The group was always prepared for an attack to occur at any moment. The city, in the eyes of others, was now weak and a prime target for many.
"Who are they, and why did they come with Ivor?" Charlotte asked as she ran alongside the others.
She felt a little bad because she could tell that Anna, Raze, and Harbour were all running at a slower speed just so she could catch up. She wasn't a Pagna warrior after all, and Anna was some type of enhanced superhuman in the first place.
"At first, I thought they were from the Demonic Faction, but I don't recognize any of them as being from the Demonic Faction. I was a bit startled when I saw Ivor, and they asked for something called the Lux Sword, but now, thinking back to it, I think they were some high-profile wanderers," Harbour answered.
This gave Raze a bigger idea. He doubted it was the Demonic Faction as well. They didn't act like this; they wouldn't sneak in and then take a hostage or come to the base.
They were here for one reason only, and that was the sword. The fact that they knew the sword's real name meant Raze had a few questions for them.
Just up ahead, they could see the double doors that would lead down to the reception. Raze still had the Lux Sword. The very thing they were looking for was in his possession.
"I do have a small favor to ask," Harbour said nervously. "We have already used a lot of our finances to repair the base. If you could pay attention to try and not destroy the room, that would do me well."
"I will try," Raze answered. "But I might not be able to control my strength."
Saying those words, there was an underlying smile. Raze, now a middle-stage warrior, wanted to see what he could do. He pushed off the ground, and the floor tile beneath him had cracked, but not just directly beneath his foot; around a meter in the opposite direction from where he was running, the tiles on the floor had broken as he boosted off ahead.
Harbour looked at the ground and immediately wanted to cry, but noticed the amount of destruction.
'His Qi is impressive to do that. Sure, many middle-stage warriors with a kick off their foot can destroy the tile around them, but is his Qi still so condensed that it broke multiple... I might as well say goodbye to that room now.'
After reaching the main reception room, Raze could see those below, and he wasted no time as he jumped from his position in the air, heading straight down.
The room was filled with six wanderers and one with a sword held up against Ivor's neck. They all were staring at the man that was coming down right in front of them.
"What the heck!" The wanderer known as Neon said, who was holding the sword up against Ivor's neck. "Does this person not care that we have hostages!"
It didn't seem to be the case, as one of the wanderers, known as Axe with a giant axe, gathered all the Qi he had, and swung it matching Raze's sword.
The two clashed in the air, and a shockwave was sent through the room. Right where Axe was standing, the floor was tearing apart beneath his feet. Axe was turning as he struggled to fight against the Qi, and that's when he noticed.
Right at the edge of his axe, there was a crack. It started small and then spread out, shattering the axe into pieces. With that out of the way, Raze landed on the ground, then shifted and delivered a punch right in his stomach, sending him flying back and crashing into the wall.
"I'll do you all a favor because I'm feeling a bit nice today," Raze said, standing there as he held the glowing sword by his side. "I won't use all my powers."
The wanderers who had just witnessed what had taken place were stunned, and in more ways than one. They were all middle-staged warriors, maybe not the strongest, but to see one of them get taken down so quickly and in a battle of pure strength against a warrior that specialized in strength was something else.
As for Raze himself, he was serious when he said he wouldn't go all out. For one, he wasn't using the Ghost blade, which would strengthen with his Demonic Qi. If anything, the Lux Sword was only cold when Raze was being more defensive.
At the same time, he wanted to see how much his body had improved, which was why he was going to just use his Qi for this fight, and not even the Dark Edge Sword Arts techniques.
Right after, another wanderer swung out what looked like a black chain; it had wrapped around Raze's free hand, and immediately she started to pull forward, doing so Raze stood his ground, shifting his feet, and pulled back.
The wanderer was overwhelmed with the strength and was nearly dragged forward so much so that she almost fell to the floor, but as she was falling, she threw out another chain from her hand and was using this more like a whip.
Raze then smashed his sword right against the chain, hitting it straight to the floor, destroying more of the ground.
"I knew it, I knew we should have waited to do renovations to the place!" Harbour screamed. "If I thought there was going to be a fight, then why did I do something like repairing this place first?"
Another wanderer had attacked Raze with his sword, but Raze was able to defend from the strikes easily as he hit them away, using what he had learned from Bargo. While fighting, Raze was noticing something.
'This is interesting, since they are middle-stage warriors like me as well, their speed is as good as mine. The amount of Qi they can use is similar as well, but I've noticed my Qi is more refined and condensed, allowing me to strike with more precision.'
'Leading to my attacks seeming more devastating compared to the others. At the same time, their techniques compared to what I have learned, and those that I have fought are lacking, to the point where this is a very easy fight. This is nothing like when I was struggling with going up against more than one middle-stage warrior.'
Raze knocked the attack of one of the swordsmen to the side, and then pushed the warrior into Axe, who had gotten back up and decided to strike with his fists. Raze at that point was hit with one of the chains.
It came around like a whip hitting his side, and that's when the attack had just bounced off his body. It had moved away with a strong force, not even leaving a mark on his body.
"What…what happened just there?" The woman with chains thought. She was hopeful as they had finally managed to land a hit on the mysterious man, and then there wasn't even a wrinkle on his blazer.
'I see, I could feel the energy of the sword reacting,' Raze realized. 'This is the boost of the sword and the blazer working together, 200 percent extra protection from blunt and magical attacks… against middle-stage warriors, right now with this sword in my hand, I can't even get hurt.' Raze smiled.
He had received a very powerful item.
