“Or else?” asked an upstart kid.

It wasn’t the first time an arrogant and overleveled child of some rich prick tried to push Ezra around.

Too bad for that one, it wouldn’t work this time.

“Or else you’ll be taught a harsh lesson,” Ezra replied with a fatherly patience. He hadn’t been the youngest man when the first outbreak had happened but with the miraculous appearance of Vitality attribute, and subsequent ascension to Level 5, Ezra’s body recovered a good chunk of lost youth. Whenever he looked into a mirror, he saw a burly, forty year old man.

Unsurprisingly, the boy didn’t seem worried by Ezra’s threat. Did he believe his team would prevail? No… Of course, that wasn’t it. Ezra had seen it many times in the months following the first outbreak, a superiority complex, which was a product of an absurdly easy levelling delivered by a team of powerful minders.

Children of the wealthy grew to unnatural heights believing themselves to be above the others. Ezra almost grinned at the thought of humiliating the boy but he would have to be careful. He had his orders and they were very strict and precise: “don’t kill anyone until ordered otherwise.”

Upon further inquiry, Ezra had learned that his master was trying to locate some who apparently could open rifts and didn’t want him killed. Ezra had found the whole idea of ‘a person who can open rifts’ disturbing but he wasn’t about to second-guess his devotion to his master.

Ezra’s team took their positions around the boy; if he tried anything funny, no matter his Level, he would suffer damage but nothing life-threatening. They’d mastered disabling attacks to perfection after all following their orders.

Then the rest of Ezra’s team arrived with their prisoners. All of this was conducted in near complete darkness as the dominion kept the stars and the moon off the sky. Ezra and his boys had trained hard to master a spiritual sense that had vastly expanded after they entered the Medium stage.

Ezra waited until the prisoners were gathered ten or so metres from the boy and then surrounded.

“Stay on your knees if you wish to see the morning,” Ezra heard one of his people say. Intimidation was one of the best tactics they had at their disposal given their severe limitations. If they were free to kill anyone, they’d have cut through this group without breaking a sweat.

“Who the hell are you?” asked a woman from the subjugated group. Apart from the boy whose Level was unknown to Ezra and his spiritual companion, the woman was the second strongest here. She was Level 6, half human half rift essence. Judging by the strength of her Spirit, she was in the lowest stage. Ezra wasn’t surprised. Before his master revealed to him the knowledge of spiritual stages and their importance, Ezra had had no notion of their existence. That was the case with almost everyone out there.

Almost.

Ezra had a vague feeling that the boy could not be that far above him in Levels, meaning he was in a higher spiritual stage. In which one, Ezra couldn’t begin to imagine as the whole subject was already esoteric to him.

“We’re contenders of course,” Ezra replied, keeping an eye on the kid. He itched to give a command and push the boy to reveal his strength but such an approach could be dangerous given the swathe of unknown and exotics items and skills finding their way into their world.

“Who do you work for?” she asked, her voice becoming cold and hard like steel. She could be a problem. Even with their spiritual advantage, she was stronger attribute-wise than them. Nonetheless, she was his prisoner and he didn’t like her demanding attitude. It’d be best to remind them that.

He snapped his fingers and his people let off the control of their spiritual auras. The effect was expected. Two prisoners collapsed outright, while the rest seemed on the verge of collapsing. They were lucky that the dominion’s debuff severely limited their spiritual might.

The woman stilled and Ezra felt tremor cut through her like a scalpel but other than that she managed to appear ‘unaffected’, which of course was far from the truth. No one could withstand twenty well-aimed, Level 5 spiritual auras of the Medium stage.

Except that boy, Ezra thought to himself.

“Is that all you got?”

Some of Ezra’s men shifted. Who exactly was he?

“Lights,” Ezra commanded and several lanterns lit the beach.

It wasn’t for Ezra’s benefit though. His Talent allowed him to see in darkness without issues but he didn’t want his team to stay handicapped in the presence of unknown danger.

The boy stared directly at Ezra from the moment Ezra had arrived on the beach, meaning he either had very sharp senses or some ability to see in darkness. Troublesome either way.

“I’d rather avoid killing you,” Ezra said then glanced, meaningfully at the boy’s team. “And given the state of your people, you should be thankful we are in a merciful mood today.”

The woman actually sighed in relief, albeit very quietly. At least she wasn’t a complete idiot. In fact, considering how far this group ventured into the dominion, only fouled Ezra’s thoughts.

“Give up on any foolish plot to fight us,” he said to the boy. “You may be stronger than each of us individually but there are twenty of us and we’re hardly amateurs when it comes to combat and teamfight. Stand down, kid.”

A flicker of something flickered in the boy’s eyes. Ezra didn’t know what to make of it and shook his head at the boy’s disregard of his advice. Clearly a superiority complex.

“What are you planning to do with us?” the woman asked in the absence of the boy’s reaction.

“I will turn you around. We’re here for the sub-boss and that’s our utmost priority.”

She glanced around then her eyes locked on the boy.

“I’d also require your names and affiliations,” Ezra added. He had been given a name to watch out for: Keynes Kid. But no explanation to go alongside except to bring that person alive to his master.

“And why should we believe you?”

“Because you have no choice,” Ezra replied flatly, growing somewhat tired of this situation. All other ambushes so far had gone smoothly with ascenders begging to spare their lives.

“Don’t we?” the boy asked coldly and Ezra felt his spiritual aura slowly unravel like a newborn mist. The four closest people grunted in surprise, their eyes going wide.

