Chapter 176: I arrived just in time!

The active carriage emitted a low pulse of mana.

Aria noticed it not by the glow, but by the sound—a deep, almost imperceptible hum that vibrated on the rails embedded in the floor. She stood still in the shadow of a column, breathing slowly, while her eyes scanned every detail.

The carriage’s side seal—a hexagon divided by three vertical lines—lit up and then went out.

Mobile safe.

Runic shielding.

Quick transfer.

“Of course…” she murmured, instinctively reaching for her sword hilt. “They always complicate things.”

Six outer guards. Two near the carriage doors. A driver. None of them seemed tense. None seemed to expect trouble.

Classic mistake.

Aria glided forward unhurriedly.

She didn’t run.

She didn’t need to.

When the first guard turned his face, he felt only the wind—and then nothing. The sword’s hilt struck just below the ear, dislocating him before his body hit the ground. Aria held his weight, slowly bracing him against the wall.

The second guard only had time to frown.

The blade emerged from its sheath in absolute silence.

A short, precise blow to the knee joint. As he fell, the sword’s hilt rose and fell once. The impact on his jaw knocked him unconscious before the air escaped his lungs.

The third guard drew his weapon.

Aria was already within his reach.

She bumped shoulders, pressed her body against his, twisted her wrist, and turned her armed arm off-axis. His sword fell. A second blow—now with a closed fist—struck his throat.

No blood.

No sound.

The fourth tried to retreat.

He was the only one who managed to take two steps.

Aria stepped forward, the blade now alive in her hand, and struck the back of her sword against the side of his head, hard enough to knock him out, weak enough not to kill him.

She took a deep breath.

Four.

The carriage driver realized.

His hand moved to the runic panel.

Aria appeared in front of him as if she had always been there.

“No,” she said calmly.

She struck the man’s sternum with the hilt, the exact point where air escapes from his lungs. He doubled over, gasping, and Aria shoved him into the carriage, leaving him unconscious on the padded floor.

She touched the runic communicator on her wrist.

“Transport under control,” she murmured. “No alarms. No deaths. Ready when you want.”

In the upper hall, Damon sensed the exact moment the buyer realized something was wrong.

The man took a step back inside the booth, activating a ring.

Nothing happened.

He tried another.

Nothing.

Sweat appeared on his forehead almost instantly.

“You—” his voice faltered. “You don’t have authorization—”

Damon tilted his head slightly.

“You didn’t have authorization to buy something my lady wants either,” he replied calmly. “And yet… here we are.” he said.

The buyer paled.

“That’s a lie. She’s just an energy asset—”

Damon took a step forward.

The floor beneath the man’s feet vibrated as the pressure of Damon’s presence manifested. It wasn’t explicit magic. It was something worse.

Intention.

“She’s not an object,” Damon said. “And you made a grave mistake putting her in the spotlight.”

The man fell to his knees.

Damon knelt before him.

“Stay here,” she said in an almost gentle tone. “Watch the end of your investment.”

He turned without looking back.

In the lower hall, the transfer circle reached its peak.

Runes glowed with unstable intensity. Technicians shouted adjustments, trying to compensate for sudden fluctuations they couldn’t explain.

It was perfect chaos.

Ester moved.

The runic nullifier pressed against the main current emitted a low snap. The seal didn’t break completely—but it weakened enough.

A chain fell.

The succubus gasped, her body reacting almost violently to the partial return of her energy. Her wings trembled, painful but alive. Her tail twitched instinctively.

She almost fell.

Ester caught her.

“Slowly,” she whispered. “Not yet.”

His pink eyes fixed on her, filled with shock… and something more.

Real hope.

A guard noticed.

“Hey—!”

Ester spun around quickly.

A precise blow with her elbow to the nose. Another, with her knee, to the abdomen. The guard fell groaning, unable to scream.

The second one tried to reach the alarm.

Ester launched an interference seal directly at the runic plate on his belt. The circuit burned. A sharp shove sent him crashing against the wall.

Silence.

The succubus breathed heavily.

“Who…” she murmured, her voice hoarse. “Who are you…”

Ester looked coldly, “You’ll find out soon.”

In the cargo tunnel, Aria was already ready.

She opened the carriage door and checked the internal seals, manually disabling the reinforcements that would secure the cage during transport.

“You have a clean exit,” she said through the communicator. “Come on.”

Alarms began to sound.

Not from the market.

Private ones.

The buyer’s triangular symbol blinked… and went out.

Damon smiled behind his mask.

“Time to go,” he murmured.

He descended the stairs as the hall descended into controlled chaos.

