Chapter 17: The Scythe And The Mace

It was so close he could imagine its spherical smoothness in his hands. No matter how strong he would clutch, it will never break. It was a quarter of a whole, yet, for him, it was more perfect than any of the alternatives out there.

Zax averted his outward attention from the young woman to the hallway and started walking.

The young woman gasped anxiously. Her baby was napping in the nursery and the intruder was proceeding to the hallway. Additionally...

She stumbled, fixed her posture and ran, as if hers and the life of her baby depend on it. She passed Zax who was calm and steady in temper, so much that he even moved a bit from her away, else she would stumble a second time.

“L- Leave, sir, this home has only me and my son. We have Splinters! Yes, my husband left a sum, until his return, but we can do without them. Please, sir... !” The young woman stood next to the cradle, her baby boy in her arms. Overwhelmed by the pressure, she forgot to close the dresser’s drawer.

Zax smiled, partly amused, partly awkwardly. She could move the Blue Stone, actually, she could hide it wherever she wants on her body and not just in her blouse, and to him it would not matter. In this world there was no formation, no special technique and no means of obstruction that had the capacity to unable his connection to the Black Cores.

“Give it to me, technically it’s mine, but I guess you wouldn’t understand...” His state of mind was so fixated on the Black Core, he jibber jabbered when the opportunity to speak occurred. “A better one was kept in this room?” Just as he crossed the nursery’s thresholds he noticed, but then it was already too late.

The cradle exuded strange fluctuations and on its wooden frame runes and shapes that shone, in hard to tell yellow or gold, spread to the floor and all around the area the young woman was standing. A nearly transparent pillar of the indistinguishable yellow gold shade emerged from the floor, up to the ceiling and sealed from above and below. In its center were the cradle, and the young woman and the baby protected beside it.

Amazed at the ability of the formation’s constructor to conceal it, Zax stepped into the nursery, stopping twenty centimeters from the barrier. “You went and did it...” He said, indicating in his tone his unhappiness.

Within the barrier the woman began to express signs of relief, regardless of Zax presences. She could hear as well and see him and gathered that he took the defensive formation for a headache he will not be able to deal with.

“Your husband ... when is he returning?”

His question aroused astonishment as well as confused her.

“Your husband! Is he gonna back soon?” Zax repeated, pushing for an answer.

The young woman’s mouth hovered opened for a second or two, undetermined whether to answer or not. Eventually, she closed it shut. Her look of uneasiness changes to obstinate.

Zax sighed, curious to how old she was to handle the situation in such fashion. He already said that he was not here to do harm. Yes, he barged in, but that was the full extent of his misconduct. He shook his head. “You somehow activated this formation without considering the consequence, did you?” His words seemed to resonate in a manner that caused her confidence to waver. His saw that she was conflicted with the idea of having a conversation with an intruder, so he did her the favor of explaining himself. “The Soul Sense obstructing formation, when I arrived to the city I could detected hundreds of it etched to all kinds of structures. Although it’s rather unusual that someone bothered to erect one in an unassuming place like this, apparently it’s common in this city – is it offered cheaply or something? In any case, it is the reason why I, and other experts, do not concern with looking up things of value that may be hidden in such places”.

In short, when something rare turns common interest in it is lost.

“Your problem, which I supposed is my fault and that is why I’m trying to reason with you, is that the protective formation you triggered ... it is on an entirely different level than the one etched to your home, something that is a waste on an ordinary place such as this, unless...”

There was no need to elaborate what “unless”. The young woman’s countenance further worsened in realization.

“This formation’s fluctuations spread not just around this room, but even the restaurant under and the floors above. For sensitive and vigilant experts it is also not a problem to sense it from kilometers away. Are you getting what I’m trying to say? Right now you are locked at the center of a beacon, a very suspicious beacon, that will soon drag here problematic bunch of-”

“You are wrong!” At last, she spoke, cutting him midsentence. “Please leave us alone”.

‘I’m here for the something, but staying to protect you. In a matter of seconds now-”

WHOOSH!

Yet another incomplete sentence...

Through the nursery’s windows and the veranda out in the living room, swift silhouettes entered the apartment with clear, hostile intent.

They were four in total, humans, or at least in human form, Peak Core Masters, moving in unity.

He was not a mist cultivator, so they could only assume. Bodily cultivators whose strength rivaled the third realm of mist cultivation were too scarce to expect an encounter with.

A hand reached out, muscular, long. It grabbed Zax’s shoulder and pulled.

Zax did not resist. ‘Are they her protectors?’ He guessed why the young woman was contradicting him.

They wanted to take the fight outside the building. Once in the open the man holding Zax tossed him diagonally.

Crushing would of caused too much of a commotion. Zax halted midair a meter above ground. Straightening, he raised his head, meeting eye to eye the over two meters and thirty four centimeters, bearded giant and his three companions as they stood on the stone railling of the veranda and scrutinized him.

“Let’s not escalate the situation. I’m only here for a personal matter and have no intention to trouble the woman inside, or her baby”. Zax jumped toward the veranda to make a point, if they wanted a fight outside, then it was up to them to make sure he does not get back in.

It should be noted that this ordeal could have ended in an instant. Nevertheless, the four, alert by the implementation of the defensive formation, come here to protect the young woman, which was also his goal, until her husband or someone else familiar to her will show up and take on the responsibility, perhaps would be even willing to listen? Perhaps not...

Two men, two women, two azure auras, one fiery red, one windy green flickered brightly.

Of the men, the shorter with light brown hair and light brown skin carried duel pistols and was the only one to stay on the railing after the other three plunged at Zax.

The white haired, white skinned giant swung a just as giant two handed, double edged sword. He was the first to pounce.