The Wrights again

After ingesting the forbidden medicine, the aura of the six men got stronger, and even though their cooperation worsened, their new strength made up for it. At first, Ryan could easily evade their attacks, but now he had to be frantically dodging and parrying their weapons. Furthermore, they weren't the only ones he had to worry about.

Right as he got out of a synchronized attack, the man standing to the side shot a blue ball of light at him. He quickly countered by slashing it with his sword, but then he was faced by the group's multitude of spells. Under such a sudden barrage, Ryan had no choice but to start using his spells as well. He swung his sword horizontally and yellow translucent blades shot out from it and collided with the incoming spells. If it wasn't obvious before, the explosion caused by these spells colliding surely alerted not only those in the house, but also those in the community. However, not a soul came to help, not even the guards of Cyrus would normally handle this sort of trouble. Ryan would have liked some help, but since they attacked when Lily was gone, they had obviously done their research and were confident that they could take care of him before she came back.

Compared to his attackers, Ryan only knew the one spell that he managed to buy in an auction. Moreover, his energy was being exhausted at a much faster rate than theirs. He used to be unharmed, but eventually several wounds would appear on his skin after each exchange. Ross and Josh, who watched this battle through a window, really wanted to go out and help him, but Sia held them back.

"If you go out, you'll just be a burden. None of us have even reached the Soul Realm, so there's no way we can help him."

They knew she was right, but Josh couldn't accept it.

"But, but, big bro-"

"Stay here! If you don't want to get us all killed at least. I'll go find Big Sis. If I don't come back in time, take the bags and escape with Aunt Lilia."

Sia whispered the last part to the two of them before putting on a cloak and walking towards the backdoor. The cloak was one of the few 'Hide' cloaks that Shui left for the siblings.

"Sia!"

Lilia who had come downstairs and called out to her, but Sia quickly ran out. Lilia wanted to run after her, but she also didn't want to leave Ross, Josh and her child by themselves.

'Please, please come back.'

Sia could make it to the Workers' Association in around five minutes, and if Lily was there, they could return in even less time. Unfortunately, two minutes after she left, Ryan had used his last spell. He had reduced the total enemy numbers to five, but his injuries were far more prominent than theirs. After one more exchange, he would probably be unfit to fight.

'I can't think about surviving anymore.'

Now that he was this close to death, Ryan made his resolve to use up the rest of his life in this fight to hold out for as long as possible. Rather than escaping, staying in the house would be safer but if the entrances were blocked, they would be trapped like rats.

He had given up on victory, but he still had to give it his best. Ryan was about to form a mudra with his left hand to convert his remaining vitality into a last burst of power, when a hand suddenly stopped him.

"Stop. I finally return and you're already getting killed. Really now, you haven't been slacking on your training, have you?"

His aura was clear and he wasn't trying hide his identity, however Ryan found it hard to believe it was him. He wasn't as devout as his sister, so there were times he wondered if he really wasn't in this world anymore, but here he was. His features seemed to have become more enchanting than he remembered but there was no doubt.

"Mr, Mr. Shin?!"

"You can call me Shui if you want."

The despair that had encroached on him was completely eradicated as he hugged Shui who was now about his height. Not just him, those watching from inside the house also wanted to jump out and hug him too, especially Lilia, but she was the one who held the twins back.

'He, he's alive?!'

She wanted to rush out and embrace him but she also felt afraid.

Would he blame her for leaving him behind?

It was a concern that had plagued her dreams so she couldn't shake it off too easily. Even though he was right in her sight, she found it hard to take another step.

Shui had already noticed that Lilia was in the house and was slightly surprised, but he knew there was something else he needed to take care of. Since he didn't see the need to hide his face anymore, Shui strolled into Cyrus in his true form, stealing the eyes of both men and women along the way. It wouldn't take long before those he had connections with learnt of his arrival, but before that he had things that needed cleaning up.

He stepped in front of the five men that remained and said without any sign of apprehension or caution, "Well aren't I lucky? I just got here and yet I already have guinea pigs ready."

Ryan didn't know how strong the current Shui was, but he didn't doubt that everything would be okay now that he was here. He sat down and started recovering but still made sure to pay close attention to what would happen next. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something very different about the Shui in front of him.

The men who watched Shui appear and take over from Ryan didn't dare make a move. Even though he seemed like a pretty boy that would hide behind a woman's back, their instincts told them that they should run away. However, since he had arrived, how could he allow these people to escape?

Luckily due to his time in the trial, Shui was quickly able to get used to keeping his eyes open so he had them locked on from the start. While there were many tricks he wanted to test out on these test subjects, it wasn't time for playing.

Shui took serene steps towards the men but they were trembling in place. Even the leader wanted to hurriedly run away but he couldn't control his body anymore.

'Damn it! Who the hell is this guy?! I wasn't told about a monster like this!'

Unable to even beg for their lives, the entire group of men could only wait for Shui to deal with them. All of the six men were at a level where he could kill them just by thinking of it, but Shui had some use for them before that. Although he could ask them for information, there was a much better and more efficient method at his disposal. When Shui looked into their eyes, he formed a connection through which he could look at their memories.

"Hmm, hmm...is that so."

Since the data they had was incomparable to the volume of information being downloaded to his brain, it only took a few seconds for Shui to find out what he wanted to know.

'The Wright family, huh? What a karmic connection.'

From their memories he learnt the reason why they were sent here. Apparently, the man who was the father of Sia and the twins was the nephew of Anders. This shouldn't have been a reason to kill them, if it wasn't for the fact that the three were very talented and Anders was actually considering adopting them into the main family. Whether or not they would agree was another matter, but just him considering it was enough for their lives to be targeted.

'Another power struggle, eh? How interesting. Looks like I get the chance to take care of them a second time.'

Once he got what he needed these six no longer had any use to him. He had seen their memories so he knew that they had wives and children but that didn't stop him. If you kill then you must be prepared to be killed, that was the law that he lived by and the rule that he would continue to obey.

Shui clapped his hands twice, and as if their puppet strings had been cut, the men dropped to the ground and rapidly lost all signs of life. Just by severing the link connecting their souls to their bodies, Shui had easily taken care of these men. He could move on to a touching reunion next, but he didn't want to finish this halfheartedly.

"Ryan, I'm gonna pay a visit to someone. Clean this up."

"Got it."