[Nightmare]

"I don't understand. Things have gone so well." Riley commented with a frown.

"Yeah, they have. But doesn't this bring feelings of deja vu?" Helix chuckled bitterly.

Marie, Charlotte, and Riley giggled.

However, the giggles were nervous and slightly bitter.

"Hellie has the hook on the swag. He can't help it." Charlotte shrugged.

"It caused a jealousy-fueled frenzy before, and it's doing it again.

However, remember how it brought him our support?"

Marie and Riley nodded in agreement.

The four were chatting in the stadium during a break in training.

All of the otakus and weebs were chatting excitedly about the items they bought last night.

It was an excitement-fueled panic buying Black Friday-grade shopping orgy.

Now everyone was excited to have items they felt attached to.

"That's true. I suppose that jealousy brought us together." Marie commented with a reminiscing smile.

"Plus, we're stronger now. Hellie can protect himself and we can destroy the entire city if things get out of hand." Charlotte chuckled.

Helix gave her a wry smile.

"Yeah, yeah. Destroying cities is bad. Punish me later~"

He couldn't help but burst into light laughter after that.

The four sat in relative silence for a while.

"Riding out the storm is all we can do. It's not so bad anymore.

You've earned supporters, and it's impossible to assassinate you." Marie reasoned.

"In the meantime, did you settle the balance and procure our messengers?"

"Yes. We can afford everything now." Helix nodded.

"Can we put away frivolous talk like [assassination], noble shadow players, and military intervention, and talk about how much money we made last night?"

The four exploded into laughter.

—

"Well, that was… something. I'm not sure what it was, but it was something." Maze remarked.

Helix laughed and walked back into the auction house.

The exclusive auction would start soon, and he oversaw all of the Earthians arriving.

He spent twenty minutes getting grilled with questions by the super-otakus and power-weebs.

At first, everyone was afraid that they couldn't afford the products.

Helix confirmed Marie's consistent explanations that they would not be competing directly against the nobles.

Their auction was purely a bidding war against themselves.

That made them extremely happy because the amount of money he and his partners raked in was exorbitant.

If Helix had enough products to give the Earthians the one product they desired, he would.

He had already made a fortune from his strategy turned side-hustle to pay Samma off and make her go blind simultaneously.

The image of her opening up a treasure chest with the gold and it shining outward and blinding her was comical.

"It was mas~terful. That's what it was." Charlotte commented.

"The nobles spent a fortune participating in an auction that would be held any~way, and they're thanking him for it."

Marie and Riley giggled, and Maze chuckled nervously.

"What's wrong, Maze?" Helix chuckled.

"Think back to the worst-case scenario, and compare this to that."

Maze's eyes glided to the left, and he scoff-laughed with bitter amusement.

"Holding an auction with Samma's products for Earthians, at any time, for any reason, would cause trouble." Helix chuckled bitterly.

"At least we got our support this way.

It also gives us critical resources to save lives.

I made this strategy in Kozen, and it worked as expected.

Just enjoy the victory."

Maze smiled naturally and nodded.

Nervousness wasn't characteristic of his personality.

He was glad that he made friends for the first time and didn't like anyone—or any [thing]—threatening that.

That was all.

They became friends [yesterday], and things were already going to hell.

It was bitter-sweet.

"Okay. Charlotte, remember the signal.

Tilo will take responsibility for the incapacitation." Helix whispered.

"Hmmm? What are you talking about?" Maze asked.

Charlotte gave him an evil grin.

"You don't think Hellie would put nobles and super-geeks into the same room without a backup, right?" She asked.

Maze's eyes widened.

"What would happen if something went wrong?" He asked Helix.

Helix gave him a sidelong glance and then sighed.

"If anyone attacks our group or an Earthian tries attacking someone else, the name pin you're wearing will blind you and take away your hearing.

Temporarily.

Charlotte will hit everyone with [Domain], and Marie and I will take care of it."

Maze's eyes widened while he looked down at the name pin.

It had two magic circles on it. A Circle of Silence and a [Circle of Darkeness].

"I-I see…." He stuttered.

"They won't attack anyone because we'll strip them of their Nightmares." Marie clarified.

"Everyone was instructed that they could only dodge if any attack reached them.

We'll take care of it. If anyone disobeys for [any reason], we'll take care of it.

You weren't there, so I'm letting you know now."

Maze nodded with amazement in his eyes.

"If anyone even tries to yell at someone, we have someone that will manually activate those sensory deprivation spells.

Then Charlotte will freeze them.

It'll look like they're just frozen stiff with fear to everyone else.

It's brutal and truly sad it's necessary." Helix sighed.

Maze chuckled in bewilderment before bursting into laughter.

"You use magic to turn OP villains into harmless kittens." He cried.

"And you do it with style. Dear God, I'm grateful that I became your friend instead of an enemy."

Helix and his partners burst into laughter.

They chatted for a few more minutes before it was time to get the auction started.

Maze looked up and saw the Nobles weren't sneering at the Earthians.

On the contrary, their faces were excited and interested.

"That went a lot better than expected." He muttered to Riley.

"Yes. Helix is shockingly effective with speeches and hype." She giggled.

"That was just one of the battles. There are many raging behind the scenes, and the real war begins tomorrow."

Maze swallowed nervously after her words.

"However, it's not a problem. As long as Helix has [time], he can fix any issue." Riley claimed with a gentle smile.

"He's not invincible, but he's not easy to kill now. That's what matters most.

So the only battle is against time until our future enemy greets us.

We'll be fine as long as we get that far without being forced to leave or resort to force."

Maze smiled when he heard her confidence.

—

"W-What the fuck is that thing!" A soldier roared on top of the city gates.

He was on guard duty when a massive monster barreled into the area.

BOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOM!

"That kid wasn't fucking around! Where is he!?" Another cried.

"We don't know… he left the city because he was tired of the controversy…." A third yelled.

"That's fucking stupid! If he knew what was coming and left, he left just to fucking die—"

"GOOOOOOOOOOORRRRN!"

"Ahhhhhh! My ears!"

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The guards fell from their position.

The entire wall shook, and the guards fell from their positions.

"Karcus, go send word to the military leaders!" The second yelled out.

"And go find that kid! There's no way in hell we're going to beat—"

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The guards fell again.

"Y-Yeah! I'll do what I can!"

—

[A/N: Huge announcement. Webnovel has asked me to contract with this novel! If the traffic increases significantly, I will set up premium. The benefit is that I will resume editing to higher quality and continue writing the story.

Duly note that [privalege is set up by default]. Therefore, I will release four chapters when contracted so that you do not miss anything by not paying extra.

Let me know your thoughts. I'll do a mass release for my loyal readers and will not apply for premium immediately. Thank you for reading!]