Targets

The Red Cohort began to walk the city to get the layout and a better understanding of the district owned by the military. Each quadrant was walled off from the other and spaced out in a way they could still have privacy and not have to interact with one another. The things were pocket cities with one bigger one. They took up a large portion of it with the regular people pushed to the side after the rich got there. But even the wealthy were not so wealthy. Like everyone else they suffered under the rule of the king. He found that they had a cache of giant automatons that could be piloted. This wasn't much different from the Tech Realm. From what they could gather these were stolen from the Tech Realm during an incursion. 

They had split up at one point and Red Demon was tasked with seeing the arena Brick spoke of. His description however was mild to what Red Demon. Saw he could see in the sand covered arena had a large blood red magic circle upon it. Below he watched as three slaves fought off a giant ape like monster with four arms with flaming fur. Littered about was bodies ravaged and ripped apart. From what he could tell these three were the last standing. First five rows of the arena were worked by the bookies. He watched with disgust as they cheered and booed at the helpless people fighting for their lives. He could see that the gamblers were not alone in acting this way. The people below could be neighbors or friends to any of the spectators here. But you wouldn't know it with how energetic and blood thirsty they acted. It was like the very building made them go mad. Red could feel a negative chi coming off the very seat he sat upon. Even he felt the urge to cheer. But he broke that spell using his Mind Element. The giant flaming ape pounced on two victims and killed them with its fiery fists. One last man remained; he held his sword firm. The crowd began to chant "KILL KILL KILL" over and over as they yelled. 

The ape then roared as the man ran at him with all the courage he could muster. He quickly died and the crowd cheered. Red Demon had had enough and stood walking down the long stairs back to the bottom floor. He walked through the crowd and looked for an entrance that was guarded. He found it with a group of sentries posted up by a large two door gate. Red Demon thought of a plan and simply walked past them, turned a corn and found a shadow. He walked through and traveled to the inner hall on the gate that was guarded. He stepped out into a dark hall and heard roars and crying coming down the hall. He followed the sound and came upon cells filled with beasts and people. He kept walking till he could smell blood. He then walked into a room of wells filled with blood. It dripped from the ceiling he assumed was connected to the arena. The blood trailed down grooves that lead further down a hall. He came to a stop when he saw a large crevice that was a lake of blood. Swimming about was vicious looking worms. In the center of the lake was the same magic circle from the arena. Behind it was a tunnel that led somewhere else. 

He could see the worms writhing in the blood causing it to boil. Red Demon decided time to leave this accursed place. What he knew for sure was that the King needed to be stopped. He was very poisonous to this city. This lake of blood had to be how he cultivated. And that began to make him think that the king could be a Bedlam user which makes this whole thing more complicated if true. 

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Smiling walked around the open market and began to stop at some food stalls. He met a nice older man and took a seat at the booth. He was served fried meat and noodles. He began to chat with the man. "So old man, can you help explain something to me?" He asked with a mouth full of noodles. "Sure son, feel free," he said, cleaning bowls. "What's with the military getting most of the real estate in this city?" He took another bite of meat. "Simple. To appease them so they have incentive to serve him. The king is not a good king. No one in this city wouldn't agree that he is. But we are common folk who have to survive the best we can. They on the other hand have the means to defend against their best interests. So to avoid any problems he appeases them" Smiling nodded finishing off his bowl. "Which ones do you think?" the old man lifted an eyebrow in confusion. "Depends on who you ask. Personally I hate them all and most who join the ranks are desperate. Even good lads I have seen over years entering into the ranks of the military only to come out rotten to the core" he cleared his throat and took a drink from a flask. "You see, mister, this place is nothing but a rotting city. It won't get better and no matter what you do to elevate the evil of this city it would only be replaced by another" Smiling seemed to get his meaning. He had been listening intently after his meal was gone. "Well old man, I appreciate you conversing with me. I have learned a lot from your wisdom. The meal was excellent, thank you" he threw down ten gold coins. The old man looked at the amount in surprise. "Son, this meal was only three gold pieces?" he said with surprise. "No, the conversation along with the excellent noodles was well worth ten gold, wouldn't you agree?" he winked at him. "Wait!" Smiling turned confused as the vendor gestured for him to come close. "Listen, you seem like a strong person and a nice fella. So I'll give you a warning: I wouldn't flash money like that around here. Liable to get jumped by the thieves that lurk in the shadows" Smiling grinned. "Oh I have no worries about that at all. Take care and have a safe night" he turned and waved at the vendor as he walked away. 

