The three faced the same emotion when they found out who their new opponent was. He was just a potioneer. Moreover, his nameplate was very valuable. In fact it was declared that whoever could kill the witch’s son would get the biggest reward this Hunt.

They increased their pace with greed in their eyes, fearing he might run away.

Adrian watched their actions with amusement. He just stood there, waiting for them.

Cornelia slowed down and by the time she was beside him, she stopped. So did the Institute trio, but a few meters away from them.

“That girl is a level 3 fire caster. The other two are level 2 augmenters, attribute- earth, both of them.” Even though everyone were already given data of their opponents, she followed military protocols.

“I understand, take some potions. You have work to do.”

She nodded and took out a green potion and a light blue one before devouring them both. The burn on her shoulder and the minor scratches she got immediately started to recover. And so did her strength.

“Hehe. We were hunting for one prey, and we found two. Talk about luck.” The shorter one of the males laughed.

Adrian did not respond. He simply looked into the eyes of the three orange clad students before turning to his classmate.

“Give me your dagger.” He reached out his right hand.

Though she was baffled, she did not waste any time as she brought out the dagger hidden inside her bag and passed it to him.

‘How did he know? What will he do with the dagger?’ She asked herself these questions.

He took the dagger and looked at the shorter male student.

“You.” He said. “You are unnecessary to the play.”

He waved his right hand with superhuman speed. It was so fast that his right arm appeared as a blur for a moment. The dagger in his hand- was gone.

The shorter young man did not know what the potioneer did. He turned to his friend to ask, but he was staring at him with his eyes wide open. He then turned to his senior, her reaction was the same. He wanted to ask what happened, but no voice came out. He suddenly felt a cold sensation on his throat. He looked down, and immediately widened his eyes- in horror.

He could see the hilt of the dagger just below his chin. Intense pain suddenly struck him. He held his own throat before looking at his fingers and palms. Hot blood besmirched them.

*Splash*

He fell to the ground, lifeless. Red blood slowly blended with the dirty water of the terrain.

“Resmond!” The two shouted as they took a step back. The one they thought to be a mere potioneer turned out to be an assassin- a master at that. They did not sense the slightest bit of killing intent. But an earth augmenter, who supposed to have the highest defense, was dead before they could even react.

They wanted to run away. But before they could, an extremely heavy and eerie aura locked onto them- taking any ability to make a movement away from them. They panicked even more.

Adrian turned to the princess. She subconsciously took a step back. The princess lost her previous countenance; the one who did not feel much fear while being chased by three fatal enemies felt pressured by his skills and abilities.

“I just saved your life. Shouldn’t I get something in return?” He scanned her whole body from head to toe while rubbing his chin.

“Ye… yes.” She gulped. She had heard of rumours before, of him being a sex fiend.

“Good. Do something for me, will you?” He pointed at the only surviving male of the Institute. “I will be busy with something and he will try to interfere. Stop him with all you can, but don’t kill him. If you fail and he interferes-” He moved his arm and pointed at the young lady. “What happens to her will happen to you, understood?”

She squinted. Though she did not know what his motive was and what his last sentence meant, she nodded nevertheless and got ready for battle.

“Wait till I give the signal.” He approached the the fire circler. “Oh.” He turned back. “He might become a bit too much fierce. So, take care.”

He took the pretty noble lady in his arms and approached the nearest tree. The thick tree had many vines swirling across it.

He torn off some vines and tied her hands and feet to the tree. Her breasts were at his eye level. The tree was so thick that one side of it was enough to hold her along with her arms wide open.

The poor young lady could not do anything, not even make a sound.

Adrian went to the corpse and removed the dagger. He washed the blood off with dirty water from the marshes and returned back to the tied lady.

“Let’s begin, shall we?” He looked at the princess and nodded.

She understood and charged towards the young man.

*Rip*

He tore off her uniform. At the exact same moment, he took back his overwhelming aura, freeing the duo.

“STOP!” The male student used all of his strength to rush and save her. But alas, their first ‘prey’ intercepted him.

