Chapter 58: Successors confront the successors!

An elderly man ate a few plates full of roasted chicken at a family's cabin and as he dined at the family's table with the father, mother and their son unconscious in their seats. He ate the countless scraps stuck in his grand and thick beard. He lifted down his glasses for a moment after surveying the room and noticing a framed photo of the family. He ambled to it then picked it up with his right hand as he stared at it. He was reminded of the family photo at his home with the son stuck in a similar pose. "I've got another 20 years in me to stay true to your dream, Chance. I don't care what I have to do, your father's going to become the greatest in the relic service." Said the man known as Proxtere before he finished his drink. 

Settembre, Ryoh, Wilel, Noa, Ansel, Haoyu, Rue, Amin and Reynard followed Haoran with the skeleton guards accompanying them from behind with firearms into a place with a sign titled "Leadership!" Above the entrance. The office was as extravagant as the cover of the relic service market itself above. Three folks sat in thrones with a staircase leading up to their great height. One of the leaders with eyes the color of his energy, lemon chiffon, swirling. The swirling leader cracked his knuckles before he stood up. "I'm Chalk, head of security, explain yourselves!" Said the leader with uncanny eyes. Settembre stepped forward, however, before he could achieve a word in, Haoran stood up straight, tightened his cheeks, then locked his index and middle finger together drawing a vertical line behind him as he kept his eyes on the leaders. 

Settembre swiftly removed the duct tape from his mouth before another piece appeared; they repeated this five times. Haoran held a thumbs up near his right pec with his left hand. "This is the son of Ryom Throndson and his irresponsible friends, he's a lover of cartography, geography and their relics, he used his father's vast connections in the wealthy world and heard the name of this place. A stop for him to acquire your various relic fetching services away from any meddlesome agencies spying on him for his collection next to his maps. I'll keep them in line, sirs and ladybug." Haoran explained and promised before conjuring another piece of duct tape over Settembre's mouth for the fun of it much to his dismay. Chalk looked daggers at the Throndson child then his friends and was reminded of Haoran's trustworthiness as their servant by his mother who sat next to him. The owner of the market released the successors after smiling as she felt charmed by Haoran's grinning. The successors and Haoran leave the owner's grand office as many of them find themselves confused by what should happen at this point. 

Settembre was upset by Haoran's refusal to question the market's owners. Rue eyed Haoran momentarily prior to having an epiphany. "For real, still scaredy while your terrifying boss is your girlfriend?!" Rue chuckled to herself. Haoran nodded without any hesitation. "Chalk's gift is terrifying, he has cultivated his lemon chiffon energy to bond with water. He makes it sweet and allows him any moment that he desires to melt the skin from the drinker's bones, killing them slowly as he puppets the victim's remains for a year or two. It's the strangest ability I've ever seen and guarantee that it will be the strangest you'd get a sight of as well. Not the way I want to go." Said Mai-lin's adoptive brother without shame in his tone while explaining his fear. Rue stared blankly before cracking up. "Just don't drink his water and he's an easy win?" Rue replied rhetorically. Haoran felt a moment away from admitting that she's nerve wracking. Ryoh laid his arm over his friend's shoulder as he spoke to him. "Our boy is here and probably waiting for his chance to pounce any minute now, we're going to need you to lock in and figure a plan out for us on the fly like you've done with Derek." Said the third eldest child of the Throndson family. 

Ryoh calmed Settembre and rooted for him to cheer up. Settembre threw his arm over Ryoh's shoulder as well. "Fine. I'm guessing he's here because he somehow figured out our nemesis's current client meaning that he's on the same trail as us right now. We were slightly faster to the finish line this time and we're not as clueless either. That's a good thing. If he's unaware of who the client is or clueless on the layout of this place, we might be able to get to him before he makes it to the lead to Proxtere." Settembre thought aloud as he made up a simple plan on the fly. Reynard cleared his throat. "We might as well split up once again, appoint some of us to guard the clients and a few of us to go search in the market?" Said the defender of JinJunyë's successor in his usual nonchalant manner. Amin and Reynard bumped fists. 

Settembre continued pondering, though, in his head, until he realized that plan was acceptable. "Hayes, Pendold, Throndson and Hall stand guard near the owner's office in case he knows the clients but can't find the office. Myself, the Williams brat, Manchester and Jepson's going to search the crowds in the market. Let's go!" Settembre directed, he then tried to speed away yet was halted by Rue after she requested he answer a question. Rue shook her head. "Why'd you use our last names?" She asked as she separated slightly on her way to the crowds. Settembre felt disgusted. "I thought it sounded cool but now that you've brought it up— sounds like my dad, yuck." The Williams second eldest admitted before wandering away. Rue went the opposite direction and loved the bright characters in the market. "Yeah. Yuck." She shortly repeated as she went her own way. The Sovereign stood high above the crowds of the market. "Irrelevant bugs with purposeless lives! I'm not their prey neither will they stand in my way!" The Sovereign angrily shouted before he stepped off the ceiling's platform. 

