hand, had her knees weaken in an instant and Caroline had to support her as she collapsed onto the ground, both of them wondering how all this had happened.

Briar was literally in Ivelia’s arms about an hour ago, peacefully sleeping as she always did despite the entire pandemonium that had been going on.

The last thing Ivelia remembered, was giving her to one of the most trusted maids, one that Briar herself liked a lot after evacuating all of them to the tail edges of The Belmont’s vast land, far away from all the ongoing battle.

Was the maid an Obelisk spy then?

Had there always been a spy amongst the workers for a while now?

Or was it just a random abduction out of the blue?

One that could’ve only been possible due to the sudden chaos?

These were the thoughts running through her mind and yet, she couldn’t find even a single answer amidst all that and a few tears began to run down her eyes.

"We’re going" Aiden and Flynn declared, a finality to their tone.

"This could be a trap. Yes, we know" Flynn commented, almost as if reading everyone’s thought.

"But still, we’re going" Aiden concluded his brother’s thought process.

Watching as they took purposeful steps in the direction of the place Briar and Butler Frank were without even needing to use a GPS, both heard their mother call out to them.

"Bring her home safe. Bring Frank back home. And bring yourselves home safe too. Is that clear?" she ordered, to which both brothers nodded resolutely.

Anna knew well enough that her sons were far stronger than normal. In fact, she felt like they had far surpassed her in battle experience.

With their combined strengths, along with the recent boosts in their core ranks, it would be hard for anyone below SS-tier grade ranks to win in a battle against them.

"Aiden, Flynn. Kick his ass" Ivar on the other hand, said with a furious expression whilst handing over two nano-bands to them, both of which he had finally perfected after the events on Flenor Islands.

To that, the brothers gave a curt, acknowledging nod, one that served as an oath to do just as he requested.

Ivelia whom had originally been shaken by the entire scenario, willed herself to get up and retrieved her strongest potions while explaining, her breath still a bit shaky;

"This, is enough to take out an entire block of skyscrapers" she handed over an explosive potion in round, conical bottles to each of them.

"And this, is enough to freeze an entire lake" she handed over the other, tightly gripping their hands as she did.

"No mercy. Show him no mercy" Ivelia added, her gaze fiery and strong as she sniffled.

"And here" Caroline gently placed her dagger in Aiden’s hands.

"Trust me, having a secondary weapon is always a good thing" she added, seemingly doing her best to suppress her bubbling anger from exploding.

Nodding at that, armed to the teeth with every single arsenal locked and loaded, Aiden and Flynn downed an advanced-grade mana-recovery potion.

"We’ll be back soon" they both declared, launching themselves straight to the skies, a sonic boom reverberating through the air!

No sooner had that happened, Anna quickly dropped a timed message to Leopold, one that he would see in the next fifteen minutes.

"Let’s go check on the workers!" the Duchess ordered immediately afterwards, one to which the youths affirmatively nodded.

…

…

…

Rushing over to the spot where all the evacuated workers of The Belmont’s mansion were, Anna, Ivelia, Ivar and Caroline were met with a very confounding scenario.

Not a single one of the workers were harmed.

But instead, they were all sound asleep.

Almost as if drugged.

However, when Ivelia and Ivar checked their pulses and veins, they realized that whatever the cause of this was, wasn’t a drug or an alchemical potion like they had been suspecting.

There wasn’t even a single odor in the air, one that further enforced their beliefs as they both had sensitive noses that could grab a hint of the most odorless chemicals due to their alchemical prowess.

Anna and Caroline on the other hand, even after using mana sense, couldn’t feel any lingering mana traces in the air, further adding to their perplexity.

One thing however, was now certain.

Briar’s favorite maid, one whom Ivelia had handed her over to during the evacuation, seemed to have being the culprit of her abduction.

Why?

Because presently, she was nowhere to be found amongst the group of workers.

***

-Boom!

Landing with a resounding statement, one that indicated that they had both arrived, Aiden and Flynn’s apathetic gaze, currently as a result of bloodlust being active, scanned the familiar surroundings of the destroyed Python’s hideout.

It was the very place they had fought tooth and nail to save Ivelia.

With the destroyed base hanging in the backdrop of the entire scenery, the originally lush forest surrounding it had now been reduced to mere stumps of wood that littered its expanse.

And sitting in the middle of it all, on what seemed to be an onyx-black, flaming throne, was Rigurd, feet apart and hands interlocked as he locked his cold, unfeeling gaze towards the youths.

Far behind him was the heavily injured Frank and a crying Briar whose face was full of tears and snot running down her nose.

"Brother Aiden! Brother Flynn! He-"

As the young girl tried to plead for escape, the tendrils from the cage, all of which was seemingly made from the same onyx-black flames Rigurd controlled, tightly covered her mouth, cutting off her plea.

This in turn, only served to fuel Briar’s fear, one to which her scared purple irises, widened in terror.

No sooner had Flynn and Aiden saw this, their originally apathetic gaze turned even colder, enough that if looks could kill, Rigurd would have unequivocally, met his ancestors in the deepest pits of hell.

For the first time since they had come to this world, this was the strongest desire they had ever had to genuinely, kill someone.

Even if they knew Rigurd would undoubtedly be a much needed powerhouse in the coming invasion from Beelzebub, all that was currently out the window for them.

At this very moment, the Obelisk Arm, with his very own hands, had put a free, ’Wanted Dead’ bounty on his head.

Casually standing up from his flaming throne, his obsidian black irises returning a similar gaze of bloodlust, both parties stared at themselves, the murderous tension in the air, palpable.

At the exact same time, the mixture of black and white flames, spread from the flaming throne to create exceedingly tall, rectangular wall of flames, slowly cutting off Briar’s visibility from them.

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However, just before it completely did, both brothers, softened their murderous gaze and then said to their younger sister from afar with the warmest of smiles;

"Give us a while Briar. Just a little while…" Aiden audibly yet gently said.

"We’ll get you out of there, safely. We promise" Flynn added, his smile tender.

Briar, despite still being terrified of the sudden scenario she had found herself in when she woke up about an hour ago, became a bit less scared when she saw those familiar smiles on her brothers faces.

With a muffled yes, along with a small nod, Aiden and Flynn watched as the wall of onyx flames, completely cut off Briar’s visibility.

And then, without a single moment wasted, the same murderous expression returned and Rigurd, unperturbed by their unnerving switch in demeanors, let out a few words;

"This is the crossroad where you and I indirectly met"

"And this is the crossroad where you both will, unfortunately, meet your end" he concluded, a finality to his tone.