Relestia sat quivering on the floor. Relestia had not cried or broken down after she killed someone, but her hands and feet shook uncontrollably.

Having gone through the trial of heart demon, she is much stronger mentally than before, but this does not change the fact that just helped slay an opponent.

This isn’t the first person she killed, but it is the first time she did so without the devil’s possession.

After she awoke from her slumber, everything felt surreal and her emotions ran amok without control.

No matter what she did at that time it felt like a dream, but what happened now was completely in her control.

The sickly feeling on her feet seems to linger forever. The crunch that she felt when her heel pushed Exterminus into Kairos’ sword. The smell of blood that erupted. The gruesome aftermath of a prime warrior’s head nearly split completely in two.

The princess heaved uncontrollably. Nothing came up except an acrid liquid that burned her throat.

Her eyes teared.

Kairos walked over and gently lifted her up on her feet.

He stroked her back but never spoke. The feeling of taking a life is not a good one. He understands it but never had the chance to let his own feelings run astray.

The weak do not have the luxury to deal with emotions when every moment of their lives is filled with danger. Just trying to survive took every ounce of concentration, and in their spare time, they only looked towards their next foothold.

When he was young, that foothold is the next meal. When he grew older and stronger, the foothold became cultivation resources that can turn into strength that will protect him and his loved ones.

Kairos, Tommy, Alan, Edward, Jim, and Jones. They have all killed before, sometimes indirectly when they took resources away that weakened others and caused their deaths, other times directly like when they fought across the span Silent Lambs Empire.

For the boys, after overcoming the initial wave of disgust they weren’t given time to feel upset… especially when there are armies are chasing behind them.

And, after a few times, they already turned numb.

Kairos wrecked his brains thinking how to console Relestia but came up with absolutely nothing.

After a long pause, he finally gave up and said, “We have to go.”

Perhaps this is something she have to step out of by herself. Kairos himself wasn’t given much time to mull about when he first killed an enemy, and perhaps that is what helped him get through it.

Or perhaps, what helped shape him is the first death he encountered. When his friends died protecting him from the orcs, it made him unwilling to experience that loss again, and since then his blade never hesitated.

“If we stay here any longer, Clef, Boink, and Lulatia will die.”

This time, his words seem to wake her up like the splash of cold water.

She forced down her nausea and gave him a brave smile.

On the side, Lulatia dismissed all her shielding spells and slowly pushed herself off the ground. Despite being drained of mana, she is merely light-headed.

The three of them quickly retrieved Clef and Boink and prepare to retreat.

The two ladies looked to Kairos for directions. The timing and escape route are planned by him.

Kairos gave them a nod then quickly went into the checkpoint. The one guy, two ladies, and two unconscious people were climbed onto a platform and shuttled above into the gnomes’ Royal Garden City.

The journey will take a good half an hour, given the distance between the two cities. As they waited, Kairos introspected his condition.

Since he landed on the Axis his wounds had stacked up. This realm hardly have the things needed to restore him to his prime and even maintaining the bare minimum is difficult. Although he tried limiting the combat techniques he uses, there are plenty of times he was forced unseal a portion of his actual strength to get pass obstacles. Each time, it pushed him closer to destruction.

He had to use the Astral Cataclysm against the archer’s Greater Levitation spell. While it is a powerful physical combat technique, the exertion raptured his own wounds.

In fact, shielding Relestia from his mana creations’ self-destruction dealt less damage to him.

But both these combined could not compare to the damage he took using his footwork.

Ice Walk and Mirage Steps are both divine techniques and they require a higher form of energy source than Ki.

The type of energy used determines how potent his technique is, as well as how efficient it will be. If he powers it with Ki it will completely drain him with a couple of use, while the mana here can barely sustain a single execution. But he does have something more potent, the Origin Energy.

