The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 479: The Auction House Mayhem (6)

It was total chaos and a hundred things happened all at once.

First were the demons that appeared out of thin air and began attacking the audience. Many people, especially the reach and influence began to scream like bitches as they hurried toward the door and added to the chaos. Still, others sprung to fight the demons, including Aerith who jumped from the balcony above with her sword brandished.

The second thing was about the Auction house’s guards. They hurried inside the hall, some to fend off the demons, some to guide the escaping audience out, and others to stop the looters who took the opportunity to head toward where the auctioned Items were placed. Seriously, those opportunist guys just had to exist everywhere. 

Thirdly there were the elves. They took the opportunity to try and attack Macil and try to kidnap him. There was probably a warrant on his head. Thankfully Lyra and Rosette easily separated their sorry heads from their bodies under Macil’s shocked eyes. Victor would need to place a note in his pocket later telling him that this was all arranged by the lord to boost his credibility as a spy, but that was to be left for later!

The fourth notable thing was Lazarous who was surrounded by six dark-cloaked warriors, all attacking at once trying to cut him up with very sharp swords. Sadly, due to his defensive tools and strength, they were failing miserably. And just when they thought they had him conquered,  Lazrousʼ own guards who were at his Balcony quickly joined to help him, making the poor warrior’s mission even harder.

The fifth was Atma who for unknown reason was no longer on her balcony.

The sixth was the dark-cloaked Zifr the Great who, although acting flustered like someone who didn’t know where to go, kept his cold eyes on the metallic box on stage, still not trying to approach it. What a sneaky bastard!

The only one in the entire auction house, who remained calm as he observed what was happening, was the cowardly auctioneer who tumbled and fell before crawling his way out toward the backstage where he disappeared behind some crates.

In fact, this guy was none other than Victor who replaced the real auctioneer earlier before setting his little trap.

It was a little messy, but this was the best he could do with limited resources.

Watching it unfold he frowned. Although it was still within his calculations, Zifr was not taking the bait, and Lazarus was stronger than expected, managing to successfully fend off the half-demons Victor was manipulating. Yup, those guys were the ones whom he stole from the Sun lord back then and turned into his Flesh Slaves.

The problem now was that the situation was heading into a standstill very quickly and it was only time before the knights arrived.

Victor moved his hand, and from his cauldron he unleashed another wave of imprisoned demonic beasts, making them attack the manager who was easily defending himself while moving toward the vault. Money was everything for the greedy guy!

As expected, the manager ordered the guards to stop them as he continued his way in a hurry followed by Victor who was splitting his attention between the Manager and what was happening on stage, watching it through Emira who was perfectly hidden on the balcony.

The manager reached the Vault in a minute and there, he stood shocked as he saw that its impregnable GrayGold Door was wide open and three strange demon beasts inside were gulping down the treasures with huge Pelican-like mouths.  They were almost finished clearing everything out. One must know that only the most expensive things remained after the previous auction rounds!

“NO!” He screamed as he attacked them at once, unleashing a huge fireball from his sword.

The demons noticed him just in time and all at once their body disintegrated turning into a swarm of beetles that buzzed in all directions out of the vault, trying to escape the vault. The fireball only managed to burn a few of them into cinders, but the rest were already scattered by the time he was ready to attack again.

The tense Manager only hesitated for a moment before taking out a strange-looking talisman and activating it.

 In fact, the vault was already emptied before, when Victor disguised as the auctioneer came to get the stuff for the collection. He just had to slip something to block the lock and make it look full when the guards closed the door behind him.

 What the manager now saw was all an illusion made for the sole purpose of making him activate the talisman. It was the way to activate the Array around the auction house, locking it all up! People would only be able to go in now, not out! Victor couldn’t steal it safely, so his only option was to make the man activate it by himself.

At first, the manager was hesitant to lock all the people with demon beasts as he would be held responsible, but with the vault being raided he had to do it or he would be the first suspect!

Victor, who watched this from the back, only smirked as he hurried back toward the stage where Zifr began to make his way toward the stage in a roundabout way before pausing and looking around nervously when the auction house was locked down.

What a careful guy… Still, it wouldn’t matter as Victor already had 3 backup plans in place. The only thing he was not sure about was whether the Strom lord would decide to stop being a coward and show up to complicate things.

Anyway, it didnʼt matter. Now all that was left was to move the last piece!

***

“Prepare yourself!” Lily said as she sat atop Monaʼs head. “You should do it quickly to avoid any kind of damage!”

“Ok!” Yulian nodded, nervously swallowing.

