As if frozen in a single moment in time, the room grew deathly silent as the young master's palm connected solidly with Eik's cheek, tearing the mask from his face.

All around the room, eyes widened in shock at the blatant disrespect and potential harm this young man was willing to cause a complete stranger over something so trivial.

And then, along with gasps of fear, all eyes widened even further, nearly popping out of their sockets when those cold eyes blazing vibrantly with residual energy were revealed. Just the sensation alone of the unimaginably deep aura flaring from this previously masked individual was enough to tell everyone present what kind of terrifying demon the young fool had provoked.

In the silence, the sound of the mask clacking against the floor at Eik's feet was deafening. For a couple of seconds, even the pompous assailant managed to stop and take in the scene as his entitled mind worked to comprehend the mortal danger he had just placed himself in, fighting to acknowledge that he might just have committed the single biggest mistake of his possibly severely shortened life.

It was then that a single voice peeped weakly from one of the rows closer to the stage, trembling as the words stumbled out. "Th-That's… I think that's Eik Magnasen… The S-ranker who, uuh, who blew all of the previous damage tests in the Crucible out of the water."

Eyes flitted to the speaker but quickly returned to Eik's exposed face as hushed chatter began to circulate among those who, perhaps falsely, felt a greater sense of security having a whole room between themselves and one of the most powerful—if not the most powerful—Awakened in the Nidafjeld Alliance, not counting people like the wrinkly, old fart sitting on the chair next to him. Those with a better view of the Earthling didn't feel the same inclinations and kept their mouths shut.

Before the main culprit himself seemed to have wrapped his head around the depth of shit he was standing in, his friends, who had all otherwise had his back when it was looking fun, had suddenly gotten very pale indeed.

The guards who had been ready to protect their master in case of a confrontation with the stranger, as they were probably very used to doing, had also lost all of their confidence, backpedalling to disengage themselves from the situation.

"Wh-What in tarnation do you useless fuckers think you're doing?" the young master whined hysterically, his voice hitting new octaves now that the reality of how hard he might have slam dunked himself into an early was beginning to hit him. "Are you seriously shirking your duties right now? You were hired to p-protect me!" he stammered.

"Yeah, Mr. Ironheart, when you get punched in the stomach after drinking yourself into a stupor and assaulting some random guy in a bar who decides to fight back," said one of the guards, taking off his helmet.

"Wh— You think you can just—" young master Ironheart spluttered but the guard cut him off before he could get the rest out.

"Not when you slap the Immortal Blue across the face like an imbecile. I'm a B-ranker and I heard he single-handedly and simultaneously annihilated five S-ranked monsters, all in under ten seconds, spawned by the Expulsion after fighting and wiping out three cult cities where he fought and killed numerous S-ranked cultists, including both Qarr the Pillar and Woulaxi the Mover. This all happened on that gigantic operation the Alliance carried out literally last night, and you think you can just sic me on him like a dog, huh? He led the whole thing, you little shit!" the guard continued, the words flowing like water from a spring.

Not only was this B-ranked guard clearly fed up with his master's ridiculous antics and afraid of getting caught up in a confrontation with Eik, but judging by the tone of reverence in his voice and glimmer in his eye as he spoke of Eik's most recent exploits, he had been following the stories of the Immortal Blue with excitement.

"You can't just…!" the whiny Ironheart drawled, confidence in his case eroding with every passing second.. "It's a breach of your contract…"

"And your orders to engage would lead to a certain death. I don't need money that badly. And serving someone like you was never a matter of honor. I quit." He glanced at Eik as if for approval to disengage, his eyes practically begging. Eik just shrugged and lifted his eyebrows. Who was he to stop him? The former guard nodded appreciatively and took a step back but stayed to watched the situation play out. Was this guy a fan or something? Or just hoping to see a blood bath?

By the look of them, the other guards shared their colleague's stance but weren't ready to voice them unless violence was imminent.

Panic hitting him in earnest, Ironheart addressed Eik directly. At least Eik was keeping his aura in check, allowing the fool to speak at all. For now. "You think you can get away with something like this?"

"Something like what?"

"… Killing me," he breathed, blood draining from his face.

Eik arched a brow and spoke for the first time since the whole thing had begun. "When did I ever say I would kill you?"

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A light of hope brightened his face. "You won't?"

"I don't think I said that either." Eik flashed a smirk.

For a few seconds, Ironheart appeared to be fighting back tears. "Do you even have any idea who my father is?"

Puzzled, Eik frowned. "I don't really, no. Who is your father?"

Whether or not it was because people usually backed down at that quintessential excerpt from the young master manifesto, Ironheart didn't quite appear prepared to answer that one off the cuff. "Uuh, he's a director of the Department of Cross World Commerce of the Nidafjeld Alliance," the kid spat with pride.

"I think I've heard of that," Eik said with a nod. "But something like that doesn't really mean anything to me." Eik stepped firmly into the young master's personal, his chin mere centimeter's from the boy's forehead. The Immortal Blue didn't deign to look at him as he took in the room.