But what the old man said was true simply because Smiling knew a few men had lingered around the stall and walked past more than once. Maybe it was his fine clothes, or the fact he looked clean compared to most. Either way they planned to target him and he knew it. Only issue was even with his sharp senses he couldn't tell how many they planned to use. And he wasn't looking to draw much attention to himself even if he started fighting these fools. So he made for a dark alley that opened to an area filled with storage crates. He then sat upon one and waited. Three men followed behind shortly after he sat down. He scanned the tops of the roofs and saw three more spread out on three points of the buildings that hugged the open storage area. Smiling shook his head as he felt annoyed about this. "Give us all that gold you got! I know you got it and I'm sure someone at your station has more than gold!" one of the masked men shouted. He and the rest all unsheathed blades and were ready to pounce on him. Smiling sighed, "Normally I'm a carrying man and I would give you boys some charity. But today I think it best you learn a lesson" one of thieves scoffed and thrusted his knife towards Smiling's face. His left arm coated in metal batted it away bending the blade. He then stood up fast and drove a fist into the thief's stomach dropping him to his knees. He began to vomit from the stomach hit. He pushed the downed thief to the ground cracking his head across a crate before doing so. "Who's next?" Both his arms coated in metal he held them up in a ready stance. 

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Sun Demon walked about the streets with a line of shops. Most were boarded up, burned, or barely hanging on. But a few were pristine and had security around it. These must have been the privileged few that were able to subside any targeting from the people or the ruler. 

She turned and found herself looking down a street at smith shops. To her right was a pharmacy and a Tomes shop. She headed to the times first. When she opened the door it rang a bell. Inside was a plump young woman reading a book behind the counter. In front of her were shelves of scrolls. Under each slot was the symbol of an element. Against the far wall were scrolls for cultivation. She approached that side of the room first. She began looking for a new technique. She had ranked up long ago but was at a stand still. She scanned for those that pertained to rage or light. Her berserker ability was something she had been keeping at bay. What if instead she controlled it over suppressing it. She could have killed her father before she killed Samantha. That guilt weighed heavy on her. 

The girl behind the counter looked up from her book and without moving said, "What are you looking for? I only ask because you seem deep in thought?" Sun Demon shrugged. She was right but also wrong. "Looking for a technique for all around growth. Body, mind, Soul Core all able to be elevated at the same time?" She asked. The girl pursed her lips and then closed her books. "Now you have piqued my interest. I take it you want something unorthodox then?" She set the book down and came from around the counter. She was shorter than Sun Demon but she had a presence that made her feel giant. She gave a strong aura of chi and looked to be Rank Four. She tapped her chin with her finger and walked over to a case pointing to a few special scrolls. The case had a glass top so they could be seen. The chest was sealed with a spell and the scrolls when she looked down at them had a lot of chi radiating off them. There were four in total and all were different colors. "Now what we have here is something unique to this realm. Most of the residents here possess similar elements. There are two that many here have and alas are majority leaders in combat techniques to spells. Those being Flame and Bedlam. Many don't know this, or it's not something public but this realm holds the largest population of Bedlam users. It's rare outside this place, but not here. So those who were different had to make their own way" pointed to the scrolls again. "These babies are four scrolls that when used will absorb into your Mind Palace permanently attaching to you for life. You grow, it adapts and grows with you. It's a living spell that basically becomes your partner in a way" sun Demon stared at them with awe. Not even the Tech Realm thought of this. "So these are master made?" She asked.

 The girl nodded, "Very much so. The purple one is called Oni Kiss; technique is the absorption of souls and converting that chi to facilitate elevating meridians, Mind Palace and Core. It's a bit extreme I'll admit" she pointed to the next scroll that was gold, "This one is called Light Bearer; it was made by a Light user and this requires a lot of time and endurance. Absorbing as much light as you can and in doing so pushing through your limits reshaping Core and Mind. But it's not something that is fast. It might be the most dangerous one in this case. If you don't do it wrong you will die. The red one is Dragon Roar; this feeds off rage and violence. But it's all about elevation and control. Rage is a forest fire if left unchecked, but this technique requires you to take control of that destructive power. And the last black one is a bit more I dunno how to say it…gross. This is called the Flayed Man; this causes one to shed skin and further your body hardens, each peel is painful which leads to focus and strain on the mind. And with each new skin chi is absorbed through new pores" she gagged from that explanation. Sun Demon nodded, 'My luck has picked up. How is it I ended up finding what I was looking for? "So how is this not only a technique, but a spell as well?" The girl nodded. Sun Demon chuckled, "How much for the Dragon Roar?"