Limits

I ran through the forest, but not towards the Ortava. I was running towards western direction. The reinforcements must've stopped to check the corpses, because the distance between us increased. 'I don't know how many of them are there, and for how long they will persist' I thought.

I ran, and ran and ran. With a few short stops to refill my energy. 'They are still on my tail. They must've brought some kind of person who can track me' I thought. I tried to leave as little disturbances on my way as possible, but they were still able to track me somehow. 'It cannot be the smell. I checked, and there are no foreign smells on me. No Formations were placed on me either. How the hell are they able to track me?' I asked myself.

I used my Natural Path skill, which should decrease the tracks. But due to the speed, I might've left some anyway. 'In that case, I will go slower. If they can still track me, then it must be something else' I thought. I made my way through the forest, without disturbing anything. My speed suffered a bit, but not enough, for them to catch up.

When I stopped to rest in the evening, I waited. One hour, two hours… 'Impossible! They are still able to track me' I thought. I wasn't sure how, there were no tracks left, for them to track me. It wasn't my smell, nor was it a Formation. 'Just what the…' I thought, and realised something. 'The skies!' I exclaimed in my mind.

I scoured the skies for anything that was suspicious. 'There' I thought. A bird was flying around my location. Not only that, it was also looking at my general position. 'So that's how they were able to track me' I thought, and took out my bow. The bird noticed my actions, and immediately flew away. 'That bastard is well trained for sure' I thought, and shot one arrow after the other. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to kill the bird, it was to agile for my archery skills.

'No matter, I now know how they were able to track me down. I will get my chance to kill that bird sooner or later' I thought, and left that area. I still headed west, but a bit more south west this time. The pursuers were still onto me, and chased me like a plague. On the third day of pursue, I finally managed to kill the bird. Unfortunately, they had two more of them.

'I need to get rid of those birds. Otherwise, I will never escape' I thought. There was one more solution. I could set up a trap, with the use of Yellow Dust. I still had a bag full of that stuff. 'I can easily get rid of them, but I want to conserve my Yellow Dust. I might need it a lot more in the future' I thought. I decided to try and get rid of the birds first, if I couldn't do it, I would set up a trap.

Running straight for a few days without any sleep, tired me out quite a bit. I decided to run through the night, then rest. I avoided any populated areas, for obvious reasons. Although I could potentially hide inside a village, I could also be located more easily. It wasn't worth the risk. I arrived at a river in the morning, and took a look at the skies. 'No birds so far. This can change quickly. Either way, they should be tired too. I need to get some rest' I thought, and I climbed a tall tree. The crown of the tree hid me pretty well, the birds wouldn't be able to spot me easily.

I closed my eyes and rested. Although the danger didn't pass, I had to get some rest. I slept lightly for about four hours. When I opened my eyes, I had a look at the skies again. I noticed something after a while. 'There they are' I thought. The birds flew towards my location, but I wasn't spotted yet. I quietly took out my bow, and notched an arrow. I took aim, and waited. The birds suddenly split. One flew further towards west, while the other continued towards me. This was my chance.

My target was the bird heading towards me. I still waited for the other bird, to fly further west, before I released my arrow. 'Now!' I thought, and released the arrow. The arrow created very little sound, as it flew through the air. The bird didn't even realise what hit it. The arrow pierced right through it, and the bird crashed to the ground. 'One down, one more to go' I thought, and stayed still. The other bird must've felt something, and turned around.

Its companion was gone. The bird decided to head back, probably to save its life, report the general location where the other bird died. I didn't try my luck, and allowed the bird to leave. Moreover, I learned where its master was, or at least its master's general location. 'They have one last bird left, at least to my knowledge. Then I can finally escape' I thought. I jumped down from the tree, and headed west again. For some reason, I didn't spot that bird for another two days. I even thought that they finally gave up, but I was wrong.

The chase lasted for six days at this stage. I was already tired, and without a proper rest, my overall battling performance would suffer a lot. I haven't seen that bird since I killed the second one. This made me relax a bit. I used a tree to prop my back against, and rested. Not even ten minutes passed, when I felt something. 'Hmm?' I thought, when suddenly my instincts flared up. I didn't stay to find out, and jumped forwards, away from the tree.

"Booom!".

When I turned around, I noticed a few people walking towards me. The tree I propped myself against, was laying down. Cut cleanly, at the height where my neck would be. My first thought was 'How did they find me?', but it quickly changed to surprise. "You had a good run, but it ends here. Now you will die", a woman said. I laughed underneath my mask, and stood up. "To think that fate would gift me, such a wonderful surprise. You should've stayed in the city. Liana".

She was surprised to be sure. She asked, "Oh, so you know who I am?". I started walking, and replied "Right now, you are a walking corpse". She had three bodyguards, all at Inner Limits stage. All three of them wore elegant armour, while one of them had a shield. 'They must be top soldiers of the Empire' I thought. I wasn't even surprised, that she was at her Inner Limits stage too. I decided to waste no time, and rushed at them while throwing my daggers.

The soldier with the shield shouted "Futile!", and actually deflected my daggers. He then released his own skill. A few snake like beams of fire left his sword, and headed towards me. 'This guy is trouble' I thought, and used my Natural Path skill to evade. The other two didn't linger either. Both of them released a flaming air blade at me. 'These must be Formations on their swords' I thought, and stayed on defence. I couldn't get any closer, but that didn't mean they couldn't attack me.

Liana released her own skill. One I memorized too well. It was that exact skill, which took my arm. This time though, it was much more powerful, infused with her fully developed Aura. I was a bit confused, because the sword she was holding didn't belong to me. 'Doesn't matter now. I don't know if I can win against these people' I thought, and placed my hands on the ground. With as much strength as my body could muster, I moved.

My speed increased by a lot. I figured that using both my legs and arms to move, will increase my speed. Added to that, was my mastery of energy control. Now they had a hard time aiming at me and even locating me. Liana snorted, and said "No wonder you practice those filthy Arts. You even act like an animal", and released another beam of sword light. I evaded that no problem, and moved towards them.

The soldier carrying the shield snorted, and smashed his shield onto the ground. "BOOOOM!". The ground trembled and cracked, while the shockwave travelled throughout the whole area. My speed suffered a lot. The shockwave of that strike, disrupted my movements. This was a perfect opportunity for them, and they took it. A few flaming air blades came flying my way. That was not the end of my troubles. Liana released her skill as well. The earth splitting beam of light, passed the flaming air blades and headed towards me at incredible speed. "As if!", I shouted while punching the ground with my right hand, burying it to my elbow.

I stabilised myself from that shockwave, and lifted my legs up. I then bent my right arm, and released all the energy stored inside. "Booom!", the ground trembled and shattered. The recoil of my strike, sent me flying upwards. Their attacks missed, while I landed further away from them. Liana laughed a bit, and said "I'm impressed to tell you the truth. Lasting this long against us, is a feat in itself. Maybe we can spare you. Your skills are rather rare to come by".