Behind the Scene

Ethan was slightly tensed but Raven was relaxed. In her mind, He didn't seem to be a threat at all. Raven knows him as he is rather famous character of Human Domain.

He is known for his discrimination against commoners. For noble, He is nice, charming, playful person but for commoners… If he found that Ethan is a no-name orphan, He will cut off his limbs and have him crawl his way out of this place…

He is also the youngest sword genius in Human Domain who reached the level of SwordMaster in his mid-twenty. She is sure he should be B Rank at the least but she is not worried about his strength at all. She is sure she can kill him before he can release a scream out of his throat.

"…Do you need something?"

Raven asked him with a smile. Ethan looked at her from the corner of his eyes and returned his focus to Eren. This guy doesn't seem to be approaching them for no reason.

"…I am not here as a friend of Collin but… as a young man who just got interested in this beautiful lady. Can I be lucky enough to know your name?"

Eren asked her with a flirty smile. He doesn't know why but he is feeling weird since he laid his eyes on her. There is irresistible charm she have that keep giving him a sense of possessiveness. He wants her… he wants her to be with him… He wants her so badly that he doesn't know what he will do if she reject him.

"…My name is not something you know but it's earned…"

Raven replied with a soft smile. Ethan looked at her with skepticism. Who is she? The Raven he knows will hang people naked and upside down if they tried to their luck against her.

"…I wonder if this will work."

He shows a beautiful earring in his hand. It has a golden accessories attached to it with a shape of joint-end-U. It looks captivating and expensive. Ethan wonders how much it will cost.

"…It also increases the beauty of wearer. I hope it is enough to earn that expensive name of yours."

Raven looked at him with an amused smile. She brings one hand of her close to her chin and asked in a flirty manner.

"~I suppose I look ugly to you to gift me an Artifact that will increase my beauty~"

"…No way, it's this accessories honor to be a part of your beauty. My eyes will blind if I don't recognize your beauty."

"…"

Eren moves forward and was few steps away when Ethan suddenly stands up in front of him. Ethan was feeling weird as he saw her flirting with her. He was standing beside her but was completely ignored by both of them. His chest felt tighten and his lungs seems to be breathing uncomfortably.

"…It's seems my brother feels uncomfortable with you."

Raven smiles at him politely. She turns around and leaves through the exit without any further delay. Ethan follows her after taking a last look of his face. She was on her way to stairs down when she heard his voice again from behind.

"…Hey… at the least take this with you."

She turned around and saw the earring thrown toward her. She didn't get the chance to do anything as another hand grabs it first.

"…I will give it to her."

Ethan gives him an emotionless look. Eren looked at him with a stiff smile. He can tell her brother doesn't seem to like him but it doesn't matter. He waves his hand at both of them. When both of them sat on their car, the look on his face changes and a cold smile form on his lips.

"…Hey… Go and get me the images of this lady right now."

He called an attendant and asked him to get the images of her. Attendant looked at him for some time and nods. He knows that he is a special guest. It's not legal but there is a terrifying aura around the guest that seems to say if he doesn't get what he wants he doesn't mind destroying everything around him.

He just hurriedly left for surveillance room. There is also an investigation going on last incident. He sighed as he looked at the door from where she left. He muttered under his breath and left the place with a smirk.

"…I want her… "

…

Ethan and Raven were travelling through Dark Travel. There was a silence between both of them that seems to be suffocating to Ethan. Raven broke him by asking him a question.

"…What was that?"

"…I have no idea what are you talking about…"

"Are we playing this game?"

"…I don't know what you are talking about…"

Ethan didn't bother with a topic. He also did it in a heat of moment. If he said that, she would be mad at him. She always told him to make decision with calm and calculated mind.

"…Can I keep this?"

He tried to change the topic by asking her about the earring. He is already handsome enough but money and good looks can never be enough.

"…Sure, though be prepared to be stalked by him for the rest of your life."

"What does that mean?"

"It is engraved with a tracking rune. It was supposed to be me but since you are so eager to be the target then… Be my guest."

"…Can't you just remove it?"

"…If I can, then I wouldn't have bothered myself with this whole drama."

"…"

"…Collin would have suspected everyone inside the auction house and mark everyone by the same rune. I wouldn't be able to remove it if it came to that."

Ethan looked at her stunned look. He still didn't understand what actually happened there but it seems she have calculated everything before coming here and move with a strict plan.

"…Since, we are at the topic why not explain what actually happened?"

"Throw that outside first…"

Ethan was reluctant to throw it. Artifacts that increase charm are always in demand. He can just sell it and he will still receive hefty sum but Ethan can tell Raven seems to have some hostile feeling against it. In the end, He just threw it away and it comes out of shadow and falls on the ground.

