70 Identity 6 - The One In Control (1/2)

”Stand down! You people are charged as suspicious individuals, you are hereby under arrest until all suspicion are cleared, throw down you weapons to the ground, kneel and give up!!!”

...

”I said surrender! By authority of the Top merchants, you are to surrender or face the consequences!”

From Stigma's side, all the Cultivator present were staring at the group of guards as if they were nothing - but ignorant fools. A battle was about to continue between Cultivators and any demands from the weak would be ignored.

'It took you this long to gather and you expect us to be intimidated, you retard. No wonder murders have going about behind the scenes, you useless lazy bastards....'

Stigma along with the Silver mask had the same thought and could only sneer at the guards for entering the scene, their arrogance in believing they were in control of the situation along with using intimidation upon status to put pressure on them was useless.

Some of the guards were able to tell the difference in strength between the groups, but chose not leave or they would be hunted down if they break about. By nature, humans tend to group together to give confidence and when the strong are grouped together, they might as well give up before they prove them.

”Stay strong men! Four men are only four men, as long as we remain calm we can handle this!”

The captain was able to tell the difference in strength, but he had to appear confident to push his men into believing he had the ability.

He was also unsure of the Cultivators they brought were capable, they were not employed by the Top and only joined to earn free pay from the chaos. When he asked about their abilities, they only said they were capable in beating any weakling, so they joined unaware of the opponent's possible threat level as they saw him run away into a secluded area.

”As for you four, stand down I say! Because of the recent earthquakes I, your father, am not so lenient as to have suspicious individuals cause chaos within the markets dire state, surrender or we will use force!”

After the demands were made, three groups were formed with over five guards in each formation with tower shield in ready as archers hid behind them with their bows at the ready.

Those with swords and shields stepped forward and surrounded them, unfortunately Stigma's group were to far apart, so they had to give a half moon formation with the archers positioned to fill in the large gaps andavoid the risk of aiming at their comrades when they shoot.

Curiously Stigma used his skill and found the reason behind their confidence, he found out that each and every one of them had a faint Zen aura so they stepped forward without considering the danger of their opponents.

For safety reasons, Stigma used his skills and found that only two Cultivators are a challenge.

Both were Second Tier Cultivators in the Mid and Early stage respectively, so he would have a problem in dealing with them as he is right now, the weapons they held were long swords and wore full plate armors but had no actual skills in their stats.

Even to Stigma, they would be considered weak, as the for the guards all of them were in the below the Zero Tiers with only one late stage among them, comparing the two groups was not even worth a waste of breath and was but an insult to his group.

He was about to tell them to get away, but the Silver one spoke and down right insulted them, destroying any intention of reasoning with them.

”Uncle, why is that ant so arrogant, his level of strength is like a drop of water compared to all of us.” The Silver masked complained out loud for all to hear, clearly not intimidated but annoyed, he seem to speak for the rest of the group so the Golden one responded with a voice of indifference.

”It nothing to be surprised about, Cultivators are known through out the land as blessed individuals, so anyone who can cultivate even in the lesser levels are considered strong or gifted, so many try to recruit them and form connections before they get stronger and treated with the luxuries beyond commoners even among small kingdoms. Depending on where they reside, even those in your level would gain a position close to their royal bloodline.”

”Humph! If that's the level of a small nation strength, then their nothing special.”

”...Is that true Senior Felix?” Stigma made some small talk and ask the only one in his group for confirmation, he hadn't revealed his Cultivator status to the market excluding to the ones he new, so he wanted Felix's opinion so he can move around more freely.

”....Like the golden one said it is nothing to be surprised about, once someone reveals their status of a Cultivator, even small kingdoms make way and bend over backwards for them if they possess enough strength. But don't be mistaken that all can move around freely without consequences, Cultivators are still governed by rules and may be hunted down if their atrocious acts are known, they will be held responsible for all their mistakes and that very rule had been enforced by the strong.”

Even with their exchange of words, neither Stigma nor Felix dare dropped their weapons in front of the enemy, the Gold and Silver pair did nothing as well and stood their grounds. Whether or not the guards can be of assistance will depend on how the captain will react, Stigma and Felix would not want unnecessary losses so they had to separate the groups before they interact.

Both sides had not moved since the guards entered and paid no attention to them, due to their response the leading guard's face turn red from anger from the misunderstanding.

”Tch, if that's how your going play then fine! I deem you all as criminals! In the name of the Top merchant families and by my authority, you are all criminals so surrender and prepare for your trials, throw down your weapons and kneel to the ground or face the consequences of executions!”

As the Cultivator guard started ranting on about his threats, the Gold and Silver pair gave a disgusted looks at the guards for a moment but turned back to focus on the ones before them, not daring to tear their eyes away from any sudden movements.

The two Cultivators were not paying attention to the guard and just yawned and stared at the group out of boredom.

In fact, Stigma's sides were aware that these men were obviously not prepared to handle a group of Cultivators. From the delayed reaction, excluding for one, everyone concluded that the guards had never expected to find a group and only gathered to capture Felix heading towards the direction out of suspicion.

Stigma could tell that all the effort he put into creating attention were being ignored as he sounded like child arguing with an adult, but he only needed to draw the attention to any of his companions which worked out in drawing Felix so he needed his cooperation in capturing them.

