YAKIA WENT DOWN TO THE SLAVE HOUSE to check on Lars just like his father asked. In fact, she was more than happy to do so.
There were several entrances to the Slave House, and she went through the one just inside their manor, some sort of a VIP entrance so that the VIP guests may go check the slaves beforehand without going through the entrance where most people go through.
Yakia descended through a short staircase that led her to a lift. Using that lift, Yakia descended until she reached a VIP lounge in the Slave House.
From the lounge, Yakia continued to a certain guarded corridor that led her to the Slave House’s slave cells where most slaves were being held (aside from the slaves that require specialized containers).
“Hey there!” Yakia greeted with a higher tone of voice.
Lars ignored her. He was chained to the wall with four runic shackles—two on the wrist and two on the ankles—which prevented him from using his Karma.
“Oh, come on, Lars. No need to be so cold just because you couldn’t use your Karma.”
“Screw you!”
Yakia laughed. “Whoa, looks like something’s still hot on you.”
She entered Lars’s cell and approached him.
“What do you want, Yakia?”
“Nothing. My father just ordered me to check on you,” Yakia started to caress Lars’s face and chest. Her hands went down to Lars's bandaged abdomen which made Lars twitch. “Zeb’s somewhere so he’s not here to annoy you. I’m doing it on his behalf.”
“Why are you looking for Zeb? Aren’t you all supposed to hunt for some elf today?”
Yakia stopped, confused. “Wait, what? What elf are you talking about?”
“He was talking to someone in a telesponder last night. He started getting hysterical about earning millions if he catches an elf.”
Yakia grabbed his neck and pinned his head to the wall. “Where did that airhead go? Tell me!!”
“A-Are you s-serious?!” Lars protested. “I’m a-already c-chained, you know.”
Yakia released his neck. “Fine. Now, where’s Zeb?”
Lars coughed. “I heard that they were going to Saint Crudeo to catch an elf. They left just a few hours ago. They should be there by now.”
“That stupid son of a…I’m gonna kill him when I see him,” Yakia growled as she left Lars’s cell.
Yakia immediately went back to the manor, which annoyed her because she had to ascend the stairs. Sure, going down was easy and there were lifts, but there were still staircases she had to ascend through and it was a long walk back to the manor.
She then stormed into the room where his father was currently in. “Father! I got bad news.”
Don Tauran faced his daughter. “What? What is it?”
“It’s Zeb, he went to the Lumbard territory with his underlings without telling us!”
Don Tauran stood up fast from his seat. “Are you sure?! How did you know?!”
“I went down the Slave House just as you told me. I made Lars talk and he told me that Zeb plans on hunting some elf for money.”
“Gods damn it! That's why he borrowed my runic earpiece last night and even watched the previous recordings! He’s going to compromise everything, Yakia. Go with your men. Make sure he comes back here!”
* * * * *
A few moments earlier before Daisuke and Siegfried were confronted by Zeb, Riku and the rest were already at the farmlands where the local police have set up an evacuation station. Nurses and doctors scrambled as they put first aid to the injured. Meanwhile, Brunnhilde prioritized those that received critical wounds.
“Brunnhilde, are you still okay?” asked Riku. “You’re beading sweat.”
“I’m fine. Thanks for the concern,” Brunnhilde smiled at Riku. “I’ll let you know if I’m running out of mana so someone can give me some.”
“Shouldn’t we go back?!” asked Robin. “I think we’ve already evacuated most of the civilians within the area.”
“I agree,” said Mirana. “Whatever that thing was, I don’t think Daisuke and Siegfried would be able to hold them off on their own.”
Suddenly, a familiar face approached them. “Riku! Are you alright?”
“Graphael!” Riku greeted smilingly. “We’re fine. We managed to stop the stampede, but then something more dangerous came. Daisuke and Siegfried were left behind to handle it.”
Graphael gazed in the direction of the city proper of Saint Crudeo.
“We can’t go there. The local police have already blocked the path. We’re also helping Brunnhilde here to heal the wounded,” said Raijin.
Graphael smiled at them. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure that they are fine.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Riku.
“Just trust me and stay here for now.”
Graphael left the evacuation area and went towards the city proper.
On his way, he saw Zeb in his refined hybrid form. He also saw Daisuke and Siegfried from afar, both lying down and seemed to be unconscious.
Graphael immediately activated his Karma making his skin turn darker—graphene. Using his extraordinary speed, he charged past Zeb and straight to one of the henchmen that were about to take Daisuke and punched him straight in his face.
