He couldn't risk being on the defense again. It would bolster the morale of the enemy. And as a military personnel, Xzavier knew just how dangerous a confident enemy was. He had to nip this in the bud while things were still relatively lukewarm.

So, he began to calculate the angle at which his attack would come from. After an extremely quick on the spot thinking, he lifted up his weapon to begin the next stage. But somehow, things got even more interesting than they already were. A familiar voice cut through the still night's air, bringing with it an indefinite pause to the battle at hand.

"Mister Xzavier!! Hold on!! Hold on!!!"

Xzavier froze. Cadence? How? His mind brought forth a thousand questions at the time. Not daring to take his eyes off his enemy, through the corner of his eyes, he searched for the physical source of the voice. All sorts of thoughts besieged him at the same time. Because Xzavier wasn't one to be easily manipulated, he remembered that he was battling a mage and strengthened his mind against any mental invasion.

"Could this be an illusion?"

It turned out that it wasn't. Just as Xzavier wanted to rule this out as some magical illusion, the small frame of the young lad emerged from the distance adjacent to both him and the mage.

Cadence crept up on Xzavier's right side, and the mage's left hand side. The young man was out of breath. Obviously, the he had been running for quite some time now, and Xzavier was much too pessimistic to assume why.

Though the level five mage kept a cool head, beneath his exterior, he was rolling in a mud of fear and confusion. He welcomed the interruption in the duel between him and Xzavier. It wasn't for lack of skill, it was out of sheer dread for what might happen if the battle went on much longer.

He wondered what kind of monster Xzavier was. He wondered what kind of muggle could take a blast of the purest form of magic, right in the chest, and still bounce back like nothing had been done. An attack of that magnitude could only be fended off by a stronger mage with strong defensive maneuvers.

So, all of these factors contributed to the joyless emotions cycling around, in his mind. As Cadence drew near, Xzavier also walked towards him, and consequently, this brought him closer to the level five mage. Xzavier's attention was fixed on Cadence at first, but as he drew closer to his adversary, he discovered that he had grossly overestimated his opponent's willingness to go all out against him. It was truly a shocker to Xzavier.

Xzavier's eyes and mind had been trained to excel not just in combat, but also to see the overall truth in battle. This primarily entailed that he could read the psychology of an enemy simply by looking at them in the eye. As Xzavier and Cadence looked the mage in the eye, they both saw that the battle might as well be over. The mage's spirit was clearly broken. The frantic look in his eyes resembled that of a rat trapped in a maze, desperately searching for a way out.

Xzavier was a bit shocked. He wasn't completely sure why the mage looked so spellbound all of a sudden. He seemed to be looking in Cadence's direction,

"That's strange…why would an ordinary lad invoke such fear in the eyes of such a powerful mage?" Xzavier pondered to himself.

"Could it be that it is merely because he is the governor's son?"

Xzavier shook the thought off. This wasn't because a politician's child had shown up. This was because of something deeper. Xzavier followed his gaze and saw that he wasn't actually looking at Cadence, he was looking way past him, into the blackness behind him.If Xzavier had been a magic savvy individual, he would have known that there were certain senses that were outside the traditional five senses. He would have known that mages were able to pick up the spiritual pressure of other mages way before they even set eyes on each other. This was exactly the case with the level five mage. The terror in his eyes was a clear pointer to the fact that someone much worse than him was now on the scene. He had every reason to quake in his sandals.

Xzavier couldn't sense the presence. He had to wait for his eyes to see first.

Eventually, like a ghoul emerging from the darkness, the dignified form of the senior mage appeared as his dark robes flapped in the wind like soft wings. It was Laddie himself!

Xzavier took in the scene with great interest. This was unlike anything he had ever seen. Xzavier thought to himself silently:

"So, this is what you are old man? You must be a really big deal huh…"

Xzavier hadn't had the privilege of watching the old man fight or even jostle a bit. He was always so methodical, or careful with everything, including his speech, his teachings, and even his movements. There was nothing out of place with the old man. There were no leaking hints. So, Xzavier couldn't even begin to fathom or envisage just what kind of enemy Laddie would be in the event that they were to ever fight.

But in that moment, seeing the dreadful look on the stricken mage, Xzavier finally began to get a hint of the old mage's position on the pecking order. Even though Xzavier was yet to see Laddie fight, what he had just witnessed showed that the old man was at the very top of the food chain here.

Once again, Cadence's voice destabilized the dynamic of the night. It would seem that he was somehow a bit cool headed, compared to the situation on the much grander scheme of things. Looking squarely at the Anjou boy, Cadence fiercely made his demands;

"There's no need for all this…" he pointed at the bodies of the junior mages who were lying so still that he thought they were dead.

"Eadweard, this is for your own good, release Adalia now!!"

Eadweard, being the gutless playboy that he was, emerged from the hiding place he had been watching the whole thing. He had chosen a very peculiar vantage point that offered him more than enough insight into the battle he had set against Xzavier. He didn't appreciate Cadence's interruption one bit. Even worse, he didn't appreciate the impudence in the lad's tone as he spoke to him.

He sneered mockingly;

"You brat! I am twenty years old! Do I look like your mate whom you can just talk to anyhow?"

The irritated look on Cadence's face showed how irritated the kid was. He answered Eadweard flatly;

"Answer the damn question Eadweard! Where is she?"

Eadweard jumped down and walked closer to Cadence.

"You must have lost your mind boy!"

He spat the last word out contemptuously like it was a curse. Then in a dangerous tone, he made a passive threat.

"Your father isn't here to save you Cadence, you'd better get yourself right."

But Cadence wasn't in the mood to be intimidated. In fact, he was rather emboldened for a couple of reasons. Xzavier's presence gave him all the confidence he required in this standoff. The old man's presence was also a bonus. So, he couldn't care less about Eadweard's menacing demeanor.

Refusing to be intimidated, he stubbornly maintained his ground.

"What exactly do you think happens next Eadweard?"

Cadence was in a position of strength and he knew it.

"Look around you, you're completely outgunned. Your family's status might score you points on the social scene…but here…"

He turned around to emphasize his point;

"You are nothing! I am telling you now, release Adalia!!"

Eadweard was surprised at the lad's impudence. He didn't know Cadence personally, but he always thought of Earlene as the feisty one, and Cadence as the cool headed one. But alas, it seemed that both siblings were actually mad. He looked on at Cadence for a second, as if he hadn't decided on whether to be annoyed or be amused. He ended up choosing the third option- to be a complete douchebag.

"Are you sure you really want to know? Because you say you want know, but at the end of the day, you might end up wishing you hadn't asked…"

Eadweard was really enjoying the role of the villain in this scenario. Even though he hadn't the slightest idea of what happened to Adalia, his tone suggested otherwise. He had subtly hinted at the fact that something dark had befallen the maid, and Cadence had gobbled it all up. Thoroughly enjoying himself, Eadweard decided to push his luck further.

"That's right boy, I spread the blonde maid's legs apart, and took her like a stallion from behind…"

He giggled excitedly like a little boy that was divulging a sensitive bit of information.

"I kept choking her and pumped her full with my seed until her stomach was bloated…"

He stepped forward and looked Cadence dead in the eye as he uttered the last part coldly;

"By the time I was done, somewhere between my fifth and sixth round, I discovered I had just slept with a corpse…"

This was all too easy for Eadweard to spin. He had enough experience in this sector to make it look real. Plus he knew that this was definitely going to cause Xzavier pain. So, until the truth comes out eventually, he was prepared to milk every bit of grief he could squeeze out of Xzavier and Cadence. Unfortunately for him, he was going to realize that had overplayed his card.