This looks like a situation where you'd have to kill a couple people, Thalos thought to himself. He stepped back a little. If he took off the mask now, he would be revealed.

There was no way they didn't know the man they had been trying to kill by face, and if not, Dorian would know. He needed a way out of this that didn't lead to bloodshed till the teleportation circle was activated.

Once it was active, all Whispers relays were down, then they couldn't inform the people outside of danger.

"Sir, I was too shocked by your presence to give you proper respect," Thalos dropped to his knees. "Please forgive me. I am just a Stainless, I cannot reveal my face."

Stainless were people that worked among the general population. They weren't fully bought into the mission of the Whitemoon, so they couldn't cast off their mortal ties.

They worked their jobs here then were taken back home secretly. If their real identities were revealed, it could be used against the Whitemoon.

Some of them even worked in the guard, but Dorian didn't know their identity. He didn't care though. If the man was just a regular worker, then they would dispose of him anyway. He placed his hand on the cutlass at his hip.

"Take off your mask now," Dorian ordered.

Well this is quite the problem. He wished he could speak to Percy and tell him to let them capture him, but—

There was a loud fizzing sound that cut through the tension in the room. The teleportation circle was being activated. Someone was trying to teleport in.

The guards rose to their feet, their green scale-like armor glinting in the light of the circle.

"That's not how it's meant to be," Fang one murmured. Then the cold realisation reached over his spine. He grabbed the handle of his sword and turned. "What did you do to the teleportation circle?!"

He smiled under the hood that covered his face. Right on time. He was tired of sneaking around and playing nice.

Dorian's face grew pale, he already knew they had been infiltrated. Viper was the only one here stronger than him. And he was out hunting Perseus Amphene.

He raised his wrist to his mouth and shouted into the Whispers bracelet.

"Viper, it's a trap. Thalos is here!" he shouted quickly, but the steel beads didn't glow their usual red.

"I disabled the lines that power your relays," Thalos said, pulling off his mask. "They are too far away for the message to reach them."

All of them drew their swords. Dorian's blue glassy armor appeared over his body in a flash.

Thalos touched his hip and Marrowbiter appeared in its scabbard, its handle red as blood. He looked Dorian in the eye as he spoke.

"It's a shame. You seemed decent, but I guess my instincts aren't always right."

"This isn't over yet, Thalos," Dorian sneered, "Lightning!"

Nothing happened despite the man's commands. That was probably used to activate one of the defensive circles.

"Sorry, I think that's down too," he apologised.

The two guards moved behind him, swords coming from the left and right with perfect coordination. They were both very fast too, a lot faster than a young practitioner like his son could handle.

Dorian knew that they were doomed though. Their swords cut silver arcs in empty space, both of the guards couldn't believe their eyes. Thalos was gone.

Before they could say anything else though, their heads fell to the ground. Thalos was standing behind them burning with a crimson aura.

"I'm sorry, but the teleportation circle activating could only mean one thing. That my son is in danger."

He pointed his sword at Dorian, who could feel cold sweat running down his back.

"So I'm going all out."

Dorian merely saw a flash of red and raised his cutlass, enhancing it with his spirit energy. The air screamed as steel clashed, the main circle room's door exploded as Dorian was sent flying down the hall. The wind and stone rushed past him as he flew down the hall uncontrollably

He kicked off the ground and dodged Thalos' follow-up slash. Each attack was a blur of red light and a surge of deadly intent. Thalos' attacks were pure offence, so fast and precise.

"So this is the Stray Demon everyone keeps talking about!" Dorian roared. "You know I hear the Blood Demon school has a great reward for your head!"

Thalos slammed his boot into Dorian's chestplate, for a moment he thought he had been hit by a cannon ball. The metal groaned as it was dented and the man was sent into the wall with a powerful explosion of dust.

"Yes, I heard they promise tutorship to anyone that can kill me and bring back Marrowbiter. But that's a pipe dream, isn't it?"

Dorian pushed out of the cavity in the wall that he just made and coughed some blood. He gave the Thalos a bloody smile.

"We casual users of Arete cannot advance without learning with a school. I've been Rank 3 for ten years now, and the Cloud Stride school still hasn't accepted me. So a pipe dream sounds nice."

Dorian jumped forward, his cutlass cleaving the air so hard that a shockwave was formed. Thalos casually deflected it, then he deflected the next ten blows, each happening in less than five seconds.

"You're pretty decent, but I got to Rank 3 when I was fifteen years old. Doing that at forty doesn't make you anything special."

Dorian roared and slammed his blade at Thalos' once more. He groaned as his cutlass was being pushed back easily by the thin katana.

"It's better people like you don't learn the art anyway," Thalos announced. His grey eyes sharpened and his katana began cutting through the cutlass.

Dorian screamed as his spirit that was connected to the sword was cut. He looked into Thalos' eyes and began pleading.

"Wait! You don't understand. Even without talent I still strived for the path, but this world is built on recognition. Without Sion, no school would even look at me. I just… I'm a—"

Thalos' sword mercilessly cleaved through the cutlass and into Dorian. He pushed off his backfoot and decapitated the man.

He stopped a couple meters from the body, avoiding the blood. A frown was on his mouth.

"Then it is unfortunate that we were enemies."

He turned and raced through the hideout. There was no more time, he needed to find where they kept their information and get back to Percy now.

Getting there made him have to cut down more guards and even some of the civilian workers that were trying to burn everything.

He severed a man's hand and cut the fire to extinguish it. The masked man howled in pain till Thalos killed him too. Then he took out a folder and began flipping through them for anything about Dina or her two sons.

"Moving Dina to Sonea, waiting for transport to the temple," he read slowly. "What temple?" He opened more documents and found a transcript that was meant to be delivered to Dina.

"Hello again, it's me Griffon. We talked a while ago about balloons, and your sons of course. I made them some balloons to brighten up their dungeon. They kept moaning about food but who cares. Anyway, I will let you see them in the Temple as agreed. Once you confirm they are alive we will return them to their cages. Cheers! Can't wait to see you :)."

Thalos grimaced at the letter, then he looked through more of the documents for information on this temple, but there wasn't anything available.

He found something else though, something that sent a chill up his spine.

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