*You might want to skip this part if you don’t like gore*

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No seriously, I’m warning you

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Brutal torture. That’s what anyone who saw this scene would think. In fact, many would faint at the sight of the broken bones jutting out of Salvius’s body, the dismembered fingers and toes. There were teeth scattered around the room, on the tables, chairs, floors and even carpets, and the blood that had been sprayed around the room had given the room a deathly vibe, with oak shelves being coloured crimson red, and guts being spewed like a milkshake from a blender.

Marcus was stood there, eyes dead with a knife in his hand. He wasn’t even speaking any more, just brutally butchering the man in front of him. Even calling him a man would be an overstatement. He was more like a mangled piece of flesh that even dogs would avoid.

The only part of Salvius that Marcus left in pieces was his mouth and throat so that he could still speak. The rest of him was like a canvas in a nursery art class, free game and a multicoloured mess.

After another 10 minutes of gruesome torture, Salvius looked like a head on scrambled red rice pudding.

-------------------------------------------------Good from here :D------------------------------------------------

“Well are you going to speak now?” Marcus asked Salvius, wiping the blood of his knife using the table’s edges.

“I really don’t know anything,” he sobbed. He regretted every involving himself with Marcus and his sister. They were crazy, and he was probably going to die for something he didn’t do nor know about.

“Last question. Do you know a man with one red eye and his second eye scarred that has the skills of an assassin?”

“You promise not to kill me if I tell you?”

“Depends on your answer.”

“There is a man that goes by that description that lives in the capital. He’s the head of the Vultures, an assassination group.”

“I see. A pity.”

Marcus slit his throat, sighing. His anger had long dissipated, but there was no way he could just send the tortured Salvius home with a sticker and a sweet, because there was no way Salvius wouldn’t try to get revenge. He had banked everything on Salvius telling him where his sister was, then busting her out and jumping on a ship to another part of the continent, but Salvius either knew nothing or was prepared to die for his son to get a girlfriend, which was very unlikely.

Through this, Marcus inferred that the Anguis family wasn’t the reason for his sister’s kidnapping. He had a lead, at least. He’d have to make his way to the capital.

Marcus took a look around the room for anything he could loot. He found a Crystal Card with 500 gold in it, and a pair of Gold I wings that allowed you to glide, absorbing Vis from the air rather than the user, however they would overheat quickly so couldn’t be used for long periods of time.

Marcus’s clothes were bloodied, so he’d have to get a new pair of clothes from the black market.

Marcus tested the wings a little, then after working himself up a bit, he smashed the window, then leapt out, gliding onto the ground then running into an alleyway. It wouldn’t be long before they realised Salvius was missing, so he’d have to be quick with that he did.

Using the shadows of the alleyways, Marcus made it to the alleyway where the black market was located, put on his red hat again and entered. He knew where the clothing aisle was, so made his way there quickly, passing the poison aisle on the way. He saw the grandma from before was no longer there, but he didn’t think too much on it and went over to a vendor selling some black clothing.

It was a long-sleeved jacket with a black undershirt. There was a belt to put a sword case in and the jacket was imbued with Vis to increase the defence, and after inquiry, Marcus found out the jacket was a UNCOMMON Gold Rank I, and came with trousers of the same ranking. They had a set bonus of making you harder to perceive if you had less Vis energy than the user, but Marcus didn’t know his Vis level as he was yet to get a skill book. That was his second plan for the day now that he had 500 gold from Salvius.

The jacket and trousers set was called the [Shadow Lizard’s Scale Armour] and was commonly used by adventurers.

He also got himself a pair of black COMMON [Boots of Speed], that increased his run speed and stamina by 10 percent, then made his way over to the Power Pack section.

He browsed the section a little bit, but there were no skills that particularly caught his eye. He was about to call the shop vendor to help him choose a skill, when his attention was drawn by the scream of a woman behind him.

She was being robbed by 2 men at 6”3’, however strangely, the surrounding guards were just watching and didn’t intervene.

Marcus still considered himself to be a man of honour, and couldn’t bear to leave the girl to her fate, so he took out the hammer he had brought with him from the start, ran up to the leader of the robbers and smashed the hammer into the side of his head.

The man went flying, crashing into another stall and knocking over a crate of apples. The owner of the stall, seeing this, started beating him into submission with a broom. The other thief saw this and backed off in fear. He wasn’t afraid of being hit with the hammer, but rather what the boy had done to get the attention of Lady Sophus.

Yes, you guessed it, the lady being robbed was Lady Sophus yet again. Nobody knew the reason for her interest in Marcus, but they did know that she missed a meeting with one of the Halon Empire advisors so that she could get robbed in front of a 21 year old, which was rather strange in its own.

They trusted her, however, and would simply help out from the sides with whatever she wanted to do.

The two “robbers” were actually Lady Sophus’s bodyguards, and were at the ranks of Diamond III and Platinum I, making them capable of singlehandedly taking over cities and small kingdoms.

They knew, however, that the boy in front of them clearly wasn’t normal considering he managed to attract the attention of such a legendary figure.

Lady Sophus then did something that shocked them all. She fell into Marcus’s arms, sobbing.

“Thank you so much. You saved me, I don’t know what I ever would have done without you. Allow me to make it up to you.”

She pressed herself up to him, showing him cleavage and trying to induce him into doing something brash.

He blushed, whole face flushing red.

“That won’t be necessary. I was just doing what any good person would do”

He made a point of staring aggressively at the guards who had stood by, but little did he know that they had already been told of Lady Sophus’s plans. They were confused as to why she was doing what she did, but everyone did say that the powerful were often crazy.

Lady Sophus stood back, then began to transform back into the form she had shown him at the Poison store, and then her natural form.

“You pass,” she resounded. She was extremely happy, as she had finally found the one she was looking for. She had set her eyes on him after sensing his presence whilst she was taking a stroll through the city.

Lady Sophus was also sometimes called ‘The Seer’, due to her iconic ability [Eyes of the Seer]. It was ranked at Titan III, and was the highest known ranking ability currently known. The energy usage was immense, but as a Blessed One, the cost was immensely dwindled, making it manageable.

The ability gave her the ability to vaguely see the potential of the target, and would flare up whenever a particularly powerful potential was felt. During her morning stroll a week ago, she had nearly collapsed after being pressed two incredible forces, one bearing down on her, and the other strengthening her. She had nearly fainted on the spot from all the rampant energy, and only stayed conscious by retracting all of her Vis. Since then, she had decided that she must recruit both of the people releasing the energy she had sensed.

Before that, however, she had to test his personality, as there was no way she was going to train someone who could turn evil later on.

“My name is Lady Sophus, the Seer of Gridian. I have decided to take you and the one you live with as my students.”

Marcus’s face darkened, and his eyes narrowed.

“Was it you?”