"Let's put this into effect." Channeling a portion of his spiritual energy, he threw the slab straight out of the courtyard.
Bang!
It stuck on the gate's wall with its runes shining brightly, releasing an imposing presence. Slowly, a white milky fog gushed out of it, submerging the place completely.
"Eh! What's happening?" The gangsters outside immediately cried out in surprise, seeing the house vanishing into thin air.
"Is this one of the Lord's abilities?" Despite being curious, nobody dared to barge in.
Who knew what would transpire if they touched it? Even Bryan, who was observing from a distance, was careful. He didn't want to take the risk.
While they were wondering, immense pressure suddenly befell them from the sky.
"Who?" When they looked up, their faces turned pale. They saw two streamers of light approaching them rapidly.
Bam!
In a couple of seconds, they landed on the ground, disclosing two figures, causing them to exclaim in panic.
"My God! Who are they?"
"They were flying."
"Doesn't this mean that they are S-ranked warriors?"
"Fools! They are Sir Luther and Sir Richards, the heroes of humanity."
"Damn! What do these bigshots want here?"
"Isn't it obvious? They are definitely here for our Lord."
They gossiped and backed a few steps warily, creating a distance between them, knowing they weren't here for good purposes.
"Humph! It looks like you guys aren't ignorant." Richard walked towards them, releasing immense pressure while they kept on backing.
"Sirs, may I know the purpose of your visit?" Bryan gulped down his saliva and stood forward, despite knowing the reason. He bowed, acting politely as he could.
Instead, he received his harsh reply, getting ignored as well.
"Since we have revealed ourselves, why hasn't he come out? Don't tell me he escaped." Richard scoffed.
This was also the reason why they didn't contain their auras. This was also how strong men greeted each other as they were all filled with pride.
"How can it be? He is just in seclusion right now." Bryan hurriedly denied it, wiping his sweat. How can he let the Lord lose his face?
"Eh! Seclusion?" Richard and Luther's faces were filled with question marks. It was the first time they heard of a warrior actually going into isolation.
Shouldn't he be hunting for monsters and hoping to break through even further like them? What was he doing here in his dwelling? Or was Igor true? Was he really someone from the cults? Was he performing some evil sacrifices?
Having these questions in mind, their expressions became solemn.
"Call him out," Luther declared coldly.
"Yes!" Bryan nodded, taking out his cell phone.
Yet, the call didn't connect. There was a network error every time he dialed the Lord's number.
"It must be due to the fog." Helplessly, he could only point in that direction.
"He's inside?" Their eyes lit up. It seemed like their intel was correct. He could indeed manipulate the air.
"Lead us in," Richard ordered.
"I think the fog might be dangerous." Bryan declined stutteringly.
"Humph! Trash." Ricard scolded and a bolt of lightning flashed past his eyes, shooting straight at his chest.
"I comply…"
Before Bryan could finish his words, he got struck and flung into the fog in the blink of an eye.
Boom!
"Ahh…"
A crashing sound filled with pain was heard, but nobody could discern whether he was dead or alive since the fog blocked the vision.
"He's still alive. I can feel his breath." Luther narrowed his eyes, gazing there.
"Yeah! How can it stop your beastly senses?" Richard smiled, knowing that it was safe inside.
"Let's head in. I want to witness why he's acting mysterious." Luther proceeded forward.
Richard nodded and followed him. As for the gangsters, they turned towards each other and shook their heads powerlessly. They knew there was nothing they could do.
***
Once Richard and Luther entered inside, they experienced a headache with the world spinning round and round, forcing them to mobilize their mana at once. However, they were shocked when they noticed they could only release a portion of their strength.
Currently, they have dropped to the level of B-ranked warriors. This resulted in Luther having his senses suppressed to the extreme. He even lost track of Bryan.
At most they could observe a few meters around them. This was how dire the situation was. Who knows what would ensue if that bastard ambushed them?
Moreover, the fog was vastly tenacious and nearly solid, making it impossible to drive them away. No matter how Richard tried to bomb them to dust with his threatening lightning, it didn't work.
His attacks barely created a wide hole that would restore in the span of a second. Seeing this, Luther too revealed his superpower.
