368 Cia to the rescue 

"Easy.." Ryu's words were mostly aimed at convincing himself. One can say that his confidence had received a massive boost after having faced off against two deadly beasts. And yet, the red eyes of the Black Buran were capable of casting terror in the hearts of even the bravest of warriors.

This beast was not at the same level as the Kilur and Dodoma he had previously defeated. It has a certain amount of intelligence in its deep amber eyes. *Grrrrr* Maybe it was annoyed that Ryu was not scurrying off, the beast grumbled while threatening to step towards him.

This was just posturing, the oriental boy discerned. Though his heart felt like it will pop right out of his chest, he can't falter even before the fight began. "Huuuu.." Releasing the breath stuck in his lungs until now, Ryu cast his chants. Sprouts popped from the ground, gradually germinating around his feet, then slowly climbing up his legs.

At this point, Ryu was extremely thankful to Lyod for having given him chance to polish his skills against the lower-tiered beasts first. Because if he didn't, there was a good chance his legs would have just given up by now.

That's it. The Buran's big eyes turned into slits while it figured out the situation. Trying to cover himself in the armor of vines can very clearly be counted as a provocation.

Even though Ryu was at maximum alertness, when the Buran made its move, his vision blurred. "Incoming..." He screamed on the top of his lungs, not sure from which direction he was going to be attacked.

*Swipe* *Crash* He heard a thrashing sound and Ryu's heart fell at the moment. Breaking his assumption, the Buran had made his a target out of his clones, instead of him.

*Keeeee* Its thorax fluttered in a savage manner while the wood clone it had confronted can be seen flying through the air, broken into two. "Fuuuuckk...!!!!" Ryu dashed, not in the direction of the Buran, rather towards his other clone.

The black figure once again blurred out of sight. Next time it appeared, it cast a huge shadow on the boy. His anticipation had been bang on point. This creature was smart. Too smart for Ryu to handle.

In one look it had figured out the key weakness in Ryu's formation and targeted them first, instead of a head on collision with the boy. Too bad, he had no time to think of any new strategies.

*Dash* Ryu had conjured a wooden stick and used his mana to reinforce it. That's the only reason why it was able to halt the Buran in it's way, forcing it to defend against the quick counterattack.

Not withstanding the high mana cost of conjuring clones, it was a time consuming process. With one of his key allies put out of commission even before the fight had begun, Ryu must defend the other one with his life on the line.

"I told him this will happen." Over on the other side, Lyod was shaking his head ruefully. He was deliberately holding information from the kid. Not letting his pupils discover what actually are the facing against, he believed he can prepared them for the worst case scenario.

Behind him, Itzel and company were almost chewing their nails off. Although they were doubtful of a sixteen year old's chances against the calamity called Black Buran, Ryu's face-off had gone horribly bad even by theor standards.

*Bang* *Bang* Hardened claws clashed back to back with the reinforced cane, making it bend at unnatural degrees. However, being conjured out of wood, this gave it the flexibility to not break even under the gigantic pressure.

The Buran possessed long forelimbs with steel like claws at the end of them. This meant every strike of it was damaging Ryu's staff. However, having anticipated such a thing, he was constantly having it strengthened.

Behind him the clone seems to have been stupefied by the sheer viciousness of the attack. It had witnessed the dreaded creature take out its brother like a doll, it's sharp claws seperating the body into two parts without any effort.

This battle had brought out the limit of Ryu's clones comprehension as well. While they didn't need it earlier, this time the clone had just frozen in place, unable to identify the correct plan to proceed forward. Despite knowing it got to help Ryu out, there was no course of action that could lead a different fate for itself than its brother.

"Don't stand there.. You can do this... Flank it from behind.." Right then Ryu's booming voice shook the wooden model up. "Prioritise defence. Don't go all out attacking." Somehow he could sense the convoluted thoughts of his clone, hence he established his role as the master and iterated clear commands for the it to follow.

With the clone swiftly making its move, the Buran found himself in the middle of a pincer attack from both ends. Ryu's constant attacks from the front had truly left it's back exposed, allowing the clone to strike it down with its lance.

*Sreeechhh* *Bang* With a sharp roar, the creature swung it's massive tail to defend itself, almost breaking the clone in the process. But fortunately for Ryu, the clone was more focussed on defence and hence, it raised its shield just in time to defend.

"Nice..." Ryu was filled with newfound confidence. His attacks gained strength and for the first time, he had begun gaining an upper hand over the Buran.

"Haha.. I didn't expect that.." Over on the boundary of the flat hill, Lyod had aside grin plastered on his face as he clapped his hands enthusiastically. From his expressions it was clear that the man had not expected Ryu to even last this long infront of a Buran. "Be careful boy... The fight has just begun." He muttered to himself.

**Gustump City. Governor's mansion**

Half of the governor's estate of the Gustump City was now in total ruins. Looking at the dilapidated state of the building, one can find it hard to contrast it with the beauty and magnificence only a day back when more than a thousand citizen had congregated to attend the funeral ceremony.

"Given up yet?" Among the debris lied a man, breathing raggedly. This was governor Pediot, the overlord of this city. He looked nothing like the esteemed governor right now. His luxurious clothes were seperated in threads and blood leaked from between his lips continuously.

