The Author's POV

[Caïssa - Headquarters]

"pheew" "pheew" "pheew"

Sitting on my desk, I blew on the bangs of my hair. As I was doing so, from time to time, I would check my phone.

"...Nothing yet huh?"

After 10 minutes of continuously checking my phone, I sighed.

'...it looks like things are progressing more slowly than I predicted'

"What are you doing?"

"Hmm? Smallsnake?"

Glancing towards Smallsnake who had just arrived, I leaned back on my chair and continued to blow on the bangs of my hair.

Noticing my attitude, Smallsnake didn't even bother to ask what I was doing.

"Has everything with the Luxious guild been sorted?"

Checking my watch, without glancing at Smallsnake I said

"...not yet, should be soon though"

"How soon?"

Thinking for a bit, I said "I'd say in about an hour or so?"

Raising his brow, Smallsnake couldn't help but ask "An hour?... then is everything that is happening outside all because of you?"

With my eyes half open, I briefly glanced at Smallsnake

"I guess you could say that"

Frowning, Smallsnake paused before he said

"...just what the hell did you do?"

"It's a bit of a long story..."

-Vuam!

Tapping on my phone, a huge chessboard appeared before me and Smallsnake.

"Fancy a game of chess while I recount? To be honest, I'm on the verge of passing out from boredom"

Glancing at the chessboard, Smallsnake sighed and sat in front of me.

"Chess? Regular rules?"

"Yup"

"Alright"

Nodding his head, Smallsnake stared at the chessboard before him. He was currently using the black pieces, thus he would have to start after I moved my piece.

"So, tell me what you did?"

"What I did?"

Staring at the chessboard for a brief moment, I looked at Smallsnake and smiled.

"I just moved the pieces one at a time..."

Frowning, Smallsnake couldn't help but shake his head.

"...I don't know what you mean by that, but you seriously have a chess complex"

"I do?...hmm, I guess you aren't wrong?"

Taken aback for a moment, I couldn't find any words to refute his statement.

Now that I thought about it, I really did, didn't I?

From the guild name and structure to the way I talked...I made a lot of chess references.

I guess I really did have some sort of chess complex...

-Tak!

Sighing, moving my pawn forward, I smiled.

"Let's begin"

...

Standing in line, outside of a black sedan, parked below a tall skyscraper, five individuals wearing black suits and sunglasses stood upright.

Each individual vigilantly looked towards their surroundings as none dare to speak a word to each other.

It was evident that they were professionals.

-Clank!

Coming out from the skyscraper entrance, a youth wearing an ironed designer T-shirt and black pants headed straight for the black sedan. As he walked down the stairs towards the sedan, the bodyguards couldn't help but notice an elegant yet prideful bearing coming out from the youth's body.

Almost as if he was a lone untouchable phoenix.

Nodding his head towards the guards, the youth opened the door of the car and entered. Following his entrance, from all sides, the guards too entered the car.

Sitting at the front, wearing white gloves, the driver of the car turned around and politely smiled towards Nolan

"Young master, where would you like to go?"

Playing with his phone, Nolan disinterestedly said

"Not sure, do you have any suggestions?"

Smiling, the driver said

"Young master Nolan, according to some sources, it seems that Jacob from the Luxious guild is currently staying in the Olar bar in Paltor street not so far from here..."

Listening to the information, taking his eyes off of his phone, a smile appeared on Nolan's face

"Jacob is there, hmm...That is indeed interesting, alright, let's go there"

Nodding his head, a trace of amusement appeared in Nolan's eyes.

'I'll show that bastard why he shouldn't have messed with me...'

Smiling, the driver nodded his head and turned his focus back on the wheel.

-Voom

Soon the car silently sped into the distance.

...

-Tak!

Moving a pawn forward, Smallsnake glanced at me and asked

"So you disguised yourself as a driver? Is that the identity of one of the people you asked me to make a facemask of?"

-Tak!

Moving another one of my pawns, I nodded my head.

"Spot on"

-Tak!

Staring the chessboard, and pondering for a second, Smallsnake moved a pawn and nodded his head

"...I sort of get the gist of the situation now"

-Tak!

Without glancing at him, nor showing any sign of shock, I raised my brow and asked

"Oh? what did you figure out?"

-Tak!

Placing another pawn down, Smallsnake looked at me before saying

"Your plan is to instigate a conflict between the two guild by creating conflict between the two heirs. This way, both guilds will have an excuse to fight each other...But although the plan sounds solid, it's honestly full of holes"

-Tak!

Placing my pawn down, I smiled at Smallsnake

"Well, you aren't entirely wrong about the fact that I am indeed trying to create a conflict between the two of them, but that isn't my main goal..."

Pausing, Smallsnake glanced at me and frowned

"Really? Than what is it..."

Smiling, I didn't respond.

-Tak!

Taking the knight, I moved it upwards in an L shape.

"You'll see soon"

...

After a twenty-minute drive, arriving at the location, Nolan alongside his five guards exited the vehicle.

So did the driver.

-Vuam! -Vuam! -Vuam!

