Dark Magus Returns

Kizer had been cooped up in the alchemist room for a while now, and he could feel his head starting to pound. He was unsure if it was due to the fumes from Reno's plants or the concoctions he was making, but either way, he wanted to get out of there.

When he exited the room and was in the main hallway that branched off into several other rooms, he could still smell several different scents wafting into his nose.

'How can they deal with these smells all day, every day? Alchemists really do have a certain knack for these things,' Kizer thought, pinching his nose as he looked towards the exit. 'Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever met or come across an alchemist that's normal.'

Kizer had come across quite a few, even when the Clan had to make special requests, and all of them were hard to talk to and reserved to themselves. Somewhat like the Dark Magus, but none of them gave him a sense of fear like the Dark Magus did.

Reaching outside, Kizer was ready to give his limbs quite the stretching, and as he pulled his arms out to the very top and slowly opened his eyes, he froze for a moment.

"What is going on here?" Kizer mumbled to himself.

There was a group of around fifty warriors with their weapons drawn. Some of them had dubious facial expressions on their faces, others waiting in anticipation for something. Kizer had seen this look before; it was the faces of warriors just before they were to go into battle.

"Oh, will you look at this," Clipper said. "It seems one of them has come out already to greet us. Let's play with him a little."

The orders from Sha Mo were clear. If the Crimson Crane resisted giving information about the Dark Magus, then they were free to act as they pleased, getting the information they needed no matter what.

However, not everyone would follow those orders right down to the last letter. In Clipper's ears, he had heard just the last few lines, 'They could act as they please.'

Pagna warriors who trained day in and day out, many of them were itching for a fight. Some joined for that sole reason, a chance to show their hard training and efforts off, and now this was that opportunity.

Immediately, they dived right in toward Kizer, one of them thrusting a spear toward his face. He quickly pulled back, and the energy of the spear attack continued forward, hitting part of the metal building, creating a large dent in it.

At the same time from his right side, a fist came out hitting him right across his face; it was a solid hit filled with Qi, from a high-stage initial-ranking warrior. A shockwave of Qi blasted next to him, but Kizer's feet didn't move.

"You call that a punch." Kizer wiped his mouth and drew his own fist, throwing it right back out to his attacker. It looked like the very wind behind, the space itself was being dragged along with his fist.

"THIS IS A PUNCH!" Kizer slammed it right into the man's face, his teeth flying off in different directions, and his body being lifted into the air. The force of the punch ripped the ground as the body was sent flying backward into the others.

The charge from the Behemoth Clan didn't stop there though, as they swung their swords and sliced right into Kizer's shoulder. It ripped through his clothing, tearing his flesh but stopped within a few inches.

The Qi inside Kizer's body was running rampant, and he was using it to protect his body from having deeper attacks. Immediately he kicked his foot at the attacker, sending him flying in the air.

Then taking a step forward, he threw out a fist, hitting another one in the stomach again. Men were being thrown left and right, but at the same time, Kizer's wounds were building up from the attacks that were hitting him again and again.

"Kizer from the Crimson Crane," Clipper commented, watching from the back of his attacking men. "He is the powerhouse of the Crimson Crane group, one with the strongest attack power, and the easiest of the lot to deal with."

Kizer delivered a large uppercut punch to another member, as he felt something sharp pierce his back. He quickly turned around and grabbed onto the sword, cutting his hands slightly.

Pulling the sword forward, he kicked the attacker in the face, and now with a sword in his hand, Kizer had a large smile on his face.

'I gave every single one of my weapons I had to the Dark Magus, so I don't really have anything on me right now, so this will just have to do!'

Kizer swung the sword once with all his might and added Qi. Immediately, a large line of aura could be seen in the air. It had hit six of the Behemoth clan members, creating a large cut across their chests and sending them ten meters away from where he was.

However, looking at the sword in his hand, it had snapped in half and was completely broken.

"This is always the problem I have with these things; why are they such trash? Why is it so hard to find something that can handle my Qi!"

Straight from behind, several more martial artists using a formation had surrounded him, and all of them had thrust their swords toward different spots on his body at once.

Aiming for the stomach, aiming for his side, his ribs, his thighs, going for his neck. All of them had pierced his skin relatively deep, but not deep enough to penetrate his vitals.

"Arghh!" Kizer spun, trying to hit the rest of the swordsmen, but they soon jumped back, and two large men from the Behemoth Clan jumped, using fist techniques, they slammed both of them right into Kizer's stomach, which caused him to kneel over and fall to the ground as the wind was knocked out of him.

"And this is why, Kizer, the one known as the Beast of the Crimson Crane, is the easiest to deal with," Clipper commented with a smile.

"Although he has an absurdly destructive and powerful Qi compared to others that are at the same stage as him, everything else in terms of skills is subpar. A lack of foot techniques, a lack of swordsmanship."

"Some say if he hadn't found the Crimson Crane, he would have long ago perished in battle. It was only because of his fellow clan members defending him that he managed to last this long, and it seems to be true."

On his knees, several of the attackers now had dived in. The sword users that had attacked with their formation from before were ready to strike from above. They were swinging their swords, aiming to slice off his head.

As they swung the swords, though, they noticed their vision was getting slightly blurry, and soon some of them collapsed to the floor, while the sword strikes had missed completely, falling to the floor.

"I was wondering what was taking you so long."

Two steps were taken to Kizer's side, and with a strange lingering mist following him, Reno could be seen.

"Haha, you came to help me? And here I thought you would be stuck in that room for yours, even if I screamed, begging for my life," Kizer chuckled.

Reno didn't want to say the truth. The fact was, he had run out of plants and herbs to use in his creations, so he was heading out to the auction house to get some more when he saw the commotion.

His words were more of a line he thought was appropriate to be said at the moment.

"Ah, the poison user, I see," Clipper said as he placed some spiked gloves onto his hands and started to walk forward. "The weakest member of the Crimson Crane has come to help. I guess since there are two of you, I should get involved."

"As for the rest of you, what are you doing!" Clipper shouted. "I told you to head inside and drag out every single Alchemist that's in there!"

Both Reno and Kizer looked at each other at that moment. Now they had an idea of who they were after.

"Erghh, I'm not sure that's a good idea," Reno stated.