Speed Is King

As it turned out, Elliot ended up taking a full five days to get himself and Jessica ready. By the time he contacted the dragons to set up a rendezvous, Khalendros was thoroughly annoyed.

"You said three days!" He roared when Elliot finally appeared.

"Sorry, I had to pick my sister up. She was out training." Elliot apologized with a smile.

"Jess, this grumpy dude is Khalendros Tempest. And the pretty lady is Khellendra Tempest, his wife. This girl here is Autumn Rosenbloom, an Empress from the renowned Fortune Hermit Mountain. Guys, this is Jessica, my little sister."

"Hello everybody, nice to meet you!" Jessica said brightly.

"Hi Jessica!" Autumn said equally brightly.

"Nice to meet you Jessica, don't mind my husband. He's just grumpy because his, ah, performance hadn't been good for the past few days." Khellendra said sweetly.

"Performance? What performance! State your words properly woman! My reputation as a male is at stake here! She's referring to my performance in mastering the new runes we just got!" Khalendros clarified to Jessica and Elliot loudly.

"Okay… As opposed to… what performance?" Jessica asked innocently.

"Uhh…" Khalendros looked at Jessica and realized belatedly that in spite of the powerful King level aura she was giving out, she was still just a little girl with absolutely no knowledge about the sensitive "performance levels" of men in bed!

"As opposed to his battle prowess." Elliot said calmly as he glared at Khellendra who merely laughed mischievously.

"Anyway, we're going to rescue Jennifer now. Autumn, are you coming with us?" Elliot asked her.

"Sure, why not? If you're rescuing Jennifer from an Emperor level being, I think I would come pretty handy if you guys are overwhelmed. I still owe you for mistakenly trying to kill you last time anyway." Autumn said rather apologetically.

Jessica frowned at her words and her attitude towards Autumn which was neutral-good earlier began to cool considerably.

"Alright. Thank you for that. If that's the case, then let's go and look for that damned Emperor." Elliot said and took out the token which Rak'Tharos had flung to him before he disappeared with Jennifer in tow.

As he injected his energy into the token, he could distinctly feel the presence of another token related to it.

He turned to the east and frowned lightly.

"Almost three thousand kilometers in this direction." Elliot said softly.

"Three thousand kilometers? That's almost all the way to the east coast." Jessica frowned as well.

"They look really similar, don't you think?" Khellendra whispered and giggled to Khalendros softly.

"Hmmm yes. But Jessica is much better looking than that punk." Khalendros rumbled loudly.

"I wonder how our kids will look like if we ever are blessed with one." Khellendra whispered with a voice full of yearning.

Khalendros merely held her hand tightly and remained silent.

Their attempt to have kids have always ended up in failure. And after trying for so many years, they had finally surrendered all hope to God resigned themselves to their fate.

"I'll bring us there. With the Dome Palaces, we'll be there in less than two hours." Autumn said.

"Let's go then!" Elliot said determinedly.id.

"This way." Autumn led the way to a Dome Palace.

However, right before they could take more than a step, three streaks of blinding lights appeared from the sky!

KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

Earth-shaking triple explosions rocked the entire area as all three intact Dome Palaces exploded into smithereens!!

"Enemy attack!" Elliot shouted. With Jessica near him, he didn't make the mistake of holding his strength like before. Without any hesitation, he blinked to Jessica's side and unleashed all of his beasts!

However, even before his beasts could materialize, an indescribable might descended upon them and locked up their movements completely! Even Elliot's beasts failed to materialize as the energy flow that would have summoned them were cut off.

"Hegemon!" Khalendros gasped in shock as he recognized the incredible quality of the power that locked them up so completely.

However, amazingly, Elliot was able to resist slightly! His red dragon energy awakened once more and thrashed wildly against the Hegemon's aura!

GRAAAARRRR!!!!

With all of his might, Elliot circulated his enhanced Purgatory Fire Energy and forcefully blinked away with Jessica in his arms!

BLINK! BLINK! BLINK!

Elliot executed a series of blinks that instantly brought them many, many kilometers away.

"Take this token and escape." Elliot said as he shoved Rak'Tharos' token to her. "If I don't return, get strong and save your sister. I will hold the enemy back. Now go! Don't make all of our sacrifices be for nothing!!"

"BIG BROO!!!!" Jessica screamed out in panic. She had JUST returned to her brother's side after so many long days of grinding, and now they had to be separated once more??

"OH? A FLY HAD MANAGED TO ESCAPE MY NET. COME BACK HERE, PLEASE." A giant voice that shook the entire world sounded from afar.

"GO! I will find you after I handle these new enemies!" Elliot shouted and gave Jessica one last look before blinking away in a totally different direction to lead the attention of the Hegemon away.

"YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM ME, BOY. YOU MUST BE THE OUTLIER THAT OLD FIFTH TALKED ABOUT." The voice rumbled loudly. In a blink of an eye, the mighty pressure that had locked Autumn and the two dragons up so easily had caught up to Elliot.

Elliot gritted his teeth and continued to blink away furiously while circulating his red dragon energy at full force!

"YOU HAVE SOME ABILITY. COME, LET ME SEE EXACTLY WHAT YOU HAVE THAT ENABLES YOU TO DEAL WITH MY LIVING ARMOR." The voice sounded once more with an amused tone.

At that, a tall and good looking young man that looked not a day more than twenty years old appeared before Elliot just as he was about to blink away once more.

And when that happened, the red dragon energy finally froze completely under the sheer pressure that Second Senior Brother's Hegemon aura was giving out.

Without the ability to circulate his energy, Elliot was unable to blink away.

He was, at that moment, effectively caught.