Meet Once Again

"I admit! I spied on you because of young miss." The woman immediately stated her reason. She covered her private region as she glared at Ban with hate.

The woman had a short black hair and a beautiful face. Her body is slim and even have abs on her belly like she had been training for years.

Ban took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he asked in a deep voice, "Who's your miss?"

"Tina Davies. The lady you are currently with."

Ban frowned and asked, "What's your proof? Also, if you know her, why didn't approached her openly earlier?"

"This.." The woman hesitated. She replied in a low voice, "This is my habit. I am always in the dark to spy on things. As for the proof..." She looked around for her phone.

"I have only one contact on my phone and he is the old master, Max Davies. Also known as Madman Max."

Ban became silent for a while and waved his hand and gave her a set of his clothes. He said, "Go back to where you came from and-" He suddenly paused and extended his hand in the air.

*Swish!*

'A sniper bullet?'

Ban squinted his eyes and streams of lights are speeding in his direction very fast.

*Swish!* *Swish!* *Swish!* *Swish!*

Ban caught a handful of sniper bullets from every side. Each bullet targeted his head with precision.

While Ban was busy catching bullets, the woman suddenly took a dagger on her calf and pointed at Ban's chest with extreme speed.

Ban instantly dodged and kicked her stomach in return.

*Boom!*

The woman crashed into a wall and immediately became disabled.

"Sh*t! Our spy is down!" A mercenary with a telescope in his hand suddenly exclaimed.

"Damn it! Kill this bastard!" A mercenary with a sniper rifle shouted as he pulled the trigger.

*Swish!* *Swish!* *Swish!* *Swish!*

Sniper bullets rained at the top of the hotel from every direction.

Ban squinted his eyes at the distance and activated his Elemental Aura Barrier protecting his body with a transparent shield like a taliman he made.

*Swish!* *Swish!* *Swish!* *Swish!*

The bullets disappeared the moment they touched his Elemental Aura Barrier like bubbles.

"James family..." Ban muttered in a low voice as he narrowed his eyes in a certain direction.

...

A few minutes later...

Ban returned to his own room after passing the things of Tina.

Tina found the odd actions of Ban, but she didn't pry any further and went back inside her room to change.

Ban wanted to meditate to check the abnormalities in his body at first, but he decided to sleep hoping to meet the mysterious man in his dream.

And so, the mysterious man appeared again in Ban's dream.

Ban stared intently at the man. However this time, his eyes was the same as the man.

"...You seemed at a loss." The man said in an amused tone.

Ban didn't reply, but his expression was told that he needed an explanation from the man.

The man smirked and said, "...If you want answers, get up here and replace me at my throne."

Ban frowned and gazed at the stairs.

There are a hundred stairs until the throne, but the stairs are not so simple for a normal human to step since it is made for giants. Each step is ten meters high and the man was at a thousand meters up.

"I can ask anything I want if I made it up there?" Ban inquired. He was confident that he could accomplish the task within seconds. He also didn't find any malice from the man. In fact, he found the man very familiar to him like he had known him for a very long time.

"...Anything. You can ask any requests too." The man paused and continued, "In fact, every step of advance will you have a reward given by me and you can ask one request evey step too."

Ban stared weirdly at the man.

'Did I trapped myself with a genie in a bottle or something?'

The man chuckled and said, "...You are not. Anyways, I can hear your thoughts loud and clear. Try not to expose your secrets accidentally."

Ban opened his mouth before closing them again. He clenched his teeth and proceeded to jump in one go.

*Swish!*

Ban used all of his strength to jump at least fifty steps when his expression changed greatly.

Contrary to his expectation, his jump barely made it into the first step. If not for him grabbing the edge of the stair, he wouldn't make it in the first step of the stairs.

Ban struggled to crawl up and finally made in the first step of the stairs with a disbelief look on his face. His face was covered in sweat as he tried to stand up.

"Huh?"

When Ban turned back, he noticed that there's no trace of down steps.

'Did I not made it to the first step?'

"...You have made it on the first step of the stairs." The man said calmly. He continued, "Since you made it to the first step, I will give you a random reward." He then clicked his finger and produced a snap that resounded in the huge hall before returning back to its usual silence.

Ban then frowned and inspected his surroundings for abnormalities.

"...I have already given you my reward. You can figure it out yourself for what is was." The man mysteriously smiled and continued, "Any request or question for me?"

"What is happening in my body? Did you try to control my emotions? And how should I get rid these purple eyes of mine?" Ban immediately asked the questions that has been bothering him the whole day.

The man raised his brow and smiled, "...I didn't do anything in your body at all."

'Tsk!* What kind of bull-'

Ban paused his thoughts and said, "Then get rid of these purple eyes for me."

The man chuckled and asked, "...Are you sure?" His eyes glowed even darker in purple as he narrowed his eyes at Ban.

Ban was curious, but he took a deep breath and nodded.

"...All right." The man smiled and nodded back.

Ban heaved a sigh of relief when he heard the man.

"...Sooner or later, you can't escape your destiny..." The man muttered in a low voice as he squinted his eyes at Ban.

"What..?" Ban wanted to ask, but his vision blurred before turning dark.

"...We'll meet again. If you want to know the answer, replace me in my throne..."

...

An hour later after the mercenary encounter of Ban...

In the private hall of the James residence...

A middle aged man with long silver hair sat on the main seat as he faced the crowd with a livid expression on his face.

"What's the news of the elites?! Didn't we deploy more than a hundred of them?!"

*Boom!* *Crackle!*

The man slammed his armchair with little force and it turned into dust while black lightning lingered on his fist.

Everyone cowered from the might of the man.

"H-Head..." A black suited man approached carefully. He continued, "A-All of the elites did not respond and they disappeared in their position like they have never been there."

The head frowned and asked, "What about the target?"

The black suited man bowed and shook his head. His whole body was covered with sweat as he can't bear to face the furious head of the family.

The head twitched his eyes and shouted, "F*cking useless!!"

*Crackle!!* *Booom!!*

The black suited man did not even screamed for help as his body turned into dust in an instant.

"Summon Zen!"

The head took a breath and ordered.

Everyone gulped as they couldn't respond to their boss.

"Why are you not summoning my brother?! Go!!" The head growled at the crowd.

"H-Head." A man approached while his body was shivering in fear. He continued, "Mr. Zen went out to do something important a few minutes ago. He said no one is to disturb him unless it's an emergency."

"F*ck! This is an emergency!! Can't he read the situation?! Where did he go?" The head cursed out loud and asked again.

"M-Mr. Zen did not go that far. He went to the hall near our residence and prepared a banquet."

"Banquet?! For what purpose?!" The head couldn't believe his brother would do such a stupid thing in the time of crisis.

"H-He said it is to welcome a special guest." The man carefully answered. He continued, "He even ordered fast food meals for the feast. He mentioned that the guest loves fast food meals."

"Fast food for a banquet?" The head twitched his eyes in disbelief. He shouted, "It is past midnight for pete's sake! Who would want to dine at such an hour!? Drag him back!!"

"Y-Yes, Head!"

Everyone scurried away to where Zen was at.