Sorry it took so long to update. I had a lot of things to sort out with my drafts which caused my ideas for my ongoing books to disappear. It's no real excuse, I know, so sorry about that. I'll try to get as many chapters done this week as I can.
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        "They move quickly don't they," Zhu said as (y/n) followed after them. They hadn't made it clear that they were aware of his presence just yet, so he maintained a certain distance from them. "They're about to leave the village soon. You should catch up to them and let them know who you are," Zhu suggested.

        "They'll be fine. Three of them have already seen me before, so I don't have to worry about that," (y/n) thought even though he did shorten the distance just a bit. So far, none of them had turned back in search of him which (y/n) found to be a bit strange but he kept in pursuit.

        "It's you! The soul stealer!" someone suddenly called out. The voice was all too familiar. If (y/n) didn't have a conscious and stong sense of virtue, he'd have long since stolen this person's soul. He stopped where he was, and so did the group he was following. In fact, everyone in the area froze as the person, Rosean, pointed him out in the crowd.

        "Just give me the command. It'll be easy, like snapping a branch except this is a very annoying branch," Zhu growled.

        "Zhu, no. We don't kill people...not usually," (y/n) thought. Everyone remained oddly silent and it was rather boring. so (y/n) just started walking again.

        "Wha-! Someone stop him!" Rosean yelped, but no one in the area was a Sander officer or even bold enough to stand up to someone capable of stealing a soul. Well, that's what (y/n) thought as the civilians simply moved out of his way. Some were frightened and others just confused. The only people that stood their ground was the group that he was supoosed to be following. They eyed him trying to determine if he was friend or foe.

        "Stop right there!" a red headed boy within the group said. Only to avoid any conflict with his possible future teammates, he did as the boy said but was quite annoyed.

        "If you think I did anything wrong, I didn't. That lady over there, she's just being salty, maybe even delusional. Now if there's anything else you want to know, go ahead and ask. If not, I have a Trock officer to go help capture," (y/n) spoke. Although annoyed, he remained unnaturally calm thanks to Zhu. The fox had abilities that strengthened the mind rather than the body.

        "What are you waiting for! Get him! He'll harm us all if you let him go," Rosean said. For the past year, she had spread the rumor that he'd steal the souls of anyone he came across when she and a few others witnessed him accidentally steal a human soul. Ever since then, he'd been deemed dangerous to be around but (y/n) didn't really care. He was free to go anywhere outside of Sander and all he had to do was sneak into the city if he wanted to go into it.

        "You're going to capture a Trock too. Then I suppose you must be the person we're bringing along," a purple haired girl said. Among the group, (y/n) also spotted the swordsman that almost attacked him and the archer that almost shot him.

        "You can't bring him with you," Rosean said. She really wasn't supposed to be in the conversation, and (y/n) was getting tired of her. He looked behind him and met her gaze allowing Zhu to send enough power through him to make his eyes turn a glowing emerald green.

        "You're still talking, huh. If I really was a soul stealer, don't you think it would be in your best interests to shut up," (y/n) growled, almost letting out an actual growl when he spoke. His eyes turned back to normal as he looked to the group. None of them saw the color change, but some of them seemed to have sensed Zhu's temporarily strong presence.

         "I'm sorry, but we were told he'd be coming along. If there's a problem, we'll address it when we return," a red headed girl said. She must have been the leader or at least she sounded like it. (Y/n) scanned the remainder of the group and his eyes landed on her. Shock settled into him and he did his best not to show it but how could he not. The girl he'd seen and still saw had the Haan family's design all over her clothes. It was hard not to notice so (y/n) didn't have to look for the repetitive symbols.

        He tore his gaze away from the obvious Haan family memeber. "There's no way anyone else survived that attack. I would have noticed if there were any survivors. We even went back into the village. It's got to be a coincidence. Maybe she bought that from some merchant or something," Zhu reasoned.

        "We can discuss this later. They'll get suspicious if I ask questions now," (y/n) thought.

        "We'd prefer if you led the way. We aren't entirely familiar with the surroundings," the red headed boy said. (Y/n) said nothing and only walked past the group since they'd moved to let him by. Rosean had remained silent and the civilians had returned to normal, so (y/n) was able to lead with his guard eased just a bit, not entirely down. He knew for a fact that he was asked to lead so that those behind him could keep an eye on him. If they really hadn't known the way, they wouldn't have been heading there on their own without a guide in the first place. It wasn't like (y/n) cared though. If they tried anything, he and Zhu wouldn't hesitate to do the same.

        For a while, the walked in an awkward silence but what was so bad about silence? "So...what's your name?" someone from behind him asked. He glanced back at the group following him deciding if he should give his name or not.

        "You need to gain their trust. Then you can try to guarantee they won't betray you," Zhu commented.

        "The name's (y/n). The rest of you have names too I assume," (y/n) said. He wasn't too fond of the group especially since he'd practically been forced to go along with them. They all introduced themselves and (y/n) nearly stopped right then and there when the girl he'd noticed in particular confirmed her association with the Haan family, but he kept going, playing his surprise off rather smoothly as a simple cough from the amount of dust and sand in the air.

        "We're a group that works to protect the world and the various shards of El," Elsword, who was the actual leader instead of his sister Elesis, said with a bit of enthusiasm. He sure was an optimistic fellow that was for sure.

        "We don't mean to be invasive, but do you mind telling us what that incident in the city was about?" the nasod queen, Eve, questioned.

        "He obviously doesn't want to talk about it. Leave the guy alone," Add muttered but he was loud enough for everyone to hear. Add was one of the few on the team that (y/n) didn't entirely dislike, but he was the main one he was uneasy around.

        "I'd prefer if you all ignored that crazy woman. All she wants is Vapor's secret and is upset since she can't have it. That doesn't explain why she bothers me, but I don't care. She knows better than to mess with me," (y/n) said. His eyes flashed green since Zhu practically hated the woman and even thinking of her made both their anger boil. Since he was in front of everyone, no one saw it.

        "There it is again. Did you do something just now?" the former demon lord, Luciela R. Sourcream demanded.

        "Lu, you shouldn't say such things," Ciel, perhaps her other half, scolded the little demon.

        "Why not? I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed that ominous presence," Lu said clearly not caring what Ciel thought she shouldn't be saying.

        "Well, you aren't wrong yet you aren't right either," (y/n) said with a slight smirk. He looked back at them with his eyes glowing before looking ahead again suddenly having to stop.

        "You aren't human are you? There's no way you are," Lu guessed. (Y/n) put his hand up to signify silence. He kept Zhu's power, even drawing out more of it as he spotted enemies ahead.

        "We'll be seeing that Trock officer earlier than expected. Hope you guys are ready for a fight. There's a scout group just ahead of us," (y/n) said. He put his hand down and looked back at everyone. "Good luck out there. I hope you guys can fight well," he said waiting for them to lead the attack.

         "You aren't going to help?" Aisha asked.

        "Help bring the officer back, yes. I'm going to evaluate how well you all fight just like Vapor said. The officer is the big ugly one. Go ahead, I'll be waiting," (y/n) said with a bit of amusement. Some in the group kept their stares of disbelief, but they all went ahead to fight and (y/n) watched after them.

        "You really aren't going to help them?" Zhu asked.

        "If they see us both now, that'll ruin things. Plus I want to make sure of something," (y/n) thought. And just like that, the battle began.
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Hopefully I can get a few more chaptera done. Until next time you epic readers!