HP: The Arcane Thief
chapter-206

"Fuck... he's Fucked." Kyrin wasn't saying this lightly. Anyone with no knowledge of the place, and no training of surving the place, is fucked.

And right now, in this time when there are Kraken's Relic wielders hunting them down? He's double fucked.

"What are your Orders?" Asked Estris in the ensuing silence.

"We're first going to drop Aki. Then we'll return with reinforcements to rescue the Relic Wielders... and Axel," she added. Though, there were chances that Axel might not survive that long.

Akiko drew her sword. "Take me with you. To find Axel." There was no room for discussion in her tone.

Kyrin had an absurd expression on her face. "Are actually going to fight me? For that brat?"

Akiko shook her head. And instead of pointing the blade at Kyrin, she point the sharp edge on her own neck. "I'm not going out here, without finding him."

Kyrin looked at Akiko, dumbfounded. She knew her enough to know that Akiko was dead serious right now.

"Have you gone mad? You would rather die than leave? Is this all you care about now? What about your revenge? Is even that no longer important?"

Akiko shook her head. "I just need to support him. The revenge... He will take it for me."

!!!

Kyrin burst out in a series of exclamations, now feeling like this not real..

"...What has he done to you?" Kyrin shook her head, not knowing whether to feel angry or amazed right now. Aki never cared about her own life, to begin with. All she cared about was revenge.

Kyrin has tried numerous times to made her quit, but she has never succeeded.

But now, after so long, her obsession with revenge has finally gone. But at what cost?

"Sigh... let's go find the brat then. I really want to beat him up."

....

Axel looked at the area up ahead of him.

Dense Lightning was flashing in the place, powerful enough to make Axel's hair stand from a distance. Activating Arcane eyes, Axel's jaw dropped at the huge amount of energy fluctuations. From that, it was clear that it was a fight between relic wielders.

'What to do?'

To be honest, Axel had no desire to interfere. But still, Relic wielders were a precious resource on both sides. If there's a chance to save one his side, or eliminate one from the enemies side, it could make things easier for him later.

That's why, it's better to first find out what the situation is. Also,

'That lightning…'

He had never seen such strong and pure lightning. It seemed to call on to him.

Dispersing the water and going into stealth, Axel quickly made his way towards the site. The two silhouettes who were fighting became clearer. One was a handsome man with yellow hair. Not blond, but yellow, like the lightning being emitted from his body. He had the kingdom's trident symbol on his broken armor, it would seem that he is on the friendly team.

Facing him was a bald dark skinned man who had various energy fields revolving around him. His condition was no good either, but he seemed to be in better shape than the yellow haired man.

"—years of rivalry…" the bald man was saying. "I am finally going to win, Ender."

'System, I need information on that man.'

A huge chuck of his SP disappeared as Axel got the information on the man.

[Tronis Matros, also known as the Energy Maestro. His Relic enables him control over energy fields. He can increase of decrease the gravitation, thus having an overwhelming advantage in this terrain. And since lighting is also a form of energy, he can defend it using electromagnetic fields.]

Axel swallowed. Control of energy fields. This man can control gravity. Meaning the gravitational force he is feeling right now… he can increase it further.

Axel's vigilance increased severalfolds as he paid close attention to the confrontation between the two monsters.

The yellow haired man, whose name was Ender, coughed repeatedly, but still straightened up, gathering his remaining energy. "Stop daydreaming, Tronis," he said, as a violent burst of electricity flowed out of his body, painting the surroundings in yellow. The air was filled with the scent of ozone, and all the hair of Axel's body started to crackle with static electricity.

'What… What the fuck is this?' Not long after witnessing Kyrin's power, Axel was once again witnessing something beyond his common sense.

How many times would he have to charge his Lumis Netorem spell in order to have a power output that strong? 100 times, or is it 1000 times? The fact that he has no idea clearly indicates just how absurd this power is. Charging it 40 times is enough to kill a demogorgon and also almost his magical limit. So, it can imagined just how powerful this lightning is.

But Tronis, the dark skinned man did not seem fazed. "Fuck it. It's worth it if I can kill you." As he said that, the blue markings over his body glowed.

Vroooom

And then, an obscene amount of power was generated. The Energy fields around Tronis multiplied in numbers and thickness. At the same time, an invisible forcefield flowed around Ender that began absorbing his lightning and dispersing it into the ground.

"Die!" Ender attacked, and millions of volts of electricity was fired at Tronis. A huge magnitude of that current was dispersed due to the force fields around Tronis. The rest was blocked by the energy fields.

BOOOOOOOOMMMM

Axel had choice but to deploy his own barrier in order to not be disintegrated by the resulting explosion.

