Outside the auction house, it was a peaceful night. The faint glow of the city lights mirrored the smooth exterior of the building; it was not affected by what was going on inside. Sévon was waiting at the entrance with his hands in his pockets, appearing relaxed, but his eyes were not.
His eyes were still fixed on the entrance door. Inside, there had been a large thud and then distant screams could be heard. Sévon's expression did not change but his eyes narrowed just a touch.
"That ain't normal", he said to himself.
Next to him stood Esyn who was standing still with a cool, detached stare on her face. It was as if she did not hear the sounds coming from the building.
"Hard to tell", she said softly.
Another big crash came from inside. Sévon exhaled through the nose just creating a small sound. Esyn turned her head slightly towards him.
"So why did you bring me here?"
Sévon's grin came back easily, like he didn't even care.
"No real reason. I just wanted to mess with you," he said casually.
Esyn didn't say anything at first. Instead, she stepped close. Her finger raised and she rested them against Sévon's cheek. The touch was soft, but firm. Their eyes connected with one another.
"If you really want me that much, we can go now," she said in a soft, teasing tone.
For just a second, Sévon was silent. Then, he burst into a huge grin.
"Fine by me. However, first we need to take care of what is coming this way." he replied with a serious tone.
Esyn's expression changed as she followed the direction he was looking. One of the figures that dropped from above was now standing between them and the street. This person was fully covered in a cloak with a mask on their face that looked very much like something from the underworld. And, there were more presences hiding in the shadows behind them.
Sévon narrowed his eyes slightly.
The cloaked figure stood straight up.
"Who is Shuren Shaomei from you two?"
Esyn had a puzzled look on her face.
"Shuren?" she mumbled.
Sévon kept his cool.
"What do you want with her?" he asked.
An assassin took a step closer.
"That woman is our target, she killed one of ours and we're getting retribution for that.Her name was Mischa Chikae."
Sévon focused on all of the details of their clothing: dark materials, layered clothing, unique stitching on the arms and then recognized them.
"Rozunebare right?" He mumbled.
The masked assassin had no response and simply raised her hand.
"Kill them".
The voice was cold and the order was instantaneous. The shadows behind them shifted into movement as all of the assassins moved immediately. Esyn clicked her tongue, expressing her displeasure with being interrupted.
"You are ruining my vibe!"
Esyn stepped forward and was met by Sévon, who stepped in front of her, appearing completely unfazed. He raised his hand slightly and oriented his fingers in a way to make it appear that he was about to flick something invisible.
"Pressurize," he said under his breath.
Assad remained rigid. The guard who was unconscious before him was not moving (ven now, shaking with shock and bleeding from a wound on his mouth into a pool of blood that had already formed. He stared down at the palms of his hands and all of a sudden there was a scream followed by another scream then many other screams.
Assad turned quickly to the auction hall and there were hundreds of people (rumors had turned a few of them into enemies), running into one another, shoving each other out of the way, knocking chairs over, stepping over anything in their way, and multiple dead bodies all around (probably by Zyrikss). All of a sudden, there was no more elegance in an auction hall, there was only chaos. Guards were shouting and nobles were screaming at one another.
"…What the hell is happening…?" Assad found himself saying quietly to himself.
He scanned the room trying to make sense of what was happening. He began scanning the room again unsuccessfully until his focus landed on Shim Ju-Won and his son. They appeared to be in fighting stances and had expressions on their faces that indicated they were still uncertain about what was happening.
Assad looked at Vonessia, who still sat in her chair the same way she had originally sat, she did not appear to have been affected by any of the chaos surrounding them. She continued to stay in the same position. From the look on her face it appeared as though she had either done it on autopilot or it was just another normal day for her.
Zaire was also participating in this process and indeed, this was highly confusing for the average person. However, Assad only shrugged his shoulders and dashed towards Ms. Vonessia.
"Ms. Vonessia!"
Slowly turning her head toward Assad, Ms. Vonessia turned to look at him.
"Oh, what now?" she replied.
