Pyro of the Craven

Chapter-6: Zelgius, the Mad Killer

A Dark cave in a murky grove marks the entrance to this dungeon. It's covered in small bones, moss, and rat droppings. There is only one path. Its twisted trail leads onwards and soon they enter a dank area. "What happened in this place?" they thought.

They see a boy, hands, and legs tied up; unconscious on the floor. "Hey, you okay?" Ramaraju said softly as he shook him, however to no avail, he even looked as though he was... "He's Paralyzed!" Isayama sighed, then looked in wonder at the trail of blood. He untied the boy and carried him along with them.

"What's happening here? This is a rescue mission, right? There is no one here except this boy and there is blood all over." says Siddharth.

"But our mission is to rescue this boy. We got him, so we must leave then," suggests Ramaraju as he panicked at seeing the blood and the very place itself.

"I think we must check over this place. We need to find out what happened to him. Maybe we could get any clues." says Vamsy.

Following the blood, it forced them to walk for a few minutes before the blood trail vanished into thin air.

"Dammit, why should we still be here?" Ramaraju thought.

Siya holds his hands. "Don't worry. We are all here together."

Isayama examined the place closer, where he found a faint lingering of foreign Odic-Force, slowly fading into deeper obscurity. Turning his senses outward, Isayama noticed a vague Odic-Force, somewhere to the left or maybe the north. The Odic-Force presence was trying to conceal itself and was doing an amazing job at that. Isayama couldn't even determine the Odic-Force's exact location, much less its strength. This skill itself implied at least of a high class, not the sort to give out an easy win, either.

Isayama suggested retreating, but Vamsy denied it. He just couldn't quit and neither do the others.

A brief twitch of Odic-Force was all the warning Isayama had before, flew towards him and his team at bullet level speeds. The sword's velocity could be attributed to its wielder's insane strength. The sword is unusually dense mass and its stupidly sharp edge. There was no time to shout 'duck', (At least, no time in a speed the team would pick up on) so Isayama quickly used his ability, 'Prehensile' (which animates and lengthen his hair) on his party and fell to the ground, pulling his team with the hair as rope down at rates that were otherwise impossible for them. The blade finally stopped over halfway into a boulder (amazing that it didn't go far) and Zelgius appeared before them. The famous killer stood on the hilt of his gigantic sword, gazing down at Isayama and his team. Having failed his ambush, he faced his target head-on with confidence. Noticing Zelgius's lack of immediate attack, Isayama started the conversation.

"Well, well... if it isn't Zelgius, the Mad Killer." At Isayama's side, Vamsy had surged forward, but Isayama put a hand out to block him.

"Stay back. DON'T INTERFERE. This guy is on a different level. This is Zelgius, famously known as The Mad Killer; he once slaughtered an entire village. He is an elite Ryoshi. I'm not sure if even I can face him. Stay back and protect that boy." They quickly surged into a protective formation around the boy.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble... could you surrender that boy?" Zelgius questioned. "If you don't surrender, I may have to kill you." At this, Zelgius chuckled. He was sending Isayama all the correct messages to determine a psychopathic nature. Whether this was on purpose remained to be seen. The fight hadn't even started, and Zelgius's Killing Intent was already washing over Isayama.

"All of you! Stay out of this fight." Isayama said, addressing his team one last time for good measure before focusing on his Odic-Force and turning back towards him.