“What am I doing here?” she hissed at herself. The vampyre had developed a strange habit of speaking to herself at times of despair, but she could not blame herself. It was one of the many results of the recent happenings. Standing in front of a potions shop, Gloria stared through the glass doors, wondering if this was the right thing to do. Her mind had driven her to change her look into something that she thought was ‘fiercer’ or something like that. The shopkeeper noticed her silhouette in front of his shop although it was hard to see her with the light reflecting off the glass. After a moment of hesitation, a slender hand reached for the handle of the door, pushing it gently. The tall woman stepped into the shop, the scent of a million aromas hitting her nostrils and dizzying her for just a second before she got used to it. The shopkeeper was sorting some colorful potions on a shelf when she entered and as soon as he caught sight of her (even though it was not the first time he did), he immediately greeted her. The vampyre’s gaze wandered along the many shelves that various potions sat on, waiting to be purchased. “I’ll take one of those physique potions,” she spoke languidly, her eyes never meeting the shopkeeper’s. He nodded quickly and shuffled over to a shelf in the corner, browsing through a clutter of vials while the vampyre sighed and waited patiently.

After finding what he was looking for, the shopkeeper shuffled back towards her, holding a vial in his hands as if it was a sacred thing. He asked her if she knew how it worked and how to use it. The vampyre nodded quickly and handed him the money, which he accepted and walked further into his shop returning with a small pouch that was big enough to fit the vial. Snatching the pouch from his hands, she strode out of the shop and headed to the nearest public toilet. She had initially planned to do it back in the safe confines of her humble abode, but she did not have the patience to wait that long. Eyes glowing with excitement, she sneaked into a vacant stall and made sure the door was locked before she opened up the pouch, bringing out the vial and handling it very carefully. She could not afford to break it right now. Taking a deep breath, she popped the lid open and gulped down the brightly colored contents, imagining the type of look she was going for  and silently praying that it did not fuck up. As the liquid coursed through her system, she could feel the magic beginning to work, her skin glowing momentarily and once it stopped glowing, she hurriedly left the bathroom stall and stood in front of the large mirror. Her purple hair had gone jet black and her eyes shifted colors. She thought she felt regret but the feeling was temporary.

Shura looked at the clock impatiently, as if he was waiting for someone. Thing was he was waiting for someone. Even though he was the self imposed Guild Master of Phantom Lord he still had to do remedial work to line his pockets. He was not above putting in the work as long there was money involved. Not to mention building a empire was not cheap. It was going to take time and effort, but with his rank he could take the more daring jobs. No longer did he have to scrape the bottom of the barrel with the low level missions. He had finally learned to run after crawling and walking for so long. This was his first big league mission and he was a bit on edge about getting it done. Considering he was the boss he took the mission with one of the other higher ranking members of the guild. It was a good way to build bonds with his subordinates. Showing that he was willing to put forth the effort to make Phantom Lord great again. Thing was, she was late. The mission was a auction they were supposed to help the client in question get the most out of his dollar. Some shady business was about to go down, and it needed to be done covertly. The auction was going to start soon, they needed to get into the party before hand.

Shura was posing as himself, the leader of Phantom Lord coming to participate in the auction. He was wearing a black suit with a red bow tie. His hair was actually cut to a fade. No more of the unruly spiky cut. He needed to make sure his appearance was sharp at all times. He went through the trouble of creating his spell arm for this mission. That way he didn’t look funky with just one arm in a suit. With his focus he would be able to sustain just the arm this whole time. With the long sleeve and the white glove over it, he was able to keep it’s true form concealed. No one needed to see the dragon like look it had with the clawed finger tips. His partner on his mission was his date for this mission. It was just a mission and nothing else. Shura had his mind set on someone else and he planned to keep it that way. He took a deep breath and let out a sigh.

He waited on the sidewalk, a few meters away from the entrance of Majura’s Gallery. People were walking in and out. Some conversing and others waiting in line like a club. Shura and his plus one had vip tickets. So they did not have to wait. Well he had to wait on his date to get there. Loki on the other hand was already on the scene. As an immaterial creature he was able to phase through non magical things without trouble. He couldn’t do that to people or things protected by magical properties. Thankfully this wasn’t the case. Loki stayed out of sight and was looking for the objective at hand. Once he found it he was to report back.


“Where is this woman.” He spoke to himself outloud while looking around.

