The Midnight Sovereign was one of the most flourishing cities there were to find.
As Angor stepped into the city, he realized he was looking at a brand-new human creation.
Unlike any other big cities that he had been to before, Midnight Sovereign allowed many different elements to co-exist within a relatively small area. For example, one of the most commonly seen structures here was skywalk. Most streets in Midnight Sovereign were quite narrow. The sides of the streets were compacted with steel buildings, while the skywalks connected something else higher up. Despite their height, the solid designs of the skywalks and their flower decorations made them looked very safe.
Angor recalled seeing similar structures in the films from Earth. Even Brute Cavern had paths between trees hanging in the air called sky bridges.
The skywalks in Midnight Sovereign though were all too short to be called “bridges”. They simply provided another path above people’s heads to cross the streets, and they were not complex to build.
Nevertheless, the city still took on another look when every corner of the city had these extra ways in midair.
When watching “A Man and a City”, Angor did not find single buildings attractive, no matter how strange their design was. But it was something different when the whole city was designed in a certain, creative style.
This was the case in Midnight Sovereign. One or two skywalks were nothing impressive. However, Angor was looking at them stretched out in the city everywhere, built in different shapes and materials.
Occasionally, people would appear on them and hang their clothes on the railings to dry them off. From a distance, all the clothes appeared like colorful festival flags decorating the city.
Angor’s first impression of the city was that it had to be a really lively place full of the energy of civilization.
However, when he moved deeper into the city, something else began to show up.
His enthusiasm when visiting the giant city quickly became stale after he witnessed angry citizens fighting over trifle matters, more than one time.
However, he kind of expected a race which was believed to be rough in nature to fight a lot. Angor never paid much attention to the conflicts along the way. He carefully followed behind Prome and headed toward Twilight Well.
There were also other interesting elements in Midnight Sovereign.
As commonly believed, the Subterrian was the major resident in Darkivil Empire. Although Angor noticed many other different races who all shared strange looks, such as people with the heads of lions, pink-skinned dwarves, someone with tails or an extra toe on their feet… they more or less resembled humans.
“They’re considered ‘Humanoids’, who are pretty distant from real humans,” Prome explained.
“I think there are Humanoids in other planes too. Are they the same with these people, sir?” Angor asked.
“I… have no knowledge about that. But I assume they aren’t the same thing. At least Humanoids in the wizarding world are allowed to study wizardry in certain places even though the Supreme Cult would discriminate them. Those from other planes, on the other hand, are absolutely forbidden from our arts.”
“I heard that if creatures from other planes came to the wizarding world, the world’s consciousness will repel them. Is it true?”
“It is. I once saw such a case. The creature was left with rotten blood and flesh in the end like a dried corpse… It was horrific.”
“Then… is there any way to prevent this?”
Angor tried to pretend that he was simply curious. However, deep inside, he was getting really tensed up.
He failed to get a chance to seek an answer from Sunders. Now that Prome was with him, Angor really hoped he could learn something.
As Angor believed, Prome had to be very wise after spending his life in the wizarding world as a renowned alchemist all these years. However, his hope was met with greater disappointment.
“I don’t know about that. Why do you ask?” Prome’s answer was quick.
Angor forced a smile. “Just curious, sir.”
Prome did not seem concerned. “There should be a method. Real wizards might know about it. We apprentices would never learn something like that.”
Angor nodded and decided to stop here.
When passing through a quiet alleyway, Angor suddenly felt a weight on his waist lifted. He looked down and noticed that his money pouch was gone.
And there was no one else around.
“What’s the matter?” Dave noticed Angor’s unusual look.
“My wallet is gone.”
“You-Oh shit. Same here!” Dave yelled out before he could comment on Angor’s misfortune.
Dave’s face immediately went pale. Angor only placed several magic crystals and one-use space capsules in his pouch. Most of his money was inside his bone card, which stayed with Toby in his chest pocket. Dave, however, had almost everything in his bag. Losing it was disastrous for him.
