"Sir Boerlow, a letter came in!" a young guard came rushing inside the mansion's dining hall with a letter in hand.

Another older guard with short black hair and a thin mustache snorted. "Better be an important letter for you to disturb us like this."

The guard shook and turned to the guard with a bow. "Commander, I was told it is from the President."

The plumpy man called Sir Boerlow furrowed his brows and raised his hand. "Give it."

The young guard was quick to run up to the master and hand him the letter. Sir Boerlow then waved for the guard to leave before opening it. His brown eyes quickly jumped through the letter before he put it down and looked at the Commander. "The Boerlows are to greet the President in town in an hour. It appears the President has begun his tour through Mircrest early this year."

The Commander took a sip from his cup. "He's starting with Boeria? And such short notice. Odd, isn't it?"

"The president is an odd man. Also, perhaps he wanted to spare us the preparations, knowing of our current financial situation. He is known to be courteous, is he not?"

"Hmm, you may be right. Are we all to leave?"

"I don't think that's a good idea. The signature on the letter seems authentic, but in the event that it is a trick of some sort, I will take my family and a dozen servants and guards with me to the town. You stay here and guard the mansion," Sir Boerlow said, standing up. Just as he was about to leave, however, he turned to ask, "You have that with you, right?"

The Commander flashed a smile and dug out of his pocket a vial with a black substance in it. "You mean this? Oh, don't worry. Nobody is going to break into this place."

***

"They're leaving," Balgair said as he leaned to the side from behind a wide tree with his gaze on a pristine carriage. On the sides of the carriage, there were a few men in robes with a circular symbol sewed into the chest area. "Let's wait a few minutes before we move."

"Okay. I'll go in first," Cade said. "After I get rid of the guards at the gate, you and Aurelius head in from the sides. Deal with the guards inside. In the meantime, I'll round up the servants and restrain them."

Aurelius and Balgair nodded, putting their balaclavas and masks on.

Cade walked past the pair, dragging both of their hoods over their heads before putting her own hood on as well. She then got moving, changing positions to a better one for the ambush.

Balgair waited a bit before he went right after her, leaving Aurelius alone on one side of the mansion while he traveled to the other side. As he did so, however, he had to cross the path the carriage went along.

As he got out of the cover of the trees, the guards finally noticed his movements and were probably about to open the gate and give chase when suddenly Cade jumped behind them and briefly dealt with them. Balgair looked on with a smile, and Cade simply nodded back as thanks for the distraction. She then disappeared from sight as Balgair ran into the other side of the forest and went around before arriving at the other side of the mansion.

That's when he started hearing yells from Aurelius' side. 'That idiot went in too soon,' he thought, clenching his fists before jumping over the metal spikes of the metal fence.

***

Aurelius had made it into the entrance hall of the mansion. It was a fine area filled with paintings and illuminated by a large crystal lamp hanging from the ceiling. There were two staircases on the sides, both leading up to the second floor. It seemed a bit impractical, but Aurelius didn't have time to worry about that while he was under attack.

Aurelius dove and grabbed the hand of the guard that had attacked him before turning on his axis and throwing the man across the room. The man flew through the air before clashing with the stone wall. His reinforced body and momentum managed to make a small crater and send small rocks flying.

Aurelius couldn't rest for even a moment, though, as immediately afterward, another guard let out a yell and aimed an ethereal blade at his neck.

Aurelius didn't have enough time to make a shield, so he tried his best to evade the blade. He got as far away from the blade as he could, narrowly managing to dodge the strike, and no blood dripped onto the already crimson carpets of the mansion. However, it felt as though his mask and balaclava were damaged. Aurelius wasn't sure, though, and didn't have time to check.

After the guard withdrew the blade, Aurelius took his chance and jumped in. The guard was faster than expected, though, and managed to create enough distance to not be reached by Aurelius. He then swung his blade wildly twice in diagonal patterns.

Aurelius didn't feel much and jumped back, but then a cold feeling came from his left hand. He looked down. The area between his middle and index fingers had been cut in half by a few centimeters.

As soon as he saw it, the pain began. First, it stung. Then it felt like it was on fire. Like a wildfire was burning in his hand, threatening to spread to other parts of his body. Aurelius breathed through his locked teeth, trying to calm his rapid heartbeat, and wrapped his left hand with his right, putting pressure on the wound. Then he fell back as the blade swept across his face, only slightly missing his eyes.