"…First, I have you do was setting up nodes for runes when you visit this place as a journalist."

Ethan remembers that and he remember how he set-up quite a lot of them and multiples times at a place.

"…I set up a rune using those nodes and auction house as a center. It was a rune that blocks the mana sense and creates a barrier that stops people from going out. It also has a detonating function that will be triggered if someone else tries to control it."

"You can do something like that…?!"

"No…"

Ethan was left dumbstruck by her response. She was showing quite a confidence when she explained so he thought she might really done it but there was a RuneMaster outside. The difference between them might be just a level in term of proficiency but a RuneMaster can defeat an Expert Rune User with just a flick of his finger…at the least that's what he heard…

"…How did you pull off this whole thing then?"

"Did you forget who I am…?"

"Dream of every man…?"

She gave him a look of disgust.

"…I am sorry… you are a smart woman…?"

"Wrong… I am an illusionist… it's my nature to trick people…"

"Oh…, wait a minute…! Was it all an illusion?"

"You guessed it right. It was all but an illusion."

"What…?! Is that even possible?"

She left him in shock. According to her, she created an illusion of whole rune that supposed to trap Collin instead of real rune which Collin believes to be done by a RuneMaster.

"… I can create an illusion of everything and every phenomenon in this world… Though I wouldn't be able to create one that can trick an S-Rank on a spur of moment…"

"…Those nodes…?"

"Hmm… Those nodes help in it, it were made up of A-Rank mana stones."

Ethan had set up hundreds of nodes on all over auction house when he came here as a journalist. Ethan didn't know about it then but now he understands. Ethan tried to think about the amount of money. It would be easily go above hundreds of millions but looking at it other way around, it can't be compare to billions.

"…Raven… your powers are weird…"

"I will take that as a compliment."

"…I didn't mean it that way."

"…All powers should be weird if not, wouldn't your opponent can easily figures out your weakness?"

Actually, Raven wouldn't be able to do it if not for last minute rank-up she had yesterday. She was betting her whole plan on it and fortunately, she ranked up. She is now genuine A- Rank, which puts her into rank of powerhouse in Human Domain!

She looked at Ethan with a smile. If not for him, she wouldn't be able to do it. There is a large difference between an A+ Rank and S- Rank. Difference between them is similar to an F-Rank and A-Rank. She would never be able to compare with them in a head-on battle but it's entirely different thing if it is like this…

"…Why did you actually set up the formation again?"

"It was all a distraction."

"…Distraction?"

"I was creating an image that the stealer is a RuneMaster and he had made his escape."

"…Did they believe it?"

"They did, or else they wouldn't have been looking for accomplish, they would have been looking for culprit."

Her plan worked perfectly. The first thing she was to have to have Ethan set up the nodes of mana stones that will be used for rune formation later but it was all but the last part of her plan.

Ethan left a face mask in the restroom after coming here and set up mana bombs that were set up in way that it will blast the moment mana sense hit them on her orders. Mana sense, in a way, is similar to sonar and it release a wave of mana that user use to sense everything. The moment Collin figures out that Mind Seed had been stolen. He would come out and release his mana sense.

Raven already know his obvious move. Anyone above S-Rank tends to relay on their mana sense completely, she used that to her advantage and create a fake escape that leads them to believe that they have escape from the other side while rune traps in an illusion. She made it for limited time because she wanted to make it more believable.

The next part was stealing. She had made him impatient and have him brought the mind seed to his private room which he did. She booked a room where the attendant would have to pass through to reach his room. The thing is no one can use mana inside the private rooms but there is one exception that is, if the door is open.

As long the door is opened, Rune won't work but in return it would be captured in camera in halls. It wouldn't have work if not for her magic. She used her magic to create a door after sending Ethan out. She kept door open and rune formation stops working at her.

All that remains was stealing part… It was her Magic Gift that helps her in that part. Her Magic Gift is Venue of Nightmare, A Domain where she is freely able to manipulate all senses of targets in an area. She spread her domain and cast an illusion on cameras and attendant.

From his point of view, He just passed by her room but Raven took that chance and exchange the fake one with the real one and went inside her private room.

She went inside and hand it over to Ethan who hide it in his special storage. She had a fragile and complex plan ready for escaping with it but Ethan surprisingly reveals about his storage when she explained him about the plan.

She checked and confirm that it is not an ordinary as it is not only installed with time stasis, it is also has infinity space! The detection won't work on it as tools that were used for inspection measures the space which can't be done on his storage bracelet.

She was surprised beyond reason when she found out about it. It's not like she never saw treasure like this but she never thought that she will found it in his hands. But it was expected in a way…