Elias and Rin walked quickly down the quiet, empty streets of Kuoh Town.
Suddenly, Elias stopped walking. He firmly held out his arm, blocking Rin from taking another step.
"Stop,"
Elias whispered, his dark eyes scanning the shadows.
"What is it?"
Rin asked, reaching for her magic gems.
"Mages,"
Elias answered simply.
"They are hiding all around us."
The moment he spoke, half a dozen men in dark cloaks jumped out from the narrow alleys.
They raised their hands, chanting dark spells to attack them.
But Elias didn't even have to move a single muscle.
Before the mages could throw their magic, bright red streaks of light rained down from the sky.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
Explosive arrows hit the ground perfectly, blasting the dark mages away one by one.
It was Archer.
He had secretly followed them and was shooting from a very high rooftop far away.
Elias stood still and watched the arrows hit the ground.
He actually felt a little bit disappointed.
Because Archer's arrows were not targeting him, his body did not feel the impact.
His Adaptivity power did not activate.
He could not learn or adapt to Archer's special archery just by watching it happen to someone else.
His body needed to be affected by the attack to instantly master it.
There was only one mage left standing.
Archer fired his final arrow, aiming straight for the man's head.
But right before the arrow hit its target, Elias completely disappeared.
In a fraction of a second, Elias reappeared standing right in front of the terrified mage.
Elias raised his bare hand and effortlessly swatted the glowing red arrow away.
The powerful arrow bounced off his hand and hit a brick wall, exploding harmlessly.
Far away on the high roof, Archer lowered his bow.
He glared down at Elias with a very sharp, annoyed look.
Elias just looked up at the roof and gave Archer a playful, challenging smirk.
The surviving mage let out a huge, shaking breath.
He fell to his knees, looking up at Elias with pure relief.
"Th-thank you!"
The dark mage gasped, thinking Elias had stepped in to save his life.
Elias slowly looked down at the man. His dark eyes were completely cold.
"I didn't save you,"
Elias said in a flat voice.
"I just wanted to test his arrow."
Before the mage could even process those words, Elias swung his hand.
A sharp, invisible force snapped the man's neck instantly.
The mage dropped to the ground, completely dead.
Rin didn't pay any attention to the dead attackers.
She ran past them and pushed the heavy wooden door of the safe house open.
"Sakura!"
Rin yelled loudly, running into the dark house.
"Sakura, I am here!"
Elias waited outside.
A few moments later, Rin slowly walked back out the front door.
Her face was completely pale. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably.
"She is gone,"
Rin whispered, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks.
"The room is a mess. There are signs of a struggle. I was too late, Elias. They already took her."
The heavy, burning hatred beat strongly inside Elias's chest once again.
He knew exactly what he had to do.
"Where is the Matou family located, Rin?"
Elias asked.
His voice was low, serious, and completely focused.
Rin didn't hesitate for a single second.
She wanted that old monster dead.
"Fuyuki City,"
Rin answered quickly, wiping her eyes.
"They live in a large, dark mansion right on the edge of the city. It is surrounded by dead trees."
Elias nodded his head. He looked toward the horizon.
"Go back to my house and stay with the others,"
Elias instructed her gently.
"I am going to Fuyuki right now. The kidnappers are definitely bringing her straight to Zouken."
Elias bent his knees slightly. The ground cracked beneath his feet.
"I will bring your sister back,"
Elias promised.
With a massive boom that shook the entire street, Elias launched himself into the sky.
He moved incredibly fast, heading straight toward Fuyuki City to hunt down the old ghost.
High up in the sky, Elias flew like a speeding bullet.
The wind roared past his ears.
A few moments later, a golden spark flashed right next to him.
Archer appeared, running purely on magical energy through the air to keep up with him.
"Fuyuki City is very far from Kuoh,"
Archer yelled over the loud wind, glaring at Elias.
"The kidnappers have a big head start. Are you sure we can catch them?"