Settembre and Haoran spread out to the northwest of the hall, Haoyu stealthily stepped towards the north crowd gathering to buy services, Rue followed a path towards the east of the cavern, Wilel proceeded to the southeast auction being held for numerous uncanny relics. The Sovereign transformed back into his physical form before landing on his feet. Settembre glowered as he stealthily moved into the crowd and Haoran stood outside of the crowd watching his nephew's close friend cautiously move into it keeping his eyes peeled for suspicious behavior. Wilel pushes past others as he enters his southeast crowd. The Sovereign closes his eyes as he's tuning in and out the voices around him while cautiously moving forward from the southern entrance of the cavern the relic service hall is held in. He's hearing plenty of information and gossip that he doesn't care for before he feels someone grip onto his suit, he dodges a split second before impact from Wilel's soaring fist before swiftly following up with a knee to the Williams family son's liver then finishing the young determined hero with a curb stomp after he was floored by the Sovereign's immense strength. A few attendees witness the short scuffle and flee in terror, the screams and shrieks in his sensitive ears riles him up yet he continues moving towards unfamiliar voices mentioning his name. Ryoh wiped his nose as he slouched against one of the cavern's walls. "I'm hoping Derek hears us from somewhere out there, I'm locked in, we'll defeat him, restrain him and I've been itchin' to settle the score with him." Said Ryoh with his usual confidence opponents of his have compared to a lion's. Noa observed and appreciated the art on the doors of the owners' office as she noised sounds of her listening while she wasn't and heard mumbles. Ansel slightly chuckled at the idea of the two having a rivalry. Ryoh smelled the same scent for a brief moment and as shortly, saw a cloud of smoke, the Throndson child duck the Sovereign's swift Superman punch after he appeared out of thin air. Ryoh delivered a right hook to the Sovereign's left knee before he called out to Noa who assisted with a devastating lemon chiffon then she sprinted out of the hall leading to the office to finish him with more. The Sovereign laughed maniacally after catching his footing from Noa's blasts in the market she sent him into. "I'm a god with a thirst for vengeance, this is what's deserved for being pesky towards one!" Said the Sovereign with his demonic voice and arrogance while calling smoke that flows out of thin air into his hands before it's shifted from gas into solid steel kali sticks. As Noa approached drawing her star-shaped lemon chiffon energy, she was eventually knocked unconscious by one of the kali sticks ricocheting from a chandelier into her head. Crowds attending the auction in each direction or conversing for various services fled. Skeletons trampled over the buyers and sellers as they were ordered to rush towards the Sovereign. "He's powerful and strong. Maybe he'll make for a great skeleton guardsman?" Chalk thought to himself as he came out of the office after hearing the commotion the successors and Sovereign were making in the marketplace. The crowds had vanished leaving Settembre at the aid of his unconscious younger brother, Rue who was frozen with a shocked expression and confusion, Haoyu and Haoran on opposite ends as well as Reynard. JinJunyë's successor felt like hopping in until the Sovereign transformed then flew up towards Chalk skipping past the skeletons. The Sovereign held the head of the Relic service hall's security by his neck, squeezing tighter as he enjoyed hearing the security guard's screams of agony before tossing him near Haoyu directly below. The heroic behemoth caught him then with his other hand which he tightened into one of his devastating fists, he threw it high above aiming for the Sovereign's head until he slipped it as he crossed his arms. The Sovereign laughed at his attempt before heading into the office's hall but was sent to the entrance's ledge. Ansel hopped on Andamooka's head, launching off of his head and delivering a swift blow to the Sovereign, sending the two dropping to the market's grounds. The Sovereignty rolled out of the way of Haoyu's enormous fist intended on smashing him. "Damn it, see the futility!" The Sovereign shouted demonically as the successors surrounding him noticed smoke rising out of his shoulders and head. The Sovereign soon found himself outnumbered by the strangers standing in his way. Haoyu, Settembre, Haoran, and Ansel slowly closed in on him. The Sovereign drew a vast cloud of smoke towards him into a box shape before solidifying the gaseous shape into stone before sending pieces of it flying towards the successors forcing them on the defensive as Ryoh spied from above.