All eyes were on him, waiting breathlessly and without blinking for his next move.

"Well," he said nonchalantly. "shall we finish this auction or what?" Without another word he returned to his seat and sat down, nobody else making any indication of following suit.

Perhaps because the arrogant Ironheart had misconstrued Eik's decision to pursue a non-violent resolution, the young master was suddenly struck by a dose of unfortunate boldness and opened his mouth before his remaining guards could stop him.

"Wise choice! Even an S-ranker must exercise extreme care when interacting with a high-ranking member of the Nidafjeld Alliance," he said with scathing malice, but then committed the new biggest mistake of his life. "After all, even S-rankers can't be everywhere at once, and I'm sure you have a family, do you not? Don't even think of trying anything with me after today if you want them to live safely!"

"Hoh, boy," Chop giggled knowingly, his legs dangling from the chair. "That's a nerve."

"What, you got something to say, old m—"

And that was all the young master Ironheart managed to get out before Eik's titanic grip closed around his throat, cutting of anything else he might have wanted to get out as surely as surely as if it had been severed by the sharpest of blades. A wave generated by his instantaneous movement slammed into the spectators, the accompanying boom threatening to burst their eardrums.

Clawing frantically at the hand that could end his life, Ironheart tried desperately and futilely to free himself until the moment the weight of Eik's aura crushed his spirit into the ground. With precise intent, Eik made sure the disgusting little maggot would only ever be on the verge of losing consciousness. This lesson was best given awake.

Pulling his victim bodily off the floor, Eik held him up to his own face, spectral death mask manifesting around his features as he stared into the young master's face. The blue in his eyes was blinding, his glare like that of a demon's as Eik appeared to grow to twenty times the size as a blue colossus rose up behind him.

"I think there's been a misunderstanding between us, little master Ironheart," Eik growled, his voice distorted to a deep rumble as his skin seemed to shimmer across his body by an unseen transformation. "When I let you go, it was because I don't commit violence over such a trivial offense as a misguided kid flexing his wealth and status in public. It wasn't an invitation for you to threaten the lives of my family. As a matter of fact, that is one of the only things you could have said that makes me want to murder you outright, witnesses be damned."

Unable to utter a sound, Ironheart could not even sob in fear, although the steady stream of tears running down his cheeks were proof enough that he would have if he could have.

Eik had to constantly supply neutralizing Panacean Quintessence through his palm in order keep the kid from being killed in an instant by the Profound Toxin he had trouble holding back. Sloppy as it might be as an S-ranker, his emotions were running half the show right now.

But since it was about his family—those sweet, little kids, shame was the last emotion he would feel for reacting like that.

Doing his utmost to control himself, he nearly had to use his other hand just to pry open the vise grip on Ironheart's throat. As the young man fell to the floor in a boneless heap, he could do little more than raise his eyes to stare at Death incarnate.

Eik returned the gaze with white-hot, uncontained rage.

Left by the direct contact with Eik's toxic skin, a rapidly blackening ring of dying tissue around Ironheart's neck was ingraining itself to stay, a lasting mark of his unwise decision to jab at a dragon that had just smacked him with a metaphorical pillow instead of devouring him whole.

The young master tried to move his lips to speak but another wave of grinding aura flattened him against the floor, silencing him. "I'm not interested in whatever feeble regrets you want to express," Eik stated coldly. "I will let you live, given that you can get a skilled healer to attend to that in time to save you from a death so painful that even you wouldn't wish it on those you step on every day," he said as he tapped his own neck with a finger.

Ironheart just shivered, his pants already soaked through.

"And let me be extra clear so you don't misunderstand again," Eik said as he bent down, exerting pressure for good measure. "if I find you in even the same district as my children, their mother, or anybody else I love, the toxin I planted in that necrotic wound will awaken from dormancy on its own and make sure you die then. And don't even try to get rid of it. It absolutely hates that. And by the way, I've numbed the wound so you can concentrate on my words, but in about ten minutes, you'll be shrieking like a banshee."

Looking up, Eik spoke to the guard who had terminated his own contract prematurely. "Do the Ironhearts have a healer who can restore lost limbs?"

Trembling slightly, the man shook his head. "No, but they have the money to hire someone who can."

"Good," Eik said and put a boot to the young master's shoulder. At a sufficiently leisurely pace, he claimed an arm and then a leg in the same manner. He threw both on the screaming lordling's back. "I ran out of painkiller. Sorry," he lied and stood up.

With wordless gestures, he ordered the Ironheart guards to take away their master, the four insufferable friends following.

"Well," he said and clapped his hands. "Shall we get on with the auction for real this time?" Profound Toxin cleaned any sign of the confrontation in an instant.

This time people hurried to comply. To lighten the heavy atmosphere, Eik distributed pastries ad libitum from his bag of holding to all attendees, including the auctioneer and other staff although he had to slap away Chop's grabby mitts when he tried to take it all.