Frank shivered and the look he gave Hal was one of intense disbelief,

"What are you talking about?" He asked as he made to grab Hal's arm but stopped short when he noticed the coolness in Hal's gaze.

Despite his burly physique, Hal still toward over him in height and aura.

Not to mention that Hal's muscles were more refined than his and hence he could not be intimidated by such.

Not that Frank was trying to, anyway.

Surely the only way he could convince Hal to shelter him was through careful negotiation in hope of eventually wearing him down.

Alas,

The danger was much too close and time was of the essence so Frank did the one thing that came naturally...

*Dull thud*

He knelt and the force of it was enough to cause a low sound on the grassy forest floor.

"Please help me!" He yelled and transitioned the kneel into a Kowtow, complete with a bow.

Hal simply sneered and said nothing.

The Men who would kill Frank were very close by so there was really no reason to say anything anymore.

Also, Even if they were to have time, trying to wear him down with pleading sobs was nothing more than a pipe dream.

He was a patient Devil after all.

...

Meanwhile, Marla had finally found the Plebeians, not Just the Fidwuds, all the Plebeians.

They had banded together to hunt for the Rune Tiles together.

With the Great Family scions escaping the forest and the Commoners just trying their best to survive, there was no one else to stand against them and there was no longer any point in the competition.

Their mindset was just like that of their adults. The Plebeian glory was their glory.

Leyton led them and while he was a good leader, he was not as interested in leading as he normally would have been.

And there was no other reason than Alexander Edgar.

That Bastard had ambushed him and the Fidwuds and managed to steal Five of their Tiles.

Even though after their altercation, Leyton had obviously had the upper hand, Alexander had still managed to escape with the Tiles.

"Damn it" he growled.

*Bang*

Behind him, the Plebeian scions brought down another beast and retrieved the Tile it was holding close.

Once they were done they turned towards Leyton where he stood with his fists clenched in anger.

They were not offended that he had not assisted, they could all understand his frustration and knew, should they be attacked, he would interfere for the sake of their protection.

Leyton sighed and slowly unclenched his fists, when he was out of the forest, he would find that scum and show him pain.

Of course, that was only if Alex was still alive.

As he thought of this, a nasty grin stretched over his effeminate face.

*BOOOOOOOM*

The sound was loud and the shockwave it caused blasted a lot of them back and they scrambled to get back to their feet.

It was obvious that whatever had caused the loud sound was malignant and none of them wanted to be caught with their butt on the ground as they rushed to ready themselves.

When the dust cleared, they were all surprised and more than a little scared when they saw that the cause was an illusionary Dark lady of about 5 meters in height.

More surprising though was the one who the illusionary dark lady coated her form.

Was she not the one that had been with Hal Payne?

Leyton grinned,

"I was wondering when you'll get here" he said.

Marla stood from the one knee on the ground position that she had been in as a result of landing on the scene after a very strong leap.

She smirked at the confidence Leyton still possessed despite seeing her Physique in action.

Others would admire it as courage,

Marla however saw it as hubris and what was bound to cause his fall.

Although to be fair, it wasn't really Leyton's fault for not taking Marla's peculiarity seriously.

His father had told him that there were techniques that specialize in mirages that were to intimidate the opponent and cause them to be an easy target.

As long as the opponent's Cultivation was clear, then he should not be too worried and he could easily sense that Marla was at the Peak of the Energy sensing Realm.

There was surely no way she could defeat him at the Early stage of the Cosmic Pearl Realm.

So as you can see, whatever happens to Leyton in the (very) near future is not totally his fault but also that of his father who refrained from enlightening him of the truth of the world simply because he was still young and none of the young Generation could possibly be such monsters.

He had also said it to bolster his son's confidence and once the time was right he would reveal to him just how unfair the cultivation world really is.

Sadly, Leyton was about to receive the lesson a little earlier than his Father had initially planned and his teacher will be very cruel.

"Oh, you were expecting me? Thought you would have expected your men to do away with me" Marla said and by men, she was obviously referring to the Plebeian assailants.

Leyton grinned even wider,

"I expected you to get away but not so unscathed It seems Hal Payne is even more resourceful than I thought. You even have a mirage inducing Cultivation technique"

He had to admit that he was not in the right frame of mind at the moment. Beating Marla seemed the perfect way to let out all of his anger and frustration.

Besides, hadn't Hal said she would be doing a lot of ass-kicking, well, he was curious if she would still be able to do that once she realized he was way out of her league.

'Mirage what?'

Marla thought before she shook it off, if he wanted to spout non-sense with a grin, then it had nothing to do with her, and as for the blatant admittance that he was aware of the Plebeian assailants,

She wouldn't have it any other way. He was at least straightforward. This was bound to be so much fun.

Not for Leyton of course.

But for her? So, so, so much fun.

It was then that Jack caught up with her, his breathing labored.

It was clear that Marla had kept his behind and boosted her speed by leaping occasionally with her Physique.

Once he was at her side, he bowed subtly,

"What would you have me do, Lady Marla?"

Marla looked at him out of the corner of his eye,

"Make sure no one interferes" she ordered him and Jack nodded.

"No one will" Leyton said and Marla ignored him.

Leyton shrugged and suddenly let out the full might of his Cultivation base.

He had done it for intimidation but to his surprise, Marla's expression did not change even a little bit.

She just said,

"I'll attack you now"

...and vanished to appear before him with her fist raised,

Leyton sneered,

"You must be insane to still attack first despite being obviously weaker, aren't you underestimating me too much!"

He yelled the last part as he attacked her first with one of his own.

Seeing this, Jack sniggered,

"Say goodbye to your hand, stupid young Master Fidwud"

.....

Meanwhile,

"Why are you so cold?" Frank yelled.

"So what if I ran, if you knew my reasons then you would understand"

Hal looked down at him,

"Oh, what reasons. Do share"

Frank gritted his teeth. He had not told anyone other than his immediate family. Even they had shut him down and so he was not interested in anyone else telling him it was not true, he wanted a solution.

Here he was in the Forest and just as he had feared, his death was near and he could not escape it unless Hal helped him.

He could hear the sound of his pursuers' footsteps getting closer.

In fact, looking over the horizon, he could already see them.

And so he told Hal everything, from how he had met the ethereal woman who had given him the prophecy of his death and how he had been staying away from danger all this while just so it did not come to pass, to how the only solution was to enter the service of the strongest Runemaster in Salmon City.

He emphasized how that was the reason he had not helped the others.

When Hal took a deep breath and Frank smiled cause it seemed he had finally met someone who understood his plight.

Alas,

"Idiot"

...it was not to be.

Frank's eyes widened but Hal was not done.

"What prophesy? You were told you were going to die and you accepted it as fact. You couldn't take procedures to protect yourself. You could not surround yourself with those who could guarantee your safety, instead, you ran"

"The prophesy..." Frank tried to say but Hal interrupted,

"...was trash. If you had stayed with the Horst. You would be completely safe because I would have interfered. The prophecy is not why your death is close at hand.

The only reason your death is close is because of your fear of it coming to pass"

Frank lowered his head, his eyes wide with shock.

"If you had died today, it would not have been because of a prophecy but because of you!"

As soon as Hal said that, the area around him and Frank was surrounded by those that were after Frank and they did not stop once they saw he was there.

They converged and got ever closer before Hal snarled,

"Get back!" He said and raised his hand high.

Out of his hand emerged a dome of pure Astral energy and it effortlessly repelled all attackers.

Soon only he and Frank were left in the middle of the Dome.

Frank's expression changed from one of doom to excitement immediately as he yelled,

"It's you!"