Mystical Journey

There were shards of glass all over the living room.

Garen stared coldly at the gunshot hole in the floor, and felt an inexplicable rage rise in his chest.

"I never bothered you guys, but you've come knocking on my door instead…?" His voice was deep and low as he looked at the direction the shot had come from.

Whoosh!

He instantly transformed into a wisp of white smoke, floating out of the living room. He dashed out through the hole in the glass, and aimed straight for the top of the tower.

Not long later, Yuria returned to the villa gates, his heart heavy, and was just in time to see Garen shoot out, heading toward the distance.

"I'll follow him, you catch up later, Sis!" Yuria was the faster one of the two, so he quickly allocated their roles and then gave chase.

*******************

"He's coming." On the tower, the man who had shot off that round stood up. "He's pretty good at dodging gunshots, you guys might be in for some trouble."

"It's fine, this is the best chance for us to see if he deserves to become one of us. Hehe, it's not that easy to get into Vulture!" Someone laughed coldly.

"Whatever. Those two kids are coming too, I'm off to complete my quest." The shooter dismantled the sniper rifle with a familiar touch, and then placed the parts into a black box. He sealed and lifted the box, walking toward the only stairway that allowed descent from the roof. Soon, he vanished into the darkness.

Only the twins remained standing on the roof of the tower, patiently awaiting Garen's arrival.

Time passed slowly…

But soon enough.

Bam!!

There was a dull thud, and the metal door at the entrance was kicked open. It flew off and spun toward the floor nearby, clanging and rolling a few times before it finally settled down.

A white figure walked out from the stairway entrance slowly.

It was Garen, his expression as calm as a lake.

"Which one of you ambushed me?" His voice was very even, but there was a hint of impatience.

"It was all of us." One of the twins smiled strangely.

"If you got the balls for it, come at us," the other one chuckled.

"You're the one who said it!"

Garen did not waste any more time talking. Pulling out his long sword with a clang, he allowed the blade to reflect a clear arc of pure white light in the dark night.

Whoosh!!

A line of bright light instantly lit up in the gap between Garen and the twins, the silver light so bright it was almost blinding.

"Spider!"

The twins stretched out their right arms at the same time, pointing at Garen.

Whoomph!

In the blink of an eye, their arms burst open like a bouquet of blossoming flowers. Their entire arm was dismantled, forming a forest of spider-like sharp metal blades. The black blades gathered like so many Metal Flowers, unnaturally sharp and cold.

And just as Garen's silver-white Saber Light lit up, the two Metal Flowers also exploded at the same time. The blades shot out in every direction.

Psst-psst-psst…

The many metal blades instantly burst forth, like an instrument that had been pressed against a coiled spring.

Garen's silver-white Saber Light crashed into the black Metal Flowers.

Clang!!

There was the sharp sound of metal against metal.

The Saber Light took a turn and shot forward once more. It wove around the Metal Flowers and headed toward the man on the left, aiming for his waist.

"Interesting!" The twins laughed, and gently adjusted their Metal Flowers. With a whooshing sound, a long blade appeared from within the Flowers, perfectly positioned to stand in the blade's way.

Garen's Saber Light changed trajectory again, and the Metal Flowers continued to move as he did. The speed of their movement was faster than the rate Garen changed the direction of his attack. After all, Garen had to move his whole body, and they just needed to wave their arms slightly.

"It's useless," said one of the twins with a smile. "Our Spider Arms are the strongest form of local machinization. These are equipped with extremely powerful supermagnetism, you can tell that they're attracting your saber even as we speak, right?"

"That's right," said the other twin cockily. "No matter how strong your Saber Art is, you're still nothing without a metallic weapon, and our magnetism inhibits your metallic weapons. It's useless…"

With a whoosh, the silver Saber Light finally stopped. Garen looked at his opponents, frowning slightly.

Every time his blade was about to reach the enemy, it would be blocked by that powerful magnetic force. That power interfered with his originally perfect blade trajectory, causing it to lose its mark. That way, his Saber Art would naturally be stopped. This was also one of his Saber Art's flaws, it put too much importance in perfect accuracy, and that ended up becoming one of its weaknesses.

"Since metallic weapons are useless…" He tossed away his steel katana, and pulled out the other weapon he always carried around with him, the wooden sword at his waist.

"A wooden sword?!" One of the twins widened his eyes. "Are you kidding me? Is there something wrong with your head?! Or do you really think that a wooden saber can cut through the Spider's defenses?!"

"Hahahaha…!!! This is killing me! You dare use a wooden saber, the most primitive of trash weapons, to face the Spider!!" The other started roaring with laughter.

But Garen ignored them completely. According to the Plot, everyone from Vulture was completely off their rockers. They had been modified until they were neither man nor monster, and they had lost all of their humanity, becoming instead violent, rash, mindless murderers.

Trying to talk to people like them was merely a waste of breath.

Earlier, he had only used his pure, basic Saber Arts in their simplest form, and it seemed as though his weapon was inhibited by the enemy's magnetism, so he could not achieve anything with it.

But it was fine, he just needed to change his saber. He had prepared in advance for this, too, and brought a wooden saber with him.

Gripping the wooden weapon tightly, Garen immersed himself once more into the world of Saber Art, and strolled leisurely toward the two of them.

"I'll finish him." One of the twins stepped out first, his smile twisted.