A few seconds later, a Lumbard Famiglia executive arrived, Lira. With her ability, Lira sent the other men of Zeb flying back as she performed a straight kick. While Zeb’s henchman stumbled, he was hit by what seemed to be an invisible force, sending him even farther away.
Finally, Luciano arrived and confronted Zeb.
“Coming here without other executives? You’ve got balls, Zeb. I’ll give you that.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“You think you can intimidate me, Luci?” Zeb started to laugh. “So what if there are three of you? I just pulverized twenty of your men back at the border! We defeated one of your executives! I'll take you all at once!”
Luciano started to get irritated and activated his Karma. “Overconfidence is what’s going to kill you.”
In a blink of an eye, Luciano closed the gap between him and Zeb. He followed with a straight punch, which Zeb easily blocked with his arms.
“You’ll have to do better than that, Luci!” Zeb taunted.
As Zeb and Luciano fought, Zeb’s henchmen started to get up.
“We’ve got these, Luciano! Keep that steak busy!” Lira shouted.
Graphael tried to take the unconscious Daisuke and Siegfried, but earth debris flew toward him. The henchman Lira attacked was standing up already and used his Karma to manipulate the earth.
“You’re not taking my prize!!” Zeb shouted as he saw Graphael taking both Daisuke and Siegfried.
Luciano blocked his path and kicked him. Zeb managed to block with his right arm and grabbed Luciano’s foot. Zeb then tried to force himself through Luciano, but Luciano managed to keep his ground with just one foot on the ground easily.
Luciano once again activated his power and a surge of mana expanded from him like a shockwave. “You better not disappoint me, Zeb. I’m doing better as you asked.
“Activating your power twice...I've already seen that trick!”
* * * * *
Graphael knew that he had to keep Daisuke and Siegfried away from the battle. For some reason, an Auros executive and his henchmen were after them. However, things would be a lot easier if he deals with one of the henchmen first.
“They both piss me off,” said Graphael to Lira. “I'll take the one that threw those rocks at me.”
“Sure thing. I'll take the other.”
Graphael covered his skin with graphene, making it durable from almost any attack, and quickly went after his target. As he dashed forward, the henchman he punched earlier activated his power, gravitating earthen rubbles towards him, encasing him inside an earthen armor.
But Lira was not standing idly. She quickly joined the fray, overtook Graphael, and delivered a spinning kick toward the earth-armored henchman. The initial kick was easily blocked by the henchman, but after a few seconds, an invisible force followed which caused the henchman to skid farther.
Graphael passed through them with Lira pinning the earth-armored henchman.
The earth-throwing henchman levitated several earthen rubbles and launched them toward Graphael. It didn't affect Graphael though thanks to his graphene skin. And once he closed the distance between them, Graphael released a graphene-enhanced punch.
To evade the attack, he made a large piece of the earth under him levitate, making him airborne, making a great distance against Graphael's melee-oriented attacks. Several rubbles levitated as well and when there were enough to block the sky, the henchman made a rain of earth towards Graphael at high speed, like meteors falling from the sky, carving the ground below.
Graphael did not mind the falling debris, however, and just waited for all the debris to fall. A few more seconds and the earthen shower halted. The henchman saw him still standing and prepared for another round of earthen showers.
Rubble levitated again, but this time, Graphael got to hold on to one large boulder. Due to the number of rubble levitating, the henchman did not notice Graphael. And once Graphael was airborne, he immediately went towards the large floating piece of earth where the henchman was standing.
Frozen in fear, the henchman was not able to move as Graphael struck him with a barrage of graphene-enhanced punches.
They both fell as the henchman's Karma got canceled.
* * * * *
Lira wasn’t having any problem dealing with her opponent. However, she found it fascinating that despite the heavy earthen armor, the henchman was still able to match her speed.
“Right, you can manipulate the earth. That's how you could move faster than I expected.”
The henchman ignored her and continued attacking Lira. He released earth-enhanced strikes, left and right, non-stop, not giving Lira the chance to counter or make a gap.
However, Lira doesn't need to make a gap, she's a close-combat specialist after all. She activated her Karma and started her counter-attack.
Lira evaded the last strike of the henchman and countered with a straight punch. Her Karma allowed her to double her attack, from one second to a few seconds of delay, with varying chances of causing more damage. Luckily, her "second punch" caused more damage, causing the earthen armor of the henchman to deform, some pieces even crumbled.
That made Lira smile a little.
The henchman gravitated more earth towards him to fix his armor, but Lira did not allow that to go on any further. She assaulted the henchman non-stop, causing his armor to deteriorate faster than the henchman could fix it with his Karma.
