‎A few moments later, Aisha landed in front of the dainty hotel where the kids were.

‎" The Vogue..."

‎The large name glowed luminously in different colours, blinking on and off

‎Glancing at the name slightly, she strolled into the main reception area.

‎A scintillating perfume lingered in the air from the cleaning bots whirring through the large hall.

‎" Welcome back to the Vogue, Madam Aisha," the receptionist, a petite woman in her 30s, said cheerfully, giving her a slight bow.

‎Aisha simply nodded, smiling faintly.

‎In the next instant, the woman's eyes became cloudy and unfocused for a few moments, almost a though she was in a trance, then turned back to their normal state a few moments later.

‎ Immediately heading towards the elevators.

‎" The stairs would be much faster, but there's no point in alarming the enemy and having them flee before I can catch up to them..."

‎A minute later, she arrived at her desired floor.

‎With expert ease, she calmly glided through the halls without attracting much attention to herself.

‎From time to time, she gently nudged the perceptions of the few staff within the hotel.

‎The men and women stopped from time, freezing awkwardly in a daze. For a few brief moments, their eyes would turn cloudy and hazy before reverting to their normal state.

‎A few turns later, Aisha arrived at a long stretch of corridor leading to the room where they'd left the youths.

‎This part of the hotel was eerily silent despite it being the middle of the day.

‎Outside in the hall, two seemingly ordinary men nonchalantly moved down the hall, approaching each other from opposite ends of the hall.

‎Both were dressed in the standard hotel attire, wearing matching uniforms symbolic of the hotel's staff.

‎One, an old man with greying hair, pressed a buzzer to one of the rooms, waiting outside the door for a while.

‎A moment later, the automated door slid open, and the man delivered a bag of laundry, engaging in some light banter with the room's occupant before continuing down the hallway.

‎From the opposite direction, the other man, a young man with a distinct military crew cut, slowly approached the old man, taking measured strides while holding packages of his own.

‎Aisha narrowed her eyes, suspiciously observing the two men for a few moments.

‎" That's certainly strange..." she murmured.

‎Even at a cheap hotel like this, cleaning bots were more than enough to man the floors and clean the rooms.

‎Of course, human staff were on hand in case the customer desired humans to attend to them.

‎But for two of the staff to service the same floor at the same time...

‎After a while, she let out a sigh, calmly moving forward at a measured pace.

‎" I see how it is then."

‎The old man frowned slightly, then smiled, nodding at the young man before continuing on his way.

‎Just then, the younger man's eyes ignited, glowing with a menacing light.

‎Moving quietly, the youth quietly lunged for the older man, aiming to take him out in one blow.

‎A split second later, Aisha landed behind him, lifting the large man into the air with incredulous strength unlike her frame.

‎In one fluid motion, she slammed the man into the floor, telepathically scrambling his thoughts in the process for good measure.

‎" Sneaky bastard..."

‎With a slight flourish, she straightened up, smoothing the creases in her suit.

‎With a startled yelp, the old man quickly turned around, staring at the duo in confusion.

‎Staring at the body on the floor, the old man gasped, taking a few steps back.

‎His eyes widened visibly in fright.

‎"What's going on? Who are you? How did you...

‎Aisha smiled gently, calmly staring at him.

‎In the next moment, the old man's eyes turned cloudy and unfocused.

‎After a few moments, he awkwardly waved and then turned around, walking past the two Talented.

‎Aisha smiled, shaking her head slightly.

‎Turning her gaze to the room in the distance, her smile vanished completely.

‎"Now that that's taken care of, let's get right down to business."

‎A few more strides brought her into the room where Xander, Edmund and Warren had managed to hold their ground for a while.

‎The three youths looked worse for wear, but all three were still alive.

‎Jamil turned around with a grin, his lips curling into a smile.

‎" How rude...it seems we have an uninvited guest..."

The tall man was seemingly untouched from the start of the fight.

Aisha frowned slightly, looking at the disparity in the appearance of the youth and the man in the room.

"Is he actually this good?"

‎ Xander smirked, staring intently at Aisha.

‎Blood flowed from a slowly healing cut on the side of his head. Aisha raised an eyebrow at the sight.

‎"He made you bleed?"

