The conversation between brothers, bragging and laughing about backstabbing their men countless times for profit, plays in its entirety for every member of both gang to see.

There are 20 of them in total. 12 from the Green Mist remain, and 8 from the Crimson Dagger. Their eyes widen more and more with every word said on the recording. I stand in silence behind them, watching closely while I think about exactly what I'll be doing next.

As the video hits its end and starts up again from the beginning, I stow it away into a pocket of my burning suit that leads to a small item storage portal.

The grunts begin to get restless as they sit on the hard floor of the warehouse, so I speak.

"Stand up and speak your mind, whatever you say for the next minute will not have any repercussions."

Instantly, a series of mixed remarks come my way in the form of yells, solemn silent stares, and questions about how I got that footage.

Some question its validity, while others believe every word and are having moments of clarity, cursing out their leaders because they suspected something like this was going on all along.

Overall, anger and mixed emotions fill the room, and I let them discuss it amongst themselves for a moment before speaking up.

"Good. Now that you all understand what's really going on, it's time for me to confront your leaders. You're all going to watch."

They all nod in silence as I let the black flames around me grow slightly bigger and the golden-yellow glow from my eyes shine brighter.

"After I'm done with them, we'll talk about the future of this town."

I turn to face the door.

"Follow me."

We all walk out from the warehouse and the stern looks and overly negative attitude toward me have faded. Now the men are only fearful and questioning their decisions in life.

I bring them to the center of town and order them all to stand back in a group in front of one of the abandoned shops in the square. Far enough away not to be within the range of whispers, but close enough to see me stand right in front of it with my arms crossed in a relaxed stance.

We wait in the square in total silence for almost half an hour until I feel an eerie presence watching. The moment I shift my gaze in all directions, then finally upward, it disappears and the fountain opens up with a bright white flash of mana-imbued light.

I'm unsure if I felt this the last time I witnessed the doors of the bunker open, but I wasn't this close up to it. I brush off the feeling, but stay on high alert moving forward.

It's about time for the Crimson Dagger's check-in meeting, but their leader is going to get quite the unexpected surprise.

I turn back to the grunts and speak.

"I'll be back in a minute. If you even think about running before I come out, you're dead."

Then, walk down the spiral staircase into the mana-shielded bunker with a confident and steady pace.

Once I get to the bottom, the middle door opens and the man in bright red armor comes charging out with both his crimson daggers already in his hands.

Red fog comes seeping out from his armor as he lunges closer.

"Intruder! What have you done with my men? What is the meaning of this?"

I sidestep using [Extreme Speed] to dodge his incoming strike and move to the far side of the room.

Upon seeing my agility, the man's anger rises and even more of the red mist plumes out from the crack in his armor.

It begins to drift toward me in a wave of energy impossible to dodge, but I just tighten my Qi barriers' density, and not a drop makes its way through.

Half of the room is filled with his red mist, but it is blocked from touching me with a barrier of invisible energy just a few centimeters above my skin and clothes. I stand ominously in the back of the room, not putting out a drop of aura while flickering with black and golden flames.

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"Brother! Come out here! We have a pest to get rid of!"

He yells in a stern tone. Still filled with confidence, I question what other tricks these two have up their sleeves.

Without a moment of hesitation, the man in the green suit of armor comes charging through the open middle door. He has a large silver warhammer in hand that I didn't see before.

Once both of them lock their gazes on me, I make a run for the exit.

I could have easily used maximum buffs and speed boosts to zip out of the bunker in an instant, but I limit my mana control output to about 1/8th of its full potential beneath my Qi barrier to make them believe they have a fighting chance.

I narrowly dodge two red dripping daggers covered in poison and a hammer that hits the ground right behind me, sending vibrations through the entire shielded structure.

I run up the stairs and out onto the surface, yelling to the grunts.

"Get back and watch closely. We're about to have some company!"

I speed off to the opposite side of the square where the grunts aren't waiting, and two glowing suits of armor follow me filled with rage, aimed to kill.

I jump up on top of one of the 1-story shops at the edge of the square using wind magic and turn around, drawing my flaming sword that now flickers with dark flames to match my suit while smiling wide underneath my mask for no one else to see but myself.