Each time Kairos used his movement technique, a portion of his life force was being drained. Using it four times in a row was enough to send him back into a critical condition. Don’t see that he appeared completely unharmed after defeating a Circle 9 warrior, the damage that Kairos inflicted upon himself was more than what he sustained after any of the battles he had on Axis Mundi thus far.

…..

Just as Kairos’ group left the dwarven city, another group came down from the gnome city and walked out of the checkpoint.

The gnome king and two elders were in disguise mixed in a bunch of assassins. What they saw made these men frightened. An unbelievable scale of carnage, a place littered with corpses, and the dead body of Exterminus Starwalk.

The archer looked like a rag doll that had been chewed up by a puppy. His clothes were tattered and covered in wounds.

At this time, an assassin made a surprised yelp as he took something from the dead man’s pockets.

A magic storage device of a Circle 9 Arcane Archer. The value of the things it contained is likely unmeasurable.

If the assassin had inspected it closely, he would have noticed that the item pouch was exposed rather obviously. As if awaiting someone to spot it.

The more one thinks about this, the more questionable it will seem.

In fact, why would a mage use an item pouch? The Item Box storage spell may take up some capacity of a mage’s mana use but for those who reached Circle 9, it is rather negligible. Besides, keeping that particular spell active does not hinder the mage from casting any other spells.

The assassin did not seek the gnome king nor the two elders and pocketed it for himself. The loot found during missions are not necessary to be reported, moreover he did not know that those three are amongst his party.

Assassins from The Reaper group often does not know who are in their squad. Sometimes a more permanent party may be formed but for killers who prefer to execute missions alone, that is usually rare unless it is needed for a high-level mission.

It is also because of this that the king and his two old friends could easily sneak into a group. For members of the gnomish political party, staying clandestine is a prime necessity when entering an allied city without prior notice.

Besides, to handle someone like Kairos, they cannot slowly assign assassins one by one. Doing that will only lose good men and feed their opponent.

No, they need to attack with their full capacity right at the outset, and that is why the Gnome King, and the two elders personally came for Kairos.

However, they did not know that their every move had been tracked from afar.

With explicit timing, the mana crystal sustaining the item storage device failed seconds after the assassin picked it up.

Most high-quality storage devices come equipped with a miniature mana absorption device as a back-up power supply. It shuts down access to the items contained in the spell, but prevents everything from spilling out, at least until the owner replaces the mana crystals.

The item storage device a Circle 9 would use is most definitely of such quality, but strangely, this particular one did not.

The assassin cried out in alarm, frightened by what he had pocketed. His mind reeled as he quickly thought of what this construe. The items inside a storage will spill out, and right now that storage is kept in his back pocket.

If a weapon appears, he might be stabbed right on his behind.

Oftentimes when someone is going through a life-or-death situation, things tends to speed up for him as a last ditch effort to survive. With uncanny speed, the assassin plucked out his whole pocket along with the pouch and threw it far away. An open patch is left on his behind together with five red finger marks.

Right when the pouch hit the ground, a single item fell out.

A tiny spell crystal that cracked the moment it spilled out.

As it shattered, the spell contained within activated.

A bright light engulfed the entire area, stunning those who are looking over.

With every person here on full alert, that assassin’s sudden panic, had attracted all of them to turn over.

This split moment blinded everyone. More than just light, they felt a powerfully compacted sound bubble cover them.

The weaker ones instantly fell over unconscious. The stronger ones were also stunned as they bleed out from their ears.

The Gnome King and the two elders are no exception even if they are far stronger. Of course, this little spell will not be able to hold them for long. But just a couple of moments was enough for the dwarven guards to arrive. Of course, even without such a contraption, the gnomes’ military presence in an allied city is already confirmed. It is just the difference between being caught red-handed or not.

When the gnomes came to their senses, they were already surrounded. There was no chance to flee.

Kairos had precisely timed defeating Exterminus and the assassins, the arrival of the gnome king’s party, the mana drain of the magic storage bag, and now, the arrival of the dwarf king’s guards.

