Black Lagoon...

Sheik's Residence...

Hal was wondering if he had heard wrong and maybe, just maybe he did not just hear the Sheik order his execution.

Then again, he had impeccable hearing and there was no way he had misheard anything.

"Will everyone just calm down, please. How can you base your decision on the word of one person? I mean, she can't possibly know every single family in the whole of the Silva Duchy capital. I mean that place is huge" Hal said.

The capital was more than three times the size of Sapphire city and with thrice as much population.

Gavin turned to Lucile whose expression remained disinterested but now Hal thought he could see a hint of a smile playing on her lips,

"Well, I may have missed some families" she admitted but Hal could tell it was an attempt to mock him.

"You are too modest my lady. I know of your network and if you say you don't know a Klint family then I believe it is so.

Although, it might be that the family is so low on the social ladder that they are not worthy of being known by someone as important as you." The Sheik said.

Hal mimed a barf in his mind,

'Tone it down, dude. Kiss ass much?'

Lucile nodded,

"That is quite possible. He might not be a liar, just a nobody." She said with a little mirth in her voice.

The Sheik and his advisor nodded,

"In which case, killing him will not garner any consequences. He will simply disappear" the advisor said and nailed Hal with his wise eyes and Hal felt a tingle at the back of his neck.

A tingle that did not put him at ease one bit.

At that moment, someone else spoke up,

"I agree that he should be executed. This young man barged in here with absolutely no respect for the fine art of Runemastering and I will be very displeased if he does not face punishment for his deeds" Runemaster Fenrir said and Hal rolled his eyes at him.

"Calm your jets, old man. I'm a Runemaster as well, so don't try to bamboozle me. Besides I did not barge in, that guard dragged me in. I was quite reluctant." Then he turned to the Sheik,

"Your lordship, since I am already here, why don't I proceed to entertain you, and in exchange, I get invited to the Auction where I can bid on the exotic and expensive products." Hal said with a bow.

The Sheik's eyes narrowed but before he could say a word, Master Fenrir was already addressing Hal again,

"You? A Runemaster? Very well, where is your rank token?" He asked.

Hal shrugged,

"I don't have it on me, but as long as I can cast runes, that should be enough to prove my claim right?" He said to the advisor who made a mild gesture to show that it was fine.

Master Fenrir gaped,

"I can't believe you are entertaining this nonsense when I, a Rank 4 runemaster stands before you. I see this as the height of disrespect to both I and my craft" he said in outrage.

'This guy is so melodramatic' Hal thought.

'Cut him some slack, he probably came here to gain favor before the Sheik, and here comes you barging in and being quite rude. How would you feel if you were in his shoes? Figuratively of course'

Hal mind-shrugged,

'If I am ever so insecure and also secretly questioned my abilities like he is doing right now, I'll give you an answer' Hal retorted.

"You're a Rank 4 Runemaster? What a pleasant coincidence, so am I" Hal said and projected a Rune that shone and gave off the energy signature of a Rank 4 Rune.

Fenrir's eyes widened and he looked Hal up and down again, taking in his very young-looking face and feeling completely inadequate and very hateful.

That said, he managed to hide his expression quite well as he sneered,

"Is this some sort of joke?" He asked in a menacing manner.

Here he was dumbing down the might of his craft to mere parlor tricks just so he could gain the favor of this Sheik and in comes Hal to mess everything up.

No, he had given too much already including his dignity, he had no interest in giving anymore.

Hal could not care less what the man was feeling.

After all, his display was for the Sheik and not for him.

The Sheik turned to his guests, not just Lucile but the other two who had so far been silent,

"Does it interest you?" He asked.

One of them nodded,

"We are not averse to seeing what the young man has to offer" he said.

The Sheik smiled lightly and clapped his hand,

"That's good cause I am curious as well" he said and with that Gavin sat down and requested Runemaster Fenrir to step back which the man did in a disgruntled manner.

Once the other Runemaster was gone and he now had space, Hal rubbed his hands together and was not a slight bit nervous.

What was there to be nervous about?

He seperated his hands and in the middle of them emerged not one Rune but eight, all projected simultaneously and with the right amount of Astral energy to keep them all active.

That alone had the full undivided attention the Sheik and his guests with Lucile's eyes widened slightly.

And yet, they did not truly appreciate the difficulty of the act, the only one who could, was Runemaster Fenrir whose mouth gaped as he witnessed what Hal had done.

Not to mention the ease and the casual manner with which it had been done.

Almost as though it was not a feat worth mentioning for him.

That level of Astral energy harnessing was not Rank 4 and yet he could tell Hal was not faking his rank and was solidly Rank 4.

Hal on the other hand was enjoying himself and felt this was right where he felt comfortable. Not standing by fumes and refining pills in some cauldron.

Runemastering was his passion.

That said, it did not hurt to be able to do both.

Anyway, the Runes came out and all had different functions before branching out and standing in mid-air doing nothing.

Then he projected eight sets of seven runes that went off to join those eight floating individual runes and formed eight Rune circles.

Which meant that in the space of a few seconds, Hal had projected sixty-four runes.

He had easily crossed the number of Runes that could be projected without a Rank 4 runemaster risking his or her life.

Anyway, the circles had been floating vertically but under Hal's control, they turned until they were on a horizontal plane and then slammed into the ground with a...

*Boom*

... sound and releasing Royal blue Astral lights that gave it a more exotic feel.

All those watching, including a reluctant Master Fenrir, agreed that this was impressive but Hal was not done.

Nowhere near done actually.

With him feeding the circles even more Astral energy through his still tethered connection with them, they all activated and out of them formed Royal blue life-sized holographic constructs.

The constructs were easily identified as humans with two looking dressed in heavy armor and armed with powerful weapons as they began to battle.

Whenever their weapons met or connected with their opponent's body, Royal Blue sparks flew and it looked very impressive.

The battling pair did not stay in one place but instead dashed all about the hall. Wherever they went, the Rune circles below their feet followed.

Then a second pair which were identified as male and female were dancing about the room with a sort of Royal blue radiance around them.

They danced specifically around Lucile, most of the time passing through her and she watched them completely transfixed.

Then a third pair also battled but it was with hand-to-hand combat and obviously light clothing to aid mobility.

Their moves were an assortment of all types of fighting styles from Hal's earth. Karate, Taekwondo, and even occasionally, wrestling.

The final pair were the ones that were stationary and were meant to represent intellectual battle as they balanced what looked like a chessboard on their laps and continued to battle with non-violent strategic means.

And all this Hal did and still controlled without breaking a sweat.

The beauty of {Equipoise}.