Guards rushed in the wrong direction.

Technicians shouted.

No one realized that the auction’s most valuable prize… was no longer under control.

When Esther and the succubus emerged from the tunnel, Aria was already positioned, sword in hand, body relaxed and ready.

She glanced at the succubus.

For just a second.

Then she made room.

“Welcome back to the world,” she said.

The carriage began to move.

The carriage gained speed as it crossed the tunnel’s last runic arch.

The metallic creak gave way to the deep sound of reinforced wheels cutting through the ancient floor, and then to a more open echo—the clear sign that they were leaving the underground black market structure behind. The air changed. It grew colder. Cleaner. Free of incense, sweat, and overly concentrated magic.

The succubus leaned against the inside of the carriage, breathing heavily. Each jolt made her wings tremble, not from sharp pain, but from something worse: sensation returning too quickly.

Aria watched in silence, sword still in hand, her body relaxed but ready. It wasn’t hostility. It was habit. She only broke the silence when she realized that something… or rather, someone… was missing.

“…Where’s Damon?” she asked, without taking her eyes off the carriage’s rear opening.

The succubus blinked, confused by the casual tone. Ester, seated on the other side, frowned slightly.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “He said he’d take care of the cabin. After that… I haven’t seen him.”

Aria let out a short sigh through her nose.

“Great. So we’re officially in the ’he improvised’ phase.”

The succubus tilted her head slightly, her silvery hair falling over her face.

“You… are you waiting for someone?” she asked, her voice still hoarse, but curious now.

Ester glanced quickly at Aria before answering.

“Yes. The one responsible for ensuring no one follows us.”

Aria finished dryly:

“And for leaving a trail of destruction large enough that no one would even think of trying.”

The carriage made a sharper turn, and then the ground trembled.

It wasn’t strong.

Yet.

But it was enough to make all three bodies tense up at the same time.

Aria raised her head.

“…Did you feel that?”

Before Ester could answer, a distant explosion echoed behind them.

It wasn’t a dry bang.

It was a heavy, deep impact, as if something had given way all at once—stone, metal, and magic together.

The succubus’s eyes widened.

“What was that…?”

Another explosion.

Closer.

This time, the carriage really shook. Dust fell from the inner ceiling, and one of the shock-absorbing seals glowed brighter to compensate.

Aria smiled slightly.

“Ah.”

Esther closed her eyes for a moment, as if counting mentally.

“…He took longer than I expected,” she murmured.

The third explosion was accompanied by a distant roar—not of a creature, but of structural collapse. Something big was collapsing. Very big.

The succubus instinctively placed her hand on her chest.

“This doesn’t seem… discreet.”

“It isn’t,” Aria replied, too calmly. “It’s Damon.”

Another explosion. Now so close that the air vibrated inside the carriage. The tunnel behind them lit up for a second with an orange flash, followed by a shockwave that made the wheels screech.

Esther opened her eyes, staring at Aria.

“He’s destroying pursuit routes.”

“And anything that looks remotely expensive,” Aria added.

The tunnel ended completely.

The carriage broke through the last passage and emerged into the open air.

Night.

Open sky.

A rocky valley stretched ahead, illuminated only by distant lanterns and the partially obscured moon. The cold wind entered through the rear opening, carrying with it the smell of runic gunpowder, burnt stone… and something else.

Recent Fire.

Aria was about to say something when the world decided to answer for her.

Something fell from the sky.

It didn’t fall uncontrollably.

It fell intentionally.

A silhouette broke through the night air and landed directly in the center of the carriage, between Aria and Ester, making the reinforced floor creak under the impact.

The body rolled once… and then sat as if it had just jumped off a table.

Damon raised his head, removing a smoldering piece of stone from his shoulder.

He laughed.

A loose, genuine laugh.

“You have no idea how fragile that place was,” he said, as if commenting on the weather.

Aria let out a short laugh.

“You’re late.”

“I disagree,” Damon replied, still smiling. “I arrived at the exact moment.”

Ester crossed her arms.

“Is the whole market collapsing?”

“Only the part that mattered,” he replied. “And a few extra aisles. Just in case.”

The succubus stared at him as if she were witnessing a myth materialize before her.

“You… fell from the sky,” she said, incredulous.

Damon turned his face toward her.

For the first time since he’d seen her in the cage, there was no distance. No bars. No seals draining her existence.

“Hello,” he said simply.

She swallowed hard.

“You are…?”

“An incubus, nice to meet you,” Damon said, smiling, and made the succubus’s heart explode.

[A new target has emerged!]

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