Chapter 64: The enigma named Matelus
The young paladin appeared before them clad his whole body in a full elaborated adamantine armor, decorated with a distinct light blue chest piece in the shape of a horned wolf. His left arm carried an oversized shield that could easily cover his whole body while his right hand held onto a large sword. He had short, silky chestnut hair that contrasted with his light skin tone. His piercing eyes were distinctively different from any others Maia had met, for his large round pupils appeared in opal color, reflecting the sunlight from above, causing them to appear as if they were radiating light on their own.
「I am sorry, Ryuu kun.」The paladin spoke softly in a caring voice. His handsome face showed sights of lingering regrets as he continued 「But your existence is a threat to this world's balance. Both you and Zaeryn's reincarnation have to be taken care of...」The man let out a sorrowful frown. 「...I have no other choice.」
「... Maia senpai...」Ryuu finally stood up on his still shaking feet. 「Please get away from here. I don't think I can even fight against him, let alone protecting you from this monstrous being. After all, he is one of the few individuals that could best even an Ennead in battle.」
「Ryuu kun, stop worrying about me!」scolded Maia frustratingly at the dragonoid. Unlike Ryan, Ryuu, and even Yuusei, both Maia and Rowan were just novice fighters. They might have been able to deal with some monsters under the trainings of the hybrid, but they still lacked the experiences required to truly fight proficiently… and they both knew that. She had cursed her incompetency over and over again whenever she relived the horrific moment her beloved master risked his life to protect the two of them back at Lorian. Henceforth, the once ignorant village girl had been training herself, days and nights, to be able to efficiently utilize her skills in battle to assist her master. Even if it cost the girl her life, she had promised herself to never let her master or anyone she loved to risk their lives in order to protect her once again. 「I'm not going anywhere! Whether you like it or not, I'll stay here and we will defeat this guy together!」The alchemist determinedly declared. Several of her distilled chemical vials were already now kept tightly between her fingers.
「...」Ryuu was surprised at the girl's reaction. Originally, he did not have much respect nor high opinions for these humans that his master had tamed, but now, he realized he might have been wrong. 「Maia senpai...」
「Please, young lady.」Aspen calmly reached out to Maia.「You better listen to Ryuu and walk away from here. I promise I will not harm you. I know Zaeryn has always been a pragmatic person, being able to convert countless people to his side, being able to have others pledge their lives to his cause… even I was once his devotee... but trust me, it's better if you give up and get away from him. He may think he knows everything there is to know about this world, but if he were to have it his way, to break the balance of this world, nothing good will come out of it. You're still not yet tangled deeply in this ironic fate of this world so stay away, or else, I regretfully have to end you, along with Ryuu kun.」
「TRY ME!」Maia was pissed. She might have been ignorant of everything about the world and its history, but she knew one thing: she would always be by her master's side, even if the path he has chosen would lead to nothing but ruin. The alchemist effortlessly popped open the cork to one of her vials, allowing its gaseous content to diffuse out before morphing them into shapes of butterflies using her
… If this man is here, that means the Astral has begun to act and Master clearly is in danger. Maia thought to herself while watching her towering flames continue to burn unabated. Please be safe.
「Maia senpai, I'm sorry for telling you to run away.」Ryuu walked up to the alchemist from behind, wrapped his arm around her and pulled her back for protection from the heat. 「You're right, we will defeat him together.」The dragonoid grinned.
