"Die!", a man hovering a few feet in the air screamed, hurling a ball of fire towards an unaware Marcos.
Marcos' figure blurred, reappearing behind the man and slashing down at his back, killing him in a single strike. He pulled his blade, drawing an arc of blood that splattered across his cheek.
"Damn, they're never-ending", he mumbled beneath his breath, wiping the blood away with his thumb.
"Marcos!", Milo shouted, sprinting at him from the distance, "How is it looking over here?".
"Not great", Marcos replied, keeping his gaze firmly locked on another two masked men hovering above him, "There is far more of them than I can count, I must have cut down at least a dozen but they keep appearing one after the other".
Milo's gaze drifted along the ground, landing on each of the corpses littered around Marcos' feet.
'He kills them so cleanly'.
Milo knelt down, inspecting each of the corpses while the two men watched on with caution. He ran his finger across each of their bloodied throats and backs.
'Each one dead in a single strike'.
His eyes looked towards Marcos, who had shuffled over slightly to cover Milo.
'But what's this, no souls?'.
It hadn't occurred to Milo that his power, soul harvester, would only activate for beings that he killed himself. In fact, this was the first time he had actually seen a dead person other than someone he killed himself in this new world.
It made sense to him, his emblem would be far too strong if he could simply follow Marcos around and harvest the souls, increasing his strength through no effort of his own. What made this revelation particularly fascinating however, was that not only could he not see the souls of the deceased, but he also couldn't even sense them.
Thanks to his emblem, Milo was gifted a heightened sensitivity towards the souls of the deceased. Not that he wanted that power, it was just part of the package. What made this interesting for him, was that the souls of the people Marcos had killed had already either passed on or dissipated entirely.
It can't have been more than a 5-minute window that it took Milo to reach Marcos, and usually the souls he can harvest are more than capable of hanging around for more than 30 minutes at a time.
So the fact that the souls were no longer of this world in such a short amount of time led him to believe that his emblem was more world altering than he had initially thought.
'I wonder if I can do more with it?'.
Milo looked down at his palm, clenching then unclenching his fist.
"Hey Marcos, kill them quickly", he ordered, watching Marcos immediately zip behind one of the men, slashing down at his back in similar fashion to the previous kill.
As the mans body slumped towards the floor, Milo's eyes widened as if he was a hawk watching his prey. All it took was a millisecond, a tiny instance where the soul of the man became visible, before quickly vanishing without a trace.
'Where the hell did it go?'.
Normally a soul ascends towards the sky, but this one just … disappeared, like a balloon being popped.
"Again", Milo barked, flicking across to the next man set to fall to Marcos' blade.
Again, when Marcos killed him with no real effort, the soul of the man just vanished, as if it wasn't even a part of his body to begin with. Watching this, Milo fell into thought, allowing Marcos the ever so needed luxury of cleaning up the dead bodies.
"Hey Marcos?", Milo asked, "Was there anything strange about those guys?".
Marcos thought for a moment before answering, "Not that I can think of".
Milo let out an annoyed breath and stared into the sky, "Huh? Alright then".
"Why? Did you see something?", Marcos asked, turning to face Milo with a serious expression.
Milo wanted nothing more than to just brush him aside like he normally does, but he knew that Marcos only had good intentions. He wasn't sure if it was the correct choice, but Milo came to a sudden decision that could potentially change the way Marcos viewed him.
"You know my emblem?", Milo said.
"Yes".
"Well … it's unique in a sense. Dark previously mentioned once that it was a really old emblem and stemmed from darkness itself. Well, what it really is, is soul harvester, the ability to allow me to swallow and gain power from deceased souls", Milo said, staring back at Marcos who's eyes flickered hearing this.
"Is that what it is?", Marcos replied, continuing to go about his business as usual.
"Huh? Wait? You aren't bothered by that?", Milo stammered out, unsure what to make of the relaxed reaction.
"Not really", Marcos replied, stretching his back after digging a pit and hurling the bodies into it, "I'm a creature of darkness after all, something like that really doesn't bother me too much".
'This guy'.
Milo smiled watching Marcos light the corpses on fire.
'I don't know if I should be annoyed or grateful …'.
