I.

DON LUCA MAY BE A POWERFUL MAN and the one who usually offers people something that they could not decline, but even he still accepts a job that he cannot say 'no' to.

Lars and his team's failed "recon mission" was one of them.

The four families of the Mafia Famiglia were no strangers in each other’s businesses. However, they find it best not to interfere with each other. But even professionals have standards; something that a certain someone thinks that the Auros family seems to have forgotten.

Originally, Lars and his team were to find out if the Auroses indeed have a Slave House in Elysian Republic’s land, confirm what a certain group thinks the Auroses sell in their Slave House, and then burn the Slave House to the ground. Now, Daisuke and his friends’ mission was not only to save Lars but also to finish that mission.

With their original plan rendered useless because of the runic magic embedded in Clara the maid, they came up with a new one that involved a direct conflict against the Auros Famiglia.

They planned to make the Auroses think that they didn’t know about Clara. Thus, Daisuke and his friends went through the planned path where there will be fewer Auros henchmen.

It was a risk since they could be ambushed, but the Auroses took the bait.

As Daisuke and his friends went to the manor, they knew that they were being monitored. Auros henchmen were ordered to let them go, however, so that they could be trapped inside the manor. After all, two elves, two Drasgardians, and a mage could be worth the money for the Auroses when sold in their Slave House.

What the Auroses didn’t know was that Lars’s team members—Volg, Greta, Ventori, and Geode—were already inside the Auroses’ territory and waiting for two other executives to come out. With the four of them trained for stealth missions and the henchmen focused on Daisuke and his friends, it was easier for them to infiltrate Auroses’ territory.

Their new plan included four pairs that will serve as a diversion to keep the Auros executives busy, away from the manor, while a small team will search and rescue Lars, and ultimately destroy the Slave House from the inside.

Lars was indeed supposed to be caught so he could destroy the Slave House from the inside. But that didn’t go smoothly when he got impaled by Gauro. With his wound, he couldn't use his Karma without risking his own life.

Mirana and Riku, Team Alpha, will keep one executive at bay. Daisuke and Robin, Team Bravo, were supposed to keep Zeb busy. Volg and Greta, Team Charlie, will team up against another executive. And Ventori and Geode, Team Delta, will deal with the fourth one. While the executives were busy, Siegfried, Raijin, and Brunnhilde, the Team Echo, were tasked to find where Lars was and heal him.

However, even their new plan didn't go on smoothly: Robin and Siegfried got switched during the bulls' stampede, prompting Siegfried to leave Daisuke to fight Zeb alone to find and protect Brunnhilde; Mirana and Riku had to face not only Kouper, but also a dozen bulls and even more henchmen, which was more than they could handle if they were being honest; and Robin, Raijin, and Brunnhilde had to continue onward and ended up facing Gauro and Yakia.

Luckily, Volg, Greta, Ventori, Geode, and Siegfried arrived just in time, making a huge change to the plan. Volg, having a grudge against Gauro, decides to face him on his own while Siegfried had to face one executive as well as ordered by Brunnhilde so that the rest may continue to the manor.

“Let's make this count,” said Ventori.

“And finish this quickly”, added Brunnhilde.

* * * * *

Kouper immediately proved to be bad news against Riku and Mirana. And they still had to deal with the bulls and the henchmen.

“There's too many of them!” Mirana shouted, “And that thing isn't helping!”

“Germinio Phrenesia!” A wave of thorny rose briars entangled the unlucky henchmen and bulls, immobilizing them in the process. It took much of Riku's mana, but nothing she couldn't handle.

“Roseaus Armatura!” she chanted right after the first one, adorning herself with rose armor.

Mirana was about to get hit by Kouper’s fist when Riku turned her rose spear into a rose whip and used it to grab Kouper’s wrist, stopping his attack. Mirana used that opportunity to cast her spell.

“Glacio Lux!” From the orb of the Everfrost, a beam of ice was released and went straight to Kouper.

Kouper blocked the beam with his arms, making him skid back, frost forming on his arms.

As soon as the spell halted, Kouper was still standing unharmed. He then shattered the ice that formed on his arms.

“Is this the strength of the so-called mages?” Kouper scoffed. “Pathetic. This is why you weapon users and magic users will always be inferior to us Karma users.”

“You talk too much,” said Mirana as she prepared another spell. “Riku! Cover me!”

Kouper charged toward Mirana with great speed, but Riku managed to cut him off. She reverted her rose whip to a rose spear and used it to release a barrage of stabs toward Kouper.

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“Now!” Mirana shouted, prompting Riku to leap away.

“Glacio Meteoro!” Up above, a large chunk of ice fell straight to Kouper. In a matter of seconds, the large chunk of ice hit the ground and Kouper. Ice and earth debris was scattered everywhere.

Riku was unharmed thanks to her armor while Mirana hid behind an ice wall she created. As the debris and dirt subsided, they saw the silhouette of Kouper, still standing.

Kouper transformed the last minute into a more refined version of his hybrid forms like the one Zeb used against Daisuke and Siegfried. His bovine-looking head turned more into his human head with fewer bovine features. He maintained the horns though, the tough-looking skin, and the bovine lower limbs.

Unlike Zeb though, his arms were larger and looked like an amalgam of human arms and bovine front legs, granting him a unique oversized bovine foot on each of his arms. Getting punched with those would be instant death.

“I heard that my brother was forced to use his refined hybrid form. And to think you two will force me as well,” Kouper lowered his stance. “You two will regret stepping on our land.”

* * * * *

II.

VOLG AND SIEGFRIED HAD THEIR FAIR SHARE of struggles against Auros executives. While Volg was fighting the eldest executive Gauro, Siegfried was keeping the only daughter Yakia busy.

