As Loki was busy checking out places in the Auction hall, he found interesting and new things, and occasionally, he would come out from the shadows to observe.
As he was roaming about curiously, a sumptuous smell wafted into his nostrils. He traced the smell to its source and arrived at a spacious kitchen, with so many more advanced gadgets than the ones they used at the citadel, varieties of foods, both raw and cooked.
He saw the workers huddled together in a corner with gags in their mouths and ropes binding them. He ignored them and went to eat the food.
He munched in high spirits but as he was munching he heard the clattering of plates in front of him. He looked up and saw a youth, probably 20 years of age, with varieties of foods on his table.
He had fine brown hair and eyes, his mantle draped over his shoulder and cast a shadow on what was hidden. With two swords on his back.
He pushed the chair on the opposite side of him forward and motioned Loki to sit. He didn't speak as he was busy chewing, but his eyes were filled with amusement.
Loki speechlessly sat and started eating together with the young man, even without being asked to do so. The young man kept looking at him, with eyes full of amusement before deciding to talk.
"... I'm Benni, what about you?"The young man introduced himself unceremoniously. He is a member of the Bandittis family, and he came to the kitchen as he was instructed to keep an eye on the workers.
"I..."Loki said and coughed, his inability to speak kicking in. But he dipped his hand in a viscous sauce and used it to write his name on the table.
The young man saw this and smiled, his eyes looking directly into Loki's crimson eyes. A pensive atmosphere choked the bound workers as they watched this but the two young men were thinking about something else.
The two realized in sync, that their masks were no longer on their face. Benni had removed it and tossed it due to his hunger for food and Loki had long lost his wooden mask while he was in the dressing room.
His form-shifting armor could form a mask but he was told that that would be suspicious and that's why he didn't use it in the first place. He didn't feel the need to cover his face anymore so he just shrugged and continued eating without care.
Benni seeing how Loki acted laughed and continued to eat, voraciously.
The workers sighed in relief because they were going to be collateral damage if a fight should occur. They were happy that it didn't.
For now...
...
On the stage ...
"I'm telling you, put back what you stole or I'll have to force you..."The girl spoke, her timbre reflected a silly righteousness that made kitty burst into boisterous laughter.
"You...Haha! You talk like I'm the one holding the heist here pfft..."
"We're both criminals then..."The girl shrugged.
Kitty's laughter echoed throughout the hall, and she seemed to be using her power to provoke the girl with her laughter. A vein popped on the girl's neck.
"Bennitte! What's wrong? Do you need help?"The Father yelled to the daughter. He was busy 'taking care of the auction attendees— confiscating their valuables.
"... It's nothing! I got it!"The girl said to her father who continued with his business.
Kitty stopped laughing and got serious. She faced the girl who appeared to be the same age as her mortal form and spoke "...Use force or not, I'm not returning a thing. Dare me and I'll send your soul to the soul forge, they'll be happy to receive you."
"Heh..."The teenage girl scoffed and instantly, her gown started shifting, in semblance to the fabric detaching and attaching to form a mantle worn over a tight-fitting suit, with an absurd amount of pockets and sheathed knifes strapped to it.
Kitty frowned on seeing this. It made her wonder if everyone has form-shifting clothes in recent days and only she doesn't. It made her feel left out a bit.
"I won't ask you to put it down again."The masked teenage girl said and undefeated her throwing knives from the sheaths strapped to her wrists in a flash.
"Stop being a brat!"Kitty harrumphed and took out her daggers from her spatial ring. Made of special metal, with long grips, intricate patterns all over it, and a spear point blade.
The teenage girl hurled a knife toward kitty who swatted it off with her dagger. Sparks went off as the blades collided and kitty felt the impressive power behind the throw.
But she thought all humans were weak?
She closed in on the teenage girl who in turn brought out two cup-hilted knives and met Kitty's advance head-on.
Kitty was aggressive and fast with her dagger handling skills, throwing the daggers up to adjust her grip, then making feints which the girl managed to defend barely.
As they exchanged strikes. kitty thrust with her dagger to which the teenage girl locked her arm in her armpit and skillfully dislodged the dagger from her hand.
Kitty used that moment to change the position of the arm in her armpit to the teenage girl's neck, raked her leg off balance, and slammed her against the ground, caving it in as a result.
