There had been no sign.

Both Falcon and Zaxx had been fully concentrated on the fight, keeping the old man in their sight at all times.

But one second, he was preparing to finish Zaxx off, and the next, his heart had been pierced.

It left them both stunned as Teclos casually beheaded him like some demon’s spawn, ruthless and sinister, shrouded in that dark mana of his.

Zaxx fell on his ass when he saw him.

Those pitch-black, emotionless eyes...

They scared even Zaxx, and he was known as a lunatic within their organization.

Then, just as he had appeared, Teclos disappeared again, fully veiled in darkness and moving without making a sound.

Falcon landed near Zaxx and quickly gave him a potion, then turned toward Derrick and the ice knight.

"What the hell kind of kid did Derrick bring to us?" Zaxx asked nervously.

"Just be glad he’s on our side..."

—

As Derrick slammed his hands together, two massive plates of rock lifted themselves around the ice knight and slammed shut, intending to splatter him like a fly. But the knight moved back in time, avoiding it completely, then prepared multiple ice needles that hovered above his head.

Just as he was about to release them, his vision split in half.

The upper part of his sight started sliding to the left.

For a brief moment, he was confused.

When the pain finally registered, it was already too late.

The knight collapsed, his helmet and skull cut cleanly in half.

"Woah... holy shit, kid." Derrick recoiled when he saw Teclos. "You scared me."

Teclos pressed his guilt down and said, "Let’s leave quickly. The city guard is probably already on their way."

He tossed a potion to Derrick, who smiled and downed it in one go.

"Aaaah, that hits the spot. But seriously, kid, you’re incredible."

Derrick pulled him into a headlock under his arm and ruffled his hair.

"You looked like a demon for a second there, lad."

Teclos only smirked at that.

A demon.

How fitting.

They rushed off quickly now that the job was done and returned to their pub.

—

The city guard arrived at the scene with a few knights and templars.

A noble was still a noble, and if the city could not guarantee their safety, others might simply leave, taking their assets and money with them. The city administration wanted to prevent that at all costs.

Once they stepped inside, they found proper carnage.

The bodies of guards and knights lay dead across the ground.

Skallos, a templar captain, grimaced.

It was not looking good with this amount of bloodshed. He could only hope some people were still alive.

And that the baron was among them.

"Move quickly and search for survivors. Bring me a damage report!"

They found several servants in the destroyed servants quaters, most of them had minor injuries with a few heavily injured but not life threatning, after the templars got to healing the knighta searched onwards and combed through the whole mansion.

And when the half hour mark passed a knight came running towards skallos.

"Sir! We have found the headless body of the baron." He yelled.

To witch the servants wimpered and got scared, it wasnt that they liked their employer that much but more that they wont find another job like this with a death of their boss resume.

"Daam!" Skallos stomped his leg in frustration, but then more bad news followed.

"What?! They took out 3 knights?..." he asked again in disbelief.

"Yes, and it was done by the same person, judging by the killing blow, it was a highly skilled assasin..."

"Bring me an echo rune, i want to see the residue mana of our killer." He ordered.

The investigation was on the way and it promised to be a long one.

—

Meanwhile, the four of them reached the pub.

They entered through the front door, and the rowdy commotion suddenly stopped as every eye turned toward them.

Marek put down the cup he had been cleaning and told them that Zamas was waiting in the back room.

Derrick nodded and beckoned for them to go.

As they walked on, Teclos had a bad premonition. There were too many people in the pub. And not all of them were mercenaries, which meant those drunks could rat them out.

But then Falcon patted him on the shoulder and reassured him.

"Don’t worry. Nobody will squeal."

Teclos did not know how Falcon could be so sure, but he would still make preparations tonight for a quick escape from the city if things got dicey.

He would drag Saldia away if he had to.

They entered the back room and arrived in front of Zamas, who greeted them expectantly.

"So... is it done?" he asked.

Derrick nodded and replied, "Yes. The baron is dead."

"Excellent. Well done, boys! What about witnesses? Did someone see you and get left alive?"

Falcon shook his head.

"No."

"Hahaha! A clean job, then! This is cause for celebration. Kira, bring me my best wine. I shall join them for a drink tonight!"

"As you wish," she replied curtly.

Teclos thought this was also a bad idea.

A celebration on the same day the baron died? The same baron who had insulted Zamas?

He did not know if he was becoming too paranoid, but he still thought they should lay low for a while.

Zamas then turned toward them again and asked how the baron had died, but Teclos just summoned his pocket dimension and showed him the head.

"Ugh! An ugly bastard, even in death. But on another note, boy, how much stuff can you fit in there?" he asked, eyes gleaming.

Teclos put the head back inside and scratched his head. "I don’t know... I have never tried to fill it fully. Not that I had a lot of stuff to fill it with anyway."

Zamas scratched his beard, then raised his hand as if he had an idea.

"Well then, find out. That ability is way cheaper than a dimension pouch that the tower wizards sell. It will come in handy with our business."

Teclos just nodded.

"Alright, now that that is done, you can go and have some fun. But first, go to Merrith and let him heal you."

Teclos rolled his eyes.

It was like he wanted them to get caught.

But he left anyway.

Zaxx, who was the most injured, strangely stayed behind, and they all looked at him as he stood still.

"Go on, lads. I have something to say to the boss." He smiled and made a shooing motion toward them.

They just shrugged and left. Who knew what that lunatic had in mind?

