Ascenders Rift 171 Leaving The Training Quarters, Sudden Ambush

The night grew darker, and the battle between both parties had already ended, Leo's group each had a mix between defeated and excited looks while Evan's group merely had a slight amount of exhaustion. If anyone in their party were said to be in prime condition, it would be none other than Evan and Rick.

Evan looked at Layla, Joe, and Emilia as he spoke, "How was it?"

Joe gritted his teeth and spoke, "I didn't think these guys could have such strange abilities, it was clear that I was stronger than that Oron, but the way he fought was vastly superior to myself. Those added abilities only made it a bit troublesome to deal with him..."

When Joe said this, he recalled the sudden power boost of Oron that made his power rise almost becoming comparable to his own, if he didn't use his Overburn, he would have found it a bit hard to defeat him quickly.

Layla also added her opinion, "Joe's right, for Emilia and I, Irene and Julie were a bit troublesome. I wasn't sure how to deal with their abilities initially, as they made the perfect counter. One could cancel our energy-based attacks, and the other could form a barrier as well as bind our movements. We only won due to our superior scale of energies; if we were to fight them with a similar scale of power, we might lose."

Evan nodded as he looked at them and spoke once more, "Good, then let this be a lesson, very soon we will be fighting against humans, and other humanoids, you need to take this chance to increase your combat awareness. Monsters might be powerful, but most of them lack the intellect needed for strategic combat, humanoid monsters, along with humans, are different. While we've encountered the Insect Hive's men before, they were gravely injured, not allowing you to see how they fought, especially with their teamwork tactics. As for that unknown attacker from RADA, we might have been able to beat him, but at a serious loss..."

"Right," Joe and the other said, as their faces took on a firm look, it seemed that this battle had taught them a great deal.

At this time, Rick s.h.i.+fted his head to the right, noticing that Leo was walking over with his party, Evan did the same with Joe and the others.

Leo stared at Evan complexly for a while before he spoke with a smile, "Haha, Sir Evan, that was a wonderful bout, I was wondering. If you are granted the request to stay here by the Hall of Governance, would you be willing to occasionally partake in a few more bouts?"

Evan was a bit surprised by those words, but when he looked at Leo, Julie and the others, he couldn't help but feel a slight change in their auras. He thought to himself, 'Well now, I'd have never thought that by doing battle they could improve, these Evolvers are very interesting.'

After thinking here, Evan looked at Rick and the others, noticing the flame in their eyes. He smirked and replied, "Leo, you need not ask, such an excellent training opportunity is hard to come by; we'd naturally join you whenever we can."

"Excellent, I really hope everything goes smoothly tomorrow!" Leo said with a joyous look on his face, Oron and the others couldn't help but feel a tinge of excitement, it had been a long time since they saw an increase in power, they wouldn't let this chance go no matter the cost.

Evan nodded at those words; he looked at them before speaking, "Well, it should be quite late by now, I believe that you guys should still have quite the number of affairs to deal with, shall we call it a night?"

Leo replied with a nod, "That's right, let's end it here, for now, we'll come to pick you guys up at eight tomorrow, the meeting should be at around noon, you can refer the time via the devices in the room."

Evan looked at Leo and nodded as he spoke, "Great, well, see you guys tomorrow then,"

As Evan said this, he began to leave with Rick, Layla, and the others; they walked over to the distant table were Breya was fiddling with some objects. 

After letting her pack up her things, the party left the Training Quarters, vanis.h.i.+ng behind a large white door.

Leo looked at their backs with a smile on his face, Julie seeing this took this chance to give him a rare tease, "You're showing that look you used to show as a child, what's wrong you found a new plaything?"

Leo hearing this shook his head and glanced at her, he noticed that her eyes were a bit lost. He spoke in a soft tone with a troublemaking look on his face, "No, I was thinking of how to tell pops about you and me?"

Julie blushed at those words; she looked around, noticing that the staff were few, and many of them were busy focused on other things. She heaved a sigh of relief before glaring at him and replying, "W-Who and you are anything?"

As she said this, she hurriedly walked off, not looking back. Leo chuckled at this, as he knew that she wouldn't show such emotions easy, not when people were around, they needed to maintain their image of a hateful relations.h.i.+p.

Razel, Oron, and Irene shook their heads, not saying anything; they knew things won't be so simple for them, especially now that they returned from duty.

'I hope things go as planned tomorrow... otherwise, we may have a harsh meeting on our hands,' Razel thought while looking at Leo, who now had a deeply conflicted expression on his face.

The scene here turning in one of silence, as no one knew what the other was thinking, but each had complete certainty that tomorrow would bring a startling change.

***

Some distance away from the Training Quarters, Evan and the others were making their way back to their lodging.

As they moved, they carried an air of leisure as Layla and Emilia were chatting while Rick and Joe bickered about a few things.

Evan looked at Breya, who had remained silent as he spoke, "So, how is it going so far, Breya?"

Breya hearing his words, glanced at him from the corner of her eyes as she replied with an annoyed look, "How is it supposed to go? Do you think it's easy to crack these devices? Hmph! Evan, you gave me so much work, and only promised that as the prize, you need to add more weight..."

"I need to add more weight? Alright, I understand..." Evan said with a sly smile, he then looked at her and spoke, "I'll grab a few more clumps of fat, and stack them together within Joe, how about that for adding extra pressure?"

Breya's face sunk when she heard this, she looked at Evan with a vicious glare, her face turning crimson red as she spoke, "You... you idiot!"

Evan laughed as he spoke, "Alright, alright, fine... I'll not tease you; I'll teach you of another special concoction that you can use to 'handle' your own affairs."

Breya's eyes lit up when she heard those words; she looked at Evan deeply before she took a deep breath and spoke, "It better be stronger than the last one, and more effective in certain areas..."

Evan chuckled as he replied, "Yes ma'am,"

Breya no longer pestered Evan and showed a brighter look on her face, but at this time, Evan's eyes s.h.i.+fted towards Joe who was carefree and bickering with Rick. His eyes showed pity when he thought, 'I'm sorry, Joe, it looks like I'm still fated to losing you again despite my reincarnation.'

Joe, who was chatting with Rick, seemed to have felt something, he turned and saw Breya's cheerful look, while Evan was glancing at him with an odd look. He felt a chill as he thought to himself, 'This feeling, I feel as if I'm at death's door, but I cannot avoid it, I... I wonder why that's so?'

He wanted to ponder more, but right at this time, not only himself, Rick, Evan, Emilia, Layla, and Breya, had suddenly felt a dense murderous intention from all directions.

The street grew quiet, as no vehicle could oddly be seen in this sector, the world falling in a temporary silence. Now, a dark mist had begun to rise around Evan's party, shrouding everything around them, Evan looked at this and snorted as he spoke, "You guys sure are persistent, you've been watching us from that time in Angel's Abode, tell me, is that that Manager Paulson of yours who sent you? Or is this response from some higher chain of command?"

Following Evan's words, Layla and the others stared at their surroundings with cold looks ready to attack at any moment.

Eventually, the mist began to part slightly, as a few silhouettes had appeared from all angles. They were all men and women garbed in cloaks with one individual standing at the front, gazing at Evan's party with a sinister look.

Evan seeing their silence smirked as he spoke again, "Not saying anything? Fine, it looks like we'll have to do it the hard way... and let me tell you, I am quite fond of those methods…"

After saying this, Evan's look changed, taking on a manner akin to the devil as he licked his lips with a cruel glare in his eyes, the tension rose as the air here turned sharp, beckoning the start of the nights closing act.