The Golden one surveyed his surroundings and sighed, after observing Felix's level of reserves, he gave no attention to the guards and exercised his shoulder like there was no real threat.

”...Haa.... We're leaving, too many witnesses and our guest this time is going to be tricky to handle.” The Golden one foresaw what Stigma was attempting and a humored him, yet he had not expected a Cultivator to step forwards and protect the boy.

Though he was strong, Stigma's ability to destroy his rhythm was beyond him, before he realized it his arm was actually numb for parrying all those shield attacks. And intuition told him, Stigma and Felix would double team him, so they had to retreat for now.

”Uncle, can we not kill all the guards, we can still proceed with the mission if we remain in hiding. The Cultivator with the rods is strong, but you are still stronger than him by comparison, I can handle the white haired boy so you can focus on your fight.”

Between killing a cultivator, killing fifty non-cultivator or Cultivators with no background would be much more easier as they lack the skills and training, but the Golden one believed they were exposed to a certain degree, so they have to retreat for the time being. Unfortunately, his companion could not accept it and tried to voice his reason.

”Ho Ho Ho! Your thoughts are appreciated, but no need, I underestimated the boy and didn't expect him to also have some experience under his belt. As for the new face, I need to time before dealing with him unfortunately. By the way, even if you crossed blades with the boy, you will still lose even if he had half of his reserves because of the difference in experience.”

Having heard his uncle give such praise, the nephew looked at Stigma not with anger or envy but curiosity. His uncle rarely praises him, fully aware of the lack of skills he posses, so him wanting to challenge someone his uncle recognize would be similar to improving himself by gaining experience from the gifted.

Stigma on the other hand mistook the gaze as a hidden glare and started clenching his fist to get ready, after a while he found that his left arm was slightly numb from trying to parry most of the sword swings, so he would not be able to use his left arm any time soon.

Although Stigma fought with his reserves that have yet to recover, he still found that uncle was still strong even without it. Not only that, Stigma needed to find out about their origins, believing the scent of a dead body and dried blood is not a coincidence.

”Uncle, are you not overestimating him, he may be young but that does not mean he has fought more battles than you. I don't think its easy to shock you even if your not serious.”

”Oh, but the boy did surprised me, I never expected him to have allies in the market who was at this level. Also, do you really think that we are in a state where we both can still handle them, ignore the guards and look around you, there's a few more watching us.”

The Silver one looked around out of confusion, after a few minutes he was shocked to find three more Cultivators within the same level surrounding them; one was short and held a short dagger, another was taller with small orb at hand, the last was the tallest with arms crossed staring at the pair with killing intent.

Those very three were Veil, Han and the leader. Because the formation was complicated, Veil had to carefully modify and made sure the trap formation remained intact before they can finally leave the ripples, the total time she took was triple the amount due to modifying three at once.

The mere presence of the three was enough to drive the guards into a panic from their sudden appearance, yet the nephew was no different as he shrunk away from the powerful presence of the three and caved in.

His uncle only laughed, grateful that his nephew's awareness of the difference and did not fell that it was a mistake in bringing him to this mission. Although his nephew was serious for his age, he only wanted to prove himself because of his circumstances.

While the Gold and Silver pair were ignoring the others, the atmosphere was becoming bizarre, as if the two were not aware of the pressure they were in.

Fortunate or not, the guards were trying to bite of more then they can chew and steal the glory, but Stigma did not care and observed the pairs delayed reaction and judgement, what he needed was now was force the pair to reveal their actual intentions or find some way to capture on of them andtheir acts and be exposed.

”...What should we do Stigma, follow the guards? or go after the pair?”

Felix was fully prepared for any danger those two posses so he was in the ready for anything, but he had to keep Stigma out of harms way.

By observing Stigma's shield, the Golden one used a sword technique that was capable in utilizing Zen aura as an extension of the weapon, so he had to tread carefully and figure out the range of the blade.

”Senior Felix! Capture them! One of them has a pungent smell of dried blood and dead bodies on them! They might be involved in the recent murders!”

There was also the unknown danger the other one possessed, but Stigma gave a comment that made him confused and the Gold and Silver pair shocked to find Stigma's sense of smell was similar to a beast.

”What are you -” Before Felix could finish, the Golden saw an opening then flipped his hand and revealed an orb, the moment then threw it to the ground the whole area was covered in a thick smoke cloud, limiting everyone's vision.

Due to the passing winds, the smoke cloud was affecting the nearby crowd. If nothing was done, the civilians will be involved in the skirmish and the escape route would be unknown.

”After them! They're escaping!” The archers were confused in were to shot as voices started appear all around them, if they were not careful, civilian will be involved in the casualties. When the leader heard Stigma announced the smell of dead bodies, he became suspicious and wanted all of them to be capture for questioning.

”Do not let them escape! Shoot! Shoot them down! It does not matter what you hit! Slow them all down at all cost, just shot! Do not let them escape!”

The Cultivators on their side started moving but had no idea where to go, they were obviously amateurs and started swinging their swords at random and hit nothing but air.

'Really useless aren't they....'Essence Reader!''

Stigma didn't need to listen to the crowd nor the arrows as they were being shot at random further increasing the panic, after looking around he finally saw familiar names escaping from afar with alarming speed.

”Senior Felix! Cover me!”