All three members of Guild Ouranos that were present stared at Ultio in silence.
"Oh, come on, we both know that this is old news," Ultio said with a chuckle and ordered for some more coffee. "Ah, my bad, would any of you like some coffee? No? Okay,"
"Let me ask you a question, Ultio," Veronica finally broke the silence and spoke with narrowed eyes.
"Ask away,"
Veronica leaned forward as she began to speak. "How do you know this?"
Ultio placed his gloved hand on her face and lightly shoved her back. "I don't know, and do not question my knowledge because I am currently unable to answer anything relating to how I acquired so much knowledge," He said and crossed his arms over his chest. "Now, I have a proposition for-"
"Wait, if you don't know how you got the information, how do you even know that you've got the information?" Ichi suddenly asked as the idea struck him like a flying teacup. Which, oddly enough, was what struck him just a second after.
Ultio put his hand back down and narrowed his eyes at Ichi, who was struggling to wipe the hot coffee off his face. "Do not interrupt me,"
"Matter of fact, your question is retarded, hence I will not be providing an answer. So as I was saying, I have a proposition for you," Ultio said with a smirk, completely ignoring Ichi, whose face was already red from being burnt by the hot coffee. However, his teammates were afraid to help, because they thought they would offend Ultio by helping.
Veronica went on with her highly-irritable-bitch facade and huffed as if annoyed. "Which is?"
"Our two groups go on to the tomb together, get whatever it is we want from there, and then depart. What do you say?"
Rena held up her hand like a student. "I have a few queries,"
"Go on," Ultio said and beckoned for her to continue.
"One, you implied that you have a group, please elaborate. Two, how do we know you wouldn't betray us and take everything for yourself. Three, how do you know we wouldn't betray you. Four, we would first need to discuss this with our Guild's Leaders. And five... Can we help our teammate?"
Ultio sighed and stretched out his hand towards the empty chair next to him. Hermes appeared in the chair a second later, and after a single command, he disappeared once again. In his place was Eric, who was looking around in confusion.
His eyes landed on Ultio, and he frowned. "You can do that switching stuff with other people?"
"I had a shadow soldier attach itself to your shadow to protect you. The connection between you and the shadow enabled Hermes to switch places with you," Ultio explained, then turned to the members of Guild Ouranos. "Ladies and... Gentleman? Doesn't matter. This, is my current teammate, Eric Midas,"
"Hi," Eric said and waved his hand.
"Hello,"
"Greetings,"
"Ahh!"
Eric nodded in Ichi's direction. "What's wrong with him?"
"Hot coffee,"
"Oh," Eric said simply and leaned back in his chair, officially ending his own part of the conversation.
"Now for your second query, Miss Rena," Ultio smirked and stared right into her eyes through the eye holes of her mask. "We only want one thing in that entire tomb filled with treasure. I'm not going to lie, there might be other things there that I might just feel like taking along with me, but just know that that one thing I want... Will be mine,"
"The rest might be up for debate," He continued, his words softly travelling through the air without even the slightest trace of an emotion despite the smirk on his face. "But that one thing will be in my possession whether you like it or not. So yeah... What I'm saying is, you get basically everything we find except one or two things. About you betraying me... Let me worry about that. Oh, and you can help your friend,"
After hearing Ultio's words, the ladies let out a breath of relief and quickly helped Ichi wipe off the incredibly hot coffee off his face.
"Why don't we do it this way, whoever finds it keeps it," Veronica suggested, her greedy side showing for the first time, all because she was being petty and didn't want Ultio to get anything.
"No, that wouldn't work. If we do it that way, then I'll have nowhere to keep everything," Ultio said lazily, and somehow, everyone present to feel the honesty in his voice.
Silence descended upon the table, as all eyes fell on Ultio. He didn't mind the gazes on him, and he gladly received his new serving of coffee.
"Uh, Ultio, we have to go fetch our teammates... They've arrived," Rena said. Because she was a Witcher, like Tyrian, her ability to sense and recall mana signatures was astonishing. Plus, she was much stronger than Tyrian, so she was obviously better at detection.
A second later, everyone else, with the exception of Ultio, shivered slightly as a number of powerful auras envelopes the entire town of Lont.
"Yeah, they're back. But so is Guild White," Veronica said and got to her feet. The hostility in her voice was so strong, it could probably punch through a diamond.
*****
The Teleportation Pad was a large, circular platform which had countless runes inscribed all around it. These runes were so old, that even though they were inscribed with Phoenix blood, they were already fading away, and had to be renewed soon. Teleportation Pads could be found all around the world, however, there were just eight of them known to man, which enabled instantaneous travel within the eight locations.
Teleportation Arrays were similar to the Pads, however, they were smaller and were made much more recently than the Pads. They were created by scholars and mages who had been studying the runes of the Pads for years, and using what they knew, they managed to create smaller Teleportation Pads which were connected to the Pads. The speed of the Arrays aren't half of the Pads, but they are still quite fast.
This Pad was located just behind Lont, and was surrounded by wooden sheds and some stalls owned by merchants who wouldn't mind selling to the new arrivals that come in through the Teleportation Pad.
At this moment, two groups of people were facing off against each other on the Pad. They had just teleported in from different parts of the world and coincidentally arrived on this Teleportation Pad at the same time.
