Speed Is King

"Black Phoenix Goddess Sacrifice." A voice whispered from a distance away right before Second Senior Brother could exert his strength and rip Elliot's arms out.

Instantly, a strange, black fire surrounded and completely covered Second Senior Brother.

He was so pissed off by Elliot, and was so focused on ripping his arms out that he was caught completely unguarded by Jessica's powerful sneak attack! For a very brief moment, Jessica's skill managed to penetrate deep into the very fibre of his being.

Whoosh.

His Hegemon level aura winked out of existence. At the same time, his hands released Elliot and clutched at his head as he started to fight with all of his strength to resist Jessica's powerful sneak attack!

Elliot did not hesitate and immediately blinked away as fast as he could towards Jessica! He had sensed her presence earlier just before Second Senior Brother suddenly released his aura, and he had immediately connected the two events together.

"Jessica had done something to attack that bastard! Such a powerful attack, I hope she's fine." Elliot thought with a deep sense of unease in his heart.

BLINK! BLINK!

Elliot got to the spot where he sensed Jessica's presence earlier, but he couldn't find her at all.

"Jess?" He called out urgently as he scanned the area. He doubted that her skill could last long against the Hegemon, and he needed to bring her away from him as quickly and as far as possible!

"Bro!" Jessica called out to him from the ground.

Immediately, Elliot blinked to her side and was about to grab her and blink away when he froze.

Jessica was hiding behind a bush and she seemed to be… naked?

"Jess! What happened to you!" Elliot cried out in horror as he immediately pulled out a few pieces of clothing and threw them to her. Thankfully that he didn't see anything, or else his mind would be completely messed up even more than it already was at that moment.

"Ah, it's one of my newest skill, Black Phoenix Goddess Sacrifice. I used up one of my 15 lives to permanently mesmerize a target to make it my devout follower. I don't know if it worked against that powerful man though." Jessica said as she hastily got dressed.

"ARRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY HEAAADD!!!" A thunderous roar rang out!

"Let's not wait to find out. Come, let's go!" Elliot grabbed the fully dressed Jessica and immediately blinked away!

Fearing that the Hegemon would recover soon and catch up to him, Elliot gritted his teeth and completely abused the cooldown-less blink spell and traveled a massive distance within a few short minutes.

However, he soon realized that he was running low on space energy, and decided that he needed to save a little bit for future emergencies.

"Let's hide here." Elliot said as they appeared atop a mountain. They quickly found a cave where they could hide and got in.

"What do we do now, big bro? We can't possibly fight against that Hegemon! And if we have to hide here for a long time, how are we going to save Jennifer?" Jessica asked Elliot with her big round eyes.

"Relax. Let's wait and see for a day or two. Situations like this change rapidly. We'll just react when the opportunity presents itself. For now, let's just scout the area." Elliot released his tamed birds and immediately purchased Beast-Link for them that would allow Elliot to sense the world through their eyes, nose and ears.

"Thankfully I saved quite a bit of my points for emergency situations such as this." Elliot muttered.

Very soon, his birds took to the skies and spread out in all directions.

"Hmmm? He's still there!" Elliot gaped in surprise. "He seems to be struggling mightily against your skill. Just how powerful are you now, Jess?"

"I don't know. I'm definitely nowhere as strong as you. But this particular skill… The AI said I could cast it on ANY life form regardless of their power. It would only fail if the target has enough power to resist the skill. But when I cast it earlier, I definitely felt the skill penetrate his soul a little bit before he clamped down on it. So… I'm guessing it's a partial success." Jessica explained.

"I see… Should we attack him while he's struggling to deal with it?" Elliot pondered aloud.

"No. It's too dangerous!" Jessica instantly replied. "We cannot take any chances with our lives at this point. Jennifer is waiting for us, bro!"

"You're right." Elliot nodded solemnly. "Well, if we can't attack him, then at least others can. Let me contact the rest."

Elliot tried calling the two dragons, but somehow, his calls couldn't get through.

"What the heck is happening to them?" Elliot wondered. He quickly sent his birds to the spot where they were at earlier to check on the situation there.

"What? They're fighting!" Elliot cried out.

At that moment, he was truly torn.

On one hand, he desperately wanted to save Jennifer, and the best way to make sure he could do that was to ensure his own safety in light of such a powerful enemy! How could he save Jennifer if he's caught, or worse, crippled by the damn Hegemon?

But on the other hand, his allies were fighting. He couldn't leave them to fight for their lives alone! Especially since he needed them to ensure that Jennifer's rescue and the Battle of Kings went smoothly.

He turned to look at Jessica.

"I need to help them. They would help make sure that Jennifer's rescue is successful. However…" Elliot hesitated slightly.

"You need me to stay behind, so I can continue to save Jennifer if you fail to save them and get caught instead." Jessica said calmly and bravely.

Elliot nodded.

"I will not ask it of you if I wasn't sure that you could do it. But with the rate you're improving, I am very sure that you can save Jennifer in a month or two!"

Jessica closed her eyes and held Elliot's hand tightly. She could feel powerful energies within her stirring in response to her wildly fluctuating feelings. But alas…