The Young Master in the Shadows

"I swear, all the damn chefs here should be burnt on stakes!" Victor, who finally left the restroom and made his way to the balcony, said as soon as he met up with Rosette and her group who were still seated there. "I was in so much pain that I began hearing strange voices, and was not sure if they came from inside of me or from the outside!" he added as he looked around. "Spare me the details…" Rosette who glanced at him said. Due to all the chaos, she had completely forgotten about this guy who was in the restroom! Thankfully he was fine. Well… For some strange reason, she felt that this guy was sneaky enough to survive. "Ah… Sorry, what happened here anyway?" he asked as if he just noticed the chaos. "A demon escaped from one of the artifacts… They were all eliminated, but now the entire place is on lock-down to check everyone for demonic possession," Rosette who sat on her couch leisurely said as she eyed him. "Eh! Really? Are you ok? What about Aerith? Where is Lyra?" he began to ask worriedly as he looked around then stepped forward and looked onto the stage. "They are doing their work! Don't disturb them and sit quietly for now!" Rosette spat just as Victor noticed Lyra. She was guiding a group of girls who were wrapped in blankets to sit on one side of the auditorium; she must have saved them from the cells below. Up on the ceiling, Aeirth was there with a few knights checking it for anomalies. The hole that the demon created there had disappeared, and this must have confused them! On the other side of the hall, a few people were kneeling down, tied in magical shackles. Some were looters, some elves who made trouble, the hall manager who would definitely be questioned about the dark auction, and Quras. Ah… They must have got him because of the metal box. Well, it didn't matter. As a Scion, he will find a way out differently, and from the way Lyra looks at him, he will not die any time soon. Could it be that his fate has changed from being one of Turnip's husbands? Wait, that was not his fate, but Tulip's… Strange… Well, it didn't matter, all he had to do now was to wait for a while, and then as soon as he got to a safe place he would check his loot! Earlier, his plot went through several revisions due to all the factors, but in the end, thanks to having several backups, it all went ok! Not bad for an improvised plan! At the time, the first thing he wanted to do was to execute the plan as simple as possible. He planned to make the demon-kin warriors cut Lazarus's hand or possibly kill him before escaping with his storage ring by forcing Zifr to create some chaos. Sadly Lazarus and his entourage proved to be too strong of an enemy. First of all, he managed to perfectly resist the soul-weakening gas Victor released when he broke the box! It was as if he stopped his breathing completely! And adding to all of that, were the many defensive artifacts and talismans he had. The demon-kin warriors were barely managing to fend for themselves against him, let alone cut his finger! Sensing the lack of time, Victor had to switch to a more dangerous backup plan, turning himself into Zifr and mumbling a bunch of nonsense to scare away everyone but Aerith, he opened a fake hole in the ceiling where he placed the cauldron. After that he whispered to Zifr that the lord was coming, forcing him to step up his game! The plan was simple, it was to make both Zifr and Lazarus willingly enter the cauldron thinking that they were forcing their way through the Auction house's barrier as they escaped. He had no way to knock them unconscious and force them in after all. Sadly, Zifr was very wary like an old fox, managing to sense the danger, maybe thanks to one of his artifacts. That's why he used a rare escape talisman and teleported away as soon as he sensed that something was wrong! Well, not for long, as Atma would soon be after him following behind her treasured new sword that was connected by an ethereal thread to the metal box! On the other hand, Lazarus, who was very angry, was really fooled, flying right into the cauldron where he was now locked up in one of its stages with all his system functions disabled! Victor never planned to spare him, as he already saw the death glares he had been shooting him ever since the auction started. This guy was going to make trouble sooner or later, so he had to go! Now all Victor had to do was to wait a while until the mess here ended, then go finish him off! The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. That would surely raise all kinds of alarms in the Lord's palace, but that would be a good thing as she would definitely no longer be reluctant to agree to all of Victor's conditions to cure her curse! *** "Mona! Are you ok?" Mana and Mina, who arrived at the safe zone an hour ago with Donald and Opal, asked as soon as their sister opened her eyes. "Ah!" Mona sat straight up and looked around while holding her head. "Mana! Mina! Why are you here?