352: The First Group of Enemies?

The First Group of Enemies?

"I don't know if we can undo whatever that vile creature did to you and your people here," Juin said to the two-headed python while his teammates discussed their next strategy, "But I'll do my best to take revenge for you guys."  1

The python head with the cross mark looked down sadly and nudged him gently. 

Juin slowly reached out and touched the phyton's forehead while the other python head bumped its forehead against Juin's. When Juin took a step and looked back, for a split second, he thought he saw two identical young boys looking back at him with sorrowful yellow eyes; one with a small cross mark in the middle of his forehead, and one without. 

"Let's go, Juin," Wolfe said as he approached Juin from behind and put a hand on his shoulder. "We have to go before the treasures are all taken away." 

Juin was quiet for a few seconds before turning around and said, "It wouldn't be easy… That person, that vile creature, who managed to turn the natives of this world into weird creatures, do you think he could be so easily defeated?"

"Yet that didn't seem to stop you from bringing all of us to our death," Luca said as he began walking towards the direction of their new destination. 

Juin rolled his eyes and nodded at the two-headed python before walking quickly towards Luca. "Stop lying to yourself, you wanted to go so that you could get more treasures," he scoffed. 

Before Luca could retort, Wolfe stepped in between them with his arms around them and said, "Enough, enough. Really, you guys should stop fighting. We are a team."

"I just got the end of the stick and got stuck with you guys," Luca said before he pushed Wolfe's arm aside and walked away. 

"Well…" Wolfe looked at Juin and said in a low voice, "Try not to pick fights with him. He's really not that bad of a person." 

Juin raised a brow and looked at Wolfe. "I didn't know that you and he are on friendly terms."

Wolfe shrugged. "We are acquaintances at most, but I have never heard of him being mean to people who didn't deserve it." 

"Have you forgotten about how he tried to kill me and nearly killed my best friend?"

"Well," Wolfe smirked nervously and said, "I admit that he's at fault for that. But..."

Wolfe looked at the back of Luca, who was walking alone in front, and said in the same low volume, but with a complicated expression on his face, "He has never stopped blaming himself for his parents' death. My father often visited President Presley when I was younger, and he told me that when Presley first brought Luca back, Luca would ask everyone he met where his parents were and if they were gone because he couldn't control his powers…"

"And why are you telling me this?" 

"So that you know you aren't the only orphan who has problems…" Wolfe said as he patted Juin's shoulder. "I know that it's not easy, especially with that guy's 'I'm the only one in this world', but one of you needs to take a step back. The two of you are incredibly strong, and if we want to have a chance of going home in full, then you must put aside your differences."

He then patted Juin's back before falling back to walk with the two kids who were chatting among themselves. 

Juin glanced back at him before looking at Luca's back. 

…

"How far more?" Cyrus groaned. "Why can't we just run ahead?" 

"We don't have your stamina," Juin pointed out as he dragged his feet. They had been walking for almost 7 hours straight. Other than Wolfe and Cyrus, everyone else was pretty tired. The fact that their watches kept beeping with the sound of death only made them even more tired. "Besides, we are almost there." 

"I don't get why we can't use our powers," Caelian mumbled with a frown. The dark-skinned youth barely talked to anyone other than Cyrus, so when he spoke, all the older teens turned to glance at him briefly, as if to make sure that it was really him. "What?" 

"Our watches keep informing us of at least one death every hour, and you are asking why we aren't using our powers?" Luca scoffed. "You might be a kid, but you are from the Elysium family, so I expected more from you. Looks like my expectation is wrong."

Caelian Elysium glared at Luca and snarled, "I know that. But so what? Are you afraid of a few humans?"

"Humans, no, but I'm wary of the Dark Night clan, or have you forgotten about them?" 

Caelian had no response to that. Dark Night Clan had more stamina and strength than humans, and for most humans, if they did not have anything that could replenish their soul power, they would be cannon fodder to the Dark Night Clan. 

"We are humans, shapeshifters, and a demon descendant, I'm sure we aren't that worse off," Wolfe said. 

"We are one Elementalist, one guy who keeps fainting every time his body is taken over, a shapeshifter that can't shift, a shapeshifter that refuses to shift, and a demon descendant that refuses to tell us anything about himself," Luca pointed out blankly. "I think it's best if we don't take our chances."

"This is not very hero-like," Wolfe sighed. "I want to be a hero."

"Everyone wants to be a hero, but if you get killed, you're nothing but a zero," Juin said as he continued walking. 

Unknown to him, everyone was giving him odd looks. 

"Did that just come from him?" Cyrus whispered to Wolfe. 

"I'm as surprised as you…" Wolfe whispered back. He then looked at Caelian, wondering if that quiet kid had anything to add on when he realized that the boy had his back turned. He approached him and looked at Caelian, who was looking up in the sky with a frown and confused expression on his face. 

"Caelian…?" Wolfe realized that something was wrong immediately, and he quickly grabbed Caelian and the nearby Cyrus before jumping forward. 

BAAAAMMMMM!!!

The moment they jumped off, someone, or something, landed right where they were, and a mushroom sand cloud shot tens of kms into the air. 

"What the…" Wolfe snarled as he put his arm away from his eyes. 

"Who's that?" Juin asked in a low voice. 

"Demons…" Caelian said with his eyes narrowed and at the "attackers". He mumbled, "Clean".

The mushroom cloud formed by the sand quickly fell back from Caelian's wind power, but 

before the mushroom cloud completely fell back and merged with the surrounding sand, someone jumped out from within the cloud. 

No, it was a group of 8!

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