MMORPG : Ancient WORLD

It displayed a penthouse atop a towering building, a marvel of modern architecture with sleek lines, expansive glass walls, and a shimmering infinity pool reflecting the city lights.

The entire place was crowded, not with ordinary people but with men dressed in black who stood guard at each corner, armed with guns.

The feed started with an eagle-eye perspective, capturing every detail from above, but seconds later, the perspective shifted as binoculars were lowered, revealing that the feed was coming from someone\'s first-person view.

The man, dressed in a skin-tight black suit, stepped forward and dived from the airborne plane he had been standing on, heading straight for the building he had been monitoring.

Magnus tapped on the dark-beaded bracelet he wore, and instantly, the first-person view shifted to a third-person perspective from different angles. The camera now showed the starry sky above a bustling city, with a few stars managing to outshine the city lights below.

The cameras moved in a blur, quickly reaching the top of the penthouse just in time to capture a flurry of darkness, turning a guard into ribbons of flesh and blood in an instant.

The apparition coalesced into a recognizable figure, a man standing tall at 6.5 feet, clad in black. His long hair flowed down like blending shadows, his physique lean yet muscular.

His face was hidden behind a veil of darkness, leaving only his icy blue eyes exposed, eyes that were inhumanly dull, as if one were looking at a corpse rather than a living, breathing individual.

The blaring of sirens shattered the chilling silence of the building, and like moths drawn to a flame, some guards rushed to the location of the disturbance and others into the building, but their target had already vanished.

The man seemed to dissolve into the shadows, coming out in a flash to claim another life, leaving chaos in his wake.

Alex watched as some guards rained down bullets that exploded into concentrated fiery balls on impact while others, clearly awakened individuals, wielded swords and knives whose edges glowed with an energy-based brilliance like they were covered in plasma or lasers.

However, their retaliation appeared to be nothing but frantic struggles, as the shadow kept claiming one victim after another, and the guards could not do anything to even slow him, let alone corner him.

Magnus tapped on his bracelet once more, and the marble projecting the feed stopped before it floated back to him and seamlessly rejoined the other marbles that formed his bracelet.

"Efficient and deadly as always,"

"Nachtmahr and my men should be done with their job in a few hours, so your associate will return home safe and sound within twenty-four hours,"

"You have my word on that," Magnus said, a hint of satisfaction in his voice.

"As for buying Nachtmahr, you can do so at any time, but the price is the heart of a Sin General, specifically the Demon General of Gluttony."

"This offer is valid for only two years, after which we will need to renegotiate the price."

"The current price is reasonable, considering Nachtmahr is a third-rank Awakened and on the path to becoming an Elementalist," Magnus said as he stood up and extended his hand to Alex.

Alex stood up and shook his hand, not saying a word but just staring into Magnus\'s misty red eyes, his mind going through all the details he had given away.

Magnus\'s family had been protecting Sir Slavik\'s family, meaning they were never hidden, always under watch.

The kidnapping that Alex thought might be a coincidence, he now knew for certain, was a deliberate act to achieve a goal that could very well extend beyond this meeting.

However, this intel changed nothing, and seeing that Magnus seemingly had no intention of poking around to find his real identity, it only made things better.

Magnus handed him a blank card with a number on it, telling him if he wanted to do business, he was always available, and with these final words, he left.

While Alex got what he wanted and then some, he knew that this entire meeting went according to wimps of Magnus, as the man offered him what he wanted before he asked, as if telling him that he knew much more than he was letting on.

Magnus was an exceptionally intelligent individual with immense real-world power. Although it was beneficial for Alex to now know who he was dealing with, it was also unsettling and difficult to come to terms with.

Once their meeting ended, Alex left the hotel, took a cab to the private airport, and boarded a flight back to Dubai.

Most of the trip was spent in silence, every moment consumed with thoughts of how he would navigate the perilous future ahead.

Alex did have a brief conversation with Zero about his priorities in the coming days before their plane landed in Dubai.

Alex had taken measures to ensure he would not be tracked, or even if someone was keeping watch over him, they would not find out that he took a trip to Germany, and he could do it with the help of Zero.

Alex achieved it by using the ghost travel service offered exclusively to awakened individuals by Zero. He took it a step further by traveling to Dubai, publicly entering a secured room, and then discreetly leaving with the help of a few gadgets approved by Zero.

However, he did all of it not because he wished for them to believe that the real Shiekh made a trip to Germany, but rather, he wanted them to reach the conclusion that it was he who made the trip.

Alex knew it was easier to confuse someone than deceive them, and if he was dealing with a monster who could shift governments, he knew he needed more than a slight deception to trick them.

Alex spent some time in his hotel room before having dinner at the in-house restaurant, and then he left for the private airport to board a plane back to America.

-------------------

"Twenty-Four Hours Latter"

Alex was seated on a chair in his front yard, and beside him sat Andrei, with a third empty chair on his right. The sun was setting, and the shadows of the night were slowly creeping in, while birds were chirping softly, and a slow, cold wind was blowing, adding a serene yet somber ambiance around them.

A sleek black car rolled up to their house and stopped. A man dressed in a black pant coat stepped out, and as the car swiftly drove away, Venedikt made his way toward the duo.

Alex stood up and welcomed Venedikt with no words, just a brotherly hug, and Andrei followed with a hug of his own before all three silently sat down. The rush of emotions and thoughts momentarily overwhelmed them as a sense of relief washed over everyone.

"Is our house safe," Venedikt said after moments of silence.

Alex nodded and stood up, walking into his home, followed by his brother, knowing that they were probably being watched at the moment.

Venedikt took a minute to meet with his mother and laughed with her at the great happiness that had come their way before the trio made their way to Alex\'s room.

"So what happened," Venedikt said once everyone settled on their seat.

Alex knew that Venedikt\'s perspective on things was vastly different from his own because neither he nor Andrei was aware of Magnus\'s involvement and how everything was his doing.

Two hours ago, the news from the official channel had been published of how the Russian government had found the Ivanovich family, the family who owns the largest private military and weapon manufacturer firm, guilty of treason.

The government had raided their locations, their family members killed or captured, their assets frozen, and their corporation dissolved.

The government also removed all stigmatization against Sir Slavik and bestowed honors upon him for his service to the country, painting him as a great hero.

Before the news went public, a Russian representative came to his house to meet with Aunt Irina in person, inform her of the event, and invite her back to Russia to receive a public apology and the honors her husband deserved.

Andrei believed it was his doing, and he had mixed feelings about it. On one hand, he borderline hated it, but he also appreciated it after seeing his mother cry tears of joy upon confirming the clearing of her husband\'s name.

Alex did reveal that his father was innocent but did not reveal what really happened, telling him to wait for Venedikt to arrive, and now it was time to share what was really going on.

"We are in deep trouble, and it\'s all because of us," Venedikt said after learning the inns and out of their situation while Andrei was left speechless, his head down absentmindedly staring at the floor.