Wordless Confrontation

Hands to congratulate the successful partnership revered the hall. All were still perturbed at the sudden change of power in the business industry, celebrating the upcoming powerhouses as they united with another conglomerate.

Some, however, despised the atrocious acts that the Duke had pulled off, especially on the side of The Royal Conglomerate, right in their faces.

As if they were being mocked, Duke's clapping hands earlier seemed to be directed at them. Their theory only solidified, realizing that while he was at it, his eyes were clearly looking at their cohort.

It was calm, unnerving, and mostly frustrating.

'That bastard!' The young man from the royal conglomerate angrily cursed Duke inwardly, feeling his rage boiling on the insides that his cohort felt it so subtly.

All they could do was silently watch this happening in their eyes painfully while keeping their emotions in check.

They have to do this professionally, less unnecessary problems not only for them but for their whole cohort.

'What a bummer. I could've started with this if they somehow showed an outrage in this stage…' Duke mused inwardly while continuing to clap his hands.

Finally, the last partner was called by Gabby's voice who operated in the background.

"Carpal Heppert."

Carpal stepped towards the center of the stage, his gait graceful, with a brim smile attached to his lips. The presence he showed in the meeting room, was replaced with nothing but light vibrance. He was shining, persuading the crowd with just a soft wave from the crowd.

His smile grew bigger as he shook his hands with Duke, whispering something to him, "Any news about your connection now?"

Duke returned the gesture with an apathetic, light smile, "Only good news awaits. Let's talk about it later."

Carpal ears perked up on the news, feeling jovial on the inside. Their days weren't wasted, and so is their deal. One group benefits from the other. A definitely win-win situation.

As if he wasn't done expressing his delighted emotions, Carpal pressed Duke's hand further and looked at the crowd, raising it both in the air.

'How unnecessary.'

Since they were putting up a good front and might attract a few investors from this area, Duke didn't mind the redundant movements Carpal had done, instead, he gladly accepted and gazed at the crowd indifferently.

Things were going smoothly on his side.

…

In a circular spacious hall filled with ornate chandeliers that seemed to float, solemn and relaxed music waved through the air, the place was divided into ten spaces, mainly the people being surrounded was no other than the ten partners.

Duke also had a lot of people whom he chatted with, communicating some important and useless topics altogether and he was right on the money to assume that some people are interested in becoming a partner and investor to his business.

But it's not as large as the ten partners had accumulated for themselves.

Aside from that, sadly for them, he wasn't going to add any more people on his side. First, and the very reason, was his time was slowly getting away from him and if he didn't want to be left behind, he had to hasten up.

Second, the only reason this partnership thing was brought up was because of the mutual interest between the five partners. Third, and the very crucial one, he wasn't willing to expose much of his connections to the Underworld.

Who knows if people might connect him with the infamous dealer.

Suddenly, Duke noticed three people joined his pack. At first, they were idly chatting with the other businessmen, and it took some time until these three had completely isolated Duke from the rest.

These three were obviously on the royal conglomerate's group that came and recognized the three big shots.

"Holton, Jezta, Nobirik."

Holton was the young man. Jezta is the old woman. And Nobirik was the fat middle-aged man. All of them were gazing at him very intently.

Even if they were keeping professionalism on the outside, Duke could sense disdain emotions that are trying to pierce his defense.

'Huh?'

Suddenly, when he thought it wasn't just a figure of speech, he felt an invisible force attacking his mind as he fought it with his technique.

Yet, to no avail, they all failed. He had the absolute mind after all.

'They just attacked me, weren't they?'

Duke shook his head, sensing from the corner of his eyes that his four men were vigilantly watching the scene.

They too, sense the ominous power permeating from the three. If he hadn't signaled them to stop worrying, who knows what would have happened to these bastards?

They didn't even stop and continued striking him through his mind or whatever they were doing.

