"Was what me?" Lady Sophus was puzzled. Had he sensed her looking at him that day? 'There's no way he could have seen me,' she thought, 'I was completely hidden…. Unless he's stronger than me?'
"Did you take her?" Marcus growled yet again.
Lady Sophus was known to be rather perceptive, and putting two and two together, she realised what had happened. Her other student had been taken recently, however as much as she wanted to, she couldn't go out guns blazing to find her.
This was because of 'The Pact of the 4 Kingdoms', which basically said anyone at the Titan + rank couldn't partake in regular battles and wars due to the high destructive power of their attacks. If a Titan rank fighter went full power, they could take down cities in single blows, and nuke kingdoms in the blink of an eye.
But there were other ways for them to achieve what they wanted, such as taking students, raising their strength then having the students carry out their will. This was exactly what Lady Sophus wanted to do with Marcus and the other one who lived with him, and his situation had only played out to her advantage.
"I can help you get her back, if you want. If you become my disciple and join the Gridian Kingdom, I'll give you something that will boost your strength."
Marcus was interested. The woman before him clearly wasn't average considering she could change forms like that, and if she really could raise his strength then he would be benefiting. If he was going to become her disciple, however, he'd have to recognise her strength.
"If you can raise my power to at least a Gold I, I'll do it."
Marcus knew the actual chances of her raising his power that drastically on the spot was basically zero unless she was actually who she said she was. In that case, learning under her would cover a lot of things he was lacking, like money, connections and power in general.
"Okay then, child-"
"Call me Marcus"
"Okay, child, charge your Vis into this power pack."
She handed him a black and purple pack, with a spiral shaped on the front. The pack didn't match the colour of regular packs, which would change colour depending on the rarity and have the rank inscribed, and seemed rather unique and strange. It didn't give off any Vis aura, but rather absorbed it, leaving an eerie presence to those who could sense Vis.
The guards of Lady Sophus were sweating profusely, in fear of whatever was going on with the pack in their Lady's hands. Vis energy was often affiliated with Life energy, so for something to absorb it terrified them.
Marcus, however, couldn't as he had never activated a pack, and thus didn't have the base knowledge that came with opening your first pack.
"What are the requirements?"
"Don't worry about that. Just activate it."
In truth, Lady Sophus had no idea what the requirements were. There was no writing on the back of it where the requirements were supposed to be, and although countless things were tried, the pack never accepted anyone.
A common theory in the country's high ranking personnel was that the pack would only accept a certain Vis nature, as the book would sometimes send the person trying to activate flying, and other times just float out of their hands.
Since she had seen such an incredible fortune and potential radiating from him, she figured it was worth a try to give him and bring him into the Gridian Kingdom.
She intended to have him official sign to join the kingdom for 10 years if he managed to activate it, and if he showed any intent to try and run away, she would simply kill him.
Still rather sceptical, Marcus hesitantly charged his Vis into his hand, then into the book.
Initially, there was no reaction, and the pack remained as dull as it was before, then started to glow. It was a sickening radiance that seemed to grow, absorbing all the surrounding Vis and sucking Marcus's Vis dry. Marcus fell to the floor, screaming in agony, and Lady Sophus was lost for words. She hadn't expected the book to be so aggressive!
Tendrils of darkness grew out of Marcus's back, latching themselves onto anything nearby containing life energy. Shoppers ran away, screaming and seeking cover. Some tried to fight off the tendrils, but once they were attached they wouldn't release anything. The guards of Lady Sophus were doing better than the civilians, using strikes of light and fire to deter the tendrils from devouring them. Lady Sophus didn't have to do anything, as the surrounding Vis was doing everything it could to protect her, and the tendrils had decided to take an easier target.
All the surrounding enchanted weapons, power packs, armours, magic metals, potions, herbs and even people had been sucked dry, falling to the ground a dishevelled piece of flesh.
Marcus had long since fallen unconscious, and there seemed to be a strange entity in control of him.
"More. I need more…." It whispered, before leaping up into the air using its tendrils to propel itself.
Lady Sophus was still in shock. There was no Vis being released by the creature that had taken over the boy, but the power it released was astronomical. Whilst she was still capable of taking it down, she'd have to deactivate one of the 5 seals she had placed on herself to stop people around her suffocating from her pressure.
"Q-Quickly! We mustn't let him get away, or everyone is in danger!"
Lady Sophus and her guards leapt forwards, enhancing themselves with Vis as they sprinted towards the hole that the Creature had left in the wall of the building. The guards of the black market were also mobilising, and were also setting out after the trail of the beast.
Carnage had broken loose outside of the market, with bodies strewn everywhere, and items, books and foods had too been absorbed, leaving dry residues and scrap metals on the ground. People ran around shrieking and building fell, crushing countless civilians. The creature had only grown since it escaped, with the initial two tentacles now approaching twenty.
Suddenly, the creature stopped, and its tentacles returned to Marcus's body. An aura of void was released, but couldn't be felt through the regular means. It spread for several hundred miles, before setting on something. An island in the middle of the ocean that seemed to contain multitudes of Vis that hadn't seemed to have been located for hundreds of years.
The beast spread out wings made of a similar substance to the tentacles it had just absorbed, and it leapt into the air, departing before anyone could make a comment. The people had, however, engraved the image of the monsters face into their mind, despairing ever see it again.
The day was later known to the people as "the Night of the Tendrils", and was told to children as a way to scare them into not going outside at night.
The creature was now at open sea, and was gaining on the island, which was now in its sight. The speed it flew at broke the sounds barrier, and it was about to arrive at the island, before it got attacked by tendrils of Vis coming from a Vis barrier surrounding the island.
They were blue and moved in an elusive manner, shrouding the monster that had taken over Marcus's body in a sphere of light blue Vis. If an expert had been there, they'd have turned tail and run, for the Vis coming from the barrier was an incredibly pure and dense Vis that many of the continental powerhouses themselves would lack.
The beast tried to resist, rapidly absorbing the Vis of the barrier, but found itself powerless against the barrier's strength and regeneration faster than it could devour. Perhaps it was because the host it had taken was too weak, or maybe because it had been trapped for so long, but either way, the beast fell unconscious, defeated.
Marcus's body was gently left on the island shore, the barrier reforming itself and closing off the island yet again.
Far into the distance, there were fishing boats looking up, trying to find the location of the fight that had just happened, but there was nothing. They could've sworn they had seen an island, but now? There was nothing there.
The fisherman returned to catching their fish, and the world returned to its quiet paradise, unbeknownst of the young boy that had been separated from the world, left unconscious on a beach.
*Author Note* Everything, including the actual power of the ranks, will be explained in the next "arc", so be sure to stick around! :D
Also, leave some feedback on how you're finding the book in the comments :D