"Friend, it's time for you to make yourself useful." Zeig stared at March 7th's broom-like hair and said in a deep voice.
"...What does Big Brother mean by that? Big Brother's words are so cold-hearted—it makes it seem like it's Little Sister's fault instead." March 7th said in a sarcastic, tea-spilling tone.
Leaving one person as bait to cover the others' retreat.
Obviously, the useful one should be the one left behind!
Brother Dao rubbed his forehead and urged:
"Hurry up and decide—the Silvermane Guards will surround us soon. If that happens, the losses will only be worse than now!"
"What's the rush? Why don't you do it yourself?" March 7th crossed her arms and shot back at Brother Dao.
"?"
Hearing this, Brother Dao's gaze slowly fell on March 7th, his expression unkind as he said:
"Are you talking to me?"
With a flash of blade light, March 7th only felt an invisible gust of fierce wind sweep past her side and slash into the large tree behind her.
In an instant, the tree was cleaved in two, crashing down with a massive noise.
This action immediately caused the pursuing group of Silvermane Guards—as well as Seele and the others—to narrow their encirclement.
"Now we have even less time. I advise you to move faster!"
"..."
"What's wrong? Move already!"
"..."
"Speak up?!"
Seeing Zeig and March 7th standing motionless, both dazed, Brother Dao immediately fumed.
He was about to lose it when from not far away came the sound of Silvermane Guards:
"Quick! I've spotted them—move fast, don't let them escape!!"
"This is bad." Brother Dao thought inwardly:
"Now we..."
But before he could finish, the two people in front of him vanished.
"???"
Brother Dao looked around and finally spotted two small black dots running desperately in the distance.
"Damn it... you bastards!!"
These two were too cowardly—no sense of sacrifice at all!
What now?
"..."
Brother Dao also picked a direction and started running, pondering as he went.
It was hard to say about the others, but if he got caught, the rebel organization's combat power would drop massively—and they'd lose their core pillar.
"Tch, I really don't get why those two are running so hard! They've already swallowed poison—early death or late death, they're dead anyway!"
"Halt!!"
At that moment, Silvermane Guards surged in endlessly from all directions. The moment they saw him, they chased like madmen.
"It's that guy! The Supreme Guardian said the Belobog History and Culture Museum was most likely burned by him!"
"Too detestable!"
"This time we have to capture him and bring him to justice!"
"Hahahaha, let me, old Sampo, lend you a hand!"
"?"
Feeling the wild wind roaring from behind, Brother Dao immediately turned and raised his blade horizontally.
"Clang—!!"
The two blades clashed, sparking fiercely.
After realizing who it was, Brother Dao shouted:
"Fine, even you're helping those dogs? Weren't you just helping us find pigments before!"
"Heh!" Sampo gripped his blades with both hands and pressed forward forcefully. "Times have changed—they offered me conditions I couldn't refuse! Hahaha!"
"Pfft—!!"
Suddenly, a light sound rang out, and Sampo slowly looked down.
"?"
He saw a long spear pierce through his waist from behind and out the front.
In an instant, blood gushed out.
"Hmph, blue-haired bastard! Finally caught you, huh! Didn't expect you'd be infighting at a time like this."
"?"
Sampo dazedly turned his head and saw it was a Silvermane Guard officer who had stabbed him.
"What are you staring at? We finally nabbed you—hahahaha!" The officer named Dunn laughed loudly.
"..."
This scene left Brother Dao dumbfounded. Seeing Sampo stunned, he backflipped away from Sampo's attack range and fled.
But Sampo was still staring blankly at Dunn.
"What's wrong, did the stab daze you? Hahahaha—!!"
Dunn pulled out the spear and stabbed again, repeatedly, making "pfft pfft" sounds.
Sampo pursed his lips, narrowed his eyes, and said in a low voice:
"Did no one tell you I'm an ally? Was this on purpose or an accident?"
"Ally? Heh, who are you fooling!"
Dunn raised the spear, pulled it out and stabbed again—another pfft.
"Blue-hair, even though I wasn't in the army these past few days, with such a clumsy lie, you still think you can fool handsome and charming me?"
"..."
"You haven't asked around? Who doesn't know my name, Dunn, now?"
"..."
"Captain, what are you doing! This blue-hair is an ally now!"
"?"
A few Silvermane Guards caught up, saw the scene, and quickly pulled Dunn back, explaining:
"Captain, you were away these past few days so you don't know! This blue-hair is one of us now—stop stabbing him!"
"Hm? Something like that happened?"
Another pfft—Dunn pulled the spear out from Sampo's waist.
The latter immediately clutched his wounded waist, spitting a pool of blood onto the snow without holding back.
He shakily raised his head, weakly saying:
"You fu—"
Thud.
Sampo lost consciousness and collapsed into the snow.
Two lines of tears flowed uncontrollably.
"..." Dunn sniffed, stepped back a few paces, and grumbled:
"Seriously, why didn't he tell me earlier! If he'd said it, I wouldn't have stabbed him!"
"Captain, he just told you he was one of us, but you didn't believe him and stabbed him several times anyway."
"...My bad."
"..."
Originally, Sampo had almost caught up to Brother Dao, but now he was lying on a stretcher being carried away.
After Brother Dao escaped Sampo's threat, besides the surging Silvermane Guards, another graceful figure was rapidly approaching.
"Hmph, you're the one who set the fire and blackened Bronya's face, right? I promised them I'd personally send you to prison to eat jail food!"
Seele flashed in front of Brother Dao in an instant, without a word swung her scythe, and launched a fierce assault!
"Hmph, send me to eat jail food? Feel free to try!"
Facing Seele's ferocious attack, Brother Dao showed no fear and charged straight in.
Surging flames and afterimages intertwined and clashed within the encirclement of the Silvermane Guards.
Brother Dao was indeed slower than Seele, but every strike was razor-sharp, chopping against Seele's scythe until her hands ached to the bone.
And on Brother Dao himself, wounds gradually increased.
"I'd like to see how long you can last!" Seele grew stronger the longer they fought, more excited the more she struck.
"Last? Heh, I'm just waiting for everyone to gather a bit more."
Seeing the surrounding Silvermane Guards growing denser, Brother Dao's lips curled into a cold smile. He then kicked Seele away with one foot, creating distance.
"Miss Seele... are you okay!" Several Silvermane Guards rushed forward.
"Wait..." In the moment of being repelled, Seele's pupils dilated as if realizing something. She hurriedly shouted to the Silvermane Guards gathering to block Brother Dao's escape:
"Don't come closer—fall back!!"
But by the time she reacted, it was already too late.
The man wiped his hand along the blade, igniting the edge with a layer of fiery red flames, then grinned savagely and slashed forward fiercely.
In an instant.
"Boom—!!"
Roaring flames surged like a tsunami, devouring everything. The towering inferno left Seele and the Silvermane Guards nowhere to run, all swallowed into the sea of fire.
A pillar of flame shot skyward.
...