Don Alejandro was not aware of what was happening beneath his home.
The wedding was about to start.
"And what do you think of this black suit, Baron?" The skinny man, a tailor, asked Din Alejandro. "The fabric is top notch. Obviously imported, and has aether runes which make it glow under light."
Alejandro waved a hand, "bring the next one. I don't like this one. It's a wedding, not a burial you know."
"Ha ha ha... of course, my lord. Then allow me to present to you this marvelous white..."
Boom...
The earth shook.
The tailor staggered, trying to get stability with the walls.
Baron Alejandro's head snapped upright. Eyes widened in shock.
Immediately, he rushed over for his window, and looked outside. "No... no, no. Who the hell disturbed him. He is not supposed to be awake."
Immediately,
he rushed to dress up, putting on the black suit on display.
"My lord. This is suit hasn't been paid..."
"Enrique will handle it." Alejandro replied without turning back, as he hurried outside.
His steps were heavy, gaze strong as he backed orders.
Like others that had felt the vibration from below, Red and Black joined their father.
However, by the time they got to the Foyer, Baron Alejandro paused—shocked at the massive hole he was seeing that had been dug through the portrait on the wall.
His father's portrait.
"Quick... get the Saintess." He ordered and Black rushed to get her, while Red and Alejandro rushed for the hole in the wall.
Within, two things were missing.
Sophia's father and the Glassheart from the
safe.
Chains were melted on the ground from were Sophia's father had been imprisoned, and the opened safe was covered with broken branches.
Alejandro could no longer take it. "FIND THEM!!!" He bellowed in anger.
However, Polystar and
Vass were already sprinting through the tunnels.
Polystar carried Sophia's father and the Glassheart, while Vass carried Sophia.
"Damn it. I can't actually believe that it worked." Vass complained, but still smiled.
Polystar nodded. "Soren has some real explaining to do."
Polystar thought back to Soren drawing out a well detailed plan of the rescue, including the right time to move, and what to find even before they got there.
This had saved them a lot of time of searching, and helped them navigate the white robed men effectively.
If he were to describe it, then its best to say yhat it was fast, and efficient.
Not that Polystar was complaining. This was the best outcome of things they could hope for.
However, he could not throw tge question out of his mind.
How did Soren know all these things.
At such a thing, the huge explosion from underground reached them.
There was no doubt that Cynthia had met with a powerful foe.
"What's going on?" Sophia asked from ontop Polystar's shoulder.
"We need to change plans." He replied.
And both boys quickly acted, turning in a certain direction.
"You guys know i can walk by myself, right?" She complained.
"Yes... but you are not aware of the plan, you will only slow us down. Just keep quiet and let us handle it."
She could not help but pout. However, when she looked to the side and saw her father—alive and well, Sophia had no complains.
Meanwhile, Soren, Cynthia and Bloodshine moved fast.
With the disturbance underground, a lot worse was about to happen.
He remembered the disgusting inside of the Eldritch creature.
Truly, it was one of those experiences, he did not want to repeat again.
Hopefully, the Caretaker and the Eldritch soul would battle.
Yes. This was Soren's plan.
Of course, either side winning would be back for him and his friends, but it would have bought them a lot of time to retreat.
However, he had just cut a corner when Bloodshine screamed, "Don't look out."
A blade came for his neck through the side.
He leaned back, just enough that edge of the blade only cut a tiny part of his skin.
At the same time, Bloodshine waved a hand, blasting the intruder against the wall with soul energy.
The attack hit, but not enough to stop her.
It was Mora.
She sommersaulted in the air and landed gracefully.
Soren frowned.
How she was able to cut them off when she had been behind was not something he was sure of.
But it was clear that the this girl woukd not stop.
Not until she had killed him for what he did to her fathers.
Cynthia wanted to step forward, but Soren wrapped her huge hand. "Don't. This is my fight."
Cynthia looked at Mora. There was still this gond look in her eyes.
Then again, the two of them had been good childhood friends.
Now standing on the opposite side as enemies felt wrong.
But Soren was obviously determined to face Mora, and Cynthis did not mind.
"Take the box, and help Bloodshine out." Soren handed both the box and Bloodshine to Cynthia's care.
She nodded. However the big girl only took a few steps before she stopped. "Sooo-reen.... Caaareeefuuul"
Then she hurried along.
Mora did not give chase.
The box was not her target. It never was. Her target was always Soren.
Soren could see it clear as day. The hatred in her eyes for him was unimaginable.
"Mora..." he said the name, like it was foreign on his tongue.
"Why change your name? Vinegar was beautiful." Soren took a fighting stance.
Not because he wanted to fight her, but past experiences had let him understand that she would not hesitate to kill him.
Still, he really did not want to battle her. Nor hurt her. He still cared for her.
Loved her.
"Its none of your business, Soren. The only business you have with me, is... death."
She leaped, her dagger crossing for his neck a wide horizontal arc.
Clank.
Soren parried the attack.
Clank Clank clank.
He parried some more. He was on the defence.
"It does not have to be this way, Mora. I still love you. Come with me. I'm sure that we can still work things out."
Clank .
He parried yet another attack.
Soren's fighting style, had more technique. But there was no doubt that Mora has been learning.
Every arc she made showed refinement in her skill.
However, he still managed to keep up with her.
Mostly because he had more force behind his attacks.
The earth shook around them, and by now, even the tunnels had began having cracks.
They were breaking apart.
Soren reckoned that the old baron was not just awake, but also engaged with the Caretaker.
The plan was working.
Now, he only had to deal with Mora before him.
"What do you want me to say. I already Appologised. I did not mean to kill yhem, but if I didn't, you would...
you would have died."
She struck again. Harder this time around.
Pushing Soren back.
He hit the wall.
But had bemarely gotten his footing before she arrived, sweeping a kick for his legs.
Her goal was clear.
Cripple him, then kill him.
"Its my life. My decision to make, you fucking idiot." She screamed at him.
Second form: Mirror Copy.
Green soul energy oozed from her body.
Immediately, she kicked against the ground.
Soren had seen what she could do in her second form.
Mora was able to go up against Bloodshine.
And Bloodshine was strong.
First Form: Thief's Void.
This was the first time Soren was using his ability since what happened with the Shade Stealer.
He had lost a lot of his abilities, but he still had a rich arsenal.
And these were skills that Mora would never be able to copy.
Golden strings rushed from him as the world slowed down.
He was using Goldsworth ability.
It was sudden, unexpected. And although she blocked one string, another followed and another.
She could not dodge them all.
Boom.
She was slammed against the ground.
Wrapped in golden strings.
She looked at Soren... shocked.
'Had he always been this powerful? And this ability. This is at least a B rank's..."
After seeing the way Soren killed her fathers that day, she knew that he was anything but normal.
In fact, she believed that he was secretly A rank, and was hiding it.
She had seen him use fire, and assumed that was his ability, but now he was using strings?
Soren approached gently.
'Maybe that was overkill...'
He thought to himself. But he had truly become angry and impatient with her.
He reached her. Tied ln the ground.
The tunnels broke all around them. Good spat from the holes on the wall.
"Are you going to stop this madness and let us just... I don't know, sit and talk about this."
Mora's breathing was hard. "Okay. Let's talk." Her gaze focused. "In fact, I'll also stop. But let me know something.
Do you still love me?"
The question had come out of nowhere, taking Soren by surprise.