They were both fully donned in the purple suits along with their helmets. Atticus also brought out two guns and gave them to her. Seeing how small Aurora was in the suit, with it being oversized, Atticus focused on the water element and let it stream inside the suit, buffing it up and making it fuller. In the next second, what was once a 5’4feet girl turned into 6’1.
With the water still enveloping them both, Aurora got on his back once again, and Atticus moved back a few meters, putting enough distance from the towers, and started searching for groups of patrolling soldiers, all wearing full sets of armor.
After a few moments, Atticus found the perfect group. They were heading up the hill and were fully donned in armor.
‘I’ll have to be fast, silent, and precise,’ Atticus thought.
He stopped on a tree branch further from them, placing a palm on the tree, entering a state of focus.
Aurora came down from his back and became the lookout. There were many other patrols in the area, but what they were about to do should be instant.
Her job was to see if anyone was heading towards their direction directly.
Since the time he had learned how to use the water in trees and other living things, Atticus had been practicing it constantly.
At this point in time, although he wasn’t perfect, he was more adept at utilizing it.
Following the flow of water from the trees, Atticus mapped the movements of the approaching group. There were exactly six in number.
He narrowed down the two walking behind the group, two steps away from each other. Atticus focused on the spots he anticipated the both of them would step on, a spot that was directly under the tree he and Aurora were standing on, and then he waited.
After a few moments, they both reached the spot, and as silent as a spring bubbling from the earth, water suddenly gushed out of the two spots, enveloping each of the two men before they could even let out a sound.
A staggering amount of sharp gales instantly whipped about inside the water, slashing the throats and every exposed part of the men, turning the water a slight shade of crimson.
Atticus instantly took away his palm from the tree and jumped downwards together with Aurora.
Just as they were about to land, they both focused on their space storage, bringing the forms of the water-enveloped soldiers into their space storage.
Then, they landed silently at the same exact spot the two soldiers had been killed. Everything happened in the span of 1.5 seconds, neither of the patrolling soldiers having noticed or suspected anything.
Atticus focused on the water inside Aurora’s suit, making sure it was firm and wouldn’t hinder her movements, and started walking behind the soldiers as though they had always been a part of them.
After moving for a while, Atticus couldn’t help but be thankful,
‘Thank goodness they aren’t speaking to each other,’ Atticus thought. He was glad they were too serious about their jobs that they didn’t slack off or even joke around with each other as they moved.
Just as Atticus had hoped, the soldiers kept on moving until they reached the top of the hill.
They reached the top, and Atticus and Aurora’s gazes widened as they witnessed the scene down below.
It was both beautiful and frightening at the same time.
The city of the bone race.
Only one word came to Atticus’ head, ‘Shit.’
The soldiers didn’t stop, and Atticus and Aurora were far too exposed to turn back now. The duo both followed behind them as they started descending down the hill.
Atticus had misjudged the width of the hill and the numbers of watchtowers in the area.
The whole city was surrounded by tall hills, the city being situated in the middle. And all around the hill were the imposing forms of watchtowers.
From their current location, there was a white padded path that led downward, cutting through a forest directly towards the gates of the city. There were several of these paths all around, leading to the city.
In no time, they stepped on the path and started descending, heading towards the gate.
Atticus’ mind spun, his brain going through countless scenarios and trying to find the best course of action.
He could feel Aurora turning her gaze towards him but ignored her look for now.
‘I was right shit. Our target has been captured and taken into their city. It’s far too dangerous to enter there as I am now. I need a way to move undetected. I need my mana core.’
The sound of footsteps resounded as they each walked across the padded ground.
Atticus suddenly turned his gaze towards the other members of the team.
‘I need 140 points, they’re perfect,’ he thought.
The team had consisted of exactly 6 members, but considering the two they had replaced, only 4 remained.
Despite the tense situation, Atticus had been watching and scrutinizing the whole team. From his observations, Atticus had tagged the individual at the forefront of the group as the leader of the squad.
His aura and the way he carried himself were exactly what one would expect from a proud leader.
Atticus wasn’t sure about the checks they would undergo or what would be asked of them at the gate. Which meant the leader was a no-go.
He fixated his gaze on the other three soldiers walking in front of him, his gaze under his helmet turning cold.
Removing one hand from his gun and lowering it, Atticus needed to be as precise and fast as possible and didn’t want to risk doing it with just his thoughts. His fingers moved subtly.
Water suddenly formed beneath him and started streaming down towards the soldiers at the front.
Atticus made sure it was spread thinly across the padded ground, appearing as though there was nothing there.
It stopped behind each of them, away from their line of sight, and with an abrupt motion, the water shot upwards reaching the necks of each soldier, slicing it up in the next instance.
Not a drop of blood was spilled, the three forms of the men seemed to stop for half a second, before they started walking forward as though nothing had happened.
Atticus kept his complete attention on the water in each of the men’s suits, using it to control their movements.
As subtly as possible, Atticus tapped on his artifact on his wrist, a holographic display in which only he could see appearing in front of him, and instantaneously, Atticus navigated to his locked abilities and instantly unlocked his mana core.
He felt a surge of mana envelop his form, a feeling that was completely fulfilling. But he didn’t allow it to affect his movements and kept on walking.
And just like that, they reached the massive and imposing gates of the city.
…
The whole coliseum was utterly silent, every single one of the students focused on Atticus’s screen.
If one could place a sensitive microphone on their chests, the sound of loud heartbeats would reverberate across the coliseum.
The majority of them didn’t like Atticus, but despite this, the tension of the current situation was so staggering that they couldn’t help but clench the handles of their seats anxiously.
They could each see every single thing happening, with the AI even going as far as to show the control rooms of the watchtowers where the bone race warriors were monitoring their movements.
They each knew well how much of a close call the whole situation was. From the duo replacing the soldiers in the forest, to killing and using water to control the soldiers movements as though they were still alive.
Everything was done flawlessly and without hesitation.
Even the blatant haters couldn’t help but root for them and hope they didn’t get caught.
The situation was so tense that their hearts couldn’t help but pound in anxiousness.
