"Fuck! What's with this life?!" There was no subtlety or simplicity in my sixth life, all things were complex.
"You'll figure it out, Pазрушитель, you've done it millions of times already," he whispered.
[What the heart desires, it takes!]
[You have gained a new skill from [?????????: ????? Mr. ????? World], [Golden Tongue]: Mastery of the ability to charm with words. You will always be on the winning side of a deal, barter, or negotiation, and your words will be more attractive, especially to women.]
'Bingo!'
I waved my hand and left the store, slightly pissed off I couldn't get any more info from Mr. World.
I placed my flask inside the vest and took out a cigarette.
*SNAP!*
With a snap of my fingers, a small flame appeared, and lit the cigarette.
"Pheeew~ I missed this,"
[Flash-Quest! [The Cards Of Fate]: Head to the old divination store.]
'Of course.'
I looked across the street and found the sign for the divination store, [Grandma Lin's Fate Readings].
.
.
The bell rang as I walked through the door. The interior was dark and shabby, an old woman sat across a small table right at the door.
"Sit down." She said.
I obliged.
"I'm here to take a peek into my fate," I said.
She took a deck of cards into her hands. And tossed it into the air.
The cards were suspended by a violet energy and floated around in the shape of infinity.
"Names."
"One should suffice. John Gray."
A card descended like a meteor and struck down on the table with a loud thud.
On it was a strange illustration of a human heart surrounded by a universe of planets and stars, its energy appearing to control all.
"Three cards concern your fate. This one is [The Soul]: If you do not conquer it will devour you and all else in existence. As for the other cards.."
"How much?"
"Not money, a task. My daughters and my granddaughter went to buy some things in the market, they have not returned and I fear for their safety."
"What could happen with the massive amount of guards and cameras?"
"The brighter the world the darker the shadows. My cards….I hope they are wrong."
"I'll find them, give me your hand."
She seemed confused but still handed me her palm.
"[BloodHound]!"
The spell activated and a single drop of blood floated out of her palm and landed on the ground, in a few seconds the blood fused with my Mana, and a BloodHound the size of a large dog formed. Its entire being was an ethereal crimson color.
"Go," I commanded and it ran out of the store.
As surprised as the old lady was, she didn't dare to ask.
I followed the bloodhound out and through the streets.
.
.
.
Eventually, it stopped at a well in the darker corners of the city. I looked around and couldn't spot a single camera or guard, it felt planned.
'Interesting.'
The Bloodhound leaped into the well and I followed suit. The descent was short and we nearly instantly landed. I released my Mana to light the path and a winding tunnel was revealed.
Thankfully I didn't need to navigate on my own and just had to follow the hound.
.
.
.
A while later, the winding paths stopped and a dungeon door was revealed. The hound dispersed, indicating I had arrived at my destination.
I pushed the door open and walked in, a small laboratory was revealed, and one side was full of cages.
'The granny's girls.' I spotted the women in the cages along with some other people. The three men in lab coats looked at me and sighed.
"One of the successors? *Sigh* you're not supposed to be here, leave before you get hurt-" Before he could finish speaking my hand grasped his throat. My veins were filled with rage and I grit my rage to try to contain myself.
The smell in the air was something I knew well, too well.
"The vials, is that [Serpent Blood] inside them?"
[Serpent Blood] was a drug derived from demon blood and created to destroy humanity, in my fifth life I sacrificed myself to eradicate it after it ruined the lives of those I held dear. Its appearance in New Pandora was a stain on the name of Damian Black.
"Y-yes but how do you-" One of the scientists answered.
Before he could I ripped out the throat of the first scientist and tossed him to the side.
"[Blood Thunder]". The crimson thunder chased the other two and scorched them to death in an instant.
'Another mess.'
I walked to the cages and opened them to free the people but they froze in place out of fear.
"I'm John Gray, son of the former head of the family. You're all safe now."
I took off the mouth bindings on them and they finally relaxed.
"The rest of you leave, the daughters of the divination granny come with me." I pointed to the other door that led to a pair of stairs.
"Mother sent you?" They wondered.
"Yes, wait for me outside, I still have something to do."
.
.
Once everyone left, I started examining the lab. The corpses in the cages were black as night and in an almost smoke-like state.
'Their souls are gone, it's definitely [Serpent Blood], that means the demons are here as well. *Sigh*.'
I burned the cials, destroyed every trace of the [Serpent Blood] and then I checked through the the letters and records. Everything seemed to point to a higher-up in the Gray family defecting to the demons.
'An elder at least, what a mess.'
Thankfully they hadn't managed to weaponize the [Serpent Blood] into gaz form yet, so the virus spread and the infectious states hadn't begun yet.
{Security Clearance Increased To: Lvl 2}
After burning the entire lab, I kept the records and left to bring the girls back to Granny Lin.
…