Just like Leo left, he came back with Lucian's levitating serpent familiar. The creature's scales glinted under the moonlight. Its body moved through the air with the grace of water flowing down a waterfall.

Normally, it was against the law for anyone to be spotted roaming around in the middle of the night like this.

The working time for public places was from dusk till dawn—from sunrise till sunset. The markets were busy during daylight hours, shops filled with patronizing customers, and the streets teemed with children playing their games of chase and merchants hawking their wares.

The city is vibrant and filled with energy, but as the golden disk of the sun began its descent behind the western mountains, the mood shifted instantaneously.

At sunset, everyone is expected to be tidying up and planning to go home. Shop owners would count their day's earnings, tavern keepers would settle tabs, and parents would call their children in for dinner.

The streets would gradually empty, like a theater after the final fall of the red curtain. By the time the last rays of sunlight disappeared, the once-busy thoroughfares would be all but deserted. Even gangsters performed their illegal activities secretly in the shadows at night, hiding to avoid getting caught by the patrolling team.

When it's past 9 p.m., anyone found on the road will be given a huge fine to pay. The fines weren't small by any chance—three months' wages for a common worker, six months' worth for a repeat offender.

The chance of getting caught is relatively high, especially due to the fact that the assigned security of the night are FSG members—they are all red-marked summoners.

When it's twelve, the FSG guards are meant to use force and restraint on anyone seen wandering in the street—there is no restriction on how the FSG should handle anyone caught at such an odd hour, and that was approved by the law.

Stories circulated as rumors and whispers about what happened to those who got caught roaming outside after midnight. Some said the FSG took them to secret facilities for "questioning." Others claimed they were never seen again, their names stricken from public records as if they had never existed at all.

Even if they ended up killing someone, they wouldn't face any punishment. Reason being that anyone outside at that moment is assumed to have ill intentions.

Leo was brought to his house via Lucian's familiar—a long, levitating Serpencia. The creature moved with surprising speed, covering distance faster than any car or horse could in the same amount of time. Its body seemed to part the very air as it travelled through it. Surprisingly enough, neither Leo nor Lucian needed to secure themselves on its back reins to maintain firm balance.

The sensation of riding a Serpencia was often described as "swimming through the sky," and Leo had to admit it was something enjoyable.

After climbing down, Lucian smiled one more time at him and spoke.

"We will begin our search for the black-marked summoner by dawn, and we'll notify you when we spot him.

For now, brace yourself," Lucian added as he readied his familiar for flight. "And reserve your energy because our target is a noisemaker."

"You mean he's an attention-seeking idiot with more power than sense?" Leo asked, one eyebrow raised.

Lucian ignored Leo and took off into the sky, leaving Leo at his doorstep, who watched as he disappeared into the sky.

"Snubbing me, huh?" Leo turned to open his door. "You should hope I don't fin—"

Vwoom

His hand froze on the doorknob, unmoving. The words died in his throat as something powerful and utterly unexpected rippled through the atmosphere of the city. It didn't stand out too much, but he felt it like a physical blow.

The sudden burst of energy he felt exploding from a relatively far distance toward him froze him up. It wasn't like anything he'd encountered before—raw, untamed, and the power he felt from it was like the magical equivalent of a sudden thunderclap on a clear day.

That energy... what in the world produced that? Leo's pupils shook. He wasn't seeing anything with his bare eyes, but the same could not be said for his silver gaze.

He saw it flash through the air—raw, purple energy. It was pure gamma energy.

Removing his hand from the doorknob, he stared into the distance for a short while before flashing away like a zap, accelerating with speed through the streets beyond human comprehension.

He was tracing the aura, heading toward its origin.

Ryder, still on the platform, stared at his hands, seeing clearly—the purple energy crackling around them.

All of a sudden, the crackling energy faded off. Somehow, no one else noticed from the crowd other than Brok. Ryder shot a quick glance at his friend, whose eyes had literally widened to the size of dinner plates before he turned away sharply, acting like he saw nothing.

"Congratulations, Black Devil. As promised, 10,000 Terra gold coins," the announcer announced as she gestured toward the reward that was being brought forward.

The sound of coins clasping against each other filled the air as Ryder separated Brok's share from the chest, ignoring the lustful eyes of the crowd that gathered around them.

After sharing the prize, Ryder handed Brok his share of twenty percent as agreed.

"Well, I'll be off," Ryder said, locking the chest with the special key that came along with it. He grabbed its handle like he was holding onto a briefcase before walking off toward the exit. "See you when I see you, Brok."

Ryder walked off. As he moved through the crowd, they all instinctively made way for him to go through.

Shatter

A glass window by the side of the warehouse suddenly shattered, its shards falling to the ground with a crashing noise.

The noisy warehouse, bustling with gangsters, slowly quieted down, leaving everyone staring at the broken window.

"What was that?" someone commented from the side.

"I thought this was a safe and secluded location for today's activities," another said, nervously fingering the hilt of a concealed dagger by his waist.

