Battle.

I snuck around the banister and into a small empty bedroom, when a young woman walked into the room alone I choked her out, muffling any noise with magic. 'First one down no problem.' I moved out, closing the door behind me and easily making my way around to the next room. Thanks to Mo's father walking in through the front door, everyone's attention was drawn away, so it was more than easy to do my thing. I peeked inside the door, using magic to make sure the door stayed quiet and looked closed. 

Peaking inside I could see the target making out with presumably his wife. They quickly ended up on the large bed off to the side, which… While I did feel incredibly embarrassed… It made my job easy enough, just smacking their faces together a little bit harder than they were and knocking them both out. The girl had blond hair, instead of dark blue, but I tied her up anyway just like the rest of them. 'One left on this floor.' putting an ear to the ground I checked outside and snuck back out into the hallway. 'This is actually going pretty well.' With almost everyone greeting Mo's father, it was all too easy to take out the last one in a similar fashion, then I headed down to the second floor, which now only had one target. That target was producing a manna field around their room… So in all likelihood, I wouldn't be able to sneak up on them. I peeked up and over the banister to get a closer look down at the others.

'The little brat has weak magic… But the girl she's standing next to is anything but that… Her mother maybe? Then there's the man opposite them on the other side… His magic is strong as well… But so are his physical abilities… Hm… And whoever is hiding in that room might be on their level… Furthermore… It's highly unlikely that somehow only people with blue hair are involved in the coupe which I assume is what we are breaking up… Still, it's not like I don't have options…'

'Honestly, the ideal is to have him leave now, and then I pick them off as they slowly let their guards down and separate…' Otherwise I'll have to improvise…

He suddenly pulled out his knives and calmly took a step back. "If You want my head, then come and take it!"

'Some assassin…' I felt a large surge of manna gathering around the three mages, but before they could cast I leaped off the balcony and landed on two of them, sending them to the abyss, Then I took out my partner's legs, making him involuntarily duck a massive fireball that shot out the back wall of the house. 'His magic is strong… But he's no good at using it…' I made ice erupt out of the floor and completely immobilize him, skewering his arms to create pain and stop him from being able to focus on casting. Finally, I brought the other two back out of the abyss. They were too busy gasping for air to be able to do anything else, and in one fell swoop both of them went down with ease. 'That just leaves the person on the' Chills ran through my whole body as I jerked to the side dodging a knife meant for my back. 'Fairy dust… I knew it would be more than just people with blue hair…'

"Well, at least your perceptive…"

'Hardly… It was completely instinctual…' I slowly backed up, rejoining with the family head as the multitude of people around us all pulled weapons, most fairly uncertain, and unsure of what was even happening. Then, a young boy began walking down the stairs, his manna zone following him.

'Now's my chance to establish my cover story…' "You betrayed your family and took him out with magic… Does that mean you're on our side?"

He paused, suddenly just as confused as everyone else as he looked around to see the man stuck in the ice and the girls knocked out cold on the floor. "What the… What are you talking about!"

The head of the family let out a long growl. "Speak your peace boy… Before you all die like rats. You think I'm blind to you're families ambitions!"

I slowly swallowed. 'That should take the heat off me for now… Everyone is too confused to jump to conclusions… Now I just need to figure out who all is on the other side…' I calmed my mind and focused on my ears and eyes. 'They are all anxious, some are shaking, ah… Those 4 though…' I nudged the family head and finally uttered my first words to him in Mo's voice. "The girl with red hair, the guy and the girl with pink hair over there, and the man with blue and gold hair. The boy that came down the stairs can still use magic."

He clenched his jaw. "You heard the girl, seize them at once or you will be counted among the traitors." Despite everything his voice was calm and quick to speak. 'Dose he really trust Mo that much?'

The boy, scowling, began to gather manna and turned into a cloud of flower petals. 'He's gone? No… He's here, teleportation? Or… Invisibility? What is this spell…'

On instinct alone I deftly moved my feet, side stepping several times before I threw a punch as hard as I could, feeling bones crunch under my fist as his shoulder crumpled and shattered. 'There, he should be in too much pain to use magic now, whatever that spell was he–'

He vanished again. 'Fairy dust. Where is he? Behind me again? No, I don't sense him… HE'S NOT TARGETING ME!' I pushed the family head out of the way and felt a blade slide straight through my arm as I froze time. 'It hurts… How can that dagger go through my armor? Ok… Calm down… Focus… I've focused through pain before…' Slowly looking at my surroundings I noticed that everyone else had broken out into full-on war. Blood and knives flew through the air like paint splotched onto a canvas. Yet somehow the ever-familiar scent of death I had grown accustomed to in the dungeon was nowhere to be felt. The air was heavy, but fresh blood was different than that of rotting corpses. It was sharp, and a bit hot, enough to make your eyes water.

No matter how many mock battles I had been through they always felt like they were for sport: a brutal sport, but a sport nonetheless For the first time, I was fighting other people. Not undead, not monsters, not even grown men. The one who stuck a blade through my arm was just a child… Yet… Somehow there wasn't any hesitation at all. I knew that it wasn't the same as killing an undead, that it shouldn't be at least… And yet, it still seemed like it would be so easy…