Rivers of the Night

Chapter 778: Scared

Theron followed Ayame out of the city, their speed not all that fast, and yet still quite deceiving to the common eye. While it looked like they were moving quite slowly, the distance they were covering was quite exaggerated.

But their destination was quite a surprise.

The middle of absolute nowhere.

"You’re not planning on killing me, are you?" Theron asked with a smile.

Ayame gave him a glance. The indifferent chill in her eye made her incredibly difficult to read, but she was also clearly a woman of very few words.

Without any words at all, her Mana began to form out from her feet. It carved through the soil, but not to draw anything. Instead, it pushed it all away until they hit rock. Only then did it begin to etch into the face of the stone that was before them.

When the formation was complete, Theron nodded to himself inwardly.

A place like the Demon Corps would probably be hard-pressed to have physical locations in enemy territory, especially when everyone was so hostile to them. It was far better to have methods like this where communication lines could be formed from anywhere so long as it was a certain distance away from those powerful enough to detect it.

Even so, Theron couldn’t help but wonder how it was being done.

Not everyone was a formation master, and the formation Ayame was drawing now was too simple. It didn’t even seem to be a spatial formation at all, so they weren’t exactly teleporting anywhere, which meant...

It’s probably designed to communicate with a treasure that’s already on her person.

Theron was proven right a moment later.

The instant Ayame finished, there was a silent rush of Mana, so subtle that even Theron wouldn’t have noticed it if he hadn’t been standing right atop it.

’This must be a formation at the pinnacle of simplicity. It’s so subtle and low maintenance that even if a fool had it they would be hard-pressed to mess it up. And even if an outsider saw it and replicated it, it would do no good without...’

A pendant on Ayame’s heart began to shake, but it wasn’t the pendant that was important. Instead, a rune that seemed imprinted on her chest itself began to glow.

’Not her chest... it’s radiating from her heart.’

The cheongsam that Ayame was wearing wrapped up her chest and went right up to her neckline. It outlined the elegance of her silhouette, but what it didn’t do was reveal any skin.

It looked like the rune was glowing from her chest, but it was actually projecting through the fabric, through her skin, through even her bone—right from her heart.

WHOOSH.

A violent upswell of Mana suddenly formed after a scan of the region was completed, and Theron was nearly thrown off his feet.

Now this... this was a formation powerful enough to teleport you across large distances.

Ayame’s lips began to move as though she was communicating with something, but Theron couldn’t hear the words at all. However, the conversation went on for a very long time.

Others might be anxious at this point, but Theron was actually quite calm and relaxed. He looked up to the skies, scanned the greenery around him, even smiled.

He didn’t look like he was putting on a façade right this moment at all. It was like he was well and truly enjoying himself, distracting himself with the calming cadence of nature and the natural flow of Mana.

Ayame looked over toward him after a long while, her eyes flickering with surprise.

Why was he so calm? She could have been saying anything, but he didn’t even look ready to fight. It was like Theron was just living life, ready to take on whatever came his way regardless of what hardships it put him through.

And that was when a shadowy figure suddenly appeared before him, blocking his view.

"Oh, hello," Theron said with a smile.

The face of the figure couldn’t be seen, but it actually looked as though they had horns above their head.

That was right... above. It didn’t look attached to their forehead or anything of the like. They were hovering there like the halo of an angel—and yet clearly anything but that.

The shadowy figure didn’t say anything before it suddenly rushed Theron, trying to enter his body.

BANG.

The figure was rebuffed.

Ayame’s eyes opened wide as half the shadowy figure’s form collapsed.

Theron raised an eyebrow. "You’re going to need to send something stronger than that if you want to do that."

"Who are you?" The gravel-like voice of the figure echoed in Theron’s ears.

"Me? I’m just a genius who wants to join your Demon Corps. Will you have me?"

"I asked. Who are you?"

Theron chuckled. "Am I joining a sect? A guild? A daycare? Why should I tell you who I am? Go fuck yourself."

Oddly enough, Ayame slowly relaxed when she heard this. There was even the slight flicker of amusement in her eyes before it vanished into a calming chill.

"You want to use my favorite disciple to get a foothold into a world you don’t understand."

Suddenly, the gravel-like voice became a bit sharp and high-pitched, almost like an old man that had had his tail stepped on.

"Alright, master. That’s enough. I’ve vetted him already. He has no affiliations that I know of, and his bloodline doesn’t match any of the powerhouse Clans either. He’s a complete mutant and anomaly. If he is a spy, there are other ways to weed that out."

"See? Listen to the pretty lady," Theron nodded.

Ayame was taken aback by these words and then shook her head.

The shadowy figure stared at Theron and then shook his head.

"Boy, you’re going to get yourself into quite a lot of trouble. You have no idea how popular my little disciple is. If you go off spouting that nonsense just everywhere—"

Theron lightly grabbed Ayame’s waist. "What’ll happen? I’ll get into trouble? I’m so very scared."