When the light gradually dimmed, the result of the fight could be seen. As it turned despite Tronis's numerous energy fields, the lightning did manage to penetrate, as evidence by his severely injured state. His skin was charred, and his Armor was pierced. Tronis's appearance right now much several time worse than Ender.

But...

'It's the Tronis's victory.' Axel concluded. Because Ender had put everything into the last attack.

Tronis raised his hand, and residual the lightning around Ender was sucked out. At the same time, a huge force seemed to push in him down, burying him into the ground.

The bald man was laughing, slowly crushing the lightning wielder into the ground with his forcefield. "This must be the luckiest day of my life! Of all places, you end up here in the Gravitational zone and in a state in which you can't even use your full power! I can finally end you, Ender."

Ender tried to speak, but only ended up much ilworee. That only made the bald man laugh even more. "The Royal Relic really did a number on you. Fight would have gone much longer without it."

It seems that the man was hit by the Royal Relic's magic. That, combined with the extremely unfavourable terrain and an opponent who can deflect lightning, Axel could understand why he lost.

After coughing a considerable amount of water, Ender looked up at the bald man. "How… did you get… the Royal Relic?"

The bald man grinned. "You really want to know? Well, since you're going to die anyway, I guess there's no harm telling you. When the princess and the traitor snuck into our base to steal the key, we knew in advance that she was coming. That's why we prepared an ambush." The bald man shook his head, as if recalling bad memories.

"Those two were complete monsters. I knew that the traitor was unreasonably powerful. But that blue haired devil… she was a force of nature. The Royal family's water affinity and your septis's Lightning affinity, the combination was dangerous enough that we were helpless despite our numbers." Tronis shivered.

On the other hand, Axel was confused. 'Lightning Affinity?' His mother also had the Lightning Affinity?

"But…" Tronis grinned. "We also had our own cards up our sleeves. The princess didn't expect 'that' person to be on our side. We managed to separate her from the Royal Relic. We were planning on capturing her, but she had the brilliant idea of destroying the key." His face distorted. "That explosion was a huge loss. But still, the Royal Relic survived. We've been trying to corrupt it even since."

Ender gritted his teeth. "'That person'? Did the person accompanying her betray her?" He demanded. But the man just laughed.

"Tronis! Tell me! Damn it, I told her not to trust that man!"

"What does it matter to you? Your dear cousin is dead anyway. Just stay down for a while. I'll wake you up when we reach the base for torture, I mean, 'interrogation'. There's something else I need to deal with right now." Saying so, Tronis crushed Ender into the ground, rendering him unconscious and severely injured.

At the time, Axel felt a huge amount of force pushing him down. 'What?!' Axel was shocked. Was he actually discovered?! How?!

The man turned toward Axel's general area. "I've been feeling your presence for a while. You have nice hiding skills, but no one can escape my detection field." Tronis grinned, increasing the force on Axel. "So, why don't you come out?"

'Fuck!' Axel's eyes widened. Why did he not think of that?! If this guy has control over energy waves then he is a walking radar! The basic stealth mode that he has on isn't enough to escape the man's senses.

The force being applied to him was too much, so Axel quickly submerged himself in water. But of course, that meant his cover was blown. Unfortunately, he had no other choice at the moment. None of his other abilities can fight Gravity.

"Water? Is that you, Arslot?" But when Tronis confirmed that Axel was definitely not who he thought he was, his eyes narrowed. The amount of control the person was showing over the water was not something that ordinary spell casters can achieve. "Who are you?" He asked suspiciously.

'I need to kill him.' At the same time, Axel realized that there was no way to hide his water affinity now. Axel's mind went on accelerated mode, thinking multiple thoughts at the same.

Instead of answering, Axel first covered his face with a mask and also covered his hair. In case this bastard escapes, or in case Axel has to escape without killing him, at least his [Chris] indentity would still be temporarily usable.

As for running away without a fight?

'Not possible.' Due to various reasons. First of all, 'That man…' his gaze turned towards Ender. Axel can't let him get captured. He is much stronger than most of the Relic Wielders Axel has seen. Losing him would be a waste. Also, 'A distant relative, huh?'

Axel no now knew the Origin of his Lightning Affinity. It would seem that the Queen, or his grandmother, was from the Lightning Septis.

If these two reasons aren't compelling enough to fight instead of run, there is also the fact that running might actually be more dangerous than split been.

All of these thoughts went through Axel's head in a matter of milliseconds, before he finally took the actions most suitable for the situation. "Who am I? Who are YOU?" Even though he was underwater, his voice was heard loud and clear.

Answering a question with a question. Tronis was already suspicious of his identity. No matter what answer he gives, it would only result in increased hostility. Asking a question would be better to buy time.

"You don't know who I am? Is that even possible?" As expected, the question was enough to momentarily stun Tronis.

But in the next moment, he was completely stunned. Because, a huge amount of water was falling from the sky.