Struggling as a Villain

"She's so damn strong!" The cat mask-wearing man grumbled as he held Bella over his shoulders and ran toward the east side.

The man beside him growled, "Keep your temper in control! A single moment of mistake and she will slaughter each one of us!" The bear-masked one replied in a stern tone.

"But why are we targeting a relative of the next Duke? Ain't this too dangerous?" The dog mask asked, showing his awareness of Bella's identity.

"First, she is hot. Second, we will get a ransom this time. And third, she is hot." Important things are said twice, the fourth one added.

They have been partaking in the kidnapping for the past two months in this backward town where there weren't many strong warriors to be wary of.

Naturally, they heard about Richard's arrival, and when their eyes landed on the two beauties beside him, they knew their new target.

"But why did the Boss ask to bring her to the base? It has been a while since Boss got involved in this." The cat-masked asked as he leaped over a building and landed softly on his feet.

They were stopping at nothing, their destination set in their minds.

The other one frowned from behind his bear mask as he responded, "I feel this isn't just our regular hunt. The boss has something in mind that's why he immediately assigned the best of us for this."

They have divided their bases and these four don't work in Awsperg regularly. However, for this task, their leader is his best

These four were core members of the gang and consisted of quite good coordination. Investigation, infiltration, submission, and then conclusion. They carry each mission with precision.

The bear-masked looked at the raven-haired slung over his comrade's shoulder, a sense of recognition flashing in his eyes but he soon dismissed his thoughts and continued his venture.

—-------**--------

Richard clenched his fist upon realizing that his sister was abducted from under his nose and he didn't sense anything at all.

"It's their method of work…they suppress their ether and their targets before jumping into action." Cristina tried to soothe his frustration, however, Richard couldn't be rest assured until he didn't find her.

"Young master, I and Emily are going to the west. Mom, you move to the north, and young master, you should search the eastern area." Lilia assigned everyone's role which urged Emily to ask,

"What about the south?"

"I left my familiar in that direction when we were entering the town. If any suspicious movement is tracked, I will be informed."

Richard wordlessly turned and switching to his elemental form, he ascended to the sky.

Seeing the flaming form, Cristina couldn't help but shiver a little.

'He has grown so much in so little time.'

—-----**-------

Late at night, Ethan could be seen advancing towards the graveyard.

The reason why he insisted on coming back here was because today was his mother's birthday so he wanted to spend a few hours with her.

However, naturally, the apostles couldn't have left Ethan to go alone and Ethan blatantly rejected Eleanor's company. So Ruby was given the task.

They were moving to the graveyard on foot and were silent until Ethan suddenly asked,

"You were an apostle all along?"

The raven-haired was startled to hear his voice but soon she shook her head, "No, I joined last year."

Ethan raised his brows, "And were you aware of the ambush of the Ambrobates?"

Ruby hesitated before informing him, "None of the apostles knew that-"

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"Yeah, a bunch of crap. I know that it was all a well-planned strategy to remind me of the horror of sharing the same planet as Bates." Ethan scoffed at the girl.

Silence descended between the duo after that before Ethan glanced at her and said, "Sir Richard admired you, you know."

His words made her surprised, as she heard him continuing,

"I could see in his eyes that he wanted to become an ideal student like you and Rose. He respected how you both were recognized by several professors, including the Headmaster."

With a mocking smile, the silver head asked, "And you both betrayed him."

Ruby bit her lower lip hearing that. She knew she would get reminded of the fact that she became the cause of so many deaths, but it still hurt. A lot.

Ethan interlaced his fingers behind his head and casually uttered, "It's strange that we call ourselves the preservers of light, but every being around me is the perfect blend of both."

Ruby, this time, spoke, "I get that the Apostles have their flaws, but they still have a kindness that the Bates just don't."

Ethan laughed, "Yeah, yeah. From what I remember, the one who was trying to destroy countless lives back then was an Apostle…you dear friend Rose and the one who was trying to save them was an evil worshiper."

Ruby was rendered speechless since arguing here could have only been possible if there had been anything wrong in what he said.

They soon reached the graveyard, which was built near the east tip of the town.

There were no guards since there wasn't anything to steal from this place.

Ethan and Ruby walked side by side inside the graveyard until they reached a certain tombstone.

However, just as Ethan was about to kneel before the grave and greet his mother, he spotted movements in the distance.

He narrowed his eyes and focused on the individuals currently walking toward the walls of the yard. And the most astonishing part was the woman they were carrying.

"....why do I feel I have seen her?"

Following Ethan's gaze Ruby also noticed the men in black who wore comical masks on their faces.

Ethan advanced toward them, his aura engulfing his form, and making him weightless.

His figure blurred just like Ruby's as they stopped just behind a tree, since, one of the four stopped from hopping over the wall and turned towards them.

Ethan peeked slightly and found the man was still standing there…and then he suddenly took something from his coat and threw it on the ground.

**HISSSSSSSS**

Ethan's eyes widened as he saw huge black smoke erupting from the small thing, covering the man completely and blocking his vision.

"Shit!" Ethan lunged toward the place where the man stood, his fist cocked.

**DHAK**

However, his fist was met by the thick wall—forming a small crack where the punch landed.

Ruby called out, "Ethan?!"

Ethan raised his hand, his hand glowing with an ethereal glow as he said, "I am going after them."

"Wait, Ethan–" Her warning was not heard before she saw the illuminated figure ascending and then disappearing behind the wall.

….

"Is he coming after us?" The cat-masked asked in apprehension. They sensed the pursuers the moment they entered the graveyard. But they didn't think that rather than walking away, they would start chasing after the gang.

The bear-faced snarled before commanding, "Kuro! Handle him!" Hearing that command, the dog-faced steps slowly came to a halt.

The other three continued to dash further and further away while the man awaited the silver streak advancing toward him.

Sensing the person had entered the zone, Kuro raised the small steel capsule on the ground, and instantly, golden energy radiated from the capsule.

"Huh?" Ethan exclaimed as the ether from his body suddenly got suppressed, and the radiance his body was radiating disappeared.

Coming to a skidding pause, Ethan looked at the masked entity, before asking, "The fuck you did?"

"Just suppressed your magic. It's pretty easy to suppress ether with Aembr, y'know."

Ruby also arrived beside Ethan and upon noticing the lack of ether within the strange dome, she frowned.

"Aha~what a pretty girl~why didn't we spot you before?" The man uttered, and without looking at his face, Ruby knew there was a disgusting grin on his face.

"Ruby, you go forward and stop them." Ethan urged; his urgency increased after he realized the identity of the person who was kidnapped.

It was Richard's sister!

However, he didn't tell that to Ruby knowing that she might not risk herself to save an evil-worshiper.

Ruby wanted to say that her role was to protect Ethan…however, she decided to heed his words.

….reason was that she also noticed who was getting kidnapped.

Ruby backed off and took a detour to escape the ether-suppressing prison before advancing towards the others.

The cat-masked chuckled as he took out crowbars and warned Ethan, "Back off now, and I will take that girl as compensation."

Ethan snarled, "Is your brain between your legs? Stop yapping like a loser and fight me like a warrior."

He was unaware of why Richard's sister was present here or why they were kidnapping her but as a human being and someone who sees Richard as his elder brother, Ethan would surely save Bella!

—-------**---------

A/N:- Thanks for reading. Should I put more lemons in between the chapters? I can write 'em regularly but don't know if the reader would like it.