Back downstairs, the young monsters were quickly taking down the men who surprisingly didn't give them much trouble. In just a few minutes, all the men downstairs could be seen groaning, moving weakly across the ground in pain, or already unconscious and sprawled out.
"Phew! A job well done," Vynn said, dusting his palms together. He didn't even need to pull out his sword to deal with the men, which left a smug look on his face.
"I'm still confused at how easy this all was," Jace mumbled as he strode over, casually tucking his sword back into its sheath.
"How long have they been up for?" Aria asked, her voice steady as she stood in the center of the room, surveying the mess.
"Five minutes or so," Zen muttered, his gaze still fixated on the upper floor.
'Something feels wrong. Something is wrong, I can tell.'
"Who knows what Lyra's veil is?" Zen asked as he finally broke his gaze away from the upper floor and turned toward the others.
But they just shrugged in response.
"When I got transmigrated here, she was already a Reaver," Jace mumbled.
"I don't know about you all, but I've been in this clan for quite some time," Vynn muttered. "Instead of starting afresh, I was transmigrated into the body of this lightning Reaver, so I've been in the clan longer than you all. But I've never once seen her before.
"Though I've heard rumors that wherever she goes, destruction follows. She's like a battle maniac or something, and that's why she's dubbed 'Warmongress.'"
"So none of us know what her veil is, huh?" Zen muttered, but then his head quickly snapped upward, his eyes widening in horror.
The others reacted the same a moment later as they felt it too. A strange vibration rippled through the air, rattling the entire shack until the very walls seemed to shiver. Then…
BANG!
The double doors were blown wide open, and two individuals came free-falling from the second floor.
"Shit! Sir Tom and Lyra?" Aria whispered in shock as the duo plummeted for a few seconds.
But they quickly caught themselves, twisting their bodies midair, before spinning and landing back on their knees with heavy thuds.
"Crap! That son of a gun," Lyra cursed, a small scratch now visible on her cheek as she wiped at the blood with the back of her hand.
"What happened to you both?" Zen asked in confusion, his brows furrowed. His attention shifted upward as the railing above shattered and crashed to the ground with a sharp bang.
---
A few minutes earlier, Lyra and Tom had entered the boss's office. The two were preparing themselves for a confrontation with the man who had been pulling the strings behind the chaos.
"How do you want us to do this? Quick and easy, or difficult like rocky earth?" Tom asked as he took off his coat, revealing the massive greatsword strapped diagonally across his back.
"Kek! You both don't know what you're dealing with, huh?" the man asked without even bothering to stand. He leaned back in his chair, his eyes locked firmly on the duo.
"Do you know who we are? You've committed a crime by using the name of our clan for theft and extortion. How could you?!" Lyra demanded in anger, pointing her sword straight at him.
"Of course I know you both. Lady Warmongress and Tom, the B-ranked Reaver. Yeah, your names carry quite the weight. Anyway, what brings you two to my humble den?" the man asked with a raised brow, his smirk growing.
"We're here to make you pay and turn you in to the right authorities for your crimes," Tom replied calmly, his tone steady despite the tension.
"Authorities? Oh right, those guys that arrest Awakeneds who use their veils for bad," the man chuckled loudly, shaking his head.
"So will you come with us quietly, or do we force you to?" Lyra asked, a deep frown settling on her face.
"Sorry, I can't," the man said at last, pushing himself up from his seat. His full height came into view, and the oppressive aura around him grew heavier.
He easily towered at six feet tall, his shadow long, and there was a dark glint in his eyes that promised violence.
"By the way, I'm Blake," the man introduced himself.
"And why should we care about your name?" Lyra shot back with a raised eyebrow, her longsword pointed unwaveringly at him.
"Because this is the name of the person who will be remembered in history for defeating the famous Warmongress today," Blake grinned widely, pulling his coat aside in one swift motion as his presence thickened, the tension snapping like a wire stretched too tight.
"Trust me, it will be an exaggeration to say you managed to defeat me!" Lyra snapped as she bolted forward, not sparing a single glance at the side characters lingering nearby.
Her speed was immense, almost like a blur… no, even sharper than that. Tom could hardly follow her movements, his eyes struggling to keep up as she suddenly appeared right in front of Blake. Her longsword swung down, slicing through the air with a sharp woosh, its force rattling the very air between them.
"Tch!" Blake scoffed as he tilted his body backward, narrowly dodging the strike. The blade missed him by less than an inch, cutting through where he had just stood.
But before Blake could even steady his footing, the sword was gone from Lyra's grasp. In its place appeared a gleaming spear that she spun with deadly precision, thrusting it forward without hesitation. The sudden shift in weaponry caught Blake's eyes wide open for a fraction of a second, though his casual grin remained fixed in place.
"Ice Veil!" one of the men at the side suddenly shouted. He wore a wide-brimmed hat that shadowed most of his face, his wrists encased in frost-covered gloves.
"Ice wall!" he declared, clapping his wrists together. A translucent wall of ice burst forth in the spear's path, jagged and frosted with mist.
Yet the wall might as well have been made of glass. The instant Lyra's spear struck, the ice shattered into a dozen sharp shards, spraying across the room and sparkling in the dim light. The weapon shot straight through without the slightest resistance, its point driving toward Blake.
But it pierced nothing but empty air.
Blake was gone, his figure no longer in front of her. The spear sliced through the space where he had been standing, meeting nothing but silence.
"You don't know me, Warmongress," Blake's low voice whispered from directly behind her.
Lyra didn't even hesitate. She immediately spun her grip and thrust the spear backward without looking, the air splitting under the speed of her strike.
But once again, she hit nothing. Blake had already leapt high into the air, twisting with unnatural ease as he avoided the counter and landed squarely on his desk.
"I don't need to know you before I defeat you," Lyra scowled, her eyes narrowing as her spear remained locked onto him.
'Strange… the way he moves, he isn't even making a sound. It's like he's defying gravity itself. No matter how much I strain my ears, I can't hear his footsteps. Is that it? Is that his veil?' she thought, her mind racing as she analyzed every detail.
"You keep blocking everything thrown at you, huh?" Blake chuckled as he flexed his biceps, the casual display of power making his presence all the more intimidating. He spread his hands wide apart, his grin stretching wider.
"Let's see you block this."
Lyra tensed, not willing to waste a single chance, her body coiled to dash forward. But then…
"Sound Veil: Sonic Boom." Blake whispered the words like a curse and then slammed his massive palms together.
The room erupted. A deafening thunderclap roared out, followed by a shockwave that tore through the air with destructive force.
Lyra, who had been mid-motion, was slammed backward, her body hurled violently by the concussive blast. Tom too was caught in the force, both of them thrown with no time to brace.
The duo burst through the double doors with a crashing impact, their bodies flung into open space as they free-fell from the second floor.
Before the ground could rush up to break their bones, both spun swiftly in the air, adjusting their forms and landing hard on their knees, their expressions dark with frustration.
Above them, Blake leaned casually over the railing, his wide grin shining down from the second floor. His eyes glimmered with arrogance.