Extra's Descent

Their presence had left Matthew intimidated.

The one who took the initiative was the woman with pale–white hair and ice–blue eyes.

"Are you perhaps, Matthew?"

Matthew seemed to have been taken aback by the beautiful woman\'s appearance.

And he in fact was, as he stammered.

"Y-Yes."

She was beautiful.

A goddess even.

He had never seen anyone as beautiful as her before.

Then, the woman stepped forward.

"I\'m General Belle Locke.

"Uh—Ah. Okay, I\'m Matthew Jaune."

Belle nodded her head at his words and he scanned the other members.

Then, his gaze lingered on the woman with striking red hair and golden eyes.

Another beauty.

"Greetings."

The woman nodded her head.

"I\'m Lieutenant General, Artoria Watson."

Eventually, the others introduced themselves.

"I\'m Lieutenant General, Ray Arcadia."

"Lieutenant General, Alexander Bennett. At your service.

"I\'m Lieutenant General, William Anderson."

Then, a tall bulky man stepped forward. Meeting his intense gaze, Matthew unknowingly flinched.

The pressure that protruded from the man was heavy.

"I\'m an S ranker, Ivan Carter."

However, Matthew counted. There were only six of them.

Moriarty had told him he would be meeting seven of them.

It was at that moment when the last figure emerged from the portal.

"...."

As soon as she took her confident first step, the portal closed shortly after.

Scanning her appearance, her silky golden–locks fluttered in the air. A well endowed figure, and two beautiful blue–jewel–like eyes that scanned the vicinity.

Her face appeared flawless, clear from any blemishes. Just like the rest of the members, she too adorned the Imperial Army uniform.

She was stunning.

If he had thought Belle was goddess, this woman appeared like a deity, descending down from the heavens to bless his eyes.

He was exaggerating.

Her appearance had truly left him breathless.

However, as soon as his gaze landed on the ring on her finger, Matthew was quick to push down his thoughts.

That ring.

He knew of it.

It was debriefed during the revision of their plans with Moriarty and Zed.

Moriarty would give the ring to someone he was closest to, allowing the Imperial Army specific access to the blackmarket.

"Ah."

Too bad.

\'I\'m so jealous right now, Boss….\'

"Could you lead us the way?"

He was then broken out of his thoughts as Belle\'s voice reached his ears, urging him.

Matthew\'s eyes traced Belle.

A sense of familiarity washed over him.

\'Doesn\'t she kind of look like Boss?\'

Indeed, she did.

Then, Matthew nodded his head and turned back.

"Understood."

***

Brandon scanned the entire auction as he leaned on the railings.

He was waiting for the signal.

At the same time, he was on a call with Matthew.

—On standby, Boss.

"Sure."

He waited.

He had grown bored as time passed.

The entire time, he was looking at Ironaxe who glanced back at him from time to time, waiting for his signal.

The auction was ongoing.

It was the sixth item by now.

And after waiting for a while,

Finally.

The signal was there.

The mana from the other room fluctuated.

Brandon immediately raised the device to his ear as he went on to say,

"Now."

Zaam——!

As soon as those words had left his mouth, the entire auction hall turned dark.

The power was cut off.

Brandon could hear the commotion from below.

"What happened?"

"Is this part of the auction?"

"Explain yourself!"

"Calm down folks! The power seemed to have cut off, but we are working to address this issue."

Panic and rage were starting to rise.

—I\'ll get going now, Boss. I\'ve told the military about your location, they should be arriving soon.

"Good job, Matthew."

—Goodluck, Boss.

Beep.

The call ended there.

Brandon closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

"Hoo…."

This was the most important part of the plan.

….And it was the most brutal one.

These people.

"They had to die."

In the first place, they were all fugitives who had seeked refuge inside the blackmarket.

There was no point in letting them live.

Information?

"Nah."

He didn\'t need that.

He had Zed.

With such thoughts, Brandon removed his glove extended his hand forward.

Drip. Drip...!

Blood dripped down from his missing nails. The cold air stung his fingers.

Crack—!

And he cracked his index finger.

At that moment, the atmosphere around him changed.

Starting from the strand, his hair was gradually turning black, and he felt his control over the [Curse] affinity rise.

Then, he opened his eyes.

His previous ice–blue eyes were no longer there, replaced by an inky black color.

Elemental Assimilation.

Then, Brandon pressed his fingers as he coldly muttered.

"Zone."

***

Ironaxe had one simple task.

A few seconds passed, and the audience had grown rowdy.

"This is extremely unprofessional!"

"Please be on standby, folks!"

However, the emcee was trying his best to control the enraged audience.

Then….

"Huh?"

"What?"

"What\'s going on?"

Amethyst light suddenly filled the entire room.

Ironaxe looked down.

"Are these… flames?"

"No, it\'s flowers!"

"Purple hyacinths?"

"Is this part of the show?"

Gradually, purple hyacinths sprouted from the ground and started to spread.

The flowers.

They were beautiful.

They looked like flames, but Ironaxe couldn\'t feel it burn.

Ironaxe raised his head and looked around.

Some of the audience had crouched down and tried to touch the flowers.

"Why can\'t we touch them?"

Their hands were phasing through the flowers.

However, Ironaxe knew.

This was the signal.

He recalled certain words that Moriarty had told him back then.

—Make sure you coat yourself with the strongest protection you can use.

It was a gamble for his life.

But if he couldn\'t gamble his own life, then he was better off dead inside the blackmarket.

He wanted to go home.

That much was certain.

In the past, he had given up on the idea.

But meeting Moriarty, an opportunity presented itself.

He couldn\'t miss that opportunity.

It was for that reason why he accepted such a ridiculous plan that would place him in danger.

Ironaxe peered for his pocket and grabbed something.

It was the device he had built as per Moriarty\'s instructions.

Ironaxe squeezed the device in his hand and braced himself, taking a deep breath.

"Hoo…."

Then, he clicked the device. It opened slightly.

Swoosh—

A soft swooshing sound echoed shortly after as he tossed the device high up.

It was still dark. The light from the flowers was quite faint.

It was for that reason why the audience were unaware of what he had done.

Then, he clicked on the amulet dangling on his neck. As soon as he did, he felt his body course with thick barrier magic.

The pressure was heavy. As if his entire figure was lifting weights.

Short brief seconds passed. But those mere seconds felt like an eternity as Ironaxe swallowed his saliva.

This was the decisive moment.

And it was at that moment.

Sprinkle~ Sprinkle~

The device he had tossed high up activated.

"Now what?"

"Is it raining?"

"How is it raining inside here?"

From the flowers to the device, the audience had been utterly clueless as random scenarios occurred.

However, it wasn\'t water that sprinkled from the device.

It was in fact, alcohol.

Theoretically, the device wasn\'t that difficult to create.

However, the device contained a ton of alcohol.

Enough to fill the entire auction hall.

It was at that moment.

"These aren\'t flowers. It\'s a zone!"

One of the audience noticed.

Ironaxe stood up and took deep heavy breaths.

"Haa…."

And he quickly sprinted towards the exit.

He turned back and scanned.

VOOOOSH——!

***

The deciding factor.

As soon as Ironaxe\'s device sprinkled alcohol all over the auction hall, Brandon extended his hand forward once again.

At that moment, magic power began coursing in his veins.

Snap—!

With a snap of his fingers, a low amethyst ember sparked and gradually fell down the auction room.

Seconds passed.

The decisive second.

And shortly after….

VOOOOSH——!

The entire auction hall was engulfed in amethyst flames.