The party had been one of the best they’d ever had. The Augustines enjoyed a massive celebratory meal. They weren’t able to rob the delivery men as they usually did, but counted the two who’d barely escaped as lucky.

They would order again, and if the food service was dumb enough to send more food and another set of couriers, another opportunity would arise.

The Augustines were comprised mostly of the Augustine family and its members, but also included many more recruited cultivators and mortals that serve the family both in menial and integral roles.

They had many compounds all throughout the CityNation of Maelstrom, from the Bronze to Diamond sectors. This compound they celebrated in though was a minor facility. It was neither respected by the higher-ups in the Augustine clan, nor was it ignored when credits were owed by the affiliated gangs were meant to pay the family.

The well respected gang lived on reputation and the power of its core members, and of the 121 individuals within the compound, only 7 of the compound's residents were of that core group.

These seven were directly linked to the family as direct descendants of the Augustine’s legacy of flame and ash. While everyone else was either a lowborn Cultivator or completely mortal.

This was supposed to be seen as an unreachable power gap within the Bronze. Many if not all of the impoverished citizens within the Bronze felt this to be an undeniable fact. So much so, that none of the seven core members believed what was being yelled at them as they lounged in the living room within the compound’s main manor.

“We are under attack!”

The group of core members, shared glances and continued to sit, waiting for the prank, to play out, so they could all continue to enjoy their night, relaxing and sipping spirits. However, that did not come to pass.

In fact the longer they sat, the more screams could be heard. A few of the core members came to their feet and tried to listen to what was happening outside the room, until a large explosion was heard, and flames could be seen flooding a nearby building outside the large windows of the room.

“This is serious, isn’t it,” said one of the seven Augustines. The entire group came to their feet immediately. The majority of the group rushing to the window to see what was happening, only for another explosion to occur, behind them all, making them turn on their heels to see yet another building on the compound’s grounds go up in flames.

“We gotta move, now!”

…

Khalif moved unseen between walls. In and out of locked rooms. Even rooms runically defended.

He cared not that he set off alarms. He cared not that he was alone. He cared only for one thing and one thing alone.

“Boo…”

The whispered word in the guard's left ear made the young man jump in surprise at his post, only for Khalif to appear on his right side. His blood soaked bat colliding with the back of the young man’s skull with a hollow thud. The gang member crumpled, and Khalif was already gone, moving on to his next target.

He entered another random building on the compound, striding into the small home with purpose. Moving into the kitchen, he turned on all the stoves mana burners halfway with the exception of one. The burners spewed a diluted mana meant for cooking, the material meant to be used like that of a gas stove in lower realms.

The final burner, he turned on fully, allowing the burner to actually light with a brilliant green flame, before he placed a large glass bowl over the top, and stepped back into the void between shadows.

He appeared on the roof of the building he’d just left and waited, crouching down momentarily as the diluted mana filled the room, and the glass bowl began to heat up.

He didn’t have to wait long. The glass bowl he’d placed over the flame broke under the pressure of the heat from the flames, quickly allowing the fire to escape through the cracks. The moment the flames touched the ambient mana filling the room, everything was instantly washed in flames.

Unlike gas, many if not most had no way of sensing a large gathering of volatile mana. There was no smell, it was practically invisible to the mortal and most Cultivators' eyes, nor was it dense enough to be felt anymore than the air being breathed in the environment.

Khalif watched as a grown man was seen jumping from the second floor, completely on fire and screaming for his life. Many more were in the home, but only this man had managed to free himself, only to die in a panic as he tried to roll on the ground and put out a fire born of mana.

That won’t work, and nothing will save any of you from this…!

Khalif continued his work. Moving from place to place, decisively handling any and all who were isolated already, or somehow found themselves alone.

Khalif’s rage was the only thing keeping him going. He hated his every action, even as he felt them all to be entirely necessary.

Even before he’d left the Scapegraces, he’d been plagued by this family of fiery tyrants, but would no longer sit by and allow anyone he knew and loved to be affected by powerlessness.