“Do you know how much I hate using this power?!” yelled Yakia as she tried to stomp Siegfried who easily dodged her attacks. “I look so ugly in this form!!”

Siegfried was good at reading a person’s move. He could tell Yakia’s next attack, making it easier for him to dodge. “I really don't care. And you are ugly from the get-go!!”

Yakia nostrils flared and became more aggressive, combining her leg attacks with jabs.

With Yakia losing her composure, Siegfried started to counter by striking Yakia with his swords. However, Yakia’s hide was durable enough to keep her unharmed from Siegfried's slashes.

After he saw an opening though, Siegfried changed his stance and stabbed Yakia. Indeed, their skin was durable against blunt attacks and slashes, but stabbing them with enough force does the trick.

Yakia growled in pain after getting stabbed in her shoulder. She grabbed the blade, pulled it out, and tossed the sword along with Siegfried.

The stab wound wasn't that deep, but it was enough to make Yakia bleed. Siegfried took that as a silver lining.

Yakia growled even more and released more mana to use her power again and transformed into a refined hybrid form. Her face turned more human again with less bovine features, except for the ears and horns. Like Zeb and Kouper, her lower limbs stayed like bovine legs. One thing unique about her was that her arms and head gained more hair that she could freely manipulate.

“You've got to be kidding me...” Siegfried ran as he dodged the hair tendrils that formed into spears, trying to stab him.

“Stay still!” shouted Yakia. “I cannot kill you if you keep moving!!”

“Damn, woman! You're crazy!!”

Siegfried tripped and fell to the ground. Yakia took the opportunity and sent several hair spears went toward Siegfried while he was still lying on the ground.

Siegfried managed to block and parry several hair spears, but one got through and stabbed him in his abdomen.

* * * * *

Volg was trying to overpower Gauro by sending non-stop streams of flames toward him. However, Gauro was either dodging the flames that Volg shoots at him with ease or blocked them with his battle ax.

Gauro would also use his battle ax against Volg, though Volg was quick enough to dodge the ax’s sharp blade.

“Are you really Lars’s student?” Gauro taunted. “You are one terrible flame Karma user.”

“Shut up!!” Volg shouted. “You’ll pay for what you did to him!”

Volg continued to shoot fireballs as he ran around and released long streams of flames at Gauro.

“Oh, yeah! I remember...I made a hole in your teacher's stomach!” Gauro taunted as he ignored Volg’s flame.

Volg shouted as he continued to attack Gauro with his flames, but Gauro was growing impatient and eventually got bored with him. At that point, he could easily overpower Volg, bring him to their father, and get done with it.

“Funny how your father sent you here despite us wanting to catch you.”

Volg got distracted and slowed down. Gauro took that opportunity and countered. Gauro grabbed Volg by his wrist and sent him flying towards a large round bale which ignited thanks to Volg’s flame.

Gauro looked around and saw how much damage Volg caused in their hayfield. He used his ability to command the cows around and made them trample the fire before they cause a wildfire.

“Didn’t you know that you are the one we are after during your uncle’s failed recon mission?”

“W-What are you talking about?”

“You don’t know?” Gauro laughed. “Tell me, do you even know who your father is?”

“I…I don’t have parents. My uncle’s the one who took care of me.”

“Huh. Well, as a token of appreciation for you coming all the way here, let me tell you something. You are Don Luca’s bastard. And if we catch you, which we will, we are going to use you against him.”

Volg laughed hysterically and covered himself in flame again. “I don’t know what you are talking about. And I am not listening to any of your lies. Me? Son of Don Luca? That’s absurd!”

Volg continued to attack Gauro with streams of flame from his fists.

* * * * *

Zeb and Daisuke started their rematch.

Zeb was already in his refined hybrid form while Daisuke was using his avatar form, at least a small percentage of it.

Daisuke was amazed that he could keep up with Zeb’s speed while maintaining his avatar power. They exchange blows, not letting the other gain the upper hand.

When Daisuke saw an opening, he lowered himself and released a kick sideways. Zeb got hit and almost dropped to the ground, but he immediately managed to regain composure.

“Not bad, elf!” shouted Zeb. “But not good enough!” he continued as he charged toward Daisuke.

Daisuke created a wooden arm, but instead of creating a huge one, he followed Volg’s advice and kept it smaller, yet compact. The wooden arms looked like a gauntlet that kept Daisuke’s mobility unhindered.

He released a straight right punch which Zeb tried to counter with a straight right punch as well. When their fists collided, a shockwave occurred, and the ground they were standing on cratered.

As soon as the shockwave subsided, Zeb grabbed Daisuke, went behind him, and performed a suplex, catching Daisuke off guard. The ground cratered even more with Daisuke and Zeb at the center.

While Daisuke was still lying on the ground, Zeb went above the crater and performed a diving elbow drop, hitting Daisuke on his stomach, further widening the crater upon contact.

Zeb grabbed Daisuke by the neck and strangled him. “You and your friends are one thousand years way too early to beat us!”

Just as Zeb said, the Auros siblings were indeed a strong bunch—Mirana and Riku were already almost out of mana from fighting the refined hybrid form of Kouper; Volg was having a hard time hitting Gauro who was not even in his refined hybrid form yet; and Siegfried was already wounded and could not land a clean stabbing hit because of the moving, durable hair of Yakia.

“Now, be a lamb and go to sleep,” said Zeb as he tightened his grip on Daisuke's neck.

“You... You're not... beating me... the same way... twice...” Daisuke was barely able to respond.

More hexagonal patterns appeared on Daisuke's skin and his skin color turned more grayish. The crater became filled with grass and other plants, including his signature cherry blossom trees.

Before Daisuke lose consciousness, he focused and compressed his mana on his right hand, and a green energy sphere manifested. Daisuke released the sphere directly at Zeb's face and an explosion occurred.