Richard lifted a finger and wiped off a smidge of dust on the edge of his glass cup.
"Your first mistake was assuming you have total control over creatures from the abyss. That was very naive, don't you think?"
The bartender shook his head,
"Is that how you were able to find me?"
Richard snapped his fingers,
"Correct. One of your friends here might have gotten a little too hungry, so he strayed from the pack and decided to have a meal on his own. It would have been much harder to find you if it could hold it in."
The bartender nodded,
"I see. Then, what made you so certain it was me?"
Richard raised three fingers,
"Dark magic users tend to hide a lot of things. But some things cannot be concealed. Just like a corpse can't hide its foul odor, someone that had dealt with filth will find it hard to keep his hands clean."
The bartender raised a brow. Reaching under the counter, he pulled something out.
Celine tensed up,
"What are you doing?" Her words dripping with thinly veiled hostility.
The bartender shrugged as he pulled out a bottle of alcohol,
"I want to have a drink too."
He pulled a clean glass from a stack and poured some of the amber liquid into it.
Then he turned to Richard,
"That is still speculation, isn't it? You had no concrete proof."
Richard shrugged,
"You are right. However, I don't need it. Just feeling is enough."
The bartender smiled,
"I see. You are one of those ones."
He paused for a moment,
"You can call me Ezekiel."
Richard smiled,
"My name is Richard."
Ezekiel raised a brow,
"The Bane family monster?"
Richard grimaced, 'Hm? When did I become so popular? This is getting troublesome...'
He sighed and waved his hand,
"Moving on... Why did you do it?"
Ezekiel chuckled and brought his glass to his lips. Taking a long sip, he let out a sigh afterwards.
The bottom of the glass made a light thud as it hit the countertop.
"The simple answer would be that I was bored. In this world, despite having so much power, sorcerers like me are bound by strict codes of morality and rules. The more powerful the sorcerer, the heavier the chains too "
Richard raised a brow,
"And so that is why you decided to summon a bunch of ghouls from hell?"
Ezekiel shook his head,
"I only summoned a Lich. These guys here are his underlings."
Richard frowned,
'A Lich capable of summoning so many. Leon certainly has his work cut out for him.'
Ezekiel leaned back and rank his hand through his hair,
"The real answer to your question is more complex. I guess i could say it is my way of rebelling against God."
Vagabond shook his head,
"What a twisted, dark soul you have."
Ezekiel shrugged,
"We are all sinners in our own way."
"So you violated those women?" Celine asked coldly.
Ezekiel nodded,
"Correct. I assume you don't need to hear why, but I will tell you anyways. The story is quite tragic and—"
The shrill sound of a blade leaving its sheath rang through the air.
Crisp and vibrant.
Holding a blade to the bartender's neck, Celine spoke without looking at anyone,
"It's okay to kill him now right?"
Richard shrugged,
"Normally, we are to follow protocol and apprehend him before handing him over to the right authorities. But that seems like too much work. So killing him is fine."
He paused for a moment then grinned,
"But this guy doesn't seem very bothered. I assume he still has a trick or two to show us."
Ezekiel sneered coldly, "Even if you kill me here, you won't be able tos top those ghouls from tearing your friends apart."
His dark eyes tore right into her soul,
"Are you willing to live with such guilt? Ghouls are rather messy eaters."
Celine's eyes widened.
That moment of hesitation was more than enough time.
A burst of flames suddenly exploded between the two, pushing Celine back.
Gritting her teeth, she slashed forward with the weapon in her hand. This time however, it was unable to go over the counter.
Ezekiel had a sinister smile on his face,
"I mean what I said. Ghouls are messy eaters. Just keeping them in line for so long, most of them are mad with hunger. A few organs once in a while isn't nearly enough to keep them satiated."
Depends guttural growls came from behind them.
Celine turned around.
The lights in the sharp had gone out.
Outside, the sound of heavy downpour striking the earth accompanied by the occasional rumble of thunder filled the world.
Richard shrugged,
"I'll keep an eye on this guy. You all should handle those things."
Vagabond raised a brow as he rose and turned away from the counter.
"Are you certain?"
Richard shrugged, "It is important for teammates to trust one another. Well, what better time than now to prove we can trust each other."
