"Bet you a dozen G that they're newbies tryna act killer!" A grungy, male voice cackled from just beyond my sight.
"They've got the getup, but it's a little too clean, no?" Laughter echoed out from my left, and a scarred face appeared out of the smoke and fog. It was a teen, probably a year or two older than me. "How about we rub their faces in the dirt, bro?"
"Yeah! We should!" The earlier voice joined in the latter's laughter, "Let's start with the little shorty over here."
A hand fell onto my shoulder in the blink of an eye. The fog churned and was swept away by the sudden motion, revealing a rugged man with bulging muscles who stood at 6 feet 10 inches tall.
He towered over me, but... his grip was weak. E rank perhaps?
'Mundane,' I thought to myself, 'He is, by no means, a match for the geniuses in Aethercaller.'
His talents were a ceiling he could not breach. With all that muscle, he could only exert force up to that point. It was frankly, quite pitiful.
But such was reality.
A laugh thus sprouted from my lips while I sent a glare through the man's eyes, "I may the weakest of the three, but I am by no means weaker than you."
My fist moved in a flash, drilling into the man's gut and lifting him off his feet. With a spark of gold in my other hand, Aventine appeared. I sent him piercing straight into the man's heart in half a breath.
Ssuk—!
Poison seeped into the man's bloodstream, spreading swiftly and without mercy. When the man's body slammed against the concrete, I knew that he had just about perished.
My eyes then moved to what was likely his younger brother. Despite the scars, I could tell that their features were similar. Moreover, their earlier speech had already betrayed their relationship.
I rushed forward and my body blurred with my movements. A spray of blood spewed into the air, mixing with the fog and smoke and letting out a scent of rust.
I watched as the teen clutched his throat in a desperate attempt to keep the blood from flowing. He tried to speak, but all I heard was gibberish.
He was gargling blood, making every attempt at speech useless.
"Disappointing," I mocked them with a playful smirk, "The criminals who walk on the edge of a knife outside the Underworld Pockets have way more bravado than you cowards who only know how to hide."
I then watched as the teen's eyes turned bloodshot in defiance. He screamed at the top of his lungs and through the blood in his throat, making for a wretched bone-chilling sound.
But that was his last hurrah as Aventine transformed back into his original form. A small black hole appeared in front of his little snout, warping space and pulling in all things.
[ Devour ].
The two human bodies disappeared into thin air along with everything they owned. After that, Aventine simply returned to being a tattoo around my wrist as if nothing happened.
"That should establish us as people with a certain amount of strength, right?" I glanced behind me and looked at the duo who were unfazed by my actions.
King nodded in reply, "We won't be bothered as much from here on out as long as we know our place."
"That's good." Rose pointed in a certain direction, "I felt a familiar fluctuation of mana in that direction. It's a special resonance that only members of Kyokto's royal family are aware of. The situation is dire."
She breathed in a deep breath, resolution had sprouted on her beautiful face, "It's likely my sister."
I pursed my lips. If I wanted my life to go much easier, I needed Camellia alive. She was nothing like Jiontar who I could simply leave behind to die.
She was essentially another main character. Someone as powerful, if not more powerful, than Virion himself.
A pillar of humanity who was vital to my own survival.
Just hearing that there were traces of her here in Aelthrie's underworld had lifted an immense weight off of my shoulders. I would be able to relax a bit more and focus on my plan to release the World's System prematurely.
If Camellia became active at this point in the story, then with the current cast of characters, I would have nothing to worry about at all. There would only be a few bumps in the road here and there, but nothing large enough to deviate from the original plan.
'As expected,' I sighed inwardly, 'The most volatile part of my plans is the beginning. But... once the snowball begins, it will roll into an avalanche.'
I just needed it to start properly.
...
Moving through the fog-ridden cityscape, the three of us navigated through bustling criminal crowds. We avoided hitting or offending anyone in our path, treading carefully so as to not insult a hidden expert.
Any type of hindrance was going to be a great detriment to our endeavours, after all. It was better to slow down and be cautious if we could avoid getting slapped to death by some angry elder.
Thus, we eventually arrived at the scene.
I took one glance around the area and spotted a multitude of corpses sticking out of the fog and literred about. They lined the streets as we advanced.
Puddles of blood were growing with each passing second while the chaotic sound of battle echoed out a thunderous hymn. I could hear spells and steel, weaved together to form an orchestra of noise.
The smoke and fog churned like a stormy sea all around me as mana surged like a tide. A body even came flying towards me, and I had to dive to the side to avoid getting hit.
A thought crashed into my mind just then,
"Was Camellia supposed to be this strong so early on?" I muttered as my gaze continued to scan the area.
I looked in awe at the wake of blood and bone that obstructed my path forward.
"Is this... my sister's doing?" Rose asked, similarly in shock.
"No," I answered instantly, "It cannot be."
My eyes landed on the wounds of a corpse. I caught a whiff of poison and tasted its bitterness with Sight-Sent Senses. The wound itself was caused by a serrated edge.
This carnage... It was the work of someone else.