CAUGHT IN TRAP

An uproar arose in the crowd by the time they reached the Shu Clan. A heavy black fog surrounded the Lineage, making it extremely hard to see beyond. On Master Azure's precautions, everyone covered their faces with a napkin and dismounted their steeds.

Leaving their horses behind they moved forward and soon their figures were indulged in the black fog. The man from the Shu Clan gradually navigated everyone toward the foyer. The incense of a corpse burning overran their nostrils.

Megara couldn't understand why burning the corpse was necessary, because according to her, burying them was more appropriate. The people who died in the plague are burned down into ashes and those ashes are swaying away with the wind, entering one nostril. 

She raised her gaze and looked at the man from the Shu Clan. He was not far away from her. "Say, brother, who was the one who suggested burning the corpse?" Megara asked in a loud voice, gaining everyone's attention. The man slightly tilted his head back to look at Megara.

"Martial arts sister, I'm not well aware. This order was probably given out by our healers." The man said and Megara's frown deepened. Something was not settling. She turned her head to look at the old master of the Healer valley and to her surprise, even his brows were knitted in confusion. 

Perhaps this case is tougher than their expectations.

"Everyone, try your best not to inhale the smoke," Megara shouted loud enough for everyone to hear. Some nodded while some gave her looks, telling her not to order them around. She was used to such behavior so she did not take it to the heart. 

Soon they all entered the Shu Clan. Her heart fell into the pit of her stomach as she gaped around. The Shu Clan which was always bustling with crowd and laughter no matter the hour was now truly like a desert with no human being around.

The wind was chilly and heavily mixed with the smell of burning. The houses were indulged in darkness and so were the streets with no human beings around. The broken baskets with no weights rolled around the streets like feathers dancing in the wind. 

"On the order of the chief, no one is allowed to leave the house." The man said. "Did staying in the house control the plague in any way?" Master Azure asked and the man nodded, clutching his rough and dirty cloak around his bony chest.

"It slightly did." The man let out and continued to walk, everyone following behind him. "Let me lead you all to the chief." He said in a low voice. All of them passed through the empty market. In the thin alley of the market sat some homeless people in the corner, tightly clutching the blankets around themselves as they eyed the group of people passing by them. Horror can be seen in their soulless eyes, as they scooted out of their corners to have a look at the gathering of people. They looked like street dogs eyeing their feasts but that wasn't the case, they were looking at them with a little hope. In just three days they lost everything, after seeing this group of people who looked out of the ordinary they could not help but hope.

The man soon led them into a tightly packed Manor. The manor had some lingering spiritual energy around it but by the time they entered the respective room of the chief the spiritual energy was stronger. Why was this man exerting his spiritual energy so much---

Everyone gasped in horror when they saw a demon sucking out the spiritual energy of the old chief. The demon was skinless with a sharp zigzag horn poking out of his forehead. He was enormous and was holding the old man in his huge hands as he absorbed his spiritual energy into his own body. It can be seen it was a spiritual-sucking demon, by sucking spiritual energy it gets stronger as one could easily predict. They can be seen very seldom nowadays as they have gone extinct by martial artists. Demons only lurk in the shadows, they fear martial artists.

To think this one will boldly and easily handle a chief of a clan can easily explain how messed up the situation was. With no choice and without thinking much, Blossom parted her lips.

"Don't move." 

Just as these two words left her lips the demon stopped moving, the man from the Shu Clan quickly ran towards his Chief and pulled him away from the demon's grip. The old man falls into his arms, almost lifeless. No matter how strong your spiritual core was, aging sure makes spiritual core weak too. The old man looked like he was breathing his last. Megara quickly chained the demon, wrapping him in as many chains as she can. 

Master Azure quickly ran towards the old man checking his nerves as both of them helped him onto the bed. Megara's eyes darted around and soon a frown made its way on her face when she found Evandros nowhere, his lover was nowhere either.

Where did they go? 

