24 Chapter 24: Fight or Fligh

Even as Vermillion Phoenix graced the material world with its presence, I was already running and making for my house.

When Cecilia Stuart said that my summoned beasts weren't invincible, she as more right than she knew. Not in the way she imagined, though.

As Vermillion Phoenix unleashed its flames, the passengers who had just disembarked from the car immediately erected barriers to defend themselves. Fire washed over their golden, glowing spheres, but did not break through them as it did against Chang Cheng's Fortress spell.

Of course it wouldn't. These were professionals. They had way more combat experience and strength than a mere student. Already, a few of them were retaliating. One of them had produced a sword-type Divine Device and was slashing at Vermillion Phoenix. My summoned beast guarded against the strike with its huge wings, but it was sent staggering from the impact.

A second assailant produced a magical bow and sent arrows of light screaming toward Vermillion Phoenix, who unleashed fiery feathers in return to counter the volley. Explosions rocked through the air, the collision of the projectiles causing them to detonate violently.

Even though my Vermillion Phoenix was having a bit of difficulty dealing with these kidnappers, it didn't necessarily mean that I would lose. My summoned beast was still a top-notch monster with tremendous power. Just one careless mistake would be enough to see them incinerated into a crisp, and there was no boundary field to guarantee their lives this time.

"Ugh!"

One of them finally succumbed to the overwhelming flames and was incinerated into a crisp.

"Horie!" one of the guys shrieked. "Damn you, fucking brat!"

"Kill him!"

"Wait, don't kill him! We need him alive!"

Yeah, I mean, what was the point of kidnapping me and holding Dad to ransom if you ended up killing me? More like you would end up incurring his wrath as he hunted every single one of your organization down and destroyed you to the last man.

"He's getting close to the barrier!"

"Stop him!"

They suddenly realized that while my Vermillion Phoenix was distracting them, I had already gotten within a millimeter of my own home. The kidnapper closest to me launched an arrow, but I was already ducking.

My Vermillion Phoenix conjured a firewall and incinerated the arrow…or tried to, but the powerful projectile burst through the firewall without much effort. Good thing I instinctively dodged, or I would have been hit.

I thought they weren't supposed to kill me?

In any case, my assailants were breaking away from my Vermillion Phoenix and literally hurling themselves at me. A couple of them were incinerated by my Vermillion Phoenix – but evidently they didn't care about sacrificing their lives as long as they achieved their objective. In a way, they were a lot scarier than the usual abductors.

This wasn't the first time, however. I was already used to such fanatics. Rarely did I have to directly combat them, though, but it wasn't unprecedented. That was why I already knew how to deal with the situation.

"No!"

"Don't let him get away!"

I dove under a swinging sword and slid right through the front yard. My pursuers made to follow, but the guy in the lead suddenly screamed. There was a sharp crack and he spontaneously combusted, hellish flames devouring him.

Slowly getting to my feet, I dismissed my Vermilion Phoenix, which was slowly getting weighed down by dozens of attacks. Even though I said it wouldn't necessarily lose, there was only one of it, and several of the enemies. There was no sense subjecting it to an unnecessary battle and allowing the poor guy to get hurt.

"Fuck!"

"That kid got away!"

"We were too slow!"

The kidnappers were swearing and cursing as they watched me from behind the barrier. If I was a little more childish, I would give them the finger and taunt them, but I was too tired to deal with their bullshit. So I decided to just go home. I should inform my Dad.

Before I could reach the door, however, it burst open and Dad stood there, having been alerted when someone got incinerated by the fiery barrier he had set up around our home. He looked at me, and then glanced at the now silent group outside the house. Within a few seconds, everything clicked and he understood what had just happened.

"I see you've been taking good care of my son." Crossing his arms, he strode across the lawn while putting himself between me and the interlopers in a protective manner. With a snap of his fingers, he summoned Angelica.

"The Angel of Fire!"

"Run!"

The kidnappers scrambled back to their cars, trying to evade Angelica's flames. A couple of them were too slow, and screamed as they were caught by her fireballs and spontaneously combusted into ashes.

