Attacked, tricked, ambushed. These were a few things that Raze had experienced too many times, and even in the academy, where an area was meant to be safe for them, he still suffered.
Whatever these people wanted from him, the way they went about it didn't please him at all, and he was ready to show it. The strength was burning through his weapon, and nearly all could feel it in the area.
At that moment, Raze lifted his feet up, the first descending step was being used. He slammed it onto the ground, and the wave of Qi went out to all of those around him.
They felt the immense power that had come out from him, rattling them slightly.
"Are you sure that is what you want to do?" Barlan asked, stepping forward, circles of water were forming in the air above him, and they were swirling about.
Raze recognized this instantly; he was right, this person was a mage, and just like him, they were at the 4-star level.
Not just that though, on the second floor of the establishment, another door had opened up, and a large dark-skinned man showing his muscular, chiseled body had appeared from above.
Looking around, Raze could see five targets around him: the woman with the strange long object held in her hand, the man with the smaller object that looked like Himmy's, the mage, the young Pagna warrior, and the mysterious dark-skinned man who had just appeared from above.
"We outnumber you, and you have no idea about our strength. It is not a smart thing to do; you should have clearly known that we weren't trying to harm you," Barlan stated.
"You say I don't know your strength?" Raze replied with a smile. "It's the same for you; you have no idea of my strength either. And I disagree; it appeared as if you were doing everything trying to harm me."
Seeing the situation become tense and a fight soon to break out, Marcus needed to do something; he placed his weapon away. The gun he held, he had placed it into a special strap around his waist, and then moved the shabby piece of cloth clothing he had and flung it over to hide the weapon.
Right after, he held his hands up peacefully while also pulling out another small white object. Proceeding to press the button on it, Raze felt his inner jacket start to vibrate.
"I'm sure you must know what that means; we are from Alter," Marcus declared.
The sound of another door was heard creaking, and looking up, from the same room the large man had come out from, Graft had nervously exited his room as well.
"I believe you met one of our squad members already; Graft had informed us that you needed our help," Marcus explained.
"I apologize for what we have done; perhaps my little test had gone too far. I'll be honest; when I heard you were part of Himmy's group, I just wanted to have some fun with you."
"I apologize if this joke seems to have gone too far."
Raze had yet to put his sword down. He had reverted his Qi back into his body as soon as Graft had come out. He had his suspicions this would be the case, but whether they would help him or try to force him to do something was a whole other thing together.
Which was why he was still holding onto his sword.
"Look, you need our help to get in contact with Himmy, right?" Marcus said. "So don't let this stupid little idea of mine be the reason why we can't help you, alright."
Raze thought about it for a moment, and it was true that they weren't attacking him now. If he had decided to try and get rid of this team, it could bring more enemies that he didn't need, and would make it harder to go to the Dark Faction.
He soon put his weapon away, and the rest let their guards down as well that were around him.
"But man, I thought they said you were a mage?" Marcus claimed. "But you're really skillful with your sword. Were the reports wrong, are you a warrior instead?"
"I am a mage," Raze answered.
Which was a disbelief to everyone in the room. Apart from Barlan who was keeping a close eye.
In order to ease the tension, the Inn was allowed to open again and operate as normal. In the meantime, they were placed in a special room for VIP guests around the back.
It was to serve food and drink; it wasn't fancy like other places, but at least it was private.
Raze was sitting down at the table, next to Graft of all people, and by his right, was Marcus, who he found out was the leader of this Alter squad.
They were spaced away from him, a request made from Raze himself, but everyone had eyes on him.
"I guess before we talk about business, I should introduce my team to you all," Marcus claimed.
"As I'm sure you know, squads of Alter can have a variety of people from all over. For instance, yourself, you're from Alterian if you're a mage."
Raze nodded.
"Well, Barlan here is a mage as well from Alterian. Then we have me, Marcus, and Tanya; the two of us are from the same world as Himmy, your squad leader.
"And you also have the young Pagna warrior and Graft. Both of them were originally from Pagna but are a part of our squad."
Raze noticed something in that moment; when introducing everyone, he had stated what worlds they were from if they were in the same world, but there was one person he hadn't mentioned.
"The last large man is named Shing; he is not from the same place as us. I believe he said that he was from somewhere called Earth."
"You know honestly he's probably the most interesting out of all of us. In his world, there are those that have special powers, and they can range from anything."
"It kind of reminds me of magic, but it seems different, like it's only one power that they can have, and he tried to explain it to us that it works from some type of mutant cells, but it's hard for us to explain."
"Anyway, as for his power, he can harvest the power of spirits, pretty spooky, right."
"Harvest the power of spirits?" These words had caught his attention.
It also made him wonder, was it the reason why the man known as Shing had been staring at him hard this entire time?
