The Dawn of the New World

"What....happened?"

"Master, you don't remember?"

"No I-"

"HOW DARE YOU!"

Ensis's and Hao Xuan's conversation was cut short by the yell from of the leader of the hooded figures.

Before any of Hao Xuan's severs could react, a heavy pressure fell on the entire group. Everyone, including the Scorpion King, fell to their knees.

Black and White couldn't even raise their heads and were pushed into the runway.

Hao Xuan used every little bit of strength he could muster and looked up to see a middle-aged man staring daggers at him. There was a scar along his neck, making it look like he was completely beheaded at some point.

His expression was one of pure rage, no other way to put it.

"You little shit stain, how fucking DARE YOU!" he shouted and threw out a simple punch.

The distance between them was over 200 meters but Hao Xuan could clearly see a giant red fist closing in on him.

Before the leader was able to finish his movement, the punch was already less than 10 feet away from Hao Xuan. It covered the entirety of his view. There was no sky and no earth.

The only thing he could see was the gigantic fist about to crush him.

He tried to move but it was like his body had given up. The only thing he could do was close his eyes and mumble indignently, "God damnit..."

But a couple of seconds passed and nothing happened.

Hao Xuan opened his eyes again and saw the fist frozen just a foot away from him.

"Huh?" he was stupified.

'Did I do this?' was his first thought, obviously incorrect.

To his left, Ignac had raised his now claw-like hands. His hand was opened, making the stop gesture. He momentarily observed the fist before nodding and looking at the leader of hooded figures.

"Mihael of the Kenzo group. What business do you have on my ship?" his loud, husky voice echoed through the air.

He rotated his hand, turning it around 180 degrees. And along with his hand's movement, the gigantic fist retreated and disappeared as if it had never been there from the start. It was like watching a movie in reverse.

Mihael was the name of the leader of the hooded figures. Seeing as how his identity was exposed, he gave up and removed his hood completely, exposing his face.

A middle-aged man of about 40 years of age from the looks of it. Burly build, no other scar other than the one on his neck. A light stubble on his chin and a head full of white hair.

"Demonling," he responded with a scornful expression.

His tone was derisive and the way he pronounced the word demonling, it sounded like an insult.

And it was meant to be one.

'Demonling' was a derogatory term for half-human and half-demon hybrids.

The expressions of several of the department heads that were accompanying Ignac turned ugly. Two of them even stepped out but were stopped by Ignac. There was no change in Ignac's facial expressions, not that many would be able to notice it anyway.

"Why are you on my ship?" he repeated once again, his voice sounding even calmer than before.

Mihael smiled.

"No reason. I just wanted to see what all the hubbub was about. I thought these ships would be much more impressive but they're not much eh?" he replied while stomping lightly. The entire ship shook once and a 20-meter long crack appeared on the runway right below his feet.

Ignac looked at him for a moment before responding.

No one said or did anything in the meantime. Hao Xuan didn't even bother getting up and just stayed on his knees, simply listening in on the conversation.

"The Fehim group of industries welcomes all friends and customers. But you are neither a customer nor a friend. I will ask you to leave now. We have a schedule to keep."

Mihael's smile widened upon hearing that. He didn't take it to heart and simply shook his head.

"Nah, I think I'll stay. How about we have a bout of friendly duels to pass the time. I brought a few promising youngsters from my clan. Five versus five battle to the death, how about it?"

Ceni frowned upon hearing the mention of the 5v5 battle. There was only one place where something like that would happen and Mihael wasn't even trying to hide it.

"Uncle Ignac, they are trying to delay us on purpose. You must take care of them quickly. We are already behind schedule as it is."

Ceni had spoken out loud so Mihael heard her loud and clear.

"Little princess, even though he might be a demonling, there is still no way for him to force me to do anything....not unless he wants to lose this ship..."

Ceni threw a hateful glance towards him but stayed silent.

Ignac was extremely powerful and his ability made him fearsome even against stronger opponents. She looked at him for confirmation and he nodded back.

"It is true. One of those people can counter my law. I can feel it," he said looking at one of the people behind Mihael.

Mihael's smile widened even more but froze when he heard the next sentence.

"But don't worry. Giles is already on his way."

"Impossible! Giles has been called away for the galactic war. There is no way he is back so soon!" Mihael retorted swiftly.

The person in question was Ceni's blood uncle, unlike Ignac. He was a high level genius and had been recruited into the personal army of an ancient.

Ignac still didn't react in any way and simply looked up at the sky.

"Don't believe me. He will be here soon himself. You can ask him yourself why he came back."

Everyone followed his line of sight and looked up to see the sea of black clouds separating. It was like an invisible hand had parted the cloudy sky into two.

One of the hooded figures suddenly came forward and clicked a few times on his spirit band.

"He is right, master.. I can pick up signatures of a warp drive. Someone is coming!"