After Alex killed Byron, he heaved a long sigh.
As if she could read Alex's mind, Sera said.
''Don't worry, we will find her, and she will be perfectly fine.''
''I hope so. How are the children you have been rescued?" Alex asked while looking at Sera's disposing of the bodies.
''We only found the girls; the boys are nowhere to be found. I guess they have been disposed of after the failed experiment.'' Sera answered.
''I see. Let's go back; I don't want to waste time here.'' Alex said while secretly winking at Sera; the latter nodded.
''Okay.''
The two left the room.
Fifteen minutes went by in a flash, and finally, that shadow who talked with Byron, the one behind what was happening, appeared after waiting and checking if Alex and Sera had left for good.
''Sigh! Such a failure. I must go and retrieve that stone before leaving; who knows when those two would come back.''
When the shadow wanted to turn around and left, he stopped in his track because Alex would have left appeared; the shadow couldn't even detect his presence.
''Please stay. I have what you want. Isn't it this stone you are talking about?" Alex asked while playing with a black stone the size of an adult's fist.
The shadow almost shouted, 'How were you able to remain undetected. My senses were active all the time.', however, the man knows that Alex would not answer him even if he were to ask, and importantly he must acquire what is in Alex's hand; it was the stone he was after, it was truly invaluable for them.
''Give me the stone, and I will tell where your sister is.'' the shadow said; he tried searching for Sera. Still, he couldn't find her, so he concluded that she was gone, only Alex remained because of his special ability to hide his presence; it never came to him that he could also use on others besides himself.
''Give me something first, or do you take me for ten years, a child who knows nothing about how the world works?" Alex asked, eyes filled with killing intent.
The shadow chuckled before suddenly emitting an intense pressure; he intended to crush Alex and snatch the black stone. Unfortunately, it didn't work.
''You know you may be Rank 10, but I can easily crush as one crush an ant.''
Facing the man's provocation, Alex was unfazed.
''If you can, you would have done that a long ago. Just start talking. Are you making a deal or not? I have shown you what you want. It is your turn to begin.'' Alex said.
The man hiding his features inside a black shadow became furious; he decided to teach Alex a lesson, so he disappeared.
At the same time, Alex murmured to himself, ''It's time.''
Just as the man was about to arrive behind Alex, he sensed an extreme danger, so he shifted his body to the right to dodge Sera's dimensional slash; it was a close call, even though he managed to dodge, he still received an injury.
Thanks to Sera's intervention, Alex could locate the man, so he jumped back, and while letting his body fall toward the ground, Alex aimed Silveria at where he sensed the man and fired.
[Erase!]
BANG!
The silver bullet tore through the air and struck the man in the chest; time seemed to have stopped.
The man coughed blood and was sent flying; his features became visible because the silver bullet erased the man's magic.
He was dressed in all black, white hair and eerie red eyes; the man glared at Alex and Sera; the latter just joined him.
''Good, very good. You two got me good. I will slaughter all your family before-"
Before the man could finish threatening Alex, he stopped to cross his arms to block Alex's incoming kick; the man was secretly grinning as he had managed to enrage Alex, making him come at him.
Just as Alex's dreadful kick was about to connect with the man's arms, bones spikes protruded from the arms. The man was sure that Alex would be injured for sure, yet what happened exceeded the man's expectation; green light appeared around Alex's feet at the last moment.
Fwoosh!
The speed of his kick got doubled.
Bang! Crack!
The strong force of Alex's kick broke the man's bones spikes, one of his arms smacked the man across the cheek, sending him spiraling across the air like twirling ballerinas.
[Crimson Bullet]
Without hesitation, Alex used his strongest attack; he knew he was weaker than the man, even Sera was not sure to win; therefore, Alex planned to seriously injure the man before interrogating him on his sister's whereabouts.
The man who was sent flying had a bad feeling. Or maybe that should be called conviction. He felt a chill as if the hair on his back stood on end; he knew he must never let this bullet clash with his body or else there would be a severe consequence.
The man roared before taking out an oversized black tortoiseshell; it was the shell of an S Rank Water turtle dragon he had slain back in his heyday when he was still an adventurer.
[Absolute Defense]
The man added his skill on top of the tortoiseshell; black light covered the tortoiseshell; all of this was done in an instant, taking out the shell, adding his skill on top of it, it was done less than a minute.
Then Alex's crimson bullet collided with the reenforced black shell.
Kaboom!
At first, the reinforced black shell was able to stop the crimson bullet; however, it was only momentarily. As if the bullet had a mind on its own and refused to lose, the crimson bullet drained more MP from Alex, something that never occurred before, and fueled itself to become stronger.
Crack! Boom!
The reinforced black shell was broken; the S Rank Water turtle dragon shell said to be unrivaled in defense couldn't stop the crimson bullet.
Both Alex and the man got sent flying in opposite directions due to the shockwave produced when the crimson bullet destroyed the shell; the whole mine trembled as if it was about to fall.
Sera choose this time to move; she disappeared to reappear just below the man; she launched a deadly strike that would take the man's life by crushing his heart; however, even with his back facing Sera, the man still managed to block Sera's sword with his red sword that appeared behind him at the last moment, the man had never forgotten about Sera, he knew she was waiting for a chance, the perfect chance to deal a deadly blow, it was an assassin's instincts. Therefore the man was prepared.
Clangs!
Sera also showed no sign of panic after her perfect sneak attack was blocked; she wouldn't be called the best assassin if this could make her lose her cool.
In the split second that her sword got blocked, Sera switched her method of attack; she pointed her index at the man's chest and said.
[Dimensional Slash]
The man got the fright of his life, he hastily shouted.
''Transform and Devour, Lüge.''
The man's Gift was transformed into a small red snake that tried to bit off Sera's finger; she quickly closed her hand to dodge the snake attack, at the same time she grinned, using her knee she kicked sword toward the man's crotch after canceling her fake finger Dimensional Slash.
The man shifted his body, but he was slightly injured around his right thigh. The two used this opportunity to put some distance between them.
[Fire bullet]
The man didn't have the time to breathe before Alex's next attack was launched; furious, the man punched the air, a giant snake appeared and swallowed the incoming bullet. At the same time, Sera used the last of her energy to launch another Dimensional Slash.
While defending against Sera's spatial skill, Alex sneaked behind the man and slashed at him; although the man dodged Alex's knife, Reaper still managed to slice the man's left arm.
''Ugh!''
The man gritted his teeth; he tried to use his shadow skill to vanish; however, Alex made a last attempt. When the man glared at him after cutting off his left arm, Alex used his right eye, the death's eye, on the man; the man became momentarily dazed; using this opportunity, Alex and Sera tried to catch the man.
However, before they could get close, the man crushed his own eyes with his remaining arm. It was Alex and Sera's turn to be dazed.
Like a vengeful spirit, the man bellowed.
''I shall remember today's offense.''
He then disappeared from the room.
Alex couldn't catch him, neither could Sera do anything; they were exhausted; this battle was no easy; they sat on the ground and looked at each other before sighing.
''Shit! We still failed.'' Alex said, his voice was full of regret.
''Don't be hard on yourself. We may have failed, but we got something. This man seemed to know something, and we got an arm.'' Sera joked; however, Alex knew that she must have a way because when she talked about having got an arm, she smiled.
''Yeah, that's true.''
While saying this, Alex stored the man's left arm inside his storage.