KA-KA-KA-BOOOM!
The force was imnse.
The shield-bearers, all elite fighters, hastily summoned their mana to protect themselves. But it was too late.
No matter how quickly they reacted, the sheer power of the blasts left them battered and wounded.
Fortunately, there were no fatalities. Still, the atmosphere in the field froze in stunned silence.
The spectators, who had co expecting a foregone conclusion, were paralyzed with shock. Their carefully constructed assumptions crumbled in the face of this unthinkable disaster.
The first to recover was Shine Workshop.
"Get them to a hospital—now!" he barked, rushing to assist the injured.
Several other mbers of the Dark Workshop hurried onto the field, dragging the ten shield-bearers to safety.
These were so of their best fighters—losing them here would have been catastrophic.
As order slowly returned to the scene, officials from the city governnt turned their furious gazes toward Abby and Peter.
'You think you can supply defective equipnt like this to the military?' their expressions seed to say.
The city's military existed to defend against both external threats like magical beasts and internal conspiracies aid at overthrowing the governnt.
Supplying soldiers with unreliable artifacts was a liability none of the officials were willing to tolerate.
They despised risk, especially the kind that would leave them accountable for failure.
Abby ground his teeth in frustration as he faced their accusing stares.
"This is unacceptable!" he roared, turning his fury toward Gin.
Gin t his glare with calm indifference, then began walking toward him, unhurried.
"We need to test Runewright's shield under the sa conditions!" Abby demanded, his voice raw with anger.
Gin's lips curled into a faint, knowing smile. He had expected this. It was the only move Abby had left.
"Of course. Should I handle it, or would you prefer to do it yourself?"
"Obviously, I'll do it myself!" Abby spat.
No sane competitor would trust their opponent to oversee such a crucial test. The entire purpose of this trial was to settle things through direct confrontation.
The Dark Workshop, infamous for its dealings in the black market, had seen—and executed—its fair share of underhanded tactics. Trust was a luxury they couldn't afford.
The city officials, keenly observing the exchange, gave their approval for the test to proceed. Things moved swiftly. The Runewright shield-bearers were positioned once more, clustering closely together under Abby's scrutinizing gaze. He extended his hand, mimicking Gin's earlier gesture.
Ssssshh... Mana began gathering in his palm, glowing softly. Though slower than Gin's, Abby's technique was competent. He had confird earlier that Gin had used pure, unstructured mana for his attack—an approach rarely seen in modern magic.
Abby carefully infused color into the mana orb, shaping it for visibility, though the delicate manipulation took ti. As he worked, he couldn't help but begrudgingly acknowledge Gin's skill.
With a sharp motion, he hurled the orb at the Runewright shields.
THUMP.
The mana struck, and... nothing happened.
Abby froze, his thoughts racing.
'What the hell? Why isn't it working? What did I do wrong?'
He quickly turned to the city officials and spoke urgently. "Let test it on our shield as well!"
The officials' faces were cold and unforgiving, the deputy mayor's gaze particularly severe. Still, they allowed him to proceed.
Shine Workshop's remaining shield-bearers took their positions, fresh shields in hand. Abby gathered his mana once more and launched it.
KA-BOOOOM!
A chain explosion erupted across the line, more violent than the last. This ti, the casualties were worse—several of the weaker shield-bearers suffered fatal injuries.
Abby stood frozen, wide-eyed in disbelief. He stared numbly at the devastation, unable to comprehend how everything had unraveled so quickly.
Slowly, he turned toward the officials' platform. Standing there was Walter, head of Runewright Workshop.
The deputy mayor placed a hand on Jang's shoulder with a warm, approving smile. For a brief mont, his gaze shifted to Abby—cold, piercing, and filled with disdain.
Rage bubbled within Abby, threatening to explode. None of this should have happened. He had stolen the sulsik, followed every plan perfectly. Yet now, here he was—a fool, humiliated before everyone.
Peter approached quietly, his expression grim.
"It's ti to leave, sir. This was my failure. It seems we've been outmaneuvered."
Abby clenched his jaw and nodded slowly. "They set us up… played us like fools. I'll make them pay for this."
"There's always a way to return the favor," Peter reassured him. "But for now, we need to retreat."
The hostile stares from the crowd grew sharper. There was no point in lingering. Without another word, the mbers of Shine Workshop slipped away.
Walter and his team were soon surrounded by a flood of congratulations.
For many of them, it was an unfamiliar but exhilarating experience. Amidst the celebratory chaos, Gin quietly slipped away, vanishing before anyone could approach him.
Interestingly, he disappeared even before the Dark Workshop mbers had fully retreated.
But one man had been watching Gin's every move—Wendell.
He had co to the trial curious about Gin's decision to refuse any outside help. The traps and counterasures Gin had woven into the shield's enchantnt were beyond anything Wendell had expected.
'Can the experts in my family create sothing on this level?' he wondered.
He calculated the odds and decided it was ti to escalate his involvent.
He would allocate greater resources to monitoring Gin and, perhaps, arrange a eting between him and the head of the main house.
'This is going to get interesting,' Wendell thought as his mind churned with plans.
Runewright Workshop had begun its grand expansion.
They moved swiftly, acquiring every small workshop in the surrounding area that had fallen into financial ruin.
With each acquisition ca skilled artisans—veterans of their craft—who were eager for stable work and a chance to thrive under a growing enterprise.
At the sa ti, the workshop launched an investigation to root out those responsible for leaking their proprietary techniques. It was a daunting task, one that required subtlety and precision.
The responsibility fell to the resourceful broker, Jay. He approached the mission with a level of thoroughness that exceeded all expectations. Every trail, no matter how faint, was traced. Every hidden betrayal was uncovered. One by one, the perpetrators were exposed and brought to justice.
By the ti the investigation concluded, the workshop was free of internal threats, its security tighter than ever. Runewright was no longer a vulnerable player in the arcane artifact market—it was rising to dominance, fortified by loyal craftsn and reinforced by hard-earned vigilance.
The groundwork for a new era had been laid.
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