Black Clover: Nah I'd Lose

Ren's plan involved observing the duo discreetly for a while. He wanted to give them a false sense of security in believing that their pursuers didn't exactly know their location.

However, the only problem was how to find the place where they would teleport to.

In the entire kingdom, he didn't have a way to find which location they would choose.

So, he decided to take matters into his own hands as he promptly decided on two locations and made them choose these two subconsciously.

How, you may ask?

It was a very tedious and complicated process, which needed a more intricate and nuanced understanding of a person as a whole, along with technically advertising those places with things like "escape" or "freedom" or keywords like that which resonated more with their psyche.

It was something expert manipulators do when working on their target.

Though Ren was clearly not at this level, with his intellect and prior experiences, he was able to accomplish what an expert manipulator would have done within two weeks without making any direct contact with the duo.

It really helped when the choice of where they would escape was dependent on them only and not any external factor, as Ren was initially worried that the shining generals would interfere with their decisions.

Ultimately, he was satisfied with the outcome as out of the two choices he had given those two indirectly, after very careful selection, they had selected the one that was closer to Akeru.

He had placed multiple arrays in both cities, which would notify him about any spatial magic detected.

It took Akeru and Erza half a day to reach Shardfall—a city that was a shadow of its past.

Currently, it could be said to be a ruined city, which was majorly covered in crystalline debris from a past incident involving mana explosions.

Though it was still functional in the present and people lived there too.

It was nothing like how it used to be.

"I am finally free!" Erza said with a gleeful voice after she was no longer in the grip of Akeru's water hand.

"Jeez, no need to say it like that," Akeru rolled his eyes.

He was finally back to normal, like how he used to be.

They made their way inside the city.

"Hehe, anyway, are we going to meet up with Ren or are we going to move discreetly?"

"The security is tight," Akeru frowned as he shifted the cap he was wearing, his hair was long currently, which subtly hid half of his altered face.

"Yeah, if I didn't know better, I would assume that they knew of our arrival," Erza giggled.

"Hmm," Akeru hummed in agreement as they started walking.

Akeru suddenly noticed an artifact in the hands of one of the knights who was roaming around.

It didn't take him long to realize its function.

'Fuck, it has a similar function as the artifact which we use to detect those two. Fuck, why did I not think of such an artifact made by our enemies? After all, advanced-level people on rune arrays would definitely be present in this country,' Akeru internally cursed.

He quickly told Erza about this, as the duo decided to subtly get away from the guards.

'Fuck.'

Suddenly, the guard got a message from his superior that their targets were in this city.

Akeru and Erza quickly started running, which led to a guard reporting that.

'FUCK,' Akeru cursed at this situation.

Now every knight in the city was searching for them.

They went to an alley and discarded their coats and jackets, such that their inner clothes had different colors and styles than the previous ones.

They had prepared for that beforehand, as they were able to discard them pretty quickly, unlike how much time it would take to change clothes completely.

"Is the mission compromised?" Erza said while biting her lips.

"Ren would be the one to decide that," Akeru had faith in Ren's decision-making as not only was he considerably more experienced than Akeru, but his intellect was something that Akeru was cautious about.

They were currently walking.

On a mirror in the street, both of them noticed a knight arriving at the corner and looking around.

Not only that, but they also noticed a knight up ahead at a similar corner; they seemingly hadn't noticed these two yet.

On this non-busy street, there were no alleys and only paths onward or backwards.

Suddenly, an idea struck Erza.

"I have a pretty good idea," Erza dragged Akeru and slammed his back against the wall.

"Hmm?"

Erza's face inched closer to Akeru, such that her forehead was touching his.

To an outsider who was looking, it would look like two couples were kissing.

"I have seen this in movies. After all, nobody is shameless enough to disrupt a couple making out just to check if they are criminals or not, right?" Erza said with a smirk.

Akeru could feel her breath on his face.

It was of the vanilla from the cake they had eaten in the last two days when taking a break.

Akeru had taken breaks this time around as he wanted to be in top fighting shape when he entered this city.

"Yeah, but do you really think that you're the only one who watches movies? Also, unlike in movies, in this world, there are a lot of shameless people," Akeru rolled his eyes.

Suddenly, Erza turned around and saw multiple people surrounding them while casting spells that were thrown just as she turned around.

However, all those spells seemed to move very slowly.

One guy tried to send a message on his communication artifact; however, he discarded it as soon as he realized that it was not working and started shouting, along with others, intending to inform others about his location using voice.

"Don't bother, your voices won't be able to reach them as long as I don't allow it. Sound won't be able to exit my zone," Akeru said while fixing the brown hat he was wearing, his voice laced with irritation.

It was not a cowboy hat, but more like what a fictional detective wears.

The knights in question, after seeing what happened to their spells, realized the difference in prowess; however, they didn't want to lose hope and ignored him.

In the next instant, they realized that they couldn't hear their own sounds despite moving their mouths.

"Initially, I was going to let you live; however, seeing how you are a possible thorn to our escape and your shamelessness to find us, which impresses even me, I am granting you a painless death. Rejoice."

Akeru sarcastically said while, in the next instant, all the spells and humans around him were killed.

In a few more seconds, bones were turned into dust.

It didn't seem like a genocide had happened at that location.

Akeru turned to Erza; however, before he could say anything, somebody beat him to it.

"I finally found you, hehe~"

---

"So, those are our targets, right?" Kaiser asked Ren for confirmation, in case his eyes were adding illusions.

"Yes."

"Then, is it still within our plan when one of the old Shining Generals and that violet-haired girl, who is definitely not as innocent as she looks, are guarding both of them?" Kaiser bit his lips, trying to hide his nerves.

They were currently eating in a restaurant, the same one where their target was eating while accompanied by two grand-magic-level bodyguards.

They had been discreet when following them; however, it was by pure luck that their target decided to dine in this restaurant.

At least, that's what Kaiser thinks.

"Indeed, everything is still going according to our plan. Though we don't have the best case going for us, we are still far from the worst case," Ren said while shrugging.

Suddenly, the violet-haired girl stood up.

"I am feeling it... he is definitely here," the girl said with a grin while disappearing in the next instant.

Broccos went after her in the next instant while using the artifact he had to give some orders.

Takuma and Miko also stood up, alarmed, quickly paid their bill, and went out of the restaurant.

"Go with the plan. We are lucky that Broccos went after Miko; otherwise, it would have been troublesome for me to deal with him," Ren said while patting Kaiser's shoulders.

In the next instant, he disappeared from Kaiser's view.

At the same time, Takuma, who was going to form a transportation spell, felt his mana going out of control. His eyes widened as he realized there was an array beneath his feet.

They were currently at the entrance of the restaurant and hadn't expected this.

Takuma stomped his foot, and the array was destroyed.

"I—" Takuma's eyes widened as he felt something wrapped around his ankles.

'I feel weak,' he thought while getting dragged in a different direction by a chain tied to his ankles.

"Takuma!" Miko yelled, but before she could go after him, a fire phoenix rushed toward her from behind—that is, from inside the restaurant—making her roll to the side as she barely dodged the sneak attack.

***

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