Chapter 36: The First of Many
Chapter 36: The First of Many
When the second arrow was coming, Neban swiftly moved to dunk behind a car, setting Theo down as he pulled off his jacket to cover his son.
The jacket looked like it swallowed Theo.
The arrow did not strike nor go through the car, as it turned like it had a mind of its own, reaching for Neban.
When Neban saw the arrow turning directions and going around the car, he was hiding behind; he cursed as he put Theo behind him. Neban reached his hand out this time, grabbing the arrow and breaking it before tossing it down.
Having the time to think while not knowing when another arrow will come, Neban used [Absolute Sense] to find the person's location.
When he spotted that the person's location was on top of a building's roof that was a few feet from them, Neban looked to Siren, who he already had in his hand.
'I know where the person is.' He told the sword.
'Then let's kill the monster, already.' Siren replied, ready to eat.
'Or a hunter. They did not like me in the hunter's community, and since the government now knows who I am, they most likely told the hunters, meaning things will be getting rough in the next following days.'
If weapons could roll their eyes, Siren would be doing it about now, 'Who cares? More blood for me. Now let's stop sitting like ducks waiting to die, and let's get into the action.'
Neban sighed, not leaving yet as he looked at his son. He did not want to leave Theo there, but he did have to take care of whatever is trying to kill them. Even though his jacket covered Theo's body, he could still see that the boy was trembling.
Neban bit his lip, not knowing what to do when he remembered that he had a ring that would turn someone invisible and transparent (so attacks could not hit them) for fifteen minutes.
Quickly pulling out the ring from his sub-space, he moved his jacket down, so Theo's head could pop out.
This chapter upload first at NovelUsb.Com
As he was doing this, two more arrows were coming his way. Sensing them, Neban knew he had to be quick to give his son the invisibility ring and take care of the problem.
Theo looked at him with teary eyes as his hands were shaking. Neban moved closer, grabbing Theo's hand as he set the ring in it. "I want you to put this on and do not move from this area, okay?"
Theo nodded, not saying anything as he was getting ready to put the ring on his finger, ignoring the way his hands would not stop shaking.
Neban looked at him with worried eyes, wanting to stay, but as he grabbed the other two arrows that almost hit Theo, he thought against it.
He threw the arrows down, putting his jacket back over his son while whispering, "Stay safe. I will be right back, I promise."
After Neban spoke, he stood up with Siren in his hand as he used [Shadow Travel] to get near the building the person was on since he knew the area.
Once he reached the building, Neban looked at the roof and saw a person sitting near the edge with a mask while holding a bow. The said person looked down at them, and Neban could feel the smirk radiating from them.
The person stood up, strapping their bow on them before walking closer to the edge. They jumped down, landing in front of Neban like it was nothing (the building they jumped down from was ten floors high).
The person in front of Neban was wearing a blank mask that looked like it did not have an eyepiece nor mouthpiece. They had short dark red hair, and they covered their body with a heavy black cloak.
As they stood there, the person looked like they were not going to attack, even though they were shooting arrows at him earlier. The person and Neban stood there in silence.
Another problem was Siren. When the person landed in front of them, Siren let out a frightened gasp and seemed to have shut down, which means that the person in front of him was a monster and someone Siren knew.
Someone that made Siren afraid.
"Who are you?" Neban asked.
The person looked at Neban before their gaze fell on the sword in his hand. Neban could hear a creepy laugh coming from them; it only made his skin crawl.
The person took off their mask, causing Siren to breathe harder and showing the person was male.
The man had eerily grey eyes with a scar running down the left one. His face was ashen, like he was never out in the sun, while a creepy smile was present on his face; his fangs were almost shining from the sun hitting against them.
The man kept staring at the sword in Neban's hand, not caring about him any more even though he tried to hit Neban with his arrows. "I am Narith: Mother's servant. I heard that you are the one with her weapon, and I only wanted to play.
"You were not bad at catching the arrows I tried to strike you with, but then again, I barely used any strength. It was like a game of fetch, except you broke my toys and didn't return them, which is fine; I love breaking toys too."
When Narith said those last words, his gaze was on Siren as his eyes seemed to glisten. Neban could hear Siren whimpering, and it only concerned him because he never saw the sword like this before.
"I do not care if you have come to play; I am more interested in killing you," Neban responded as he brought up Siren.
But Siren did something surprising; they disappeared from Neban's hand and took themselves back to his sub-space.
Neban looked at his empty hand in shock while Narith laughed, almost falling to the ground. 'Siren, what are you doing!' Neban yelled at the weapon.
'I don't want to go back.'
'I don't want to go back.'
'I don't want to go back.'
Siren kept repeating those words as the weapon was strangely trembling. Neban did not know what to say, but he noticed trauma when he saw it. 'Something happened between Siren and this Narith person.' Neban thought as he was pulling out another one of his weapons.
Siren was not in the right mindset to fight.
Narith stopped laughing, looking at the weapon in the human's hand before waving his hand, "I did not come to fight. I only wanted to play a bit and see the human that has Perditor. I am not a fighter; I am more of a sadistic torturer.
"I had my fill for the day. Please tell Perditor I cannot wait to play again. Until next time."
Narith made a small portal, stepping through it as he disappeared. Neban could not help but be a bit concerned about that because it meant that the others were getting stronger if some can come and go as they please.
He sighed, putting up his weapon as he felt that this was anti-climatic. He tried to speak to Siren, but the sword kept repeating the same words as a broken record.
Neban chose to ignore it for now as he [Shadow Travel] back to his son. As he appeared in front of Theo, bending down and getting ready to tell the boy he was back (absolute sense helped him see his invisible son), his phone began to ring.
He did not check who was calling him as he quickly answered the phone, "Hello?"
Hearing his dad's voice, Theo popped up and crawled to Neban as he tried to climb in his lap. Neban picked up Theo, wrapping one arm around him as he stood up. He used his free hand to keep the phone to his ear.
"I do not want to say it is a job, but I need your help with something." The voice of Xan entered the other side of the phone call as there was a hint of urgency in it.
"And if I say I am busy?" Neban responded as he used [Shadow Travel] to take himself and Theo back home.
When he reached his house, Neban saw Wey and Isona standing at the front door, speaking with each other while waiting for him.
Once they saw Neban, who held an invisible space in one arm and his phone in his other hand, they decided not to say anything.
"I will say you owe me." Xan countered.
Neban did not say anything as he put his phone between his shoulder and ear to pull out his house keys, handing them to Wey, so he could unlock the door.
Wey grabbed the keys and unlocked the door. They walked in as Neban made his way to his bedroom to set Theo on the bed.
Once Theo was on the bed, Neban went back to the phone call, "What is it that you need help with?"
"My brother," Xan started, and Neban cannot help but be surprised that Xan has a brother (then again, they barely talk about their personal lives), "is a cocky idiot and thinks he can do anything on his own because of his level.
"The government wanted to keep this out of the news, but on Qut Street (abandoned area), a portal opened up, and he decided to take it on himself. I have a tracker on his phone, and for the first time since he became a hunter, his cell phone went dark.
"I know this is low to say because I know you want to be with your son, but you do owe me, and this is the only thing I ask of you. Can you please go over there and help my brother?"
Neban turned his head, looking at Theo, who was resting his head on his back as the invisible effects were starting to die out.
He thought for a while, knowing that he did owe the man for taking care of Theo when he called without any questions asked or expecting anything in return. But he could not help the other part of him that wanted to stay with his son.
Neban let out a long sigh before answering Xan.