Under the Veil of Night

Even though he had put his entire power inside that one attack, it was simply not enough to break the defense against Ayres.

He was still not strong enough to fight against monsters like them.

Ayres smirked. "You can't stop me!"

He raised his fist again, wanting to attack Tommy once again.

BANG!

A gunshot reached his arm. His eyes widened. From the corner of his eyes, he saw a man holding a gun directed towards him. At the same time, there was a shadow coming nearer.

Slash!

He stomped his legs to move back, but the shadow still wounded him. Seeing the trail of blood caused him to be surprised. After all, he knew very well how high his defense was. Ordinary people wouldn't be able to wound him at all. They would only be able to scratch him at most.

"Who-?"

When he raised his head, he finally could see his opponent. He was stunned to see a young kid standing in front of him with a thin and small sword. Her eyes were glaring at him as if he was her archenemies.

"You-!"

Not waiting for the man to stop talking, Kanae accelerated towards the man once again. Her small sword made its way towards the man, attempting to cut a deep wound on his stomach.

The man moved back, barely avoiding the attack as part of his clothes were torn. His eyes showed traces of disbelief. It was hard to cope up with the speed of this young kid.

Before he could recover, Kanae had launched another attack at him. His reflex made him raise his hand to block, yet the pain that followed soon after made him realize that he couldn't underestimate this young girl. The sword had made its way to cut his flesh.

"Cain! Make a barrier!" he yelled.

From behind the shadow, a man raised his hand. All along, he was only watching as the fight continued, but now, he had no choice but to interfere.

A barrier was formed around Ayres at insane speed. Kanae's eyes narrowed, she twisted her body and attacked Ayres again, aiming for his chest. The man swiftly moved back while the barrier was in the process.

SLASH!

The sword cut off his left arm.

Kanae swiftly moved back from her position as the barrier was completed. The strong repelling force from the barrier told her that she wouldn't be able to get past it easily. Still, her attack just now was already enough to wound that man.

Her lips curled up into a sneer. "That's the payback for hurting my teammate."

BANG!

Ayres saw that Jeff has been moving towards the car not far from Cain. He knew that he had lost his fight. Gritting his teeth, he ran to follow after them.

"You're not getting away!"

"Don't chase after them!" Kevin instructed in a loud voice. He was fighting against the men who had been controlled as he knocked them unconscious. Unlike Alice's harmless method, he could only forcefully put them in slumber by force.

Thankfully, their number was not many because most of them have fallen asleep before they came.

"Ok!" Kanae replied.

Kanae stopped on her step right when several members whom Jeff controlled appeared to attack her. Her brow creased slightly. Her weapon didn't have any blunt side, so she had to attack using her fist.

Twisting her body to evade their attack, she kicked or punched them right in their vital point.

"Father! Tommy!" Alice yelled and quickly crouched down to check their wounds. The fight with Ayres was rather fierce, making them wounded hard.

"I'm fine," Tommy laughed, but his face turned ugly when Alice pressed on his wound. "Dar-Alice, please don't push there."

Alice pursed her lips. "Next time, don't lie!"

Kanae watched the two of them with astonishment. She didn't expect that their relationship would progress this far. There has only been a few weeks' time since the last time she saw them, but they have gotten close even on the outside.

It seemed that her friend and sister were much quicker than her.

Wait, why did she think these things? Shaking her head, Kanae moved to take the first aid box to help curing the injured.

"Many thanks for your help, Clan Head," Nico tried to stand up to bow down.

Kevin raised his hand. "Just stay there and tend to your wounds. There's no need for any formalities."

"Thank you very much, Clan Head."

Looking at the surroundings, Kevin's aura turned colder. Even though they have been trying to reduce the casualties by making the members slept before Jeff could control them, it was inevitable that some of them were still controlled.

This resulted in them fighting against one another, giving wounds to their own comrades.

"Jeff is truly the most annoying one," Kevin remarked as he looked back at Nico. "You should try to evacuate everyone if he appears next time."

Nico was stunned. If only it was possible, he would surely do that. However, who would have known when Jeff would appear? How could they prepare themselves if they didn't even know who the government would send?

"I-I'll do my best, Clan Head."

Kanae walked out and put the box beside Nico. She took out the bandages and helped the man to tend his wounds.

"Why do you think they're attacking us?" Nico tried to regain his composure in front of Kevin as he watched Kanae's skilled movement to tend his wounds.

Kevin arched his eyebrows. "I want to ask you the same question."

"Do you come here alone?"

"Only me and Kanae," Kevin replied coolly. There was no need to send too much reinforcement to this place when the enemies have been running away.

Kanae looked back to Kevin as she pondered. "Kevin, do you think that they have been leading us?"

"What do you mean?" Alice raised her head. "Is there something that they're aiming for?"

"So far, I only know that they want James."

When he heard the word 'James,' Kevin took out his phone and made a call to headquarters. Someone picked it up, which allowed them to hear the sound of people battling.

Kanae's face turned ashen. "We have to get back right now."

"I'll drive," Kevin strode to the car as fast as possible.

Behind them, Alice silently listened to their conversation as she tended to her father and Tommy's wounds.. Silently, she prayed that everything would turn out to be fine.