Mana, who stood guarding the makeshift gate made out of very sturdy wooden planks that they got from Victor before they left, looked at them nervously. She was not sure what Lily planned to do, but she instinctively trusted her.

“Let’s start!” Lily said as her eye pupils slowly disappeared and her white eyes began to turn gray. Then Mona’s head, which was held between her hands, began to glow.

Under both Mana’s and Yulian’s curious glares, Mana’s damaged eye began to slowly reform as if by magic. Strangely enough, it was as if something invisible was being pulled out of it, making it reform in the process!

Time reversal! Mana almost gasped.

Yulian, who already knew how his sister’s skill worked, could barely hold himself too as he looked at his sisterʼs work, it was the first time he saw this in action and it was magical.

“NOW!” Lily ordered, waking him from his trance!

He quickly made a blade made out of ethereal energy shoot out of his fingers and as his eyes also turned gray he pushed it inside.

KARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

A voiceless shriek sounded in the cave, shaking Mana’s voice before it died almost immediately.

Yulian quickly pulled the soul blade and watched as Lily finished the time reversal and collapsed back.

“Sis…”

“Use your soul healing skill on her…” Lily said very drowsily as she crawled with difficulty into a sleeping bag that she seemed to have prepared beforehand, barely managing to push herself in and zip it up before collapsing.

Ignoring her, Yulian quickly used his soul-healing skill on Mana. Although he barely knew what he was doing, he could feel what he should do instinctively. So despite his nervousness, he managed to complete the healing of the damaged soul almost flawlessly. The rest should heal on its own.

“How?” Mana asked as she watched him lay Mona’s head down and step back to relax with his back to the wall.

“She should wake up in a few hours… probably…” he said.

“Probably?”

“Look, it is not an exact science, and it is my first time doing it!” he said.

“Ah… Sorry…” Mana said. “What about Lily?”

“Her skill has a cost; she will need to sleep for the exact duration of the time she manipulated!” he said. “Not sure about its details though…”

“So it was time manipulation…”

“Ah…. Don’t tell her I told you…” Yuilian swallowed. Oops, he was too tired and failed to hold his tongue.

“...” Mana frowned at him. “Don’t worry, she wouldn’t have shown it to me if she didn’t want me to know!”

“Good point…” Yulian sighed in relief.

“Yeah…” Mana said as she confirmed that there were no demons outside then walked and sat next to her sister, brushing her head. “That shriek…”

“It’s a remnant of the demon’s soul, returned when Lily reversed time… If I didn’t kill it, it would have merged with your sister’s…”

“Oh…” she nodded. 

The cave grew silent.

“I have a question…” Yulian asked after a few minutes.

“What?” Mana asked. She could feel that Mona’s breath was getting calmer, it was clear that she was recovering.

“How can all of you agree to marry one guy, especially someone like Victor!” Yulian asked, he had been wanting to ask his sister, but didn’t dare to. And the Victor he saw at the wedding that day didn’t seem like a good guy, daring to even punch the damn priest and then intoxicate him!

“Victor is a good guy who really takes care of us… His character is a bit quirky, but once you get used to it, he is the best!”

“Aha…” from the way he saw him at the wedding, Victor didn’t seem to be just ‘a bit quirky’ whatever. “Don’t you mind marrying him with the other… like a harem and such… Don’t you feel jealous?” Yulian asked. He was tempted to try this Harem business.

Mana hesitated. That question was a bit awkward.

“Sorry, if you don’t want to answer, forget about it…” Yulian quickly said.

“No… We do feel jealous…” Mana pouty looking away. “But he treats us all very well, and…”

“And…”

“He is too…ehm… strong… No one of us can take him alone…” she added in a low voice.

“Take….” Yulian paused; it took a moment before it all dawned on him. “OHHHHHHHHHH!”

“...” Mana just blushed.

“...” Yulian regretted asking. This was awkward, it also made him want to ask some other questions that his manners didnʼt allow!

“You don’t have to worry about your sister!” Mana suddenly said. “She is Victor’s main wife…” she added, feeling a bit jealous.

“Really?” Yulian asked, remembering how his sister told him that she was a time traveler. She must have some way to control that Crazy Victor.

“Yeah… Not only me. All of us, except for one, think that Victor and Lily fit together too well. They are like a pair made in heaven!” she said.

“Eh…” Yulian paused. Did they start manufacturing lunatics in heaven now? “I see…” he finally said. Well, so long as Lily was happy it was not his business… And Victor’s sister was Alice, she was a real price of work! Would she accept him taking her as a part of his harem?

That was a question that remained to be answered!