"I-I see... is that how you did, I mean got used to it?""yeah, that"s how everybody gets used to it, don"t worry"
finished instructing Chris Mars looked at Victoria and asked
"how is it, they still there?"
Victoria looked into the empty air and seemed to be s.p.a.cing out but her horns still flashed dimly
"no... they are... being moved... to another... place... should we... go?"
"yeah if they are being moved then it"s the perfect time to hit them"
just as Mars was deciding how to get the twins back Chloe returned with her sword
"I"m ready"
"okay then let"s move"
Mars lead the way out the mansion before Victoria suddenly began running off in another direction
"follow her, she knows where they are!"
Mars began running followed by the others into the town while the others followed after him after a while they reached the outer town in a district with a lot of warehouses
"this feels familiar... never mind"
Mars shook his head to get rid of useless thoughts and stopped running
"any second now..."
Mars looked back and saw Chris and Karen running in the distance
"do you think they realize they friends are in danger?"
"....of cause they do, they are just in bad shape... Victoria how"s the twins?"
Victoria still seemed to be s.p.a.cing out as she stared into the empty air, but her horns still flashed like usual
"they.... stopped"
"are they close?"
"halfway... there..."
"okay"
Mars looked around, the warehouse district was somewhat crowded with people and it also had somewhat heavy traffic with carriages filled with cargo coming and going
"Mars... wait... up..."
"oh you"re finally here"
Mars looked over at Chris and Karen that had finally caught up and gave a smile
"we"re halfway there and accounting to Victoria they are no longer moving so let"s take it easy"
"thank... the... 13..."
Mars gave a sigh and began walking again and after walking for a little while Chris and Karen had caught their breath
"what"s the fastest spell you can cast Chris?"
"the fastest..? hmm... its a spell called flash that emits a bright light when cast"
"okay... what about you Karen?"
"hmm... probably water spear, I practiced that pretty hard when I was in the army"
"then do you have any combat experience?"
"...no I"m afraid not, I was in the back line during a small rebellion but that"s all"
"okay... just follow after Chloe and support her, Chris your with me"
""okay""
"well then look alive, we"re here"
Victoria had stopped walking and was staring on a warehouse that looked mostly abandoned, Chris seemed a little confused and asked
"...how does Victoria even know where the twins are here?"
Mars gave a smile and pointed to the roof of the warehouse
"look"
"what..? there"s two Victoria"s..?"
on the top of the roof sat one of Victoria"s shadow clones and looked at the group
"no its a shadow clone, but never mind that game face on"
Mars put a hand on his sword and walked up to the gate to the warehouse and a guard walked up to Mars
"halt! what"s you business?"
"my friends are in there, let us though or it"s going to get ugly"
the guard frowned and looked at the other guard with a questioning look on his face, the other guard was a older man that seemed to be the other"s senior and after looking at Mars for some time did the older guard give a nod
"let them though"
"but wh---"
"no buts! he will kill you to get through the gate, don"t you have a wife and child to care for?"
the younger guard remained silent and stepped aside while the older guard opened the gate letting the group though
"oh one more thing, who owns this warehouse?"
"hmm... I think it"s the lord"
"...okay thanks"
Mars"s smile widened slightly into a ferocious grin as he walked over to the door to the warehouse
"you ready Chloe?"
"yeah I"m good to go"
"what about you two?"
"...as ready as I"m going to be"
"yeah as Karen says, I"m also ready"
"okay, then let"s do this"
Mars unsheathed his sword, the polished white bone glistened coldly in the midday sunlight ready to draw blood, Mars took a deep breath and kicked open the door as he yelled
"HONEY I"M... HOME!"
time seemed to slow down as Mars beached the door while pieces of wood was still flying in the air Mars"s eyes scanned the inside of the warehouse, it was empty of crates with a single carriage in the middle. A group of armed men was spread across the warehouse Mars quickly counted before he yelled to Chloe
"17 in total, 4 mages!"
"who are you!?"
Mars didn"t answer he simply disappeared from view and reappeared in front of the nearest armed man and before the man had a change to react Mars"s sword flashed and sent his head flying into the air
"ENEMY ATTACK!"
the armed men sprung into action and began to charge towards Mars and the rest of the group before they surrounded the group putting pressure on Mars and Chloe, although Mars seemed rather relaxed as he cut down the men one after the other quickly ranking up 5 dead body"s on the floor of the warehouse
"d.a.m.n it, he"s too fast!"
"focus on the others!"
"kill the elf!"
being more and more outmatched by Mars the armed men"s eyes turned red with rage and began launching reckless attacks on not only Mars but also the rest of the group
"Chris, Karen use the spell now!"
"ye-yes Mars!"
Chris began preparing his mana and half a second later he trust his palm forwards and a blinding light shone from his palm blinding the armed men right after Karen finished forming 4 water spears witch she fired towards 2 of the arm men, hitting each with a spear in the head and in the chest swiftly killing 2 enemies in less then one second. Chloe also made use of the flash of blinding light and swiftly cut the necks of 5 enemies, meanwhile Mars that was even faster then her had his sword turn into a white blur as it raced across 5 of the armed men"s throats sending them falling to the floor while they clutched their necks, at this point the numbers had become even leaving the 4 enemy mages, one of witch fired a fire lance at Chloe
"die!"
the fire lance did however not hit its target as Chloe made a masterful display of swordsmans.h.i.+p and cut the lance right down the middle, dispensing the fire lance and turning it into slightly hot air witch only harmlessly blew her short blonde hair around
"d.a.m.n it, one more time---"
the mage did not get another change as Mars appeared silently like a reaper behind the enemy mages and with a quick slash of his sword 4 heads flew into the air for a short while before they landed on the dirty warehouse floor, Mars looked around the now quiet warehouse before he gave a sigh and shock the blood of his sword
"ugggghhhh....."
Mars turned around and saw Chris was puking on the floor with a pale face, Karen also looked rather pale but managed to hold back her breakfast form resurfacing
"Chloe can you look after the 2 of them outside while I fetch the twins?"
Chloe was wiping the blood of her sword and when Mars requested her to leave the blood filled warehouse she gave a sweet smile
"sure, no problem"
Mars watched the 3 of them leave before he approached the carriage that stood in the middle of the warehouse, Mars walked up to the carriage and cut the lock on the door with his sword before he opened the door and saw the twins huddled up against each other on the floor of the carriage, they were wearing dirty rags that barely covered their small bodies, on their skin where thick black formation lines tattooed all over their bodies except their feet and hands
"Mars..?"
"yeah it"s me... your safe now"
""Mars!""
the twins both threw themselves at Mars and began crying loudly, Mars felt they finally were acting their age and held them until they both stopped crying a little while later but they still didn"t get off him so he decided to ask a question
"are those... formations on your bodies?"
Lily and Lee both looked op at Mars with tear filled eyes and after Lee gave a sniff he began to explain
"yes... we were taken from our home when we were younger and the ones that took us did this... to enhance our mana output"
"...I see"
Mars patted both of them on the head while he gave them a smile
"let"s get out of here"
""okay""
Mars was about to let them go when he remembered the warehouse was filled with bodies
"actually wait just a second..."
Mars rehashed a flame that spread over the floor and burned the bodies to ashes along with all the blood
"done, let"s go now"
""yes Mars!""