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Her hands reached up to feel her soft cheeks while she gazed at the stranger who stared back at her from within the mirror. “Gloria,” she mumbled. It was going to take a bit for her to get used to this look, but she was beginning to grow fond of it already. The sound of footsteps broke her reverie and she quickly tossed the vial into the bin before washing her hands and heading out of the public bathroom with her head lowered. No one would recognize her, and that made her feel strangely excited. She stopped a woman passing by to ask her the time and cried out loud. “Just on time!” It was an attempt to convince herself that she had not spent too much time admiring her new look but she knew very well that if she wasted more time, she would be late for the job. The vampyre was taking another member of Phantom Lord on one of the higher ranking missions, someone she had met in recently while she was just having a chat with a mysterious lady one night. From the public bathrooms, it was only a few minutes’ walk to the Majura Gallery, and thanks to her long feet she walked faster than most people. The purple dress she wore was split on both sides from a little bit above her knee downwards. She could move around with ease in this outfit.

“Not quite...” she muttered under her breath, spotting her partner who was already waiting in front of the gallery. He would not remember her since she just got a fresh makeover, but she would quickly remind him by greeting him with a small wave. “I’m here,” she said and glanced over towards the long queue in front of the establishment. Thank god for VIP passes. Fishing through the tiny purse she had with her, she brought out the pass and held it between her fingers as she fumbled to close the purse. Normally she shoved things into pockets but unfortunately this dress had no pockets in it. Devastating as it was, she could not help it. She had to get dressed for the event so she did not look out of place. Seeing that Shura had done the same, she quickly combed through her hair with her fingers to sort the mess created by the wind while she hurried here. “You look...good,” she chuckled as she gave him a onceover and then led the way to the VIP entrance. “You will call me Gloria now,” she told him. She presented her pass to staff and receiving a lanyard with a card that had the words ‘VIP’ printed on it in a large, bold font. She entered into the gallery once she was allowed to, not turning back so she didn’t appear suspicious. Hopefully Shura was following her. Their first task was to find their client so he could provide them with a catalogue of the pieces that were being auctioned.

Shura was tapping his foot, waiting impatiently for the individual who was supposed to help him with this job. Then a maiden came walking down the sidewalk towards him. A tall female in a purple dress finally arrived. Fashionably late he may add but she was there. Now they could get this show on the road. She passed another woman asking her what time it was. Shura’s had a sort of disinterested look as she was strutting. Not that he was hating, but he was here to do a job. Time was everything and if they missed the auction because of her tardiness would only irritate Shura. Not to the point of lashing out just being more firm with the mission at hand. He was trying to finesse this one for good reason. She waved to him while approaching. Her voice seemed familiar but her look was completely different. When he signed up for this mission it was with Bianca. Now this woman calling herself Gloria was here. He didn’t have the time to really to look into all of it. Nor did he care to at that very moment. He removed the passes from his pocket and handed one over to her.

“Likewise.”

He left it at that. He didn’t like her tone that she took with him. ‘I don’t know who the fuck she think she is.’ he thought to himself. A fake smile crossed his face. Once again, did not have time to play games or indulge this woman. He followed her as she took the lead on this one. He didn’t want to complicate things by letting his pride get hurt. The large body guards did not say anything as the passes were already presented. In exchange for them the two were given the exclusive passes. The ones that let them into any part of the gallery unhindered.

Loki on the other hand was still scoping out the area, making sure to stay hidden. By hiding in the upper part of the walls and the ceiling he was able to stay out of sight. He found the art but he had to wait for Shura and Gloria to enter. Shura and Loki were going to meet up in the bathroom after the client gave the orders. Following Gloria Shura looked around and grabbed a glass of wine. He was fitting in, trying not to look too out of place. He walked up closer to his companion while drinking from the glass. Shura spoke in a hushed voice that only Gloria could hear while sipping from the slender glass.

“We need to find Remy quickly. The auction will start soon.”

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Gloria nodded as Shura told her that they needed to find Remy quickly. She was not sure where exactly he would be at, but she had an idea, so she led them to the back of the gallery where only those with VIP passes were allowed to enter. The vampyre looked around, recalling the face of their client since she had worked for him before as well. She kept an eye out for bright orange hair and once she spotted him, she went over to him. There were only three people in that area apart from the two Phantoms, the other two who were not Remy being one of the guests, she assumed. The two guests who were not involved in the job were having some deep conversation, so they paid no attention to the rest. Gloria started speaking to Remy, who did not recognize her at first glance but after she told them, he began to talk about the mission, bringing out a booklet that was supposed to be the catalogue of the items that were about to be auctioned. Since they had already knew what they were supposed to do, Remy gave them short to the point instructions. All the items that were going to be held for auction were in a backroom with the numbers attached to them on tags. Their job was to switch the numbers of the most expensive ones with those that had the least value. Gloria nodded and accepted the catalogue, looking through it as she listened to his instructions. Once he was done, she made her way to the backroom, taking Shura with her.