The warehouse had been chosen specifically because it was in the industrial district, far from both residential areas and FSG patrol routes. It should have been the perfect cover for the illegal fighting tournament. Besides, the way here is like a complex puzzle—a maze.

Among all of them, a particular cloaked figure kissed his teeth.

"Why the hell does trouble always locate me?" Ryder lowered his head under his cloak and continued toward the exit, maintaining a casual pace.

From the window, a shadowy figure could be seen under the darkness of the night. The figure appeared to be shadowy but had one distinctive feature—his eyes.

His eyes were piercing blue-silver and gleamed with pureness, staring intently at the crowd of gangsters, unwaveringly. They seemed to glow from within, as if lit by an inner light that had nothing to do with the dim lamps of the warehouse.

Those weren't normal eyes—it takes a single glance to tell.

His gleaming eyes, like pearls, moved with precision, glaring straight at someone approaching the exit of the building.

Ryder felt those eyes on him like a physical weight, pressing down and making each step toward freedom feel like he was moving through mud. He didn't need to turn around to know he was being watched. The question was—why?

"You there," Leo called out to the cloaked figure. "Wait up."

Leo narrowed his eyes in observation. "He is odd, and his aura is different."

All eyes suddenly turned toward Ryder, who kissed his teeth again—this time loud enough for those closest to him in the crowd to hear. The sound was like a punctuation mark to the countless thoughts racing through his head.

"Can I enjoy peace of mind at all?" Ryder thought inwardly as his eyes twitched. "All I want to do is win this prize money—which I did—and exit this damn place."

"What the hell is going on here?" one of the gangsters pouted, a burly man with a face full of knife scars and fists the size of small hams. But as soon as he saw the intruder had business concerning the newest champion, Black Devil, he backed off.

For the Black Devil to be acting quite cautious, this man clearly isn't someone to mess with. His presence alone made it clear.

Turning around, Ryder's red-glinting eyes stared at Leo from beneath his hood. The contrast must have been striking—silver-blue meeting crimson red across the warehouse.

He almost sighed upon seeing that he had never met this man before, which meant this wasn't about some past issue. Those were easy to handle, at least.

"How may I help you?" asked Ryder, his tone neutral, booming with a voice that resonated through the entire warehouse.

Finally hopping down from the large window frame with the grace of a cat, Leo began to walk forward. His movements were fluid as he approached. The crowd parted instinctively, creating a clear path between him and Ryder.

"I can guess you do not know me, young man, but the same cannot be said for me," Leo began as he started circling around Ryder, still keeping a good distance.

"And how is that?" asked Ryder. "Have we perhaps met?"

Leo suddenly stopped and stared at Ryder, giving a single reply. "No."

The simplicity of the answer was almost comical, and under different conditions, Ryder might have laughed. Instead, he felt his muscles tensing, preparing for whatever might come next.

"Then I think you have the wrong man," Ryder spoke and began walking away. But suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Huh!"

Ryder was puzzled, as he could see Leo directly in front of him. The man had somehow moved from several yards away to right in his path in the blink of an eye.

"How come?" was the question running through his mind. The logistics of what had just happened didn't make sense—even the fastest summoners couldn't cover that distance so quickly and silently.

He could have sworn Leo was meters away less than half a second ago, but suddenly, he was directly in front of him.

He didn't feel any gust of wind sweep across his face or any figure rushing toward him, but he saw him suddenly come into his field of view. In fact, it nearly felt like Leo was in front of Ryder all along, though Ryder clearly didn't see him—yet somehow, that was how it felt.

"You were at my house recently, weren't you?" Leo spoke as he closed in on Ryder, their noses inches apart. "The house close to the public library."

It was at that moment Ryder realized. "Oh, now I get it."

Relief washed over Ryder as he sighed. This wasn't about the purple energy or his fighting. This was about something much more mundane.

'He is the owner of the house where I was earlier at noon,' Ryder realized, feeling like a heavy weight had been lifted off his chest.

For a moment, he had feared the worst—that his unexplained purple crackling energy had attracted attention from maybe some random Summoners' Guild or worse—the FSG themselves.

He had begun to think that someone had figured out who he was.

"Oh, you are the owner of the house," Ryder spoke, allowing his relief to enter his voice. "I am so sorry. I was there earlier today."

"Please, allow me to offer you some of my gold coins if that would compensate for my intrusion." Ryder bowed while raising up his chest prize like a weightless box.

"No thanks." Leo waved his hands dismissively. "I am not interested in your valuables.

All I want to ask is just a single question: what brought you to my apartment?" Leo's tone was conversational, but his eyes reflected otherwise.

Ryder tilted his head slightly in thought. 'You made such a grand intrusion just to ask me that?'

With a sigh, he replied, "I was at your place to ease my mind. I've been going through a lot lately, and I needed a calm, quiet place to enjoy some peace."

...

Leo kept quiet momentarily before asking coldly, "Take off your cloak. I want to see your face... Ryder."

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