'Can I just do it? The side effect of the manipulation technique is wanting me to crush these people to death… They did mock Jams after all, no less, right on his funeral.'

His intrusive thoughts were currently in the works again, driving him absolutely nuts to resist the temptation as he kept his battle in this wordless confrontation.

But in the end, he calmed down.

Oblivious to everyone in the dining hall, a silent battle was happening. Yet, after a few minutes, the winner had been decided.

Their expression was strained. Nobirik, was slumped on the ground, exhausted. Jezta needed a table to assist herself. And the young man, Holton, was quivering. It was apparent to his hands as he drank a mouthful of water.

As for Duke, he was beading sweat on his forehead. He was also exhausted from the silent and welcoming confrontation of this lot.

He even sends them a piercing gaze that brought them shivers down their spine.

'Okay, this settles it. I'll kill one of them after this. Or maybe all of them? The impudence of these people... Yeah, I should just do it... This should be a warning of their impending doom, no?'

Ragged breathing came from opposing sides. After a long silence, silent still, the three assisted each other and themselves to stand up and leave the place.

As if nothing happened, the event continued as it was.

Wiping his forehead, feeling his suit damped with wetness, Duke mused, 'Did they do it with a Mystery Technique? A Mystery Tool or just a Graded Item? Or an Origin Power? Hah! Or one of them might be impersonating a person and is just definitely a Fiend!'

Duke was enraged, borderline planning on committing public homicide in broad daylight. It was on the verge of exploding, still trying to keep his emotions in check.

But once he remembered something, thinking about Duke's wife – the previous lover of the body – method of calming his emotions down, he was once again in his normal state. Thankfully, his outward expression didn't show anything else.

'So even I can use that method… Well, rest in peace, ma'am, and sorry about it, Duke. I just had to use it.'

What was even the method?

'Popper…'

It was the name of their inborn child.

'This just makes me sad instead of calming me down…'

Letting out a tired sigh from his mouth, Duke dismissed his somber thought aside and visited the other tables.

Like those three, he goes on his merry way as if nothing happened.

…

"That bastard…! Does he have an item or tool somewhere on his mind!? How the hell are we in this stupid state!? Absolutely terrific! Gahh!"

Holton threw a wooden chair inside the room on an inn which he and the other three accommodated. Their cohort went back to their respective places in one of the establishments they owned, seeing that there was nothing left to do in Duke's villa.

But he didn't give a damn about them nor the other two, who was having the same opinion as Holton. They were just pieces of trash after all, only to be picked up since their numbers are important.

"I know you are angry, young master Holton. We are too." Jezta clicked her tongue with her bloodshot eyes, glaring at her shaking hand, "What's wrong with that guy… He's scary for some reason…"

"Scary? Yeah, what a joke. We could've subdued him if the information we had was on the right track. Now, he knew he was attacked! Our plan will be moved further and further. We can't have that!" Nobirik answered with spite, directing his anger at Jezta.

"You have no respect for elders! Besides, it was your stupid item that was the reason it failed! A mere grade 2 item is no good! Where are your best ones anyway!?"

"Stop shouting at me!"

"You started it!"

Both Jezta and Nobirik just started going at each other's throats only using words since as far as they could see, they are still allies.

Even so, the least they could do right now was to release the frustration pent up from their failed attempt to control Duke, through this.

"Enough of this crap!"

Having his patience already reached its limit, Holton decided to stop the elderly people on his front that acted like a kid.

But they continued as it was, making his warning pass through their ear onto another.

In a sense, he kind of sees the bad points of the two. Jezta didn't give the right information for Duke and Nobirik used a mere grade two item when he had higher grades for them. The only reason he didn't use them was because they thought Duke was an easy target.

Clearly, they underestimated his capabilities.

"I'm calling Father!"

Only then did the mention of the 'Father' make the two stubborn bickering come to a halt.

A sadistic smile formed on Holton, "He's going to taste the wrath of my family and this time, we're not going to underestimate him."