"So, what was the problem?", Marcos asked, taking a step back from the flames spilling onto the grass.
Milo stepped up beside him, "Well, those people you killed, their souls operated a little differently than what I'm used to. When I killed someone, their souls hovered around and I was capable of absorbing them, they had almost a set time before they expired. But those that you killed just vanished, as if they weren't even part of the persons existence to begin with".
"Ah!", Marcos exclaimed, a visible light flickering behind his eyes, "I have heard about something like that in the past, although I don't believe it to be the case this time around".
He pointed his finger towards a mound of dirt, "Golems. They are typically created using earth magic and are temporarily imbued with an artificial soul. It allows them to follow orders that are more complex".
"Then …".
"But as you can tell", Marcos cut Milo off and continued to speak, "The smell emanating from the corpses are clearly human. So, they aren't golems … clearly, although there could always be another reason for the sudden change".
"Which is?", Milo asked, his curiosity beginning to peak.
"Emblems", Marcos responded matter-of-factly.
'Fucking … again'.
Milo looked at Marcos in disbelief, but after seeing his unchanging expression, he was forced to take the words with deadly seriousness.
He rubbed his eyes after they began to water from the smoke. It had gotten to the point that Milo wasn't even sure if an emblem was magic anymore, for most people it remained a basic concept, but it seemed that the more he discovered about them their simplicity was only the tip of the iceberg.
…
"Tell me Renny, what's next for you?", Ava asked with a smirk on her face, still chained to the wall.
Renny sat in front of her with his head in his hands, a broken and bloodied pair of pliers next to him. Ava smiled and spat, mixed in with the blood a tooth fell, bouncing across the floor and landing at Renny's feet.
"You tried plucking my teeth and received no answers", Ava chuckled to herself, "So I ask again, what's next for you?".
"SHUT UP!", Renny roared, climbing to his feet and slamming his fist into the bars.
Unbeknownst to Milo, Renny had continued the interrogation of Ava, and he had begun to let his frustration show through his actions. Even throughout all of this Ava remained unwavering, unwilling to speak about anything important unless Milo was present.
She wasn't sure of it herself, however she felt that Milo was her golden ticket out of the grubby cell.
"She … did Enalise say anything?", Renny asked, muttering under his breath.
"Hmmm, not really", Ava responded.
"Then!", Renny said with a glimmer of hope creeping onto his features.
"But unfortunately, that's all I can tell you", Ava said, taunting Renny as he slumped back onto the stool, the look of hope being swiftly replaced by his despair.
Ava's expression instantly changed into a sly smirk. Renny sagged back to his feet and turned to leave.
"Hey", Ava called out from the cell, her tone dropping into a more serious one, "Are you sure she even loved you in the first place?".
Renny froze, his back still to Ava he asked, "What are you talking about?".
Ava shrugged her shoulders and dropped her head, hiding the grim smirk on her face, "Well you know how it is between noble houses. Love has no place amongst the ranks even when it comes to marriage, all they care about is maintaining their own rank through any means necessary … even if that means marrying their daughter to a poor little Baron just to have a few more semi-capable men underneath their thumb".
Renny remained silent, but his body continued to shudder.
"I wonder what Pavlor would think", Ava mused, clearly enjoying her little taunting session, "Actually, I wonder if Pavlor is even …".
"ENOUGH", Renny roared, flashing to the front of the bars and hurling the pair of pliers at Ava's head, cracking it open and drawing blood, "Another word and I swear I'll kill you, regardless of whatever Milo says".
"Ooo, feisty", Ava said, her voice not matching her expression as a feeling of nausea slowly overtook her mind.
Renny watched carefully as Ava slipped in and out of consciousness. The sound of echoing footsteps from the stairs drew his attention away from her, he quickly looked back at her, scurrying into the cell and wiping away the blood the best he could before exiting and sitting back on the stool.
"The hell is going on down here", Milo asked, noticing Renny's figure hunched on the stool.
Marcos followed closely behind him, Marcos' eyes narrowed on Renny when he turned and met their eyes. The look of relief on Renny's face was almost unmistakeable, but for a reason Marcos couldn't understand, Milo chose to turn a blind eye to it and stood next to Renny.
