Alis had already fallen asleep, while Nafız closed her eyes and wanted to think quietly for a while, but the sound coming from outside with the stopping vehicle ruined both of their plans.
"Come out immediately, or should I come in!"
With the end of the speech, a great noise broke out; laughter and snickers were licking the arid lands.
"Judging by the voices, there are ten, maybe fifteen of them; please just rest!"
Opening the door of the vehicle slowly, the young man threw himself down in one move. He stood in front of the group wearing tattered gray clothes, their faces covered leaving only their eyes exposed.
"What was said was true, there really is a bright boy around fourteen or fifteen years old. Look at that, he is white all over!"
The person standing in front of the bandit group called out in a belittling tone to Alis, whom he scanned from head to toe.
"Cut it short, state your business!"
When his speaking with a drawl was interrupted, the man's eyes opened wide; undoubtedly, this was not the reaction he imagined.
"Look at us, so brave! Our business is your lives; you will die, but how it happens is in your hands. We also know there is a beautiful girl inside the vehicle; if she comes down and entertains us, you will taste a painless death!"
The eyes of those behind the man licking his two lips with his tongue also shone; according to the information they received, the girl was a very good piece.
"You are very generous and magnanimous, I will not forget this. As for me, I am quite stubborn; for example, since I decided to kill you while getting out of the vehicle, whatever you say, your end is certain!"
With the words of the young man in white, the team consisting of thirteen people drew their weapons; after overcoming the obstacle in front of them, the entertainment inside the vehicle was waiting for them.
"Alis, I want that diarrhea-mouth who talks too much alive!"
"As you command!"
The group across from him slowly surrounded Alis after grabbing various weapons like spears, swords, machetes, and daggers. As for the young man inside the white snakeskin suit, he was watching their movements calmly; finally, when they closed the circle, two weapons appeared in his hands too.
Two katanas made of cold metal rising above milk-white hilts extended on his two sides. Their lengths were adjusted such that when they were in the young boy's hands, only a finger's distance remained for them to touch the ground.
"White Death is returning to the lands where it was made today; I must honor this with a bloody celebration!"
Alis slowly raised his two katanas into the air and held them crossed in front of him; while the lights of the crimson sun reflected off them, the most striking feature was the letter at the place where the hilt ended and the blade began.
It was impossible not to see the engraving of the letter R facing opposite directions on the weapons; on one side, after the channels made to increase sharpness, the weapon ended with a tip inclined to one side.
While thirteen people were lost in the beauty of the swords, three heads left their bodies and flew into the air. As for the remaining ten people, they were still looking at the afterimage left behind by the young man in white.
"A group of losers who haven't even been able to realize Blood Awakening yet, which idiot sent you here!"
The bandit team, seeing the young man they surrounded next to the dead bodies of their friends falling to the ground, couldn't understand what happened.
When they blinked, everything was over. Their enemy was wiping his blood-stained katanas on the dead bodies of their friends with whom they laughed and had fun together in the morning.
"Run!"
"Wrong information, scatter!"
Seeing that the one across from them was an insurmountable mountain for them, the group scattered, each in a different direction; their aim was to escape by scattering so much that a single person couldn't chase them.
"Blood Dome!"
Their plan was good according to the situation and perfect in terms of implementation speed, but what they didn't know was that they messed with the very wrong people. Blood-red symbols spreading from where the vehicle was were turning into a bell jar blocking their way by passing under their feet.
"Essence shaping, this is essence shaping!"
"Who is in the vehicle, is it an elder of the sect?"
"We've been trapped!"
Nafız had used this technique countless times on the Orc Steppes, killing many enemies she trapped inside. Almost all of them had tried to get out by attacking the red walls, but the situation was completely different for ten people.
As Alis guessed, these people were those who failed to achieve Blood Awakening, but they knew very well how this dome was formed. They were people trying to transfer the blood energy inside them to their weapons; now they were surrounded by someone who could comfortably shape blood essence.
"We are blind insects who cannot see in front of our eyes; we beg the superior one to spare our worthless lives!"
Ten people turning toward the vehicle and prostrating shouted in unison; after seeing the difference between their powers, this was their only option.
"Didn't you want me to come down and entertain you? I am disappointed!"
When Nafız's words ended, a light breeze passed over the ten people; death had come to them with the pleasantness of a breeze blowing in a summer evening.
"I beg you, don't kill me, I will do whatever you say. I want to be your slave until I die, just spare my life!"
The man, who was the leader and the only survivor of the thirteen-person group, crawled towards the vehicle; a plea completed his every movement.
"Who sent you?"
"We don't know exactly who it is, but orders come from someone included in the Holy Blood Sect!"
His eyes opened wide; the arrow entering right in the middle of his forehead didn't allow him to say another word.
"Alis, we are going!"
The distance between the place they wanted to reach and the port corresponded to a week's journey; after what happened on the first day, nothing noteworthy happened.
Although the duration extended because the vehicle's navigation system preferred the safest routes, it was successful in protecting the passengers from natural dangers.
On the evening of the sixth day, the vehicle first reduced its speed, and after a while, completely stopped. This time it hadn't hit an artificial obstacle; it had stopped because it arrived exactly at the desired place.
When the duo left the vehicle, the mechanical tool intended for transport started to return to the port obeying the command it received. Nafız and Alis were left alone with a town filled with dilapidated two-story houses and a chateau built on the hill at the end of the winding road.
"It has nothing to do with the place in my master's memories, what happened here?"
The girl in black and the young man carrying every shade of white began to advance inside the ruins, while their eyes were on the writings written on the walls.
"Cursed lineage!"
"You will die, like the others!"
"Guilty!"
All were written in blood, and Nafız was sure that this was not the writer's blood. When the town ended, they entered a road where three people could barely fit side by side; this road, with cliffs on both sides, was steep and winding.
At its end, there was a chateau with four towers seated on a giant rock mass; when they approached this structure surrounded by high walls outside, a voice rang in their ears.
"Open the gate!"
It was a harsh, mighty but equally familiar voice; Nafız, who had turned into breathtaking beauty, smiled slightly.
The duo glided softly under the slowly opening large gate; the heavy gate descended with a great noise behind them. When they entered the garden of the chateau, they saw that everywhere was covered with small tents. People of all ages and children were looking at them in fear.
"Lord Jashua is coming!"
"Lord Jashua is coming!"
The burly warrior at the head of the path naturally formed among the crowd shouted twice as loud as his breath allowed.
The mass of people, resembling zombies until that moment, quickly came to the side of the road and kneeled; the fear in their eyes had gone and left its place to a mixture of admiration and gratitude.
And when a shadow appeared at the inner gate of the chateau, all eyes turned in that direction. Someone a head taller than everyone else was walking waving his blood-red cape.