TBATE: Art and Tess's Second Chance

Chapter 12: Family Matters

Arthur Leywin's POV:

The auction was coming to a close soon, though it felt longer than last time due to the circumstances this time around. The auctioneer announced the last item that would be sold and conclude the event. It was the same world lion cub as last time, the very same one that Curtis was bonded to. Blaine once again obtained the mana beast, neither of the other royal families made a bid against him. I did wonder if he would still give the beast to Curtis after everything that happened moments ago, maybe I should order him to. 

As the auctioneer said his final words to the audience, everyone in the room said their goodbyes to one another. Lilia's parents and my parents noticed that Tess and I were not on the best of terms with Tess's parents, but they didn't question us about it. We left the room as a group before the Elven royal family separated from us to head back to Elenoir. Virion gave us a solemn smile as he walked away, it's a shame he couldn't convince Alduin and Merial to have faith in us but what's done is done. 

As the rest of us were talking and heading down to the storage area, a faint thumping noise came from the VIP room where the Glayders were. 'I had almost forgotten about that, since they're in our pocket now, we'd better save them. Do you mind taking care of it?' Tess smirked at me as if that was not all she would do. Sylvie hopped on her head before asking, 'Can I come too Mama? I'm bored just sitting around pretending to be a little mana beast, it's annoying.' Sylvie mentally sighed, Tess held in a chuckle as she nodded her head. 

Tess excused herself, telling us that she forgot to ask her grandfather something, then ran off in their direction. I could tell Lilia's parents, as well as mine, were doubtful about it. They definitely noticed our attitudes toward them earlier, they decided not to say anything right now. We continued our stride to the storage area where I would be reunited with an old friend. 'It's been a while since I've held a physical sword instead of making my own.'

Tessia Eralith's POV:

I made a show of running off in the direction where my family left until I was out of their sight. I waited for Art and the others to get a good distance away before making my way to the Glayders. I could feel a mana signature in the room that was at the solid yellow stage. The King, as well the two guards in the back were in various phases of the red stage. The two main guards, who were in the front protecting the royal family, were at the dark orange stage. The Queen was the strongest besides the intruder at the light orange stage. 'Why do they hire such weaklings to protect themselves when they can afford better help, not to mention their Lances.' Sylvie wondered as we surveyed the room.

Even though I was outside the room I could tell that the atmosphere was tense. The intruder had both the children as hostages. The prince was under his augmented foot, pinned down. He held the princess by the neck in one hand and had a sword pressed against her neck with his other. I could feel the intruder's mana, and the way it moved in his body. He was an augmenter given the fact that his mana is radiating through his mana channels instead of his mana veins. This gave him full control over the room as he had hostages in his effective range. The man was arguing with the royal family about 'getting what he earned' which just made him sound like a typical noble. 'Or a typical Lucas Wykes.' Sylvie stifled a laugh from her own admittedly great joke.

The Queen was profusely bleeding from her side, most likely injured in a surprise attack before the kids were taken as hostages. The wound she had was deep, but it was not life threatening as of now, I could feel her mana was already working to heal the damage. Deciding I should step in before anyone else could get hurt, I pushed open the doors and let my King's Force, as Art called it, barrel down on the room. I had shielded the royal family and their guards with my own mana so it only affected the intruder who was just barely able to stay conscious. He was an old, tall, and muscular man, most likely in his mid to late thirties. He had a burn scar over one of his bland gray eyes that held insanity inside them. His smirk was erased off his face and replaced with fear of me that luckily hid his nasty, rotted teeth.