Adrian was done, she was completely naked. She bit her lips in humiliation and tried all her best to free herself from the vines. But her resistance was futile. She tried to use her flame magic, but to her horror- she could not. The moment she tried to circulate magical energy and form circles, she lost her ability to think! She tried again and again. But the results were the same.

He brandished the dagger and smiled at her, causing her to lose all hope.

On the other side, the imperial student and the Confederation princess were locked in a heated battle. Though the earth circler’s defense was strong, it was useless anyway since the wood circler was only restraining and blocking him with roots, branches and vines.

Suddenly. “Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!!” A soul wrenching shriek caused them to pause their duel. Both of them looked at the source.

The Institute female student was hanged naked to a tree. Adrian had a dagger in his hand and he was… painting? He was drawing a bloody picture on the flawless skin of the noble lady!

Tears were streaming down her twisted face. Her whole body was wriggling from the intense pain. But he went with the ‘work’ with a smile on his face.

The young man from the institute had his whole body jerking from anger, and hatred- towards the barbaric Academy student and himself- for not being able to protect her, to save her. He clenched hard on the hilt of his sword.

“STOP! I WILL KILL YOU, YOU BEAST!” He charged towards Adrian.

The shout woke princess Cornelia from her stupor. She looked at her opponent who just passed by her and panicked.

She used all of her mental power to manipulate all the nearby branches, vines and roots. She had to stop him- at any cost.

She finally understood what he meant by ‘what happens to her will happen to you’. Even imagining happening to herself sent chills down her spine.

This caused both of them again locked themselves in a battle. But this time, the battle became a way lot more heated and bloodier because the stakes just rose on both sides.

“Tsk. Stop squirming, will you? It will destroy the ‘art’ you know. Do you want me to feed you a high level healing potion and start all over?” He looked at her eyes.

But his warning resulted in nothing; she kept moving and screaming from the intense pain. But Adrian did not mind as he went on.

This went for thirty whole minutes. Her screams died down during this time but the battle- it got even more heated. Both of them were wounded with blood covering parts of their bodies. They kept panting.

The earth circler, seeing no more hope had already decided to use his lifeforce. But Cornelia managed to keep him in check despite not using her own lifeforce. But she had to take a lot of damage.

When she realised that her spells were not enough to restrain him, she brought out her weapon. Though she was a caster, she was well versed in the way of the sword. After all, wood attribute was not the best when it came to head on battle.

Throughout the battle, they were not able to glance at what the ‘painter’ was ‘painting’ on the ‘canvas’- they could not afford to.

“Done.” A familiar but traumatic voice halted their battle yet again. Both of them glanced at the tied fire caster.

Her magic signature was non-existent. She was dead- with her open eyes still betraying despair and pain. Her whole torso was blurred with blood.

“NOOOOOOOOOO!” His tears mixed with the blood, sweat and mud of his face. He charged towards Adrian without any regard to his own life.

But this costed him. Cornelia used her spell to completely bind him. After witnessing the ‘painted’ body of the imperial noble, she was even more motivated to do her job.

“Good.” He nodded at the princess. “Now if you could help me with this.” He pointed at the bloody abdomen of the corpse.

She understood what he meant and waved her hand.

*Splash*

A few roots came out of nowhere and splashed some water all over the corpse. The blood trailed down, leaving a crimson painting behind.

A small house was at the centre, surrounded by gardens. There were hills at the background and clouds, which were ‘drawn’ under her breast.

The scenery was beautiful but the princess did not find it anything extraordinary.

But the only surviving member of the trio did, he knew what the scenery entailed. This was a memory from seven years ago but it was still fresh in his mind.

This was where he first saw her. This was where he first fell in love. This was where he wanted to live after he married her. But now, this was the cause of her painful death.

His heart could not take this. He breathed his last with the scenery, and the ‘canvas’ still vivid in his mind.

Adrian looked away from the now dead earth circler and smiled at the princess, sending chills down her spine.

“I am in a good mood now.” He beckoned her with his bloodied fingers. “Come here.”