Filthy Devils

Endyr weighed her options carefully and found them wanting. She could attempt to sneak through the front door or steal an invitation, find a window or just directly break through a wall. Breaking a wall would definitely set off alarms, and she couldn't be bothered to search around for an invitation, even if the System was willing to provide help. That left sneaking in, whether through the front door or a window. 

She scanned the building but only found two windows, but high up on the third or forth floor. 'That leaves the door then' she thought. The man standing by it seemed relatively strong, but Endyr was confidant in her ability to hide her presence. While turning completely invisible like she did as an Abomination was impossible, Endyr believed her [Mana Manipulation (EX)] would allow her to imitate it closely. 'After all, Light Mana can deceive the eyes and Soul Mana can confuse the other senses. With my level, getting past an Epic Ascender should be a piece of cake.'

Endyr wasted no more time after making up her mind, swiftly returning to the alley where she found traces of a Devil. Activating the Abomination's Eye, she isolated the Light and Soul Mana and began to manipulate them. She hadn't used either Mana types before, but found them just as easy to manipulate as the rest. 'It does tax my stamina pretty heavily though' Endyr frowned as she swirled the Mana around her fingertips. Having grasped the concept enough, Endyr commanded the Light Mana to cloak her body, and for the soul Mana to form a barrier around her. 

All light would bounce off her, while the Soul Mana barrier was intangible and just stopped any traces from leaking out. Since Soul Mana was also known as Neutral Mana, it was the most prevalent of all types and individual use of it was incredibly difficult to distinguish. Endyr believed even a Legendary would struggle to detect her intentionally, but it was still far inferior to the cloaking abilities of an Abomination.

'That fooled even Gods like the Almighty, whereas this would fall apart under the gaze of someone like Le'garde.'

Endyr looked at her arms, realizing she could still see herself, momentarily becoming confused before realizing Abomination's Eye was still active. "It seems even my current self cannot hide from the senses of an Abomination" she mused, turning it off. She walked out of the alley and towards the Emporium, taking care to avoid dumping into anyone. None of the people reacted to her at all, causing her to confidently stroll to her destination. She waved her hand in front of the man guarding the door with a smirk, before standing by the side. 

With an auction starting soon, she believed that someone would enter in the next few minutes. Sure enough, a man with short brown hair and eyes walked up, flashing the bouncer a gold-inlaid card. The man bowed slightly and opened the door, with Endyr slipping in ahead of the brown haired man. She quickly went further into the building, only undoing her concealment when she felt nobody was watching her. 'Hmm, I could only keep that up for another ten or so minutes. Manipulating Mana besides this body's natural Element is quite inefficient. Altair would barely last five' she frowned. Since the task required stamina rather than Mana, Endyr's nature as a Denizen wasn't helpful here. She would need to remember that.

At that moment, a notification from the System popped up. [Ding! Host has successfully entered {Carrogan's Emporium}! Updating objectives...]

[Current mission: enter the auction and obtain items {4},{17} and {22}]

The System went quite after that, so Endyr started moving. Thankfully, there was a sign every few walls, pointing towards the auction hall, which seemed to be at the back. On the way, Endyr came across several casings and windows, revealing numerous commodities for sale. From weapons, armors and Skill Orbs to stuff likes dresses, pets and Mana Tech. Nobody batted an eye as Endyr went passed them, assuming her to be nothing more than the usual customer. Keeping a thin layer of Soul Mana wrapped around her to reduce her presence probably helped too. 

The Emporium seemed to have some spatial shenanigans going on, as it was bigger on the inside than out. Endyr was starting to realize that this was the trend for businesses here in Orvonia. After a minute more of walking, Endyr came across a pair of open bronze doors, revealing a large auditorium behind them. It was over two thirds full already, with small rooms Endyr assumed was for VIP's at the back. She quickly ducked inside and took a seat near the corner. The seats were arranged around the stage like a semi-circle, meaning most faced the stage directly and only a few were like Endyr's. The slightly worse few wasn't too much of a problem for her though.

The remaining spots rapidly filled up, the majority being dressed in fancy business clothes regardless of gender. Aside from them, a few were dressed like Endyr: wrapped in cloaks and hiding their identities. A casual scan revealed no familiar faces and the VIP boxes were blackened out, so Endyr paid no attention to them. Instead, she was busy spreading her Mana outwards, trying to catch the tail of the Cultists. She frowned and twisted her lips as a bitter taste assaulted her: all the Mana signatures blurring into one was an unpleasant sensation, even for someone as accustomed as her. The real reason behind the nauseating taste soon become clear however.

To the far left to of the stage, somewhere behind the wall, Endyr sensed five entities that emitted a horrendous sulfur smell. As soon as Endyr focused on it, she had to resist the urge to vomit, so intense and visceral was her reaction. Fucking Devils!' she cursed. 'They are just as bad here as they are in the Main Universe...gah, they make me sick.'

The differences between Devils here and in the Main Universe eluded Endyr, if there were any at all, but at least they shared the similarity of being highly revolting. Everywhere they go, Devils leave a sulfuric stench and erodes the air around them. Endyr assumed they were using some sort of Artefact to keep their aura under control, but it was useless before her senses. Now that she had confirmed her targets were actual Devils, Endyr began to think of a plan. She couldn't use their greatest weaknesses, but thankfully they weren't resistant to "being bashed over the head" so she was confidant she could handle them, even with an Epic Ascender amongst them. 'After all, its not like I have to deal with them all by myself. Security can focus on the Epic, I'll handle the rest easily.'

With that in mind, Endyr tagged the position of the Devils and relaxed, watching with interest as the lights dimmed and a man in a flashy tuxedo walked out on stage.