157 On the knees.

"Who sent you?" he asked after a while.

Before, Ozul thought that these people might be sent by the Emperor to keep an eye on him. However, he had to think otherwise after he heard his title from their mouth.

"Who sent us?! Stop wasting my time and answer! It doesn't matter who sent who. Are you The Feral or not?!" Cyril said impatiently. He did not like to wait for so long only to hear such dumb questions.

"Does that matter?" Ozul asked apathetically, not really caring about Cyril's behaviour.

When Cyril noticed that Ozul again ignored his question, his face started to burn with anger as he shouted, "You bastard!"

With a shout, he ran towards Ozul with an unbelievable speed. He had disappeared from his spot from a normal point of view, causing dirt to rise from the ground.

The next moment he appeared was in front of Ozul. Cyril had his fist covered in the fire before him, blocked by a thin layer of a black substance. It was actually the Ball of Purity shielding Ozul from the attack.

*Boom!*

A moment had yet to pass before the shockwave of the punch was felt by everything in the surrounding. Strong winds were generated, which caused Clara to take a few steps backwards. 

This simple attack was enough to demonstrate how, after a certain point, Fighters lost their value. Even from Rank-6, the Mages started to incorporate Mana in their very own cells. And this was way more effective than just enhancing the body cells using Mana.

Cyril was only a Mage at Rank-8, but the force behind this punch was enough to bring down an entire three-floor building made up of solid concrete! It was almost equal to the force of a Rank-10 Fighter!

However, both Mark and Cyril were surprised at this time because Ozul stood firm like a mountain even after bearing such a tremendous force.

Cyril noticed that no matter how much force he applied, the black substance did not seem to budge from its place. 

"Aaahhh!" He shouted before gesturing with his other hand as a giant arm made up of pure fire formed around his fist. He had decided not to hold anything back in this attempt as he continually fueled the fire with Mana.

The air around them started to heat up as the breeze followed in. Winds started to form around the area due to the heat, causing dirt to rise from the ground.

Just the intensity of Cyril's fire was strong enough to turn the whole weather of that area upside down!

"Stop shouting so much," Ozul said coldly. The same shield which Cyril was trying so hard to pass through suddenly turned into a fist as well before hitting him right in the gut!

"Eeekk!"

Cyril spat a mouthful of blood as the giant arm made up of fire disappeared into thin air. He held his stomach with both his hands and could not help but drop down on his knees.

"Ughh!" Cyril whimpered in pain as Mark hurriedly approached him to check the injuries.

However, Ozul had not used a pin or a blade this time, so there were actually no cuts. He just wanted this annoying blonde to stop shouting, and he did so by getting a fist to his gut!

"So-" Ozul was about to say something. But Mark interrupted him this time, "You Bastard!"

Just like how Cyril had done before, Mark disappeared from his spot and appeared before Ozul. The Ball of Purity again changed into the thin shield as Mark struck with his leg instead of the fist. He was more inclined to kick rather than punching.

However, Mark's kick was followed by water instead of kick. A splash of water followed his first kick, and the second one was backed by a giant foot made up of water surrounding Mark's leg.

The spell was almost the same as Cyril's, with the only difference being their Elements.

Just like before, it did not make Ozul move even a step back as the shield remained firm in its position as well.

The only difference between Mark and Cyril's attack except for their Element was that the latter was shouting all the time while the former remained silent.

They were killers who assassinated people for their own profit. So it wasn't unusual for them to be so aggressive with everything they did not find to their liking. Although they could not sense Ozul's power, they just thought that he was at most a Rank-8 Mage with some artifact to hide his cultivation base.

Cyril realized that Mark wouldn't be able to make Ozul budge by himself either, so he forcibly stood up as a groan escaped his mouth.

With another shout, he chanted to create giant fire fists around both his arms. Before Mark also had a fist up his gut, Cyril immediately joined him.

At this point, both Mark and Cyril were trying to make the black shield at least shake a little, but all of their efforts were in vain when two fists hit them right on the stomach again.

"Ughhh!" x2

Groans escaped their mouth before they both spat a mouthful of blood on the ground. Clutching their stomachs with both their arms, the duo could not help but internally curse Ozul.

These punches actually made their whole body shake from inside! Even wounds created by blades did not hurt them as much as these fists did to their guts!

Ozul did not immediately say anything. He just turned around and went under a tree nearby. For him, standing there out in the sun was actually more uncomfortable than dealing with these two.

He gave them some time to catch their breaths before he asked, "As I was saying, who sent you?"

This time, Cyril did not immediately start to shout like before. Cyril was impulsive by nature, but as an assassin, he was not stupid enough to not realize how strong Ozul was.

Although not really their strongest attacks overall, they had combined their strongest physical spells, and the result was both of them dropped on their knees while clutching their stomachs.

Even this was not enough to convince them, but they were in no shape to stand up and try their actual strongest moves.

"I asked you something," Ozul repeated when he noticed Cyril lost in his own thoughts.

When Cyril heard his voice, he got out of his stupor and looked towards Mark, who slowly nodded his head.

"We were commissioned by some Count of a city to hunt down a person named The Feral," Cyril started to lie while anxiously moving his eyes all around the place. He acted like he was afraid of Ozul while buying as much time as he could.

"Last time, I will ask you to tell me the truth. The next turn, one of you will die," Ozul said in a cold voice before Cyril could continue his story.

It was now Ozul's turn to get impatient as he approached the duo, making them sweat buckets.

When Ozul got closer, he noticed a similar tattoo on the neck of both Mark and Cyril. The tattoo looked like a sun setting on the horizon, a scene similar to dusk.

Mark and Cyril looked at each other, unsure if they should reveal themselves or not. They had yet to make a decision when Ozul ran out of patience and made the Ball of Purity turn into a sharp blade right before their eyes.

"Okay, okay! Stop! We will tell you everything!"

Behind Ozul, Clara could only look at this scene with astonishment since these two were actually Rank-8 Mages who were considered the real assets of a powerful country! Some relatively weaker countries even had their monarchs at Rank-8!

But here there were two such Rank-8 Mages, who looked like some children before Ozul!

Ozul nodded his head to show his understanding as the duo sighed in relief. They had not expected him to catch their lie so easily. They were professionals in their field. Lying was fundamental to them, so being so easily exposed caused them to doubt their own skills.

Cyril had decided to come out clean at once since they could lose their life if he tried to do something stupid again. It wasn't that they were on some top-secret mission that they could not reveal the real reason anyway.

"We... were actually not sent by anyone else. Mark just saw you on the street among the crowd and guessed that you were actually a famous assassin that goes by the title of The Feral," Cyril did the talking again.

Ozul did not say anything since he could feel that they were actually telling the truth. However, it did not explain what two Rank-8 Mages wanted with him.

"So, what did you want from The Feral?" Ozul asked.

"We..." Cyril looked towards Mark again with sweat forming on both of their foreheads. It seemed that they were reluctant to say some things.

However, Ozul only needed to take another step close before Cyril immediately answered, "We hadn't thought of it yet!"

"We hadn't thought about what to do exactly. There is an entry of The Feral on the bingo book which wants either for anyone to bring his dead body, or bring him to the base in one piece," Cyril explained.

"And of course, bringing him alive would give us a greater reward," Mark added as Ozul had his interest piqued.