Three figures appeared next to the dead body after being sure of its death, if there was one thing that YuJu hated it was the final struggles of a dying enemy

"This beast was really strong, I could barely cut it even with my attacking stance"

"It's on the lower end of the Genus Insania's ranks, even then we couldn't have beaten it if it wasn't a scout that excelled at tracking, took both my stealth and Anput's Soul Imprisonment at the end there to trick its senses"

"I see, it seems I need to get stronger much faster than I am now"

Having been surpassed by the silly hound Ellis felt the need to catch up quickly, if she became dead weight again like when she first came under YuJu's rule her pride would take a big hit

YuJu stayed silent at her response, his eyes quickly darted from the dead dog to the broken seeker by the side, his thoughts returning to the reason this mess happened in the first place

'There are only two ways to get from the sixth floor to here without being noticed, well three but only two are available now, one is to avoid Latvia's sensors located everywhere throughout the floors and the other is for her to...'

Arriving at his conclusion pretty quickly he turned around and looked at the distant approaching seekers

"Cut it's head off, I will deal with them while you finish so we can head back"

His figure disappeared as he darted toward the seeker's direction quickly dispatching them without care, it was way passed friendly gestures at this point

Meanwhile, Ellis looked at the tough skin of this annoying fellow and sighed dejectedly, how many swings would it take to cut around its head she had no idea but it will definitely take a while

Sure enough only after twenty tiring minutes, and four waves of seekers that YuJu had to destroy, did she finally separate the head from the body, two hammers broke apart before she dislocated the head and neck's joint bones which took her the most time

"Good job, let's go"

Carrying the head she followed him back to Hortus and all the way up to the fifth floor, their appearance with the depicted dead brought no small amount of watching eyes but so was the case every day so it wasn't anything new

What was new though was the route they were taking, they weren't walking toward their temporary residence but toward another home that was a few times bigger than even the stubby tower they saw back on the eighth floor, the entire building had plants arranged in a symmetrical manner that made it look a bit too artificial, the design was good looking none the less

"Throw it at the front door"

"?"

"Don't stare at me, smash the door"

Ellis could only comply and throw the head she worked so hard to bring at the double doors of the building, she wasn't saddened by the beautiful door getting smashed as much as she was by having her efforts wasted, why couldn't he have her take a rock with them instead? Was the momentary aesthetics really worth those twenty hard-working minutes...

While Ellis was complaining about her master's extra need for a stylish entrance Latvia was walking out the door, or doorway to be exact

Her two blue eyes observed him in a relaxed manner, not at all bothered or surprised Ellis smashed her door, he seemed to have already guessed she led the dog toward him all the way from the upper floors so it was understandable he wouldn't stand on ceremony anymore

YuJu's eyes on the other hand were vibrant with emotion, unlike the usual cool look there was an angry feeling to him now

"Reason?"

He asked with a forceful tone

"Hm? Oh, you mean for my little test? Well, let's just say its a mystery~"

She laughed while giving him a taste of his own medicine, it was a small revenge against the many secrets being kept from them

"Huh, I guess I lucked out then, I seem to be an expert in mysteries"

"You indeed are, would you like to try your hand at solving it? In exchange let me have a go at one of your own little puzzling acts"

Apparently, she wanted to play a guessing game so as to pry out some of his secrets, of course, he wasn't in the mood to play along

"No need, I already know why you did it"

"Is that so? Mind enlightening me on what the reason is"

"Because you have a death wish!"

His hands stirred into actions throwing a set of knives straight at her with another set following closely after

His attack caught her off guard but she was quick to activate her mansion's defences, vines quickly detached from the walls in order to block the incoming knives

Their effort was for nought though as they were never hit, instead, it was the second wave which unexpectedly caught up with the first sending all the knives flying around

"?"

In confusion she watched as he waved his hands again, this time nothing came out, only the already flying knives seemed to be hit again sending them further away

"What a-Aah!"

Her back was suddenly stabbed all over with knives that came out of nowhere, scarring her smooth back with eight total wounds

"Gresk Meaka, Arda!"

Using an unknown language she activated a stronger defensive mechanism, hopefully, one strong enough to buy time so that the watching generals could come to the rescue, they came hearing her doors crashing but chose not to interfere at the time

"Who are you blocking?"

The cold voice behind sent shiver down her back, it scared even more than the knife appearing a millimetre away from poking into her eye

"If you think they can come to your rescue you couldn't be more wrong, if I wanted to kill you then no one can stop me, not even Aminta"

"If your so strong then stab me, see how you end up!"

Angered that he was implying the commander was weaker than him she flared up and provoked, though her tiny shaking showed her still scared state

"Heh, as much as I want to I can't bring myself to kill one of her roots"

Recalling the knife into his storage he used the now empty hand to grip her neck and turn her around in a choke lift

"But if I see you playing tricks at me next time I will take out one of your precious eyes"

BooM!

"That's a pretty bold claim, are you sure you can live for a next time?"

Crashing through the defensive formation Vrabrand stared at YuJu with wrathful eyes that showed none of his civilized self

Thud!

Latvia's body fell to the ground with YuJu's sudden disappearance, it was a short one though as he appeared next to his servents a bit later

"Ellis you take the small fry generals, Anput make sure to restrict everyone's movements, I will handle mister smoky and that rattan like thing by his side"

"Yes!" "Wu!"

Drawing her swords Ellis took a stance that excluded a sharp atmosphere which was supported by her stinging aura, Anput started calling for sand to come out the earth covering the entire surroundings of both parties, as for YuJu, he held four small knives in each hand, nothing too flashy but his waning existence caused the few generals more worry than the other two

"Ready old fellow?"

"More than ready my mystic friend"

"STOP!"

Crack creek

The earth opened between the two opposing groups and a wall of thorny vines grew from within blocking them from each other, from the general's side then came the voice of Aminta who sounded just as angry as they were

"YuJu, go wait in your residence, I will call for you when I am done sorting things with my generals"

Her words were more of an order than a demand leaving no room for negotiating

YuJu narrowed his eyes and stared at the wall of thorns for a while, eventually he turned around and left without another word

They walked for quite a bit of distance before Ellis finally couldn't hold her question in any longer, she had just followed his orders on taking an attacking stance when he said those words she didn't understand, other than that she was in the dark

"Why were we about to fight them?"

"Fight? Other than Latvia who uses traps and items we can't beat a single one of those generals, not even Gen who is also a non-combatant like Latvia, she just depends on her vision more than anything, something I'm more than good at manoeuvring around"

"Then, why did we look like we were about to fight?"

"We were, but flattened is the word, but sometimes we need to show our anger instead of keeping a levelled head, if you always seem passive others will think you're easy to push around or even consider you a weakling"

"Umm..."

"I understand your concern, your worried about what would happen if we did fight no? Don't worry, Aminta's interference was inevitable, she wouldn't allow either side to sustain damage"

He sounded so confidant of his words that Ellis couldn't find a way to question his risk without sounding like she suspected his capability

'Haah, why can't I be like Anput and follow blindly'

She wished she could be as happy as the careless hound but she couldn't help but worry, even when he had everything in control like some seer peering into the future