"...neat"

Mars quickly got up the ladder were Victoria followed before he pushed the stone tile back in place and looked around, he was inside a wide hallway

"okay good for now.... Victoria hide in my shadow"

"okay..."

Victoria jumped into Mars' shadow and hid herself meanwhile Mars picked the best looking direction and began walking in a non-hurried pace, soon he ran into a maid that was caring some bed sheets

'play it cool...'

Mars gave a smile and a nod to the maid as he kept walking, the maid suspected nothing and returned his nod with a slight blush on her face, as soon as Mars pa.s.sed the maid he gave a sigh and continued down the hallway

'just searching blindly won't do...there has to be something I can go after...'

Mars activated his [Energy: sense] and looked around

'the central mana supply... no as tempting as it sounds it's not my objective...'

Mars continued looking around and soon zeroed in on a person with a huge amount of mana a few kilometers away

'a high cla.s.s mage... if he isn't the emperor he will know where he is...'

having found his target Mars now walked with his objective in mind and by following the mana wires in the walls he was able to map a way to his target fairly easily

'the problem is the way pa.s.ses by what looks like a checkpoint...'

Mars kept walking as he thought about what to do about the 2 guards that guarded the checkpoint and eventually decided to take them out quietly.

Walking along the hallways Mars pa.s.sed some maids and a few guards but so far no one had stopped him and soon he arrived at the checkpoint were 2 guards stood, Mars put on a smile and walked up to one of the guards while he talked to him

"hey buddy, can you help me out?"

the guard gave a frown

"what is it?"

"you see, to tell the truth I'm lost I was supposed to head to the---"

as soon as Mars was within arms reach of the guard he acted with lightning fast movements as a cold light shone is his eyes, Mars grabbed the forehead and jaw of the guard and before he had any change to react he twisted

*CRACK*

then he activated [Instant movement and grabbed the face of the other guard covering his mouth and used his [Energy: drain hands] and within moments the guard turned mummified and died, Mars then gave a sigh and let go of the guard that fell to the floor

"Victoria"

as soon as Mars called out his own shadow expanded and covered the 2 corpses before they were absorbed into his own shadow and disappeared

'and that's that'

Mars then opened the door that the guards were standing in front and pa.s.sed though and closed the door after him

'now where did that mage go... there he is'

having found his target Mars proceeded to walk calmly towards the mage's room and when he arrived he found it unguarded and simply opened the door and walked in, the mage stood with his back against Mars but quickly turned and saw him, then she yelled

"who are you!?"

"...[FREEZE]"

after using his pernce for the first time in a while Mars walked up and grabbed the mage by the neck before he lifted her into the air

"now I only have one question: where is the emperor?"

the mage looked at Mars in terror

"oh right you're still frozen my bad take your time..."

while Mars waited for the mage to be able to move again he drained her mana, you know just to be safe

"the emperor? what do you want with him?"

"that's my business, JUST. ANSWER. THE. QUESTION"

Mars tightened his grip on the mage as a cold light shone in his eyes, he had come to far to return empty handed

"he's... in... his... chambers..."

"see was that so hard?"

Mars gave a smile and loosened his grip on the mage

"now you are going to show me the way, if you scream for help know that it's the last thing you will ever do"

Mars let go of the mage that collapsed on the floor while coughing before she gave a glared fiercely at Mars

"...fine, follow me"

Mars gave a nod

"I knew you would be smart"

the mage got up and walked out the room with Mars following after her, after they had walked for a while they reached another checkpoint were one of the guards talked to the mage

"ah lady Anna, are you here to see the emperor?"

"yes I have brought a guest with me too"

the guard looked over at Mars and gave a nod

"that's fine"

both of them smoothly pa.s.sed through the checkpoint, then after making sure no one was around Mars gave the mage a pat on the shoulder, draining her mana again making her face even more pale

"...why did you drain my mana again?"

Mars gave a smile

"so you don't get any funny ideas, now please lead the way lady Anna"

the mage clicked her tongue

"will you at least let me live if I show you the way?"

"hmm... sure as long as you don't get in my way"

the mage remained silent as she let the way and after a little more walking they arrived at a reinforced door

"he's in there"

Mars gave a nod and activated his [Energy: sense], sure enough just like the mage said there was a single person inside laying on a king sized bed seemingly asleep, Mars narrowed his eyes slightly that person had no mana, this was the first time Mars had ever seen a person without mana

'well there was no mana in the world where I came from so it makes sense an otherworlder like him have no mana...'

"good you may leave.... be quick about it!"

"y-yes"

the mage ran back the hallway

"well I figure there's about 2 minutes until more enemies arrived so let's make this quick... Victoria you ready?"

"I'm... ready"

"okay then let's do this"

Mars walked up to the door and put his hand on it

*BANG*

"oh it's more st.u.r.dy than I thought"

Mars charged his [Energy: discharge] even more and with a bang the door flew off its hinges into the room were the person inside had already woken up from the noise the person was dressed in a sleeping gown and held a single bladed sword in his hand, he gave a frown when he saw Mars and asked in a calm tone

"....and what is this?"

Mars gave a warm smile like he was greeting an old friend

"h.e.l.lo Shouta Yammato, my name is Mars and I'm the 5th living G.o.d, the living G.o.d of energy"

"a living G.o.d..? and what are you doing in my bedchambers?"

Mars' smile widened slightly before he spoke

"you have annoyed me so I'm here to end you"

the emperor's eyes narrowed slightly before he drew his single bladed sword and pointed it at Mars

"well then let's get this over with, I still have some paperwork left to do"

Mars drew his sword and for a few moments none of them moved until suddenly Mars activated [Instant movement] and arrived before the emperor and slashed out

*CLANG*

a sound of metal meeting metal stuck out as the emperor blocked Mars' slash, Mars gave a frown and reactivated [Instant movement] again as he once again slashed at the emperor

*CLANG*

Mars pulled back and with a wide smile on his face he asked

"you can use it too?"

the emperor gave a confident smile

"as I said I'm a busy man, so let's end this quickly"

Mars gave a sigh and activated [Instant movement] again and turned into a blur, but the emperor also activated [Instant movement] and turned into a blur and for a time the one thing that happened in the room was the sound of metal meeting metal with loud clangs sounding out before suddenly the two of them reappeared again, Mars was covered in wounds and the emperor was slightly out of breath. As for the reason Mars was covered in wounds even though he had the higher level in swordsmans.h.i.+p was simple, the emperor had more experience with actual sword fights than Mars, if Mars had his rifle from his past life then this would not even be a compet.i.tion the emperor would be long dead

"is this all a living G.o.d amounts to?"

"oh you're on now"

Mars quickly transformed into his half-dragon from and suddenly the emperor let out a condescending laugh before he spoke while a savage light shone in his eyes

"it's no wonder you can't beat me, you're just a dirty non-human!"

Mars narrowed his eyes slightly before both of them turned into a blur again