"Come. I’ll buy you ale today. You deserve that for saving my ass this time around, Teclos," Derrick said, putting an arm around his shoulder and making it impossible to refuse.

Teclos just looked at him and smirked.

This was the first time Derrick had called him by his name since he had joined the company.

A few cups of ale would do him good right now, to numb his emotions.

As they closed the door and left, Zamas spoke.

"So, what is it?"

"Boss..." Zaxx started as he turned around. "That kid, he is dangerous..."

"Bahahah! I was wondering what you had to say to me, but this? Nonsense, bahahah!"

Zamas leaned forward from laughing so hard, but Zaxx did not laugh with him.

He was dead serious.

"You haven’t seen him... he was a literal demon! T-those black eyes and that dead stare... it was like I was looking at an undead!"

Zamas shook his head and stopped laughing.

"I don’t get it... Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a kid?"

"His power is dangerous... the one who killed all three knights was him... boss..."

That made Zamas’s eyes widen.

"What? Really?"

Zaxx nodded.

Zamas thought it over for a few seconds.

Then he smiled.

"So you are telling me we have a potential gem among us that can help us eradicate the other gangs?"

All color drained from Zaxx’s face when he heard that.

It meant the boss would not throw Teclos away so easily.

Once he started imagining Teclos in his head again, that aura and those eyes, he got the shivers.

But he could not defy Zamas.

The only thing he could do now was hope that Teclos would stay loyal to them.

At the counter, Teclos grimaced.

He had overheard the conversation through the shadows, and he was immensely disappointed.

One wanted to use him.

The other wanted to throw him away.

Zamas was a problem on his own, but Zaxx? Teclos had literally saved his life, for gods’ sake.

"Four cups of ale, Marek! They’re all on me," Derrick said, slamming a few copper coins down on the counter.

"Did something good happen?" Marek asked.

Derrick put an arm around Teclos and started yelling.

"Haha! This little hero saved our lives today! He literally kil—"

Just as he was about to say it, Falcon put a hand over his mouth and shut him up.

"Could you not scream this across the whole pub? We’ll tell you later when we’re among ourselves."

Derrick looked offended and almost bashed Falcon’s head in for making him shut up, but since he had not drunk much today yet, he still had enough clarity to refrain from attacking him.

Besides, Marek would surely throw him out if he broke the counter again, and that would leave him without ale.

Internally, Teclos thanked the gods that Falcon was there.

He had not anticipated Derrick being that stupid.

Then Zaxx walked in with a smile on his face.

"Heyy! Do you have ale for me as well?" he asked in a cheery voice.

Falcon shook his head.

"What about Merrith?" he asked.

Derrick and Zaxx were not in the best condition, and Falcon also had bruises all over his body.

"Bah!" both Zaxx and Derrick said simultaneously.

Then Zaxx continued. "We can go after a few cups of ale. The potions healed us up enough."

Teclos, meanwhile, was in a sour mood now.

’Hah... look at him smiling like he didn’t just stab me in the back.’

"We should let our hero of the night decide," Zaxx said with a smile.

It ground Teclos’s gears, but he composed himself again and kept a poker face.

"Let’s drink first."

"That’s the spirit!" Derrick yelled, slapping Teclos on the back so hard he had to cough a few times.

Marek then poured their drinks, and they clanked their cups together in a toast to a job well done.

With the help of alcohol, Teclos numbed some of his mind like he had set out to do at the beginning.

Somewhere around five in the morning, Derrick stumbled out of the pub and fell into a mud puddle. Falcon and Teclos had not drunk that much and were not even tipsy. Zaxx, on the other hand, was much like Derrick, stumbling and falling.

"I’ll bring the knuckleheads home. You can go," Falcon offered.

Teclos just nodded and disappeared into the alleys, heading back toward home.

Falcon walked down the stairs and picked Derrick back up, but by the time he turned around, Zaxx was also gone.

"Huh?...oh what ever." He had enough of todays shit and just draged derrick away to his home.

—

Zaxx rushed through the alleys, heading toward the city gates.

If Zamas would not help him get rid of that demon spawn, then the guards surely would.

He approached the gates, and one of the guards noticed him.

"Halt! What are you doing here so late?" the guard asked, clearly annoyed by the slum rat.

Zaxx swallowed his annoyance and approached him.

"I have some news about the culprit behind the explosions and fire that happened today," he said.

The guard suddenly perked up.

"...Alright. I’ll go get the captain. Wait here."

"Sure," Zaxx said.

As the guard disappeared to get his captain, Zaxx leaned against the wall.

Then a hand suddenly covered his mouth and a blade coated in darkness slit his throat.

"I didn’t expect this..." Teclos said, holding him still as Zaxx squirmed in his arms. "I really don’t get it... I saved you, and you stab me in the back like this?"

Zaxx tried to break free, but the blood loss was too severe, sapping his strength with every passing second.

Blood gushed from his throat, bubbling and gurgling through the cut. He struggled and struggled, terrified of Teclos, but the blood was suffocating him now, and his eyes slowly rolled upward.

The next second, Teclos released him and Zaxx collapsed.

Dead.

"Nobody will threaten me and my family..." Teclos whispered. "I won’t repeat the same mistakes again. I’ll kill every last one of you."

He summoned his pocket dimension and widened its entrance. The strain made his mana disappear at a rapid pace, but it was fine.

He only needed a moment.

He tossed Zaxx inside and closed it again.

Then he wrapped himself in darkness once more and disappeared.