He raised his hand, a hint of cruel killing intent flashing through his eyes.

"Spider!"

Bam!!

His arm burst open again, and the Metal Flower that had already been in full bloom actually expanded again, growing until it was more than a meter long. It was as though he carried a large bush of black grass on his arm, with a forest of actual blades that shot out in all directions.

Just like that, he waved his arm, swinging it at Garen nimbly and quickly.

"I'll find a path in." Garen's Saber Light flashed, and as he dodged the sharp blades, the agile wooden saber carved out a path with many twists and turns, threading through the gaps between all the blades. "An unobstructed path!"

Psst!

The wooden saber stabbed one of the twins right in his heart.

The twins were both stunned, and Yuria, who had just arrived on the scene in time to see it happen, was also stunned.

A cold breeze blew past them, making their clothes flap in the wind.

"Ha! Hahaha!!" The twin who was stabbed suddenly started laughing madly. "It's no use! A wooden saber is still a wooden saber! So what if you got me!?"

He tore a chunk of his clothes off the area he was stabbed, and revealed the metal vest that he wore on his chest, directly above his heart.

"See that! This is the latest stab-resistant armor! It doesn't matter even if you stab me with that wooden saber until it breaks!" The twin roared with laughter.

Garen pulled back his wooden sword, slightly frustrated.

Whoosh!

His figure vanished for a moment, because he had leaped backward. The Metal Flower that swept at him suddenly missed completely.

Garen landed steadily on the floor with a thud, and glanced at the tip of his wooden sword. There was already some clear signs of wear and tear.

"Now this is troubling… I never thought I'd encounter interference like this." He knew his own condition best. Right now, his physical attributes were at an average of just over two points, meaning it was about twice that of normal adults. Although that seemed strong, the enemy was far more powerful than him in terms of physical fitness. People who have been modified were usually at least four times as strong as a regular person, and they would also have fortified many of the body's natural weak points. He was not surprised at all to see that the wooden saber appeared to have no effect.

Swinging his wooden saber helplessly, Garen watched as the two approached him, and released a long breath.

"Looks like I gotta take this seriously now." He swung his saber somewhat grumpily.

"Take this seriously? You're quite the braggart, aren't you!" one of the twins said loudly. "I've got a reinforced metal membrane covering me from head to toe, why don't you just try to penetrate it? And with a wooden sword? What do you think you are, a Sword Master from ancient times?!!"

Garen looked at the two men in front of him. If they didn't ask for it, they wouldn't get what was coming to them. So why was it so hard for them to understand that?

Annoyed, he kept those thoughts to himself and raised his wooden saber, walking straight toward the two of them.

"There are realms in Saber Art as well."

"Spider!!" The two voices rang out in unison.

Amidst the renewed explosion and expansion of the two blade bushes, a light brown line twisted and turned, weaving through the forest of blades. There were two faint pops.

Garen had instantly swapped places with the twins, as though through teleportation.

"It's over." Garen turned around and looked at the two of them.

It was as though the two of them had frozen into motionless statues.

"You-- How did--?" one of the twins spoke. His pupils had widened, his breath speeding up, as though he was feeling an intense agony.

Garen's reply was a pitying gaze.

"Sorry, this is just the most basic Penetration Force, it's nowhere near as fancy as you think it is…"

"Then you-- you just said-- that--!!" What he got in response was the twins' glare, gone mad from their unwillingness to just let it end like that.

"But don't you think it looks cool to do that before unleashing an ultimate skill?" Garen walked around them, and then pushed their backs lightly.

Bang bang!

The two of them fell to the ground and revealed Yuria and Yurijie, standing in the stairway with absolute worship in their eyes.

"Let's go, we'll let the police deal with this. These two won't be moving for a couple of hours," Garen said offhandedly as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He considered it for a moment, and turned his gaze toward the siblings.

"What are you looking at? Go on, call the cops!" He yawned. "I'm going back to sleep now."

"Big Bro!!!" Yuria dashed at him, hugging his leg. "Please, take me in!! Cooking, cleaning, I can do it all!!!"

"Me too!!" Yurijie also pounced onto Garen's other leg.

"Don't do that, what if someone sees us? It's not good for the mood around here," said Garen exasperatedly. He shook his leg, but could not shake them off.

Yuria and Yurijie's mood had also relaxed considerably compared to how tense they were before. This time, they had witnessed Garen take down two of the men in black from Vulture with their very own eyes, so they were in a good enough mood to joke around.

After some goofing around, not one out of the three mentioned calling the police again. It was not yet time to go into open war with Vulture, so they decided to just ignore the twins on the roof and go straight home instead.

Putting aside what Garen explained to Kong Yuan and Kong Xinxue, this incident was enough to make it so that the siblings now had absolute faith in Garen. Every day, they asked for his guidance and practiced their Saber Art seriously and diligently. They were almost religiously dedicated to it. With this, they had successfully become loyal admirers of Garen's Saber Art, but naturally, the truth was they had become Garen's most faithful dogs.

The other members of the Unrestricted Combat Department were fully aware of this change, and it only served to further heighten their passion for learning. Even if Garen was not around for the daily routine training, they would not slack off in the slightest as long as Yuria and Yurijie were there. Even the previous Head Minister was impressed.TN: the 'local' here means for a specific part of the body only, such as in local anesthesia, and not that the mechanization was done locally