A few clangs echoed in the dark room before silence enveloped it once more. A frustrated click informed Oliver of the bad mood his raven-haired friend was in. The cuffs were obviously not easy to get out of. No matter how much they struggle, two Basic individuals couldn't possibly escape their predicament with their strength alone. That didn't stop Bella from trying, however.

"Why not just wait?" Oliver eventually asked. "He said he would let us go soon."

Of course, it was so that another party could kill them and claim the Red Marking bounty, but they would at least have an opening to work with.

"I'm not letting it get to that…" Bella forced the words between gritted teeth. "No way I'm gonna inconvenience the boss like this…"

Getting in trouble and requiring their boss to save them sounded like something that would bring a great deal of shame. For a gang to last, not only does it need to get stronger, but it also needs to take care of its members. That said, the members are supposed to take care of themselves so they don't become a burden on their comrades.

"Why are you sitting there doing nothing?" Bella went back to her futile attempts, but not before chewing Oliver for not doing the same. "You can at least try!"

Giving up when knowing no action could solve the current problem at hand was the right choice. At the very least, it was better than trying desperately and hurting oneself in the process. Oliver knew that his chances of breaking the cuffs were nonexistent, and so he decided to wait and save his strength for when they have to face their potential killers. His frustration wasn't less than Bella's, but letting it control him would do them no good. He needed to be calm; only then would he be able to deal with the situation the best he could.

'Calm…'

It sounds obvious, considering how it's always stressed in the case of emergencies, but it felt like the first time he learned its importance was after he started his training sessions with their red-haired boss. Oliver had long since lost count of the times he was almost killed during those sessions. His boss always gave him an opening to dodge and evade, but the only way to take advantage of them was to stay calm and wait for the right moment. Once he grasped that concept, he gradually improved to a point where he could last long enough to start feeling exhaustion.

Both Riot and their boss called him a genius for doing what he did, even though it didn't feel that amazing to him. He also didn't want to let it get to his head in case his progress stagnates, which would undoubtedly leave him incapable of continuing. But what if he could do it? What if he really tried to live up to those expectations? What if he sought to surpass them?

Closing his eyes, Oliver searched for that sensation, the one he began to experience as of late. The problem was that it actively tries to evade him whenever he reaches out to grasp it, and for some reason, it always comes to him whenever he isn't even trying. Despite having succeeded at the initial stage, actual Soul Manifestation seemed to be out of reach. At the very least, it didn't feel like he could get it to a usable state only a day after having proven to be capable of using it. But he had to do it.

'Stronger arms…' he thought to himself. 'Stronger legs…'

Oliver didn't really understand how one's soul is supposed to enhance one's physical abilities, so he tried not to think about it too much. His soul is supposedly shaped like his body, and by bringing his soul to the real world, it makes his body stronger. Right now, he needed stronger limbs to break the cuffs without hurting himself. Stronger arms, stronger legs.

'Wait... can't I just…'

There was no need for a full Soul Manifestation. If all he needs is to strengthen his arms and legs, why would he bother with enhancing his entire body? Not to mention, moving one body part was much easier than moving his entire body, and that is true for his soul as well-

SNAP

All of a sudden, the force keeping his hands together was gone, and his shoulders finally relaxed, the discomfort slowly fading. Not allowing himself a moment to understand what was happening, he quickly reached down for the cuffs on his legs and yanked them off. It was only once he heard the second snap that he noticed both his arms and legs were glowing with a faint yellow light.

'Wait wait wait wait!'

Unfortunately, no sooner had he noticed than the light began to fade. Remaining frozen in his place, Oliver let out a defeated sigh before remembering that he wasn't the only one in the room.

"Wha…" Bella was speechless, unable to close her wide-open mouth.

"I will try again, but don't hold your hopes up."

Walking over, Oliver knelt behind his raven-haired companion and took hold of her cuffs. He then closed his eyes and tried reaching for that feeling again. Unfortunately, he was unable to grasp it this time. He tried a few more times, but to no avail.

"Damn it…"

"Hey, what's going on? What's taking you so long!?"

"I… I don't think I can make it work right now…"

The fact that he was able to maintain the manifestation long enough to free himself. Though he made it look easy, the lack of control was still ever-present, and it made it look like his progress had reset.

Oliver expected his raven-haired companion to lash out at him, demanding that he free her the same way he freed himself. To his surprise, the opposite seemed to happen.

"I don't get it, but there is no time," she said, her tone serious. "You need to go out there and kill that bastard. You can free me after that."

Though it sounded like the right choice, leaving his companion behind didn't feel that way to Oliver. He wasn't really leaving her behind, nor was he afraid of going ahead on his own, so there shouldn't have been a problem. Keeping his posture low, he snuck up to the door. He remembered that it gave quite the annoying screech when it opened, so he tried to do it slowly, but not before pressing his ear to the door's metallic surface to try and see if he could hear anything from the other side.

The silence gave him the impression that nothing was there. The corridor that followed was quite narrow, pressed between walls of rusty metal sheets. Oliver didn't recognize the place, but that was to be expected. It's not like he had the chance to explore Kyrs's messy shop.

One thing he noted was that his NIM was still offline. Whatever jammer the hairy goblin was using, it seemed to extend beyond the room they were being kept in. Oliver continued to the end of the narrow corridor, where he found a ladder leading up. Seeing the round, solid hatch at the end, he couldn't help but grimace. If getting through the door didn't induce enough anxiety, then what follows was likely to cause his blond hair to fall off.

Same as before, he climbed the metal bars fixed to the wall until he reached the hatch, then stopped to listen. This time, he got something other than silence.

"The fuck do you mean 70%!!? Did you forget that I was the one who caught them!!?"

"Then why don't you just kill them yourself?"

"We know why you want to dump this on us."

An argument was ensuing between Kyrs and two more individuals, and the topic couldn't be more obvious.

"Their boss killed all of Black Skull in a single day! He didn't just beat them or dismantle the gang—he literally killed every last member. That's the guy whose men you're telling us to kill. He's the goddamn Red Demon!"

Inferno was currently in a good position with none of the gangs and thugs in Neo-Vatra willing to mess with them. That was what made the previous ambush he and Bella found themselves in a little odd. Foreign bounty hunters were less likely to worry about the reputation of local gangsters, since they could just leave once they were done with the job.

"C'mon, we aren't even asking for a piece of that ransom money. 70% of the bounty is just fair."

"Fair my hairy ass! It's 50%! Take it or leave it!!!"

Kyrs's greed knew no bounds, it seems. He still wanted a piece of the cake even after taking the first one all for himself. Unfortunately for him, he won't be getting anything today.

"Fine. Fifty it is." The bounty hunter said. "So, where are these Red Demons you spoke of?"

"Wait a couple of minutes." The hairy man said. "The sleeping gas wore off just earlier. Let me knock them out one more time."

His eyes widening, Oliver realized that his chance was fast approaching.