After Marcus had fallen unconscious, Nekros took the liberty of observing his Terra.
Nothing else had changed except for the addition of Marcus's new mage art, [Spectral Scythe].
"Hm."
Normally, such a thing wouldn't catch his attention, but this time, something was off about Marcus's scythe.
"Why purple?"
It seemed Nekros was mostly focused on the presentation of the scythe. The god had never seen an omen possess a purple scythe before.
"It should've been black," Nekros said thoughtfully. "Oh.. I forgot about that constitution. This must be another mutation."
While Nekros was lost in his own thoughts, Marcus lied on the ground completely oblivious to his master's thoughts. He slept soundly and was blissfully unaware of the trouble he'd soon invite with the power he now wielded.
"I shouldn't have expected anything less from you since you're his son. I guess that also makes you my grandson," Nekros chuckled after saying this. "I'm looking forward to what the future holds in store for you boy."
***
Approximately eight hours after Marcus had fallen unconscious, the boy's body started to stir.
"Mhm... what?"
Marcus looked around him and noticed it was midday. The sun shone brightly over head and the back of his body was caked in dirt.
Marcus removed his blindfold and stood up. In doing so, it took his eyes a moment to readjust to the new light source, which caused him to raise his hands above his eyes to block out the sun.
"Hah... I need a bath."
Marcus had gotten used to being covered in filth and grime due to everything he'd had to deal with up to this point, but he'd still managed to wash himself in nearby rivers and lakes whenever he got the chance.
However, with him being laser focused on his training, he hadn't found much time to do so.
Now though, he'd make sure he thoroughly cleaned himself before doing anything else.
Once he made it to a nearby water source, Marcus tossed off his worn and raggedy clothes and jumped into the river. Normally, such a thing would have been dangerous due to prowling beasts within the water, but with Marcus nearing closer to the Uceris kingdom, beast sightings became increasingly rare.
It didn't take him too long to rinse the accumulated dirt and grime off himself and his clothing, so once he finished, he took one final look at himself in the water to wash his face.
He cupped his hands to grab a bit of water, but when he saw his hands he dropped the water and fell backwards.
Marcus had gotten better control of controlling his expressions, but even he couldn't stop himself from being stunned at the site of his hands.
His hands had lost a considerable amount of their color and were thinner than the rest of his arm. He could even see a faint outline of the bones underneath his skin. This ghastly effect stretched from his fingers all the way down to his wrist, and it made it look as though his hands had aged rapidly.
He hadn't noticed them while he was bathing because he was so focused on cleaning himself that he didn't pay attention to the small aches and pains he felt at his wrist and fingers. He figured he must have slept on top of them or something.
Luckily though, the deathly effect on his hands didn't seem to be spreading, but the sight was still ghastly and extremely concerning to Marcus. So much so, that he immediately tried to contact his master for assistance.
"Master," Marcus spoke while inspecting both the front and back of his hands.
"Oh, you're up. I thought with what happened last night, you'd be out for at least another three hours, Nekros stated in a bored tone. "Well I guess since you're up now we can-
Marcus didn't even wait for his master to finish before he interrupted him.
"I think somethings wrong. My hands, they're...."
"Dying."
Marcus stopped looking at his hands to look up with a confused expression on his face.
"What is that expression for? This is what it means to wield darkness."
For a moment, Marcus became unconcerned with his slowly rotting hands as he listened to his master.
Originally, he'd planned to hold off on concerning himself with last night's events until he finished cleaning himself; however, it seemed he'd have to address the problem sooner rather than later.
"Darkness doesn't operate the same as other elements like earth, wind, fire, water, or light.
"Those elements beget life, while darkness takes it."
Marcus looked down at his hands and after thinking for a moment, he realized two things.
The first was that the scythe he wielded had done this to his hands when he touched it, which must have been why his master had urged him to drop it before the effect could spread.
The second thing he discerned was that the life that the darkness took came from his own hands. This led him to the conclusion that whenever he called upon the scythe, it would gradually eat at his own vitality.
When Marcus reached this conclusion he frowned and started to suspect his master of ill intent, but before he could even entertain the thought, his master called out to him.
"Dispel whatever nonsensical thoughts you were having and summon your scythe again."
At first, Marcus was reluctant to do such a thing, but he figured his master had a reason for instructing him to call upon the exact same mage art that put him in this situation in the first place.
A similar scene occurred and a majestic yet deadly looking scythe manifested in Marcus's hands.
"Hmm.. with that amount of power, you should be able to cut a few dozen and be fine."
Marcus was confused at his master's words, but this didn't last long because Nekros then moved on to give him another weird set of instructions.
"Go and cut down about a dozen or so trees and or beasts and monsters. This shouldn't take you longer than half an hour to complete.
"By then, your hands should be back to normal and we can continue."
It took Marcus a moment of standing there to understand what it was his master was trying to get him to do. He drew a few guesses, but wasn't able to draw any concrete conclusions, so instead of standing there and waiting for the deathly cancer to spread, he moved on to begin his massacre of the forest and whatever creatures he could find within.