Out of control

Winey just so happened to saw her friend Charlotte and the prince as she and Liam got closer to them.She was confused at first,but soon realized something was wrong,she can detect a strong sense of fear in her aura.And the way the prince was inappropriately moving his hands to some spots made her seething with rage.

"Let go of lily!!"She swiftly disengage from the dance and ran to her friends rescue,although she was by no mean a good fighter like her cousin.There are still things she could do as a low-rank sorceress

"Water whip!"she sent out a mental commend and felt as her mana spiral out of Her body,constructing two whip made of water magic

wrapping them around the prince torso and hand then roughly pulled him away from lily.

The prince was taken by surprise and quickly land on his butt cheek,his guards immediately approached the young sorceress to take her in custody.

"Winey!!!"Liam ran and panicked as he too was shocked by her sudden demeanor and watch in horror as one of the guard slap his little sister across her cheek,spilling blood and knocking her into the ground.

Drip!

Burning with rage,Liam didn't notice a particularly unusual sound resonate within him.At this moment,there was nothing more he wanted than to rip the guard who hit winey to shreds.

"Flame infusion!"He ran as he cover both of his hands with raging flame made from converting his mana using spells.A guard quickly noticed his approach and pulled out his sword to face Liam.

Liam duck in time to avoid the blade coming at his neck and swiftly leap up to the adult's head height then delivers a hard right hook across his cheek.

Boom!

The punch was accompanied by a small explosion,as the guards head rocked leftward dramatically.Making him stumble a few pace back but not enough for a knock-out.

As expected,Liam knew his mana core and capacity was not good enough for his spells to be as potent as they can be.But the few moment of confusion was all he needed to leave the dumbfounded guard in the dust along with a parting gift.

The nearby guards were also dumb-struck,they could not imagine a youngling such as Liam can deal that much damage to one of their own and with such a skillful performance as well.

After deactivating the spell,Liam then quickly picked up his barely awake sister and ran as fast as he could away from the guards.Going as far as infusing his foot with the same spell for more explosive speed.

Swoosh!

Just as he was about to break free from the crowd,a burning sensation of being sliced was felt on his back.Liam's eyes were widen in shock,he was sure no one is close by with his perception.

"Magic user?"Liam thought and quickly rolled forward because of the pain and momentum,he brace the hard impact using his body to reduce any damage winey could have taken.

As he came to a stop on the ground panting in pain and gasping for air,he gently put his sister behind him and stood up as quickly as he could.

He could feel his mana quickly sapping during that short encounter,but he believe he can still last for a minutes or two with the reserve.

"Brother...stop,you can't beat them.Just run away and go get uncle,please…."Winey plead with Liam to run away from here,she blame herself for getting triggered and reacted without thinking of the consequences.Looking at her brother's blood soaked back and the sliced wound on his back pained her with intense fear and regrets.

"…Sorry winey,that is one promise I can't ever make and you know it."Liam said and smiles at her as he active the only basic shield spell he known to cover their front.Although it wouldn't be enough to block anything better than Grade E spells for a few time.It should help with reducing the overall impact.

Soon a knight clad in red armor approaches them with a long sword covered in a pale red aura.It was a sight that might be impressive at other time,but now for Liam the knight just seems like a walking death sentence approaching.

"Ha,Impressive!Even if we both have the same affinity so your resistance to flame would be greater.Having my aura slash blocked by a 13 years old still leave a bad taste in my mouth."The red knight muffled laughter rang under his helmet.

The first guard that was knocked senseless by Liam have catched up by now and was making a beeline towards him in rage due to the humiliation."Now you have done it!!"He yelled as he ran past the red armor knight in a bid to hack the boy into pieces.

"Surge…"Liam uses his remaining will power to sent a mental commend that activate the Engraving on the guards back.Causing the mark to glow immediately,alerting the red knight right away.

Boom!!

The guard was blown toward Liam immediately,which Liam was prepared for.He quickly uses the last of his mana to infuse his shin and landed a kick on the humiliated guard's neck.

Cough!!

the guard coughed out a mouthful of blood as his throat was crushed under the impact and lost consciousness right away.Liam was barely standing at this point with his leg wobbling and his head spinning from the immense lost of mana.

The smoke slowly clear out as the rest of the villager complained and surround the company of knights for hurting the children's from the town.

Despite the fact that the authority of the Duke was indeed worrisome,they felt it was shameful as adults to do nothing and left the children to fend for themselves.

_________

(Freya POV)

After finishing some very time consuming daily maintenance for the tools in the shop,I left in a hurry to the plaza as the duration of the festival was close to finish.

It was regretful I that didn't make it time to enjoy the festival from start to finish with the two kids,but oh well they should still be there hopefully.

As I close the distance between me and the site of ceremony,I picked up some commotion around the area and even saw some people escaping from it with my heighten elven senses.

"Greater sense enhance"I swiftly use one of my spell that dramatically increase one of my senses to hear what exactly is going on.

