The broken node brought great pain which slowly spread onto his entire body.
He was doing something to his heart, which meant a tiny mistake was fatal. Breaking this node meant affecting all the other ones, and it would further damage his other organs.
And Angor was not expecting this.
According to his plan, Angor believed he simply needed to break the lumps of mana in the node which would not cause anything serious. However, the resulting magic surge brought a worse consequence than he thought.
Upon committing the move, he felt all the organs inside his body fell into a seizure. The last thing he knew before fainting was vomiting blood, which… was not just blood. There were parts of flesh in his vomit.
…
Several minutes ago.
People more or less comprehended the situation they were in. According to Flora, they were now inside somewhere called the “Nightmare Domain”, not the auction hall.
They felt unsafe when seeing Sunders’ sudden appearance and Flora’s disturbed expression, which was made worse when they noticed Sunders doing his own work and ignoring everyone including Lydia.
And Sunders’ sweat-covered forehead told them there was looming danger about.
“What a hideous place…” The white-haired wizard Kooper was really worried now. “Such a mess. When will this end?”
“Yeah, we’re only here for the auction, and now… Are we safe at all? Lady Twilight, don’t you think the auction house should take the blame for this?”
Twilight had been in a bad mood since she learned the boy was Sunders’ personal student. She tried her best to contain her emotion just to avoid being provoked by someone. The speaker did not directly blame her for this, but she still found it irritating much.
Anyhow, she needed to say something to people.
“When we get out of here, Twilight Auction will provide compensation to you should anything happen to you. If nothing happens, please consider it as a harmless incident.”
In certain nations where laws had enough power over people, this incident which wasted people’s time might incur great compensation. But in the wizarding world where profit and one’s own life was more important, they all knew how not to ask too much.
“You’re right. Then we shall watch this… harmless incident.”
Twilight still needed to give people an explanation to protect the name of Twilight Auction and the best explanation was the boy lying inside the mist. However, she needed to get past Sunders to do something to the boy, which meant… impossible. She had to tell people something else, such as the exit hidden behind the mist.
Twilight beckoned at a guard to her side. “I’ll put a spirit connection on you. Go in there and check out the exit. Do not do anything else without me giving the order.”
The guard nodded and headed to the mist area.
“Don’t. No one shall touch the mist before Angor could… finish his business, or I’ll personally kill that man!” Sunders’ emotionless voice was heard by everyone.
That was the first thing Sunders said to them since he showed up.
It sounded like a threat.
“Why you-” Twilight pointed a finger at the gentleman but did not say anything. She could not.
Sunders glanced at the woman. “Go ahead, if you dare try.”
His terrible aura enveloped everyone, eliminating all wills which might oppose him.
Lydia wiggled her way the center of the castle hall and declared in a timid voice, “Mister Sunders… that’s YOUR student in there, and we know we outsiders should not meddle with your business. But don’t you think we need a solution right now? Or do we just sit here and wait for the ‘harmless incident’ to conclude on its own?”
Sunders looked around the hall which trapped hundreds of the customers of the auction house before he then sighed in his mind.
Angor… you little troublesome kid.
“As Twilight said, you should all watch. The outcome is already determined.”
—It would be either peace or a great apocalypse which meant an end to the southern region.
However, Sunders did not wish to explain to anyone about anything about the Nightmare Realm.
People exchanged looks. Since the most powerful being on the scene just made his decision known, they might as well listen and stay put.
It was not long before they heard someone yelling inside the mist.
“No! Don’t go this way! Back! Back!”
Before they could figure out what that meant, they saw five strange cards running out of the mist. Armed cards.
“Near-wizard monsters again… but there are only five this time, we can manage.”
Twilight ordered people to get rid of the card soldiers, and Sunders did not stop them. He only glanced at the gun held by the Joker card before returning his attention to the mist.
The cards inflicted heavy damage to the Twilight Guards. They might be on the same level as the rainbow dragonflies, but they had weapons!
