POW

POW

POW

The sound of explosions resounded as fireworks lit up the skies of planet Yari. The Festival of Lights happened all over Yari, all over the surrounding planets, all over the super sun world.

Humanity had never been able to truly abandon religion; from the old days till the stellar years it only took new forms. Now, instead of exact divine beings, they worshipped planets.

"Raz Una Koh, may the lumination of the prime world of blaze fall upon us and bless us."

Atop a platform far in the city center, perched next to the mine's main gate, a priest of the likes stood in front of a massive circular pot where he stirred a medicinal concoction.

The Festival of Lights was a ritual event to revere the super sun world, its making components in hopes of receiving blessings.

It is said that the sun world had divine powers and could cause the spontaneous growth of planets in resources and energy.

"Here, have some cake."

To the side, Mira passed to Enzo a foil-wrapped cake with pink icing on the side.

"Thank you," Enzo accepted it and took a bite. Then suddenly, his eyes drifted to a far corner in the crowded area below the platform.

There Zeke stood with two others, unrecognizable, wearing city guard uniforms. To his left he could also see Raven and Yankai standing around inconspicuously.

They weren't here to celebrate the festival of life; its festivities had nothing to do with them. Rather, they were here to kill someone.

[How long till they come in?]

Enzo sent a message through his HUD to Zeke, questioning their side of the plan.

They surely couldn't take every thieves guild member here, so the federation was their only hope. When they swooped in to cause trouble, they could then take action to kill Vegar.

[Soon…]

Zeke responded calmly, not bothering to look in Enzo's direction.

[Copy that.]

Enzo responded, then turned to Mira and nodded.

"Okay." Mira suddenly activated her ability, zooming her perception further and further into the mines, piercing through the dark and bouncing through the tunnel's walls.

"No sign of him yet," she muttered as she reached her limit.

Even now, there was no sign of Vegar. There had to be a perfect balance and timing: if the federation got here before Vegar, then he would just run away. If they got there at the same time, it would also be bad.

The federation needed to be delayed a bit. But it wasn't in their hands; they weren't coordinating with them, they only made a report.

"One way or the other," Enzo said to himself as the ritual took another turn, lights shining from within the pot, a sign of a successful concoction.

The crowd went wild; praise and worship began flowing as people were chosen at random from the crowd to go up and take from the pot a freshly made liquid ale.

Time passed slowly, each minute longer than the last, until finally a man in luxurious clothing stepped out onto the platform and began speaking.

"Welcome, denizens of Astoria, the historical homeland of our people."

The man's voice instantly drew the attention of everyone in the crowd as they quickly recognized that manner of speech.

"The city lord came out."

Someone muttered, causing everyone to frown deeply, anger and resentment evident in their eyes.

This man who sat in his mansion every day and watched as they were trampled on by the members of the thieves guild—he dared to come out here today to address them.

"Get off the stage, you fucktard!!" someone in the crowd suddenly barked, his hand waving viciously.

Hate, contempt, frustration.

One word couldn't describe how they felt about this man; it was a mixture of ill emotions boiled into one. He was incompetent and weak, a coward who had fed them to the wolves to save his own skin.

"Come down here!!"

"Booo!!"

"Get off stage, you puppet!"

As the crowd went wild with insults, the city lord couldn't help but speak slowly and hesitantly… he understood how they all felt—the anger and hatred—but there was nothing he could do to help them.

His being out here today wasn't even his decision. If it was up to him, he would stay locked up in his mansion.

"Hahaha, these people really hate you, don't they? I wonder what you did to make them feel so discontent."

As the crowd chanted death to the city lord, a man with long luscious hair behind a steel mask walked up and patted him on the back, his robes fluttering in the wind.

Slowly, as people started noticing the new arrival, the voices began to come down—not out of respect, but out of fear.

Vegar.

"My people, please be lenient." Vegar raised his hand up and spoke.

Instantly, the thieves guild members acted, systematically hitting the ordinary denizens, forcing them to stop.

This was the city of thieves; when the leader of the thieves guild spoke, they could only shut up.

"We all know what it's like to have an incompetent ruler, weak spines and not willing to do what's necessary for prosperity. But our friend here is trying his best. He even hired a special adviser to fill in for his shortcomings," Vegar spoke calmly with some hints of mockery.

The adviser he was speaking about was, of course, himself.

"Let's just look to the future… a future of prosperity and wealth for the city and its guild," Vegar added, raising his hand in triumph.

Seconds later, the crowd burst into praises and applause, mainly from the thieves guild members as they praised their leader.

Anyone who had just gotten here would mistake the amount of reactions and praise for actual satisfaction.

This was the result of absolute power; it doesn't just corrupt oneself, it corrupts the views of everyone around them.

[It'll begin any moment now, just wait for the signal.]

Suddenly, a message went through from Zeke into Enzo's HUD, to which Enzo responded with a simple nod.

On the platform, Vegar stretched his hand out once again, signaling the crowd to keep shut.

"Unfortunately, some people do not understand the price we pay for our prosperity. They seek to leave us, betray us, doing so much damage to us…"

While he spoke, a young man was dragged forward in rags, dropped before him, and made to go on his knees.

"There's only one price for treachery, and it is death!!" Vegar declared as suddenly an illusory blade came falling down and decapitated the young man.

In the crowd, Enzo's heart skipped a beat, but then upon looking at Yankai, he noticed no movement.

That was not Yaro.

Not yet.

"We will execute a total of four individuals today, a glory to the Great Sun world and a sacrifice for our people," Vegar smirked evilly as he took two steps back and sat on a makeshift chair and called over the next prisoner.

This was a show of power; they couldn't tell them otherwise…

Meanwhile, the city lord walked over to Vegar and whispered into his ear, asking for permission to leave.

With some disgust at the man's cowardice, Vegar waved him off, allowing his departure. When he got to the back gate separating the stage from the ground, the city lord sighed.

"Good luck, my sons. Bring back our homeland from the hands of evil," he muttered as he opened the gate, revealing a group of men in city guard attire.

"Hm?" As if noticing something was wrong, Vegar raised an eyebrow behind his mask and stood up.

Behind him, several men in city guard uniforms rushed up and created a perimeter around him, spears facing upwards.

"Hmp!! You think I don't recognize you lot?" Vegar sneered, noticing a few of them as the city lord's personal guards and children.

"So the old man finally grew a pair," Vegar mocked.

A coup—this was a thrilling surprise on his last day. It was something he could only smile at, however, because frankly, it was laughable.

He was now an Exalted Weaver; what could a couple of ordinary people do to him?

"Yes, he did."

Suddenly, a young man rose from the stairs below and came to a stop before the city guardsmen.

"Sky?" As soon as he noticed the young man, Vegar frowned deeply.

Weavetech couldn't be considered the top power in the universe anymore. But once upon a time, they were, and everyone who posed a threat to them had once been placed on a kill list.

An example was those born with a great star.

If they weren't working for Weavetech, they were to be hunted down and killed immediately.

The Sky was on that kill list.

But unlike the great star talents, the Sky were much more organized and vengeful. Picking this project was a deliberate act from Zeke, because as Weavetech placed a bounty on all Sky's…

The Sky had placed a bounty on Weavetech talents.

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