Johann\'s last days finally brought some relevance in before Aziel\'s eyes. About a week before his untimely, sudden demise by his hands, just finishing his servitude to the country, Johann was on his way towards his new place of work.

With the friends and contacts he had inevitably made during his 2 year tenure, Johann was quickly accepted into a well-known security firm without any hassle.

He was also given an assignment and joined the already stationed guards at a contract. The pay was quite lucrative whilst the work was mostly minimal, with them doing the usual rounds and just securing the inner grounds to which they had no access.

The only building he had access to was the small one, which turned out to be a sort of barracks, a station for the guards found not too far, at the very edge of what they called the \'Inner Grounds\', the forbidden zone where the owners supposedly lived.

They had no access to it, only a select few elite guards, not hired but under the direct employ of the family could step inside. They were not from their security firm but were supposedly groomed by the family themselves.

Still, despite their secretive behavior, there were some rumors that each member of these elites had served the Special Forces and was a highly trained, deadly individual.

Each is highly skilled in hand-to-hand, close-quarters combats as well as an expert marksman in their own. Rumors were going off about their physical strength and speed even surpassing what should have been the capability of humans, making them superhumans in a way.

This piece of news has raised Aziel\'s attention and awareness, making him surprised as he finished skimming through the dead guard, Johann\'s memories.

If these tales, these myths were to be believed and would hold some modicum of truth, it would mean that these \'Elites\' were not simple warriors but probably cultivated [Aether] to enhance their bodies. Would they turn out to be cultivators perhaps, or were they simply holders of the mutated genome the humans seemed to have been born with every once in a while?

Aziel didn\'t know the answer, but nonetheless, it was an important piece to his collection.

Though he ultimately did not get closer to finding a way into the inner grounds, he now had a new destination along with a new target.

The Guard Captain, the officer assigned to this place by the Security Firm stationed inside the barracks.

He was the only guy from these \'contracted outsiders\' that had direct contact with someone from the inside. From Johann\'s memories, it was also said that he, this so-called Captain Liam Briggs was also meeting up and reporting to someone from the inside regularly.

Aziel needed to get to this man. Even though offing him and absorbing him would give him some extra time, it would still eventually alert everyone. He was not like Johann who could be just written off as insubordination and be just given a warning.

No, once the people realize the Captain was gone, it would immediately alert everyone, inside and outside as well. Though he wasn\'t sure how much time this exactly meant, from then on Aziel was on a count down, a tight schedule to get everything settled.

He could no longer waste time and would have to quickly make plans to get inside. Even if it ultimately meant that he would need to slaughter every one of these ants, he would do so.

Taking one last look at the clothes left behind by the dead guard, Aziel shook his head once more before returning his attention to what was ahead of him.

Closing his eyes, he sent out another pulse of [Aether], focusing mostly on his immediate range of vicinity, and look if there would be any problems approaching.

Luckily, or perhaps just as he had planned out previously, the ground was clear, there were no patrols approaching or anywhere nearby. This particular spot was one of those which was the least guarded, with only the occasional guard crossing it during his long perimeter patrol.

Turning his attention towards the inner grounds, Aziel focused his attention towards the smallest yet still quite large, single-story warehouse-looking structure that stood tall at the end of the only road leading in from the gates.

A second, albeit much smaller fence, separated the forbidden lands from the rest, the Guards\' Barracks were standing right before the barred gate, acting similar to the Guard Post.

Aziel\'s figure silently dashed forward, leaving behind his trusty corner and rapidly making his way through the yard. Sticking to the shadows and corners, he was like an invisible predator, lurking in the shadows, gradually slithering forward to its prey.

Without any problem, Aziel easily made his way through the outer exterior and was now standing atop a tree, hiding inside its crown, looking over the building standing in front of him.

He was watching silently as two figures were talking in the front. Besides these two, Aziel could also sense a third, much stronger presence.

"How long till you complete your contract man?" Leaning against the wall, one of the guards asked the other as he folded his arms and put a cigarette in his mouth.

"Another week, before I have to go back to base." The second one answered, whilst grabbing his lighter and lighting his friend\'s cig with it. He sighed, expressing his true feelings. "But to be honest... I am reluctant to leave. I like it here."

Taking a large puff, the first guard took a moment to enjoy this brief moment of respite before responding with a similar tone.

"Yeah, I can understand that, brother. There\'s nothing better than a gig like this. Fat cash with zero danger. It\'s not like the usual shit we had in the corps, I tell you. Too bad, we cannot be like the Cap...." He scoffed at the mention of the man, snorting his head towards behind. "Sitting on his ass all day, having to do jack shit and still grab that heavy doe."

"Psssh!" The other guard waved at his friend for caution. "Keep it low, will ya? What if he hears it? Or worse... those inside..." He whispered at the end, waving his head towards the closed-off gate next to them.

"Oh, chill man!" The first guard puffed his cig once more and waved his hand dismissively. "What could happen? The Cap is probably snoring inside, and those inside wouldn\'t care about what we, \'wretched poor commoners\' say! You can relax, it\'s not as if anybody would be watching us. Now, just calm down and take a cig-"

Yet, before he could finish his words, suddenly his eyes went wide, as a sudden blurry shadow appeared behind his friend, and the unmistakable faint sound of something slicing the air could be heard....