The only reason she knew how to find her way around the Majura Gallery was because a friend of hers from the guild owned it. She had yet to find out that he had passed away, but she would find out in a matter of time. There was a single guard standing outside the room and he was dozing away on the the chair he sat on. The vampyre approached him quietly and struck him with enough force to knock him out on the head. If that did not work, she was sure Shura would have a way to deal with it. Afterwards, they would sneak into the back room, shutting the door behind them. Gloria noticed that there were more pieces than she had expected and that made her inhale deeply, as if she was preparing for what they were about to do. “Alright. This will take some time,” she muttered and signalled for Shura to begin looking through the items. She noticed that Loki was missing, so either Shura did not bring him along for the job or he was hiding somewhere. She imagined it would be strange for the guests to find him in the gallery. So then, she began to look for the most valuable pieces, matching up with the catalogue numbers and passing the booklet to Shura whenever he needed it for reference.

Bianca looked in one direction and Shura looked in another. ‘Where is this asshole?’ he wondered. He continued to drink the high class white wine from the slender glass. Making sure he stayed in character while browsing around the gallery. Remy was found mingling with a few of the high class individuals. One of them was a blonde female trying to gain favor with him. Bianca approached him quickly, she pushed into the conversation and the people talking were a bit offended. Using his intimidating stature Shura spoke, “You need to leave.” His tone was cold in nature.

Hopefully they got the hint that this was not something they needed to be involved with. All extra individuals left the area and only the three were left behind. Shura, Bianca, and Remy spoke. Shura hovered around the outside of the conversation. He pretended to look around the area, admiring the scenery. In reality he was playing look out for any sort of trouble. He was making sure to keep a lookout for anyone with prying eyes or who looked suspicious. Remy filled the two in on what was going on. Shura was a well aware of the mission because he studied the task before taking it. It was smarter that way just in case if anyone was watching them. Bianca on the other hand did not clearly, but for the sake of time. He just let it go.

Bianca grabbed the catalogue and headed towards the backroom. Shura placed the glass down on the glass table and made sure his bowtie was straight. “Good Luck.” Remy muttered while taking a sip from the drink his hand.

Shura followed Bianca, who seemed to know her way around the gallery. There was only one guard near the goods which he was taken care of very quickly. A strike to the back of the neck with a swift motion was enough to put the guy out. It looked like it came right out of a spy movie. There was no time to sit there and be in awe there was work to be done. Loki came through the ceiling, as if he waited for them the whole time. Shura looked up seeing his companion. “Stay on look out we got this.”

“Gastly.” Loki then faded back through the ceiling and moved through the walls. He poked out casually to make sure no one was coming. If so he knew to come back and alert the two. Shura looked through the catalog quickly and moved through the items with haste. Time was of the essence and they needed to rig this auction so Remy got the best deal for his jewel. Shady sure, but it was better than just out right stealing it. Then again this was another form of stealing technically.

"Let's be quick about it it will start soon."

Thankfully a lot of the stuff was on stands and labeled. They were neatly placed and categorized by size, type and numbers. So it would not be to hard of a task to complete in the time they had. Shura muttered numbers to himself while matching them up. He made sure to swap the lower prices that were not too low. It had to look reasonable. If it looked too low for something extremely valuable someone would catch on very quickly. If someone caught on, Remy could go down. Remy did not look like the type to keep his mouth shut. People like him are very prone to squealing. Shura was not a fan of squealers. So he made sure to do this right the first time so it did not come back and bite Phantom Lord.

1636/3000

Gloria continued to look around the back room, checking the price tags and switching around the prices like she was supposed to. Shura was doing it as well. She wondered if the numbers were giving him a headache like they were to her. Her mind was filled with a bunch of numbers after seeing so many price tags. They did not have unlimited time, so she had to stop letting it affect her as she did the job. Shura’s companion showed up for just a brief moment and Shura sent him back to keep watch. His companion looked like a jelly ball that could be squished. Wondering what would happen if it was squished, Gloria continued to do her job, switching around the price tags of the art pieces. She did not even have time to admire the pieces that were there. To be honest she liked art. Sometimes she would purchase good pieces to hang in her room and things like that. At the moment though, you could say that she was a broke bitch and she had other things to buy before spending it on extra things like artworks to hang in her room. Time was running out as she moved from one piece to another. She checked the clock in the room and noticed that they should hurry. She told this to Shura, who had also said that they should be quick about it since the auction was going to start soon. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated on the numbers on the price tags.

