Sacrifice: Time of Mine

Jemer sighed at this sight.

"Is this due to my absence?" he then complacently walked up to the small old man with long hairs. He placed his hand on the old man's shoulder and released a bit of his aura as a Rank Dih Elementalist.

"Let's go back to where you all belong. I want to know who let you all out." his squinted eyes could make children cry, or rather, his business look was let out intimidation.

"Hmm..." the old man just smiled, unperturbed. His wrinkly hands held Jemer's.

"Hm?" Jemer felt it was a bit odd that this mortal old man had the audacity to touch a Rank Dih Elementalist when his world suddenly shifted.

Thud*

He only heard a light thud before he could no longer feel his body.

"Eh?" was the only word that came out of his mouth as he looked up at the midnight sky.

Sweat poured from all over his body.

'I... I can't feel my body...' Jemer's heart palpitated as he rolled his eyes to the cause of his state of his.

'What?' he thought inwardly mumbled.

"Little Jemer, don't think that just because you're a damned Elementalist, you can do anything to anyone." the old man chuckled.

The old man's back was the only thing Jemer could see. Now that he was incapacitated, no one bats an eye at him.

Raff had his eyes widened. He couldn't understand what just happened in that second.

"I see..." Avion muttered as he glanced at Marin, "Long Hair, so that's why you know I'm here."

"You know me?" the old man that was called Long Hair smirked.

"A little. Heard it from Marin." Avion looked around and saw that there should be around a dozen people around Long Hair. These dozen people were all from the mortal stadium. Although he wasn't familiar with all of them, he was familiar to some.

In the mention of Marin, Long Hair's face became solemn.

"What have you done to our Goddess?" his voice changed into something that can shudder bones.

Avion immediately stopped time and thought about what he should do.

"These people should be from the Dark-Bladed Shadows. So they are all mortals. However, I know just how terrifying martial arts can be."

After a moment in his own world, Avion smiled, "I don't know their capabilities but seeing that Jemer is already on the ground, they should be the real deal, or at least, that old man, Long Hair."

Coming back to his previous position, which is considerably easy since there's a trace on Marin's clothes, Avion resumed time. In that instant, Long Hair frowned. He saw the subtle shift of Avion's position. However, he dismissed it as just a trick of an eye.

From the information he got, Avion should be a mortal as well. Furthermore, they met back in the mortal stadium. If Avion is not a mortal then why was he in the mortal stadium?

Without his knowledge, due to the fact that Marin was too busy editing her paper that the report of Avion's mysterious power got delayed. Now that Avion got a hold of her, that report wouldn't reach Long Hair's ears anytime soon.

"What's your relationship with Marin?" Avion asked.

Although he have the grasp of the situation after using a lot of time thinking, he wouldn't lose anything by making it sure.

Long Hair stayed quiet and only replied after a pause.

"You only need to bring her back if you don't want to be like this dying man." he pointed at Jemer.

'Dying!?' Jemer felt anxious since his heartbeat was slowing down as moments passed. Even if what Long Hair said was false, it would be true in an anxious man's ears.

'I can't die here! No!'

Jemer inwardly panicked but there was nothing he could do, he couldn't even mumble what he was feeling at the moment. He could only hope that Avion or Raff do something about it.

Meanwhile, Avion and Raff were alerted. For Avion, Jemer is already a friend. He wouldn't want him to die. The latter, Raff was a kind guy at his very a core. If he let someone die in front of him, his consciousness wouldn't be able to take it.

'However, Jemer should be stronger than me yet that old man easily handled him.' Raff looked around, 'And there's more people whom I don't know the strengths of...'

Although he is kind, he wasn't someone dumb who's willing to die for a person he just met.

While he was internally conflicted, he heard a voice, "Mister Raff, I need your help."

Raff's eyes widened and looked at Avion, 'Right, him! Maybe he can!'

"What is it!? As long as I can do it!"

"Hold her for me!" Avion gently passed Marin onto Raff.

"U-uh...? S-sure..."

Long Hair didn't want to make this longer and said, "If you do not want to bring her back to us, you will die!"

"Why would I give her to someone I don't know and to someone who just threatened to kill me!?" Avion then positioned himself to combat.

"Argh..." Long Hair frowned before realizing, "Yeah, you're right... umm... we are Marin's subordinates. Can you please bring her back to us?"

"..." Avion didn't expect the change of situation. He stood up straight and replied, "I am not taking her forcefully so she can do whatever she wants after she woke up. She's just sleeping from fatigue actually."

"Is that so... if that is true, you must be taking care of her and I apologize for misunderstanding." Long Hair became understanding.

Others like Hammerpig rose an eyebrow.

"But, if you could please, can you restore Jemer's state?" Avion then requested.

"Him?" Long Hair's face darkened, "Sorry, but once others saw us, they can't be left alive. After all, dead men tell no tales. Huehue..."

Jemer shuddered while Avion replied with a solemn gaze.

"Doesn't that mean that you wouldn't let us go from the start?"

"You figured me out." Long Hair shrugged.

"We'll fight?"

"To death, child." Long Hair calmly replied. At the next moment, his eyes widened when Avion's body disappeared then appeared with a second as a gap. The old man could no longer dismiss it as a trick of an eye.

Long Hair was confused when he heard groans around him. He looked around and his people began falling one by one, fainting.

"Then it's a one on one deathmatch." Avion positioned himself again to combat.

Long Hair's eyes rolled back to Avion with now a deadly gaze.