Yuri, who was watching the fight from afar, almost intervened at the moment of the Master's final explosion. But it seems he overdid it when he saw that the founding members were not so simple... They fought well in groups, were strong, and had a good variety of spells. With a relic and greater knowledge of their areas of expertise, they would be great Masters of the Order in the future. It seems that he and his sister did well to join this group; they all had a lot of potential.
But in the end, they still made a mistake... Luckily, he was here and could correct this mistake before it became a problem... With a wave of his hand, a small piece of his shadow became a small bird and flew in a direction, bringing a solid drop of blood that slowly moved away from the battlefield. He grabbed Death Lord's life source and then disappeared into the shadows, leaving the battlefield.
When he reappeared, he was back in Vitarys' room, he handed a black vial with the drop of blood inside to him, saying that it was the Master of the Death Lords' method of survival. Vitarys was surprised and thanked him before sending a report to Rafael, in the end, he and Rafael were right to send a true Master to supervise the others and take care of them.
***
After receiving the report of the battle, Rafael was satisfied with how everything was done, he still kept a tight control over the gunpowder and any items derived from it. But this time, he entrusted one of these items to the group during the mission. It was a way to coerce, scare, and show power to the inhabitants of Asshai about the consequences of attacking his Order. Looking at the item that contained the Master's soul in his hands, a cold smile covered his face, and he sent it to Natasha. His end would not be at all comfortable in her hands, and no secret could be hidden…
***
In a Great Tower that few knew its name, Ezio was inside several magic circles. He groaned in pain constantly, fell to the ground, vomited, sometimes his teeth would rot and fall out of his mouth, and occasionally he would even spit out blood and pieces of internal organs. The magic circle he used drastically reduced the effects of the curses, but he was being affected by at least 2 or 3 of them every 10 minutes, so all he could do was endure these effects while another magic circle constantly healed him. These terrible effects had been going on for almost 10 days, and Ezio only felt relief when he saw that one of his disciples had finally returned with several rings that granted him many immunities to flesh and blood-type curses.
They could even perfectly resist medium-level curses. The downside was that he had to pay a certain Master Craftsman dearly to create these high-level artifacts. When he finally regained his healthy appearance, he verbally cursed the Red Sage several times; he hadn't even killed the man, and he went so far as to curse him for several days. Although the rings allowed him to escape unscathed from mid-level or lower-level body curses, he was at the mercy of a high-level curse.
He needed to find a powerful defense relic, or he would have to make a very nefarious deal with the hateful man. When he remembered again how deceitful the Necromancer was to the point of faking his death just to get close to him, he couldn't help but throw the items that were in front of him in anger. He swore revenge if he found out who conspired to have him attack such a cunning Master, saying it was an "easy" mission for an apprentice to deal with. The problem was that the person who hired everyone to attack the Order of the Sages was found dead, and even his soul was missing…
***
Since arriving in Asshai ten years ago, Rafael had never seen the city so lively. About 60% of the Masters had reappeared, leaving their old and dusty towers, and they were also accompanied by their many disciples and servants. The port was also full of ships, and rich and influential people from various continents, as well as many lovers and aspirants of all types of magic, flowed through the streets of the city of shadows.
Everyone came to participate in the famous auctions that would take place over the course of 3 days. Magic books, magical artifacts, rituals, rare magical ingredients, exotic animals from the Land of Shadows. Everything could be easily purchased anywhere, thanks to the many street vendors who circulated through the city and opened their humble stalls on various streets.
The bustling atmosphere was no different at the Sage Store, taking advantage of the special event that only happened once every 100 years, the store was having special silent auctions daily, its popular cakes and desserts sold more than water without ever having enough daily stock. Its other popular items, like the "protein" bar that killed hunger and didn't spoil even in the worst temperatures and weather, had become a favorite food of the townspeople, sailors, and merchants.
