Rise of The Holy-Realm Rebel

The soldier had been in the very path of the fireball, therefore, I lost sight of him the moment it arrived. He was probably dead. Those flames radiated a power that would lick our bones into nothingness.

Coughing as a result of the dust that had risen and the effects of the shockwaves, my heart skipped a beat when I realized I had been buried under the rubble of the safe house. Fortunately, the metallic frames we kept the tools on somehow held the rest of the debris from crashing down on me.

The entrance had collapsed, though—More like blown away. Had I not taken a step back in time, I would have been in a worse situation than now.

Navigating my surroundings with my hand I found something, and without hesitation, I picked it up and rammed it into a crumbled portion that had a gap. The entire mass of debris shook as I further jeopardized its structural integrity. But I had no option.

My second strike blew a significant hole, and the laws of nature did the rest.

I managed to escape by dashing before the entire thing crumbled completely. I did not bother to consider how I managed that feat.

The noise coming from the outside reached my ears again and my eyes fell on the chaotic insides of the camp.

The gate had indeed been blown open and needless to say, slaves rushed towards it. Many managed to get out before the soldiers could organize themselves to stop their escape.

The sound of metals clashing reached my ears, but they were coming from up in the hill, and for a second I wondered how those who had attacked, had managed to get on the hill.

'What type of force had mobilized themselves to deal this much damage in such a short period?' I wondered inwardly, sprinting away from the blown-up entrance. Instead, I aimed for the hole on the east side.

Ramming through anyone who delayed me to the side, I raised the pickaxe I had gotten from the shed. There were two men standing guard of the hole.

I made sure to sprint from one of their blind spots, thanks to others distracting them for me, and in the blink of an eye, I rammed my axe into the man's left shoulder. He had managed to catch a glimpse of my raged charge but had been too late.

My axe crushed everything and dug deep into his back. His roar of agony alerted his colleague who happened to be a Wind-Crafter. Only a low-leveled one.

The man pointed his free arm at me as the wind gathered in his hand.

In that split second, I decided to forego my axe still embedded in the soldier's back.

Instead, I crouched and pushed the dead man forward.

The attack charged enough and a powerful burst of wind shot forward. It lacked enough power to immediately kill a man, but it could push me back enough to buy the man time.

Unfortunately, that blast only landed on his dead comrade and my figure leaped out of his back to launch myself into his arms.

A risky game, but I managed to come close enough to understand that swinging a sword was pointless.

My fist flew forward and struck him in his belly.

Six months of swinging an axe for hours paid off. Since I managed to send him crouching. The fellow was only at the early stages of the Plateau stage. He had access to several things, but he wasn't too far from a normal human.

Only past the midpoint of that stage could he gain access to more evident power.

My blow wasn't enough to crush anything, but I didn't stop with one. My fist flew up and connected with his jaw.

Pain exploded from my hands, but it didn't matter. The fellow fell to the ground, alive but very much disoriented.

He had let go of his sword which I managed to pick before bolting. Others ran with me but I barely saw them.

Thanks to the rush my body had generated from that many wild events, plus the overflowing excitement from my suddenly gained freedom my legs moved.

I leaped forward with the vigor of an athlete. It didn't matter that I did this on an empty stomach. The stakes were too high for my body to crash now. Besides, my stamina had reached new heights in the past six months.

My figure wheezed and weaved itself through the various trees that stood around me.

I called upon my knowledge of those areas and quickly chose a direction.

I ran in the opposite direction of the areas I had been to since the soldiers also knew those locations. But in all honesty, it didn't matter where I went, as long as I created as much distance from the slave camp.

No one had followed me. The few who had escaped at the same time I did knew not to gather together. We all went in separate directions.

It wasn't until after twenty minutes of movement that was I forced to stop. By this point, the event occurring in the camp was too distant to be heard, but I could still see smoke and fire on the horizon.

My chest rose and fell in an erratic sequence of breaths as I struggled to breathe enough, but that detail barely worried me. No. How could I be worried? I was out, finally!

I silently thanked whatever group of valiant knights had come to our aid, even if some of their men had been caught in the crossfire. That was inevitable, however.

I spent the next few minutes catching my breath before I resumed my sprinting, yes.

Still, at some point, a significant explosion reverberated through the skies as scores of birds flocked away in search of safety. Foreboding. I frowned, worried.

The explosion was strong enough to be heard from the distance I had created, and behold I saw a great smoke and brilliant fire ascend with even greater intensity.

From my predictions, the entire hill had been set ablaze!

"Goodness…" I muttered, finding refuge on a fallen tree. By this point, I was certainly out of reach at least for several hours. I also planned to continue moving at some point.

The blade I had stolen laid on my thighs, its metallic frame glistening in the light that streamed down from the moon.

The forest was silent, dead silent. I partially worried about the presence of wild beasts, but at the very least I'd be able to protect myself.

Thanks to my time with the hunting party, I knew the animals within those forests were nothing compared to the monsters that roamed regions with higher concentrations of Solarin.

I took in a deep breath as I wondered what I'd do from that point on.

"I'll cross that bridge when I reach it," I muttered standing.

Surveying the world around me, I contemplated my direction. So far I had simply been running southwest of the camp. Now I could choose another direction and continue that way.

However, whilst in thought my eyes caught something, and I snapped my gaze up to catch the sight of a strange orange streak tearing through the sky.

"What in tarnation…" My eyes widened when I realized its trajectory. It was headed for my position. And quickly at that!

Ideas gushed through my mind as I turned to begin another sprint.

Had Ivon sent it for me? Were those flames a special type of craft that searched out certain individuals? That possibility wasn't inconceivable. Elemental-Crafts could have gotten advanced. Like the explosive devices used to capture us. They did not exist during my time

Horror unfolded in my chest like the ripple effect of a droplet. I turned to look up, only to find that it was now directly above me.

Yet to my shock, it crossed my position to streak towards the distance ahead of me.

…???

Stunned, I halted my steps to watch where the streak was headed. It abruptly lost its orange glow to suddenly descend about a hundred meters from me. I caught the outline of a human, thanks to the moon.

I heard the crashing of trees but felt my feet stick to the ground in fear and hesitation.

'Should I check it out, should I not?' I wondered. It definitely wasn't an intelligent decision to make. But I was already too close. If it was after me it would indeed catch up to me quickly.

'What if it was a survivor from the camp?' I added trying to persuade myself that the best decision was running. I succeeded and picked a direction that would lead me away from there.

"Eiko!" A shrill feminine voice, cried out abruptly—startling me. But unfathomable shock shook my being when I realized that I recognized that voice.

"Nura?!"