Bermuda [bl]

"Found you, Leonardo."

At Hugo's low voice, Tergio's pupils dilated. At the same time, before the bystanders could even react, Tergio's figure disappeared from the center of the square. Immediately after, the figure of Commander Hugo Agrizendro also vanished from people's sight.

Those who had been watching the two disappear from the square began to stir. The only way a person could suddenly disappear like that was by using teleportation or passing through a portal.

In other words, it meant that Commander Agrizendro and the low-ranking merchant group member, Tergio, who had been standing in the center of the square just a moment ago, had used teleportation.

Flynn was completely frozen, unable to move. He stared blankly at the spot where the two had disappeared, his eyes wide open and his mouth agape.

"Adjutant Levernil, what is this situation?"

One of the Council members hurriedly ran up and asked Flynn. Flynn barely managed to gather his wits and shouted urgently,

"Immediately seal off all exits to the outside! Even if they have travel permits, no exceptions! Seal them all off!"

Kwaaang-!

Just as Flynn's urgent cry, a loud noise as if something had shattered buildings from a great distance was heard.

The powerful mana waves emanating from there were so strong and threatening that even those without mana could feel it, and it gave the Council members, who had experienced various mana, a chilling sense of pressure they had never felt before.

When the member who had come to him froze and couldn't move, Flynn grabbed his arm and said,

"Hurry up!"

"Yes, yes!"

At Flynn's cry, the Northern Branch members rushed to the gate to deliver this news. And before long, another loud roar was heard near the gate.

* * *

As soon as Leonardo was exposed to Hugo, he immediately teleported to the most complex abandoned village within the Frost territory.

There, he passed through the tangled alleys and hid inside an abandoned, crumbling house that had been empty for a long time. As he lost his composure, the true appearance that he had concealed with mana as Tergio began to gradually reveal itself.

The sunlight that came in through the broken window fell in pieces over his brilliant golden hair as he leaned his back against the wall, panting.

His luminous golden eyes wavered, mixing with brown, and then gradually became clear. The freckles disappeared without a trace, and his skin, white as jade, shone dazzlingly.

His expression was distorted with bewilderment, but the long eyelashes framing his golden eyes, the smoothly rising nose bridge, and the sharp jawline gave the impression of a captivating creature, making him stand out in stark contrast to the monochrome background.

In the midst of the colorless surroundings, he alone shone with a golden light.

The magic of changing appearance with mana was quite difficult to maintain. If one even slightly loosened the tension, the face would appear distorted, so one had to keep their mind completely focused.

But now, he was in no condition to compose himself. He could feel the lingering chill chasing him relentlessly on his fingertips.

Leonardo leaned his head against the wall of the abandoned house, taking a deep breath to catch his breath. If he couldn't conceal his mana right away, he would be exposed in no time. Aside from hiding his face, he had to conceal his energy before the terrifying man could detect his mana.

Silence reigned, with only the sound of the wind audible. Leonardo focused all his mind to sense Agrizendro's presence. Just like him, the other was also excellent at concealing his own mana.

If that idiot who had been impersonating him hadn't set fire near the residential area, if Agrizendro hadn't revealed his mana and extinguished the fire that day, and if he hadn't known about him, he would have easily been fooled into thinking he was just an ordinary person without mana.

As Leonardo was thinking that, he suddenly felt a powerful chill pressing down on his entire body. It was the moment he had forcefully launched himself away from that spot.

Kwaaang-!

With a tremendous roar, a powerful ice spear was driven into the spot where he had been, shattering the entire abandoned house.

Leonardo watched the smoke-rising, partially destroyed abandoned house from a distance he had put some space between them. Seeing the scattered ice shards, he shuddered at the thought of that being driven right above his head.

Immediately raising his head, he saw the one with that tremendous destructive power looking down at him. As their eyes met the piercing, searching gaze, Leonardo felt a chill that could freeze him.

"Fucking bastard..."

Leonardo muttered with a furrowed brow, truly from the bottom of his heart. Then, he immediately used teleportation again to disappear from there.

