I took a firm step back, tying to cover Meda, in the case of a fight. Although, there was no guarantee that would happen, something in me just resonated with something, maybe survival instinct?
The man in front of me was quite the weird looking one. Wearing a tuxedo on a warm summer night is one thing, but the rest of his get-up was questionable, at the very least. He covered his face, probably for privacy reasons, with nothing more than a facemask, like one of those medical ones. On top of that, he had one of those french-type hats, the one that is slanted, and has that little thing on top? What were they called, like baret? Beret? Something like that.
He also was rocking a really thick french accent, so he probably wanted to go with like a nineteenth century french vibe, or maybe he was french... Could be either, to be honest.
But the one thing that concerned me the most, was the fact that he was standing mid-air. Like he wasn't flying, which is relatively common, or even hovering, but like full on standing. What sort of [Power] could do that?
"Okay man, who the hell are you?" I asked with a stern tone. I tried to deal with the situation as civil as possible, while maintaining my status as higher than his. I was pretty sure it was going to fail, but was worth a try.
"I am 'ere to size you up, as you say," he responded, ignoring my question.
"For what reason?" I asked back, still protecting my friend behind my back.
"Isn't that obvious, Monsiour Tentation?" he dropped the bomb. Of course. What else would it be?
"So do you want my [Power], or do you want me? Perhaps you want to pledge your eternal service to me?" I asked back with a bit of a smirk going on. I wanted to look as confident as possible. Maybe this way I could dissuade him of attacking us.
"Oh, non, non! I would never pledge. I want your l'habileté, your [Power]."
Again, somehow I'm not surprised at all. He just wants to take advantage of me, in some way, shape or form. And for some reason, I wasn't going to just give up that easily.
"Yeah, as if I'd give it to you," I replied.
"That is a shame. I will have to take it, then," he responded.
"By the by, I didn't catch your name?" I posed the rhetorical question.
"You do not need to know."
And with that, he disappeared. And I wish that was the end of it, but sadly no. He reappeared just in front of me, barely giving me a chance to block. I quickly manifested my new abiility, [Protection Binder] just in front of my face, that would block his punch just in time. This time, however, I learned that it doesn't absorb the damage, so I grew the entire thing out of the ground, taking all that pent up force down with it.
Well, this shield was always a one use item, so just after the punch, it broke into many tiny pieces, and promptly disappeared right away. Surprised of this ability, the Mystery Man jumped back, and tried to figure out what had happened. Stunningly, he didn't seem to take any fighting form, he just stood there, uptight, just like he would in a formal meeting, I guess.
He was stood there, analyzing my ability from a second ago, only to launch another attack. He was devoid of any sort of reaction, partly because of his face being covered, but also possibly as part of his understanding of [Temptation]. He seemed to know something of my [Power] that even I was unaware of. Something sinister, perhaps?
The only difference I could tell, was through his deep blue eyes, as he got closer. They were sparkling. Sparkling with both intrigue, excitement, and murderous intent. Truly, the eyes of a psychopath.
In that instant, Meda sprung into action. She was slightly in shock, because of the surprising abilities of our attacker, but once she got a hold of herself, she was already doing the legwork. I jumped back, to let her duke it out, but I wasn't going to watch as she fights on my behalf.
As I wasn't really suited for close-quarters combat, I liked to opt for a more mid-range option. Using the length of my tentacles, I could just restrict my enemies, if I was stronger than them. I realized this during my fight with Russel, and then Stacey later on. This was the best course of action for me at this time.
Meda was already in her transformed half-lioness state, ready for the hunt. In terms of actual mobility, she definitely did outmatch the Mystery Man, but it seemed like his raw strength, and lightspeed movement was somehow giving him the edge. From an outside point of view, it looked as if I could topple that with taking away all of his mobility. Restraint was the way to go.
I pushed my hands on the ground, and unleashed my [Greed Binder] into the wooden floor's cracks. I sent them straight towards our opponent's legs, to at least catch his feet, but he realized this, and jumped away.
He stood there mid-air, once again, and take a good look at ous, from outside of the pavilion.
"I will be back for you, Tentation," and with that, he just disappeared.
I called everyone over. Nay, I ordered everyone to gather at this very same pavilion. Meda was walking up and down, to and fro, frowning her brows, and clicking her tongue. I understand. I felt the same way as well.
As everyone was seated (except for the above mentioned), I stood in front of them, and explained what have happened. Each of them seemed rather distressed, but they were definitely searching their memories for anything that could help, and finally, our newest member, Caleb raised his hand for right of speech.
"My Lord, I have a theory," he started, and I gave him permission to explain, "I think he may have been part of a Sect."
"Can you elaborate? What sect?" I asked back rather confused.
"Although our Cult of the Seven isn't a religion, it is very much based on religious views. Even the concept of the Seven can be found in religious principles. Some of our Order have taken these implications rather seriously, and have since defected. Some of them created organizations, which we call Sects."
"So are there any of these Sects, that are centered around [Temptation]?" I asked the elephant in the room.
"That is the confusing part, My Lord. I haven't heard of any." That hurts.
"That makes this whole investigation that much harder," I replied.
"He never said he was here for you specifically, though," Meda finally joined the discussion.
We all took a second to reflect on that, but in the end everyone was just shaking their heads. It still didn't exactly add up.
"Anyways, I think it's time we all went to sleep. He said he'd be back, so I assume it'll take some time. Let's just relax for now, and continue with our training tomorrow," I commanded, and went towards my room.
Nothing really happened the next few days. Everyone was preoccupied with their training, and even I was taking shooting lessons from Caleb, who seemed to have an understanding of every possible weapon type. I took a second of a break, and I heard some footsteps behind me.
"Hey, Tentazione, is it okay if we talked a bit?" Francis asked. I nodded, and sat down, "We also have decided."
Finally. We're starting to sound like an actual group of villains, and not just a bunch of prison escapees.
"Call me Ventus!" Francis said with a big smile. I laughed. Such a basic name, I love it.
"Karver," Baulder said shyly. Can't blame him.
"I'll go with Andromeda," Meda said.
"You sure? You really disliked your full name," I said, frowning my brows, while also raising one of them.
"Yeah. I kinda made peace with it," she replied, truning her head to the side.
Can't blame her. That man chose it, after all.
"Well then!" Caleb walked up to us, clapping his hands, "You finally managed to choose a name for yourselves. I think it's just about time, to design your outfits. Would you be so kind to follow me?"
We looked at each other, slightly confused, but ended up agreeing to his proposition. I think we all felt excited, but it was also kinda scary. This is what we were going to be to the public from now on, Only slight changes will occur, if any. We followed him, into the depths of the hill headquarters, and walked into an elevator.
This really was it, our future getting set in stone. It was really tense. We all felt it.
Not a single one uf spoke anything, until the doors opened finally.
And what we saw, was astonishing.