Hearing Rory's words, Jax became even more annoyed. But he really had several opponents who could have easily attacked them tonight. Vicente's group was just the latest disagreement they'd had.

But something told Jax that these people were behind today's attack. "Don't play games with me, brat. Surrender now while it's still early, or don't come crying for mercy later."

"Jax, that's your name, right?" Rory smiled. They had already interrogated Brody. "Are you going to risk the life of the Peters family's hope like that? I don't think so, so shut up. I have the advantage here, damn it!"

"Fucking brat!"

Jax's younger brother held his brother so he wouldn't lose his calm and said, looking at Rory. "You're right, brat. But how long can you keep this up? This is going to end badly for you! There is no escape. You are just Apprentices!"

Rory looked at the other man under his mask but said nothing. "We have more time than you think."

Then he went back, took off his mask, and gave his men a worried look.

"What are we going to do? He is right. We can't keep this up for long." One of the men who had been with Rory and Vicente the longest asked in a worried tone.

"I know. For now, we will wait for Vice."

"What if he gets caught?" One of the younger men there asked as he looked at the young redhead.

"That hasn't happened. Otherwise, these people would be with him to negotiate a hostage exchange. Vice must have run into a problem, but I doubt he fell into enemy hands." Rory analyzed the situation calmly.

Rory had learned to be cautious, not from Vicente, but from his mother. This woman had survived the part of her life she had spent as a prostitute by being smart and careful.

He told his group. "We will hold our position and wait. If we turn Brody over to these people, we will be killed, so we just have to keep doing what we are doing for now. Sooner or later, Vicente will come back with new orders."

...

A few hours later, Jax's group was still around the Fuller family's property, while Rory and his people were still in their previous positions.

Some of them had guns pointed at the street, keeping an eye on Jax's people to ensure they didn't infiltrate his property.

It was already dawn, and the area around the street was quiet, with no one around to follow this siege.

But a few blocks away, a girl and a woman were still awake in their apartment, worried that Vicente had not returned after so many hours.

"What happened to my brother?" Nina asked Eve as she hugged the woman lying on her bed.

"Don't worry, Nina. You should sleep. I'm sure your brother will be here by dawn." Eve replied, but she was quite worried herself.

'Vicente... What happened to you?' She looked up at the bedroom window and watched the moons in the sky, a little uncertain as she awaited the results of her group's first incursion.

...

Elsewhere on the Peters' estate, Vicente was still in the metal box where he had been hiding.

After several hours in the dark, he had lost track of time and wondered if it was daylight or dawn.

He had counted the time in his moments of waiting there, but after a while, he had lost his count and felt that more time had passed than he had counted.

Clever as he was, it was hard for him to ignore the spatial and luminous information in his environment.

If this were Earth, he was sure he could endure a similar situation for days without getting lost. But the mana of Polaris Realm changed everything you thought made sense. For lower-level humans, hours in such a situation were enough to disorient them.

Feeling that more time than necessary had passed, Vicente manipulated his ability and opened the metal box, the metals returning to the armor on his body.

Looking up, he noticed it was still night but did not manipulate his metals to hide his body again.

He immediately sensed the mana around the estate, noticing that the strongest were not around and that the Peters family had already slowed their observation of the surroundings.

'It looks like they didn't check their safe...' Vicente narrowed his eyes, a smile forming on his lips.

He had closed the door to this place before hiding, and since the family hadn't found anyone on this property, nor were there any signs of a break-in, those who stayed behind didn't bother to check the most valuable part of the residence.

Vicente liked that and decided not to risk himself there anymore. He climbed up the chimney without using his magical ability so as not to attract attention.

When he reached the roof, he saw some men standing around the fallen walls of this residence. He used the shadows of the night and the advantage of no lights on the roof of this house to get out of there.

For the first few steps out of the building, Vicente moved a little slower, despite his speed, but once he was in an alley behind the building, he ran at full speed.

...

Twenty minutes later, Vicente confirmed that no one had followed him, and he made his way to the property where his men were supposed to be.

On the way, he considered the position of the strongest of his enemies, expecting to find Jax near his property. But trusting Rory, Vicente did not despair, figuring his friend would maintain the standoff with the Peters family.

Spotting his property from a nearby rooftop, Vicente paused for a moment, realizing he couldn't just walk in with what he had stolen.

He walked toward the property where Eve and Nina were, changed clothes on the way, and walked back through the streets without a mask on his face.

Who would identify him as the person who had just attacked and robbed the Peters family? A Junior Apprentice like him would not dare to do such a thing!

Even under the eyes of the guards around the house, Vicente had no problems and entered through the front door.

"Vicente?" Eve's voice reached his ear as this woman peered through the cracks of one of the doors on the second floor, a pistol already in her hands.

"It's me. I'm sorry to be back so late. I had some problems." He said, noticing Eve's nervousness.

"Did everything work out?"

"More or less. I'll have to come back to fix a problem." He said before placing his bags with the Peters' belongings on a couch. "And Nina? Is she asleep?"

"She's asleep... Sigh, but she was very worried."

"I can imagine. I'll go out with her tomorrow to make up for last night. Stay here for now. I'll try to come back as soon as possible." Vicente stated before leaving to sort out the situation with Rory and the company.