Outside just in front of the auction house, the land was now hard and dry. It had been completely transformed into what it was once years ago, and it was all thanks to a powerful individual named Ray.
A sword went swinging just over his head as he managed to duck the attack, then when Ray went to respond with a punch of his own, a loud clanking sound was heard as his fist managed to hit nothing but the hard material of the shield.
The fight between the two captain knights was ongoing, and it seemed like both of the equipment being used was at the King Tier. A class above any equipment that Ray personally owned. It was hard even with his full strength to make a dent in the shield, and with the sharp sword swing carefully, he had to do everything he could to dodge it.
'I'm starting to regret saying I wasn't going to use magic, but I must keep my word.'
Memories of how he used to fight started to resurface, as the black sash footwork had come back to him. At this point and time, he wished he had spent more time learning swordsmanship skills from Harry. It would have helped him to be more versatile; however, Ray knew if he used his sword, he would only lose to the yellow guard.
When fighting against Harry, the only reason he won was due to his absurd strength and the fact that he had a higher quality weapon. However, here he had nether, his sword and skills were lacking in that department.
"But I still have strength and speed," Ray said as he jumped back slightly, avoiding a wide swing heading downward with the sword. He quickly followed the sword hitting the back of it, carrying its momentum forward and into the ground with his foot. Its strength and sharpness had now become its weakness and cut into the ground like butter until eventually, it stopped there and got stuck.
Ray smiled before proceeding to pound the knight in the face as hard as he possibly could. The man's body lifted in the air and even spun a few times before hitting the ground.
The other captain knight charged forward, but all he had was a shield, it was handy when stopping Ray's powerful attacks, but the same couldn't be said when trying to hurt him. Charging forward using all his weight, he barged the shield into Ray, hoping to knock him off balance.
When the knight made contact, he noticed he couldn't proceed to move further forward, peeking over the shield, he could see a smile. Not the one of a man, but one that came from the devil himself.
"I'll be taking both this sword and shield; it will be a nice addition to my collection," Ray said.
Using his strength, he pulled the sword out from the ground. It looked so easy as if he was King Arthur, destined to pull the sword out from the stone. Once in his hand, the man braced himself, covering and hiding behind the shield, but there was no attack.
"Sorry, but I don't want to ruin my nice new shield," Ray said, as he delivered a blow from behind. The sword slashed through diagonally from the bottom across the back of the chest piece, and for the first time, it seemed like the robust and sturdy armour was broken.
At the back, it was cut, the armour had fallen to the floor away from the knight. Strangely like all the times before, where the knight could get back up nearly instantly, it seemed like he was struggling.
Using his Dragon eyes, Ray started to see something very odd. An energy seemed to be escaping from the armor, running about wildly as if the armour itself was alive. Now when looking at the man, he looked incredibly weak.
Picking up the piece from the ground, that strange energy could be felt. It wasn't from the Shadow Plague but was along the same lines. The Shadow Plague would have tried stealing the energy or something else. This was just a simply a well-done enhancement.
'Their power, it doesn't come from themselves, but it comes from the armour, there just as strong as regular knights. No wonder they were able to have so many skilled warriors.'
The man from earlier stood up, he had no blade in his hand, but he still took a fighting stance.
'I might have to help the others inside, as it's looking like they're not quite done yet.' Ray said, as he also sent a message to Katy informing her of what he had just found out.
Back inside the auction house, in the VIP room, Katy had received the message from Ray. She immediately informed the others.
"Aim for the armour, try to take it off; otherwise, they'll just keep coming back up!" She shouted.
It managed to give her group a little bit of confidence, but quite frankly, it still seemed like an impossible task; all they could do was buy time.
Jack himself was facing a dilemma on the stage, his transformation was canceled, and now he had reverted to his human form. His shirt had been ripped, so he only had an outstretched pair of trousers on him. What surprised Russell was there wasn't a single scratch on him.
"What are you doing, father?" Jack said. "You aren't really going to hurt that girl, are you?"
He took a step forward, and at the same time, the blade that was pressed against Rachel's neck moved slightly, drawing black blood out on the tip.
Suddenly, Jack stopped, not only because he didn't want Rachel to get hurt but because he couldn't believe what his father had just done. Deep down somewhere, he prayed that his father wasn't the one behind everything; he remembered his father as a good man. But the man in front of him wasn't a good man but a beast in the human body.
"Russell, this has gone too far." His mother, who was standing off to the side behind the curtain, said.
"Shut up!" Russell snapped back. "You are guilty in all of this just as much as I am. Don't start being righteous with me now.
"Why!" Jack said. "Just tell me why you are doing this, maybe if I can understand. If you were always this cruel, then why did you let me live?"
"Right!" Russell said. "Why did I let you live? If I had found out early enough that my own blood was a monster, I would have never let you live.."