“I…I…I…” The mayor tried to explain, but he had nothing. He didn’t know why his guards weren’t rushing here anymore.
He had over two hundred guards in the villa, and not even close to one hundred had shown up. So what the hell happened to the over one hundred guards that were in the villa?
“Hmph! We’ll take care of everything ourselves.” The young man said before turning to one of his companions and giving him a nod.
Boom!
Just as he was about to take a step to advance forward, an attack was launched at him once again. And like the first time, it came out of nowhere.
“Find out who’s attacking us!” He ordered.
The explosion was just about to die down. Alice and Reynolds were already close to the villa fence, Klaus was just trying to stand up after he was sent flying by the attack. Grey was completely covered in blue flames. This confused the group from the Azure empire more, since the two times they have been attacked were accurate.
‘Could it be that there’s someone else helping them that we aren’t aware of?’
This was the thought running through the heads of all the people from the Azure empire.
After sensing that the explosion had died down, Grey removed his fire to look at the group from the Azure empire, he still had his earth mask on, so the people had no way of seeing his face.
“Leave, I’ll catch up with you all soon.” He said to the others.
Klaus who was closer to him retreated to where Alice and Reynolds were standing, while Grey stood in his previous position, prepared to fight against all the people from the Azure empire.
“Are we really going to let him do this?” Reynolds asked a little concerned.
“He did escape from that dragon, this shouldn’t be a problem for him.” said Klaus.
This was almost the same situation as what happened with Aetonth, only this time, the people were weaker than it. So Klaus was pretty confident in Grey.
“But we’re going to beat him up.” He added.
Because Grey was attacked when he left the trial land, they couldn’t beat him up according to their original plan. Who knew Grey would give them another opportunity?
“We’re not beating him up, this is different from the last time. And besides, he’s doing it to help us.” Alice looked at Klaus as if telling him to behave.
“But… Fine! Let’s go.” Klaus destroyed the fence before running into the city.
“Be careful.” Alice advised before dashing out along with Reynolds leaving Grey and Void alone.
The people from the Azure empire didn’t do anything to try to stop them, leaving the mayor dismayed.
“They are getting…” The mayor was about to speak of Alice’s and the others’ escape, but a cold look from the young man shut him up.
“Heh! You’re trying to delay us so your friends can get away? How noble of you.” The young man said calmly with a small smile.
Grey didn’t reply and stood in the same position. Void was hiding behind a rock and given his color, and since it was dark, it was almost impossible for the people from the Azure empire to see him.
“You’re a talented one, so I don’t really want to kill you. Join us.” The young man said while stretching out an open arm before adding, “Aren’t you tired of all these wars? Of people dying because we’re from different empires? We’re all the same, people. But we chose to fight against ourselves because we believe some are better than the other.”
“This continent is named the Azure continent for a reason, we were once united, but because of greed and the stupidity of one man, we were divided…”
The young man went on to continue preaching about why Grey should join them so they could unite the continent once again, and stop all the killings and sufferings.
‘He’s pretty good with words though, no wonder they managed to convince the mayor into doing their bidding.’ Grey said to Klaus.
“If we can stop this…”
Bang!
The young man was about to take a step while still talking, but like before, Void attacked him, forcing him back.
“Even if the continent is united, it wouldn’t stop this war. I might not know much, but I know the greed of people is insatiable. After unification, something else would start up a war. I don’t want to be a hero, I just want to live a peaceful life, free from war and killing.” Grey said.
‘Well, they should’ve already gotten close to the city walls by now. Time for me to go.’ He thought.
“You do not under…”
“After unification, who would rule?” Grey stopped the young man from continuing his speech.
He could trick others with his words, but not him. They say they want to unify the continent to stop the war, but the truth was, will the war ever end? Once the continent is unified, another battle would begin, a battle for the leading seat.
“The people.” answered the young man.
“And you really believe that?” Grey looked at the young man weirdly.
“Even though it’s hard, we can try.” The young man continued trying to persuade him.
“If the people are not united on their free will, do you think they would accept this? The only way you can keep them is through fear, and I have no plans of doing something like that. Whoever wins this war has nothing to do with me.” Grey said before tapping his foot on the ground softly.
“I’ll be leaving now.” He turned around and swaggered off.
The young man from the Azure empire as well as his companions tried to go after him, but they were left surprised when they realized they couldn’t move. They didn’t know when, but they were currently standing on mud.
Although this couldn’t stop them from chasing him, it would give him the time he needs to leave.
“Why aren’t you chasing after him?” The mayor asked almost hysterical.
“Did you think I said so much for nothing?”