Didn't it belong to the Cleon Family?
"Are you sure you haven't made a mistake? We carefully verify the origins of every auction item. There's no way any of them could be fake!" Su Ya said in surprise.
"No way they could be fake? That's easy enough to say!" Amantha pulled out a strangely shaped ring. A pale violet glow shone from it onto the spear, and pale red patterns immediately appeared across its surface. The winding, intersecting lines formed the shape of two crossed swords.
"Every Treasure Artifact belonging to the Cleon Family has been specially treated. When exposed to a special light source, the Cleon Family crest appears. As a top auctioneer, surely you know that."
Su Ya was speechless. Nearly every major faction had its own way of marking its treasures to prevent mishaps. With her sharp eye, she could tell at once that the ring and the pale red crest were genuine... but how was that possible? How could something stolen from the Cleon Family have turned up in her auction house?
If the Cleon Family wanted their property back, they could have contacted the auction house privately to negotiate. There was no need to make such a spectacle, let alone wait until the spear was about to be sold before showing up. So... they were just looking for an excuse to cause trouble!
The auction house guards had all been taken out in an instant, and the customers below had long since fled. No one wanted to cross the Cleon Family. Su Ya was just a frail woman with no combat ability. How could she possibly fight them?
"If you're looking to cause trouble, find a better excuse!"
A voice suddenly rang out from above. In the window of a VIP room high overhead, a tall woman looked down at them.
"You're... Miss Si Nan Yuan!?" Su Ya had finally found her savior.
After holding back for so long, Si Nan Yuan had finally snapped.
"Si Nan Yuan?... Ah, I remember now. You're the captain of that useless second young miss's guard detail, aren't you? I didn't expect the Si Nan Main Family to be here too..."
Before she could finish, an explosion appeared out of thin air above Amantha. If its radius had been just a few centimeters wider, Amantha would have lost her head!
"Who are you calling useless!?"
A figure squeezed past Si Nan Yuan and stood at the window with her hands on her hips. Flowing purple hair, a confident gaze, a beautiful smile, and a dazzling pose—who else could it be but Si Nan Ying?
Once she had struck her pose, Si Nan Ying shouted in an impassioned voice:
"Back when I was down on my luck, you all bullied me, calling me a good-for-nothing, a loser, a bastard, but—"
"Um... I never said that..." Amantha said weakly.
"Don't interrupt!—But now I'm not the person I used to be. The useless Si Nan Ying of the past is gone, so, uh..."
Si Nan Ying went "uh" three or four times without managing to come up with anything. She blinked, then frantically rummaged around in her skirt pockets.
"Ugh... where's my script? I clearly brought it... Ah, forget it! Anyway, I'm stronger now! Just wait there and die!"
With that, she made a dazzling sidestep and leaped out of the window in a pose uncannily like Usagi Tsukino's!
"Wait... Miss!"
Si Nan Yuan tried to stop her, but her hand closed on empty air. Si Nan Ying's agile body traced a graceful parabola through the air, like a swift gliding on the wind, or a butterfly dancing through the sky. And then—
Thud—crack!
"Ow!!!"
"""""..."""""
That VIP room was at least four or five meters off the ground... If she weren't an esper, she'd have been crippled. I silently grumbled to myself.
"It hurts... but I have to endure it! This is my debut battle!"
Si Nan Ying muttered to herself as she struggled to her feet. Suddenly, I had a very bad feeling.
The next second, my premonition came true.
"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river—never bully a young man just because he's poor!"
Si Nan Ying leaned to the left, spreading the fingers of her left hand to cover half her face.
"Heaven and earth are not benevolent; they treat all things like straw dogs!"
Si Nan Ying changed poses, crossing her arms above her head.
"Heaven has forsaken me, so I'll defy heaven and become a demon!"
She changed poses again, spreading her legs, planting one hand on her hip, and pointing forward with the other.
"A dragon's scales are forbidden to touch—touch them, and you die!"
She twisted her torso sideways, holding one hand to her forehead and the other beneath her chin.
"If heaven betrays me, what's wrong with slaughtering all living things!"
She bent her knees and pulled open the front of her top with one hand.
"My fate is mine to command, not heaven's!!!"
She ended in Kakarot's iconic Kamehameha pose.
"""""..."""""
Everyone was dumbstruck.
"...Liu Ye."
"...Yes."
"You taught her that routine, didn't you?"
"...Yes."
"Don't let me see you do it again."
"...I'm sorry."
