"Bella?" Tom mumbled unbelievingly.
A little girl with silver-white hair tied into a big bun was being led into the stage, a giant collar was uncomfortably woven around her neck. She wore a big dirtied white rag that covered her body from shoulder to knees like a one piece.
Her cheeks were bruised and dirtied but that did nothing to hide her extremely cute face. Her captivating eyes were amethyst purple and they darted around looking for something or someone in the audience.
When she didn't find what she was looking for her eyes dropped in sadness and her expression was like someone who was forcibly dragged where they weren't meant to be by the big chains coiled around her made it impassible for her to escape.
"B-Bella!?" Tom's loud and shaky voice was heard confusing many.
Tom's mind was filled with unsuppressed joy, he smiled like an idiot but was also a little angry at Ezekiel, he could have just said that it was Bella though Ezekiel probably didn't know who Bella was.
'Wait! Does she still remember me?' Tom thought with fear. Fortunately, his heart didn't have to suffer too much
"Baa Ba...(Han Tian?)" her incomprehensible melodious voice traveled through the stage it was enough to calm the most violent of hearts.
Suddenly, he felt like a ton of weight was lifted off his back, it felt good and overwhelming, he had a thousand words to say but nothing came out.
"Baa ba ...(Are you there?!)" Bella shouted, it all sounded like beautiful gibberish to all except Tom, however, the people definitely knew that this slave and young master somehow knew each other.
Tom didn't say anything he just stood there. A stampede of thoughts was flashing through his mind.
Anna looked visibly confused at Tom and Bella, did her son know this girl? Then how? She didn't introduce them after all!
Bella's pretty eyes looked confused at the place where Tom's voice came earlier. She didn't have a bad memory nor did she hear anything wrong-- there may have been slight variations in his Han Tian's voice but she was 100% sure that it was him, also he called her by her name; which further validates her claim.
Then why doesn't he respond, unless...
Code black!...mind control, enemy attack, a hostage situation.
Time for Bella to act!!
Then something not possible happened. A pillar of ethereal purple flames surged upward.
She shook her body, her aura was fully unleashed like a pillar of flames. The chains clanged against each other, and although the chains stood strong Bella didn't falter.
Her aura retracted into her body but her amethyst-purple eyes glowed with incandescent light.
A sense of dread crept into the spines of everyone, making them shiver. It was even worse for battle-forged veterans their instincts screamed danger.
However their rational mind refused to believe such a notion, how could such a small girl whose mana was supposed to be restrained produce such a level of danger; unbelievable indeed.
Tom didn't feel the danger but he knew what exactly she was doing. Tom panicked like someone was trying to kill his parents- which was actually happening- he shouted with all his might.
"Bella stop! Don't do it!"
Bella stopped immediately her body went normal before puffing her cheeks and giving him a cute pout.
'Next time don't ignore me' Tom understood her look.
Tom released a sigh of relief and wiped off the sweat forming on his forehead. He looked behind him to see Cloe and Anna staring at him confused. Seeing that both of them were all right he thought with a wry smile 'damn ignorance is bliss' he returned to the matter at hand, "Don't do anything rash you just wait, I will buy you."
His previous life in cultivation word
Bella had an ultimate attack, which would fry the brains of all the people- except him and Bella herself- in the surrounding 10 km or so.
Surprisingly, she had the same ability in this life too which came as a surprise to him because, in the cultivation world, Qi was the main source of energy, not mana and all his previous cultivation techniques seemed to be lost.
'Of course, it makes more sense! if Bella is the so-called first sentience and the correlation between the mind-frying power and word sentience-- hell? why am I overthinking I will just ask Ezekiel'
And Ezekiel replied with a "Yes".
''Damn, it's really true Bella is somewhat of a big shot. Then how do I come into the equation?' Tom mused then shook his head. It was not like the first time that he had this thought, every time this thought process will eventually lead to more confusion and complex though, but he rather not think of it every time.
"This is a bit problematic, how should we proceed now" Tom scratched his head.
Indeed it was a little problematic, near Bella the lady who was supposed to be the anchor was laying unconscious. Bella's previous aura outburst was without any consequences
Bella looked backward. She noticed a lady sprawled on the ground with form coming out of her mouth. Bella grew embarrassed because of her previous attack she caused her 'dao partner' even more problems; she acted without knowing the situation- which is unlike her.
Unfortunately, the anchor lady wasn't the only one who was knocked out, a lot of weak-willed people were also knocked out- someone at the mana core realm was also knocked out this shows that her power is offensive to the mind irrespective of how much power on ehad; truly terrifying if used wisely.
Even if Bella didn't attack, a lot of people close to the stage were tired. Now they just wanted to go home and have a good sleep., it didn't look like the auction is not going to continue anymore.
One by one people started leaving, in their hearts the favorability of this auction house went down by a huge margin. The management couldn't even put proper mana restraints, as for the girl that had this wierd ability, they were too tired to think. For one, if they stay there who could guarantee that the slave girl woudn't pull off something like that again.
A few minutes later a man with a brown beared stepped into the stage. He looked at the resending crowd he coudn't help but shake his head wistfuly and thought 'I knew there was something wrong with that girl, yet...sigh after today my reputation will most certainly go down by a mile, damnation '
He looked at the remaining audience and said in a nuteral voice, "Would anyone like to buy this slave." as the manager of this branch he had a duty to finish this.
""I will"' both Cain and Tom said simultaneously.
Tom narrowed his eyes and said with a chilling voice, "Playtime is over brother. I had enough of your shenanigans. So don't make it difficult or else...a few broken bones will become an inevitability."
"A few broken bones?" Cain said and continued "This girl is a freak and I'll never let you wield power that's unworthy of you. As soon as I get my hands on her, I...I'll dispose of this uncontrollable slave."
When Cain said this his hands were literally shaking just by the thought of Tom having such a powerful slave. Cain didn't know how this girl was this powerful but if Tom get his hands on this slave it will be disastrous for Cain.
Cain was talented and Tom was less talented, sure, but what if there was an even more talented egotistical subordinate under him? Cain couldn't help but feel dread.
The slave could potentially escape from Tom if she had enough hate, this was a possibility.
However, from the short exchange between them, he was damned sure the slave knew Tom and from the shy blush she showed earlier he was pretty sure that the relationship both of them had was not shortened to a mere acquaintance.
That's why Cain had to eliminate this girl no matter what! Even if he had to do that!
"Well, you got quite the guts calling my girl a freak. So, big brainless bear, if I am not wrong you should have less than 30 Mid's right now. So, how do you have any chance of winning now do you?"
Cain was suprised how accurately Tom was able to predict his wealth, he gritted his teeth and said "We will see about that."
Tom just snorted, now he understood how those youg masters felt when they triumphed over others with their parent's money; it was honestly a different feeling indeed.
The manager didn't wait any longer nor he explained the girls specialites, he knew that for those two will bid nevertheless.
"5 Mid's..." Cain quickly placed the first bid.
There was a short pause after promoting the manager to raise an eyebrow, though for Cain it was like an uncomfortable itch of anxiety.
"Huh? That's quite ungentlemanly of you, Cain. Even a monkey would know that girls like it when you put more effort and money into them." Tom mocked while adding some universal truth into his words before shouting, "50 Mid's!"
The manager grinned while Cain's heart sank. Bella was gigeddy being sold as a slave and being bought by her partner with a lot of money felt honestly...good?
A few seconds later the manager voiced out "We have a clear winne--"
"Wait!" Cain interjected and shouted in a solemn voice, "I challenge my brother Thomas Netherlore to the battle of brothers. And I stake everything I earned today for this right."