Obvious Trap (8)

Soon after Shui appeared in front of the women, Alex arrived as well. After discovering that Emily had followed his sister, he had sent a few of his guards to bring her back, but instead, one of them returned with shocking news that his sister was in trouble. He knew about her powers and how perceptive she was, so he almost couldn't believe that she got caught in a trap, especially since he was still holding on to several of her emergency artifacts.

'That damn sister of mine. Didn't you tell me to keep them because you would know when you needed one?'

He didn't have a full grasp of the situation, but it was clear that he had to be quick. He sent one of his guards to inform his master about this incident, and another to find Shui while he himself ran to support his sister.

When Alex saw them, he hurried over to his sister and Emily, and left Adrian to Shui. He wanted to land a punch or two himself when he saw the wounds on Alicia's hand, but treating her was of a higher priority.

"Weren't you the one who always told me to never let my guard down?"

"Ugh."

Normally, this would be where she snapped back, but considering her current state, she obediently allowed Alex to heal her hand. Alex would have loved to take advantage of this time to pay his sister back for all her teasing, but he was aware that this wasn't a suitable setting. He knew that his sister wouldn't want him to show his concern for her, so he then turned to Emily with a harsh expression. In response, Emily also showed guilt on her face.

"..."

As an awkward silence was maintained between the two, Alicia wondered if she should interfere, but it wasn't like she was in the best position to either. When the tension seemed to peak, Alex finally broke the silence.

"Emily, do you have anything to say?"

He didn't use a particularly severe tone, but Emily squeezed her hand as she replied with her head down.

"I'm sorry for following Alicia. If I had just listened to her then, she wouldn't have needed to place herself in danger by protecting me."

Emily clenched her fist. At this point, she wasn't sure if Alicia should have come here at all. She thought that Alex would surely blame her for her recklessness, but after her apology, he took out a pill and gave it to her.

"Here. It looks like you're under a form of paralysis, this should help."

"Huh?" Emily uttered in surprise.

"Honestly, it would be a lie if I said that I've forgiven you, but I can accept your apology since you seem to be earnestly regretting it. Besides, I'm also at fault for not keeping a proper eye on you."

Alex had an exasperated look on his face, but there was no sign that he was lying. Alicia nodded in approval as she saw the disbelief in Emily's eyes. Shui, on the other hand, wasn't sure how he should feel about his role being taken, but he felt that he could learn something from Alex as an older brother, which was surprising considering how he was with Alicia.

Since it looked like he could entrust them to Alex, Shui approached Adrian who had just finished coming out of the rubble that his crash had created. Not only had he become covered in dirt, there was also a line of blood dripping from the edge of his lips as he glared at Shui.

"You know, this would be easier on me if you surrendered, but I'm in a bad mood right now so I would prefer if you could resist and allow me to relieve my stress. What do you think?"

"Ah!"

Despite knowing that he was no match for Shui, Adrian laid his palms on the ground and imagined the walls coming together to smash him. He was aiming for the moment Shui froze to handle the incoming walls, but that opportunity never came because his spell never activated.

"Huh? What?"

Increasingly aware of Shui's presence, Adrian franticly tried to use his spell, but nothing happened. He couldn't get the ground to shake, much less control it. Faced by this abrupt irregularity, Adrian looked up in fear at the only one he suspected could do this.

"What did you do to me?!"

"I said you could resist, but I never said I was going to fight you."

Shui then fired a kick at his right arm, breaking it like a twig and forcing him to leave the axe that he was reaching for.

"!!!"

Adrian nearly screamed because of the pain, but his pride kept his mouth shut. By looking at his eyes, Shui could tell that Adrian would rather die than beg for mercy, but that was fine, perfect even.

"By the way, could you check that you can still use nature energy inside your body?"

Confusion seeped into Adrian's expression, but it was soon replaced by surprise as he realized that he actually could still circulate his nature energy. He had never experienced having his spells nullified so thoroughly before, so he assumed that he couldn't use energy at all, but he was forgetting how difficult that would be. Although Shui did know such a method, he had his reasons for not wanting to use it. Instead, he had sealed Adrian's ability to release energy by wrapping his body with a film of his own divine energy.

Once he confirmed that his seal was working as intended, Shui nodded and stomped on Adrian's chest.

"Good, now I don't have to worry about you dying too easily."

Before Adrian could react, Shui dropped his fist on his face. He was only relying on the hardness of his body, but that alone drew blood. Adrian's instincts begged him to raise his guard, but while he was still disoriented from that first punch, Shui rained down blows that disfigured his face.

These ruthless hits would have easily killed a mortal, but Adrian's nature energy was automatically healing him, thereby extending the torture. When the assault began, Adrian clenched his teeth and thought that he could endure. After all, he was a proud cultivator who had walked the tightrope between life and death several times, so he believed in his grit. However, that determination broke around the fifth time that he lost consciousness.

Even if he wanted to, Adrian couldn't scream, so the others didn't know how he was holding up, but just the continuous sounds of fist meeting face told them that there was no fight happening; it was just punishment.

Emily was worried that Adrian would perish under this brutality, but though it was faint, the fire of his life never faded so she stayed silent, unsure of how she should feel about the judgement her senior brother was receiving.