He smiled at Ezekiel,
"I'll make sure he goes nowhere. Kill the ghouls."
Vagabond glanced at the others. Celine began walking forward, muttering under her breath. The sword in her hands has taken on a bright glow.
All the other patrons in the bar had transformed into things that were clearly not human.
The sides of their faces had split open to reveal enormous rows of teeth that stretched into the back of their throats.
The whites of their eyes had turned black and the black of their eyes had turned a deep, ghostly yellow.
Their fingers had elongated into black claws. They approached them from all sides, blocking any attempts at escape, with some even scaling the walls and ceiling, their limbs twisted eerily.
"By the way, you can be as violent as you want. This place is protected by wards. No one outside should be able to hear anything, plus it is pretty durable."
"I see..." Vagabond remarked coldly.
"Then, I shall take your words to heart."
Undead creatures like ghouls were weak to light and holy magic.
However, after taking physical form, the effectiveness of these types of magic would decrease a bit.
Ezekiel knew this.
That was why he made sure to instruction the summons to maintain their physical forms even though it cost more energy to sustain.
In exchange, if they ever met any sorcerers, they would be able to make quick work of them.
'The physical strength of a ghoul is many times that of a human. Overpowering them is a fool's errand.' He thought to himself. They were as good as dead in his eyes.
Adjusting his clothes, he turned back to the young man seated in front of him.
He had handsome, distinguishable features. With black hair and even blacker eyes that peered right into the soul.
'Richard Bane... I wonder what a Demon Sorcerer is doing on my turf.'
It was a bit unusual, and although killing him would earn the ire of the Bane Family, he could always just run away.
He sighed,
"You really are too young to be throwing your life away. And yet, you still foolishly decided to do this. I assume this was pushed by the Circle, correct?"
Richard nodded, "You are right."
Ezekiel raised his glass and took a sip,
"You know, I do feel bad doing all this."
Richard raised a brow, "Oh, really?"
Ezekiel nodded. His brows furrowed,
"Ending the lives of so many promising young. But, you all share blame in this. You were unfortunate enough to be sent on a quest to find death. Do not keep unresigned when you finally get what you've been looking for."
Richard couldn't help but laugh.
Ezekiel raised a brow.
Richard waved his hand,
"It's nothing. This is all just a little funny."
The sounds of chaos erupting all over the bar faded into the background.
Both sorcerers stared into the eyes of the other. An exchange of words like this wouldn't have held meaning in any other setting.
However here, with death and blood only a few meters away, it was just a bit different.
"Do you have any regrets?" Richard suddenly said.
"Regrets?" Ezekiel said with a frown.
Something felt off. The young man in front of him didn't seem bothered at all by the situation.
He was rather relaxed.
Still, he answered,
"Wouldn't that seem pitiful? To have regrets after getting this far?"
He hesitated for a moment,
"It I do regret anything, it would be that I can't change my circumstances. My soul has already been damned. Corrupted. No matter how much I try, I know where I'm headed."
Richard pushed the glass in front of him to the side. He smiled gently,
"Is that so. Then you probably won't like what I am about to do."
Ezekiel sneered,
'Foolish.'
He had already seen through all of them. The highest ranked amongst them was still a second rank sorcerer. He on the other hand, was a sorcerer of the third rank.
His lips parted as he began chanting.
Although the young man before him was gifted, he was ranked higher than him. That means he could chant faster and utilize mana better.
The profane words flowed off his tongue like a dark prayer.
He glanced into the young sorcerer's eyes again.
There was not a trace of panic in them.
Suddenly, he felt his blood run cold.
By the time he realized what was going on, it was too late.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Silence rang louder than any noise...
Three empty casings fell to the ground with quite clinks.
Rising up from his seat, Richard jumped over the counter am dlooked down at the bleeding man.
Couching up a mouthful of blood, Ezekiel muttered through laboured breathing,
"H-how..."
Richard grinned,
"I engraved barrier-piercing runes into those bullets. They are great for sneak attacks." He said gleefully as he twirled the gun in his fingers before holstering it.
Leaning forward, his smile seemed darker than before,
"Magic is a terrible thing. But unfortunately for you, bullets fly faster. Now then, let's talk a bit more, shall we?"