Elias kept his eyes totally focused on the horizon.
"We will beat them there,"
Elias answered confidently.
"They cannot use teleportation magic. If they use a portal, the Devil magical barriers will instantly track their exact location. They have to travel the normal way to stay hidden."
"So they are driving,"
Archer realized, nodding his head.
"Exactly,"
Elias said.
"With our speed, we will reach Fuyuki in half an hour. We will be waiting for them."
Thirty minutes later, Elias and Archer landed silently on the dark, quiet edge of Fuyuki City.
Right in front of them stood the Matou family compound.
It was a massive, creepy old mansion surrounded by completely dead trees.
The air around the house felt heavy, cold, and incredibly unwelcoming.
Elias did not knock.
He melted into the shadows and walked perfectly silently through the heavy front doors.
Archer stayed in his invisible spirit form, following right behind him.
As Elias walked down the dark, dusty hallway, he heard a loud, whiny voice coming from a side room.
Elias peeked through the cracked door.
A boy with wavy blue hair was pacing back and forth, grinning like a complete madman. It was Shinji Matou.
"Just wait until they bring Sakura here,"
Shinji laughed to himself, his voice full of ugly, arrogant pride.
"I am going to completely break her. I will breed her and make proper, strong Matou heirs! And when her stupid sister Rin comes crying to save her, I will have Lancer kill Rin right in front of her eyes!"
Elias narrowed his dark eyes.
He felt a deep surge of disgust looking at the crazy boy.
Shinji was weak, loud, and completely pathetic.
Elias raised his hand to snap Shinji's neck, just like he did to the mage in the alley.
But then, Elias lowered his hand.
*I will let him live for now,*
Elias thought coldly.
*He is just a noisy bug. I have a bigger target to hunt.*
Elias ignored Shinji and walked deeper into the mansion.
Suddenly, the heavy, burning hatred exploded inside his chest again.
It was Dee's blessing reacting. It felt like he had just stepped into a graveyard filled with rotting, stolen time.
Elias followed that disgusting, sick feeling all the way down a long flight of stone stairs.
He stopped perfectly still at the bottom, hiding in the total darkness.
Through a small opening, he saw the damp, dirty basement.
The old, walking corpse, Zouken Matou, was sitting in a wooden chair.
The stern head of the Himejima clan stood right next to him.
Elias let out a tiny, silent breath of relief.
Sakura was not in the room.
The kidnappers had not arrived yet. He had won the race.
"The strike team is taking a very long time,"
The Himejima head complained, crossing his arms with a serious frown.
"Are you absolutely sure they captured the girl?"
Zouken let out a dry, rattling laugh.
"Do not worry,"
Zouken rasped, tapping his wooden cane on the stone floor.
"My spies confirmed it. They have Sakura. But they have to drive all the way from Kuoh Town in secret. They are staying off the main roads to avoid the Devils."
Zouken's hollow, creepy eyes glowed in the dark.
"They will be here very soon,"
Zouken smiled a horrible, greedy smile.
"And once she is in this basement, I will immediately begin the ritual. The Holy Grail will be mine."
Elias listened to the old monster from the shadows.
He didn't want to wait anymore.
He let his dark eyes glow with a faint purple light.
*Tick.*
The entire dirty basement was instantly covered in a heavy, glowing purple color.
Gasper's time-stopping magic had a limited range, but for this small, enclosed room, it was more than enough.
The water dripping from the ceiling froze in mid-air. Zouken and the Himejima head completely stopped moving.
Time was completely paused.
Elias stepped out of the shadows.
He didn't waste any time with a grand speech.
He simply formed a sharp, invisible blade of pure magic in his hand, walked right up to Zouken, and cleanly slashed the old man's head right off his neck.
The head flew into the air. Elias took a step back and lowered his hand.
*Tick.*
The purple light vanished. Time instantly started moving again.
*Thud.*
Zouken's headless body slumped back into the wooden chair.