She looked at each one but found those two nowhere in the group. 'Already hunting for the stone?' She thought in her mind and shook her head before looking back at others. "Is anyone here who can check this demon’s memory with their spell or magic?" Just as Megara asked this, a boy in a dark blue robe stepped forward. He was sent by Marco as the badge of Cross Squad Sect was wrapped around his arm.

"I can." The man said and Megara nodded, stepping away from the horrific-looking demon who was currently boring holes in everyone.  "With my magic on him, is that still possible?" She asked the young lad beside her and he nodded solemnly.

To be specific none of them looked inquisitive in this old chief or the demon, everyone was in a hurry, slowly wafting out of the room to search for the stone and Megara felt a little bitterness gushing in her veins. Even the man from the Shu Clan and Master Azure caught a glimpse of the group getting tinier.

With a sigh, she turned her attention toward the demon and the boy. His hand was placed on the demon's bloody chest, and with his eyes closed he continued to whisper a spell under his whiff. Looks like he was digging into the demon's memory. All of a sudden the demon started to move but she did not use her magic because he was already tightly chained, his struggles didn't bother the boy either.

After a short while the boy pulled his hand away and looked at Megara while shaking his head. "His memory has been cut off. It might be the same person who started the plague." The boy said and Megara eyed the demon.  "But everyone has already seen him, why did he cut off the demon's memory? Is he trying to hide his identity from us?" Megara thought while chewing her lower lip as she massaged her thumb ring out of habit.

"Why would he do that?" He asked and she shook her head. "I don't know," Megara said and looked back towards the bed, where the old man was lying. All of a sudden she heard the boy snort in sarcasm. She turned to look at him and found him staring at the entrance of the room. Not to her surprise, not even a single one from the group was now in the room.

She was extremely ashamed. "Aren't you going?" The boy asked, looking at Megara. Megara didn't pass him a look and turned her gaze towards the struggling demon. She grabbed the hilt of her sword and in no second the head of the demon rolled down on the floor with blood gushing out of his neck like boiling water as the demon fell on his knees and stiffened in the same position. Megara took out her handkerchief and cleaned the dirty blood off her shiny sword.

"Do you think I'm here for that?" She asked, still not sparing a glance towards the boy. "I don't." The boy said and Megara looked up at him, putting her sword back in its scabbard as she threw the bloodied handkerchief on the head of the demon.

"Then don't ask silly questions," Megara said in a scolding tone and walked towards the bed. The boy looked young and silly, Megara wondered why Marco sent such a young lad but looks like he is not just young and silly. He has a strong spiritual core judging by his aura, he retains good magic. With this magic, he can easily explore anyone's mind plus he thrives for the experience. Marco got the nice one.

"How is he?" Megara asked Master Azure while eyeing the old man on the bed. He was in a bad condition and looked very skinny. This plague destroyed a happy clan in just three days. "Not very well,"  Azure said as he poured his spiritual energy into the old man.

"Megara...I think we should stop them from burning the corpse, I, Chief Azure of the Healer Valley, suggest not to burn the corpse but to bury them." Azure said and Megara nodded. "I will guide you there." The man with the plague stood up and hurried out of the room. He is roaming around so freely and is still alive unlike his friend, still he needs to stay in isolation. 

"I'll be fine." Master Azure Assured Megara. With that, both of them followed behind the man in the cold and freezing night. The black fog above the clan was heavy. They were walking in open surroundings but it felt like they were in a closed room, only the slight moonlight which managed to pass through the fog helped one to see around. It looked like a hunted clan and the more she looked around, the more worried she became for Agnes.

She must find her after giving Master Azure orders to the others. 

An ear-tearing scream echoed in the empty market, the scream came just from in front of them. Both of them flinched and quickly halted on their steps only to find the man in front of them scooting back on his butt in horror. As he stuttered and wailed. Megara and the boy shared a concerned glance before looking back at the man. 

