One of the strongest Sovereigns in the group of soldiers chasing after the escapees from Long Bay Correctional Facility was now heading toward Vicente and the 4th-stage Hawk battlefield.
A few moments ago, he felt a powerful aura emerge in the central direction of Wolfrior Forest, something so powerful that even dozens of kilometers away, this man felt the hairs on his body stand on end.
As he looked into the area, he saw that night had taken over the day in this forest area, something extraordinary considering that the day had reached its halfway point, with a sunny day in much of the area.
He was on the trail of one of the escapees from the maximum security wing. Still, when he realized this problem, he put aside his previous mission to focus on this concern.
'That was the aura of a Dark Path magician... No, that was the aura of someone compelling from the Dark Path!' He thought as he broke out in a cold sweat, even though he was a powerful Sky Sovereign.
As he flew towards the battlefield, his communicator vibrated.
"Colonel, did you feel that dark aura that just appeared in the center of the Wolfrior Forest?" Another Colonel who was hunting fugitives in the area asked into his communicator.
He replied. "Yes, I'll check it out. You and the rest of the group should continue with your missions. Let me take a look at this place."
"Okay, I'll pass it on to our companions. In any case, be careful. If it's the kind of magician I think it is, you'd better not get too close. We may have to report this to His Majesty."
"I know. Don't worry, I'll just observe what happened." He said, flying quickly as he gradually saw Vicente's battle site coming closer.
After switching off his communicator, it would take this Sovereign only five minutes to reach where the darkness had not yet dissipated and arrive at the site devastated by a Sovereign level battle.
Vicente had taken the body of the 4th-stage Tempest Hawk with him, and Eric's body had been disintegrated during their battle. There was nobody left to tell the story of what happened there.
Even so, the newly arrived Sky Sovereign could sense many things just by standing there.
'There is a monster loose in this area! It looks wounded. I must find him and eliminate him before he recovers and becomes a problem for the entire kingdom!' He sensed this and realized that the power behind what he had felt earlier was not that of an expert but someone special who had used some kind of technique that could temporarily make him stronger.
...
Half an hour after leaving the place where everything had happened, Vicente and Nova entered a cave in the mountainous area of the forest they were in.
Nova hadn't talked to Vicente much on the way there because she had spent most of the time thinking about what she should do, reevaluating her whole journey with this man.
He had lied to her and probably manipulated her. But he had saved her life several times, even when he didn't have to. He hadn't manipulated her as much as he had been able to. Anyway, these were some of his many actions that didn't make it easy for her to make a decision.
"I know you're angry with me right now, but this is not the time to fight, Nova." He said, looking into her blue eyes as he struggled to sit down on the floor.
Although he had managed to get to this place and was conscious, he had injuries and was very tired.
He asked her. "Do you have any restorative potions? I'll give them to you when we get back to Millfall. But right now, I have nothing, and I need your help."
She put her thoughts aside to look into Vicente's dark eyes. "Here it is." She didn't hesitate to give him the only 3rd-grade potion she had with her.
Even though she was angry with him, she wouldn't deny this man such a favor!
"But answer me something, Vicente. What happened earlier? Why did you show such strong auras? What about that magical form?"
Vicente drank the restorative potion when he felt this other problem coming up. 'I had ignored that...' He sighed as he thought about how he had revealed his second magical form to Nova.
As much as he trusted her, he felt that anyone who knew that about him would be in danger and could make his journey even more difficult.
So he lied. "That wasn't my magical form. I managed to subdue a weakened but very powerful ghost some time ago. I was lucky enough to force a slavery contract on him."
"Oh? That happened?" She was surprised but thought it made sense.
"Hmm, I found this 4th-stage ghost in a very sensitive state. Fortunately, I knew how to subdue it, and, of course, I did what was necessary. After I used up some resources, his strength improved greatly, and he started serving me, advising me, and sometimes even lending me his powers.
That's what you saw earlier. He lent me his powers."
"I see..." She thought but then felt that this wasn't quite right. "But I felt two completely different things earlier."
"That's because he only lent me his mana at first. So, I just got stronger while using my own powers. But at the end of the battle, I saw that we couldn't go on like that, or else you would die. So, I used his magical form... Unfortunately, he is now seriously injured, and I won't be able to use him for a long time."
Amid his lies, there was truth in Vicente's words. Torne was in a delicate state, and the young Mage didn't know when he could use the old ghost's support again.
"Sigh... I won a lot in the last fight, but I also lost a lot."
Nova clenched her fists, feeling that this was all her fault.
"I'm sorry, Vicente." She said, feeling doubly bad because while Vicente had sacrificed himself for her, she thought of distancing herself from him because of his lie.
"Don't be. It's not your fault. I did what I had to do. I couldn't let another person who was important to me fall right in front of me." He said with great weight in his voice as he looked her in the eyes seriously.
Nova closed her eyes when she heard this. "I know, I believe you. I just don't understand why you didn't tell me the truth before. If you gave up using me, why didn't you tell me everything, Vicente? Maybe we wouldn't be like this if we had talked about your identity."
"There are certain secrets better left undisclosed." He bitterly laughed as he said this, waiting for the potion to take effect so he could continue with his plans. "Unfortunately, you have seen my mask fall. But know that even now, nothing has changed for me. Even if you don't want to have anything to do with me anymore, I will always protect you, Nova."
