7 was confused when he saw Leo knock Mira out. He couldn't understand why Leo did that. The only conclusion he could come to was that he understood that reinforcements would be getting there quickly, so he was surrendering.
"You are making the right move. Surrender now, and we will let you go," 7 lied with a smile on his face. There was no way that they would be letting Leo go alive, but it would be easier to kill a person who thinks that they are on the same side.
Leo shook his head.
"Both of us know that you won't let me leave alive. Why do we need to lie to each other?" As he said that, he sunk into the ground, disappearing into the darkness.
7 was caught off guard. He quickly put up a shield around him while furiously searching for where Leo had disappeared. As he was searching around, a tendril tried to strike him from behind, hitting his aura shield.
"Tsk," Leo clicked his tongue when he saw his Crimson Whiplash fail to make it past the shield. It did make the aura shield crack a little though. He once again sunk into the ground, disappearing just as 7 turned around.
"What is this?! I have never heard of an aura technique that allows one to teleport!" He shouted as he became delirious. His inability to see his opponent was starting to get to his nerves as he became afraid of where the next attack was going to come from.
Leo was having a quick debate in his mind on how to end the battle quickly. He wanted to keep the advantage of his hidden status as a mage before the other three pursuers arrived. That was why he still used his aura technique to try and damage the shield. However, it would take too much time to get past the shield and he wanted to kill the person before the others emerged out of the forest.
He quickly checked how long he had and frowned. The closest person was now only 400 meters away and would get there in less than a minute. The best option he had would be to finish the battle quickly and prepare to battle the others. There wasn't any way he would lose to a few 3rd Circle Aura Knights whether or not they knew he was a mage.
As 7 was frantically searching for Leo in the darkness, he noticed a bright blue light in the corner of his eyes. He turned toward it, trying to figure out what it was. The light became bigger and started moving toward him, making his eyes widen. By the time he realized what it was, it was too late and there was no time to dodge.
He put all of his aura into the shield around him, trying to defend the attack. The light he had seen was a ball of fire that he was sure would explode when it hit him. The shield that he conjured should be able to defend it though, if it was an attack from a 3rd Circle Aura Knight like himself.
The issue was that he was not fighting a fair fight at all. When the light finally reached him and impacted the aura shield, it created an explosive burst of searing heat and destructive energy.
The soul fire burst from Leo engulfed him, reducing him to a smoldering remnant and scorched the surroundings. The fire only lasted a few seconds before dying down. In the remains were a charred corpse and a charred ground to go with it.
It was a very flashy event and Leo knew the people in the forest would notice it. However, they had no way to know whether it was magic or aura until they experienced it for themselves.
He looked to his left where the road met the forest. With Mira asleep and the two attackers dead, the only sound left was that of the restless horses. They still stayed even though they witnessed such a scary event, albeit they were a little restless. The sound of their hooves hitting the ground and their neighing echoed in the night.
A few seconds later, a figure emerged from inside the forest onto the path. Two more joined after. The one in the front had an imposing aura that was trying to frighten Leo into surrendering. It would have worked on most people, given that the person was a Peak-Stage 3rd Circle Aura Knight.
He looked around him at what Leo caused. His eyes first noticed the mangled body of 4 before drifting across to the unconscious body of Mira. He looked at Leo after, curious to see who caused this mess. When he did, he inevitably caught sight of the charred body of the other person he put to the task of finding the two on the road.
He was right about how Leo and Mira might go back on the road again, but he made a mistake in sending the weaker two to follow them. Now they were both dead.
"So, you are the person who took care of the previous team as well," he said to Leo.
"You mean the mob of 2nd Circle Aura Knights?" Leo asked, unsurprised that they were from the same organization.
"So it was you. You weren't part of the report we received. Who are you?"
Leo shook his head. "I am just a wandering stranger to them. She's actually incredibly lucky that I offered to escort her to the capital. There aren't a lot of mercenaries who are ready to deal with 9 3rd Circle Aura Knights chasing them. So, who are you? You must be in some big organization if you are going after her."
The leader of the group frowned when he heard Leo's answer. It was incredibly vague but it revealed that he knew that their group had 9 people even though there were only 5 of them here. How was his intelligence so much better than theirs?
"If you were strong enough to fight us, then you would have made a stand instead of letting us massacre everyone else in your group," he said. Leo was openly displaying his aura, giving the leader the impression that he was an Early-Stage 3rd Circle Aura Knight. Having this information about him made the leader complacent.
"I'll just report you as an unforeseen circumstance to explain what happened to 4 and 7." He turned to look at the person to his right.
"Kill him. Both of you, together. 4 and 7 attacked separately, which clearly didn't end well."
The minute he said that the two people behind him rushed toward Leo to attack him. Their blind faith in their leader's words amused Leo a little as he readied himself to face them.
He knew how strong the two were. Both were Middle-Stage 3rd Circle Aura Knights like the one he defeated before.
As they were approaching him the two were preparing their strongest attacks. All they knew about their opponent was that he could create an explosion, but it didn't explain what happened to 4. The uncertainty around him only increased their vigilance.
Leo noticed their careful approach and nodded in approval.
"That's good. At least you guys are giving it your all before dying."
