*Knock!* *Knock!*
It seemed too good of timing that the knock came the moment Bill finished his story. This lead them both to believe that they were listening in on them, but they couldn't do anything about it at the moment besides answering the door.
Bill walked up to open the door and the butler entered the room.
"Good evening gentlemen, now that Mr. Mako has woken up, it is time for you to come with me. Master has been waiting to meet you and we shouldn't keep him waiting any longer." The butler said as he gestured for the two of them to exit the room.
Mako had worn the same outfit he had worn the time when he participated in the battle royale tournament, and he was hoping to keep his identity hidden, but being knocked out and asleep in the enemy's base of operations for a whole day can be enough time for them to do a background check on you.
Mako knew the butler was stronger; stronger than even Rhino, so it was no use resisting especially since he had shown no signs of hostility towards him rather it was the complete opposite.
The two boys followed behind the butler through the main hallway, stretching quite far. The hallway was awfully quiet as not a single sound could be heard from either direction or the doors that were evenly spaced apart from one another on both sides of the wall. The lights had a weird yellowish tint on them that made it feel like they were in a horror movie.
Thankfully they soon arrived at the end of the hallway that had a massive dark oak door with a beautiful and intricate carving of a flock of ravens. The butler knocked on the door thrice with a small pause in between each knock and then proceeded to open the door.
The whole place was giving Mako weird vibes, and they got weirder by the minute as he suspected that knock was some sort of code that allowed him to open the door, or perhaps it was a cryptic greeting of some sort. Mako just didn't know, for all he knew he could be walking to his own death, and the thought of that was making him very paranoid.
The butler entered the room and stopped by the entrance and gestured for the boys to come in. Mako made a small nudge towards Bill and made him go ahead of him. Since Bill was taller than Mako, he blocked the direct line of sight toward Mako's face. Mako used this opportunity to take out a boost pill from his inventory and popped it before the butler could notice.
The system override took place and Mako's perception got boosted by 15 points. It wasn't much but it did give Mako some assurance about the situation he was in because he could always rely on his instincts to defend himself.
They entered into the room and found themselves in one of the most lavish places they had ever seen. Multiple priceless paintings hung up on the walls, a fireplace on the east side of the room that was giving off most of the light in the room, and many architectural designs on the walls and pillars with beautiful trims.
Since the only source of light in the room was the fireplace, the visibility was quite low and it took a couple of moments for them to adjust to the light level of the room. At the far end of the room and a beautiful long desk was set right below an art piece that was hung on the wall that looked like guns that were used in the olden times.
A big black leather chair was placed behind the desk and it was facing towards the wall with its back towards Mako and Bill. Next to the desk towards the west side was a lavish brown leather couch that was currently occupied by someone quite familiar.
"Took your pretty time waking up," Leon said as he sat lazily on the couch while playing with a small knife that resembled Mako's blade but was shorter and without any distinctive features.
"Benson, would you please take Leon out of the room, I have things to discuss with our guests." A deep yet calm voice came from the chair facing the wall.
"Certainly Master," The butler obliged as he moved towards Leon.
Leon stood up in anger and he shouted toward the chair," What are you doing! He was the one that burned me! Instead of skinning him alive, you offer him a place to sleep and now you want to talk in private! What is this Bull****!"
"Young Master, Please compose yourself." The butler tried calming Leon down as he held him by his arm.
"Let go of me, Benson! I am not going to stick around and let this all happen!" Leon said in a fury and using his super speed charged towards Mako with his knife out aimed towards his face.
The knife was about to pierce Mako's forehead, but then the knife phased through him as if he wasn't there at all.
[Phantom Shift has been activated]
It was a good call for Mako to increase his perception otherwise he wouldn't have been able to react fast enough to use Phantom Shift and dodge the assault.
Mako appeared right next to Leon while he was still in his lunge position with the knife still going forward not knowing that it had already missed his target. Mako grabbed Leon's arm and using his own momentum against him, pinned him to the ground with his left hand. Sparks started to come out of his right hand as he held it close to his face.
Leon had not seen this coming and was now struggling to move because even though Mako didn't have the physique, he had the strength to effortlessly pin down someone like Leon.
"LEON!!" The voice came out again from the chair but this time it was filled with anger and authority and Leon stopped resisting completely.
The butler quickly separated them and firmly grabbed Leon by the arm before quickly dragging him out of the room. This time; however, he moved without uttering a single word. The door was shut behind them and now Mako and Bill were alone with the person to whom the voice belonged.
"Please don't be alarmed, I apologize on behalf of my... son's rude... welcoming." The man said as he turned the seat to face the two boys.
The man in the chair was someone unexpected, to say the least. The man in the chair looked hardly 5 feet tall and had a similar body frame that to Mako. He wore a classic black suit with a black shirt and had a handsome-looking face with jet-black hair that was very well-kept.
Mako and Bill were both caught off-guard by the appearance of the man behind the chair, but he paid them no heed as he just snapped his fingers, and two grand-looking chairs floated towards the desk from the shadows and were placed opposite to him.
"He told me about your Telekinesis Ability, I just didn't believe it to be true," Bill said as he approached the man first and Mako followed closely behind.
"Indeed Mr. Johnson, my enemies are quite aware of this ability of mine... well one of many." The man spoke with a grin as the two boys took a seat.
"Who are you?" Mako could help but ask as he couldn't hold back his curiosity any longer.
"Ah, I see you haven't heard of me as your friend has. Well, allow me to introduce myself; my name is Paul Czolgosz, I am the leader of the Dark Raven, and I am the father of that ungrateful son you just took down, Mr. Grey." He explained in an uncaring tone.
After the person had identified himself, Mako now understood why Leon was behaving the way that he was. It was because his father was the leader of one of the two massive gangs within Emerald City. He was most probably pampered all his life and this was what had turned him into the little brat he was.
Mako was angry at this notion because apparently, this person's son had just tried to murder him and so was Bill because the same person also threatened to reveal their identity to El-Diablo if they didn't participate in their match. Paul could easily judge by the look on both of their faces that they were angry and he decided to break the ice first.
"Listen, I know you both have been through a lot, and apologize again for my son's treatment towards you. I can assure you that all of this has been taken care of and he won't threaten you both ever again."
"It didn't look that way to me," Mako said as he placed the small blade that he had taken from Leon during their exchange on the table in front of them.
"Even though I dealt with him regarding his mistreatment, he was still salty about not having his revenge on you for you burning him, but as expected you were able to counter his pathetic attempt quite easily for which I must give you credit," Paul said in a comforting manner as he picked up the little knife and started to make it float above his hands.
"But that also leads me to the reason why I kept you here and wished to talk to you. You see Mr.Grey, I have a proposition for you that I hope you will listen to with an open mind." Paul continued.
"How would you feel about becoming a member of the Dark Raven?" Paul asked the big question and the look on Mako's face was one of pure disbelief.
"You want me to become a what now?" Mako asked in absolute disbelief.