His destination was in front of the gate. He knew that all the gates were closed, but there was no other way.

He briefly thought of the coast, but going to a water-abundant area would be tantamount to suicide right now, especially with Hugo Agrizendro chasing him with full force.

As Leonardo, who had appeared in the airspace of the border zone, rushed towards the gate, just as he had expected, the Council was already stationed and waiting right in front of him.

However, he didn't care and flew straight ahead, concentrating mana in his hand to create a black and red flame. He intended to shatter the gate entrance with a single strike and escape outside.

At that moment, Agrizendro's figure reappeared right in front of him. Seeing him, who had caught up to him in an instant by tracking his presence, Leonardo bit his lip and quickly teleported back up into the air.

Then, keeping a sufficient distance between them, he hurled the explosive and massive flame he had created in his hand toward the one in front of him with all his might.

The flame, boiling dark red like the surface of the sun, flew towards the gate, and the members guarding that place instinctively felt fear at the overwhelming mana presence. They barely deployed a barrier and were in disarray, but standing before them, Hugo did not avoid the huge ball of flame rushing in and faced it head-on.

One of the members shouted urgently to Hugo,

"Commander, the barrier-!"

"It's unnecessary. Get out of the way."

Hugo stepped out from the barrier the members had deployed and, with mana, wrapped the icy spear in his hand. Then, he swung it up into the sky above to sweep the raging dark red flame.

Kwaaaaaang-!

The flame he had easily swept away was extinguished with a sound that irritated the eardrums as they hit the barrier in the sky above the gate. At the tremendous noise and the strong gust of wind that followed, everyone covered their ears and hunched their bodies.

However, the problem was clearly that the figure of Leonardo Blaine, who had been behind the blazing flame, had once again disappeared into thin air in that brief moment. At the abruptly severed trace of his presence, Hugo narrowed his brows.

"He runs away well."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Moria Halipe, the Commander of the 3rd Battalion of the Northern Branch, appeared before him through teleportation. Considering the situation, she finished her salute briefly and said to Hugo,

"Council Commander, I will provide support."

"No, I'll catch him myself."

"What? But-"

"Commander Halipe. Do you have S-rank mage capture... no, dragon capture rounds?"

"Huh? Ah, yes. I prepared them just in case."

Moria immediately opened her small artifact and handed a pistol and a capture round to Hugo. Hugo took them, loaded them, and holstered them at his waist, then said to her,

"Thank you. I'll leave the defense of the gates throughout the territory to you, Commander."

"Yes, understood."

Having said that, Hugo used teleportation again to disappear before Moria could finish speaking.

Moria was quite puzzled by the Council Commander's appearance. The one who was always relaxed and calm seemed a bit different today.

"He looks like he's enjoying it..."

"Commander! Look over there, is that okay?"

At that moment, a Council member who had rushed over pointed somewhere, speaking to her. The member's finger was pointing to the place where the huge ball of flame that the Commander had swept away had hit the barrier above the gate.

There was a blackened mark on the transparent barrier woven with mana-nullifying magic stones. Moreover, smoke was still rising.

Seeing that, Moria gaped.

'There's a scratch on the barrier above the gate?'

It was a sight she had never seen before.

* * *

Fleeing, being found, chasing and being chased by Agrizendro, Leonardo finally arrived in the airspace of an uninhabited island that was not even marked on the map, although it technically belonged to the Frost territory.

And far in the distance, Hugo Agrizendro was staring at him without the slightest wavering.

There was nowhere left to run. No matter how many times he hid, fled, and concealed his energy, the other relentlessly pursued him. As if he would never let go of the prey he had once caught, he would approach stealthily whenever Leonardo seemed to have gotten away.

Leonardo thought that he had no choice but to face him head-on now. And that was what Hugo had been hoping for.

With a crackling black spark, a flame sword flickered in Leonardo's hand, mixing red and golden flame.

The black electricity wrapped around the concentrated mana sword. The flow of mana around him was raging so violently that it created a vortex, exuding an incredibly powerful energy that no one could approach.

