“…Zoemi…?”

After walking for three days straight through the wilderness and plains alike, Alan tugged on Zoemi’s clothes and asked in a timid voice, looking up at the much taller man.

“What can I help you with?”

The black-haired man slowed down and adjusted his speed to match his employer.

“Past two days we were moving somewhere, but as for today…”

The reddish-brown-haired man sucked in some air before pointing at a tree split in half by what must have been a bolt of lightning or some angry monster.

“…we passed this exact spot three times already within fifty minutes…”

Alan whispered, glancing meaningfully at the back of Rhodes, the member of the dark sect that was leading them to their base.

“I know, I have activated the law of Aries on the second loop.”

Zoemi glanced at the particular tree and nodded before smiling softly and revealing.

“Are we being watched?”

“You have no idea how much I would like to answer that with complete certainty… unfortunately I cannot give you a definitive answer. Maybe? It’s either that there is no one around, or that whoever is watching us is stealthy enough to escape my detection skills.”

The young man shivered and looked to the sides to which Zoemi could only respond with a heavy sigh and an apologetic shrug.

“That’s unfortunate…”

Alan mumbled, biting his lips and moving closer to the black-haired man, subconsciously clinging to the safest place he could think of – that being Zoemi’s side which was already a proven shelter.

“If you are talking about the tree, please do not be alarmed – the Blood Star sect is a dark sect after all. If we weren’t cautious, we would already be erased.”

Even without actually hearing what the two were talking about, Rhodes noticed the exchange between the two and spoke out loud in an apologetic voice.

“We already moved past three different guardposts and still have to go through two more. Sorry for the inconvenience but I ask for your patience and cooperation.”

The man bowed his head to the side so that Alan and Zoemi could see it and explained.

“…”

The young man didn’t look convinced at all and he glanced up at Zoemi one more time to check for his reaction…

“We can either go right now or by the next loop I will burn the neighborhood to the ground.”

The black-haired man noticed the way Alan was looking at him and took it as a plea to do something – which he complied with without skipping a beat, with a completely serious expression.

Rhodes flinched and instead of going to the right side of the three, he lead the others right by it, walking off of the beaten path.

Two hours later all four were standing in front of an unassuming wall of the cliffside.

“Law of Sagittarius.”

Rhodes let out an almost disappointed breath and put his hand on the seemingly random place while activating his star power.

It took quite a moment for anything to happen, to the point of the man guiding the rest became uneasy and started glancing over at Zoemi as if expecting him to blow up in anger.

Still, the black-haired man waited patiently with his younger employer huddled beside him as if he was a pillar.

*rumble*

After an embarrassingly – for Rhodes – long time, the part of a cliffside trembled and moved to the side revealing a passage wide enough for an average hunched-over person to barely fit.

“Is this a joke? Law of Aries.”

Zoemi scoffed in annoyance and reactivated the star power he was letting cool down as they progressed.

Then, without waiting for the dark sect member to lead the way, the black-haired man simply walked through the passage…

*CRACK* *CRUNCH*

…without adjusting his posture and making the passage fit him instead of the other way around…

“This is ridiculous… He does that kind of thing often?”

Rhodes blinked repeatedly, staring at the Zoemi-shaped, and asked Aaron and Alan who were just as surprised as he was.

“…he didn’t even have a running star… he is just passing through… What kind of principle is he operating on?! Is that still star power?!”

Alan shook his head, but even with his own shock, he started following the unpredictable employee of his while studying the marking in the solid stones made by the black-haired man bulldozing through.

“Unreasonable is quite a good descriptive for the supernova level.”

Rhodes smiled with unease and let out a bothered sigh, making his son look up at him with confusion.

“…dad… it kind of sounds like not only that whole supernova level is real, but you know someone else who has reached it…?”

Aaron asked cautiously, keenly observing his father’s reaction.

“You are correct in both cases. Look.”

Rhodes nodded and his smile warmed up quite a bit before it wavered as the man pointed at the passage…

*RUMBLE*

With Zoemi and Alan already inside, the tunnel began to lose up, but only to its previous, not-Zoemi-shaped state.

“A few months after the Heavenly Archer sect have taken you the previous sect leader of the Blood Star sect got replaced. The new leader made us move the sect’s base into a more secure place that she created with the earth element that she gained access to thanks to reaching the supernova level of the law of Taurus. Let’s go, she keeps it open for us.”

Rhodes explained and tapped his son’s shoulder before walking first into the tunnel.

“Wait, so this whole thing opening and all isn’t a contraption or something?!”

Aaron gasped, taking a step back and staring in disbelief at the cliffside.

“It’s not, the sect leader creates a way in and out anew every time someone wants to move between the sect and the outside world.”

Rhodes shook his head and revealed while beckoning his son to follow him.

Despite being hesitant about the passage, Aaron didn’t want to separate from his father whom he barely reunited with so he run up and followed him closely.

As the youngest and smallest person in the group, Aaron didn’t have to hunch over even with the passage returning to its original shape.

“What’s the new leader’s name? Do I know them?”

The boy asked, gulping down his saliva while trying to not seem as worried as he actually was.𝑜𝑣𝓵xt.𝗇𝓔t

“You should. It’s Chloe.”

“WHAT?!”

Rhodes nodded, making his son let out a shocked voice.