Assad's mouth dropped open with disbelief. Why would Ms. Vonessia ask him such a silly question at this time?
"We need to get out of the auction house immediately for your own health and safety!"
Vonessia made a quick blink before tilting her head to the side.
"Not safe? Explain to me what this means and what I'm being threatened by?"
Assad paused and turned his mind off as he tried to think about how he would answer her question. The whole idea of asking him such a question at that moment was strange.
"…Why are you standing still?" she asked matter-of-factly.
Assad blinked again.
"Um… What the hell?"
Before he could react, things dropped out of nowhere, and hands grabbed him from all sides. all while being held up, his arms were being yanked behind him and had his body being forced to the ground.
"LET ME GO!" Assad yelled while fighting against the suddenness of it all.
Then, all around him, he could hear boots stomping on the ground, blades being pulled out of holsters, and when some of the people he could see were in the air, he was at a complete standstill while listening for the next sound.
"Shut up! You filthy outsider, one from the sixty-fourth."
Assad froze and instantly became completely wide-open eyed.
"What did… what did you say?" He could hardly speak as he thought about what they knew about him.
'How do they know about that?'
He had started to sweat uncontrollably, making it hard to breathe and none of it made sense. He turned back toward Vonessia.
"Ms. Vonessia?"
She did not turn to him but stood with her back to him, staring blankly at the carnage happening in the auction hall; dead bodies; blood; chaos and yet she didn't change her face.
"How did you know about my identity?"
A sudden pain shot through his head.
"GHK!"
As the pain traveled throughout Assad's body, Assad's consciousness began to fade. His vision began to fail as his mind was pushed aside and all that was left was Vonessia. This time however, Vonessia was raising her head as she looked back towards him.
From the point of view of an observer, Assad's body hung limply and lifeless. He was totally unconscious and was completely unaware that he was being held by the guards who now lifted him up and carried him off like he was nothing more than a piece of merchandise.
"...What do we do with him?" one guard muttered at the others.
There was a brief silence between the guards.
"Take him to the Dark Division."
The heaviness of this suggestion spread through all the guards, even amongst themselves.
"...You sure?" one of the guards whispered.
The first guard didn't hesitate.
"Good idea. The Dark Division will take care of the outsider, and I can see the death penalty being his punishment already," one guard said, and all the other guards agreed.
One of the guards picked up Assad and they took him out despite there being a mass amount of chaos happening around them. After the destruction left behind by the purge of bodies caused by this individual's attack, only one remained standing, the masked assassin.
Kneeling on the ground, blood flowed freely from the damage to the demon mask she wore, dripping onto the pavement that had absorbed the weight of this massacre. As she struggled to lift her head.
"Why? Why do you… deny us… our revenge…?"
Sévon did not respond; he simply stood there, indifferent, as he retrieved a small object from his pocket and inserted it into his mouth. He lit it on fire at one end and inhaled deeply through it, causing a faint glow to light up his eyes momentarily.
Next, he exhaled the smoke into the air above him before saying, "Because you are not worth it," barely loud enough for anyone else to hear.
The assassin's body began to shake as her head drooped. The issue was that Esyn stood just a few feet from them, observing the entire exchange between the assassin and Sévon. After Esyn had finished observing the corpse of the assassin, she shifted her gaze back to Sévon as a small smile appeared on her face.
"I've got to hand it to you. That was some impressive work you did there!" she said, making her way toward Sévon.
This statement really made me think: Why did you hold back so much when we first fought?
Sévon took another drag before walking towards her, stopping about as close as one can stand to another person before having an intimate encounter.
"You deserve to have some beauty by being damaged. At least not at this time..." - Sévon
His soft voice increased the size of the smile. "You talk too much for your own good; I don't hate it."
"Let's get to the 'fun' you are referring to" as she said while turning to him.
As he walked beside her away from the previous encounter, there was complete silence; however, there was no amusement in his mind as he absent-mindedly twitched his eyes toward her.
'This will give me what I need, the information I need about the Scarlet Wolverine Sect'.