The man was casually walking when he suddenly stopped as if he had hit something.
Ryder stopped the illusion for the old man while still keeping it for others.
As the man saw Ryder suddenly appear before him out of thin air, his eyes opened wide as if he had seen a ghost.
"You wonât scream, and youâll listen to my commands," Ryder told the man, staring into his eyes.
As Ryder spoke, his eyes shone briefly as his illusion was cast.
The man seemingly went in a daze as soon as he looked into Ryderâs eyes.
"I will listen to your commands," the man said emotionlessly.
The guards in the distance noticed the man standing in the middle of the road.
"Is everything alright?" One of the guards in the distance asked.
"Act normal and tell them that everythingâs fine," Ryder commanded the man.
The man turned back, looking at the guards.
"Everything is fine," he said out loud. "I was just thinking about something."
"Good. Now look back at me," Ryder told the man who turned back.
The man looked back at Ryder.
"Now, you will go back and place this sticker inside the Royal Palace in a place where no one will find it. After youâre done, youâll come out again, and then youâll forget anything related to me or what you did in the last one hour," Ryder told the man as he gave him a sticker that he had purchased from the system store.
It was a sticker that could make a field all around the palace, disabling all the cameras for the next one hour. That much time was enough for him.
The man took the sticker and kept that in his pocket before he started walking back.
"You are back? Did you forget something?â" the guards asked as they saw the man come back.
The man simply nodded his head before he again entered the palace.
Ryder stood in the distance, standing with the support of the wall.
Ten minutes passed before the man stepped out of the Royal Palace again.
Seeing the man, Ryder got the hint. The work was done.
As soon as the man left the Palace, Ryderâs hypnosis was over. He got back to normal as he forgot what he had done.
He did look a bit confused initially, but he shook it off before he left.
Ryder stretched his arms as he yawned. "Looks like my work is complete. I can freely walk inside. I do hope that the sticker works though. If it fails, Iâd literally be walking inside while everyone can see me through cameras."
While keeping his faith in the item he had received from the store, he approached the road.
He entered the Royal Palace right in front of the guards, who were still under the illusion that everything was alright.
As Ryder entered the massive palace, he realized that finding the Prince was still going to be hard. He only had an hour to do it, and just checking all the rooms were going to take hours.
He walked through the long corridors of the luxurious palace in search of a servant he could use.
Fortunately, it didnât take him long to find someone. A maid could be seen walking in his direction.
He canceled his illusion as soon as the woman reached him. Seeing a man suddenly appear before her, a scream was about to leave her mouth, but he closed her mouth with his hands.
"You wonât scream, and youâll do as I say," Ryder told the woman, using his illusion.
"I wonât scream, and Iâll do as you say," the woman said, nodding.
"Good. Youâll go to the room of Prince Suliven before walking back here. And when you get here, youâll forget what happened, including ever seeing me," Ryder told the woman who looked deep in his eyes.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
The maid turned back and started walking away.
With his hands in his pocket, Ryder followed her as if he was the king of this Palace. But he also kept his illusion wherever he passed through, to not be caught. He was infiltrating the Royal Palace, after all.
The maid moved through the massive palace to get to the room of Prince Suliven, which took her ten minutes.
She stopped in front of a room, but she didnât do anything before she turned around and started going where she came from.
"So this is the room," Ryder muttered as he observed the doors of Sulivenâs room.
He looked at the time in his clock. There were still around forty minutes left for killing the Prince and getting out of here.
He knocked on the door after looking around to make sure no one was there.
"Come on in." He heard someoneâs voice from the other side.
âSo itâs open. I didnât need to knock. I alerted him for no reason,â Ryder thought, smiling wryly. â It doesnât matter. I donât think heâll scream for help."
Ryder opened the door and stepped inside the room to see a handsome blonde-haired man sitting on the bed with a book in his hand.
"You donât work here. Who might you be?" Suliven asked Ryder, seeing through his illusion. This didnât work on him.
"Adrian sent me," Ryder replied calmly as he stepped closer.
"Adrian? Why would he send you here?" Suliven asked, frowning.
"He asked me to give you something," Ryder said as he stepped closer.
"What did he ask you to give me?" Suliven asked, curious.
He didnât worry about the fact that Ryder was stepping closer to him with each passing second until he was right beside the bed.
"He told me to give you this," Ryder said as he brought a small bracelet out of his pocket.
He got even closer as if to give the bracelet to Suliven.
"The bracelet? Whatâs special about it?" Suliven asked as he also reached out his hand to take the bracelet.
As Ryder believed that he was close enough to Suliven, he decided to attack. The black bracelet which was in his hand changed shape as it turned to a scythe which he swung towards Suliven.
As Suliven saw the unexpected attack, his eyes slightly widened in surprise, but he also reacted fast.
His body turned to water, falling on the bed. The scythe passed through the air, missing him.
Thatâs when the water returned to Suliven, who pointed his finger towards Ryder.
A wave of water came out of his finger, hitting Ryderâs chest, making him fly back.
Ryder crashed on the wall.
"So this really was an assassination attempt. But I doubt Adrian would send you. He isnât idiot enough to not know this wonât work. So who are you?" Suliven asked. "Wait, it doesnât matter. I shouldnât even waste any time on you."
He gently waved his hand, making the water appear out of thin air. The water swallowed Ryder inside what seemed like a ball of water.
Suliven wanted to drown Ryder in water, suffocating him.
Ryder wasnât the least bit affected, even as he stayed inside the ball of water. Instead, he folded his arms to show off.
He was the Ruler of Water. It couldnât hurt him. He could breathe underwater while also being able to control it.
As for Suliven, he was the son of Goddess of Water, but even he wasnât able to kill Ryder with water.
Seeing Ryder stand inside the water while looking so comfortable, Suliven was stunned. Why wasnât he affected?
â I should thank him for creating water for me. I can control it, but I canât create it,â Ryder thought, smiling. âItâs my turn now.â
He raised both his hands before he gently clapped.
The massive sphere of water that had swallowed him freed him. Instead, it flew towards Suliven, swallowing it.
Suliven casually waved his hand, making all the water disappear, but his surprise was evident on his face. Not only could Ryder breathe inside water, but he could also control it?
"Who are you?" Suliven asked, frowning.
"It doesnât matter who I am. What matters is that I donât have much time to play around," Ryder said as he looked at the time, which kept trickling away. He needed to leave before the cameras returned to normal.
"So, Prince Suliven. Youâll need to die," Ryder said as he ran towards the Prince, attacking with his scythe again.
The Prince again turned to water, escaping the attack. The water moved around, falling on the floor where Suliven again came back to normal.
"You might not know, but killing me is almost impossible. You canât cut water," Suliven replied calmly. "So drop that idea and tell me who you are. Who sent you to kill me?â
"Youâre right. That ability is indeed annoying," Ryder said, frowning.
"But it doesnât matter. I have something that can take over water," Ryder said as he jumped on the other side of the bed before he attacked again.
Suliven again turned to a puddle of water, but this time Ryder didnât let him go so easily.