As they inched closer, the loud rumbling music coming from the nightclub reverberated throughout the whole surroundings, shaking the ground beneath them.

"Please excuse me"

Just as they were about to enter the nightclub, a bulky individual stopped them at the entrance.

"Please provide an ID"

"He-"

Just as one of the guards was about to protest, raising his hands, Nolan shook his head and took out an ID from his pocket.

"Here"

Handing it to the guard, Nolan smiled politely. A couple of seconds after, coming back from having checked the card, the guard flusteredly gave it back to Nolan.

"A-h, Mr. Nolan, I apologize for not recognizing you immediately."

"haha, It's okay no worries"

Laughing, Nolan took the card back and made his way towards the club.

Entering the nightclub, Nolan looked left and right until finally, after a couple of seconds, he managed to spot a youth sitting in the corner of the place.

Walking up to the youth, Nolan smirked as he looked down on him

"Fancy seeing you here Jacob"

Looking up, a fairly handsome youth with fair skin and sharp brows looked in Nolan's direction. Recognizing him, clenching his teeth he hatefully spat

"Nolan!"

"hehe, long time no see buddy!"

As the two stared at each other, sparks appeared between their eyes. Soon the air around the nightclub started becoming tense

Nolan and Jacob had only known each other for about a year.

However, during that year they met, they had continuously targeted each other. Always trying to look for trouble for one another.

Their conflicts didn't particularly start big. In fact, the reason why they fought in the first place wasn't anything particularly exciting.

The reason why they disliked each other was simply because at the time they met, they were each with a friend who had some enmity with the other's friend

Naturally, since they were their friend's enemies, they were their enemies too.

With that, standing up for their friends, the two stood on the opposite side of each other. And thus they became enemies.

...and ever since then, their conflicts have never ended.

Because they were both respectively heirs to a gold-graded guild, their pride was naturally inflated.

As such, until there was a clear winner between them, they were always destined to fight against each other.

Thus, since their first meeting, they had always been trying to look trouble for one another until the other gave up or admitted defeat.

Standing up, Jacob's figure which was more robust and taller than Nolan's, looked down on him.

"You came here to redeem yourself for your last loss"

Raising his brow, Nolan looked up at Jacob. Smirking he said

"What loss? I clearly remember beating the crap out of you. Remember how you broke your nose?"

As Jacob and Nolan stood face to face, their auras progressively intensified.

"Stop making stuff up"

"Oh? I remember taking photos of your pathetic self. If you want I can send them to you later"

"You dare!"

"You think I'm scared of you?"

-Vuam!

-Vuam!

Soon, two <F-> ranked auras swept the nightclub.

Instantly, the atmosphere around the bar became tense. Both sides were currently on a stand-off, but neither moved.

Everyone that was in the bar, sensing the atmosphere, either left or distanced themselves from Nolan and Jacob.

Around them, the guards stood firm.

Just as both sides were about to make a move, a subtle clicking sound resounded across the space. Following that, the whole room dyed white for a split second, almost as if a bolt of lightning had descended.

-Click!

Following the clicking sound, an arm flew in the air.

Soon after, the room froze.

No one spoke a word.

Everything happened so fast that no one caught sight of what happened and who did it. Too fast...

"Kuuuuuuuuaaaah!"

Soon a bloodcurdling scream broke the silence as Jacob held onto the area where his arm used to be

"Young master Jacob!"

Panicked, the guards around Jacob immediately ran in his direction. Taking out a couple of potions they immediately fed them to him in hopes of stopping the bleeding.

"You dare!"

With bloodshot eyes, holding onto his arm, Jacob glared intensely towards Nolan. His eyes were that of pure undisputed hatred.

Killing intent permeated the air.

"Wa-it tha-t wasn't us!"

Shocked, Nolan took a few steps back.

He really had no idea what had happened.

One moment Jacob was standing before him, the next his arm flew in the air.

"How dare you!"

Glancing towards his guards, Jacob, using his only hand pointed towards Nolan and shouted

"Attack them, it's an order! I don't care what you do, make sure he dies!"

"Yes"

Heeding Jacob's order, the guards instantly attacked

-Boom!

Soon an explosion reverberated across the club as dust and debris flew everywhere.

...

-Creak!

As explosions reverberated throughout the nightclub and the two parties fought, exiting from the back of the nightclub, wearing a black suit and white gloves, Nolan's driver exited the nightclub from the backdoor.

Smiling, he mumbled

"Mission accomplished"

Extending his hand over his head, a mask slowly peeled off of his face.

-Claaa

Underneath the moonlight, his real face was revealed.

Smirking, 'Nolan's driver' walked over to a secluded area of a parking lot and removed a big white sheet revealing a slick black bike.

Jumping on top of the bike, the individual sat on the bike and sped off in the distance.

-Vooom!

...However, as he took off into the distance with his bike, what he didn't notice was a small camera secretly hidden in the corner of the nightclub.

It recorded everything.. From the moment he exited the building, to the very moment he took off his mask and the face beneath it was revealed.