—Winged city.
Situated in the city's lord castle. In a private meeting room on the first floor.
Ten figures sat around a long silver table as they all stared at the hooded demon sitting at the far end of the table as he spoke those last words.
Though they could not see his face, they could feel the confidence and determination brimming in his voice.
The air filled with a pressure which might have been mistaken for rumbling, and the sigh which followed made everyone think they had made the sound.
Amongst the group sitting here, only the Lord of this city, the childlike Nullen, sat leisurely with a strange smile on his face.
Faced with the strange atmosphere that had overcome the pressure of these powerhouses, Riokar had no choice but to find a way to break the tension as he began addressing the other teams.
"Then, ah, the other teams will—"
"—Aren't needed. Their presence will only serve to slow me down given as we have never worked together before."
"What!?"
With a gentle wave of his arm, he waved off all opposition to Riokar's suggestion even before he had even gotten a chance to voice it.
His sudden arrogance had completely stumped and surprised everyone here aside from Nullen, who seemed to have expected this rather sudden turn of events. After all, he was the one responsible for issuing the private quest to everyone. So naturally, one would expect a level of resistance from him yet there was none.
However, Lix's sudden gesture was not a wise one, not among fellow magicians of equivalent rank much less when one was a couple of ranks below their companions.
However — all the Magicians here including the four personal guards were elites even amongst their peers, and have overcome the odds of countless life-and-death struggles to rise to the top in such a gruesome continent.
Therefore, they could sense that Lix's attitude was not born of recklessness, narcissism, or a demon's pride, but had been coldly, carefully calculated after a careful analysis of the situation. This decision seems to have been made even before he had attended this meeting today so clearly, he must believe himself completely prepared for it.
At the same time, this also proved their suspicions of the hidden strength of the VIP merchants Lix and Lilith. Not that anyone besides Teyla had doubted him after being invited here by the city lord himself.
It felt as though his figure was growing before their eyes, and the pressure they felt made them imagine that the room itself was shrinking.
They could sense that this demon was someone they could not so easily comprehend, the mysteries that surround him only seems to be growing by the second and they could not keep their eyes off him.
For whatever reason, they felt their selves shrinking before his person. There was no doubt in their mind, that this man, was capable of standing amongst even the highest-ranking Magicians on the continent.
Nullen's smile only widened as his mind confirmed his thoughts. He knew there wasn't a chance in the world that his mother would take interest in any ordinary merchant so this flow of events was more or less what he had expected given his observation on Lix.
Ivan choked his words back, and then took several deep breaths. In fact, everyone besides Nullen and his guards was doing the same.
In a quieter voice, as though whispering into Lix's ear, Ivan asked:
"—I take it you would require a revised payment if you're to handle this alone, right?"
"That is indeed a factor. However, as a VIP merchant, I do not particularly care about the monetary compensation so I am open to discussing that after the job is done, so after this incident is resolved… and the devil is taken care of. I expect to be promoted to the 8th rank at the very least. That would make it more convenient for me when I track down its master and any other of Moloc's servants because it will be inconvenient for me if I don't have access to the full resource of the magic institute."
Although they had all expected such an answer, everyone beside Nullen still gasped in realization.
While Hunters and magicians did not work for cities or regions, this city did not have any 8th ranked Hunter or Magician at the moment. If they became one of the highest-ranked Magicians in this city, everybody would know their names. Not that they weren't already the most popular Merchants in the city already.
However, this would more than increase their fame within the city as their names would be spread across the continent and people would bring them more dangerous quests. Allowing them to gain useful information from all across the continent as they track down the Chaos Lord and its minions."
However, as everyone seem to nod with understanding; there was someone here whose heart refused to accept this, even if she had already been persuaded on an intellectual level.
A chair screeched, and as all eyes went to the source of the sound — needless to say, it was Teyla, who had been hectoring Tyler all this while.
"What nonsense is this! The 8th Rank you say? That is not something that can be handed over to just anyone and I can't bring myself to believe in your so-called strength when I'm yet to see any concrete evidence of it. Be-Besides, it's still not clear if that Devil is as strong as an Arch Devil or not, after all, we only have the words of some low-ranked Hunters and yourself. Who's to say y'all didn't just make this shit up just so you can be rewarded for it. Even defeating those Hunters can be accomplished by anyone with a Magic or Cursed artifact. My team is going with you!"
