Recovering his soul energy, Aegis glanced at the skies. Instantly, Aegis' facial expression changed, "I know that there will be retaliation from the Church because of the death of an Arch Bishop but I didn't expect they would send a prince of the church. It looks like they are taking Azrael very seriously. This school is no longer safe for the boy, and I can't let Aria's existence be exposed to the whole world. I should do something."
He fell into thoughts to think of a strategy.
The new entry flapped his wings and reappeared beside the Giant Stingray. Azzy felt the same feeling he saw Klaus, the Priest who teaches the history class.
He doesn't know whether others are seeing the same thing as him but even without using any ability, he saw some sort of light emitting from his body.
And that light is making him uncomfortable at the moment. This was the first time he felt as if he met a natural enemy or something.
Just then, Sahara, Syllia, Leah, and Affea collectively gasped in surprise and spoke aloud, "Cardinal of the Church."
Gideon and the rest of the kids turned their heads towards them. Affea instantly grabbed Azzy. "We don't have much time. Let's leave right now."
She started to drag him away. The others followed the two of them while Azzy continued to gaze at the new enemy curiously whose arrival on the battlefield cause such a reaction among these ladies.
Back to the battlefield, as the Cardinal landed on the floor and retracted his wings, he glanced at Aegis, and then, at the Djinn floating before Barton.
"The cursed creature of Cosmos will be troublesome to face. I have to go all out." He muttered under his breath before shifting his attention towards the Stingray.
He raised his free arm towards the beast. A huge amount of energy brimming with divine power enveloped it, increasing its healing ability to another level.
The process only lasted a mere three seconds before the beast opened its mouth.
Aethon walked out fully healed and stared at the Cardinal. However, he doesn't seem pleased to see this ally. "Cardinal Ophanim, I believe I told you that your organization should sit on the sidelines and not interfere in this battle."
The Cardinal replied indifferently, "One, Church of Light isn't an organization but an organism. And two, Venerable Light, you failed to dominate the battlefield and were heavily wounded by a man-made weapon. And you never told me that this legendary realm sealing master is the holder of Djinn. It forced me to act."
The Cardinal's comments hit Aethon where it hurt him the most. A mixture of anger and embarrassment could be seen on his face.
"Alright, I accept that I underestimated my enemies' strength," Aethon replied while looking away, not intending to meet his eyes. "Since you are already here, then, take care of the Djinn and its master. Since Timothy and others failed, right now, it doesn't matter to me who kills the boy. You might as well go ahead and get your revenge."
Sprouting the beautiful snow-white wings from his back, the Cardinal corrected him once again, "it's not revenge, Venerable Light. It is the Mercy of our Goddess to save the soul of the boy before he becomes one of the greatest sinners of mankind."
He flapped his wings and then, flew towards Barton, leaving behind Aethon who scoffed inwardly, "What a bunch of hypocrites."
As the Cardinal went off to face the Djinn, Aethon shifted his attention towards his descendant.
Aegis was once again pointing the gun towards him.
Aethon's anger increased further and gritted his teeth, "I will make sure that you regret your actions until death…"
Not intending to give Aegis a chance to go on offensive any longer Aethon created energy armor around his body and pushed his leg against the ground to dash forward. At the same time, the Giant Stingray once again dived into the underground.
He covered those thirty feet almost instantly and before Aegis got the chance to pull the trigger, Aethon was already in front of him, clenching his fist.
The Royal Ancestor threw a punch to which Aegis block it with the shield. However, he still pushed back a couple of meters.
Meanwhile, at the northeast corner of the stadium, the Cardinal landed before the Djinn who frowned as soon as his eyes fell on him.
Barton's expression also changed as soon as he saw the troublesome opponent. "Damn, the Djinn successfully halted the movements of those four but this one is very tough to beat even with the help of Djinn. But, if he comes after me, there's a high chance that I'll die. So, I need to be vigilant at all times."
Barton quickly ordered the Djinn to stay close to him in case he will be ambushed. He can't risk being careless when fighting a peak-rank-8 expert. At the same time, he was also a little bit thankful that the Cardinal is targeting and not looking for his disciple.
As the battle started between the Djinn and the Cardinal, the higher realm experts were excited to see high-level battles going on before their very eyes. A few of them even hoped to learn something from this battle. After all, such a chance is very rare to come.
****
In the meantime, a carpet was flying in the sky where Azzy was mounted on top of it along with a few higher realm experts as his security.
Vice-Principal Sahara, Sorcerer Uphiar, Princess Snieca, a muscular man whom Azzy was unfamiliar with, and finally, Aria, standing in a circle to make sure he's protected in all directions.
As for Leah, Barbara, and other students, they were told to stay in the dormitories for the time being like other students because these experts couldn't afford to protect so many people in case a strong enemy appears.
Sahara further asked Syllia to stay behind and protect Claire and other kids in case someone tries to abduct them in her absence.
Of course, it wasn't the main reason. It is primarily because the place they were going is a secret hideout only known to a few people. With Syllia being an outsider, Sahara can't trust her and gave an excuse to leave her behind.
In the end, under the protection of Sahara and Affea, Azzy exited the training grounds-1 where they met with Aria, Uphiar, and a stranger in a military outfit who introduced himself as the head of the country's Special Forces.
After locking the entrance, all of them mounted on the magical carpet to fly towards their destination.
"Were they going to be alright?" Azzy expressed his worry as he glanced at the stadium.
Affea was taken aback a little bit but forcing herself to calm down, she assured him that everything was under the control. At the same time, she also felt weird as it is difficult for her to adjust to Azzy with expression.
The group flew for 30 minutes straight and left the city without any issues. Everyone also relaxed a bit with no one following them.
All of a sudden, an injured person in white robes appeared on top of the carpet with one of his knees resting on the carpet while taking heavy breaths, alerting everyone aboard.
"Master?" "Dear?"
Everyone looked at Barton in shock as he raised his head. Azzy saw a lot of wrinkles on his face as if he aged by a lot just within the past half an hour.