「Thanks, Ryuu chan.」The girl nodded.「He's still alive in there, isn't he? Even I could feel his presence.」
「Yes. Your attack is splendid but such an attack means nothing to him.」Ryuu glared straight at the dark silhouette, which has slowly been walking up to the edge of the flame storm. Just like Ryuu had predicted, Aspen appeared completely unharmed, his hair dancing to the gusty wind caused by the heat. 「I have never met with him personally but from all the hearsay I heard about him, he possessed an ultimate Arte called
「That is correct.」Aspen smiled. Plunging his oversized sword and shield down into the ground below, the ancient hero quickly demonstrated his power as he absorbed all the firestorm with one of his hands, then amplified and released it straight at the two standing in front of him with another hand. Though, the blast did not reach either Maia or Ryuu since the dragonoid had quickly conjured up his seven-branched spear and split the attack into two. 「...That weapon belonged to your grandfather, correct?」Aspen easily recognized the unique look of the spear.「But judging how you're still using it as a spear, I guess Zaeryn had deem you not ready to utilize its secondary form.」
「Secondary form? What are you talking about?」
「Nothing.」dismissed Aspen. 「I'm just being nostalgic since I have not seen it in many millenia. Lady Maia, if you had decided to die as one of Zaeryn's followers, I will not stop you. I will try to end both your life and Ryuu's life as painlessly as possible.」
「No thanks!」Maia readied her attack. 「We don't intend to die without Kibadios sama's permission!」
「Hahaha!」Ryuu laughed. 「Well said, Maia senpai! Please back me up!」The dragonoid leapt forward with his spear in hand, swiftly closed his distance against Aspen before thrusting the weapon at an incomprehensible speed. Since Aspen could absorb any non physical attacks, simply straight up forcing him into close combat was the best strategy Ryuu could employ to counter him. Yet, despite the subsonic speed of the incoming attacks, the hero turned Astral could easily keep up with the dragonoid's movement without breaking a sweat, dodging every attack aiming at him while his attention was never removed from Maia, who was looking for a chance to launch an attack of her own. From another two of her vials, thin purple layers of gases continuously leaked out, taking the form of two twin snakes. The gaseous snakes swirled around the defending hero. Whenever the snakes slithered to, the green batches of grass on the ground quickly withered due to their extreme corrosive property. Yet, much like how Chrollo took on Zeno Zoldyck while keeping distance from Silva Zoldyck during their fight at Yorknew Auction House, Aspen left no such opening for the girl to take advantage of despite busy having fend off Ryuu's attacks. Their fighting experience was just too vastly different. To Aspen, even someone with fighting prowess like Ryuu was no more than a novice.
Of course, the dragonoid easily noticed the huge gap in both strength and techniques between him and his opponents. What made it worse was the fact he could not use his deadly skills such as
「You had good forms, Ryuu, but you left too many openings.」noted Aspen. 「I can't really blame you since I bet you rarely have to rely on physical attacks like this most of the time, am I right?」Realizing his chance, Aspen quickly grabbed onto Ryuu's wrist the moment the dragonoid attempted to slash his spear downward, preventing him from escaping.
「Shit!」Ryuu cursed, though it was too late. Aspen swiftly thrust his Nen imbued arm at the dragonoid's torso, easily pierced through it. 「Haaa...」There was no blood splattered since dragon possessed no blood in their body, yet, a large amount of magicule (magic molecule,) which acted as the primal dragon's "blood," soon gushed out from the large opened wound, leaving the weakened dragonoid collapsed onto the ground.
「Ryuu chan!!!!」Maia called out as she hurriedly ran toward her half unconscious companion, though she was stopped dead in her tracks when Aspen quickly jumped in front of her, as fast as the speed of sound that made it looked like he was teleporting.
「CCHIIII!!!!」From behind the Astral, the small slime, who had wandered off into the thick woodland vegetation after enjoying its lunch, had raced back to its owners the moment it sensed Aspen's intimidating presence. It quickly jumped up and blasted its charged up energy beam directly at the ancient hero in order to force him to get away from Maia. Though, since it was not a physical attack, the beam was quickly absorbed into the man's body the moment it touched his skin, leaving the slime puzzling.
「You're an interesting slime.」Smiled Aspen after turning around to face it. 「But in the end, you're just a slime. If Ryuu could not do anything against me, how did you think you can?」The hero pointed his finger at the slime, before releasing the energy beam back at a greatly amplified power. One swipe of his finger was all it took to slide the defiant slime into two.
「Noo!!! Nu chan!」Maia gritted her teeth. 「How dare you!」Raising both her hands up, the alchemist seemed to activate her skill, though she soon found the respectable amount of aura she exuded was completely swallowed up by that of Aspen as he finally paid his full attention to her. With just his gaze, Maia felt suffocated as her strength left her body. She was no expert in gauging one's strength but she knew the power of the person standing in front of her far exceeded anyone else she had met, to the point it felt as if to him, the menace that was the Chaos infected Prime Minister was nothing but a small ant in his eyes.