"These damn knight and guards are scums born from the depth of a slum!!!how could they try to kill our children?!"A middle-age man voiced out

"And the duke's son!What a vile thing for a noble.Harassing her like that!!"A feminine voice complained in annoyance

"We need to do something!Liam and winey is going to be cut down by that damn knight!!"As soon as I heard the message,I could feel my expression darken with rage as I picked up my pace to the best of my ability using spells enhancements.Leaving a trail of dust as I bulldozed toward the center of the commotion.

With the distance closed in a few moment,I finally saw the situation first-hand and it was a sight that made me want to turn these bastard to dust as soon as possible.But at the same time I was incredibly confused.

"Wasn't he not the one that was marked?"

_________

Back to present

The red knight was currently resting his blade against the neck of Liam,Who was panting and kneeling on the ground exhausted.

"Any last wish child?Consider this as a token of respect.If I was honest,I don't want to kill you ,but an order is an order.Even if I have to snuff out a great talent such as you."The knight muffled voice rang loud and clear to Liam.

"Please…spare my cousin behind me…just that."Liam no long have the strength to keep fighting and his uncle was nowhere to be seen.So this was the only choice he have left in order to keep winey alive.

"Very well…I will spare her.The same cannot be said with my lord as he is currently quite upset about the ordeal.Dont worry too much though,maybe he will spare her as long as she warm his bed from time to time to smooth out his anger."The red spoke nonchalantly as if his offer were any bit reasonable.

Drip!Drip!Drip!

Liam's heart was grip tightly in anger and fear at the words of the knight.He cannot imagine what will be the consequences of letting the red knight get past him and he never want to do so.He glance at the crowd of adult being suppressed by the sword weaving knights and guards.As well as the young prince laughing as he was protected by them.He can feel a few powerful presences coming toward his location but there was no telling if they were friends or foes.

Glancing at the vile young lord and remembering the words of the knight.Liam heart filled with despair and rage as he fully realize how powerless he is in the face of alsolute strength.Lastly he looks towards the altar of artemis,still burning with that blue flame of smoothing fragrance.

"Anything…anything I will give anything to have the power to save her now…goddess artemis…please…"The despair Liam felt now was unlike anything he had experienced before.He sobs as he put his heart into his words of promise,for the first time hoping for a miracle that he desperately seek from his goddess.

Bloop!

"My child…the only way to protect those dear to you is to hunt those who have the intent to hurt them.And have the strength sufficient for it,let this be your last warning to yourself to grow stronger.I will help you in your hunt for strength and purpose,so rise up my child of the eternal hunt!"

A calm yet powerful feminine voice was heard in liam's mind which soon smooth out his anxiety.

He can feel his strength and mana recovering and multipling with speed,while his body emits and burst outward with a strong, intense blue flame the same as the one from the altar.

A white glowing mark of circle appeared on liam's back filled with delicate details,as the sword wound on his back closed up and heal in a short moment.The flame slowly retract back into liam's body,as the red knight froze on the sight of this turns of event.

clang!

Just as he was about to slice the odd boy's neck with the edge of his aura blade,Liam caught the blade and prevent it from moving in a stern grip.

But no blood could be seen in his hand that grip the edge of the blade.

"Flame infusion"Liam's hand was once again lit up in flame as he deploy the spell,except this time it was a blue flame much more intense from the red flame he had.

"Blessing of the hunt" Liam deploy a spell that just appeared in his mind and was urging for him to use.He can feel his strength increases by five folds while the edges of his flame covered hand transform into lengthy burning claws.The circular mark on his mark rotate and glow as the spell was deployed

After all is said and done,he snap the aura blade in half resting on his neck in half.While the red was shocked out of his mind,Liam plunged his clawed hand into the knight's abdomen where the thinnest part of the armor can be decerned for Liam.

Stabs!

The armor gave way easily and let the burning claw slice through the knight's internal.Burning through his organs rapidly in hunger.

"ARGHHHHHH!!!" The knight scream in agony as he try to pry and push the boy away in a desperate manner.Liam on the other hand didn't budge as he sink the claw deeper,he can felt that the spell's ability and usage was quickly synchronizing with his mind.Giving him much needed information to use it in as optimal as he could.

"Detonate!"As soon as the mental commend was given by liam.The knight's pained scream intensify as the blue flame that was devouring his insides implode In an instant.

Booom!

Guts, flesh and all sorts of internal matter flew in all direction,clangs of broken pieces of red armor landing on the ground was all could be seen or heard by everyone at the moment.

"The Gold ranked captain was beaten like that?…"One of the guards gasps as he could not understood how such a thing could happen to their once seemingly invincible captain.

At this moment,four power pressures arrived one after another.Liam found that although his strength was recovered and was stronger than before,his earlier endeavor almost dried him of any mana and stamina left.The last thing he notice before he lost his consciousness was the pained filled scream of winey calling his name and the look of alsolute horror from his approaching uncle.