Birth Of The Crafts-God

"Access denied."

Lucas widened his eyes in surprise.

In the past, he had been using the Bronze Grade cards without experiencing any side effects or having to deal with the system. The Bronze Grade card was an item that took effect so long as Lucas said the activation chant. There was no need for an intermediary like the system, which was why Lucas was surprised that it had spoken.

Nonetheless, the system talking to him at this moment was the least of Lucas' concerns.

"System, what do you mean?" Lucas questioned the system as he never expected such a response.

The words of the system was something he had never expected to hear especially at this moment, and it left Lucas dumbfounded.

"The system has judged that the host's situation is dire and could be worsened by the concocted plans of the host. As such, the system has found it necessary to interfere with the host's ideas in order to protect the host."

"You have to be fucking kidding me."

Lucas' eyes suddenly turned red [1].

When facing a situation that could potentially determine his life or death, the system had interfered under the guise of 'protecting the host'. It would be a lie to say that Lucas wasn't pissed.

"Why?!"

Despite yelling at the system, he got no response. In fact, Lucas had no time to consider a response as the attackers had already arrived before him.

'Damn it.' Lucas thought.

Without further hesitation, he summoned the gauntlets from the system inventory. Although Lucas couldn't use the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, he could still utilise the individual components in battle.

'As suspected, he has a spatial vault.' The fourth level stellar practitioner who was watching the battle narrowed his eyes as he felt the situation become more complicated.

The captain, Jonathan Oakval, had called for him for a secretive operation. A lieutenant in the Baylands City Patrol Corps led a platoon of sixteen men —the lieutenant included- which was a stark contrast to the eight-man platoon in the Red Fangs. This meant that, excluding some of the pilots, all the other men for this mission were from his platoon. So, whatever occurred, whether good or bad, his platoon would be involved with it

The revelation that Lucas possessed a spatial vault struck some fear into the lieutenant. Discover more stories at empire

Spatial vaults were rare vestiges that not anyone could get even if they could afford it. The vestiges could almost compare to a Grade 4 vestige due to its rarity. The fact that Lucas had one with him implied that his backer was not an ordinary figure.

Naturally, this had the lieutenant becoming nervous about the operation.

Meanwhile, Lucas barely held his own against the group of four. However, whenever the third level stellar practitioner made his move, he became unstable and was forced back a few steps away.

'Damn it.' Lucas cursed.

If the battle had taken place within the store, he was confident of handling his own and fending off everyone, including the old man that had appeared earlier. However, the location was disadvantageous to him, and the system was also preventing Lucas from using his trump cards.

Even if he could somehow defeat the four men before him, there were still the fourth level Lieutenant and the third level agent who stood beside him. There was also the fifth level agent that Laura had managed to hold back for a while, and even the old man who had went into the Mertens family main house.

Lucas doubted that the Mertens family would give their all to help him, after all, it came with much difficulty and Lucas had yet to agree to the family head's suggestion. In such an event, the Mertens family wouldn't want to offend the Baylands City Patrol Corps for him.

To summarise, Lucas was on his own.

"Give up already and stop resisting arrest." The third level stellar practitioner agent said.

The group has resorted to a tiring out strategy since Lucas was defending so well. But the problem with that remained that they were short on time. The longer the battle went, the more disadvantageous it would be for them.

"Brother..." Melissa worriedly stared at Lucas' back.

No matter how aggressive or how disastrous the situation was, Lucas had made sure that none of the attackers went past him. He had always ensured that regardless of which point it was, Melissa's silhouette would always be protected by him. Undoubtedly, this put a toll on Lucas' body and made the battle even more difficult for him, but he didn't care. However, the same couldn't be said about Melissa who felt guilty about the situation.

"Don't worry, Mel. Big brother won't let anything happen to you." Lucas glanced at her and smiled.

Just then, the door to the Mertens family main house opened. The two major battles paused for a moment as the old man who had gone in earlier walked out. He glanced around and seeing that his men were still engaged in battle, he frowned.

"It's so difficult to just capture a human male and a young hybrid girl?"

He then turned towards Jonathan and saw Laura facing opposite him.

Grimacing, the old man said, "Little girl, do not interfere any longer. Your father has already given us permission."

Laura froze while Lucas let out a sigh. He had already expected it, yet he still held on some kind of hope. Now though, there was no reason for that.

On the other hand, Laura was wondering why her father had stepped back so easily. This was especially so with how cocky the Baylands City Patrol Corps agents had been by waltzing into their estate.

"I don't believe it." Laura shook her head.

However, the robot from earlier moved closer to her and projected an image. It was that of her father, Russell Mertens.

"Laura, step back." Russell said.

"But father..."

"No buts." Russell cut her off.

While everyone was distracted by the image, Jonathan abruptly made his move. At a speed that seemed to rival teleportation, he dashed towards Lucas. The latter had failed to react in time; no, rather, it was that he couldn't even react in time as Jonathan was too quick. The last thing Lucas saw was Jonathan's fist which loomed in front of him until it struck him right away, knocking Lucas out.

"You...!"

By the time she noticed something was off, it was too late and all Laura could do was glare at Jonathan.

"Take him away." Jonathan ignored her and gave the orders to his men.