Terry Incendio

-Star Mansion-

Inside the huge mansion, two men were seated on chairs in the garden. They both looked carefree and relaxed; there were no guards present around them.

"I got information that House was killed just now, Sir," said one of the men. His expression was still calm despite the news he had received. He had black eyes and dark grey hair. His build was muscular; he looked like a tank compared to the man next to him. However, his attitude was still filled with respect.

The other man, with fiery red eyes and hair, had a slim build draped in a pitch-black suit, which made his eyes the only focus in the dark of the night. He responded, "Seems like they will come here next." This, however, only put a laid-back smile on his face. "Let them come. It's been a while since I fried some fools."

They both laughed at this. The bulky man was Lexus Star, Isaiah's main competitor. The other man, draped in full black with ruby-like eyes, was none other than the Rank 2 mage Star had hired, Sir Terry, the newest Rank 2 mage of the Incendio family.

The Incendio Family was one of those that had lasted until the birth of the Silver Empire. They had the direct support of the Emperor and were not to be messed with. Along with three other families, they were the largest nobles in the entire empire.

Their current leader, Frank Incendio, was one of the four Dukes of the empire, being a peak Rank 2 flame mage. He was also the uncle of Terry, the newly advanced Rank 2 mage Star had hired.

Terry, despite his young age, was the definition of a prodigy, having entered Rank 2 at the mere age of 31. He was one of the competitors for the seat of the next Duke. The reason he expected to protect Star wasn't the bank's worth of money he was offered but to strengthen his connections to the underground to help him secure the seat of the next Duke.

From the mansion walked a beautiful woman. She had chestnut hair and mesmerizing ocean blue eyes. Her body was a fine work of art, pronounced by the tight dress she wore. In her two hands were two little kids, happily skipping towards their father.

"Dada!" the two kids jumped at the bulky man, but his eyes were on his wife. "Honey, I told you to stay inside." The woman smiled gently, "With Sir Terry here to protect us, I thought it would be fine. The kids wanted to see you."

"With me around, your hearts can be at ease," Terry responded. He was squeezing the cheeks of the kids and playing with them. Suddenly, his ear perked up, and he turned his attention to the gate of the garden. "Seems like the rat has arrived." He stood up and started walking towards the direction of the gate. His steps were slow; he clearly wasn't worried one bit.

In his senses, he could clearly sense the presence of a man draped in a full white suit with a mask covering his face. He shouted towards the white figure, who was hiding, not even daring to breathe, "I can sense you. There is no benefit in hiding." With that, he raised his hand, and a small ball of fire formed within his palm, seemingly looking harmless.

He turned his palm to face the white figure in hiding. The small ball of flames, which was actually huge amounts of fire energy compressed on each other, suddenly went off. ROOOOF, the entire half of the garden was ablaze. A ray of intense flame had melted the entire gate. A huge gouge was present on the ground. The white figure's corpse could not even be distinguished from the melted ground; there was absolutely nothing left of it.

"Sigh, and here I thought I would have some more fun," he said with a carefree smile. However, his smile didn't last long. On his back, he sensed huge amounts of mana. He abruptly turned around to see the white figure standing on the roof, his palm filled with seemingly divine light compressed to the limit, barely containing itself, was pointed towards Lexus Star and his family.

Isaiah, the white figure, looked at Lexus and, with a smile that would send chills to his very soul, said, "You should have kept your family closer." His palm was directed right at Lexus' wife and kids. Lexus, in his panic, activated a spell that formed a huge rock wall in front of his wife and kids. However, Isaiah never fired. Instead, he turned his palm, filled with immense light, and let the Light Cannon Formation loose on Lexus.

Having miscalculated due to his hasty thinking, Lexus saw the intense divine light approach him. It was just for a moment, but death didn't come as his vision turned into a world of red and fire.

Terry had cast a Flame Wall and blocked the Light Cannon in its entirety. Funnily enough, half of Lexus' body was burned from being so close to such intense fire caused by the Flame Wall, but it was better than being dead.

He turned his attention to the white figure. His eyes weren't as relaxed as before. "Who are you? Who sent you?" He had information about most of Lexus' competitors and had done his research. Many names crossed his mind, including Isaiah Dominus, the newly advanced mage whose innate element was rumored to be light, who was also the third-highest bidder. However, he soon crossed that name, thinking of him as just a newly advanced mage. There was no other name on the list that could hire a mage as powerful as the white figure in front of him.

He changed his thinking, asking, "Did the Leviathan Family send you here?" He thought that the man was probably hired to discredit him rather than to obtain the property, as he did have many enemies in the end.

Isaiah laughed loudly. In his palm, another formation was gathering light for another Light Cannon, so he was more than happy to stall for time by talking. "And what if they sent me? Can you go against them on your own?" He ridiculed the man, as two of the biggest families in the entire empire, both housing a Peak Rank 2 Duke. Even Duke Incendio would find it hard to deal with the Leviathan Family by himself.