The One after my Heart

"Drowning Arrow Barrage!", bellowed the man as he thrust his right hand in the air towards Kyra without waiting for any more second to pass.

More than hundreds of grey wooden arrows appeared above his head in the air as they shot towards Kyra at full speed. After which, he summoned another hundred arrows and shot right them after the first attack.

Each of these arrows was around a meter long in length and around four inches thick with an extremely sharp tip.

Kyra barely had any time to react as she saw a vast dark cloud of arrows in the air like an insect swarm whistle towards her.

But just as the arrows that whistled with piercing speed reached the trio who were huddled up, the red dot between Maya's eyebrows started to flash fiercely. And as though it sensed danger, it flashed a red light briefly as a thin film oval barrier was erected around them.

The whistling arrows with a loud gale pierced into the thin transparent red film fiercely, but then it seemed to go no further within and fell down to the ground in front of her.

Faint ripples formed on the transparent red barrier as the arrows kept on striking, and slowly its colour seemed to diminish with the attack of each arrow. It seemed like it would disappear and fall apart any moment now.

"Stop! I'm sure there's a misunderstanding! We're not dark witches! I'm only trying to save their life!" shouted Kyra as she wanted to pacify the man and reason with him.

"No, I'm not a straggler! And they aren't dark witches! Stop! It's a misunderstanding!"

But the man wouldn't listen to any reason no matter how much she tried to convince him.

He ignored the young woman pleas and decided to attack with his focus on the little child with all his might without any mercy. The older young woman was of no threat, and the teenage girl was too injured to react. He turned his full attention to the small smiling figure as she slept.

There was definitely something weird about the child.

'How could it defend against a Gold-level warlocks attack. Something's definitely wrong. What was that red shield? An artifact? A weapon?'

Although what now comforted him a little was, the red barrier that withstood his attacks grew fainter and fainter. And when the last arrow fell on it, as though it had reached its limit, it completely collapsed. How could it collapse only after the last arrow had struck!? This was no coincidence. His expression immediately turned grim.

'It must've been some sort of protection spell or artifact. But how could a small child have something like that on her? Is she someone of importance to the dark witches? If so, I shouldn't waste any time and hesitate or show mercy!'

Thinking so, with a decisive expression, his gaze changed into a cold one. He muttered a few words under his breath, and then in the blink of an eye, his entire demeanour and aura seemed to change.

The plants and trees around them in the forest seemed to slowly sway and shake in response as though they were synchronized with him, accepting him as one of their own.

The middle-aged man's skin and features slowly turned into a dark, murky brown colour, as his features seemed to turn more and more woodlike.

Kyra was frightened at his appearance and immediately grabbed one of the arrows in front of her in defence.

The man growled out as he spread his hands and fingers wide open around him and then brought it forward in front of his arms as he clapped and muttered,"

"Maramullu Toxic Prison!"

HONG HONG!

There was a loud sound as the ground around them shook as it rumbled. And then, at the next instant, immediately huge dark columns that looked like iron pillars shot from underneath the ground around them. The sturdy wooden columns were more than three feet wide as they sprung up from the ground like bamboos shooting out.

Each of the dark columns was around thirty feet tall. They appeared in a circle all around Kyra with where she was as the centre. Like bars of a cage, the columns enclosed around her and the girls, not giving them any chance to escape.

But that was not all. There were large barbed thorns around the columns that had drops of green liquid coated on their tip. The poisonous thorns even extended on all sides around them as though they reached out to each other, thus covering up the gap between the columns as well.

A single thorn was thick and long as an adults' finger. And now Kyra stared at what looked like thousands and thousands of sharp needles facing her from all sides. It was no different from being inside a monster's mouth.

The middle-aged man clenched his outstretched hands as he tightened his palms into a fist while gritting his teeth and spoke out, "Constringe!"

The reason why he'd kept his distance was that he was still wary of the trio in front of him. For them to have broken through the illusion formation at such a young age was mind-boggling.

Also, that red barrier that had protected them earlier whilst also intending to devour him! What if she had a couple more artefacts or attacks similar to those that could threaten him. Hence he'd gone all out in this attack. This way, even if another barrier popped, there was no way it would survive the full-powered attack of a gold-class Warlock like him.

And if it was thwarted like his previous attack, it would give him enough time to plan his next move and appropriately deal with it afterwards.

"Die!!"

As though obediently following his orders, the wooden columns all around Kyra, which were covered in poisonous thorns, enclosed towards the centre as they moved swiftly towards Kyra and the two girls.

Her eyes widened as she saw the pillars get closer and closer, intending to crush the three of them. Kyra gave a helpless sigh as her face wore a weary and despondent look. Kyra couldn't see any way out and closed her eyes in resignation, helplessness and defeat.

'Let this nightmare end', Kyra thought to herself as she gave up and felt immense tiredness wash over her.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEECH!

But as the wooden pillars of barbed thorns nearly came close as to piercing the three girls and crushing them to death, an extremely sharp pitched noise, like nails on a chalkboard, echoed in the air all around them. It was as though one metal were cutting against another.

Kyra, who had her eyes closed, couldn't help but wince at the high pitched sound and open her soft dark-brown eyes as she was startled out of instinct.

Her pupils widened as she noticed the huge contracting wooden pillars that were just at an arm's distance away from her face. She could clearly see the wet glistening green poison shining on each one of those thorns and could even smell the corrosive poison vaguely.

Bizarrely at the next moment, rather than the poisoned barbed huge wooden pillars coming forward to crush them, they were blown backwards in reverse. The speed with which they were repelled away was ten times faster than they moved forwards.

The middle-aged man's eyes went wide in shock, and he stood there rooted to the ground.

He didn't dare make a single move any further because his attack being blown away like mere matchsticks wasn't all that had happened.

Just as the columns were sent hurling away backwards, the mist formation around them in the forest scattered away like smoke blown away in a single breath. A furious gale passed through them, making everything that was previously fogged and sightless now visible to the naked eye.

All around them, the trees started to splinter and crack open as they started to shake, and their branches rattled loudly. Leaves of the trees that were on the ground or were torn away from their branches blew all around them. Even the gigantic unshakable Kitthale tree in front of Kyra seemed to be shaking in fear as it, too, wasn't spared.

And then everything stopped still.

Kyra was startled as she seemed to have heard the sound of someone furiously breathing.

She worriedly turned to look at the two girls and noticed it wasn't coming from them. Maya was sleeping there with a small smile on her face while Nisa, too, had her eyes shut as her wounds seemed to be sewing themselves up visible to the naked eye.

Kyra went deathly still as she felt a though there was an invisible hand grabbed around her heart.

As though it would take her life if she made any unnecessary movements. She couldn't help but drop the arrow from her hand to the ground and it was only then that she felt the pressure on her get a little lighter., though it hadn't disappeared yet.

It was then that she heard a woman's voice in the air, as though it was spoken right beside her even though nobody else was there.

"Fredrick Dartwood…....have you and your family..... grown tired.... of living?"

What followed this question was the furious bellow of the voice now laced with killing intent that shattered the silence of the forest.

Furious gales of wind arose around them with the trees around them starting to creak and splinter as cracks on the ground formed all around the man.

"HOW DARE YOU LAY YOUR FILTHY HANDS ON THIS QUEEN'S DAUGHTERS!!!!?