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He let go of his hand as he fell to the ground in order to jump back up with the help of both his hands, despite the pain. He successfully managed to get to his feet before the guard could get on top of him. However, as he was about to grab the guard, the other guard came back into the fight, launching at him like an animal.

Aurelius pushed the guard with the blade back before quickly turning his attention to the guard rushing at him. He then simply brought his hands up before swiftly and forcefully bringing them down on the guard like a hammer at the exact time the guard was about to hit him. His target was hit and collapsed onto the floor at his feet.

It was then that the guard with the blade managed to come back with a powerful swipe of his blade. Just as Aurelius was about to back away, however, his ankle was grabbed by the man he had knocked down. Aurelius looked down in surprise, but he knew it. He had held back. It was no wonder the man was conscious.

The best Aurelius could manage in the short time he had was to lean back. It wasn't enough. The blade cut him diagonally from the navel to his right-side hip. It felt like it went through the bone.

Aurelius cried out as he fell back, his ankle still in the grounded guard's grip. The guard aimed his blade downward as Aurelius put his hands together, creating a wall with his fingers. A shield was supposed to come into reality, but it didn't. Maybe it was the blood pouring out of his left hand onto his chest. Maybe it was because he deserved to die.

Then the blade was brought down on his stomach.

It had no power in it any longer by the time it reached him, though. All the force was zapped as soon as a vacuum sound resounded and an rough, aquatic beam if essence blew a hole into the guard's chest.

The blade disappeared and the guard fell limply onto Aurelius all the vessles of blood severed in his chest pouring their contents onto him. Bile rose up in Aurelius' throat and tears grew onto the edged of his eyes as the corpse weighed on him and the smell of rust spread like it was rushing to infect every corner of the world. He felt like shoving the corpse away and turning to run away, but he couldn't. Not a single muscle would listen to him.

"Cade's rounding up the servants. She took the guards I handled at the side entrance. Apparently, the ones you handled were gone by the time she got there. You held back, didn't you?"

"Ba— Balgair? You—"

"Argh. What's this?" Balgair asked as he walked up to Aurelius and looked to his side. "You held back again? When will you learn?"

There was a small whining noise that intensified for a split second as Balgair delivered a kick to the other guard's face.

"Now then, I have to start searching for the safe. Are there any more guards in this place? We've already taken care of eight," Balgair asked, watching with his hands in his pockets as Aurelius lay underneath the corpse he created just now.

"You..." Aurelius calmed his uneven breathing and stumbled around his words as his eyes stung. "Where..." He gulped. "Where is Cade?"

"She's rounding up the servants and other guards, making sure nobody blows the horn," Balgair answered, his tone sounding unusually soft. He just didn't care. At all.

Aurelius breathed through his teeth as his upper lip, nose, and brows twitched. "You killed him."

Balgair looked at the corpse beneath him and scoffed. "I saved your life. Show some gratitude." He took the corpse by the back of his neck and threw him aside. Some blood came out of the man's mouth, falling onto the ground and splashing onto Aurelius' face in the process. Balgair then looked down at Aurelius, whose body was tight like a stone. "Get your ass up, you useless moralizer."

'If I had restrained that guard before Balgair got here... If I wasn't so weak, that person would be alive.' Aurelius slowly sat up and raised himself to his feet, holding his left hand tightly. 'Balgair is right. He saved me. Because I needed saving, the guard died. It's my fault. My sin is weakness.'

After he got up, both their attentions were directed to a man upstairs with his elbows leaned on the handrail. The man had a thin mustache and short black hair, which complimented his tight facial features. He looked down with his brows furrowed and his mouth opened weirdly, which made his expression seem to be one of disgust or signaled that he was utterly unimpressed.

The man wore a guard's uniform, but the circular symbol on his uniform was sown with a golden color instead of the plain white the other guards had.

Aurelius let go of his left hand and clenched both his hands into fists as he looked up.

The guard then opened his mouth. "Right when I finally got some good sleep..." He squeezed the stone railing so hard there was a crack. "Now tell me, who the fuck are you, and why should I spare your lives?"