"You see, I may not know what technique you are using to do those freakish moves, but I am not an idiot, I noticed that it had something to do with your breathing rhythm so I theorized that in an environment devoid of air, you would be useless. Was I right?" I said smirking sardonically.

"....!"

"Ah, that's right you can't talk," I said as he was suffocating. Now that I had the time to catch my breath I could observe how Chloe and Mr. Razach were doing.

In the middle of bloody and torn body parts stood Chloe, she had slaughtered at least twenty enemies and was fighting five more by herself. Her clothes were pristine untainted by the gore of the carnage. From what I could see, among the five she was up against, there was a mage, two Lycans, a vampire, and a shifter. The mage was keeping his distance while sending numerous deadly spells her way. The Lycans were in full beast mode and were savagely biting and clawing at her. The vampire was using his maddening speed trying to find an opportunity to strike. The shifter was in bear form and was frontally confronting her with his powerful body.

I felt like she was handling the situation and didn't need my assistance, as expected of the most freakishly powerful pureblood to be born. Mr. Razach wasn't doing so bad himself, with his powerful hammer he was crushing the enemies ruthlessly. His agility as he moved between his opponents while avoiding their attacks made a sharp contrast with the brutal way he was killing them. His hammer acted like a divine weapon smithing them into blood paste.

By now the numbers of assailants had gone down a lot thanks to the combined efforts of Chloe and Mister Razach.  My opponent was kneeling in front of me trying to regain the breath I stole from him. He tried to get up and I kicked hard on his face sending him flying like a rag doll. Landing violently, he stayed down for a couple of seconds then tried to get up, his face full of blood. Since the start of our fight, he stayed pristine and elegant without any dirt or blood blemishing him. Now seeing him in this disorderly state made a big part of me unbelievably content.

"You know? you're the most difficult enemy I've had to fight since all this started and it's not because you were powerful. All of it was due to those combat skills of yours, now that I got you, tell me where did you learn all this, and why are you attacking us?" I pressured him with my will and crouched in front of his struggling form.

He didn't answer and I thought he was playing hard to get. Then I realized he couldn't, because of the lack of oxygen; he was also close to passing out.

"Oops, my bad. Here, let me help you."

I snapped my fingers allowing him to breathe again, he started coughing badly. I patiently waited until he got it under control. Then he tried to attack me, moving like a blur he directed a palm toward my chest. I sighed inwardly and moved slightly backward avoiding his palm. My eyes turned cold, with a move of my hand I sent him flying toward a tree in the distance. He was airborne for a moment, before crashing sickeningly on it. The tree snapped and he fell on the ground bleeding, badly.

In two seconds I was before his body.  I decided not to drag this anymore and grabbed him by the neck raising him to eye level. He was grunting and his eyes were unfocused. I was preparing to snuff out his miserable existence when I heard a sound. It was like numerous voices were speaking at the same time. In an instant, there was only that aggravating noise reverberating in my skull. I tried to hold on to him but it was like a million ants crawling in my brain. I let him go and I watched with a fading consciousness as he vanished into thin air.

Then It was black.

I woke up with the mother of all headaches. It was like I spent the entire night taking shots and was dealing with the resulting hangover. I sat up groggily and remembered what I was doing before passing out. In a second I was on my feet sweeping the surroundings with my gaze. Apart from the bodies that littered the ground still dead and unmoving, all the other assailants had disappeared. I heard a groan and looked at the rising form of Mr. Razach. He was holding his head and cursing in a language that I couldn't recognize. A thought distracted me from him as dread settled in my gut. I searched for Chloe among the bodies and was reassured when I saw her on the ground unconscious but otherwise unharmed.

I walked toward her and woke her up. She transitioned from lying on the ground to a sitting position. She too looked around her before looking at me confused.

"Where are the others?"

"I don't know, I was fighting that man and I was going to finish him when I heard those loud voices chanting then I was out."

Mr. Razach seemed to be a little better. He came closer and said

"I don't like the sound of that."

"Why? what's wrong?" Chloe asked

"This looks like high-grade magic." He answered his brows furrowed.

"So a mage is behind all this, he or she transported them somewhere else?" I wondered.

"Most likely but not any normal mage could have done this, as I said this is high-grade magic. Only an incomparably powerful mage could have cast a spell of that magnitude. The kind that is by himself comparable to a walking disaster."

"Are you sure? Because a mage at this level of power can only be found in the Magus council or among the recluse ancient mages forgotten by history. In any case, it's bad." Chloe stated.

"The Magus council?" I inquired

"A prominent organization that takes care of all matters magic. The council is made of mages and shifters who serve as their enforcement unit. I agree with you Miss Chloe but I doubt the Magic council would involve themselves in a mess like this. After all, the entire supernatural community agreed with the banishment of soul reaping. "

I rapidly processed the information I just received. At this moment more than ever I felt like something shady and major was transpiring. With the potential involvement of this organization, things were going to become tricky. And judging by the faces of Mr. Razach and Chloe I wasn't wrong.

.