Feeling somewhat threatened, Marcus almost regretted coming to this place.
But he managed his fear and answered Cesar's question. "Did I try to kill you? Senior Mazzanti is mistaken. I didn't know that the royal forces were after you because of a collusion with the leaders of the Defiant Tyranny.
I was manipulated by corrupt people and joined the hunt against you. But my group was only after your capture.
As the Senior said, we had no reason to fight each other."
"Oh?" Vicente opened his mouth. "So, what are you doing here today? I guess you didn't just come to understand what happened that day, did you?"
Marcus laughed subtly and said. "Senior Mazzanti really is brilliant. Actually, I came here for more than that. I came to clarify the previous situation and to resolve what we have between us with dialogue and perhaps an agreement for the future.
Missions must be completed. Goals must be achieved. But changes can be made along the way for the greater good."
Upon hearing this last part, Vicente found it a bit strange but thought it meant that Marcus might be ready to back down.
'Was I wrong?' Vicente asked himself.
But while he was questioning himself and paying attention to Marcus, one of the men observing the area moved before five other individuals did the same, just in different ways.
Vicente paid attention to his surroundings, and when he felt the organs of some individuals in his area of influence filling with mana, he realized that the assassins were attacking him.
Swooish!
Two blades, one made of wood and the other of stone, sliced through the air towards Vicente's vital points.
'Non-metallic blades? These people prepared to act against me.' Vicente showed everyone his red Magic Pentagram as he moved from his position and jumped backward, trying to dodge the artifacts he couldn't manipulate.
Seeing this, Marcus opened his eyes wide, not knowing how his assassins would deal with Cesar but impressed by the speed of his target's reaction.
'That fast? He moved practically at the same time as my assassins!' Marcus exclaimed in his mind, trying to look surprised by this attack.
Only his assassins and his men knew the code he had used to order this attack. But even so, Vicente had dodged the assassins' first attack as if he had already known about it.
It was a testament to his awesome skills, and even Marcus' guards couldn't help but be impressed.
As the Symons family group saw how much deeper Cesar's powers were than they had imagined, blades of earth formed below where Vicente had stopped as he dodged the two blades that had missed his body.
A red Magic Pentagram appeared under his body, and several blades of earth formed and shot out of the ground towards his body.
Vicente noticed this ability of one of his enemies. He frowned as he saw that he had fallen into his opponent's trap.
He manipulated the metals in his armor, creating three shields with 100% efficiency in a single second, positioned between his vital parts that those blades could hit.
As he was very close to the enemy's attacks, the blades formed by the ground soon hit those shields and Vice's body, leaving several wounds around his legs and arms.
He let out a sound of pain as his teeth pressed, feeling that he had escaped the worst, but he still suffered several cuts.
But while he was in pain, his shields torn in half by those blades, four assassins appeared at the edge of the street, all charging at him.
"Shit! They're going after Cesar!" One of the Scarlet Syndicate's observers saw this and felt the need to act.
But just then, a burst of gunfire erupted from inside the Mazzanti mansion, men with upgraded weapons unloading their rifles and shotguns on the assassins around Vicente.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Shit! Enemy attack!" One of the men from Marcus' group ran with his young master to his carriage.
As much as they were behind this attack, there was no way they could control the situation!
With Cesar's people acting against the assassins in the area, they had to ensure their young master didn't get hurt.
Amid the gunfire from Vicente's men, the men approaching him were wounded by the amount of bullets hitting them and had no choice but to retreat before they even had a chance to hit their target.
"Shit! These bastards' weapons are better than we thought!"
"Shouldn't they weaken after a few rounds?" A level 4 Acolyte asked aloud, feeling that the information they had gathered about this group's strength was wrong.
The bullets fired by Vicente's men did not diminish in power after the first shots, as they had heard!
The leader of these men felt a wound in his arm caused by one of these weapons and saw that it wouldn't be so easy to take action against Cesar.
With so many supporters, Cesar and his people would take out several of them before he fell!
Vicente took advantage of the turning point in this surprise attack to act against these enemies, using all the metal at his disposal around him to make it difficult for these people to escape.
"Since you've come, leave your bodies behind!" He shouted as he gestured with one hand and the red pentagram in front of him glowed brighter, and various metallic objects flew into the surrounding area like the blades of a shredder.
At the same time, all those men had some metal objects on their bodies and felt those things being drawn towards Vicente, making it difficult for them to escape.
"Shit! Can this bastard attract 2nd-grade items?" One of the assassins felt some of his defensive items preventing him from escaping as it was attracted to Vicente, making him feel as if someone had lassoed him and was pulling him in the opposite direction he wanted to go.
Normally, the abilities of a 1st-stage magician would only affect 1st-grade items at most. Therefore, everyone was surprised to see their 2nd-grade items pulled towards Vicente.
'I can't manipulate these 2nd-grade items to damage your bodies, but I can attract and repel them at will!' Vicente thought as he used one of his hands to pull those bodies towards him while the other held a pistol.
At that moment, Vicente looked at the strongest enemy in the area, the one who had hurt him a few moments ago, and didn't hesitate to shoot him in the head.
Bang!