Leo unleashed a massive Flame Burst at the ceiling of the hall. The explosion brought down the chandelier hanging there to the ground. The ceiling started to rumble and cracks formed where the ceiling used to hang.
The cracks slowly intensified and the members noticed that. Most of the members jumped away from where Leo while a few moved toward him. A lot of the Apprentice Aura Knights didn't know what was happening so they stayed in their place.
The ceiling came crashing down and the first floor caved into the ground floor. The ceiling was already burning because of the fire from the first floor. The Flame Burst just hastened the process of its crashing.
Once the smoke cleared, Leo shot a Magic Bullet at the sole Apprentice Aura Knight there. He was outside the radius of destruction from the beginning but on the wrong side of the chandelier. The man dropped to the floor.
He looked at the members that were unlucky enough to be on his side of the hall. The other side was completely blocked off. He looked at the members who were sweating when they saw him. They were facing off a mage that was so clearly stronger than them so they didn't want to start the fight.
"Do you want to live?" He asked them.
They nodded. None of them dared to speak. There were only 5 of them, and all of them were 1st Circle Aura Knights.
"Then scram. Tell the people on the other side that I will let them go if they leave now," he said. He turned away and left the hall.
He was hoping to avoid the fight completely to save his energy. He slowly walked toward the leader's location. As he got closer, he sensed that there was more than one person there.
Only one of them had Aura though. It was the leader and three other people in a single room. He guessed that they were servants or some people of that sort. As he got closer, he looked back to make sure that there wasn't anyone following him.
His tactic had worked. None of the members stayed there. All of them left through the sides and jumped the gates to leave the mansion. He was now alone with the leader for a solo fight.
He eventually found himself in front of the room where the leader was. He was waiting for a little bit to organize his thoughts. It would be an incredibly hard fight. He had taken off his bag and made sure that he was in his best condition. He had even cast a body-strengthening spell.
"I told you guys not to disturb me!" A voice came from the room.
Leo was startled but quickly recovered. If he could sense people as a 2nd Star Mage, then it would make sense if the leader could as well. He was lucky that the leader only sensed him as a normal gang member and not a mage.
"Sir! There is a problem in the hall! There was a huge fight!" He shouted through the door.
"They fight every day. Don't disturb me about something like this," the leader was annoyed.
"But sir, many people have serious injuries. Some are even dead!" Leo started cooking up a tall tale. He was doing everything he could to make the leader walk to the door. Since the leader was not expecting an attack, he could sneak attack him when he opened the door. It would give him a very good advantage.
"If it's not as serious as you said, then you are going to be paying for it," the voice grumbled.
Leo could sense that the leader had gotten out of his bed and was walking toward the door. He took a couple of steps back and aimed his hand at the door. The door slowly creaked open. A middle-aged man with a beard dressed in all-black clothing walked out. He had a sword in its harness in his right hand. His hair was very disheveled.
"Who started the figh-"
A Flame Burst flew toward the leader. The man instinctively blocked the Flame Burst with his left hand. The ball of fire blasted into the left hand before the leader could even muster any aura. Leo immediately took a few steps back and waited for the smoke to clear out.
The leader immediately circulated aura through his body and repelled all the flames clinging to his body. He roared.
"Who attacked me?!"
His left arm was completely blown away. His right hand was still holding on to the sword sheath. His eyes were red from the pain, but his roar was more from the anger. He bit the sword sheath with his teeth and pulled out the sword.
Another Flame Burst flew toward the leader. The leader countered it very easily with a slice of his sword. The ball of fire was cleanly split into two halves that flew in separate directions before hitting the walls.
Leo slowly started backing away to the open area with the pool. He wanted to give himself space so that he wouldn't have to fight a close ranged fighter in a small space.
"Who are you?" The leader asked again. This time he was calmer. "What is a mage doing in the slums of a small city like Solhaven?"
Leo thought about whether he wanted to answer the question or not. Suddenly, he realized that they weren't alone. The room that the leader came out of had three other people. One of them, a woman, had come out and was looking at both of them. She was in earshot of the conversation.
"I am Orion. I am from Eldridge. I came here because... I was bored." Leo came up with the answer that made the most sense. Mages were more likely than not nobles. Nobles only interfered with commoners when they had some interest in the matter. They didn't have any morals or anything. Not as far as he knew.
The leader clenched his teeth. "Is there anything I can do to relieve that boredom? I have many friends who can perhaps accompany you for the night." He suggested.
He just lost his arm to the mage, but he still had to be respectful. If he attacked the mage, he would be attacking a noble. If anything happened to a noble, the magistrate would get involved. For the magistrate, killing him would be as simple as snapping a finger.
"No. Not really." Leo said. He threw another Flame Burst at the leader. The leader blocked it again.
"Sir, I am going to have to defend myself if you keep attacking me!" The leader said. He was starting to get frustrated that he couldn't do anything.
Leo took a few steps back. A cornered animal was the most dangerous. He needed to give himself some time to calm the leader down. Leo still held the advantage. The leader was losing his temper and he was down a hand. Also, he had no idea that Leo could Shadow Step behind him at any time.
He hadn't yet because he was waiting for the right time. And the right time came very quickly.
