Colin didn't understand the phrase 'living nightmare'. But now he was experiencing it on a deeper level.
After Betty was kidnapped, he used his authority and halted nearly every normal activity of Valos.
"Useless! Fucking useless!" Slamming his desk, he yelled at the two women in black suits.
Moss and Roth lowered their heads and didn't respond.
If kidnap of Betty hit them deeply, then death of Hina devastated them.
"Moss, tell me, why didn't I send Betty to Uranus despite these kidnappings?" He clenched his fists and roared with red eyes.
Moss' body trembled and she said in a choking voice. "Y…You trusted us."
"Exactly! I expected you, three level 7s to protect my little girl. Can't you even do that job properly?" Colin's chest heaved up and down as the temperature of the entire building began to rise.
Flames rose form Colin's figure as he slowly turned into a being of fire.
Moss and Roth felt their instincts scream at them to run away or face death. But biting their lips, they stood in their place.
The desk melted under the intense fire and so did everything in the room.
Moss and Roth gritted their teeth as the tongues of flames devoured them. Their skins were quickly burnt and they started to bleed all over.
"Arghh"
"Hghha"
They whimpered in pain but didn't oppose. In fact, they blamed themselves for everything.
As they thought they were going to die, the fires suddenly stopped.
'Were we forgiven?' They couldn't believe it. Colin loved his daughter tooooo much.
"Oh? She's safe? Ah!" Colin's emotional shriek caused them to peer through the flames.
Colin held a red sphere and was talking with a stout middle-aged man's hologram.
"3 million aura crystals? Alright! End of evening? No, I'll send them by end of noon." Colin raised his voice.
"If my daughter is harmed in any way, I'll give up my job and I'll hunt you." The killing intent in his voice caused Moss and Roth to collapse onto their knees.
Colin hung up the call and turned to them. With a snap of his fingers, all the fire went off.
"Didn't you hear? Get the aura crystals soon."
"Y-Yes!" They rushed out of the room, not caring for their burnt bodies.
*** *** ***
"Master, the serum is mainly a potion. There is a pill inside it, which is the real deal.
The pill itself is an extremely toxic poison capable of killing level 6s in a snap.
But more important, it is engraved with special runes and formations. Each pill can be 'marked' by someone.
The owner of the pill can will it and the pill will burst, releasing the poison." Boo explained, pointing to a floating blue liquid and a green pill filled with strange symbols.
"So, you're essentially controlling that person's life." Varian sucked in a cold breath.
"Yes." Boo replied. "Also, the distance between the two shouldn't be too high or the pill would explode."
"…" Varian fell silent. He thought it was just kidnap, but this…this definitely didn't seem like one.
"How do you know so much?" He actually meant. 'Did you drink an IQ potion?'
"The database of the building, hehe." Boo smiled smugly. "There were even a few videos. Some of the injected resisted, they were killed easily."
"Oh." Varian tapped his chin. "Honestly, I haven't heard of this pill. Anymore information?"
"Only one thing I found important."
"Which is?"
"This pill uses Ylocan flower." Boo said. "Very very little, but it's a key ingredient."
{Ylocan flower appeared. Goreiki was stolen again by the Shadows.}
Varian recalled the news he saw before his travel.
Shadow Order…was the pill their idea?
"They've already asked for a ransom, but didn't inform Colin of the poison." Boo commented.
"I guess they want to reveal it at an opportune moment." Varian replied and his expression turned grave.
"Yes, master. Or else it'd be waste. Ylocan flower is very, very rare."
"…Opportunistic for what?" Varian muttered silently. He didn't know, but he had a feeling it was important.
As Varian racked his brains, the unconscious Betty was transported from the lab to one of the space pods.
A few hours later, a space pod containing mountains of aura crystals arrived.
Then, Betty's space pod took off and she was sent back to Valos.
The Cosa brotherhood didn't know they didn't inject the poison and were celebrating.
In the meantime, Varian had the ghost ship visit all the buildings and copy their databases.
Their resources, their targets, and so on.
And Varian found one particular information intriguing.
'Auction'.
There were no specifics, but he understood clearly.
Black Market Auction.
What do they sell there?
The potion that improves strength and allows forceful advancements.
While Colin was rejoicing on reuniting with his daughter once again, Cosa brotherhood, along with other major powers was preparing for a big event.
Cosa brotherhood gathered all their aura crystals and stuffed them into their space shuttles.
Of course, they could use storage rings, but this was how they required to bring them.
After loading, Space shuttles from the major buildings left the secret realm.
They travelled for an hour, going through many obscure routes, passing by asteroid structures and finally stopped at a place.
After a few minutes, the space fluctuated lightly and the space shuttles vanished.
"This is it."
Varian took a deep breath and ghost ship entered the secret realm.
Shortly after, space shuttles from other secret realms of other cities reached the location and entered the secret realm.
And this naturally included Athena agents and Shadow Guardians.
Seth stared at the grand black city in silence. He, along with some Athena agents and Shadow Guardians were playing as a gang.
What happened to the original gang?
Of course, all killed.
They waited a long time for this one opportunity.
Parking their space ship, the fake gang stood on the mobile road. The road slipped forward and after a minute, they were standing in front of a gigantic building.
{Shadow Order Auction House}
Seth pushed down the anxiety welling in his heart and flashed their ID card. After a short inspection, along with thousands of others, they were let in.
"The Auction begins."