Chapter 57: Sonia Blade

"Haven't you still realized..." Huey leaned forward and whispered softly. "Your blade can't sever a single strand of my hair."

The wide twisted smile on his lips reached his glowing red eyes.

His words resonated deeply in Sonia's mind, and her shoulders stiffened. Her motionless mask collapsed, and her eyes widened rigidly.

In the end, Huey had only toyed with her. She spread her awareness and swept her gaze around. The destruction and the cold wind blowing against her skin were testament to the chaos.

Despite everything, Huey hadn't raised the hand that held his black blade. He had mostly danced around her, and when her blade managed to make contact, it failed to deal even the smallest amount of damage.

Rather than getting mad or raging with shame, Sonia withdrew all of her emotions. Her aura became even colder, and her presence turned sharper, enough to capture Huey's attention. Her bright eyes became lightless, and her expression turned cold. Without retracting her blade or her gaze from Huey, Sonia coldly said in her usual flat, cold, and monotonous voice...

"What are you?" Sonia asked coldly.

She began reevaluating the mysterious young man, her eyes filled with cold murder and ruthless calculations. If she forced it a bit more, could she cut his neck?

As she took a closer look, she noticed something different about him. It wasn't just his appearance; it was the way he moved and carried himself. His confident smile bordered on arrogance, his piercing eyes held a lofty gaze, and his aura combined grace with feral oppression. There was madness in his eyes, a boundless insanity like a wilderness.

'What is he?' Sonia thought, scrutinizing him without a crack in her expression. 'He suddenly attacked me out of nowhere as if triggered. Yet, he hasn't raised his sword or shown any animosity. He's just been toying with me, and all the others don't seem to exist before him...'

The other question plaguing her was, why her?

Sonia thought back to the exaggerated reaction of one of her cohort members—the same pitiful knight who had his core damaged. They had met this person as the last and only survivor of a Den raid carried out days ago.

A rift had descended, and an abomination stepped out, murdering the entire group—or so the man had said. But, of course, it was in a far more exaggerated fashion. It was enough to doubt the knight's words; after all, he didn't seem right in the head after watching his whole group die.

Even so, it wasn't a matter of whether he was right in his head or not, nor was it a choice of whether what he said was true. The fact remained that even from the fortress of Allan Fort, the readings had indicated a drastic anomaly—a 'red rift.'

If two and two were put together, the facts pointed towards something truly diabolical emerging from the fracture in space and time.

'Was it him?' Sonia thought.

But she had expected a monster—well, a more monster-looking monster, at least. He wasn't as mindless and feral as the knight's report made him out to be. For starters, he hadn't blindly attacked and killed everyone here, despite probably having the power and ability to do so. Sonia wasn't sure how powerful he was; he was like a black hole whose depths were unreadable.

Certainly, there was madness in his eyes and in the angles his smiles curled into, but he was clearly sane and composed. His eyes shone with intelligence and sanity. Proof of that was that he first tried to make conversation with them once he showed up.

As Sonia's mind continued to race underneath her cold and distant mask, Huey continued to smile nonchalantly and broadly. He was also sorting out his thoughts.

'Sonia Blade... could we really be related? But I don't recall any relative by the name Sonia... but that's too far-fetched! It's been seventy years, after all...'

Perhaps it was just a coincidence? She just so happened to share a last name with him?

'But her characteristics... she obviously has our good looks!' Even Huey himself knew he was being irrational.

The influence of having accepted that his family was most likely dead was pulling at his heartstrings, weaving conspiracies and bizarre theories in his head.

'A bastard child? Then whose?' he pondered. 'My old man? Well, that geezer always did go on about how he had a couple of concubines and side chicks during his teenage days... it can't be, can it?' His expression almost fell. 'C'mon, Huey. It's also very possible we're really not related...'

But then—

'But her looks!' he thought. 'Ahh! What a dilemma!'

Even Huey was having trouble with his thoughts. By this point, he had completely disregarded everyone else present. The idea that a family member could still be alive made him want to cling to the thin straws that were the person known as Sonia Blade.

'I can only find out one way...' he resolved, making up his mind.

"I'm—"

"What's the meaning of all this?" A deep voice rolled through the surrounding, cutting him off.

Then came a powerful presence that suffocated the air, and it wasn't just one. Various other presences rolled through the environment like a dark cloud, and many of those present found it hard to breathe.

Huey retracted his body away from Sonia and openly turned around, despite her being a likely enemy. His expression was neutral and unfazed by the intensity of the pressure that made everyone else hold their breath.

"Oh. Old man...and the council of geezers..." Huey's voice was filled with nonchalance as he met the gazes of the powerful people that had just arrived.

They were the Ntuli Tribe Village Head and Chief, along with his cabinet. They all stood with imposing presences and auras like a tsunami wave that washed over everyone. As soon as the Ntuli warriors realized who had arrived, they fell to their knees and lowered their heads.

"Village Chief!" they greeted in unison.

The Village Head, whom Huey had met only a handful of times, was even more imposing when he wasn't sitting. He had mane-like hair, deep and defined facial features, and was actually quite young-looking—middle-aged at most. He was twice the brawny size of Barak but exuded even more dominance and authority.

His indifferent and deep gaze bore down on the earth, and the backs of those who received it shuddered.

'The Chief,' James thought, his expression hardening. Things were getting out of hand much more than he appreciated. Despite their innate prejudice against the Outsiders and the Ntuli Tribe, the Tribal Chief, or Village Head, wasn't someone to mess with. James knew that well enough.

'Even if we all ganged up against him at once, even with Milady on our side, we would be but a small nuisance like a mosquito and die,' he seriously thought.

The Ntuli Tribe Head was one of the strongest people in the current world, whose strength and ability were closely comparable to the 'Heroes.'

"Warrior, I heard you had returned," the Head said to Huey in a neutral manner.

'That tone and manner of speaking...' James didn't fail to notice the subtle meaning behind the simple exchange between Huey and the Head. He immediately concluded that the mysterious man was indeed an accomplice of the Ntuli Tribe—one they needed to place extremely high priority on.

"Yes. I just got back..." Huey began, trailing off as he gestured at the situation with his gaze.

"I see. It's no problem. Our 'neighbors' from the Walls were just leaving," the Head said, turning his deep gaze to the Knights, and added, "weren't you?"

They shuddered. James felt a trickle of sweat bead down his neck as he adjusted his glasses and feigned composure. He turned around to face Sonia, who stood with her sword still raised.

"Milady, I believe we should take our leave now before we become an even bigger nuisance to our neighbors," he said. Then, turning to the Head, he bowed and added, "It is regretful for the misunderstanding, but we hope you can overlook our transgressions. After all, this is something both sides have suffered damage from."

The Village Head simply said nothing, keeping his gaze fixed and unyielding.

James took that as a cue to regroup the survivors of the cohort. He turned one final time to Sonia, who still had her deep, glassy gaze fixed on Huey's figure.

"Milady," the long-faced James, whose expression had become stern, said in a soft, urging voice. Sonia lingered, then withdrew her sword without a word.

Sheathed her sword, she cast one final glance at Huey, his figure burned and ingrained deeply into her cold heart and memory. She silently clenched her fist in a manner no one failed to notice, though her cold expression didn't betray her thoughts and mind. Without saying a single word, Sonia turned and retreated with the remnants of her cohort, her back straight and graceful behind her flawless white cape.

At that moment, the knight envoy from Allan Fort had accomplished their goals.