"Transform."
His body elongated by fifty meters, destroying his clothes into pieces. His legs disappeared, taking the shape of a snake's tail while tightly packed muscles popped out from his upper body at a speed visible to the naked eye. Slowly, blue dragon scales full of terrible might emerged on his skin. Next, dragon horns and whiskers grew from his head and face respectively.
"Meteor Punch!"
He thrust his fist ahead, unleashing a tremendous shockwave, creating a gaping hole once again. Nonetheless, it was thrice larger and deeper than the ones made by Richard. This proved he was much stronger than him in terms of strength.
Besides, the suppression couldn't affect the grades of their superpowers, meaning that they could crush a B-rank warrior with a wave of their palm. The same went for A-ranked warriors too.
"I see a courtyard ahead." Through it, they finally perceived something.
Nevertheless, it was challenging to rush in that direction. It was because the fog kept closing in instantly and they soon discovered that it was misleading them.
After an hour, they still had no clue where they were. Despite clearing the fog with his fists one after another, Luther was frustrated. He was forced to give up.
"Damn! What a hideous ability! Is it just related to manipulating air? I think we are mistaken." He was puzzled.
"Forget it. It's no use thinking. We need to try our luck." Having said this, Richard's body discharged electricity all over and he began vibrating.
Zap!
Afterward, he started running around randomly at the speed of light. In this way, he managed to break the game first.
At the same time, Cayden was observing the view with interest from inside his home. From his perspective, he could see no fog with them wandering aimlessly outside. Behind him, Bryan was unexpectedly peering at the scene gleefully while supporting himself on a desk.
His chest was charred up with bruises and wounds all over, but not a single trace of blood was spilling as they were burnt and dried due to the lightning. The injury appeared quite serious.
"I will leave them to you." Abruptly, Cayden spoke softly, bringing him back to his senses.
"What?" Bryan was frightened, reckoning that he had listened wrong. How could he deal with them?
"You will know soon." Cayden turned back and pointed his finger at him.
Whoosh!
A tiny ball of his spiritual energy streaked into his forehead, making him flush from pleasure. He felt comfortable as his injuries healed in a couple of seconds and an astonishing change occurred in his mana.
Boom!
His mana became extraordinarily vigorous and its quantity increased by a huge margin, spreading energy fluctuations in the room.
Seeing that the room was about to get messy, Cayden snapped his finger, dissipating his uncontrollable mana.
"Why are you excited? You should know that your state is temporary, and I can take it back whenever I want." He scoffed coldly.
"I know." Cold water was poured over Bryan
"You may leave." Cayden waved his hand and Bryan vanished from the spot, emerging right near the gate.
"You…How are you alright?"
The moment Bryan stepped on the ground; a startled voice rang in his ears.
"It's you." Bryan's expression also changed. How could he forget the man who injured him not long ago?
Therefore, he became furious, taking out his new A-ranked blade and getting into his fighting posture.
"Brat, you dare raise your weapon at me? Wasn't the previous lesson enough?" Indeed, it was Richard who had eventually found this place.
"Humph! You are cocky as ever. Don't you understand your situation? You are already our food. Our Lord has been playing with you guys since the beginning." Bryan laughed.
"Is that so? But why do I think that he is just buying time? For me, he is a coward. If not, he would have already attacked us. How can one miss such an opportunity to take care of us?" Richard gave a good reason.
"Haha! You guys consider yourselves too highly. Remember that he needs only one finger to crush you all. You are an ant in front of him." Bryan mocked them disdainfully.
"It would have been a shame if he came out personally." He added in the end, not giving him any face.
"Bastard! How can you make fun of us S-ranked warriors? Without us, you wouldn't have even existed." Richard turned blue and red in anger.
"It's all in the past. From today, there will be no Sir Richard. The same goes for Sir Luther as well." Bryan didn't deny his words. Everyone knew how important they were to humanity.
The only mistake they made was offending someone they shouldn't have. Having finished saying this, he teleported right at his back, mobilizing his newborn mana.
Boom!
He exploded with tremendous speed, overtaking Richard who was famous for it himself. This was how great the Lord's mana was. Even a snail could become faster than a cheetah.
Puchi!