“Stop before you go too far,” Ezra snapped, knowing well his words wouldn’t change anything. Damned brat!

I advise a retreat, Ezra’s spiritual companion said. The enemy seems to be far stronger than we have anticipated.

The weight of the boy’s Spirit unfurled, further encompassing everyone. He was powerful but he was a single person and his aura didn’t have nearly as debilitating an effect as Ezra’s team’s auras combined.

Still, something had to be done before things got ugly.

Ezra slammed his aura into the boy and was completely rebuffed even as the boy kept projecting his aura outwardly.

He is dangerous, Ezra’s spiritual companion warned. I advise a retreat.

The boy’s spiritual strength felt greater even than Ezra’s master.

Master.

Right. It appeared that Ezra was left with no choice.

“It seems you leave me with no choice but to tell you who I serve.”

“What does it matter?” the boy asked.

“Oh, it does.”

***

How close, Alice? Keynes asked.

Five hundred metres, she replied. But once he is a hundred metres away, he will be spotted by the spiritual companions of the enemies. You will have to make your move then.

“Oh, it does.” the leader of the enemy group replied, making Keynes feel uneasy. Still, Keynes showed no emotions, which was growing harder with each moment. This whole projection of power was only possible because none of the enemies could tell Keynes’s Level and hence were afraid of committing to an attack.

If they knew he was only Level 3, Perfect State or not, they’d be on him within seconds.

So, he kept stalling. Esopp was coming and with him, they would at least have a chance.

“Have you heard about Sandman?”

Keynes felt the sharp intake of air from the rest of his team and saw a terrified expression on Serrata’s face. She shook her head and when Keynes didn’t stop keeping his aura up, she spoke up.

“Stop it. We don’t need an enemy like that.”

“Wise.” The leader nodded then glanced at Keynes askance. “What’s the boy’s name?”

Two hundred metres.

Crap. They weren’t simply going after the sub-bos, they were finishing out for a name. His name most likely. Even though Keynes hadn’t wanted to surrender in the first place, this only reinforced his conviction to fight. And perhaps, they were handicapped by the fact that they weren’t allowed to kill.

The enemy’s leader cut his aura off, giving Keynes a breathing room. Keynes could appear like an unmovable mountain to anyone to a certain Level but even that act had its own shelf-life.

“Brett,” Serrata lied and by the look in the enemy’s eye, Keynes could tell he didn’t buy the lie.

“Brett who?”

Esopp Earl is almost in the reach of the enemy's spiritual companions.

If only Esopp reached the Medium stage before this mission, he’d at least know what he was walking into. Having him in the Elevated stage sounded like a dream in this case but would solve so many issues.

“Brett Tukman.”

“Brett Tukman,” The enemy leader repeated as if tasting the words in his mouth then his eyes briefly became distant, which told him that the other man was accessing the System.

Keynes felt the realisation in Serrata’s aura. She forgot about the System. If there was no Brett Tukman in the weekly ranking then the enemy would easily figure out it was a fake name.

As the enemy leader’s gaze refocused, he glanced down at Serrata, shaking his head.

Esopp Earl crossed the 100 metre mark, Alice informed him.

“I’m disappointed. You just made a powerful-” His name snapped in the direction of Esopp’s approach. Keynes decided to act now. He activated [Spiritual Ghost] then unleashed all the might of his spiritual aura as one impulse without regard for foes or allies.

Those the closest to him staggered, leaving an opening. Keynes’s team completely collapsed as they hadn’t recovered from the enemy’s spiritual assault, which worked in Keynes’s favour as his people would only get in his way.

Keynes snatched the closest lantern and threw it into the lake and then shot into the sky. Alice confirmed that only the enemy leader could see him in darkness, most likely relying on a Talent. Others had well-trained spiritual senses. With [Spiritual Ghost] and [Flight] Keynes pretty much could not exist to them.

“Someone powerful’s approaching!” someone shouted.

“Lift a ba-” the order cut off as an ice shard hit the enemy leader in the shoulder. “Turn the lights off!”

That was what Keynes hoped for.

Hope in and keep tabs on my mana, stamina and Spirit, he ordered Alice. She grumbled but couldn’t refuse his direct command.

Esopp didn’t enter the beach, hoping that darkness would give him advantage.

One by one the lanterns went dark. He saw the men disperse while the enemy leader frantically searched for him. Keynes stopped directly above him, then without a warning hit his wounded shoulder.

“Ouch!”

As the leader recovered, his head whipped in all directions, not finding Keynes who flew up. Most of the enemies left the beach in a pursuit of Esopp who was leading them away from the spot.

“Show yourself!”

Keynes used [Telekinesis] to draw him away from the rest by rustling bushes and throwing pebbles. As [Spiritual Ghost] ended, Keynes dropped on the leader, his shortsword piercing through the leader’s healthy shoulder.

A cry of pain cut through the silence of night as Keynes nimbly jumped out of the man’s legs. Not that a kick came his way but better safe than sorry.

“Bastard!” the other man hissed, his arms limp and useless. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

Keynes turned his back to the enemy, knowing well that he no longer posed any threat to him.

“Without innate regeneration, I’d advise you to be on your way out of the dominion.”

The leader snorted.

“You’ll regret it.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Keynes said, mustering as much coldness and indifference as he could. “And tell your master to never bother or I won’t hold back like I did today.”

Keynes jumped into the air, leaving the bewildered enemy far behind. He still had to help Esopp.