"I see you won't die anytime soon, Marcel,

" Noah muttered, as he walked a bit away from Michael, aswering the call.

"Huh? What the heck was that about?

" Marcel's voice came out from the earpiece of Noah's cellphone.

"Nothing, to be honest, I was just talking about you when you called. A woman from the XXXX family came talk to us about you, she seemed to like you quite a bit, said she was like an aunt to you,

" Noah teased him.

"Oh, her, right. I… didn't expect her to go out of your way and talk to you… By the way, I'll really need you to deal with the next fight, okay?

"

'Interesting, so he completely ignored that, guess this really is important,' Noah thought, as he foung Marcel's behavior odd.

"Sure, but why you place so much importance in it? Is something else going on I should know?

" he asked, making sure to probe him. Marcel did invite him to the family, and was very friendly to him, but he had never expected him to behave this familiarly.

"Actually… This is also a favor I'm doing for Carlos. Those people are going to try something dangerous if we don't stop them today. I need you to show them their place, for both of us.

" Noah frowned upon hearing his words. Why would beating those guys have anything to do with his friend?

"Of course, I'll pay you in any way you want. If we can deal with the Hyu today, I can also uncover some shady dealings inside the Khan Family and clean up the trash for once. You already know about them, the B Rank Blessed who fough you before.

"

"I see… So there was people from the Khan Family helping cover it up too,

" Noah told himself, but putting it into words so Marcel could hear.

"Yeah, and I know who it was. Remember that uncle of mine, he thought if he could teach his kid a leasson I'd lose my support. Even the Hyu forcing you guys into joining the arena was part of his plan.

" Marcel's anger was easy to be noticed even across the phone, and Noah could see why Michael and the bearded warrior were so uncomfortable. After all, that uncle of Marcel, who was an elder of the Khan Family was also Michael's uncle.

"I'll make sure to end the Khan Sucession issue tonight. But you need to take the Hyu out, they also need to pay for what they did to the XXXX Family,

"

"I see. I also have to settle something with them, so rest assured. However, if I show all my power here tonight, there's a chance things leak too far. I'll use all needed, but no more than that,

" Noah reassured him, while making his position clear.

"I'll take it. Also, I heard you are interested in Essences, is that right?

" Marcel's words made Noah's eyes glitter.

"Yeah, I am, but only if they are C Rank or higher, or if they come in large numbers, why?

" he went straight to the point, ignoring the fluff. His phone had just vibrated, meaning he'd lost a call.

"I'll see what I can do, rest assured. After this is all done, you will have access to a lot of them. Also, Carlos told me about that business of yours, renting Imps,

" Marcel said, hinting he had already made a deal, which made Noah curious.

"Make sure you publish it a lot tonight. He said they have the power to fight C Rank Blessed and C Rank Fortress monsters, if that's the case, I'll make sure we contract as many of them as we can. I hope you can give me a good rebate.

"

"I'm afraid I can't give you special treatment. After all, the one responsible for the pricing and sales is Carlos. I'm looking forward to the future with you as this Khan Family's Head, though.

"

"Haha, you sure are a tough cookie to bite. I'll talk to him, good luck on the fight,

" Marcel started bidding farewell, but added another sentence mid-way.

"Also, that bearded warrior in your group is actually my personal counselor. I sent him over to train Michael a while back, you can have him cover your back anytime, He's a B Rank Peak Blessed, though his blessing is only C Rank.

"

"I see, that's why he's so reliable. But is it okay telling me that?

" Noah asked, despite rapping his foot, wanting the conversation to end.

"Yeah. After tonight, you will be an important member of the inner circle. Congratulations on passing the trial of the Khan Family. Just make sure to make that brat from the Hyu Family suffer a lot.

"

"Trial? So you were behind the opening for that fortress with this group,

" Noah asked, realizing some things.

"Sorry for not telling you that, but I just kept the spot over for you, the fact that there was a vacancy was actually a coincidence.

"

"I see, thanks, I'll tell them some of our conversation,

" Noah wrapped the conversation up, making Marcel understand his intention.

"See you tomorrow at lunch, I'll send you the details later,

" Marcel's parting words made Noah frown. This was an invitation, but for the timing to be this resolute, there would be an important meeting at that lunch.