Before they could ask what was wrong with him the man raised his trembling right arm and pointed in front of him while crying. Both of them raised their heads, their pupils dilating in shock as they stared at the entrance of the market.

"What...is this?" The boy said and eyed the hanging bodies in shock. "They all are from our group." The boy said and stepped back in shock as he shook his head. Never in her life had Megara experienced such a thing. In such a short time, they lost all of their companions who joined them on the assignment. 

All of their bodies hung at the foyer door of the market, Blood was on a few of their clothes while a few others were without a spot of blood. They were killed by hanging. But the thing that hung them was not a rope, they were chains, and out of those chains emitted a black flame, indicating the chain was covered with demon energy. This...the same chain technique as her but with black flames...she saw this thing back at Evandros Mansion. 

Evandros and his maid were not in the hanging bodies. The one who did this was Evandros.

"Who did this?" The boy asked while eyeing Megara. As far as she remembered Evandros specialty was not the chain technique nor did he have any ancestor with the such ability...how did he inherit such a thing? The books written on him didn't include the chain technique which means he either learned it not long ago or snatched it. Back then when he used his chains to attack Megara, Ida stopped the chain attack with her water barrier. Was he deliberately holding back or this power belongs to someone else in the shadows behind him? If this power belonged to him....he could have easily torn up Ida's weak water barrier. Why did he hold back? Maybe, he isn't very skillful in using the chain technique.

"This is your chain technique." The boy said while eyeing Megara and Megara passed him a side glare. "I'm not the only one with chain technique and I was with you all this time." She said and he nodded while rubbing the back of his head. 

"It's Evandros Linya." 

Just as she said this, a tearing sound blasted in the wind as some vicious chains wrapped in black flames came towards them like thunder and lightning. "Don't move," Megara yelled but the chains did not stop. Why? Because they were wrapped in demonic magic, such as pausing magic did not work on that thing.

"Tsk." 

The chains wrapped themselves around the man on the floor as they started to drag the man toward the dark alley. The boy quickly took out his sword and tried to break the chain with his sword but it was utterly useless.

With a clenched Jaw, Megara pulled the boy behind her, fearing the chain could come out of anywhere and strike them. The boy was the same age as Syloson so she felt the need to protect him even though he was not her disciple.

Megara raised her right arm and with sizzling and clashing sounds came her chains against the demonic ones. The man wailed and screamed for help. Megara stepped forward and wrapped her chains around the dragging point of the demonic chains.

"Let him go." She yelled and squeezed that point tighter, slowing the dragging pace. Right now there was no plague or other concerns, it was all those black chains dragging the man into the shadows. All of a sudden time paused when they saw something blue enlightening in the alley. 

They saw the silhouettes of not two but four people. Two of those shadows were small while the other two were long. Megara's pupils dilated when she realized that the blue light was a gentle fist. Just as she realized it, she was forced to let go of the man, she retreated her chains and when she barely made a barrier with it, the clashing force struck against it, it was so strong it broke some of her chains. Before another blue lightning slash could strike them, Megara grabbed the boy with his arm and dragged him away. She formed another chain barrier behind her which soon broke down as weak but it was enough to spare them time, as both of them ran into another dark alley of the market.

She failed to protect the man and he was long ago dragged inside the dark alley. 

"Who were those four people?" The boy asked while running beside Megara. Two of those silhouettes belonged to Evandros and his lover but the other two..she wasn't aware. Just as she thought this, she paused on her steps and leaned against the wall. In order to catch her breath as they were already far from them.

The other two silhouettes...do they belong to those who started the plague in the clan? Does that mean...it was Evandros who caused all this? But why? What is his motive? If he wanted the stone he could have done the same as he did with the other clans and sects to get this stone. What is with all of this drama? She could not comprehend it.

"Should we vacate the clan and inform others or should we stay hidden for a while?" The boy asked and Megara slightly looked at him. She looked around and found the area safe. "Let's stay here for a while. After that, we will take master Azure and vacate the clan." She said she couldn't meet Agnes. She doesn't even know if she's still alive. 

