Chapter 113

[Third Person's PoV]

After spending the entire night and some of the morning with Sherry, they went their separate ways as they both had things to do.

Cid appeared before Claire. "You called?"

Claire nodded, beginning to pout. "Because of your actions yesterday, I ended up winning."

"Why are you complaining then? You're welcome," Cid replied.

"That's not how I wanted to win, and you know it," she glared. "That's why I want you to make it up to me!" she demanded.

Cid just turned around and started to walk away with his hands in his pockets, ignoring her.

Claire jumped on his back, wrapping her legs and arms around him, and then began to rock back and forth.

"Come on! Please! You owe it to me! Let's do something together, please, just like when we were little," Claire pleaded, laying her head on his shoulder and giving him puppy eyes while pouting her lips out in a sad manner.

"Pretty please, little bro."

Cid let out a sigh. "You're so annoying… Fine… do you have any plans already since you're so persistent?"

"YAY!!" Claire yelled with her arms in the air in excitement while her legs still clung to his torso.

Cid scoffed and shook his head at her childish nature.

"And I do have plans. We're going to hunt down the progenitor of vampires, 'The Blood Queen.' There has been an increase in cases of vampire underlings attacking the city folks of Lawless Town."

Claire jumped off Cid and gave him a smirk. "Come on, let's go." She surrounded herself with lightning before disappearing from where she was standing.

Cid's hair ruffled along the strong wind Claire created. He then heard Claire break the sound barrier.

Cid let out a sigh before he surrounded himself in his purple lightning, disappearing from where he was standing and creating the same effects as Claire, catching up to her.

"Why are we running there? I could have just teleported us there," Cid asked telepathically.

Claire just shook her head as Cid and her maneuvered their way through a thick forest.

"Oh, silly brother of mine, then that would have taken the whole purpose of the trip away. We're having a one-on-one adventure together; the journey to the destination is part of the adventure. Just teleporting there would take away the fun of it."

If someone were to witness them from above, they would see two streaks of lightning side by side running in a zigzag pattern.

As they ran towards Lawless Town, Claire saw Cid with a ball of darkness concentrating on it.

"What are you doing?" she asked curiously.

"I'm studying my dark magic… I'm trying to see what other types of power I can develop with it," Cid explained.

"And what type of powers are you trying to develop?" she asked, wanting to dig at his thoughts since she hadn't really seen much of Cid training before. All she saw was him doing the bare minimum in front of others, and as this was the first time she saw him train seriously, her curiosity was at an all-time high.

"I'm trying to develop a power for each of the seven deadly sins with the power of darkness. Thanks to the mana core I created, apart from my ability to manipulate shadows, I gained the ability to wield both dark and light magic. And when my mana core merged with my Black Heart, the things I could do with them became almost conceptual, thanks to the infinite mana."

The only reason Cid was explaining everything to Claire was to see if saying his thoughts out loud would lead him to ideas on how he could fully develop them further.

"Right now I'm thinking about Gluttony. Darkness is something that swallows all that it touches, making it all a part of darkness," Cid explained

Seeing that Claire was confused, Cid summoned a ball of darkness and a ball of light. He made the two balls touch and clash into one another before the ball of light started to become absorbed in the ball of darkness, causing it to grow.

"I want my body to be that ball of darkness, everything that I'll consume to become a part of me, causing me to grow," Cid declared.

"..."

"Will I ever be able to catch up to you?" Claire wondered with an uneasy expression.

Cid just smirked. "Sorry, sis, I'm always going to be getting stronger. One of us is destined to be the weaker one out of the two, and it surely isn't me."

Claire started grumbling before the two of them came to a complete stop as they arrived at the gates of Lawless Town, which were practically in shambles.

As they entered, they saw how huts and shanties lined the roads. They could smell the foul stench of garbage that permeated the air and witness the sloven citizens meander around town.

In the far distance were the three enormous skyscrapers towering above its streets: the White, Black, and Crimson Tower.

From his shadow, Cid detected Yukihime's purple glowing eyes appear and looked towards the White Tower.

'Don't worry, we will see her soon,' Cid said reassuringly, causing the eyes to slowly close back up and disappear into the shadows.

As they walked through the town, people tried to sell them multitudes of items… and people.

"Oh my, if it isn't the most beautiful woman in the world!" one of the slave sellers called out.

"Oh, you're talking about me?" Claire asked, looking pleased.

"But of course, who else would I be talking about!"

"He's lying to you," Cid said in a plain voice before moving his head back, dodging Claire's fist as it was about to strike him.

After images of Cid's plain face appeared as after images of Claire's fist followed right after.

"*huff* *huff* You fucking bastard."

"I know you are, but what am I?" Cid teased.

'They're strong… which must mean they must have a lot of money,' the slave trader thought greedily.

"Excuse me, my lady, I know the perfect thing that would compliment your beauty… these slaves. Just imagine, you holding their leashes while they crawl and worship the very ground you walk on," the slave trader said, enticing Claire.

Claire then started to imagine it, but her imagination took a weird turn. Instead of it being the slaves presented to her, she started to imagine Cid on the leash and on the ground while she sat on his back like a seat while holding onto his chain.

Cid flicked her forehead, causing her to release a pained noise. "What was that for!" she cried, looking at Cid with a glare.

Cid just looked at her in disgust. "You know what that was for; I saw what you were thinking, get that image out of your head."

Claire started blushing as she was caught red-handed. She grabbed Cid's hand and pulled him away as she was embarrassed to stand in front of the slave trader, causing him to be aggrieved at the thought of losing two potential customers.

The two continued exploring Lawless Town, accidentally making it a date between the two until the sun started to set… and the Blood Moon Started To Rise.