His severed head hit the cold stone floor and rolled a few feet away.
The Himejima head gasped in pure shock.
He jumped back, looking around wildly.
He had absolutely no idea what had just happened or how Elias suddenly appeared in the middle of the room.
Elias stood calmly, looking down at the floor.
He expected the old monster to finally die and turn to dust.
But then, a dry, raspy laugh echoed from the ground.
"Well, well. This is quite a surprise."
The severed head spoke.
Elias frowned slightly.
Even with his head completely cut off from his body, Zouken Matou was still alive.
The old man's creepy, hollow eyes looked up at Elias from the dirty stone floor.
"You actually managed to kill me,"
Zouken's head chuckled, completely ignoring the fact that he was in pieces.
"I must admit, Elias Thorne, I am very shocked to see you standing here in my basement."
Elias looked down at the talking head with cold, empty eyes.
"Why are you surprised?"
Elias asked simply.
"Because you do not act like a normal young hero,"
Zouken rasped, his voice sounding like dry, scratching leaves.
"A normal boy would be running around the streets right now. A normal hero would desperately try to find the kidnappers to save the poor little girl. They always chase the bait. They almost never go directly for the mastermind."
The old head smiled a horrible, twisted smile.
"You didn't even try to look for the car,"
Zouken noted, his glowing eyes studying Elias carefully.
"You just came straight to my house to cut off my head. You are very ruthless for a young teenager."
Elias narrowed his dark eyes.
He didn't want to listen to the old monster talk anymore.
He let his eyes glow purple once again.
*Tick.*
The heavy purple light froze the room.
Elias raised his hand. His invisible magic blade flashed through the air again and again.
He didn't hold back. He hacked Zouken's severed head and his body into dozens of tiny pieces.
He lowered his hand.
*Tick.*
Time started moving again.
But to his surprise, Zouken still did not die.
There was no blood on the floor. Instead, hundreds of disgusting, squirming black worms spilled out of the chopped pieces of meat.
The worms crawled all over the stone floor, gathering together.
"You cannot kill me, boy!"
Zouken's raspy voice echoed from the pile of bugs.
"Swords and magic mean nothing to me!"
Elias stood perfectly still, watching the worms crawl. His mind worked very fast.
He had played many video games before. He knew exactly how this kind of enemy worked.
If a boss monster didn't die when you destroyed its body, it meant its true weakness was hiding somewhere else.
"I see,"
Elias said calmly, figuring out the puzzle.
"You don't even have a real human body anymore. You are just a moving pile of bugs."
Elias looked around the dirty basement.
"Your real weakness is not here,"
Elias stated confidently.
"Your main core must be a specific worm. And you hid it far away from this house to keep yourself completely safe."
The pile of worms suddenly stopped moving.
Zouken realized that the young boy was incredibly smart.
Before the old monster could say anything else, the Himejima clan head finally broke out of his shock.
He pulled a stack of glowing paper talismans from his robes. His face was red with anger.
"How dare you ignore me!"
The Himejima head yelled.
He gathered his powerful Shinto magic to blast Elias into the wall.
"Die, you arrogant brat!"
Elias didn't even turn his head to look at him.
He simply tapped the bottom of his shoe against the stone floor.
He used the jewel magecraft that Rin had taught him, instantly adapting it to be completely deadly.
*CRASH!*
Massive, razor-sharp spikes of black jewel exploded up from the stone floor beneath the clan head's feet.
They moved faster than lightning.
The black spikes instantly pierced right through the Himejima head's stomach, chest, and skull.
The stern clan head didn't even have time to scream.
He died instantly, his body left hanging silently in the air on the dark, glowing spikes.
Elias finally turned his head to look at the dead man.
"You were in my way,"
Elias muttered coldly.
He then looked back down at the pile of worms.
"Now,"
Elias said to Zouken, his voice completely empty of mercy.
"Where did you hide your real body?"
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