The swords and shields they used were at least tiered weapons. People only recognized the Joker’s gun because they saw Angor using something similar to stop a guard’s spell. Back then, the weapon was pretty weak. However, the one wielded by the Joker was deadlier than they expected. Each bullet possessed unstoppable power.
It was only seconds, and another guard was dead from a shot.
Despite their previous decision, the other wizards all provided their help and quickly eliminated the card soldiers. In the last moment though, the Joker card vanished from their sight like the remaining dragonflies while the other cards were torn to pieces.
They feared that the Joker might backstab them while hiding, but it did not happen. Like when dealing with the dragonflies, monsters who had gone invisible never showed up again.
“Maybe they were not here to attack us in the first place?” Someone muttered.
They heard Angor screaming again after several minutes.
Everyone except Sunders looked that way and saw a group of small toy soldiers emerging from the mist. They stopped in front of the teacup band and marched on the spot without doing anything further as if they were preparing to welcome someone important.
Flora frowned and sent a transmission to Sunders, “Should we leave Angor to face all those monsters by himself?”
Sunders considered a little before replying, “Suppose… a group of merciless bandits is trying to cross a river. Will they kill an innocent man who can help them build and maintain a bridge?”
…
Angor lost consciousness as great pain took over all of his inner organs.
However, he woke up in a short time. Also, when he saw the toy soldiers still crossing the barrier, he knew that he did not faint for long.
“You can’t just suicide like that! No! No! You are the biggest serviceman for expanding the territory for Her Highness! Yes!” An emotion came from somewhere above his head.
It was the green toy owl, who was now hovering in the air and staring at Angor in disapproval with those cute, round eyes. There was a stream of green air coming from its beak.
Angor saw the green air entering his body which gave him a chilly yet refreshing feel. It also mended his injuries including the one on his heart.
He even found his limbs healthy as ever.
The bones shattered by Twilight’s attack were now completely recovered. Angor tried to stand up and succeeded without a problem.
It felt amazing! The green air felt amazing!
However, the hole on his shoulder remained the same. It was still releasing white mist.
Angor was somewhat grateful that the owl saved his life, but he still had to finish Sunders’ order.
Not paying any mind to the toy soldiers, his first reaction was to check whether the illusion was broken. Angor noticed that the illusion nodes had disappeared, but the Nightmare Domain was still here and the passage was still left open.
“It didn’t work?!” Angor frowned. He really had nothing left now.
He felt an extra burden returning to his head again, which meant the toy owl perched on his head once more.
Angor rolled his eyes. He really, really did not appreciate the fact that birds, even a toy one, loved to nest in his hair so much.
“Um, can you go somewhere else, Mister Owl? And aren’t you going to follow your soldiers? They already left,” Angor tried.
The owl did not answer.
Angor considered something and spoke again. This time, it was by sending his emotion.
The owl understood him this time albeit not in the way he expected.
“Oi! You! Yes! You! I’m the honorable Sir Ori! Don’t ‘Mister Owl’ me! No! How disrespectful!”
The owl pecked at Angor’s head madly. Despite the toy’s cute look, its beak was pretty solid for the “attacks” to hurt.
“Sir Ori! I’m sorry, s-stop, please!”
The toy owl stopped and released green ripples again. “Remember my name as THE Sir Ori! Yes! Do not get it wrong again! Her Highness bestowed the name upon me, yes! And it is an honor!”
“Yes, sir!” Angor quickly acknowledged.
Angor stroked his hair a little when he saw something else coming to him from the Nightmare Realm—a red fox that was playing with harp and a green leaping frog singing an aria.
“A harp fox and a singing frog??” Out of instinct, Angor “thought” that out loud using the wavelength of his emotion.
“Oh, Fox and Froggy! Just in time, yes! The Queen would love to have professional musicians accompanying her nightwatch!” The toy owl spoke using emotion.
Angor felt something familiar when hearing those names, but he did not really have the time to think about that because he just got a new idea.