"Angelica, don't let them get away."

"Understood."

The divine spirit rose to the air and launched a few fireballs at the cars, destroying them in short order. The first couple of dudes who made it into the car immediately perished, their bodies charred black and leaving nothing but scorched bones.

The rest froze.

"Leave a couple of them alive, so that we can interrogate them," Dad instructed Angelica while he walked through the barrier. Raising his hand, he activated his Divine Device, a golden sword whose blade immediately blazed into life.

The abductors shuddered when they saw him slowly approaching them, and tried to leave, but Angelica swung her hands down and unleashed several torrents of flames that was not unlike Vermillion Phoenix's inferno, creating a ring of fire that trapped them.

With no way out, the lot of them were gradually incinerated by Angelica, or cut down by Dad. They tried to fight back, but their attacks had no effect on Angelica, and Dad was too fast. He evaded their strikes easily and slashed them into pieces. The golden flames on his sword burst into life and consumed his victims, turning them into screaming, aflame skeletons.

"I thought you said to leave some alive!" Angelica called out from above.

"They're not all dead yet," Dad pointed out as he closed in on the sole survivor. The poor guy shrieked and fell back on his rump, desperately trying to scuttle away, only to find himself trapped by the flames.

"P…please…!" he begged, openly weeping.

"Would you have let my son go if he asked?" Dad asked. The guy gaped at him, his mouth opening and closing, but he couldn't answer. Dad smiled grimly and shook his head in mock disappointment. "I thought so."

With a single slash, he cut off the guy's arm, causing him to howl in pain. Fortunately, the guy didn't get incinerated, with Dad's attack leaving a cauterized stump. As he rolled on the ground, clutching at his shoulder and shrieking, Dad mercilessly grabbed him by the collar and hauled him up.

"If you don't want to lose your other arms, you will answer my questions honestly and accurately. Is that understood?"

The guy wept, tears streaming down his pale cheeks, but he managed to nod.

"Don't you want to leave him alive?" Angelica asked, bewildered.

"He's still alive, isn't he?" Dad pointed out gruffly, and began dragging the poor guy back into the house.

All around us, the flames continued to blaze about, but none of the neighbors poked their heads out to check out the commotion. They were used to this happening on a weekly or monthly basis. This wasn't exactly a dangerous neighborhood, but everyone knew Dad was a dangerous fella, and were wise enough to keep their heads down whenever the shooting began.

I opened the door to allow Dad and our "guest" to step in. Dad nodded at me, and then began hauling the poor guy toward the study room. I made to follow, but Dad raised a hand and gestured for me to stay where I am.

"Trust me, you don't want to see this."

I swallowed and nodded, aware of the darker details of Dad's work. I stepped back and watched as he dragged our "guest" into the study and shut the door.

"I wonder who it is this time." Angelica folded her arms as she practically hovered through the door. I briefly wondered why she just didn't walk. It wasn't as if our house was big enough for her to float a few meters above the ground. But I didn't ask, and just nodded. Angelica continued to ponder. "The Night Devil Cult? The Syndicate? The Rufus Corporation? The Triad? The Underground?"

"…"

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I tried not to roll my eyes as Angelica listed the list of potential culprits off. Damn, but Dad really made a long list of enemies. Not that he had a choice. I recognized each and every one of them as criminal organizations who indulged in human trafficking, murder, illegal experimentations (creating demonic creatures and performing monstrous surgeries on human guinea pigs for their own medical or military products), and drug smuggling.

Needless to say, Dad had clashed with them time and time again, rescuing their victims and busting their illegal operations. I shuddered to think what would happened if I had ended up in their hands. No doubt they would conduct terrifying experiments on me and turn me into some sort of monster. I would rather die if that happened.

Granted, I already died once and somehow ended up in this person's body, but that wasn't me trivializing death. The experiments they conducted and transformations they wrought were really worse than death.

Glancing at the study room, I shook my head and turned toward my room. Whatever the case, I was sure Dad would take care of it, as he had always done since the last five years I had been with him.