Alex looked at the entrance door, his brows furrowed.
"What's the matter?" Violet was the first to notice Alex's strange behavior, so she asked while looking in the same direction.
"Someone's at the door..." Alex paused before correcting himself. "Several someones."
The weaponsmiths looked at Alex, confused by his words.
"Umm... Are you sure, dear?" Elara asked, more as a pleasantry than anything. Darius stood up and approached a window overlooking the front side of the house.
Alex nodded and pulled his shirt down, revealing his markings. Though faint, anyone could see he was a Recen.
Elara was just about to be surprised when her husband returned with a scowl on his face. "Those damn Moonmares." He cursed, turning to his wife. "The kid's right,"
"The Moonmares? What do they want?" Lorelei asked, feeling strangely nervous about her friends' situation.
Elara was the one that answered Violet. "They want a tax. For protection. Bullshit. They think because we make a bit more money, they can rip us off."
As the hostess said these words, a series of loud knocks made their way inside. "Moomnare Guards. Open up!" Someone outside shouted in a gruff voice.
The muscular weaponsmith stormed off somewhere, veins covering his face and bald head.
Elara went after him, "Darius, calm down."
Darius didn't seem to hear his wife, gently pushing her aside as he grabbed and wore a pair of brass knuckles and opened the door. Alex also stood, unable to remain seated in an escalating situation.
Of course, however the situation might turn, the Recen would take Darius' side.
"Fuck you want?" The man asked, opening the door halfway.
"The money for this week's protection. We're here to pick it up." The guard that shouted before answered again.
"This isn't an order from your superior. We've talked with Madam Viviene." Elara said from inside the house, standing behind her husband.
The guard outside snickered. "We're doing the protection, not the superiors."
"Fuck off!" Darius slammed the door and huffed back inside, grabbing a sword from a nearby stand.
Alex frowned as he listened to the conversation happening outside. It was a bit difficult, with all the noise pollution around him. Between Darius' enraged breaths or Elara' trying to calm her husband down, Alex couldn't decide which was worse.
Suddenly, Alex grabbed his sword's hilt, prepared to draw his blade at any moment. "They want to set fire to the house."
"THE FUCK!?"
Darius could contain his anger no more and stomped his way to the door, almost busting the entrance from its hinges. Alex followed right after.
Alex rushed outside, blade unsheathed. His gaze homed on a single guard in the back, preparing to light a torch.
Alex scowled and quickly glanced at Darius. The humongous smith bodyslammed the leader of the guards, throwing the man into several of his underlings.
The smith resembled a berserker, gnashing his teeth as if chewing boulders. He sucker-punched a guard that stared at the scene, shocked and confused, knocking the latter.
Alex had nothing to worry about. Darius was more than capable of holding his own against the guards. The Recen appeared in front of the pyromaniac and swung his blade, cutting the tip of the torch from the rest of the handle.
"Ughh." The guard leader groaned and stood up, rubbing the spot where Darius hit him. He grabbed his blade. "Damn, you and your bitch."
"Shit!" Alex cursed as he looked back, something catching his attention. He immediately used a movement technique and appeared behind Darius.
The Recen pulled the smith by the shoulder, almost throwing the latter to the ground.
*Clang!*
Two swords collided in the air, sending sparks flying in every direction.
"Ugh!" Alex groaned as he struggled to withstand the leader's strength. Shifting his stance, Alex let the guard's sword slip to the side as the Recen intended to restrict his opponent's blade by stepping on it.
"The fuck?"
The leader seemed confused. He didn't expect Alex to display such strength, but he was shaken awake and forced to let go of the blade to avoid Alex's strike.
"Who are you?" The guard asked, picking up a halbert dropped by one of his underlings.
Alex didn't respond. His attention focused on the mana flowing out of the leader's limbs. Alex clicked his tongue, annoyed by the power his opponent displayed.
Merely having a core gave a typical human the power to overpower even a fully-fledged Recen. Fortunately, Alex was extremely sensitive to mana, feeling even the most minute shift, allowing him to perceive the guard's movements.
'Good thing he doesn't have a technique.' Knowing this was of little comfort, but it was something Alex could take advantage of. 'Now, let's see where you decided to place it...'
Alex focused on a deeper level, wanting to see whether he could perceive his opponent's core.
'It's unreliable.' He concluded after a moment. Alex couldn't see a clearly defined shape as he would have liked to, merely an area of higher concentration of mana.
Still, that was enough for him.
"Tsk!" The guard clicked his tongue, realizing Alex had no intention of answering him. He used his reach advantage and stabbed in Alex's direction, right toward his eyes, making it harder to perceive the attack.
Alas, his opponent was Alex.
*Clank!*
The Recen easily parried the thrust, pushing the halberd aside. A moment later, Alex grabbed the wooden pole with his left and thrust his blade between the guard's armor plates, drawing blood.
"Ugh!" The leader groaned, his eyes almost popping out of his skull. He looked down at his shaking palms, unable to understand how Alex figured out where his core was.
"AAAGHHH!" A shout of pain followed right after as massive amounts of mana were expulsed from the wound.
The leader's core burst like an overripe watermelon, leaking mana everywhere into his system and out of the wound. His veins burst, unable to contain the chaotic flow of mana, and muscles and bones were slowly ripped apart.
Alex watched with an indifferent expression, but internally he analyzed every detail. He wanted to know how easily a core breaks and what would happen next.
He wasn't disappointed. Alex watched as the mana spread around the guard's body, damaging and healing the cells, causing immense pain.
'He'll live.' Alex noticed. The damage from the rupture decreased every second while the healing remained constant. 'Good to know. Now, I have to figure out how to prevent this from happening to me.'