The Innkeeper

Alexander, who had been reaching out earlier to retrieve the keys, did not move to evade the incoming dagger, but only looked at Hammad with amusement in his eyes. The dagger reached him unimpeded, but when it struck his neck it sounded as if it hit a metal wall and sparks flew. Debris and dust flew into the room as several other attacks broke through the walls towards him, making it hard to see for a moment. However, when the dust cleared Alexander could be seen sitting casually on his chair, leaning back with his right leg atop his left. Helen and Greg, who were caught completely unprepared by the attacks, were picking themselves up from the floor, somehow unhurt as well.

Hammad stood up, his two bodyguards standing beside him, and seven other people in masks entered the room and surrounded the teens, giving off a threatening aura. All the people who had surrounded them were Golden Core cultivators.

“Go on, continue,” said Alexander mockingly. “Attack a few more times, I won’t dodge, I promise.”

But the ten cultivators didn’t attack, and only stared at them. They were trying to figure out how the three kids survived the attack, but could not see anything. Helen and Greg came and stood close to Alexander, the fear on their faces real.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” Greg asked, trying to sound threatening. “Do you know who we are?”

“Oh they know,” commented Alexander, slowly standing up. He looked Hammad dead in the eyes, the earlier amused expression changing to something more serious. “What’s the matter, old geezer, confused? Times have changed since you last saw action. The world isn’t so simple anymore.”_.

Alexander would, of course, not explain how or why he had managed to remain intact from the earlier attacks. The truth was his body was covered by something called Red-Gold Dust, a unique metal his family discovered and processed on Mars. It was an unreactive metal, and had few if any uses at all normally. However whenever spiritual energy was released by a Golden Core cultivator, the ore would absorb it readily, to the point of disrupting spiritual techniques and formations. Whether the energy was directed towards the metal or not, it would absorb it. When the metal absorbed enough energy, it would evaporate. Alexander’s family had processed it into a defensive treasure that would not absorb all Golden Core energy, only attacks in a certain radius. This is why even Helen and Greg remained relatively unharmed by the attacks. Of course, even with most of its energy gone the dagger that attacked Alexander still had enough momentum to cut through him, but Alexander had employed a defensive technique for body cultivators that turned his skin into metal. The only drawback of that technique was that he could not move while he used it.

“I’m impressed,” said Hammad, “I cannot figure out how you avoided the attacks. But I believe if we keep attacking, your defensive measures will eventually run out.”

“So what, you’re going to threaten me now? Follow you, or you’ll kill me?” Alexander looked around, trying to see if he could recognize any features of his assailants. Though they were wearing masks, he could recognize some of the techniques they had used earlier so he had a good guess as to their identities.

They were all experts, and Alexander thought it was highly likely that there were more assassins still hiding. The auction house was in chaos, guests were screaming and running around, yet somehow no security was coming towards them.

“I could ask you all why you’re doing this, and what’s your motive. But to be honest, I don’t care. Since you’ve attacked me, you should all just die!” As soon as Alexander spoke he pulled out what looked like a tarot card from his pocket and crumpled it. The ten assassins tried to stop him, but even at this distance, before they could reach the three teenagers disappeared.

“Find them!” Hammad roared. “They must be nearby!”

Indeed, they had not teleported far. The three of them appeared on the road outside the auction house, only some 50 meters away.

“We need to hold out for about 60 seconds,” Alexander said, looking at his two ‘companions’. “Do you have any defensive equipment?”

“None that can defend against Golden Core cultivators,” Greg said, in a shaky voice. Helen gave Alexander a reluctant smile, indicating the same.

“We’ll just have to make do!” Alexander said, before grabbing the two and bolting away from the auction house. Only a couple seconds later their ten assailants broke through the building and appeared right behind them. Searching for the kids wasn’t a difficult task, a simple sweep of their spirit sense eventually revealed them.

Fortunately for the three teenagers, Alexander was practically covered in Spirit Tech, although it was not quite apparent. His shoes aided him in running which, along with his body cultivation and movement technique, had already put him at quite the distance.

“What about Zeus?” Helen asked as Alexander sprinted down the busy road.

“We’ll find him later, we just need to wait for 50 more seconds,” the running teenager said. His expression was focused, but he did not look too worried. However, even with his many advantages his pursuers ultimately had a higher cultivation level and were approaching quickly.

Hammad, who was at the forefront of the ten cultivators, threw another dagger at the teenager, holding nothing back! The dagger was covered in a visible red aura that gave off a malevolent feeling! Before the dagger could reach Alexander it was blocked by a blade that appeared floating behind the boy. Five more blades, all two feet long, appeared hovering in the air behind Alexander and began defending him from some attacks as he continued to run.

The six blades were Alexander’s primary weapons, and all were coated in Red-Gold Dust, but even then blocking attacks put a great strain on Alexander, especially since he was using his spirit sense to determine where the attacks were coming from and blocking them. Unfortunately, things only become more difficult. Some of the assassins ran ahead of them and intercepted Alexander. Alexander immediately tried to change directions and run into a building, but it was already too late. He had once again been surrounded.

He dropped his two friends on the ground to free his hands, and turned all his focus on his enemies. Since he had teleported out, only 27 seconds had passed. He needed to delay for another 33 seconds!

“Stay close to me,” Alexander said, but before he could explain more he felt someone grab his leg. He looked down to see his friend…to see the person who was once his friend, Greg, firmly grabbing onto his right calf. From his hand an extremely gruesome looking worm protruded out and tried to burrow into Alexander’s leg. Alexander quickly deployed his defensive technique, Titanium Skin, but to his immense surprise the worm was able to tear through his hardened skin and enter his leg.

“A valiant effort,” Hammad said, as he slowly clapped. “But you’re still just a boy. Though you put up a good fight for someone your age…” Hammad was continuing his speech but Alexander was not listening. He was only looking at Greg, who wore a look of shame and guilt. Ultimately Greg looked away, unable to bear the gaze of the young man he had just condemned to death. Alexander turned to look at Helen and found that she too was looking at Greg, disappointment painting her beautiful face.

“Did you know?” he asked her softly.

The young girl paused for a moment, biting her lower lip till it started bleeding. Ultimately she shook her head and said, “I didn’t know anything about Greg.”

“And did you know about Zeus?”

“Was Zeus involved as well?” she asked, surprised. Her question in it of itself gave him an answer.

“So you didn’t know about these two, but you did know about the assassination. What was your role in all this?”

Helen was about to answer but Hammad, who was becoming impatient, interrupted.

“Enough! Boy you’ve been implanted with a worm from the Heart Meridian Mother Gu! Your life is in my hands, so obediently put down your blades and stop resisting or you’ll soon know the meaning of wishing for death!”

Alexander looked towards the old geezer indifferently, before looking up at the night sky. Only 7 seconds remained, and in the night sky he could see 10 shooting stars streaking through the night sky towards him.

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