He was given his abilities to protect those who needed to be protected. That was his truth, and he could see it now, and though he was not meant for killing and the crafts that came with blood work, he would not run from it when he felt it to be necessary.

Arson had hinted at him becoming a blade in the dark. Yet, as Khalif sharpened his skills in the realm of death and darkness that day, he felt himself vowing to leave this life behind completely.

Every defeated gangster adding to the count of promises he made to himself to rise above the limits of street life, and ascend.

“From my darkest moment, I am reborn…”

…

Troy and Xani hadn’t taken long to find the Augustines' compound. But felt they hadn’t moved fast enough by the time they arrived.

Flames spread everywhere, and panicked screams came from all four corners of the area in front of them.

They stood at the main gates, neither daring to go inside. Khalif wasn’t answering their messages, and Xani nor Troy wanted to rush into a series of burning buildings to chase Khalif down if he was no longer inside.

“What should we do?” Xani asked, and Troy shrugged.

“Is there anything we can do? This is beyond anything I thought Khalif to be capable of,” Troy responded. Both young woman’s eyes widened at the sight of another explosion blooming to life in the distance.

“We have to do something, right? Our friend is in there and he could be about to lose his life,” Xani said glancing between Troy and the flames that stretched across the compound’s impressive lawn.

“You sure, seems like Khalif is giving them issues. I mean I’ll go in after him, but what happens when he’s not inside?”

“We bolt obviously, you think I want to be inside there when more of the Augustines show up to see what is going on with their people,” Troy asked, stepping into the open archway that separated them from the devastation occurring within the compound.

“Good point…”

The two slowly made their way inside and almost immediately were confronted. A handful of Cultivators were fleeing from flame-rattled buildings, only to come across the pair unskillfully slinking about between buildings yet to be touched by flames.

“Hey, you!”

Troy cursed underneath her breath and took on a readied stance as Xani lifted off the ground to prepare herself. Neither one of the pair wanted to fight, but the group rushing them seemed far from agreeable.

The young woman in the lead rushed toward Troy with her arms transforming into a metallic material that gleamed in the light of the sunrise. While the four behind her pulled weapons from their backs and waists.

As Troy summoned clones from various angles to strike out at their opponents, Xani took on a more defensive role. A dense wall of wind materialized in front of the group, knocking them back like that of the gales brought on by tornadoes as Xani swept the pressurized air through the group in front of her and Troy.

A series of clones capitalized on the unbalanced gang members. Knees, spines, and necks all targeted.

Troy exchanged blows with the metal armed young woman that barely managed to make it passed Xani’s wall of wind. Xani trying to manage the rest of the weapon wielding fighters by creating a focused dome of spiraling winds that spun the group it encased.

Troy skillfully dodged the untrained gang member she was engaged with, punishing the metal armed Cultivator with every swing she took at Troy.

A ducked haymaker, countered by a spin kicking HardLight clone landing a kick to the gut that made the Cultivator it struck grimace. Another swing dodged, Troy leaning back out of range, the slightest bit of space left between her and the metal armed Cultivator, ended with her enemy being punched both in the side of the head and the ribs. Not one but two clones completing a combination of punches that dropped the gang member with ease.

Troy rushed forward, and Xani dispersed the tornado held within a dome of pressurized air. Troy’s spinning kick served as the perfect feint, as Xani charged four cubes of condensed winds, before firing the cubes that floated around herself into the chests of all four of the barely standing fighters.

The normally small cubes Xani used to move large items with ease, were made to be huge. Instead of being the size of Xani’s hands, they were the size of her head, and rocketed toward her opponents.

The cubes bursted on contact, flinging the gang members in various directions through the air.

Troy still caught up in the adrenaline rush of being charged and attacked without the slightest of provocation, dropped attacking HardLight clones on all their foes; two of her targets struck before they even had a chance to land.

“Let's move. I don’t think anything good is going to come if we stay here too long,” Troy yelled up to Xani, the flying young woman nodding back down before Troy jogged off.

