Chapter 100 How Can...
Anxious to see what other clownish maneuver Xzavier was going to do next, the chief servant watched curiously as the stranger pulled out an oddly shaped object. As Xzavier slowly lifted it up to point at him, the chief servant observed that it was a hand pull object, with a metal hollow tube attached to the mouth.
As he watched Xzavier lift up the object to point at him, the chief servant noted that the self confident look had returned once again to Xzavier's eye. This time, it didn't look fake, this time, he the cold black eyes of a killer stared back at him. The chief servant recognized those eyes. More than anyone, he knew that those eyes couldn't be faked.
In that moment, an unsettling feeling washed over him like the chill of a morning bath on a cold winter morning. He couldn't explain it, but somehow, at the back of his mind, there was a faint warning which he just couldn't place his hands on. On a conscious level, it seemed like an illogical fear. After all, the enemy had been exposed as a fraud! So, why this feeling?!
With each nanosecond that rushed by, the nagging feeling increased. And along with it, his own rising heart rate, beating in sync with the sudden tension he was feeling. The cold look in Xzavier's eyes turned to a wall of black ice as he tightened his grip on the object. Finally, he submitted to his own instincts. The he chief servant knew that even though he wasn't sure of Xzavier's intentions, his instincts were right! That iron that was pointed at him was going to hurt him!
Every single muscle in the entirety of his being reacted as one as he tried to duck. Regrettably, his speed couldn't save him from the supersonic speed of a bullet roaring through the shaft of a military grade Glock-47 pistol. The only thing he saw was that Xzavier had squeezed the hand held object. With no silencer on the mouth of the gun, a loud gunshot followed.
The bang was so sudden and so loud, that it distracted the chief servant from noticing the fact that a hole had been made in his own thigh.
The chief servant didn't know what to make of the loud bang. Along with the thundering report of Xzavier's gun came a pandemonium in the surrounding area.
Those who had been following the events of the match closely as they feasted their eyes on the free show were completely taken unawares! The deafening bang sounded like someone had gathered six thunders and released them at once. This who were the closest to the bang felt like their ear drums had been assaulted.
The commotion that followed was like a riot. Women screamed. Young children (and some of the men) called for their mothers. Men and much younger men shamelessly tossed children and women out of the way in their bid to escape whatever destruction had caused such a loud report.
The playboy prince Eadweard wasn't left out! There was enough to go around, so he got his own portion of the terror. For the first time in his life, he found himself truly alone and saddled with responsibility of taking care of himself. With all of his servants incapacitated and the remaining one engaged, Eadweard assumed that it was the end of the world.
Unable to do anything by himself, he stood still, fixated to one place as his eyes darted back and forth looking for the best possible person to order!
"Hey you there! You! I command you to carry me right this instant! Get me out of here!"
It sounded more like the pitiful wailing of a petulant child than the strong, compelling order of a noble.
Every single person ignored him. In that moment, he might have as well been a statue.
Whatever the age, timeline, or location, it seemed like effect of a gunshot in public was practically the same! All out terror!
But that wasn't the primary objective of this particular gunshot. After the novelty of the deafening sound had passed through the chief servant, the encompassing pandemonium all around him caused him to try to move with the crowd as well. Unfortunately, that was when he began to notice that something was very wrong.
From that point, it all went downhill for him. The pain in his thigh struck him with the suddenness of an arrow. This sharp pain tore at his insides, enflaming his every breath, and wrapping his thigh area in a dense fog of agony. This was surprising! Shocking even.
Still unaware of the facts of his new situation, and still operating under the assumption that he was still untouched, the clueless chief servant instinctively reached for his thigh to investigate the growing pain. He couldn't even turn his neck. So, he relied instead on his hands to relay the cause of the pain stabbing him with the intensity and collective bombardment of a hundred needles.
The first thing his hand reported was the fact that his clothes were soaked with a thick spongy liquid. He had all sorts of explanations for that, sweat, excessive sweat, more and more sweat.. Anything but blood. How could it be blood when he clearly hadn't been attacked. It was only when he lifted up his had to his face that he saw that it was his own blood. The look of astonishment on his face was priceless in that moment. With blood slipping out of his body, he soon began to feel his own fleeting life leaving him.
Alarmed, he felt like he had been slammed in the chest with a hammer. Although, that might have been the effect of the bullet on his ribcage.
"How? When?" he stammered as he dropped to his knees.
He genuinely wondered if this was magic. It seemed that the seemingly ordinary man had launched an attack on him. But how? That was the question he had.
Xzavier watched with glee as the bullet tore through the flesh of his enemy. In truth, Xzavier didn't want to kill everyone over such a basic issue. He simply wanted to drive home a lesson to prevent them from indulging in such a crude and offensive behavior in the near future. So, instead of making it a lethal shot, Xzavier deliberately aimed and shot at his thigh instead of going for a head shot.
Anyone in the chief servant's position would resign to his fate and pray for the best, but Xzavier discovered quickly that this wasn't the type of man to go down that easy. Instead of gracefully accepting the fact that he had been outdone here, Xzavier's sharp eye caught the leader trying to pull out something from behind him. Xzavier was instantly on guard.
He read his opponent's movements and quickly discerned that if he refused to take action to counter whatever it was the leader was planning, he would most definitely come to regret it in the near future. More and more precautions were called for. So, this time, Xzavier took full advantage of the one benefit he had available to him- the Military System.
"Military System!" Xzavier summoned urgently. "Cover me in an NIJ-grade body armor and helmet! Immediately!"
Of course, this wasn't free. The military system worked with a point system. And therefore, a request like this automatically translated to one point being deducted from him.
"Affirmative Major. Your request has been received successfully! Please stand by."
The body armor immediately appeared as always. And Xzavier wasted no time slipping into it. In the nick of time, just as Xzavier finished changing, the chief servant flicked his hand and something invisible whizzed through the air and rushed towards Xzavier with a blinding speed.
Xzavier didn't know exactly what it was, but his instincts told him that it was sharp, dangerous and definitely lethal. So, without even trying to contend with his own instincts, his reflexes took over and he tried to dodge the flying weapon. Despite his quick discernment and fast reflexes, Xzavier still took a hit.
It hadn't been for his Kevlar bulletproof vest that stopped the blade, Xzavier would have been a punctured like a leaking bag of water.
The leader had been watching, expecting to see the dead body of Xzavier double back over and die at the impact of the attack. So, his surprise was paralyzing when he saw that somehow, an ordinary human had actually survived his wicked darts. It was unbelievable! His whole understanding of his situation had been built on the fact that Xzavier was indeed a fraud. The logical mind of the the chief servant struggled to make sense of the whole thing.
The part that didn't add up stood out like a sore thumb. It was a question that had often been asked frequently.
"With no mana, how can he still launch magic based attacks, and defensive maneuvers?"
Refusing to accept this dynamic change in the situation of the battle, the chief servant hardened his already steely resolve and prepared for another wave of attack.