The reason why Teyla could still muster up her opposition to Lix despite being shaken to the core by Nullen's warning was purely because of her hostility towards him and his refusal to acknowledge her very existence.
Her heart completely full of frustration from not even being spared a second glance as though she was nothing more than a bug before him.
Such blatant disrespect to his superior was not something she could tolerate any longer and so, those words had slipped out of her mouth. However, that was undoubted, a bad idea giving her already bad reputation in the room.
At the next moment, her fellow Magicians who did not approve of her attitude. Severus spoke in a barbed tone:
"Teyla, that tone of yours is—"
"—Ms. Teyla."
Those coldly calm words had immediately shut Severus up as the air in the room completely changed and everyone began to sweat.
The words had originated from the lips of the city's lord as his previous childlike expression was nowhere to be found. His eyes narrowed and cold as it sent chills down their backs.
"Remember what I told you."
Teyla's mind went blank for a full second before suddenly booting again as she began to stutter through her words.
"I-I d-do. B-but, t-this is not—"
"Ms. Teyla. I'll advise you to quickly walk out of this room and leave this castle."
"Eh—"
"Are you deaf?"
"What! You can't do this! I'm one of the three highest-ranked Magicians in this city. I even outranked the greatest Hunters. You can't afford to lose me—"
"You have 30 seconds to comply, else forfeit your life. This is not a request."
"Why— that's..."
"Ms. Teyla! Lord Nullen has given you a direct order. Utter another word in defiance and you'll lose your head."
In an instant, a blade had already been drawn and was now resting on Teyla's neck before she could even comprehend the current situation and forcing her words back down her throat.
Such a vast disparity in strength between the four personal guards and the Magicians had completely stunned the others in the room before they could even think about what was happening to Teyla.
With her life now in the hands of another, Teyla grumbled internally as she clicked her tongue and silently stood up from her seat before leaving the room.
An awkward silence ruled over the room after the doors shut behind Teyla for a moment and just as the tension built in the air, Ivan — who had calmed down a little — asked Lix:
"Allow me to apologize on behalf of my fellow Magicians. However, It's all well and good to be confident, but Teyla did drive home a good point. Is there any basis for that confidence? I'm aware of how strong you and your teammate are, but surely you must know that an arch-devil is not an opponent to be trifled with."
Nodding his head in agreement with his fellow guild master, Riokar continued. It was safe to say they could not only afford to lose the missing Hunters and Merchants, but in the worst-case scenario, they would at least need to take possession of the Grade 3 Mine before any other city can offer a claim to it for any reason.
"Indeed. We also know very little about your strength personally. So frankly speaking, we're not sure if we can leave everything to you either. If… if for some reason you're defeated, we need to think about what to do after that, perhaps come up with a contingency plan..."
Without skipping a beat, Tyler replied:
"I understand your worries. However, such worries are pointless."
"Why's that."
"I've spent a long time preparing for such a situation and naturally, We've collected a plethora of useful Magic items specifically for the elimination of devils. Besides, I'm also capable of using 5th-tier Magic."
"What!? What did you just say!?"
The faces of even Ivan and Riokar— who understood the extent of the hidden mysteries under that hood— distorted weirdly as they heard those words.
They were also not the only ones to experience such strong emotions of shock and disbelief. As even the very confident Four guards were at a loss for words. To think there was someone else in the room capable of rivaling them in strength, how surprising.
"You mean to tell us, you're already a 5th-tier mage. Or are you just referring to your potential?"
*Click.
As the Magicians struggle to grasp the last possible lifeline to explain such a situation. The man known as Lix casually tapped his right pinky finger on the large magically reinforced table in the room and activated a spell.
"Accelerated Decay."
Within moments, the bronze table that had been reinforced by Magic to withstand the occasional wrath of powerful being instantly decayed and was reduced to dust before their very eyes.
"I hope this is proof enough."
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