The pair worked their way through the compound, and though they did have to fight a handful more times, the majority of their enemies had already been dealt with.

A brutal scene of violence and focused mayhem was being painted within the Augustines' compound. The pair of young woman were shocked by the number of bodies strewn about. Dead-eyed gazes left to burn as the compound went up in flames.

It took longer than either young woman wanted to make it into the large manor at the center of the compound. Both were growing more and more convinced that they had missed Khalif and were witnessing the aftermath of an enemy raid from a rival gang, enemy clan, or even a powerful Sect that had been angered by the Augustines.

They entered through the massive front doors of the manor and looked around apprehensively. Every area of the home they were able to see, overturned in the chaos that still ensued all around them.

“Do you see him anywhere,” Troy yelled over blaring music left on within the manor. Xani shook her head as she landed next to Troy.

“You really think Khalif did all this?”

Before Troy could respond a young man was seen running down a nearby hallway toward them. The young man glanced back over his shoulder as if running from something, before an arm reached out from his shadow, and grabbed the young man by the ankle, yanking him off his feet.

Khalif emerged from the young man’s shadow swinging a bloody bat before he was even completely free of the void. Blood sprayed about as Khalif clubbed the young man repeatedly, breaking bones in an all out assault as flames roared around him.

“If I didn’t before, I do now…”

“Khalif, we have to go, now!” Troy yelled, and Khalif’s vacant eyes flickered in her direction. He froze, looking at Troy and Xani confused for a moment, wobbling on his feet.

“”I’m almost done here either help or—“ Khalif was unable to finish his sentence; his eyes rolling up into the back of his head before he passed out completely. He smacked face first into the ground and Troy and Xani shared a look.

The two young women closed the distance to stand over there friend. His skin pale and drained of nearly all color.

“I think he overextended himself,” Xani said nudging Khalif with her foot.

“Definitely,” said Troy, bending down to pick him up and throw him over her shoulder for the second time in days.

“You are really making a habit of putting me into situations where I have to save your life, Khalif…”

Troy started to head toward the door, only for an entire section of the burning home to fall between them and their exit. Troy cursed and coughed. The limited clean air being eaten up rapidly by the powerful flames and smoke that filled the room.

“Bloody embers why is everything always so difficult?” Troy roared in anger as she continued to cough. Xani pulled on Troy’s shirt, making her step away from all the rubble and began to draw on her power.

“Stand back, this might get ugly!”

Xani pulled on every bit of her power, raising her hands as she focused. The windows all around them exploded when a rush of air came flooding into the large open space they were standing within; Xani creating condensed cubes of air the size of shipping containers all around them. The glass from the windows ripping through the air like flying knives as the massive cubes of wind grew in power.

Xani roared, and brought her hands down toward the collapsed section of the manor, and an explosion of force occurred. Flaming rubble boomed outward as blood trickled down Xani’s face.

The debris was cleared as if a fleet of bulldozers had stormed through the room at full speed, knocking aside everything within their paths.

Troy’s eyes widened, and it was in that moment she realized Xani was no mere lowborn Cultivator, even as the young woman turned around with a blood drenched face, gesturing at their now clear exit route.

“That wasn’t so bad, right?”

Troy nodded, and looked back over her shoulder to see a group of Cultivators, moving flames aside, completely unaffected by the heat and smoke.

You have got to be kidding me…!

By the time she turned back to flee, Xani was already lying on the ground, her show of power completely taking her from the land of the conscious.

“You have got to be sparking kidding me!”

Troy crouched, pulled Xani over her opposing shoulder from where she’d placed Khalif, and without another look back, filled her entire body with light.

“Stop!”

Troy ignored the yelled command. Her body drinking in the light created by all the nearby flames, Troy took a deep breath, and charged toward the exit.

It's time to go…

Without another word, Troy became a streak of light. She’d never run as fast as this. Her body broke the sound barrier in an instant, snuffing out all nearby flames as she burst off into the distance. The sound of her exhilarated screams stretching through the air, the only proof she’d ever been there as she fled for her life.

“Woohoo!”