“I will join you.” She said.

Even though she would be the toy of the man ahead, it was definitely the better option out of them all. And it was not a bad deal at all. She had already witnessed the power of the duo before. They were, by no means, weaker than the leaders of the Black Skulls or the Flying Bulls. And the fact that this mysterious syndicate had two such leaders gave them an edge over the competitors.

She would be a part of this powerful syndicate, and get their protection in return. All she had to do was ‘use’ her body. It was not a bad deal at all. As long as she could kill ‘him’, she would not regret dying the moment later.

Adrian played with her bare breasts for a few more seconds before taking back his hand. “Stand behind.”

She nodded and circled around the throne, positioning herself behind him. She did not bother to pick up her torn clothes, fearing he might change his mind. A piece of black cloth that covered her crotch was the only thing she had.

Adrian continued tapping the armrest. “Last time. Why are you here?”

The masked man’s session with the ‘seductress’, gave Marco enough time to process an answer. He took in a deep breath. “We came to investigate.” He said. The reflection of him on the marble was looking back at him with terror in its eyes. “The Pink Willows rose up too suddenly. And ‘coincidentally’ this happened right after the fall of the Grand Pearl.”

The tapping sound that were akin to their own heartbeats, albeit slower, suddenly stopped. The three kneeling behind the leaders closed their eyes.

“So, you are accusing us of arson?” The masked man said. His voice seemed to have gotten a degree colder.

An invisible force squeezed Marco’s lungs. “N.. nononono!” He inwardly shook his head like crazy. “We just wanted to have a talk with you so-“

“Wro-“

“WE CAME TO CAUSE TROUBLE!” He shouted.

The rhythmic taps started again, and so did their heartbeats.

“Pretty bold of you.” The mysterious entity said. “Anything else?”

“It was orders from the higher ups. Even the Raymonds and the Church are related. We had no choice.”

“Okay. I also have no choice then.” The knocking sound discontinued.

“Please!” Marco shouted. “Please forgive us! All of us are important members of our own syndicate.”

“So, I must keep you hostage and ask for ransoms?” Adrian asked, rubbing his chin. “Not a bad idea.”

The five sighed in relief.

“So, how much are your worth?”

“Ten thousand magic crystals!” It was Ragor, the big bald man from the Black Skulls who shouted. “Boss will pay ten thousand magic crystals on my behalf!”

“High grade?”

The two words pressed down upon their very souls. Ten thousand high grade crystals? A hundred low grade crystals amount to one mid grade crystal and a hundred mid grade crystals equate to a high grade one. Only Imperial family could keep this much in their treasuries- probably.

They were sure now. The enemies had no intentions of letting them go in the first place.

“What? Too much? Look here.” Adrian said as he inserted his hand in his coat. He tapped the black orb hidden beneath.

The guests looked towards the host. He had his hand inside the lavish black coat of his. He brought out his hand. There was a handful of glittering crystals on it- crystals of various colours. All of them gulped from the sight. Despite being from the upper echelons of their syndicate, they had never seen so much high grade crystals at once.

After all, high grade crystals were used by the level 9s to increase their powers. It was almost the only way to rise to calamity class. Hence, they were monopolised by their kingpins.

The man than did the unbelievable. He threw them to the ground, as if they were a burden. They had the urge to leap and catch them before they could touch the cold floor. But alas, they were still paralysed, hence unable to stop the gems from clinking with the ground.

But what happened next was even more unbelievable. The man took out another batch from his coat and threw them on the floor, and then another handful, and then another, and another, and another.

Their mouths were wide open. There was more than a hundred high grade magic crystals piled up before them. Moreover, the jewels kept stacking up after every few seconds. They completely ignored the face that the man took out the large heap of invaluable crystals from his ‘pockets’.

It was not only them who had shocked expressions on their faces. Ishtar, who was standing half naked behind Adrian, had her mouth and eyes wide open. She had assassinated dozens of circlers before. And the riskiest of those missions had only earned her three high grade magic crystals. And three was the number of high grade crystals she had ever seen at once.

Adrian finally stopped and began to whip his hand. “Ah! It’s tiresome bringing out all these waste. Maybe I should hire someone to keep them for me.” The stock in his orb had already run dry.

Everyone gulped. Tiresome? Waste? Hire someone to only keep them. Done! They were done! Not only them, their entire syndicates were done as well! They kicked a plate made of magical metal- an extremely thick one at that.

“These are wastes. But I would not mind if you can give me ten thousand of them.”

Everyone could only force a smile. Death was inevitable. They had already tried using their life force- but it was futile.

Adrian turned to Irene. She nodded and snapped her fingers. The temperature suddenly dropped. In an instant, the five kneeling bodies turned into five ice sculptures. Cracks began to form on them and soon, they shattered into countless pieces.

Adrian turned to the naked assassin and pointed at the ‘sea’ of magic crystals.

“Pick all of them up and bring them back to me.”