Despite her aloofness, Aisha knew that, despite his age, Xander was a novice, which was quite a considerable achievement for his age.

The higher-ranked an assassin was, the harder it was to make them bleed or even to inflict considerable damage on them.

The umbralis they wielded gave them quite the edge over Talented, due to the small sound being actually a testament to how strong the man was.

‎Xander shrugged slightly, brandishing his blades.

‎" For all his talk, he's actually pretty dangerous. From the looks of things, they carefully picked the location of the fight so we couldn't go all out without involving ordinary civilians in this mess."

‎Aisha smiled faintly.

‎" Is that so?"

‎Xander nodded, taking a few steps back.

‎" Did I mention he's a telepath? He even managed to resist Xander's mind games, at least that's what I think..."

‎Warren snarled, but he didn't try refute Xander's claim.

‎Aisha smirked, her lips curling into a grin.

‎"Well, Warren still has much to learn. Still, the fact that he had managed to keep the three of you here is a feat in itself."

‎Jamil threw his hands into the air, dramatically spinning around.

‎" Blah, blah blah blah blah, blah"

‎His lips curled into a cruel smile, his eyes glowing brighter.

‎"Are we going to do this or what?"

‎A split second later, he lunged forward, closing the distance between them in an instant.

‎Edmund's eyes widened slightly at the sight.

‎"Careful! He has an artifact!"

‎Despite the warning, Aisha simply smiled, taking off her sunglasses calmly. A split second later, Jamil's fist collided with the air.

‎A split second later, a shockwave erupted from the force of the blow, cracking through the floorboards and ceiling with a thunderous impact.

‎In the next instant, the entire building trembled slightly, the force of the collision rocking the entire hotel.

‎The three youths had varying reactions to the onslaught

‎Xander grinned, Warren frowned, while Edmund stared at the two Talented with a grim expression. The same thought ran throughout their minds.

‎"This fool was holding back on us."

‎Jamil smiled, stepping back from the invisible wall that had materialised behind him.

‎A split second later, his barrier activated, blocking a dark blade that would have stabbed through his liver.

‎"Hope you didn't forget about us..." Xander said with a grin.

‎Jamil frowned slightly, moving back.

‎"Strange... I couldn't hear his thoughts when he attacked... "

‎He nonchalantly walked through a hail of ice, ignoring the three youths completely.

‎He turned back to Aisha, his friends deepening.

‎"Does this old hag have something to do with it?"

‎His frown turned into an eerie smile.

‎With slow deliberation, he raised his hands, placing them on the invisible wall between him and Aisha.

‎" How long are you going to cower behind this flimsy shield?"

‎Aisha smirked, shaking her head.

‎In the next moment, Xander's eyes widened slightly, and then he nodded.

‎Almost in unison, Warren scoffed, shaking his head slightly.

‎Edmund stared at Aisha with an inscrutable expression, then sighed, turning around.

‎In the next moment, the three youths rushed toward the open window, leaping out with reckless abandon.

‎Jamil watched in shocked incredulity, then turned back, staring at the woman before him with a strange expression.

‎" Wow, bravo! Talk about surprises!"

‎Jamil grinned, wildly running a hand through his hair.

‎" No really, colour me impressed, I certainly didn't see that coming..."

‎Aisha stared at him in silence.

‎After a while, he came to stand before the invisible wall, his tall figure dwarfing her own.

‎"Your grand plan," he spat," was to send a couple of kids jumping to their deaths. For a leader of the Zolaris branch of the Praesagius to resort to that, how the mighty have really fallen..."

‎Shrugging nonchalantly, he crossed his arms across his chest.

‎"That was certainly in poor taste."

‎Aisha smiled, the light in her eyes growing exponentially brighter.

‎"So you know who I'm..."

‎Jamil grinned, shrugging slightly.

‎" Of course, I know exactly who you are, Aisha Lorke."

‎His expression turned colder, his smile morphing into one of pure cruelty.

‎"As a matter of fact, there's a certain someone, I don't know if you knew her, a fine woman who went by the name of Layla Lorke..."

‎Jamil grinned.

‎Taking a slight step back from the wall, he bowed slightly, raising his head to smile at Aisha.

‎" Does the name perhaps ring a bell?"

‎

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.