Inside the store, Jack was acting with a fake face, while pretending to be a clerk, at the same time Vitarys remained in a high place on the third floor, observing everything with serious and sharp eyes, he held his huge spear made of Valyrian Steel with silver and gold details. Unbeknownst to the customers, several passersby inside the store were disguised as faceless men. The group was on full alert for any suspicious customers and would not hesitate to kill on the spot the person who caused trouble here.
On the third floor of the shop, Aisha was standing on a small stage and acting as the host of the auction that was taking place inside. There were many famous apprentices inside the place, as well as many servants of well-known Masters. Many valuable items had been displayed during the auctions over the past two days, and today, the final day, promised to bring an even more incredible item. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, the Masters sent several subordinates to find out what the item was and if it was really that valuable.
"Very well, ladies and gentlemen, I believe you all know that tonight the mighty Iahssa will arrive in Asshai, and tomorrow we will have the Grand Auction of the Masters. Our auction is nothing compared to the popular auction that is only held once every 100 years. But our leader, the mighty Red Sage, has decided to auction today exclusively for you, one of the special items that will appear in tomorrow's Grand Auction. Not only that, but there will be 3 units of this item here, just for you, loyal customers of the Sage Store! In the final act of our auction, we announce a high-grade natural treasure, a miraculous item with no side effects and the best of its kind on the current market!"
The words immediately excited the people, especially those who were not even qualified to participate in the Master's auction. Then Aisha continued:
"We present the Fruit of Immortality, a natural treasure capable of transforming an old man of 70-80 years into his younger self again, completely reversing his appearance both internally and externally to the peak of his 20-30 years. As said before, the fruit has no side effects, having the best effect among any item or potion that promises such results, its only problem would be that we can only consume it once, and a second time will not bring any more effects. The starting bid for this fruit is 500 soul stones. You can start."
"600 soul stones!"
"900 soul stones!"
"1000 soul stones!"
"1500…"
The crowd went wild, and the bids quickly reached almost 2000 soul stones before it was snatched by a lone old apprentice. The man was so excited that he ate the fruit on the spot, even though he was afraid of having his treasure stolen by others when he left the store. Everyone's shock at seeing the decrepit old man return to his young and handsome self caused another wave of screams to ring out when the second fruit was announced. This time, curses and threats sounded among the participants, which became more violent with each bid.
"I am Shalam, eldest disciple of the Master of the Unholy Soul. If anyone stops me from obtaining one of these fruits today, they'd better know that there will be consequences."
"Old Shalam, how shameless you are, if you have no money, go back to your poor and dusty tower, and stop with your empty threats, do you think I, Kenji Nakamura, am afraid of you? Do you know who my master is?"
"Old Shalam and Old Kenji, aren't your masters dead? Aren't you embarrassing yourselves by telling lies? I thought the apprentices of the older generation of Asshai had more face." Shouted a handsome young man who constantly bid, greatly increasing the value of the fruits.
At the end of the bidding, the remaining two fruits were snatched by Old Shalam and Old Kenji, but they paid more than 2300 stones for each fruit, thanks to the young man who kept raising the bids just to hurt them. Smiling at the two, he left without fearing the threats of the two old men, who were now young again, causing another wave of sighs and regret among the participants who had missed such an opportunity. With that, the Sage Store auction came to an end, and all the inhabitants of Asshai who did not have towers ran towards the many temples seeking temporary shelter, while some simply raised the sails of their ships, leaving the city. On the horizon, as night fell, a giant shadow slowly approached.
Author's Note: The Magic Solstice store, which previously belonged to Master White Shadow, was also inherited by Natasha, his only disciple, and all management and profits of this establishment belong to her alone.
****
Special thanks to the Patreons:
Sage's Supporter: Jan, Vinnie, frimorigo, Leery Falcon, Parsa, Scott Robertson, and Pato Senalima!
Magical Apprentice: Axel Bour, Gabriele Sulpizio, Takatchi, mandeep singh, Austin, and Kobe Robertson!
Senior Magic Apprentice: Cole Bromley!