"Interesting."
Cayden grinned, watching the scene from the top floor of a café.
"My Lord! What about her caught your attention? Should I keep an eye on her?" Bryan asked confusingly, stirring a cup of coffee for him.
"No need for that." Cayden shook his head, not explaining any further.
"It went better than expected." Taking the coffee from him, he muttered evilly.
"Hah! It's good." He then retracted his vision and instead enjoyed the coffee.
"Glad you like it." Bryan nodded, thinking of how to get its recipe from this place.
***
In the streets, Amelia was still engaged in a battle with Desmond, Kenneth, and Levi. They were coordinating their attacks and putting her in a tight spot.
She had already suffered several severe injuries which could have taken the life of an average A-ranked warrior on the spot. But she was still alive and kicking well.
It was all because of an ancient-looking tree around a hundred meters tall that had emerged from her back. It was swinging its branches and blocking the opponents' attack while releasing a green aura that was supplying her with constant vitality and healing her.
"You are quite resilient, aren't you?"
"But how long can you hold on?"
"We know your mana is nearly depleted."
They declared elatedly.
"Don't push your luck. You guys are pathetic. Can't you hear the sound of sirens?" Amelia forced a smile.
"Damn! The police force is approaching us."
"Let's finish her with the next move. It's time to reveal our ultimate skills as well."
They revealed serious expressions and channeled tones of their mana, hoping to end this soon.
"Earth Reaper"
His whole body transformed into a chainsaw, reaching half the size of the gigantic tree while emitting destructive noise from the whirring blades.
Buzz!
The air vibrated as the space seemed to be collapsing any second.
Similarly, Levi and Kenneth followed up.
"Nuclear Cannon"
"Earthquake"
Levi locked his hands, and they transformed into a huge sci-fi cannon. It slowly gathered energy, forming a dangerous purple ball of light in the muzzle.
Desmond simply inserted his hands in the ground and it started shaking with fissures and cracks appearing in a two hundred meters radius. This continued until the ground steadily began disintegrating, turning everything to dust.
Seeing this, Amelia took a deep breath. "Field of Lassitude"
From the trunk of her tree, a pink bud-like thing transpired, and it bloomed, releasing a weird strong misty fragrance, changing the color of the air in the process.
This aroma drifted into their nose, causing them to feel fatigued and their vision to blur out with some slight headaches. Not only that, but they perceived multiple sights of Amelia everywhere.
"Fuck! Stop breathing." Kenneth yelled.
"What type of power is this? Even our mana cannot suppress it. Moreover, it's tearing up our eyes." Levi was shocked.
"Forget it guys. Just blast that tree in the middle. She can't escape the range of our attacks anyway in such a short time." Desmond coldly stated, continuing to pour mana into the ground.
"Ok!"
The chainsaw turned red, rushing towards the trees and slicing them in half. At the same time, Levi's cannon and Desmond's power blasted the site to smithereens.
Boom!
A loud explosion took place with dust and smoke billowing into the sky.
"Is she dead?" Kenneth questioned, returning to his usual body.
"Should be the case. I can't sense her breath." Desmond replied, scanning the area keenly.
Nonetheless, the lingering smoke and mist were making it difficult for him to locate her body.
"Let me help." Levi's hand turned into a blower, clearing the scene in a couple of seconds.
"What? Where is her body? Did she escape?" Noticing nothing except for a deep pit, burnt parts of a tree, and some traces of blood, Desmond was in disbelief.
"Did she escape?" Their expressions became unsightly.
"It's not possible." A virtual scouter appeared in Levi's eyes through which he analyzed every particle here, not leaving behind any details.
Soon, he caught something. From a pile of rubble, he pulled out a lackluster gem having cracks all over.
"Mana Stone!"
All three of them gasped staggeringly.
"I see. She must have consumed a lot of them to resist us while hiding behind the mist sneakily. However, how could she be so extravagant?"
"They are scarce. They are mostly found outside of our continent and in some special dungeons of the top-class guilds. Among us underground forces, only the Dark Rapier Gang has some."
