As soon as the guard captain fell, Ethan placed a hand on the barrier and altered his instructions.

‘If I try to hide within, I’ll basically trap myself. In that case…’

Suddenly, the entire yard started shaking violently. The mages within the force field tried to escape, but once again, the barrier wouldn’t budge.

An ominous sound began foreboding the disaster to come. Cold sweat ran down the guards’ backs as they watched the man who just killed their captain.

They would have attacked even without leadership, but they were wary of the man’s abilities. If he could defeat a mid rank 3 powerhouse, would they even stand a chance? Noticing their behavior, Ethan began his speech.

“I’m in a bit of a hurry, so I’ll get straight to the point. In less than 2 minutes, this farm will go boom. Just like the one in the North!

The only way to prevent that from happening is for me to get a certain distance away from this place. Then, the mana thread linking us together will be broken, and the formations’ normal commands will be restored.”

The mages couldn’t see or sense mana outside of their bodies, so they couldn’t hope to verify his claims.

“So, your options are simple: You can try to stop me. I’ll kill you and then the farm’s explosion can eviscerate our bodies. Or, you can let me go, live another day, and prevent the destruction of your masters’ property.”

The guards were not convinced.

“You’ve just said you destroyed the northern farm." someone pointed out. "Yet, here you are."

“Well that one wasn’t guarded by your old lady, now was it? If I waste anymore time fighting you lot, reinforcements are bound to arrive.

So, I’m giving you a way out. Take it or leave it.”

Unsure of how to proceed, his enemies began whispering among themselves.

“The fight with Miss Agatha must have exhausted him. We should be able to take him out.”

“Yes, and we can then grab his corpse and carry it out of range.”

“1 minute.” said Ethan. “By the way, if I die, the farm will explode immediately.”

“Shit…” the guards were running out of options. If they stalled any longer, it might already be too late.

“Fine!” one of them shouted. “Just go.”

Ethan smiled. “Oky doky.” He threw the old woman on his shoulder and prepared to sprint for his life.

“Wait! Leave Miss Agatha behind!”

“40 seconds left." answered Ethan. "10 more and we’re all dead.”

The guards flinched. Ethan stopped wasting time and made a run for it. Fortunately, none of his enemies tried to stop him.

“30 seconds…” At this point, the boy was already out of range. He slipped into the shadows and quickly disappeared.

“20 seconds…” The guards were counting nervously as the shaking and weird sounds did not seem to stop.

“10, 9, 8…”

‘Will he make it in time?’ most of them wondered.

“6, 5…”

Suddenly, the rumbling stopped. The farm was no longer shaking and the zzz sound was gone. Even the small electrical discharges stopped.

“Phew. We…”

In a split second, all 20 mages inside the barrier were dead. The tower of soil and grains was obliterated, and a large ball of lightning had converged in the middle.

“That bastard!”

“We should go after him.”

“Maybe there’s still time.”

The guards outside began arguing amongst themselves. Though they had different theories as to what was going on, they all secretly hoped the destruction would somehow stop. In their panic, they put their trust in the enemy and basically prayed he would keep his word.

Unfortunately, though Ethan’s word was gold towards his allies, it was less than dirt towards his enemies. The ball of lightning expanded rapidly, and by the time it touched the barrier, the poor guards had lost all hope.

- BOOM! –

While the night was set alight once more, in a dark alley in the middle of the city, Ethan was changing his clothes.

‘Would Arthur still want his ninja gear back?’ he wondered. After all, by taking out the competition, he was doing his family a favor.

After putting on his regular atire, he gazed at the old lady’s corpse before an idea struck him. ‘What if…’

He took off the glove that was covering his ring and placed it closer to the body. After briefly shining a dim light, the corpse dissapeared into the ring.

“Damn…” Ethan whispered. Fresh corpses retained remnants of the souls that had inhabited them. To put them in a dimensional pocket in his past life, he would either have to wait a few days or perform a complicated ritual.

‘While I was screwing around in space, it seems technology has evolved…’ This was worrying news, but also an opportunity. While contemplating countless possibilities, Ethan went home.