"Do you think he will still be alive?" The boy asked and Megara slid down against the wall, squatting down as she rubbed her thumb ring. The boy quickly squats down beside her. "Alive or not, we must see him before leaving," Megara said in a stern tone. Her brows knitted in confusion.

"That evil bastard Evandros. He killed everyone who came for the stone beside him. He killed that poor man too." The boy said and Megara sighed. He did it for stones? He was the one who spread this plague. Since when did he start attacking from the shadows? He always attacked from the front.

"What's your name?" Megara asked. 

"I'm Nelson." The boy said. Although she could not see his face, his half-face looked like Darcy while his figure and presence resembled Syloson.

She lowered her head and tried to ponder out a conclusion. Nothing confuses her the way Evandros confuses her. 

He is truly cruel.

All of a sudden footsteps invaded their ears from the corner of the alley. Both of them snapped their heads to the left side and grabbed the hilt of their swords but their tensed shoulders relaxed when they saw an old lady. A blanket was wrapped around her but her white hair can be seen. She was holding a bamboo stick and walked with its help. It looks like she was blind which she was. 

Both of them eyed the old woman silently. She was humming and singing a song. Her behavior didn't go well with the surroundings. She is already blind this dark Clan does not bother her glorious imagination but does this quietness not bother her? Maybe she is deaf as well. This kind of illness can be a blessing in this fallen clan which looks haunted.

They watched the lady as she passed by them.

A clacking sound fall on their ears when the lady passed by them. Both of them snapped their heads down on the ground and found out that the lady had dropped something on the ground. Since it fell right beside Megara's foot, she grabbed it and decided to get up and give it back to the old lady but when she brought that thing near her face her pupils enlarged.

"What a beautiful stone," Nelson said while staring at the stone and Megara gulped. Eyeing and rubbing the stone keenly. It wasn't a normal stone. It was an evil stone. It was the black stone that was missing but this stone wasn't black. Neither it was green...this stone was red and without a doubt, it was the evil stone. How did this thing get here? What is this doing with that old lady? She didn't try to ponder on it much....because everything was already messed up. All of a sudden she stood up straight and harshly bit her thumb. 

Nelson stood up as well and stared at her in confusion. She put forward her left hand and drew a pattern on her palm with her bloodied thumb while chanting a spell. Nelson immediately understood what she was accomplishing.

In a second an eagle was summoned to her palm. It was huge with long feathers, flapping its wings as it tried to stabilize itself on her small palm. "Give me a handkerchief." She told Nelson and he quickly took out his handkerchief. 

"Tightly wrap it in the handkerchief." She said and handed him the red stone. Without a single word, he wrapped the stone in the handkerchief and on Megara's instruction wrapped the already wrapped handkerchief around the eagle's neck, putting on a seal so it wouldn't fall.

"Good." Megara praised him...it wasn't because he put on a seal but because he wasn't asking many questions and was forbearing of Megara's explanation. "Take this stone to Chief Zale and only to Chief Zale." She ordered the eagle and raised her left palm where the spiritual eagle stood. The eagle flapped its wings and flew away. 

"May your journey be eased," Megara said as she saw the eagle fly away. Since it was a spiritual eagle the black fog won't harm it like it harmed the other birds. Megara turned towards the boy who was looking at her intently.

"I'm not quite sure but I think it's one of the evil stones," Megara said and his eyes widened. "What was an evil stone doing with her?" He asked and Megara shook her head. "I'm not aware." She said.

"Shouldn't we give this stone to the Chief of the Shu Clan...since the one who started this plague wants the stone?" Nelson asked and Megara massaged her temples. He wasn't aware...no one was other than her. 

"The plague...Evandros started it. I don't know why he didn't attack the Shu Clan like he attacked others. Maybe he wasn't aware of the exact location of the stone. Whatever it is... it's messed up. That stone is red and not the missing black stone. Shu Clan is already half gone...giving him the stone... won't happen. As long as they don't burn the bodies, the plague won't spread but we must inform them not to burn the bodies." 

