*Bang!*

The repulsive force of the detonation of Bradley's phenomenons did indeed let off a spectacular blast and thinking of the last expression he had seen on Hal's face that was one of someone caught off guard, the mayor could not help but smile as he thought that regardless of all his tricks, he still defeated this annoying bastard...

The smile, however, froze on his face when the dust finally settled and he saw only one Hal standing right where he had been before, his eyes no longer ordinary dark but now had a nightmarish hue and occasionally released fog of the same color. He had a nightmarish energy revolving in a vortex around him.

This was a use of his Bloodline Hal was more comfortable with.

The applications of shadow mirage were quite impressive but also very draining. It was far from something he could keep up for too long.

Also, Bradley had the right idea when he released his blast to hit both Hal and his mirage at the same time. In fact, the idea was much more brilliant than the mayor could possibly know.

First, Hal discovered that when using Shadow mirage, his defense was drastically weakened. Making use of the Shadow Demon Bloodline alone already reduced his density and strength, and while Shadow mirage gave him back a bit of his original strength, it was too costly to use.

Second, he discovered that he could not make a hybrid of Devil and Shadow demon Bloodline as he was able to do with the Fiendish Bloodline. Come to think of it, he could not make a hybrid of Lust Demon and Devil Bloodline either.

Had he being able to do so, he could have been able to cover up the Shadow demon bloodline deficiencies and be quite an unstoppable force.

Anyways, if he had not made the quick transition to Devil Bloodline and used Devil energy to protect himself, Bradley might have succeeded in doing some considerable damage.

That said, the shadow mirage was still an incredible ability to add to his arsenal and was perfect for overwhelming his opponents. Not to mention that the stronger his Bloodline became the more mirages he would be able to create.

Also, it should be noted that he had not made use of the shadow demon Bloodline Armament, Reaper, which would have made an all the more deadly combination with the Shadow mirage ability.

For the first time, Bradley was genuinely frightened and it was not just because of the fear the nightmarish energy was exuding, but because that cosmic phenomenon blast was the most powerful weapon in his arsenal and it seemed absolutely useless on Hal.

There was not even a scratch on him!

And yet, the pressure of his cultivation remained at the mid-stage of the Cosmic Phenomenon Realm.

This young man was making use of a powerful bloodline!

That was not so common not to raise the eyebrow of a small city mayor such as him.

"Who and what the hell are you?" He asked but Hal only smiled as the Devil energy retreated into his body and he vanished only to reappear in front of Bradley and kick his jaw in an upward direction.

The kick lifted the Mayor into the air and in prime position for Hal to punch forward right into his stomach,

*Bam*

"Ack" Bradley groaned as the punch had him sent towards the Array boundary.

While he was in the air and getting ever closer to the barrier, he condensed another cosmic attack and began imbuing it with a Cosmic Phenomenon which he planned to unleash on Hal, the moment he came to a stop.

After all, he thought, there was no way Hal continuously survive point-blank blasts. There was just no way, he thought.

Unfortunately for the Mayor, however, Hal did not let him toss that attack as before Bradley even made contact with the Array boundary, he was already behind him and lying in wait with a punch that cracked a couple of ribs.

"Arrgghhh" he yelled before Hal punched his much shut before knocking him into the ground.

"I have to say, I was expecting more from a peak stage cosmic phenomenon expert. I even expected your anger of me cucking you to give you a rage boost but I am quite disappointed at this display" Hal said as he bent low to mock the mayor who was now spurting blood on the ground at his feet.

Hearing Hal insult him and make mention of what he had done in such a casual and sinister manner, Bradley looked up into this terrifying Dark eyes and began to attempt summoning every last dreg of power he still had just so he could wipe that smirk on his face.

Alas, his strength was gone and all he had was empty rage that failed to grant him anything.

Hal chuckled and then proceeded to brand the Mayor with the Devil mark which had been the whole point of his battle with him. Then he pushed a mending pill into his mouth to begin healing his wounds while he looked into his mind for all kinds of security surrounding his vault.

Everything he would need for a noiseless entry was all inside the Mayor's spatial ring. The mere fact that he even had a spatial ring were signs that his business with Red Beard had been good.

When he straightened up, he deactivated the Array Dome and branded the unconscious Felix with the Devil mark as well.

"Listen up, you idiot. From now on, Bertha is Mayor and you are to do everything she orders you with absolutely no complaints" Hal said in a clear voice while he damaged the imprint on the spatial ring.

Bradley had a blood spurt from the damaging of his imprint on the ring but with the mending pill healing his most extensive injuries, he could speak,

"No one would go for that. The merchants are the backbones of this city and if they don't rally behind her, her authority means nothing" he said.

He was now demure on account of the Devil mark but his words made it clear he still had considerable confidence in himself and the amount of support he had garnered from the merchants.

Hal looked back at him with a smirk but said nothing more and left the room.

Once outside, he reached out to Rita telepathically,

"How goes it?" He asked.

"We've got them all and are heading back to the castle." She said through the telepathic link.

Hal nodded at the news and cut off communication as he continued his leisurely stroll to the vault.

So efficient had Bradley been with his security that there was only one way anyone could be allowed even near the vault regardless of who they were, which was to hold up a personal seal of his.

A seal he only kept in his spatial ring and would only bestow to anyone who he trusted to run errands for him in the vault.

With the seal in hand, the guards allowed Hal to proceed to the Vault, and once before it, he was quite impressed. The runes which made up the protective arrays in place were intricate and of multiple layers. Quite difficult to break into in their own right.

Also, they were all Rank 5 runes which required a special seal created only for them to be unlocked.

Hal retrieved the seal from the ring and opened up the vault to behold its riches.

He gave it a quick look and made a quick calculation of the Blue gems the vault contained and was quite impressed to see it amounted to about 400000 and there was no silver to be found.

Only about one million gold coins were in the vault since Bradley had had the majority of his wealth exchanged into blue gems as that was the currency of the much more powerful cities which had not exactly been easy and from the ideas Hal had seen in his head, the Mayor planned to go into business with those cities.

In all honesty, that seemed a little of a far-fetched dream but not as unattainable as it would have been had the city not had a Teleportation circle to teleport to those better cities.

Now the issue was in regards of acquiring enough capital to push through with his grand plan and that had been the reason he wanted to be cordial with Hal.

He wanted to hire Hal's strength and do what he had done to Dell's gate with surrounding cities. Cities with their own Mayors and of equal status with Dell city, except it would be on a much grander scale.

That way, he could acquire enough capital to go into business with the more powerful cities.

He did not wish to begin until he was sure he could succeed with the wealth he had and his target was one million blue gems which in all honesty would take him years if he continued to focus on Dell's gate.

He was planning on setting his sights on the neighboring cities before Hal even made an appearance but he was sure of success if he could have Hal's force on his side.