"Who... in the world are.. you?" The masked woman hovering over his distraught body had little to no sign of injuries. It's obvious who was the loser in this duel. This kind of expert can not possible remain hidden from their eyes, can she? Does that mean she didn't belong to the country of Cylon and is probably a foreigner?

Only this matter befuddled Pediot. "How many times are you going to ask the same question, dumb man?" The lady huffed, taking the time to wrap around her disheveled hair locks.

"Don't think this is over, girl. I shall find you." When had the esteemed governor of Gustump City ever suffered such a blow to his self-esteem? Defeated not only by a woman, but rather a masked unknown woman at that. Needless to say, his ego wasn't having this.

"Then try doing that." The eyes behind the mask finally narrowed, an indomitable might fell down upon Pediot crushing him. Not only him, the might had spanned across the entire city, suffocating the hundreds of thousands of men and women together.

Extreme bloodlust. It was such a power might that Pediot was going to be scarred for life. "AGHHHHHHHH..." The man screamed, holding his head that waa brought to the point of exploding. However, before his body could give up on him, the pressure was retracted.

"I was only tasked with bringing the woman. That's the only reason you are left alive. Remember, the next time you cross paths with me... This mother shall not be this lenient." Underneath her mask, Felicia was no longer smiling. It wasn't an empty threat and the governor knew it.

"I shall take my leave. Follow me if you want to abandon your life." The lady in white ascended, her hands reaching out to grab Mae's floating body. Delivering her threat, she nonchalant took off into the distance.

As soon as that happened, Pediot's guards had rushed in to help their lord out. But the defeated man could not even speak up. Only the threatening words for the lady kept echoing in his mind. During the time she had let lose her bloodlust, Pediot felt like he could partially recognise that voice.

Regardless, before he could come to any meaningful conclusion, the wounded man lost consciousness. "Medics... Take master Pediot away.. hurry hurry.." Alarm sounded all across the ruined mansion as people rushed to save the leader of the house.

"Pediot family is done for." One of the guards who stood on the outer circle commented looking down at the ongoing chaos. "You are right. First it was the death of young master Stein along with Mr. Greg and Mr. Zeke, two of the mkst powerful helpers of the Pediot family. Now someone had kidnapped madam Mae and even defeated Master Pediot."

The first guard nodded all the way through the summarisation of his colleague. "Indeed. There is nothing left. I will be surprised if master Pediot will be able to hold onto his governorship after today's devacle."

Away from the two guards in Gustump City, Felicia was now standing atop her pet wyvern, carrying together Mae who had awaken from her induced sleep. "Who are you and... Where are you bringing me?"

The last thing Mae could remember was waking up and facing this masked lady out of nowhere. She could not remember a single thing that happened and now she found her hundreds of feet up in the sky.

Today was the day Mrs. Felica had promised to rescue them. Was her luck this bad that she got kidnapped right before the Princess could intervene on their behalf? That will be messed up.

After taking an extended look at the woman, the lady in white finally decided to talk. "Princess Felicia asked me to bring you away." That short sentence meant world to Mae. "But.. where is her highness?"

When the princess had assured her, Mae would not have thought in a million year that her preferred form of help was going to have her kidnapped. "She has flown back to the capital."

Very soon, the masked lady rubbed the neck of her mount, ushering her to swoop down. The wyvern rapidly lost altitude, descending into a deep thicket where a big man was awaiting their arrival.

"Shalam..!!" Mae reacted with a magnificent smile and the man was no different. Yet, when he encountered another look at the mean dragonkin staring down at him, Shalam cringed hard. "What.. exactly is going on here?"

"Ms. Cia.. why are you here?" Shalam was just as clueless as Mae, not sure why this acquaintance of his was the one bringing his lover to him and not Princess Felicia. "You know her?" Mae on the other hand could not care less about the identity of the person who rescued her. She jumped into the arms of her man, sticking to him like a squid.

"A friend of mine asked me to help out a distressed couple, so here I am." 'Cia' shrugged her shoulders, then tapped her wyvern who was ready to give a piece of his mind to the rowdy man underneath. "Governor Pediot will not dare to look for her. Still, take precautions and don't show your faces in the public, at least for the next couple of years."

The governor will not dare? Those were some pretty bold words. Can Ms. Cia really be this powerful? Recalling the way he took advantage of her in bed, Shalam shivered in fright. Mae meanwhile had detailed him on wiat she had learned from her rescuer.

Then again, if she can refer to Mrs. Felicia as a friend, Shalam had no reason to doubt her capabilities. It must be him who had underestimated the woman he took to bed.

Watching the lady bring her wyvern away, Shalam revealed a fawning smile. "Madam Cia.. can't you drop us off to some secure location, before we can travel on our own?" "Hmph.. you think this is a riding service, peasant?"

A gust of wind thrusted in the man and woman as they watched the humongous dragonkin leap into the air. "Cia.. is that her name?" Mae asked. "Yes, but I think it's not her real name." Shalam added. "What happened?" He asked the brooding woman. "No... I just thought her name rhymes with Princess Felicia. But whatever it must be a coincidence."

At that point, Shalam felt a heaviness in his chest. Mae's mention had brought along a strange thought in him mind. But watching the gorgeous figure of the woman riding her beast away,he dare not let the thought linger on any longer.