With one more decisive kick, or two because of her Karma, the henchman fell to the ground. But Lira was not done yet. She wanted to ensure that the henchman will not get up again.
Earth rubble levitated around them due to the other henchman that Graphael was dealing with. She used that opportunity to grab hold of one piece of debris that took her high enough. And once she was satisfied with the altitude, she let go of the debris and performed a dropkick straight at the henchman.
The dropkick caused a crater and once Lira's Karma took effect, a larger crater was carved and the henchman was sent down deeper. As the dust cleared, Lira saw that the henchman was now totally incapacitated.
* * * * *
Zeb, who was so confident at first, started to stutter. “You…s-since when did you c-could do that?!”
During their fight, Luciano activated his Karma for the third time, making his base strength quadruple. At the most basic, Luciano could double his raw strength, but after spending years of training, he managed to triple and even quadruple his strength by activating his Karma repeatedly.
“I don't have to tell you anything, you Auros scum.”
Zeb attacked Luciano, but with Luciano’s thrice-activated Karma, Luciano managed to overpower him. He caught Zeb’s right fist, then twisted his arm and attempted to break it. But Zeb parried the right fist of Luciano that was about to break his right elbow.
Luciano released Zeb’s right fist, grabbed him by the horns, and hits his chin with his right knee. Zeb staggered backward and fell to the ground flat on his back.
Luciano placed his foot on Zeb's chest and as he pressed down, Zeb slowly dug into the ground.
“What are you doing here, Zeb?”
Zeb tried to remove Luciano’s foot, but it was just too heavy. “I’m just…h-here for the elf, man.”
“What elf? The one Graphael took?” asked Lira who approached them after her successful fight.
“Yes! I...I just needed him…for m-money.”
“Ugh. Just how desperate are you to sell even an elf at your Slave House?”
Zeb scoffed. “Don’t speak like you Lumbards are clean. Besides, I’m not selling him, I’m handing him over…t-to the United Alliance.”
Lira and Luciano looked at each other.
“What do you mean?” asked Luciano.
“That’s all I’m telling you, Luci.”
Luciano pressed down even harder. Zeb growled in pain as his ribs get crushed.
“I’m not a man of patience, Zeb, and you know that.”
Zeb winced in pain. Even in his refined hybrid form, the thrice-activated Karma of Luciano has managed to break his bones. “Alright! Alright! O-Our cousin Bivon contacted us! H-He said that the avatar of Ariyani is here in E-Elysia!”
Luciano removed his foot from Zeb’s chest.
More Lumbard Famiglia members arrived on the scene and placed runic shackles on Zeb and his henchmen, preventing them from using their powers.
“We caught the other Auros Famiglia henchmen near the border, Sir Luciano,” reported one of the Lumbard Famiglia members. “As for the casualties, they should be receiving the necessary treatments for their wounds.”
“Take them to Saint Margheritte. We can use them as leverage against the Auroses.” Luciano ordered.
Graphael went towards them. “What happened? Did he speak?”
“You, we need to talk. But first, we need to round up these Auros scums—”
Before he could finish, several soldiers arrived and surrounded them with high-caliber firearms pointed at them.
Lira sighed, “They’re here.”
“We’ll take them from here, Luciano,” said Antonio, the country’s Secretary of Defense.
“Funny how it takes, four, five dozen of armed soldiers and the secretary of defense himself just to take an Auros Famiglia executive and their henchmen. And you even brought those Silence Torch.”
Several soldiers behind were behind the ones with weapons were holding torch-like objects that emanate some sort of light. The top end has runic symbols similar to the mana-suppressing shackles and the ones written on jail cells of the Colosseum Empire.
Aside from the military, Yakia and her men reached the area. Seeing the situation, she decided not to interfere.
“We’re not here for any trouble, Luciano. But let's be honest—we are at the disadvantage with Karma-users like you Mafia Famiglia. We have to protect ourselves,” said Antonio.
“And who said we need our powers to kill you all?” said Luciano as he took out a pair of karambit knives.
The soldiers pointed their weapons at him, but Lira decided to intervene. “Just let them do what they want, Luci. We'll have our chance.”
Antonio smirked. “You should listen more to your pretty cousin, Luciano,” Antonio then walked past them and towards Zeb. “Zeb Auros! You and your men are…under arrest for causing massive private and public property damages and injuries to the civilians.”
Zeb snorted. “Whatever.”
As soon as the soldiers and the secretary of defense left, Luciano faced Graphael and Lira and sighed. “Lira, order our men to go back to the mansion in the meantime. And you, Graph, tell me more about those two civilians you tried to save.”
Yakia and her men then left the area before they could be seen.