While we stood there, frozen, Si Nan Ying hadn't stopped. She shouted:
"Break!"
A bright blue bubble shot from her hands straight toward the Cleon Family's people!
"Not good!"
The man in black's expression changed. He stepped forward and held out a clawed hand. A small Black Coffin appeared from thin air and swallowed the bubble.
The man in black had just breathed a sigh of relief when he heard a muffled thump. The seemingly indestructible Black Coffin instantly crumbled into ash and vanished into the air! The remaining shockwave spread out and struck the man in black square in the chest. He stumbled backward more than a dozen steps, then fell unsteadily to the ground.
Everyone else was shocked. It was common knowledge that the second young miss of the Si Nan Family was a good-for-nothing who couldn't control her ability, and the Cleon Family had never considered her a threat. But look at her now: she had timed the explosion to the exact moment the man in black let his guard down, and the shockwave had knocked him down without causing any unnecessary damage. How could that look like someone who couldn't control her ability!?
"Ugh, it hurts!"
Si Nan Ying suddenly let out a pained groan and fell over, clutching her ankle.
"Miss!" Si Nan Yuan leaped down, turned once in midair, and landed steadily. The rest of us hurried after her.
"Miss, what's wrong?"
"Wah... I twisted my ankle ::(≧-≦)::"
"""..."""
What was that saying again? You couldn't stay cool for more than three seconds.
"Tch... I told you not to do anything reckless! Mo Xiao Hong and I will protect the miss. Liu Ye, Rui Xin, Lin Bing—you're up!"
"""Understood!"""
So we really were going to fight, huh? Up until now, my opponents had almost all been various kinds of monsters. Apart from Rui Feng, I'd never fought a human before, so this was a perfect chance to train!
There were four enemies: the man in black, the bald man, the middle-parted man, and Amantha Cleon. Aside from the man in black, their abilities were unknown.
Seeing us charge, Amantha gave a cold snort. "Simon, we'll handle these three. Go take out the second young miss!"
"Yes!" The bald man—Simon—replied. His body swayed, then vanished from the spot like a puff of smoke!
Teleportation!
"Damn it... Little Ying!"
"Don't worry. The captain and Xiao Hong are strong! I'll release a sound wave to disrupt their senses. You and Lin Bing take the opportunity to act!"
Rui Xin parted her red lips. An invisible vibration came from her mouth and swept toward the three of them!
Amantha, at the front, suddenly thrust her hand into her pocket at lightning speed. A sound like shattering glass rang out, and Rui Xin's sound wave collapsed halfway through, as if something had interfered with it!
"How could this be!?" Rui Xin cried out in shock. Disrupting sound waves had always been her specialty, yet hers had been countered with ease!
"If that won't work, we'll just have to go in hard!" I shouted. Blood gushed out of me, condensing into more than a dozen spears that shot toward the enemy!
"Pathetic trick. Su En!"
"Watch this!" The middle-parted man—Su En—sucked in a deep breath. His lungs and abdomen instantly swelled, ballooning into a sphere in the blink of an eye.
"Scalding Steam!"
Whoosh! Su En opened his mouth wide, blasting out a huge cloud of scorching steam. It collided with the blood spears in midair!
Hiss, hiss, hiss—the unstoppable blood spears halted in midair. The instant they touched the steam, they gave off a strange hissing sound and rapidly broke down into blood-red vapor!
They'd been vaporized!?
"Haha, your ability is to control blood, right? I've never heard of anything like it, but it just so happens my ability can counter every power that controls liquids! My steam is hot enough to vaporize any liquid!"
"Then all we have to do is cool it down."
A soft, icy voice rang out. It was so quiet you could barely hear it. At some point, Lin Bing had stepped onto the stage.
"Freeze!"
An icy-blue field instantly took shape. The moment the scalding steam touched the frozen field, its heat was stripped away, turning it into countless tiny ice crystals!
"You're an ice-type esper!?" Su En cried in alarm. Ice-type espers were his natural enemy. If his steam lost its heat, it had no power at all!
"Everything has its match. That's how it goes, isn't it?" A faint smile appeared on Lin Bing's doll-like face.
"Ha, it certainly is, isn't it?" The man in black suddenly spoke, his voice dripping with mockery.
"Lin Bing, look out!" I shouted in alarm.
"Too late!" The man in black clenched both fists. Countless black bands of light appeared around Lin Bing, and a gigantic Black Coffin instantly took shape, sealing her inside along with the entire frozen field!
Before you continue