… Wait… Where are we?" she asked. "At the dungeon… remember we entered three days ago…" Mina replied. "Dungeon?" Mona frowned as she tried to recall what ensued earlier." AH!" she suddenly exclaimed as she finally noticed Lily, who was standing next to Yulian in the back. "Liliara!" she gasped. "You are alive!" "Eh… What?" Lily frowned. "Shouldn't I be?" did she just call her Liliara? "No… A… didn't the Demon... ?, no wait…" Mona was confused. "Mona… Are you ok?" Mana asked nervously. "I…" Mona frowned, looking at her sisters and then at Lily as if she was trying to arrange her memories. Then she grimaced as she beheld her head. "What's wrong?" Mana turned to ask Lily and Yulian. "Don't look at me… I just healed her up!" Yulian quickly dodged responsibility. "Sis? Could it be a … You know…" "Eh… No, it doesn't seem to be a demon… Since we used time to heal her, her memories might be a little jumbled up… She might be hallucinating a little… Maybe she needs some time to sort things out!" she said as she began to sweat. Liliara? That name was something only her mother should know as it was the name of her late grandmother. Her name Lily was the abbreviation of that. How could Mona know about it? Hearing Lily, Mana turned to look at her sister. "Mona… try to relax and sort things out… Look, Donald and Opal are already here… " she said worriedly. "Ah…" Mona nodded as she squinted her eyes and looked at her old friends. "Hi Mona, " Donald said, walking two steps forward. She didn't seem to have looked at him at all since she woke up, it was as if he was some bystander! Mona who seemed to finally notice him frowned." You are Donald…" "Yeah…" he felt a little proud, for no real reason. "And Opal…" she said. "Um.." Opal nodded nervously, clearly worried about her friend. "Oh… But then… That…" Mona frowned. "Then… No… Ah…" No one talked, giving her a chance to sort things out. Slowly she seemed to have calmed down. She slowly pulled her sleeve and looked at her forearm. There was nothing wrong with it. "Sis…" "Mana… How did I end up injured… Can you tell me?" she finally asked. "Earlier you defeated that huge rat then suddenly yelled 'Mr.X' before stabbing your own eye… A black hatchling was pulled out!" Mana replied nervously. "Mr. X? AH! The Maniac Demon! Why would… Ah RIGHT… That piece of shit kidnapped me and planted a Hidden Seed in me! " Mona squinted her eyes as if she finally knew what happened. "Can you tell us about him?" Lily asked. Mr.X was one of the people of interest that Victor told them to keep an eye on. Mona paused as she turned and looked at Lily. "Is there a problem?" Lily asked Mona was acting very strange, and if it were not for her smell being fine, she would have suspected she was possessed or something. "Leave that guy to me... Things will be explained in time, I need to go!" Mona said as she stood up, a little wobbly. "Sis… You should rest…" Mana tried to support her, but Mona stopped her before grabbing her sword. She gave it a look, and unsheathed then after swinging it twice leaving two burning firey traces in the air, she put it back. Her movements were very smooth, far exceeding anything any of the ones in the room had ever seen, including Lily. "What is that… Some skill?" Mana asked. "Liliara, I will leave this dungeon to you, make sure to take care of my sisters and take them out safely!" Mona ordered Lily while ignoring Mana, then she made strange symbols with her fingers and uttered a few words. "REQUEST NODE CONNECTION… EJECT," she whispered. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP The world rippled like a pond and Mona who took a step forward, just Vvnished. "WA!" "SIS?" "Where did she go…" Everyone began to look around in shock. She was really gone. "What the fuck just happened?" Yulian was the one who finally asked. No one could answer that, not even Lily. Mona's last words were still reverberating in her mind. *** "How is he?" Victor asked as he entered the Cauldron control room where Sini and Yoss were stationed to monitor both Lazarus and the girls who were still training. Right now, both of them were looking at some shared remains in a large mercury pond that acted as a screen. "He broke his cage using some kind of wind blade…" Yoss said nervously. "I was so scared that I activated the thunder mechanism a few times to finish him off…. He was very strong!" Sini added nervously. "Still we didn't dare to go check on him!" "Oh…" Victor frowned and nodded, System skills were disabled here. This meant that his attack might have something to do with that Storm spark thing. This might mean that he couldn't trap lords. Good to know! "What should we do?" Yoss asked. "Nothing…" Victor said looking at the charred remains. "No matter how powerful this guy is, he can't escape the cauldron's array… I will handle it!" he said before disappearing. "Be Careful!" the two half-elves nervously called after him! "Don't worry!" Victor said as he appeared behind them and spanked their butts before disappearing again, leaving them blushing. Moments later, he appeared in a desert-like zone inside the cauldron. He no longer looked like Victor, but like the Poison lord, he saw through Rita's eyes! Outside of a broken metal cage, the shared corpse of Lazarus lay on the ground. "What a waste… I could have at least got some info out of him!" he said as he approached him and reached out to take the ring out of his finger. Still, he kept his vigilance! The moment the ring was pulled out it suddenly fell to the ground, making Victor bend to get it and reveal an opening. BAM! Lazarus rose in a split second and grabbed Victor by the neck, cracking it in one smooth movement as a wave of wind blades ripped his body apart. "Ah…" That was the last thing Lazarus said as he felt something sharp penetrate his palm and the next thing he knew, he was a bunch of green goo! What he cracked was a wooden stick that had all kinds of nasty nails sticking out of it! Seeing this, Victor hurried to take the ring away and step back. "What an idiot!" he spat with a smirk. Now it was time to check his loot!