Merchant Of Yliaster

Nesha woke up as her bracelet vibrated. She concentrated for a moment on the vibration. A high-level emergency? She thought and got up with haste. After the recent intrusion, which Felix prevented, the security was now incomparable to what it was before. Throughout the house, detectors crafted through magic were positioned, and with some rather ingenious contraptions, they actually managed to link them with an electronic bracelet.

Detectors themselves didn't work with technology since the initiation, but this was the best they could do. Now, though, Nesha didn't know what to feel about this situation. His pet was enough to stop the previous attack, and they now attack when he is here? She thought. Whoever their uninvited guest was, they were certainly unlucky.

She left her room silently and found Devon waiting for her in the corridor, his expression calm. "I can sense 10 people below us. They still didn't reach this floor," he said.

"Should we tell him?" Nesha asked, obviously meaning Maxwell. Both knew that he was powerful, but they were not sure how much.

"Putting our guests before assassins is hardly noble behaviour. If something happens to me, you can go to him." Devon said, cracking his knuckles. He moved towards the door connecting the lower floor to this one, as the entrance from the roof was completely sealed after the recent intrusion.

Soon, the security too joined them, being composed of three mages and seven warriors. Nesha always felt this team was too much, as there was hardly any trouble in the nest, but she felt thankful at the moment.

They still didn't know why these people were attacking, but she didn't want to find out the reason firsthand.

It didn't take long for them to start hearing the enemy's footsteps. Soon, they would appear before the security team, as they didn't seem like they were trying to hide. It was the logical move, as they too knew that after the last failed attempt, the security would be much better now. So, they choose the more direct approach.

"There are 18 people among them. Some are coming from behind with a slower pace, so be wary of ranged fighters. The level range is around 25 to 32." Zeyn said, his eyes glowing with a blue light as he stared at the dark stairway. He was the one with the greatest detection skills among the security team, and also their leader.

"Lorin, gas them as they appear, make the gas disappear before we go in," he commanded one of the mages. Lorin had a weird affinity she didn't really talk about much, but she could create clouds of incredibly toxic gas.

Nesha took a few steps back to avoid getting hit by any stray attack and hid behind a pillar. She wouldn't hide like a fragile vase in her room, but she knew that she was no fighter.

It didn't take long for them to see a movement on the stairs, and a purple gas immediately covered the area, not giving the intruders any time to escape. Immediately, five members of the security, being the close combat fighters, rushed towards the smoke.

Just as it looked like they would dive into the poisonous fog blindly, the fog mysteriously disappeared without a trace, and revealed more than a dozen people with differing conditions.

Immediately, chaos engulfed the hall as the security's melee team made contact with the enemy.

Devon, who was still watching from the sidelines, watched the scene in satisfaction. The intruders seemed like regular assassins, albeit their level was rather high, and their team was not really having difficulty gaining the upper hand in the conflict.

Nesha relaxed, too, It seemed like the people who sent these assassins were a bit dumber than they first thought, as sending a team of regular assassins would hardly be enough to beat the security team of an old family like the Rodricks.

"I never understood why these people threw away their lives with the faintest mention of money," a voice said, and Nesha froze, her eyes widening. She immediately turned towards the voice and found that a man dressed in a black robe was standing beside her. He was watching the fight with apathetic eyes and smiled at her as she made eye contact.

Devon, though, was much more proactive. As soon as the man spoke, he moved and charging at the guy. After his first step, his body released a wave of steam, and his figure blurred before appearing beside the mysterious man.

"Oh, you are fast," the man said, as Devon punched out. For a moment, it looked like his fist would meet the man's stomach, but it ended up missing by a few centimeters.

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Devon stopped and looked at the man with a confused expression. He was sure that he didn't miss, yet, the proof was quite convincing. The man was still smiling as he pat his clothes.

"I haven't been accepting jobs since the initiation, you know, old money hardly matters anymore in my opinion. Yet, some things are quite valuable even for me. Just know that this is nothing personal," the man said unhurriedly, before waving his hand towards Devon.

The effect was hard to describe, as a colorless wave was released from the man's hand, disrupting the space it passed through as it moved. Before Devon could react, it reached him, and he disappeared as if he were just a figment of the spectator's imagination as energy met him.