Did Evan lose one more of his stones or is it the Blue Forsaken ones? Whatever it is...how did it end up with that woman who can't see or hear. It is set up by someone who bears hatred against the Shu Clan? Is it the Blue Forsaken ones who did this?

Whatever it is....it is so messed up that Blossom nearly vomited blood.

She stood up straight and looked at Nelson.

"Evandros is the one who destroyed the Shu Clan," Megara said and Nelson's jaw clenched in anger. "He already reached The Shu Clan. Who is next? Us? I can't believe this evil creature is my master's cousin." Nelson said venomously and Megara sighed.

"Let's go and get Chief Azure." She said and both of them turned around. Their hearts almost came into their throats when they saw an extremely familiar silhouette reclining against the wall. 

"Oh...so you guys already gave away the evil stone." He said and stood up straight. His hands were behind his back as he stepped forward, making the other two step back in shock. His frosty face was finally clear in the moonlight. His handsome face looked cruel. 

"It was you all along. You stole my green stone from my Manor and now the red stone was taken away by you as well? What do you think? I won't notice you?" He asked and she stared at him. 

"I was aware, you were aware as well but continue to act oblivious while not being oblivious as well...I'm not a fool." She said and he coldly snorted while slightly tilting his head.

"Indeed." He declared. "You're not a fool."

"So which one did you send it to? Your Clan or your Sect? Or one to each?" He asked and she said nothing. "Should I destroy both of them?" He asked and her left eye twitched.

"As if you can." She said and he lowered his head while covering his face with his right hand. All of a sudden his shoulders started to move up and down, indicating he was laughing. Such a scene caused shivers to run down their spines and their scalp tingle.

"Shu Clan was arrogant as well. See where it stands now." He said and looked back at them, his smile vanishing away in thin air by the time he looked back at them. "What is your true motive?" She asked and he sighed.

"You asked and I'll tell, right?" He asked and her jaw twitched in anger. She raised her right arm and chains drew out like lightning, targeting him. He kept standing in his place unfazed. All of a sudden a muffling sound invaded her ears. She turned around and saw Nelson wrapped up in black chains and beside him stood Evandros lover. Those black chains coming out of her sleeves means they belonged to her.

Nelson looked at Megara horrified. He was truly helpless against those demonic chains. Blossom's jaw clenched in anger. As she snapped her gaze towards Evan, he wasn't there but right behind her. 

Before she could part her lips he put his pale and rough palm on her clothed mouth. Her eyes sharpened as her chains drew towards them only to be trampled down by someone standing in the dark shadows of the alley. All these people were using demonic powers, which were extremely powerful and forbidden, not everyone can afford them. They are so powerful one can die. She wondered how this delicate maiden could use demonic chains. Whatever it was, she was completely at a disadvantage and had no way to escape. Her eyes sharpened when she felt his other hand on her waist and his warmth touching her back. She raised her arm and was about to elbow him, ready to share some blows. She knew she was a goner but she won't die without a fight. Her martial arts skills were extremely fast but as if the enemy was already aware of her move, she soon found herself wrapped in demonic chains.

To break through the chains, she started to exert external force, the force was so much, the things around flew away and even the little maiden stumbled back but the chains did not break. Megara was extremely petrified...how can this little woman easily hold down onto her? Just how much demonic energy she was using. Her sword sizzled in her scabbard, trying to make its way out of the chains but the demonic energy was enormous. It was so much, she felt it oozing power to her bones. 

She understood.

This chain technique belongs to that little maiden but this demonic flame belongs to Evandros...the one who started these forbidden demonic spells. She can't believe how powerful this flame was, she could feel her legs shaking but she didn't kneel. His hand still pressed to her mouth as she struggled like a dying fish.

"Shhhh... it's time to pay now, soulmate." He said, his tone raspy, making her scalp tingle.

She was a goner.