She choked the girl on the floor and thrust the other dagger in her hand toward the eyehole on the girl's mask, which revealed her pretty brown eyes.
Despite being choked by kitty, the girl resisted and redirected the dagger to stab the ground next to her ears with her knives, then she kicked with both legs, the force behind her kick tumbling kitty over and made her hit a pillar with her back.
The pillar caved in and kitty winced on impact. She was recovering when two knives were suddenly hurtled toward her.
Defenseless, her pupils constricted and her mind worked on reflex. She instantly raised her hands and hurriedly conjured a shield of pure spiritual energy in its compressed form.
The shield slowed down the knives but didn't stop them, not slowing them down to a safe degree. She bent her upper body to evade which was successful but alas, one of the knives cleaved her mask in the left eye area and cut from her cheekbone across her eye to the eyebrow.
She clutched her left eye in pain and rage. Her blood burned and filled her eye and blocked her left vision. Feeling the need to beat out the best out of the mortal, she used her spiritual energy to make a thin layer to repel the blood and also facilitate the use of her left eye.
She could use do more than this, but she was following Conan's instructions. Had she used even twenty percent of her powers, the whole building would have collapsed and innocent lives would be taken in the process.
And you can imagine what'll happen after that. More troubles.
Her left eye turned glary blue all of a sudden, the whites of her eyes no longer visible and just turned outright blue and glary. This change was unbeknownst to herself.
The teenage girl was awestruck by the change, she subconsciously took a step back but stepped forward to defend herself when she saw kitty running towards her with murderous intent.
Now with no knives in the teenage girls' hands or daggers with Kitty, they were both about to engage in hand-to-hand combat.
Kitty reached the girl and raised a hook towards her face or at least that's what the teenage banditti thought as she ducked to evade.
However contrary to her expectations, she seemed to have ducked in time just for a knee to collide with her masked face. The mask did nothing to filter the force behind the knee at all and her nose even crooked from the sheer force.
She grunted and wobbled dizzily as kitty rained punches on her and she sloppily defended herself due to the dizziness.
Soon, the girl snapped out of her trance when a punch rammed her face and she instinctively punched back, her hand making a sharp unexpected curve that rammed Kitty's face.
The fight between them was kinetical, and it brought them to the edge of the stage already.
Kitty spun from the punch and used the faculty to make a spin kick toward the girl's face who also spun from the force.
They both fell to the ground in dizziness and weariness, looking at the dim lights as they breathed out the pain in their bodies.
They averted their gaze from the ceiling and their eyes met, through the eyeholes on their masks, they saw the color of each other's eyes and the enmity in them.
They hurriedly stood up and as if thinking the same thing, their hands reached for each other's necks to choke each other. It became a contest of strength as kitty pushed the girl towards the girl's back against a pillar.
The girl retaliated and pushed kitty towards the other pillar and now they were in the middle of the little space between the pillars. The girl kicked kitty in the ribs and reached for her mask with her free hand, then removed it, revealing the reddened, but furious face belonging to kitty.
The kick to Kitty's ribs punched the air out of her lungs and she felt that her ribs were broken from the piercing pain that assaulted her lungs coupled with the fact the girl was still pushing in with her leg, she became furious and did the same to the girl and also removed the mask off her face.
Then, the devilish, choking but smiling face of a girl with brown eyes was revealed, appearing not older than kitty looked.
The nose of girl was broken and multiple bruises and cuts were evident on her face. Even the pressure on her ribs didn't wipe out the smile on her face.
The two strained and added pressure to their legs crushing their ribs and their hands choking each other. At a certain point, the girl's smile suddenly faded.
She parted her leg from Kitty's ribs and her hands from her neck. She regained her balance faster than kitty could process and threw Kitty's hand over her head, pushing kitty forward and slamming her head on the pillar causing it to break.
She pulled her body back, using her back to ram the other pillar which caved in on impact then proceeded to grab Kitty's neck and slammed her on the floor.
Vision spinning, kitty tried to get back up, but she wasn't on her knees yet before the arm of the girl locked on her neck and started choking her from behind.
How could a mortal be as strong as her even if she was holding back? She was supposed to be invisible. This means that they were both holding back, if not, the building would have collapsed already.
Her eyes blazed fiery blue and a shout of fury exited her mouth. Albeit the girl didn't free her neck from the pressure, so she acted...