Marcos moved up to stand behind Milo, but also to get a closer look at Ava. He had heard from Milo that they took her to the dungeon, but it was the first time he was seeing her in such a pathetic state.
As much as it pained him to admit, if he didn't show up Milo would likely be dead right now. He had belief in Rebecca and Melissa but there was no way for them to avoid Ava's emblem.
'Hold on'.
Marcos looked to Milo, then back towards Ava.
'Why did it only affect Milo?'.
He had also heard from Milo that Ava's speech appeared to have contained a toxin that was able to send him to sleep. But what left Marcos confused was why it didn't affect Rebecca and Melissa. Was it because she was moving during the time she was speaking?
No, that couldn't be it, if that was the case the emblem would become practically useless.
'So then why?'.
"Is it puberty?", Marcos accidentally said aloud.
"What the hell are you blabbering about?", Milo asked with a disgusted look on his face.
Marcos turned slightly red faced from embarrassment before answering, "Oh, no … I was just wondering why her speech drug … or whatever it was only affected you".
Milo looked at him in disbelief and scoffed, "And your genius solution to that was because I'm going through puberty?".
"Correct sir", Marcos replied.
"No not correct in the slightest", Milo spat out, unable to believe what he was hearing.
"Actually …", Ava groaned from the cell, slowly regaining consciousness, "Old man over there isnt too wide of the mark. My speech only affects males".
This time it was Milo who turned red from embarrassment. He cleared his throat, "Go on".
"My speech gets imbued with a special type of gas particle that enters and affects the male, pushing them into a state of lucid dreaming if you will", Ava explained, staring Milo dead in the eye as she did so.
"Ah!", the same spark lit up behind Marcos' eyes again, "Like a succubus?".
"Almost, except my dreams aren't sexy", Ava coughed out, "That is … unless Milo was hoping for something sexy to happen …".
"Enough", Milo shouted, turning an even brighter shade of red than before, "So why isnt it affecting me now?".
Ava shook her shackles, "These are mana restraining cuffs, quite bothersome and extremely hard to get".
Milo looked at Renny with pride, "Well done Renny".
But that still didn't answer all of Marcos' question. What really concerned him was that, if this was the case, Milo could be in even greater danger than he had initially assumed.
Sometimes he forgot that even though Milo was far wiser than his years suggested, physically he remained as a boy about to start going through puberty. As much as Milo may try, navigating all of those emotions at once was a hard task.
Milo caught a glimpse of Marcos staring at him with a look of pity from the corner of his eye.
'Why the hell is he looking at me like that for?'.
After getting even more information for seemingly no price at all, Milo made the ever so stupid decision to let Ava go. After some initial protests from Renny, even he was forced to relent and open up the cell. Ava rubbed her wrists, finally free from the chains.
She had a bright red ring around both of her wrists where the skin had begun to peel. After the initial release, she just stood there, staring at each of them as if expecting them to lead her out.
Of course, that was Milo's only option and he soon began to lead the group back up the stairs and out of the dungeon. The sun shone through the cracked window and Ava took a moment to bathe in the sunlight before continuing to follow Milo towards the main gate.
"Remember", Milo said, pushing the gate open.
Ava waved as she walked down the path, "Yes, yes, I lost to you because you are strong".
And with that parting comment, she dashed away.
"Is this really wise?", Renny said, leaning against a wall.
"Are you doubting me?", Milo asked, turning and walking past Renny.
Renny scurried to catch up with him, "No, I just believe that if we kept her a little longer we could have gotten more information from her".
"A hostage?", Milo laughed to himself, "Damn Renny, I knew you weren't the sharpest tool in the shed but that's even stupider than I thought".
Milo wiped a tear from his eye before explaining, "So we keep her as a hostage, but what happens when the Viscount mobilises his men and marches on the residence to get her back?".
Renny's face paled hearing those words.
Milo turned and tapped him on the hip, "I understand your desire to grow Renny, but we aren't there just yet. Our time will come, but for now we may have to dance to other peoples tunes … until we can fully take control of it all".
Milo stretched, "Now then, time to prepare for the royal selection".