Hugo also gathered mana in his hand and created a gigantic greatsword. Icy cold radiated from his fingertips, and the air surrounding him seemed to be freezing with extreme low temperature.

The two opposing airs created by Leonardo and Hugo, clashing fiercely in the sky, generated a turbulent wind that shook the atmosphere.

Leonardo gripped the mana sword in his hand tightly. Hugo did the same. Soon, the two who had been facing off from a distance charged towards each other the moment their gazes met.

In the blink of an eye, the two swords clashed, and with a very strong explosive sound, the friction of the opposing atmospheres caused a shockwave and a fierce gust of wind to explode and spread around them.

Holding the scorching and freezing two swords between them, they pushed against each other with all their might, glaring fiercely at each other. The fiery golden eyes and the icy cold blue eyes met, capturing each other within them.

The sharp sound of ice melting into steam and then freezing again filled the space between them, and the two were repelled as if bouncing off the destructive energy, only to cross their swords again several times.

Too fast for anyone to follow, they struck and swung their swords to try to overwhelm the other, their opposing attributes.

The impact sounds that occurred in the gaps between them couldn't keep up with their speed, echoing in the empty space they had already passed through.

The ground was scorched and torn, the frozen sea cracked, and the surrounding mountains blew away. Their mana, which was ruthless enough to turn everything into a wasteland, seemed to have no bottom.

Hugo felt his heart racing for the first time in a long while.

'Strong.'

Unlike the refined mana, the guy's mana was so full of vitality that sparks were flying. It was as if it wanted to release its full potential and was crying out. But the explosive mana was honed to a razor's edge, precisely targeting the vital points.

When he pushed back the rapidly approaching guy, the guy used teleportation simultaneously to utilize the recoil to burrow up to his chin.

Moreover, he easily widened the distance by using the mana explosions that occurred during the clash, and as soon as he widened it, he immediately unleashed a threatening long-range attack.

To block the huge flame flying at a speed faster than sound, Hugo erected a massive, thick ice wall in front of him.

Kwaaaaaang-!

However, as if it was utterly ridiculous, the rapidly approaching massive flame pierced through the solid ice wall and exploded brilliantly. The concentrated essences of the two mana were shattered in midair.

Amidst the smoke and debris, Leonardo approached again with such a fierce speed that he couldn't even be detected, and with the scorching sword in his hand, he struck down the ice wall, shattering it in a single blow.

As the scattered ice shards revealed the boiling golden flame, the sight was so awe-inspiring that it took Hugo's breath away.

'Was Leonardo this strong?'

The insane power to destroy the towering ice wall with a single attack. Hugo's heart was pounding at the sight. How long had it been since he had seen such strength? When he deflected the incoming flames that were shot toward the gate and chased after him, he thought the guy was decent enough.

'No, this guy is beyond that.'

Now that he had directly confronted his mana, the guy was not just 'decent'.

Beyond that, no, he was the best.

Although Leonardo quickly penetrated and shattered the ice wall, when he saw that Hugo had already dodged effortlessly, Leonardo frowned and once again unleashed a destructive energy, muttering,

"Tenacious bastard."

At that, Hugo smiled as if amused.

"Are you already tired?"

"Don't talk nonsense-."

As soon as he finished speaking, a red beam immediately grazed in front of Hugo's eyes. For a retaliatory attack provoked by a small taunt, its power was quite fierce. If he had taken a direct hit, even he would have suffered quite a serious injury.

The Leonardo Blaine who was looking at him with an arrogant gaze was known to be in his early to mid-20s.

Certainly, he was a young guy, but his movements were explosively fast, and his strategy of quickly grasping and predicting the opponent's movements was clearly born from the experience of actual combat, not befitting his age.

It was worthy of the praise as the true war hero of the Empire and the commander of the elite special forces unit, Armsilver.

Hugo was greatly enjoying this sensation that he had not felt in a long time.

The strong waves coming from the opponent exhilarated his body.

It was this that once again made Hugo's heart, which had been frozen for a long time, start beating again.