「Maia senpai… please… run...」The defeated Ryuu inched his tattered body closer to the Astral and grabbed his feet in a desperate yet clearly futile attempt to stop him from harming the village girl.
「...」Aspen merely looked down at the primal dragon with his pitiful eyes without saying anything before looking straight at Maia.「Don't worry, Lady Maia… I will make sure your death is as painless as possible.」
「My my my… I can't have that, can I?」A figure appeared behind Maia loudly declaring. 「She's one of Shisou's slaves. If she dies, Shisou will be sad… I think.」
「Who?」jolted Maia before turning around, only to see a man cloaked in dark hood, stood towering over her.「Who … are you...」
「What are you doing here?」Aspen frowned.
「Stopping you from killing them, of course.」A crescent smile could be seen under the dark hood. 「Now that I'm here, I see we have three options: one, we fight to the death. Two, you go back to the Modun Realm and leave these people in my hand. Three, I make you go back to the Modun Realm and leave these people in my hand.」The hooded man's eyes glowed as he made his threats.
「... If your master had made his presence known, you should follow his example.」Aspen noticed the presence of another, who hid themselves behind the shadow of a large tree.
「You're a dangerous man, Aspen Seigeran. I had completely erased my presence and erased my very own existence, yet I cannot hide from you.」A white hair girl slowly stepped out into the open. She had a rather emotionless expression, yet her eyes were full of sadness and sorrow.
「...」Without saying a word, Aspen raised his hands, calling back his sword and shield, both of which flew straight back to where he stood. The confidence he had when dealing with Ryuu had completely vanished, now replaced with a rather cautious expression. 「... I choose the first option, Matelus kun.」
「Wrong!」The cloak figure declared, snapping his finger as a signal to the girl.「It's actually the third!」
「Tsk!」Just like he had feared, Aspen soon found the space around him started to distort before being completely warped like a piece of fabric. He, himself, along with the surrounding space, was being pulled by the teenage girl into a singular dark hole before completely vanishing into thin air.
「Too bad now is not the time for an all out war between us. Bye Aniki. Tell your Ennead masters I said hello!」The cloak figure waved.
「Are you sure, Matelus?」The girl softly spoke after approaching him.「We could have take him on.」
「Now is not the time.」The man turned to the confused Maia. 「Had we fought for real, I dont think this little girl, the dragonoid, or the slime would have survived the clash.」
「... Who are you?」Maia gulped. From their conversation, at least she found comfort knowing the man and little girl did not mean them any harm.
「Let's put a pin on that. Shouldn't you be taking care of Ryuu? Granted he's a dragonoid so his healing factor is very potent, but he still has a hole on his torso.」The man pointed at the dragonoid, who lay lifelessly on the ground. 「And that slime too, it should have survived since Aspen missed its core, but you better look after it.」
「Nu?」Putting Ryuu's head on her lap, the girl quickly administered full potion she synthesized on his wound before looking over where the slime was cut in half. Both of its pieces were now inching closer to one another and seemingly fused together into one whole again, much to Maia's relief. 「Thank goodness you're okay! The both of you!」The girl was unable to hold back her tears as she let out a big sigh of relief once she noticed Ryuu's twitch. 「Thank you for sav...」Before she could say anything, they were gone.
「Maia dono! What happened here?」Thomas was the first to reach the scene.
「We… we were attacked.」Maia was hesitant to answer for a brief moment since it'd be hard to explain to others what had transpired without spilling her master's secret.
「What? How's Ryuu dono?」Thomas noticed the dragonoid's aura was diminishing. 「Who could have hurt him this bad?」
「... I… I dont know...」
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「And that was what transpired yesterday, Shisou.」reported Matelus to the hybrid.「You probably don't have to worry about Aspen coming back. Since he knew I'm here, he will not be acting rashly.」
「How...」Kibadios was at a loss with everything he had learned. Though, the one fact that shocked him the most was the man standing in front of him right now. 「How can you still be alive?」
「I wonder.」The man grinned deviously.