Darius, the security chief for this event was newly promoted limit rank awakener, and this task of maintaining order for this auction was his last job before he could apply for a promotion and join the team that can enter the towers and dungeons under Nishkal family's control.
But now with all these deaths and damage, Darius knew that even if he managed to kill everyone responsible for this attack, he would still be considered a failure in others eyes.
Nishkal family had a rule that forbade inner group marriage, and anyone found breaking it would be killed and sacrificed to the gods. That's why he did years of hard work and kept patience till he reached the limit rank and got the opportunity for a promotion and get the transfer to another team, before proposing his love to his subordinate Cory, yet all of that was wasted.
How happy he was planning surprises about how he'd propose her with a ring on his knees, with flowers on the ground and a beautiful moon in the sky, but before his dreams could come true, he had to wake up to this nightmare.
Watching the girl he loved suffering in those nether traps, while he could do nothing but clench his fists and walk away, had fueled his anger to the maximum.
This is why after finally finding the ones responsible for this attack, and seeing their leader resting in clouds, Darius finally couldn't hold himself back any longer. For the first time in his life he rushed to a battle wiithout any plan, reconnaissance or information.
And as luck would have it, the result of it was... obvious.
He fell down at an even faster speed than when he rushed up.
His body created a loud explosion sound as he fell to the ground. The sudden impact cracking the floor of the ceiling visibly.
As the dust cleared, people watched as Darius kept bleeding from his mouth while lying down.
The soldiers around the area who were in the middle of their fights, looked at their leader in such a precarious situation and halted their attacks.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtIn their shocked gazes, a hooded figure landed near the crater and slowly walked towards Darius's struggling body.
"I.. Would... ill you." Darius muttered in between his breath, as he tried to speak but couldn't form any clear words with his broken jaw.
Ignoring the false threats of a loser pig, the hooded man placed his feet over the fallen general's body and pressed it hard.
Darius struggled to stand up as he flapped the azure wings of flame on his back in hopes to burn the hooded man. But it feels he still underestimated the evil's scion and the guy he was facing.
The hooded figure grabbed the rattling wings with his hands and pulled them hard. The fire spread to his masked hands but couldn't burn though his clothes. With a loud grunt, the hooded man twisted his body back, as a crackling sound rang out in the open space, followed by an ear piercing scream.
Arrraaaaahhhhh! !!!!!!
The painful howling of Darius echoed throughout the skies, as the hooded figure ripped the wings from his back and stored them in his storage ring.
Darius kept crying in pain, as blood kept pouring out of his back. The wings he had were actually a treasure he received as a blessing. And after covering them with the Azure Essence Flame he found, he had created his own new skill. Only then was he able to cross the boundary and reach his limit rank.
But now he lost both his wings and the flame, not to mention in such a crude and barbaric way, which caused him to suffer from not only the unimaginable pain but also the severe backlash.
Yet despite this immense pain and grotesque looking injury, the vitality of a limit rank awakener was no joke. As Darius gritted his teeth and still stood up again for round 2.
In the world of Arcadia, any awakener can reach A rank. Even the ones who didn't have any talent or genius genes. All it takes is just a few handful of blessings and shit ton of pills and potions.
But the road after that is when talent comes into play.
For limit rank, if you don't have a solid foundation, and a high understanding of magic and mana, or a God backing you up who's ready to bet his faith on your future and sponsor you - then you can never cross this boundary.
Limit rank is considered the absolute peak of the mortal zone. Like reaching the height your body allows you to be. Where mana is filled to the brim for what your body can handle. That's why the difficulty for rank up at that time increases by 100 fold.
But not just difficulty, powers rises exponentially in this rank too. That's why there's even a saying that anyone below limit rank is just an ant in real battles.
And now, the same limit rank awakener who could kill A rank and below awakeners easily, was thrown to the ground like a ragdoll and ripped to pieces like that. The morale of Nishkal family's guards had obviously been affected by this display of disparity in their strength.
The trainees of Evil's Scion who seemed way too eager for the fight, took this chance and attacked the guards fiercely.
The new minions of the villainous organization wanted to prove their skills and show their worth in front of their superiors, so none of them held back and gave it their all in the fight.
After all, all of them knew the ones who didn't do well, would be killed or experimented upon once they went back.
Fear of death was nothing to them, as fear of failure was much higher.
Shiva, who was running up the stairs heard the screams and sounds of battle up ahead and increased his speed. His rushing figure flew past the bodies trapped in nether cocoons, ignoring their pleas for help or the mercy of death.
When he finally reached the open rooftop the scene that greeted him was of a fierce battle on its final stage.
Darius and the priest from Dike's church were fighting the leader of Evil's Scion together. While their other partners fought against the other members.
The advantage of numbers was still in the favor of the Nishkal family, as it was currently 7 vs 13. But Shiva knew this was just for now, since he noticed the teleportation circle lighting up. Any time now, another batch of evil's scions members would show up at their location and soon the battle would switch sides for good.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm The guards did try to stop the villains channeling the teleportation circle but only kept failing in their efforts."Time for me to sho_ Wait, is he at the limit rank?" Shiva said in his heart and was ready to remove the treasure that hid his aura, when he sensed something and stopped midway.
[Yupp. L+ rank, coupled with aura strengthening stage.]
'Fuck you system. Why didn't you say we were going to challenge top limit rank awakeners?' He asked. He had just spent a fortune on sending one limit rank villain to his base prison, and now he had to fight another. 'You should've told me sooner.' He complained.
While system, as always, an expert on shirking responsibility, just shrugged it's invisible non-existent shoulders and replied [You didn't ask.]
'I shouldn't need to, these are the things you should speak from your own initiative.' Shiva said.
[Well that takes points my host. I told you to buy an environmental scanning and magic map feature that'll warn you of these things beforehand, but you just shrugged it off and said, you don't need it.]
'That's cause you're too expensive and I wanted to _'
[Get them free in a lottery…you stingy idiot.] System finished his words with a taunt, and continued. [And what's the problem with fighting him? You can kill him quite easily even now, you just have to be smart about it.] System said with some amusement, as Shiva used apraisal on the villain and smiled in response too.
They both paired so perfectly now that they thought the same idea in a second.
[I didn't lie, did I?] System said, after knowing Shiva understood everything.
'Fine, whatever. But you're still muted nonetheless.' Shiva said and snapped his fingers, as the veil covering him disappeared and the space cracked open to a void, from which he walked out.
"Time for me to show off."