Every step of the way was well within Kairos’ calculations. If the assassin did not spot the item storage bag, the spell crystal will not be able to blind everyone but the difference is small even if it failed because its main purpose is to render them helpless to the dwarven guards.

The Gnome King’s face was so dark that ink could’ve dripped off.

There will be plenty of explaining for this invasion.

At this time, Kairos’ group had reached the gnome city. A vast and city lined with innumerable flowers surrounded them.

A city guard hurried over.

His squeaky-clean boots and neat uniform is the company standard for all gnomes.

“Visitors?” a high-pitched voice with snobbish intonation addressed the five people party.

The guard promptly ignored the two unconscious men being carried and held out a hand.

“I do not care what business you have in our fair city, if you are smart enough,” he wriggled his digits.

The two girls looked at him strangely.

A tiny gnome that only stood up to Kairos’ waist is now asking openly for bribery. A city guard is fearlessly facing down the person who defeated a bunch of Stage 8 and 9 warriors.

This image is too incredible that the girls had to look twice.

Kairos did not seem surprised. He picked this checkpoint specifically because of this reason. The guards stationed here seemed to have this particular culture.

Without a word he searched for his pockets then fiddled out a small coin pouch.

The gnome’s eyes flashed when he spotted another item in the pocket. A magic storage device.

When Kairos handed the coin pouch over, the gnome sneered and pointed, “Give me that, also.”

When the guard saw Kairos being hesitant, he was even more pleased.

With a sigh, both the coin pouch and the item pouch were handed over, and they were promptly released when the guard took a look inside.

Even his eyes are curved in pleasure as if he had taken a huge advantage this time.

As they left angrily the guard waved them over with exposed glee on his lips.

The two girls cannot understand why Kairos allowed that little man to rob him, but he only laughed.

“The important thing right now is Clef and Boink, and this is the fastest way to get them to safety. And, the three of us are not faring much better.”

Lulatia had over expanded herself, Relestia’s Ki is running low, and although he didn’t look like it, Kairos is weaker than ever before.

“Why not just give him the coins?” Relestia asked. Everything is strange and new for the princess who stepped out of her palace.

Kairos smiled and answered patiently, “The fact that we are carrying two unconscious men makes us very suspicious and it gives the guard an excuse to rob us. If we don’t fork out enough, he will never let us go.”

“But, why two pouches?” Lulatia also asked.

“Because if we gave him too much in one go, he will only think that we have much more. Never test a person’s greed if you’re not prepared to lose more.”

The two nodded their heads and quickly tossed what happened out from their minds.

They hurried to the nearest inn and checked in for the night.

At this hour, all of the assassins are searching in the dwarven city, none of them thought that Kairos would strike first and immediately afterwards escape into their hometown.

In fact, the gnome king wanted Kairos to escape into the Royal Garden City and had left the gates wide open for the lad.

If he had escaped in that direction, they can easily close the door and trap him. However, no one expected Kairos to enter the gnome city while they were still stuck in the dwarven city.

The timing is explicit and it gives some time for Kairos to act.

They placed Clef and Boink in medical solution, and have Lulatia look after them both, then Kairos and Relestia rushed out.

Speed is of the essence, it is the only fighting chance they have to take down an entire kingdom.

The two split ways the moment they exited the inn. With the map of the city in hand, they know where to go quickly.

Relestia headed deep into the residents where the gentry lived meanwhile Kairos went straight to the minister offices.

Meanwhile, things were getting busy in the dwarven city. The gnome king and two elders sat at Hogard’s table as guests.

There were no mention of the invasion nor about Kairos. The dwarven king had a full face of smiles as if this was a customary visit from a neighbouring king.

The gnome king’s expression was unreadable, but his eyes flitted around as if a caged beast looking for a way out.

If the lad Kairos is trying to buy for time, Hogard will fully cater to that.