"See you then,

" Noah said, before hearing the tone that meant Marcel had hung up. The missed call in his phone was from Carlos. 'Was there any problem? It hasn't been even twenty minutes since we talked…' Noah thought, as he called him back.

"Did anything wrong happen?

" he asked, as soon as the call connected.

"No, I called to say everything's all good. The driver should have arrived there already, I'll message you as soon as he confirms they were picked up.

" He paused to take a breath.

"I contacted all contracts. Most were for self-protection, so only one of them is not contactable right now,

"

"That's good, so only one of my Imps is not available, them,

" Noah said, nodding to himself.

"No,

" But Carlos' rebuttal came very fast, which made him confused.

"That contract ends by midnight, so as soon as the fight begins, you can also use the imp.

"

"Oh…

" Noah muttered, understanding.

"Thanks, then. Hope you enjoy the fight tonight. I'm afraid you'll have a hard time making Maggie go to bed if she knows you can watch it.

"

"Should I let her see it, then? I know you could get injured, but she'll enjoy the show a lot, since Marcel said you're gonna go all out,

" Carlos sounded excited. He was already like this when it came to Valorwatch, but Noah hadn't expected him to like this kind of thing, where people would get actually injured.

"No,

" Noah refused him.

"It could get pretty gruesome. If you can't avoid it, sure, but don't push her and Bel onto it.

" Noah was actually worried that Maggie's arsonistic traits would get worse seeing him burn those people up, but he would never tell that to anyone. Badmouthing his beloved sister was a massive no. Absolutely never. The fact she loved to put things of fire, and see him burn people and monsters was… A secret, from the world, at least for now.

"Okay. Oh, I just got a message from the driver. They got picked up,

" Carlos said with happiness in his voice. Noah let out a sigh, finally able to make up his strategy for the upcoming fight, which would begin in just a couple dozen more minutes.

"Thanks, I'll wrap it up here, then,

" Noah said, using a small chunk of his mana to send Lilith and Terrence back to hell, for a small amount of time.

"Sure. I'm looking forward to the fight, oh, mighty Lucifer,

" Carlos' words came across like he was forcing a noble tone. It really annoyed Noah, but not in a bad way.

"Fuck off,

" he brushed his friend off.

"This Lucifer will wipe your KD in Valorwatch next time we play together.

"

"Hey, don't KS me!

" The two laughed a bit off of each other, before Noah finished the call, and started walking back towards his group. Everyone was already standing up, waiting for him. It was about time they went back to the preparation room.

"Noah, all good?

" Michael asked, walking with the entire group towards him, as he saw him put his phone away.

"Yeah, should we get going?

" Noah asked, just for the sake of it, though he already knew so.

"Sure. I want to talk to you, though,

" Michael said with a serious expression, as the bearded warrior walked to his side.

"Is fine. We can talk once we reach there. Those people have showed up, we better leave before they try to pull something off,

" Noah said, making the two and part of the group turn around and face the entrance. Back in the direction Noah was facing, the group of 15 blessed from the Hyu Family had entered the venue, accompanied with at least the same number of Family Members.

"Let's go. This place smells like a sewer now,

" the bearded warrior spat his words out, as he lead the group to the same door the Hyu Family members joined from, but walking around the perimeter, completely avoiding them.

"Those mother**ers,

" the leader of the Hyu Family's group growled as he saw the Khan Family members walk through the door, having ignoring them entirely. In fact, the entire venue seemed to be avoiding them, except for one family. That which had just been beaten by the Khan members, who had hired mercenaries to inflate their power.

"It's fine, Young Master. We'll show them the might of our Hyu Family in the fight soon,

" the male blessed who stood by his side said, with a sinister smile.

"If you hadn't taken all that time to get **ing healed, they wouldn't have been able to avoid facing us now, before the fight, you useless piece of **,

" the leader scourned, turning to his left, to the blessed who used poison.

"I am sorry. It won't happen again,

" she said, expressionless, as she watched the blessed from the Khan Family disappear into the corridor. 'I hope they kill me next fight..' she thought to herself, thinking about her blessing which to her felt more like a curse.