The two armored Bosses pay no attention to their henchmen and jump up in the air to attack me. Mid-flight I see a thick red barrier of what looks like mana-imbued blood forming around the Red man's armor and daggers.

Simultaneously, dozens of tiny green needles all manifest around the green armored man while two clouds of mist trail both of their in sync and powerful strides.

They both jump high above me, making my high ground useless, stepping off of mana imbued barriers summoned in the sky to lunge down at me and attack. I release more of my mana control, now letting 1/4 of it out so my Intimidation skill can hit both of the men as they jump in the air toward me.

However, they bear the pressure and release their attacks.

I block the red daggers with my sword in a swift strike. The Qi surrounding my blade evaporates the poison covering them and shatters them to pieces. My sword pierces through the red barrier made of blood that covers his body and pierces a hole right through the Crimson Dagger Logo on his chestplate, sending him back down toward the ground where he came from.

In the same instant, I stop the spiked hammer aiming for my left shoulder with an open palm, and its momentum halts. The miniature green needles that rain down on me are all stopped by my invisible barrier of Qi as well.

To the perspective of the men that cannot sense Qi, it looks as if my black flames have eaten their attacks and fallen into an endless fiery abyss, doing no damage to me at all.

With a tight grip on the Older brother's war hammer, I release a wave of advanced fire magic flames that engulfs his weapon and spreads to the rest of his body while throwing him downward to the road below following his partner.

There are two loud earth-shattering thuds as each of them hits the stone road and cracks the pavement, making craters.

I jump down to get between them and the fountain, holding my blade upright and waiting for the dust to settle.

Surprisingly, they both get up from the ground pretty quickly.

The Green Mist Leader's armor protects him from the Dark Flames that eat away at his enchanted gear for the time being, and a red glow and swirling orbs of blood enter the Crimson Dagger's wound as he stands to his feet.

I let out more of my mana control, allowing them to perceive just over ⅓ of my true strength for a moment, and focus on activating my intimidation skill directly in their direction.

They both fall to their knees again, but I see clouds of green mist and red liquid energy escape their bodies and trail off behind me in the direction of their subordinates that witnessed their utter defeat and are now backing away to avoid the release of excess mana in our clash.

I realize what they're trying to do and let out my natural mana control even further, letting out just under ½ without any buffs activated other than intimidation to bring them from their knees to face planting down in the pavement.

The green needles and deadly crimson liquid hit a pink dome of mana that I summon using my mana manipulation skill on the other side of the fountain to stop them from harming their men.

"I don't think so..."

I feel their powers dampening and their minds slipping away as they're being overpowered by my aura alone, and their last-ditch effort to kill their lackeys and leave me with nothing fails as well.

The last thing they hear before they pass out on the cold ground is my slow footsteps toward them and the swift swing of a fiery sword cutting through their helmets.

[Use Absorption]

Skill: Bloodweaver [Legendary Grade]

[YES][NO]

[Use Absorption]

Skill: Poison Mist [Legendary Grade]

[YES][NO]

I choose yes on both options, and absorb a few million MCP from my legendary absorption perk too.

Then, turn around to take the pink barrier down around the men that watched me kill their bosses without any trouble.

I peer down into the open underground bunker in the center of the square and mutter to myself while doing a routine scan with enemy detection and my All-Seeing Eye while my mana control is already being released at such a high rate.

"I was hoping for a more interesting fight... but I guess that will have to wait for-"

Mid sentence, my gaze turns to the sky off in the direction of Sector 1. I feel the same sensation of being watched as I did when the bunker opened.

I sense 6 figures approaching.

Five dark suits of armor that look just like the Royal Guards fly through the sky in a triangular formation. At their front is a suit of jet-black armor almost twice as large as the rest. Its gaze is pointed directly at me from over a kilometer away.

I feel a wave of telepathy hit me and a familiar static voice enters my mind that I haven't heard since talking to one of the 12 remaining Dark Guards in the Arena back in Valor City.

"The Dark One missed you in the arena last night. We were wondering where you went off to hide."