“They are still nearby,” said Angor. He acted quickly and placed a Grease spell on the ground.
Someone suddenly exclaimed. “Damn it! They’re wizards!”
A series of footprints appeared on the oil trail, giving the thief’s location away.
Angor prepared to capture whoever bothered them. Before he could, he saw Dave yelling in an exceptionally angered way. In the next second, something which gave out a metallic glitter appeared from Dave’s finger and went for the thief.
They could only see footprints right now. But Angor was confident that Dave’s attack would hit whoever stood on the trail.
It did not happen. The attack went through the air above the footprints without hitting anything.
“He has no body?” Angor pondered.
Soon, Prome followed up by casting a large-scale Frost spell, covering the entire place in white.
The temperature visibly dropped around them. Judging from the slow movement of the footprints, the thief had to be affected.
Prome already released his second attack. Several ice blades went for the supposed position of the thief, which… missed again.
“Void Shift?” Prome frowned. “No. Only a formal wizard can use that spell, and a formal wizard can obliterate us in no time instead of stealing.”
The footprints were approaching the edge of the spell. Dave was so worried that he was about to cry now.
Angor lifted his right hand and snapped his fingers. A blizzard-themed illusion soon came into being based on the Frost spell used by Prome.
Then, Angor dragged Dave and Prome away from his illusion.
“He’s trapped. I think he can avoid single attacks using something similar to Void Shift. See, when your attacks missed, the footprints vanished for just a second, and reappeared soon. I guess that whatever he’s using cannot last very long. We can get him with continuous attacks.”
Dave understood Angor’s words and immediately prepared another spell.
Angor pressed Dave’s hand down. “No need to waste mana. He’s not getting away from the illusion. Just wait, and Master Prome’s Frost will drain his strength.”
Just as he said, it was not long before they heard someone crying in a weak voice.
“For-forgive me, my good sirs. I’ll return your wallets. Please spare my life.”
Two money pouches appeared on the ground.
Angor pulled them closer with Hand of Spell. Dave inspected his bag and made sure everything was still inside before he sighed in relief.
The culprit still had not shown himself. He only begged them to cancel their spells as soon as they could.
No one listened to him.
About five minutes later, a figure covered in robe materialized in the air and collapsed.
“He’s frozen stiff,” Angor said.
“Finally, you filthy thief. Any last words?” Dave stomped to the figure and flipped him over to check his face.
Dave was going to finish off the offender, but his hand stopped in the air.
Angor and Prome joined Dave to check what was going on.
“A kid? But he didn’t sound like one,” said Angor as he looked at the pale face of the thief and noticed that it was someone pretty young. Probably younger than Sailum. Seven or eight, at best.
Dave hesitated when looking at the kid’s face. He might be stingy before, but he worked together with Angor for long enough to learn kindness.
At least Dave was not going to slaughter a kid with his own hands.
Dave struggled with his mind for a while and sighed in the end. He dragged the thief away from the frozen grounds by the collar.
“Well, we get our wallets back. Now he has to make it away on his own.”
Despite his decision, Dave never intended to help the thief. He left the kid against a wall and prepared to leave.
“You know, sometimes little kids are more terrible than adults,” Prome suddenly spoke.
“Because they’ve no idea about what’s right and wrong,” said Angor as he picked up from Prome’s speech. “When a kid decides to commit a crime, it means pure, sheer malice.”
Angor did not really care about the difference between “pure evil” and other types of complicated emotions. The only thing that mattered was whether something affected him personally.
Angor gave the small thief a final glance and suddenly noticed a strange-looking pattern on the kid’s neck.
He moved closer to inspect it carefully. “This is…”
He saw something similar before. The masks of Phantom Servants also had similar patterns on them.
“Phantom Servant,” Prome saw Angor’s question and explained. “And he has a talent ability too.”
Prome’s revealed an uncertain expression. “Phantom Servants are native to Darkivil Empire. Thanks to their natural abilities, they usually hold important positions in the nation. Why would a Phantom Servant kid end up as a thief?”