The Greatest Sinner

"War? I thought we'd just wait for a good moment, break into the vault, kill the guards, take the loot, and get out of there fast." Said Roland.

"That's not a bad option, but I'm afraid we'll have to wait a very long time for the right moment. I suggest we create that moment ourselves. I think you know that Paper Hydrangea has a conflict with the Hell Bulls?" Proclaimed Evan.

Roland nodded and said: "Yes, but I doubt this conflict will turn into a real war. The other three organizations have no interest in letting Inlas wallow in the flames of war."

"I understand this as much as you do, but I have an idea. "The Hell Bulls are after me, which is why I decided to settle on Paper Hydrangea territory."

"What are you implying?" Roland asked.

Evan smirked and said: "I'll provoke the Hell Bulls and get to a certain place where you bring at least someone from Paper Hydrangea. We only need to create one small spark for the flames to take over the whole town."

"And then?"

"Then, when the massive scuffle starts, we put on masks and infiltrate the Paper Hydrangea vaults. We can go to other organizations' vaults, too, but it's too dangerous." Evan calmly explained.

Paper Hydrangea was the most interested party in destroying the Hell Bulls. Therefore, they would send the largest number of people to the battle against the Hell Bulls. Other organizations would most likely try to stop the carnage first, and only then would they fight in full force.

Roland smiled quite a bit: "Great plan, I think I can talk them into it if you can provoke the Hell Bulls. Assuming we succeeded, what are our escape routes?"

"I'm going with my sister to the big city up north. If you want, you can come with us or not, it's not that important to me." Proclaimed Evan.

"Okay." Roland nodded and said, "Then I think we should discuss the whole plan again and in more detail."

...

For the next few hours, Evan and Roland thought about the plan in detail. They discussed the time, the place, what needed to be prepared. How they would act and what they would do in certain situations. Unlike Evan, this was the first time Roland had committed a heist with the cover of a real war in the middle of a crime-ridden city. He was more of a listener than a proposer, but Roland had information Evan didn't have.

Without it, Evan would not have been able to proceed with the plan. Roland's good relationship with Paper Hortense was their biggest bargaining chip.

The most dangerous part of the plan was the Hell Bulls' provocation. If Evan was unlucky, he could easily be killed. But if they wouldn't get the two organizations to fight among themselves, they certainly would fail.

Evan hardly knew Roland, but he could trust him on this one. First of all, Evan felt no threat from Roland, and his instincts rarely failed him. Secondly, it made no sense for Roland to come to Evan's house and offer to rob Paper Hydrangea if he didn't want to do it himself.

In the end, they decided that they would make a move as early as tomorrow. Roland needed to buy a disguise and check again to see if they could get to the vault easily. Evan decided to talk it over with Malespera. He couldn't let her die.

It didn't take Evan long to explain, Malespera quickly understood. Of course, she had asked Evan many times to let her fight, but he was against it. Malespera still had too little understanding of how strong people could be in this world. She hadn't even broken through her first Barrier yet. She was weaker than almost all the mages in this world, except for some newcomers with no talent.

...

A day later, at the specified time, Evan set out for Hell Bulls territory. By this time, Roland had also sprung into action.

<Well, I hope it works out. I'm going straight into the clutches of my enemy, the main thing is not to meet their leader.>

Evan wasn't going to come to the Hell Bulls base or surrender. He had another way to make himself known. He was sure that most members of Hell Bulls knew what he looked like, and if they saw him, they would attack immediately, but that wasn't enough. If Evan decided to retreat in such a situation, they wouldn't chase him for long.

So Evan decided to destroy something. He put on his black and white mask and chose a simple tavern as his target. There were quite a few members of the Hell Bulls there, but most of them hadn't even reached the 'One-Pointed Star' stage.

No one noticed Evan as he walked through the dark alleys where no one was present. Moreover, there were only two guards near the tavern, and they were a little drunk. There was no way they could see that they were about to be attacked.

After talking to Roland, Evan went to the nearest store and sold all the Monster Cores. He used the money to buy some medium quality spatial rings and a special box to store them in. He had to take as many items as he could out of the Paper Hydrangea vault.

Besides the spatial rings, Evan also bought a rather powerful bomb. All he had to do was pour some mana into it, and five seconds later, it would explode.

By destroying an entire tavern, Evan would draw enough attention to himself that the members of the Hell Bulls would chase him even if he escaped to the territory of another organization. After the skirmish occurs, the stronger members of the organizations would be sent to the battle scene, and the minor scuffle would escalate into a real war.

"Well, let's get started." Mumbled Evan and poured some mana into the bomb. The bomb was quite small, the size of a fist, but it had enormous destructive power. Such a thing cost Evan 20,000 gold coins, which was a lot of money. Even Marcel would think twice before spending that much gold coin on one bomb.

The bomb glowed yellow, and many runes lit upon it. This was no ordinary bomb, the moment it detonated, it would produce an electric field that would destroy most of the buildings nearby.

Evan threw the bomb through the window and used 'Ghost Step.' He quickly stepped back to a safe distance and watched the massive explosion with a calm face.