"Well, I hope he didn't end up in the air, that hardly ends well," the man said, and turned towards Nesha, who was trying to move towards the residential area without pulling the man's attention. She was not very worried about Devon, as her brother was known for his sturdiness, but she was very much worried about herself.

"You are a chef right? How interesting. I always wanted to be a painter, you know, I wonder what kind of a class the system would give me if I pursued that," the man spoke nonchalantly, and with a wave of his hand, Nesha felt the air around her get thicker.

She pushed her body, yet it was useless. In a few seconds, she was completely immobilized. Space magic? She thought in panic, as she tried to think of some way out of the situation. She couldn't send Maxwell mental messages, as her telepathy was still not good enough to connect to the people she couldn't see, Devon was gone, and the security seemed very busy with the enemy they were facing.

Even if they weren't, Nesha didn't want them to die in vain against this unknown monster. She didn't come into contact with the members of the Civil Militia before the initiation, so she didn't know who this man was, but it was apparent that he was beyond strong. Devon was a figure feared by all in the city, yet this man played with him like he was a child.

He walked to her with the same relaxed pace and grabbed her forearm. "I still can't teleport with luggage, so we will need to use the traditional way." He said, and Nesha felt herself move against her will, space itself pushing her body.

They approached a window, and the man opened it with a flick of his wrist, the window moving up without any contact. In the next second, though, he froze to Nesha's puzzlement.

"Huh?" he turned back, glancing behind, and this made Nesha realize that there was a strange sound approaching from the distance. It took less than a second for the sound to become really intense, and a whizzing sound mixed with the static sound of electricity immediately drowned out all noise in the room.

"A ritual?" the man asked, not understanding what was happening, but his eyes were glued to a specific spot, where he was feeling an immense amount of mana. Nesha realized that the man was looking towards the residential area, and a small glimmer of hope appeared in her mind.

A few things happened in the next moment, and not many people could capture the event, as it was way too fast for any to even imagine following it completely.

There was a flash of blue light coming from the residential area, and this was all most of the people in the room managed to see. The mysterious man, though, could glimpse a white flash leaving the explosion of light for a brief moment, but he too couldn't understand what was happening.

Less than a tenth of a second after the blue flash, the silence returned, leaving behind a group of confused people. The intruders and security stopped fighting, as none of the parties could recognize the attack as being of their own.

Nesha rubbed her eyes, trying to get some of her vision back, and she was partly successful. With her blurry vision, still spotted due to the intense light, she glanced at her kidnapper, and found the man still looking back at the residential area as if he couldn't get over what he had seen.

The reality, though, was revealed soon, as the man toppled backwards a moment later, and Nesha was faced with the empty eyes of a person who didn't have enough time to comprehend their death. They still had the light of curiosity inside them, yet the gaping hole with burned edges on the man's forehead left no doubt about his fate.

Nesha froze as she stared at the man's corpse. She couldn't understand what happened, and she was not alone. Her stupor was interrupted as the door leading to the residential area opened slowly, and Maxwell walked out, not even glancing around before walking towards her. It was as if the man already knew what was going on behind the door.

As he walked, a strange phenomenon started to happen, as Nesha felt an incredible amount of mental energy move out of the man before her. The energy separated into individual streams, and the group from the Civil Militia, who were still standing in incomprehension, started to faint one by one.

First, it was only the wounded ones who fainted, but a couple of seconds later, others with higher levels too, fainted after moving with a drunken stupor.

"Sorry for the light, I didn't expect it to be so volatile," Maxwell said, as he held out a hand for Nesha, helping her up. When did she fall? She didn't even remember falling down.

"He teleported Devon, I think," she said, remembering her brother. While he was sturdy, she was still worried about the things the man said before his untimely death. If her brother were teleported hundreds of meters into the air, for example, even if he survived, the injuries would be devastating.

"Five," Maxwell said, and Nesha looked at him in incomprehension.

"Four," he continued, smiling like a mischievous child. It was weird seeing the usually nonchalant man with such an expression, and Nesha just stared at the man as he counted down.

"Zero," Maxwell said, and there was a crashing sound. The windows they were standing by crashed in, as it was not open anymore, as the power holding it open had vanished with the death of the space mage.

Devon, covered with a pungent liquid, entered the building with a crash and looked around with a fierce expression betraying a great deal of anger. His anger, though, turned into confusion as he took in the unfamiliar situation around him.

"Ew," the saviour of the day said intelligently.