Ali and Kamis were doing a little shopping when Tian alerted the teenager of something odd. A crowd of people were gathered in an alleyway. With his curiosity getting the better of him, Ali led the way as the duo joined the crowd. As he approached the alleyway, his nose picked up a pungent smoke smell. Once he maneuvered through the crowd to the front, he couldn’t see what could have caused the smell. Normally, there were signs of a fire which would have dispersed the crowd. When he asked around, he was told that no one knew what happened and the first people to investigate the smell found nothing.

Either someone cleaned up the site before anyone arrived or something else is going on.

After a short investigation, both Ali and Kamis came up empty handed. They left the site but they both expressed concern on the matter. Their suspicions were confirmed when, for the next couple of days, the same abnormality was seen throughout the slums. Given the number of refugees, it was impossible to tell if anyone died in those alleyways when the abnormalities happened. It didn’t help that escalating tensions in the slums resulted in high refugee casualties. Dead refugees no longer bothered anyone as this was considered a way of life in the Vliland slums.

“So they have made their move?” asked Ali a week after the first abnormality happened.

“Yes,” said Kamis as he took a sip of water. “The Lightning Clan is finally making its move against the Thunder Badgers. I heard they did a raid that ended in failure.”

Upon hearing the details, Ali wasn’t surprised that the raid failed. He had seen how weak the normal thugs were within the Lighting Clan. Unless someone strong went with them, they couldn’t even beat a group of angry refugees. Sadly, the conflict still caused issues for them as any street could become a battlefield in an instant. The duo had to stay vigilant if they hoped to go unscathed and not get caught up in the combat. At least, that would be the smartest option if they chose to avoid the battles. However, Ali had a goal and Kamis chose not to stop him.

“If you want to catch them unaware,” said Kamis, “you’ll need to be more familiar with the streets and alleyways.”

Regardless of what approach they went for, the duo had to stay in the shadows and avoid attracting the wrong attention. Therefore, they had to always be on the move to never give their enemies a chance to lock on them. The limitation of the ability requiring a clear line of sight meant Ali had to put himself in some risk. With good positioning and better familiarity of the streets, the two of them could go in and get out before anyone was wiser. Thus, the two of them went throughout the slums to get really familiar with all the streets and alleyways.

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“Now that we're done with our break, let’s go for a walk and see what’s happening at the marketplace.”

The duo reached the edge of the marketplace when a fight broke out. Many refugees scrambled to escape the place, resulting in some injuries due to trampling. Using their knowledge of the alleyway, the duo made their way close enough to see the combat. A fierce battle was taking place and neither side was willing to back down. Ali was surprised to see the Lightning Clan thugs performing on par with their foes. Usually, the thugs would be crushed easily.

I’ll set up traps now and create confusion.

Once the teenager finished setting up his traps, he watched as the lighting spike traps caused further chaos in an already fierce battle. He was observing the battle itself when Kamis spoke up.

“Did the Lightning Clan always have those weapons and armor?”

Once his companion mentioned it, Ali realized that the equipment of the thugs were very different. The equipment appeared to be crafted from ice and provided incredible defense for the thugs as they could take attacks more easily. Unlike the ice-like equipment of the Lightning Clan, the members of the Thunder Badgers wore simple gray plate armor. As he learned from Belen, the plate armor not only provided excellent defense against normal weapons but they supposedly made the wearer completely immune to the lightning element, rendering all lightning abilities useless..

That’s actually pretty impressive! How did they learn so fast?

Ali knew his traps added complexities to battles so it was normal for two parties to be at the mercy of the traps. However, he noticed that the members of the Thunder Badgers were quick to learn the location of the traps and did a far better job positioning themselves to ensure that the Lightning Clan thugs would be the only ones taking trap damage. If the plate armor did make the wearer immune to lightning element, then the Thunder Badger members merely sped up the battle by luring the thugs in. Despite the temptation of adding new traps, Ali held back and was satisfied with what he gained. The relatively large battle meant there were more targets for his traps. The gains weren’t impressive compared to his other abilities but he was getting close to leveling up his trap ability.

“We should back away,” said Kamis. “ The thugs are now retreating into this alleyway.”

Considering that the Thunder Badgers now had the numerical advantage, the thugs made the right choice of regrouping at a location with a chokepoint. Not wanting to be caught up in the fight, the duo ran out of the alleyway and stayed on the street. They watched as the Thunder Badger members did a complete surround, causing a complete massacre of the Lightning Clan thugs. Ali and Kamis moved aside for the Thunder Badger members. When they checked the alleyway, only the bloodstains on the ground indicated there was a battle earlier. The bodies were somehow all gone by the time the winners left. Ali entered the alleyway to take a quick whiff.

I don't smell smoke. If they didn't burn the bodies, what did they do?