Crippled

Robin retreated hastily and quickly alerted everyone,

"That thing has started moving!"

Robin didn't know what to do but Sebastian sure did, he began shouting at the top of his lungs,

"MOVE THE CIRCLE! MOVE! GET BACK! That thing has started moving —", tapping fast on the retreating and panicking Robin's shoulder, he asked, "Hey, where is it moving? Be quick."

The panicked man shakily pointed towards the student which had been brought in by the soldier and kept retreating without elaborating further. The smart Sebastian got the clue and turned to the student who had been brought in and narrowed his eyes.

The gears in his head were quickly turning. But as soon as he was about to give the instruction, he saw the student slam the soldier on the ground with extreme ease before he turned and ran away. He changed what he was about to say and instructed his men, "Keep the student here alive whatever it takes."

Sebastian watched the proceedings, his eyes shooting up as he saw a jet of water shooting from the student's hands with such extreme speed that it deviated his course of momentum, effectively dodging the rain of bullets, some of which were even swept away by the jet of water.

'An aquastrand? Hehe, the information my brother sent says a good chunk of their family members are suspected to be missing from their base continent. I suppose it wouldn't hurt if I took one would it?'

Turning his head to Robin. who he had kept close with to be safe, he asked, "is this thing fast?". Robin responded slowly this time, not as panicked as before. "Nope, it has slowed down now. Even when it tried to approach the student, we could've easily outrun it."

Getting the confirmation he needed, Sebastian ordered his soldiers to chase after the student, apprehend everyone working as his lackeys and leave only a few of them back for his protection. According to him, the soul type creature was critically injured so it can't move as fast, its danger level was much lower than before.

Holding up his chin with his eyes glazed over, Sebastian went deep into thought when Robin said to him, "Now that I remember, that creature said a few words sir". It successfully brought Sebastian out of his trance as he responded calmly, "What?"

Robin coughed a little and perfectly mimicked the creature, "You… betrayed… us! You… must… pay!"

Sebastian smirked a little and whispered softly, "I seem to have caught on to something", he looked at Robin, who was still absorbing the mana crystals he had been given and inquired, "Are you not done yet?"

"Almost done sir, I'll be able to use my ability in a few minutes which should finally kill this creature. You sure you don't want to keep it alive? The words it uttered were pretty interesting."

"Hit it on the leg, make sure to cripple it. If it doesn't die in this hit, we can keep it alive. I don't want to take any chances."

"Alright sir"

The creature didn't seem to be able to hear them as its violent struggle ceased, resuming back to its slow struggle now that the student was out of sight. Robin described everything to Sebastian who had a soldier provide him with something to write on. Sebastian had ample knowledge and experience, which allowed him to quickly note down a couple of points regarding the creature,

- Loses majority of its thinking capability once in its soul form.

- Likely to act on instinct when in soul form, when confronted with unique situations.

- can't replenish its strength when in soul form. (under observation)

- can provide physical enhancement to the body under possession (under observation).

A couple minutes later Robin impaled the creature with his soul spear and began observing if it was still alive. It was. But it had completely stopped moving apart from the occasional twitching of its body, which led Robin to believe it was alive. It was completely crippled.

Sebastian ordered for his soldiers to make a small base nearby as he didn't know of any method to move the creature. Going near it would risk possession of the said person so he didn't want to attempt that.

*****

Just as Maximus and the rest were brainstorming about how to use his ability to the fullest and devise combat plans, Seraphina jerked her head to the side, she said to the rest of the group, "Someone is heading our way, very fast and nimble. Something might have happened, let's go."

While heading out of the tent, Maximus asked, "What if these soldiers had heard us? And how does Seraphina always know if someone is nearing us?"

Adrian lowered his voice and reassured, "Don't worry, she tinkers with plenty of gadgets, a lot of which are useful for such situations. As for the latter, it's the passive effect of her ability."

Just after he finished, Isabelle whispered, "And oh yea, don't wake up Adam and Elsa. They aren't a part of any of this. I don't think we should wake them up even now, let's deal with whatever is coming by ourselves."

Seraphina looked back at the base, around which a few guards were barely visible in the darkness of night, her passive effect had a larger range but still not enough to see that far. She wondered if she should shoot a flare to alert the guards. 'Nevermind, I'll do it immediately if something goes wrong.'

The four of them narrowed their eyes as they saw something moving in the darkness. Adrian's eyesight seemed to be included in his 'upgraded physique' as a look of recollection flashed over his face before he said to the rest of the group, "His clothes says he is a student from our university. Do you think he might have lost his way to the camp?"

Maximus keenly noticed that the figure seemed to be limping, which he told to the rest of the group. Adrian once again tried hard to focus on the figure then said, "Yea, he seems to have some bullet wounds near his leg area. Everyone had their guns confiscated right? That only leaves the army, but why would they do that?"

Seraphina hinted in a low voice, "It seems to be like the previous incident doesn't it? Looks weird. I'll shoot the flare."

The four of them began retreating back to the camp as Seraphina was about to shoot the flare high into the sky, but suddenly, a group of soldiers passed by them, as if they already had information about it.

When they were passing by, Maximus ears picked up a few voices,

"Student Aaron Kennedy found in proximity to the main base. Establishing defensive perimeter. Requesting clearance to initiate engagement."