CHAPTER 55: THE DARK APPEARANCE.

"I am willing to kill everyone here. Just give me the word, and I’ll do it."

Not once did Echidna look away after she uttered those words. Her gaze was solely glued to Ash, proving she meant every word.

Ash stared at her for a moment, their gazes meeting.

"Alright." He looked away, his gaze moving straight back to Hapia on the other side of the room.

"I need to get Hapia outside. If we cause a scene, the first thing he’s going to do is make a break for it. Once he does, I’ll chase him, with Aisha right behind."

"In the meantime, you want us to kill the rest of the idiots in here?" Echidna smiled at him. "And here I thought you only cared about Hapia."

Ash knew she was trying to tease him, so he brought his finger to her forehead and flicked her.

"Ow!"

Echidna covered the spot with her palm.

"You and Kelvin will be the ones handling that. As for Terra, she will be the one clearing out the rest of the slaves still imprisoned at the back."

"Understood. Kelvin and I should be able to do that much. I’ll, uhm, tell them about it?"

"Good."

Ash now looked down at the stage, his focus landing on Aisha.

At the center of the stage, Aisha remained still, watching with forced calmness as different people bid on her.

She could easily sense her master’s presence nearby, which was the only reason she was still able to maintain her cool.

Though it was only barely.

Standing there, being stared at by so many strangers, reminded her of how she was once sold on this exact spot.

Like a tool, unable to fight for herself in any way.

She knew the entire scenario was fake; there was no way Ash would let some random person take her from him. It wouldn’t ever happen.

Yet, the fear was still slowly creeping in with each dying minute.

Aisha found herself scanning the crowd, desperately trying to see if she could find her master anywhere.

’Where was he? He should be here. I can sense him.’

Her breathing grew increasingly heavy, sweat trickling down the side of her face as she turned her head from one corner to the next.

When she realized she couldn’t see Ash in the crowd, Aisha panicked.

"Mas—"

Just as she was about to scream for him, the auctioneer beside her grabbed her hand and raised it high.

"Sold! To the gentleman in the back for 5 million eres!!!"

Aisha’s eyes widened in shock.

She saw the wide grin on Hapia’s face from his balcony, celebrating a successful trade. Then she saw the guards walking towards her, ready to take her to the man who had just purchased her.

Aisha tried to pull her hand away from the auctioneer, tears already hanging at the corners of her eyes.

"Let go..." she whispered, though it was barely audible.

"Amazing! An elf has just been sold for 5 million eres!" the auctioneer boomed, ignoring her. "The buyer should be happy, elves are quite rare to catch, I assure you. Enjoy your new—"

"Let go of me!!!"

Aisha now yelled, ripping her hand free and taking a fast step back. It was only then that she noticed guards were already walking towards her from the back of the stage.

Not only that, but the entire place had gone silent.

Every single noble stared at her with disgust, wondering why an elf, of all people, would be acting defiant.

The man on the stage immediately tried to lighten the mood, moving back toward Aisha with a strained smile on his face.

"Please, this is nothing, she is just shy of—"

Before his hand could touch her, Aisha summoned her blade.

It appeared in her hand with a faint hum, and she slashed it to the side, fear and defiance etched on her features.

"Don’t touch me!" she yelled. "You’re not allowed to touch me!"

The anger on Hapia’s face quickly surfaced.

He looked directly at the auctioneer, hinting at him to handle her before she caused a bigger scene.

But Aisha didn’t stop.

"Only Master Ash can touch me! I belong to him alone, not you!" Aisha tried to hold back her tears, every word leaving her mouth coming from a place of rising fear. "Master! Master! Please, let me know you’re here!"

"That’s enough out of you! Guards, get her away from here!"

The guards acted quickly, sprinting towards Aisha from all corners of the stage as though trying to corner her.

However—

Baaam!

A figure suddenly landed right in front of Aisha, dropping from the rafters above.

His entire body was covered in swirling dark mist, and his eyes glowed a deep, menacing red.

The guards halted their movement, and the crowd gasped in shock, wondering where the individual had fallen from.

Aisha’s reaction was far different from the rest.

Her eyes widened with hope.

The tears she had been holding back finally began to fall at the sight of her master standing protectively in front of her, his back to her.

If she could, she would have broken down crying while hugging him, but the moment before them would not allow for that.

Suddenly, Ash glanced backward to look at her.

"Why are you crying? I told you, you’re not going anywhere. Not as long as I am alive."

Aisha smiled, immediately cleaning the tears from her face as she then proceeded to grip the hilt of her blade tightly.

"Who the hell are you? And how did you sneak in here? Guards!!!" the auctioneer yelled, pointing directly at Ash.

Step.

Ash closed the distance in the blink of an eye, his palm wrapping around the man’s face.

"Shut up."

The very next second, Ash sent a full blast of dark energy at the man’s face, causing his head to explode, leaving the rest of his body to crumple to the ground.

Silence settled for a moment, each person in the crowd trying to make sense of what had just happened.

The event performer had just died.

There was blood rushing everywhere, and even more, a dark-cloaked man whose face was hidden was present on the stage.

"We are under attack!!!" a man from the crowd yelled, immediately standing to his feet to run away.

But before he could even take a single step forward, Ash shot his dark bullet at the man, leaving a huge hole in his chest.

After seeing this, the entire place erupted in chaos. Everyone began to run for their lives, while the guards at the side began to charge straight at Ash.

Just as they had discussed and planned, Echidna had told Kelvin and Terra what they needed to do, and they were right on it.

From the back, Kelvin was killing anyone who dared to flee, while Echidna was attacking from the beams, raining fire bombs and killing groups of people as though stomping on ants.

Those who tried to fight back were quickly snuffed out before they could make a single move.

Meanwhile, Terra had run to the back of the stage, dodging security just so she could get to where the slaves were and free them.

At the center of the stage, Ash remained, staring at the corner to see Hapia already making a run for it, just as he had predicted.

"Aisha, he is all yours."

Aisha took notice of Hapia running away but quickly looked back at Ash.

"I want to stay here and he—"

"Have you forgotten what that man did to you? How he killed not just your father, but your mother as well? How he tortured you for years, while he enjoyed every second of it. Did you?" Ash looked at her with intensity. "I didn’t. Make him feel every second he made you suffer. This was why I chose to help you. Kill that man!"

Aisha couldn’t argue, mainly because she could feel Ash’s rage. For him to be angry on her behalf was truly something that made her feel like the happiest person in that moment.

"Alright, I will. Please call me if you need me. I won’t disappoint you!"

Aisha bowed her head before she sprinted away.

As she ran, a guard tried to block her path, only for him to get sliced in two by her, her speed never halting.

With that done, Ash remained at the center of the stage, the remaining guards already blocking his every direction.

"I am feeling really pissed right now, so please don’t make this boring for me," Ash said, his voice deep and echoing in the now blood-soaked hall.

The guards looked at each other, hesitation clear on their faces. This man had just effortlessly obliterated their colleague and the auctioneer. He was clearly a threat beyond the usual brawl.

"Don’t you understand what is happening?" one of the guards, who appeared to be the captain, yelled, drawing his large, two-handed sword. "This is a full-scale attack! We must protect the nobles!"

Another guard, his hand trembling, stepped forward with his spear. "Y-you demon! I’ll send you straight back to the hell you crawled out of!"

Ash merely smirked beneath the dark mist covering his face, his red eyes glowing brighter.