"Despite that, they don't bring it along with them. It's precious you know. It can be used to manufacture artifacts. Only those with the blacksmith class can process these stones since they contain lots of mana within them."
"Yeah. This now explains why the old man Theodore was after her. He must be planning to seize the dungeon containing these stones from her. As for us, he must be planning to distribute the ordinary ones."
"Humm! Wouldn't it have been better if he had personally made the move?"
"Who knows? Maybe he wasn't confident in subduing her alone. Even the three of us together couldn't capture her."
"It's true. Besides, he might be being cautious of the military. It would be a disaster if the military knew about the magic stones."
"Indeed. So, what are we going to do?"
"Actually, we can keep tracking down her by following the blood on the ground. However, I'm not satisfied with that."
"We should either negotiate with her or the old man."
"Haha! How can we be satisfied with just that? Tomorrow at the auction, we will have a conversation."
"Absolutely."
"But the question is what if she escapes?"
"Who cares what she does? She can't carry the dungeons with her, can she?"
"It's true."
"Nevertheless, I can't resist the urge to barge in her place. Why don't we raze it down overnight?"
"Fool! This would create a big commotion, alerting other gangs and the guilds. Can't you see what a single battle caused? We have completely wrecked this place, resulting in the military scurrying over here."
"I believe the old man was worried about this. That's why he must have played a dirty trick. If not, why would she allow her little sister to get in harm?"
They discussed with each other, thinking of the endless probabilities.
"Anyways, let's leave for now. They are nearing us. Everything will be decided the next day."
Whoosh!
They disappeared from the spot, and the police force could only watch them leave helplessly.
As for Ava, she was still in a state of shock. Opposite her, the officer with the goatee was trying to converse with her, yet it was futile. It looked like she had lost her mind.
While he and the nearby policemen were wondering what to do, his face abruptly changed.
"Fall back!"
He waved his hand and everyone was dragged a couple of steps back, falling to the ground.
Bang!
A female in tattered clothes, radiating insane bloodlust appeared right ahead of them. Her aura was so immense and disoriented that they turned pale from fright.
"Amelia"
The goateed officer narrowed his eyes, releasing his aura.
"I owe you one." Amelia sighed softly before retracting her attention to Ava and the dead body of Bela.
"Sorry!" Mummering sadly, she hacked the back of Ava's neck, making her unconscious. Next, vines emerged from her feet, wrapping around the body of Ava and Bela.
Then she left the scene in a jiffy, dragging them.
"Sir, why did you let them go? We could have interrogated them." One of his subordinates couldn't help but ask.
"Do you think that I could stop her? She fought three A-ranked warriors head-on. She deserves our respect. Today's matter put it upon the three gangs. Do you think that we would let them go this easily?" The officer scoffed.
"Creating such a mess in broad daylight. What were they thinking? Isn't tomorrow the day of the auction? I have a hunch something bad is going to happen." He was worried.
***
Time passed by swiftly with today's news getting concealed as well. Mobilizing the supernatural powers, the scene was restored as well by the police force. It was as easy as drinking water for them.
Nevertheless, this caused the news outlets to be outraged and the military to become helpless, listening to their pestering. But they didn't care since they had a bigger problem at hand.
Indeed, it was related to Cayden, the Heavenly Demon. When they got the news that all of their agents had fallen victim, they were scared out of their wits. How powerful must be one to kill people at a kilometer radius in the blink of an eye?
All it took was strands of hair. Therefore, they stopped following and investigating him. They were terrified. Especially, when there were no updates on their two heroes.
The pressure on them was increasing too because of his sudden appearance in B-city. Was he here for the auction? Or was he here to turn everything upside down? Nobody knew.
In the end, they had to alert the underground forces to be careful. In addition, they were going to tighten up the security in the city. The other thing that needn't be said was that more heroes were making their way here.
How could those heroes not be anxious about their missing friends Luther and Richard? If anything happened to them, humanity would suffer a considerable loss. Their expedition would come to a hold.
Hence, B-city was sleepless that night. A big day was drawing closer; the day of the auction.