It was far harder trying not to kill, than it was to kill. His Spirit contributed a lot to the subtle method he used to knock the two Guardsmen out.

One fell off the moving automobile and was crushed beneath the wheels of the inexorable moving vehicle. That would not kill him, but if no one removed him from the path of the oncoming vehicles, he would be crushed to death. The flurry of activity, behind, assured him that it would not happen.

He pressed his hand against the metal door, and it sank in as if it were made from mud, and he dragged it sideways, ripping it away from the frame.

He had seen everything through his Spatial sight but seeing it once more with his eyes, brought a new wave of anger over him.

Diane was on all four with sweat running down her face, how mouth was open, and she was panting, her arms and legs were shivering, and tears were on her face. Now and then she gritted her teeth to stop any cries escaping her mouth.

Rico was sitting on her back, and Diane was acting as his chair, he was carrying a heavy book which he rested on her head. She had to strain to keep her head up, else he would strike her across the back with his little finger.

He looked up sharply as Rowan tore the door open, and his mouth opened, and he laughed, “Hello, my friend. I have been hearing tales about you from your maid here, and since the chairs inside this deary place of mine are so hard on my back, I wanted something softer to sit upon. You don’t mind, do you?”

Rowan did not say anything, he walked up to the grinning man, and seized him by the face. Rowan’s palm covered his entire face, and he threw him towards the side as if he were disposing of thrash, and he bent down and carried Diane up.

Her eyes alight with hope when she realized who had come to rescue her, and she burst out in tears, as she ran and hugged him, crying into his chest. Rowan awkwardly patted her hair.

“There… there… don’t cry, it’s okay. I will take you home.”

She nodded and Rowan pushed her gently away from him, just as Rico was shoving himself away from the wall his body was stuck into.

From the moans of pain coming from his mouth and his left hand bent in a weird angle, he had clearly broken bones in his body. He had a nasty cut along his forehead that bled, covering his left eyes in blood, making him appear both wretched and menacing at the same time.

Rowan was curious about the method this Dominator used to hide his power, nevertheless he was familiar with such games of deceit, and if they all thought he was a noob in this game, then it would be their funeral.

He made the proper angry face and faced the snarling Rico, whose right hand was pointed at him, he wanted to speak and vomited blood, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fainted.

Yet hidden deep behind those eyes where no one else could reach, did Rowan see a hint of enjoyment? As if Rico here was craving pain.

It took an effort of will for Rowan not to wipe his hand.

A pair of hurried steps were heard outside the vehicle and Circe and Nana entered inside, they saw the state of Rico, and Circe blanched. Nana, had an amused look on her face as she sighed, “Circe, I have warned you to hold your Ward to a higher standard. It is a wonder he is not already dead.”

Circe knelt and checked Rico and looked up at Rowan, “I got your message, and I apologize for the actions of my Ward. I promise you that this would be the last time something like this would ever occur.”

“Good.” Rowan growled, “See to it because next time, if something like this happens, I will pull off his arm and beat him to death with it. Diane, let’s go, your parents are getting worried.”

The young girl seized the edge of Rowan’s clothes and followed him out, after a while she seemed to have recovered her quip and cheerful personality. She began to talk as if everything that happened was just a bad dream, “There, there my lord? You do know that you only tell those to little children, right?”

“You are still a child, Diane.” Rowan felt a chill, as her eyes penetrated his back.

Please don’t tell me I have activated the little girl’s competitive spirit, I have no time for this teenage drama.

“Hurry up to your parents, I have to do something. Oh, by the way, how did you find yourself in the clutches of Rico.”

Diane’s expression went grave, “Lord Rico is a known artist and critic.”

“That guys, an artist as well as a critic? Well, that tells me everything I need to know about the state of entertainment in this place.

“which is?” Diane asked!

“That it would suck.” seeing her downtrodden expression, “Maybe not all of it.” Rowan nodded.

She beamed, “I was skeptical when I heard a message from Lord Rico that he wanted to see a presentation of one of my plays, and if he was impressed, he may land me a suitable role when we get to the city. I told only my mother because my dad would never have let me out for that presentation, because of… because of what happened to my sister.”

Rowan was quiet for a while, clearly there was trauma here, and he did not know how he would breach that barrier, she was still a child, and Rowan would never dispute the strength of children when it came to handling emotional burdens, “what is the name of your sister.”

“What? Oh. It’s Sylvia. She was my elder sister. I have to hurry back now. Mum, prepared a super meal, please hurry back.”

Rowan watched her run towards his vehicle, which slowed down, and she climbed into it, to the open arms of her mum and dad. Rowan was quiet for a while before he began moving towards the direction of the main horde. If his plans were to work, he had to be far away when it happened.

The technicians should not be done with his monster bike by now, and he knew his legs would have to do. It would be the first time he had gone all out on this world, and he decided to begin by moving at a light jog.

He made a small gesture with his hands before he left, if anyone watching him saw it, they would take it as meaningless, but he alone knew what he had just planted behind.

A light jog that ate up the miles in a matter of minutes. When he was a sufficient distance away from the convoy, he began adding fuel to the flame, slowly but surely, his speed increased.

From the light thumping sound his feet made when it touched the ground, it graduated to a dull bang, as the earth began caving beneath his feet, and he left massive craters behind that alternated every hundred feet or so, that meant every single step he made pushed him more than a hundred feet forward.

Yet, this was not his maximum speed, he was pushing just twenty percent of his total Agility, although he would love to go faster, he estimated from the survey reports from the scouts and his intuition that the maximum range of surveillance that the convoy had should not exceed five hundred mile, he decided to push for two thousand miles before he began amping up his speed.

He noticed something different, as presently he was no longer encumbered by the curse, he could now savor all the intricacies of this new world without the barrier of weakness holding him back; this world was more fragile than Trion.