C14 The Enders

"You sure your brother's in there?"

Ace and Rohan were currently staking an abandoned mansion in a darkling forest not far from Lily town.

Rohan had spent an entire day unconscious, after he woke up, Ace narrated how his battle with Rada Khan went and how a mysterious person with a scythe came to the scene and picked him up.

"If they're using a scythe, it's definitely that witch." That was what Rohan said as he clenched his fists and slammed them on the desk.

"Luckily their hideout is not far from here and I know where it is."

"Good, I'll help you find your brother, and then you will join my clan."

Ace said cheerfully with sparkles in his eyes.

He wanted Rohan to join Aegis because he was astonished by the swordsman's skills from earlier.

'Had I not taken power from Malacoda, I would've lost.'

That was the case.

Similar to how he gave up a year of his life to defeat Rada Khan when he exhausted his powers, Ace made a deal again but this time around he wagered 3 months.

It was one of the abilities that all implant-type demon relics share.

Like the famous phrase; 'Making a deal with the devil,' Ace trades bits of his life for more power, although he used this technique a couple of times, tallying the total amount of time he has sold his soul out to the devil, Ace has currently traded 6 years of his time for power.

How long had he been doing things like that was a mystery to his clanmates.

"What does this 'witch' want with you and your brother?"

"Her name's Rhea Kay, she's the strongest relic user in Cronoa."

"Huh? Wasn't Cronoa like anti-relics or something."

"Those bastards sort out to create a special unit of relic users using the relics they obtained from crypts that appeared in Cronoa, of course, my brother being the person who despised relics the most was against this."

Rohan continued to explain how his parents were killed when he was an infant by a relic user leaving his 10 years old brother to cater for the two of them.

"No wonder he hates relics so much."

His hatred towards relics led him to join the military faction of the region and steadily rose to the top with his more talented little brother who learned swordsmanship from the 4 generals.

Three years ago, the King of Cronoa decided to fight poison with poison. Choosing five talented soldiers to become relic users.

Rohan was chosen as well, but his brother would never allow him to become 'an accursed relic user'.

One of the five chosen was Rhea Kay who was giving the relic of the grim reaper.

That was how she became the strongest relic user and Rohan who kept honing his skill became the strongest swordsman in Cronoa.

"My brother used to be on good terms with Rhea until she received her relic."

Rada Khan became hostile towards Rhea which only birthed more hostility from her.

She saw an opportunity to get rid of her greatest adversary and she took it.

"But one thing isn't clear." Ace interrupted Rohan as he places his fingers on his chin.

"I can sense the Ain of your brother inside that mansion which means that he's still alive. The question here is, why didn't she finish the job?"

"I'm guessing she's waiting for me to figure out that she had him the entire time."

Rohan answered as he continued.

"Six months ago, my brother sought my aid in framing the Rhea and her team. I didn't help him out but I also didn't warn her."

In the end, Rhea and her team were castrated and banished from the region leaving them with a thirst for vengeance towards the very people they served.

They decided to further their enmity with Cronoa by starting a clan together.

They became the Enders clan.

"You take this path, and I'll go here."

Ace and Rohan had taken out the grunts that were guarding the mansion and were now inside the massive building.

Ace happily agreed and took off as he summoned his shadow and formed two daggers with it.

Carefully searching through every nook and cranny of the mansion using the stealth skills he learned from assassins training as a child.

Unbeknownst to the ex-assassin, their every action was being monitored on a screen in what looks like a surveillance room.

Three figures were seen watching all of their moves.

"It seems our little guests are about to be welcomed by Chase and Jake."

"Now this is going to be interesting."

"You two should not underestimate our opponents."

Meanwhile, Ace was wandering around the mansion when suddenly he got hit with a blinding fast punch.

'There's someone here.'

He readied his daggers and looked around the room he was in but couldn't find anyone.

The very moment he lowered his defense, he was struck again, this time in his solar plexus.

"Tsk... Show yourself!"

He then hears a burst of maniacal laughter all around him.

"So this is the famous Ace Shadows, the rising star of the Braves world?"

What Ace saw next was a young red-haired man around his age standing in front of him with a smug look on his face as he continues to mock the ex-assassin.

"You're too slow to be my opponent."

The man said as he disappeared alerting the ex-assassin alas it was of no veil as he was struck again, this time around he was sent flying.

Ace groaned in pain as he got back up to stare down the speedster.

'He's too fast for me to even sense him with my seismic sense.'

"Hahahahaha! You're no match for my relic."

This man was in the possession of the Boots of Hermes relic which grants him the ability to move at the speed of light.

He disappears again and hits Ace continuously with a flurry of light-speed attacks.

The maniacal laughter continues as the man kept mocking Ace while beating him up.

"Why don't you run away? I'll even give you a head start not that you can ever dream of outrunning."

"Huff. Huff. How can I outrun him when I can't blend with my shadow?"

Ace asked no one in particular as he realizes that this was not a battle that he can win with brute force alone.

'That's it!'

An invisible light bulb appeared on the head of the ex-assassin.

He closes his eyes and began to channel all of his ain.

The blinding fast foe dashes around the room in random directions and continues to attack Ace who just seems to be standing in one place now.

"Not gonna budge even after taking so much damage are we? Well, we'll see just how much longer you can last. For the record, I can do this all day"

His voice echoes around the room as he continues his relentless assault on the bloody and battered Ace.

"Shadow arts: Bind!"

"Huh?"

The shadow of the speedster rose from beneath him and wrapped itself around him.

"I did it."

Ace had concentrated all his ain into using a stronger version of his seismic sense, it took him a while to get the hang of it but he managed to sense his opponent while he launched the last attack.

In the split second of the final attack, Ace targeted his shadow and used his relic ability to bind him thus stopping him in his tracks.

"Let me go you shit head! You are not supposed to catch me." The trapped speedster plopped on the floor and rolled around struggling to get free.

"Kill switch!"

Meanwhile, back in the smith's shop, Reginald had retrieved his new weapon. It was a fencing sword, a foil to be precise.

As they approached Dragon heart, Reginald had been caressing his newly formed sword with a weird look on his face like that of a pervert who was having his way with an attractive woman.

"You're creepy Sir Reginald."

Sure enough, Vorus and Conroy were disgusted by this action.

"I didn't know you can fence."

"Hehe, my mother taught me the basics of fencing when I was little, I figured I'll implement the things I learned from old man Shuntal and become stronger."

The crew spent a weak in Shoot village as Reginald requested that Shuntal teaches him the basics of harnessing Ain.

He learned about the basics of using Ain.

"Now, are you two ready or not?"

"Yeah, I'm ready on my part."

"Eh? Ready?"

Conroy tilted his head in confusion.

"We're going after our imbecile of a Captain."

"Hahaha, you didn't really think that the Captain wanted us to stay put did you?"

"This was all part of the demon spawn's plans."

Ace wanted Rohan to join their clan so he struck a deal with him, if he helped him find and rescue his brother, he'll join them. Regardless to say, he secretly made a plan with Reginald.

"He might be a happy-go-lucky guy but he doesn't trust that easily."

Ace grew up in a place where it's kill or be killed, he knew better than anyone else not to trust easily.

He would go out first with Rohan and they would follow their trail after an hour.

Even if there won't be any double-crossing, Ace knows that one can never be too safe.