One of the groups was composed of people dressed in white hooded cloaks, who all had odd, mask-like protrusions on their bodies, not unlike Ugred's.
And the other was composed of people who wore a mix of colours, but mostly dark colours.
"Ah, what a beautiful day," One of the people in white said. He had long black hair, which was tied into a messy bun, and lazy, heavy-lidded eyes.
Unlike the rest, he didn't wear a hooded cloak, but instead, a white long-sleeved shirt under a white double-breasted jacket with shoulder straps and gold buttons. The jacket was held at the waist with a thin black belt, which had a decorative golden buckle, and was worn over both white trousers and black boots.
He had a golden Spaulder on his left shoulder, which had a long cape attached to it, and his own mask attachment was nowhere to be seen, most definitely hidden underneath his outfit.
This young man was Boreas Windhelm, and he was a prominent member of Guild White. In the guild's hierarchy, he was given the designation 'B'.
"Indeed it is," A lean young man with short, straight black hair and pale skin responded almost instantly. He wore a simple black, longsleeved sweatshirt and black, fitted pants, with two brown belts wrapped around his waist, and black boots.
Known to the world as Kuro, this pale young man was an enigmatic figure to the public and barely even spoke.
"Unfortunately, we do not have the time to stay and bite at each other's heels today, ladies and gents. Forgive us for our swift departure, but we had just been informed about the death of one of ours," Boreas said with a slight bow and turned to his guildmates. "We're leaving," He said firmly and whisked them all away with a small cyclone that rose from the ground.
"That went well," Kuro said plainly and turned to his teammates. "Shall we go now?"
"Not yet," Someone said and walked forward. It was a tall man with a lean, athletic yet well defined physique. His head was hidden by a dark, bronze Corinthian Helmet with a white horsetail plume and he had dark Bracers around his forearms.
His torso was covered by a Muscle Cuirass of the same colour, and he wore a Pteruges made of dark blue leather strips with rings attached to the end of each strip. He wore dark coloured Greaves and brown sandals, as well as a tattered, grey cape around his neck. Strapped onto his left arm was a large Boeotian Shield, and he had a simple Gladius sheathed by his left hip.
Although his face was hidden by the very narrow slits of the helmet, the tiny portions of his face that could be seen were enough to make his attractiveness known.
"Veronica and the others haven't returned yet, Troy," A woman wearing a grey-coloured skintight suit and golden cape said. She had long black hair and flawless light brown skin. A golden circlet shaped like lightning bolts sat comfortably on her forehead, which matched the lightning-bolt shaped neckline of her suit that plunged down to her navel. Her shoulders were covered by golden Pauldrons, and she wore golden greaves over golden boots.
Oddly enough, her outfit seemed to fit more with the style of Guild White, however, she also seemed to bear some resentment against the all-white-wearing guild.
As she walked forward, her curvaceous waist swayed seductively, drawing the gazes of all the men and women in the area. Some perverts' eyes even roamed all over her body and landed on her voluptuous breasts with wide eyes.
"Uh, Verah... They're staring," A man hidden within a black hooded cloak said.
Verah sighed and rose a hand to the sky. In response, the clouds began to darken as a storm brewed overhead. "Ladies and Gentlemen, it would be advisable if you went home now, as a terrible storm is coming," She said, her voice echoing and reverberating like a divine being's.
Although her ethereal voice made her even hotter, the observers and merchants had to leave hurriedly as rain and hail began to pour from the sky.
"That ought to keep your admirers' mouths shut," Kuro said and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Now, where are the others?"
The group all shared looks of confusion with each other and shrugged. "Veronica and the others are supposed to be here," Troy said with a shrug and looked around confusedly.
Verah's eyes suddenly widened and she rose a finger. "Wait a minute... What did Boreas say about a member of his guild?"
*****
"Are you the one who killed Ugred?" A lean, dark skinned man with spiky black hair asked Veronica menacingly.
The wind from Verah's storm caused his hair and white hooded cloak to billow around coolly. It was obvious from his white outfit, that he was a member of Guild White.
"Uh..." Veronica took a step back cautiously a few other members of Guild White surrounded her and Rena. "Shit..." She cursed and took a defensive stance.
"I will assume from your silence, that you are indeed guilty of this crime," The young man said and drew a long Ninjatō from within his cloak. "All offenders of Guild White will face death,"
"Shit," Veronica groaned and turned to Rena. "Run. Get the others and make sure these bastards pay," She said to her friend and turned back to face her attacker. She was ready to die, as she knew that Guild White will definitely not let offenders off easy, she just hoped that her guild will be able to avenge her.
However, when she turned to face her attacker, she found herself staring right at the man's blade, which was less than an inch away from her neck.
Veronica's eyes widened in shock as the blade was thrust forward, leaving a trail of light which was reflected by the steel of the sword.
Blood slowly dripped for the hilt of the Ninjatō as the skin between the dark skinned man's index finger and thumb was torn open by the sword suddenly coming to a halt after coming in contact with someone's index finger.
"Do forgive my impoliteness. I am Ultio V, and Miss Veronica, as well as Miss Rena over there, are under my protection," Ultio said with his signature smirk.