Fortunately she was going pretty fast, checking back at the catalog and switching prices. They were not supposed to change the prices of each and every piece, but only four of them. So she decided to take care of two of them which was half the workload. What was making it difficult was because there were just so many pieces so she had to make sure she was switching the right ones. After a while, Shura told her to be careful and left for the restroom or something. Gloria only nodded and continued working. Hopefully he returned fast, because she did not want to not make it in time. They would not get their rewards if they did not do the job properly. In fact, she could not imagine what kind of things Remy would say about Phantom Lord mages if they failed his mission. He would probably speak badly of them and that would be bad for the guild. Gloria did not want that, and she was sure Shura did not either. She really hoped he came back soon. It had been about ten minutes since he left when Gloria was already looking for the third piece that was supposed to be switched. What could he be doing that took such a long time? Surely going to the bathroom did not take more than five minutes, if not shorter? Did he get into trouble? Did he get caught in the act?

Gloria was actually worried now, to be honest. She knew that Shura was someone who could take care of himself, but she could not help worrying. If he did not get into trouble himself, maybe his familiar did and he was trying to help his companion. Trying to push away these thoughts so that she could focus better, the vampyress was in the process of switching the third value when she heard people coming in to the back room. Quickly she hid herself behind a pillar that was in the far back of the room and watched the door. Moments later, two men came in and picked up a piece and took it with them. Gloria assumed that it probably got sold. Once the doors were closed behind them, she stepped out from behind the pillar and rushed back to the piece she was checking before she hid. She memorized the image so that she could find it easily when she was able to. Shura was still not here, and it had probably been about fifteen to twenty minutes now. Her anxiety for their safety grew, but she had enough self control to accomplish the task before finding out why Shura left all of a sudden and had not returned since. So much for teamwork, she thought. She probably would have taken the job alone if she knew this was going to happen. That way she did not have to worry about anyone but herself. She removed the price tag on the piece of lower value and switched it with the tag on the piece with a higher value.

Again, in the midst of her actions, she started hearing people coming towards the back room again. The auction had obviously started, and she was still not done! Hopefully that last two pieces were not taken away since she was hiding behind the pillar with a price tag in her hand. It would raise suspicion when they found out a price tag was missing. Gloria anxiously watched the two men from before come back and retrieve another piece which - praise the heavens! - was not the piece that she was working on. They stuck around for a bit, talking about how they thought about these people participating in the auction. They were just staff, but they probably envied the rich and that was why they were talking in this way. Gloria could not wait for them to leave. If Shura was ever going to come back, then it would be a bad time. He would run into them. Gloria knew in the back of her mind, though, that Shura was probably going to be super careful. He could definitely pretend to be one of the participants and act like he was lost. Gloria and Shura were both dressed as though they came for the auction with help from Remy to get in, anyway. She knew she could trust Shura not to make a mistake like that. The doors were closed once again.

Gloria rushed towards the final piece. Once she was done with this, she would be able to leave and find Shura. The sound of the clock ticking seemed to calm her just a little bit. And done! The final price tag had been switched and now it was time to leave. She folded the catalog so that she could tuck it into her bra. She did not know if she was allowed to be seen with that since Remy did not mention anything about that. Now, to look for Shura and his companion. As she was about to exit, the two men came back again. She was always prepared for these type of situations. Once the two men spotted her, she would appear lost. They asked her what she was doing here and she told her that she probably came into the wrong room, and that she was actually looking for the restroom. They gave her a funny look but gave her the directions. She thanked them with a bow and walked in the direction they gave. Once she was out of their sight, she went the opposite way. She decided to see how the auction was going first while making sure she was in the background. Soon, she would arrive in the way back of the hall in which the auction was being held. Remy was not hard to find, so she watched him from the back. She figured there was no point in finding Shura at this point.

The auction was going pretty well for Remy. Gloria saw the pieces that she switched the prices on. This was the only time she was able to properly admire such beautiful art. Truly, they were spectacular. She wished she could have bought one of the pieces for her collection, but she was pretty broke at the moment. Once the last piece was sold out, the auction came to an end and the participants stood up to leave. Remy was grinning from ear to ear and once he spotted Gloria, he told her to meet him at the back through eye contact. When they met at the back, the first thing that was talking about was how happy Remy was and how thankful he was to her and Shura for doing a good job. Gloria smiled and listened to him. After he spoke about the pieces, he asked where her partner was, and Gloria replied by saying that she was going to ask him the same thing. Neither of them knew where Shura was. With a shrug, the vampyress brought out the catalog and returned it back to Remy. She told him that he was probably in the restroom or something and that there was nothing to worry about. Remy obviously did not care because he got what he wanted already. He simply smiled and nodded as though he was glad to hear. After rewarding her for her work, he left immediately. Gloria checked the amount before leaving the gallery, too.