Ambush

At that moment a man walks into the room. He is dressed in an impeccable all-black suit and sporting a fashionable silver watch on his left wrist. But in contrast to his clothing is his unruly red hair and tired-looking eyes. He comes to a stop in front of us.

"Laen." He spits the word out like it's a curse. "What do you want?"

"We just want to ask you a few questions." Ice King takes the lead.

The man's eyes flick to me before going back to the Ice King. His face is expressionless as he asks. "About what?"

While Ice King speaks to him, I observe our surroundings and almost immediately I begin to notice suspicious activity. Like the fact that almost half of the workers in the room are currently on their way out. If they had nothing to hide they shouldn't feel so threatened by our presence that they would feel the need to leave.

I look at the Ascendant once again. His expression is completely vacant, focusing fully on Ice King and nobody else. I'm beginning to understand why Ice King wanted backup. From the looks of things, the situation is definitely going to escalate into a fight.

"So what exactly do you want?" The Ascendant asks after listening to the Ice King talk.

"As I said before, the situation is a bit suspicious, especially when we take into account the fact that you're related to all those kids in one form or another. If you don't mind, I would like to continue this conversation in a more… private place. After all, I don't feel comfortable saying all of this in front of your employees. What if I turn out to be wrong?"

Ice King lets out a small laugh after saying that, but the Ascendant doesn't laugh. Instead his eyes narrow. Then a second later all is back to normal. He nods and turning around motions for Ice King to follow him. I also begin to follow them when Ice King shoots me a look. He wants me to stay behind.

I come to a stop and watch as both of them enter an adjoining room and close the door. The moment the door closes my eyes narrow as I sense something off. The moment that door closed it sealed off the room behind it, effectively separating the both of us. Recalling that Ice King seemed certain there would be a fight, I take a deep breath and close my eyes.

After opening the third eye, I learned a new technique, one that allowed me to spread my will outside my body, effectively increasing the range of my senses for however far my will could spread. The technique was created to be used with the third eye, but since I couldn't open mine carelessly I used an alternative route I had discovered. Slowly, I let my Uua begin to flow from me and spread out, and with it, my will.

The image of the building we are in begins to take shape in my mind. My Uua can't penetrate the door to the office Ice King and the man had just disappeared into, preventing me from seeing into the room they are in, but nothing else in the building provides such an obstruction. It's because of that that I am able to notice the group of four people gathered just under my feet on the floor below me.

My brow furrows as I watch them converse. I can't make out what they're saying, I'm not that skilled with the technique yet, but still, I can tell something is off, especially when one of the people motioned upward toward me. My Uua keeps on spreading, increasing the range of my senses, even as I pay attention to the people below me.

A sense of danger slowly begins to build up within me as the people keep on conversing, occasionally motioning toward me. One of the magicians in the room I am currently in suddenly takes this moment to speak to me. "S-sir? Sir! Sir Laen!"

I ignore him, focusing on the activity going on beneath my feet even as the sense that I am somehow in danger keeps growing. The people stop talking. It is then my Uua flows out of the building, bringing with it new insights. I have no idea when, but a barrier has been erected outside the building. One that I recognize and fear. At the same time I realize that apart from the floor I am on, and those on the floor below me, the building is empty.

The people below me all raise their hands upward and my eyes snap open, only to see all the Erhaz in the room pointing their hands toward me, tattoos- no, not tattoos, Arcane Projectors glowing as they all prepare to unleash a spell. Time slows down to a crawl, as the hairs on my body rise. I take a deep breath, and then leap, immediately appearing at the opposite end of the room.

Time seems to return to normal just as the spot I was just standing is reduced to dust by the instant bombardment of multiple spells. I turn around, refusing to think about what would have happened if I hadn't moved just now. My mind running in overdrive I quickly analyze the situation. There are six people aside from me on the floor I am on, plus four people on the floor below. That's ten in total.

If it was a one-on-one fight, I might not be worried, but I doubt these guys will just come after me one after another. To prevent myself from being overwhelmed, I need to neutralize those on this floor before those guys below join up with them. The easiest way would be to kill, but the moment the thought of killing pops into my head my stomach roils. No, I can't do that. I'll have to neutralize them some other way. I'll probably wound them, but that will be better than ending their lives.

Barely a second has passed since their attack, and they are beginning to realize that their attack did not kill me. If I want to make a move, now is the time. I breathe out, clearing my mind, then I leap again.

I instantly reach the closest to me, a pale lanky man whose eyes widen as he notices me. Unfortunately, it is too late for him to react. I reach out and touch him, strengthening his body, before forcefully shoving him away from me with telekinesis. He blasts through the wall and is knocked out before he can even make a sound.

The others notice me, but I am not done yet. I raise my hand, using telekinesis to pull the nearest person, a woman this time, to me. She is unable to resist as my hand locks around her neck and I force my Uua into her. She lets out a miserable shriek as my Uua ravages through her body, but it doesn't faze me. A second later she passes out. Two down four to go.

The remaining four huddle together near a wall and two of them arrange themselves in front of the others before summoning a barrier. A quick glance tells me that although that barrier might be solid to other Erhaz, it is weaker than what my peers in the Laen are capable of producing. Far weaker. I make a fist and focus enough on Uua around it that my hand is soon covered by a solid layer of Uua. This drains my Uua till less than half is left. I leap again, appearing in front of the group before throwing a punch at the barrier. There is some resistance when my fist hits the barrier, but in the end, the Uua I had focused is enough for me to shatter it.

As the barrier breaks, I enter their midst and pause. Giving them enough time to recover from the shock of having broken through their barrier so easily. Then I detonate the remainder of the Uua left on my arm. The four are catapulted away by the resulting explosion, leaving me alone. I breathe in and out deeply. Six down. I had paused earlier to give those four a chance to begin to protect themselves, but not enough time for them to completely do so. The result is that the explosion didn't kill them, but it didn't leave them unharmed either. Either way, they are out of the fight.

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of my neck rise and I jump, just as an arc of energy slices through where my legs had just been. If that had touched me, then my legs would have been cleanly separated by that arc. I angle myself in the air so that my leg touched the wall beside me, then using my newfound leverage, I push off the wall just as the spot I had been in explodes.

I open my third eye mid-air and hurriedly begin to replenish my Uua. As I hit the ground, I turn around and summon Hilla's barrier just as three attacks slam into it. The barrier holds, allowing me to pass safely through the dire situation I had just been in. Behind the barrier, I catch sight of my assailants. Four almost identical people, wearing featureless black masks.

At this point, the floor I am currently on has almost been fully destroyed. The ground and walls are riddled with holes, and the walls seem to be on the verge of collapse. Through the holes in the wall, I am able to catch glimpses of the large barrier surrounding the building. Some part of me wants to figure out how they are powering the barrier, but now isn't the time for that. I can tell that the four people in front of me are Psuedos and not normal ones at that. Fighting them, while also trying not to kill them, is probably going to be a near-impossible task if I am not completely focused. And even then, I am not sure that I will come out on top.