Chapter 99 - Annoyance

Loki had covered his face with what remained of his clothes and was now using his wires to hold back the mysterious young man that was going to kill Bernard. The moment Loki did so he felt the power the young man held, it took almost everything he had to stop the young man's right arm. 

The young man turned around and was unable to locate the source of the wires that were holding his arm. Loki had already hidden his aura from the enemy as this was the very basics of being an assassin. 

Seeing as he could not find the source of the wires, the young man broke free from it by the sheer force of his physical body. The moment he broke free from the wires, another wave of wires wrapped around not only his arms but his whole body, and this time they were more durable than the last. 

The young man was expressionless as he looked around the room, yet despite his superior senses, he found no trace of the attacker. Since he could not find the assailant, he decided to simply finish his mission. The young man broke free from the numerous enhanced wires and approached the Twin Stars, but before he could do so another wave of wires entangled him. This time he no longer bothered to stop or look around as he moved forward, the wires were unable to hold him down. 

When Loki saw that the young man approaching the Twin Stars, it was obvious that he was here for a similar reason as the Star of Dawn. It was even possible that this overly powerful individual was part of that organization. 

Based on everything he saw, Loki knew that he couldn't face the man in a direct confrontation, the moment he did so things would turn difficult for him. Still, if he wanted to he could escape without being noticed, but seeing the two who were about to be abducted he couldn't just leave.

Even though they had failed to do so, those two had tried to protect him. If he left them to their fates, he would've let his deceased sister down. Strengthening his resolve Loki took out some of his needles and used [Enhancement] on them, he then threw the needles at the young man.

The needles that could easily pierce through concrete could not dig deep into the young man's skin. The young man got distracted for a second and in that single second the bodies of the Twin Stars disappeared. 

Even though his target had disappeared the young man wasn't perturbed and quickly made a move to attack the unconscious Bernard. He heightened his senses to the extreme, and as he was about to kill Bernard, he caught a glimpse of a shadow behind him. The moment he saw that shadow the young man was decisive and attacked. 

Loki who was concealing his aura saw a flashing light appear before him and was surprised but unlike Bernard, he was able to dodge the strike. This was the first time someone in this world had seen through Loki's concealment and it shocked him greatly. Even though he was currently weak his concealment ability was still top class. 

Despite his shock, Loki had no time to stay grounded as he evaded the white light. This time it was the young man's turn to be shocked. The look of indifference on the young man's face disappeared as he stared at Loki. He then noticed the Twin Stars laying behind Loki. Noticing the young man's gaze, Loki frowned. 

The young man was about to make a move, but before he could take a step forward he saw an approaching needle. He did not dodge the needles and continued to move forward. As the needles got stuck into his skin they suddenly grew hot and then exploded. 

The power of each explosion was equivalent to a pound of TNT. Loki had infused elements of fire into the needles, forcing them to explode after a period of time. Unlike his enhancement spell, this spell actually consumed smaller mana. The reason he never used the spell before this was because it was too loud and showy for an assassin like him. Yet in his current predicament, Loki decided to not care about such trivialities as he use anything at his disposal, seeing as this wasn't really an assassination it didn't matter if he was loud or not. 

As the smoke cleared Loki was surprised to see that the young man only had minor burn marks on his arms and that was it. He wasn't expecting to beat the young man using such a surprise attack, but he at least wanted to damage him more than this. 

'Tsk, this guy is pretty sturdy.'

When that thought flash by Loki's mind, he suddenly saw the young man appear in front of him. Loki quickly evaded an incoming kick and countered with a kick of his own, but the moment his leg made contact with the young man's body Loki was only able to make the young man take a step backward. 

That kick of Loki's was enough to put a dent in a steel wall, but it had little to no effect on the young man. Loki prepared to defend himself from whatever attack the young man was going to do next, but to his surprise, the young man went past him and was trying to get to the Twin Stars. 

The young man regarded Loki as nothing more than an annoyance and was focused on his real objective which was capturing the Twin Stars before the soldiers of the Elite Dragon Brigade arrive. Loki praised the young man's action in his mind. 

As the young man was about to grab the unconscious Twin Stars, he felt something wrap around his legs tripping him. The young man stopped his fall with his arms and saw Loki move the Twin Stars away from him. He then saw Loki throw another round of needles. 

The young man tore away from the wires that wrapped around his legs and evaded the needles. Yet even after evading them, the needles exploded once they got near him.

The young man wasn't that bothered by the explosion and dashed towards the Twin Stars, but Loki intercepted him again as he kept his distance while throwing needles. The exploding needles did little damage to him, but the young man was starting to get annoyed. No matter what he did Loki was able to evade and counter, and he could not get past him to capture the Twin Stars.

After a few more exchanges the young man now understood that if he doesn't deal with Loki first, he wouldn't be able to finish his mission before the time is up.