Chapter 76

I could feel the cold and calculating glances of those in the market as me and Shinso passed through. I highered the collar of my coat around my nose to coat the inscrutable smells that emanated from god knows where. 

"I knew you couldn't handle the smell, to make things worse a whole lotta narcotic addicted losers live here, and they love to lay their droppings anywhere they please. So I recommend watching where you step."

"Great."

The booths we passed by were almost terrifying compared to those in the overground market, the booths down here sold literal human blood, fingers, or just appendages in general. And I couldn't look much longer as we passed by the castration booth, from which I heard loud screams and the cutting of flesh.

"You're telling me the police wander around down here and don't mind?"

I whispered to Sebastian, who looked back at me and didn't say anything. Instead he quieted me down. I looked around again and saw surprised and intimidating glares coming in my direction at a more frequent pace, probably because I mentioned any type of law enforcement. 

"I guess they don't like the police even if they do come down here for some supplies every once in a while."

The lights hanging overhead in the market slowly faded as he headed down a long flight of stairs, and entered a much darker and grotesque section of the market. This part of the market was nothing resembling a shopping center, we saw cages littered all over the place, and multiple underground matches happening within them.

Me and Shinso both watched in shock as we saw a tiny dog get ripped apart by a much bigger one, its howls and whimpers reverberating through the air as blood splattered across the cage. I suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder, and when I turned around I saw a man who was shorter than me. He has long untrimmed hair and sunken eyes, which flickered with a tiny amount of lust.

"C-come here, why don'tcha?"

He stammered out, a wicked grin forming on his face as he suddenly lunged at me, reaching for an area of my body which wasn't open for any form of discussion. But before he even took 3 steps a powerful blow landed directly to his face, and a large amount of packets and bags fell from his coat, which were obviously drugs.

"Get back, asshole!"

Sebastian roared, making the short and scrawny old man flee in fear, leaving his bags of drugs lying on the ground. He kneeled down and picked up the bag of narcotics, giving it a quick snuff before discarding it into a nearby fire, one that was lit within a garbage bin. 

"I told you to watch out for the narcotic freaks, you're lucky he didn't throw his own shit at you."

I looked down, and surely only a few feet from my boots was a small pile of human fecal matter that was swarmed by an abhorrent amount of flies. When me, Shinso, and Aizawa first arrived at Oboro's apartment we did see a sealed up bag of poop, but seeing it in the open like this made me question the overall decency of this place. But I did see a booth where they'd literally cut off your penis for ritualistic purposes, so I figured it's normal down here.

"So, about the whole reason you wanted to come down here?"

Sebastian asked, I looked at him for a few moments before speaking quietly, avoiding the floating ears of the murderers, psychos and degenerates.

"We're here to find the source of the nullifying bullets, and find out where they come from, who makes them and why."

Sebastian then turned his gaze forward, looking past the large amounts of people gazing into cages and watching brutal fights go on, before pointing to a tiny corner of the market, one that not many people wandered around.

"There, I know a few people who might be able to help you."

As we all moved closer to the dark corner, I heard the matches slowly get more and more disturbing the father we went from prying eyes. Above the flurry of cages, there was a large window with multiple figures sitting behind the glass.

They either were making bets or getting drunk off of beverages worth a month's salary. I looked into one of the cages and saw a match happening between a young boy, who looked about 10 years old, he had white wings on his back and his eyes were absolutely filled with terror.

His opponent was a towering figure, a large bulky creature with talons the side of steak knives. Its body was already lacerated with numerous cuts and scars, but they didn't seem to penetrate the many layers of flesh that it possessed.

"Don't look, they'll beg for release."

Sabestian said coldly as he grabbed me by the arm and continued to pull me. I watched as the boy continued to fight the tall, bulking creature, but upon seeing his efforts land to no avail, it made me want to cry for him.

"Ok..."

The lights above us gradually dimmed, and the chaotic ambience of the matches also dissipated with our movements. The area that Sabestian led us to was dark and filled with a mountain of boxes, craits, and other objects and things.

Sabestian then took a few steps forward, his eyes fixated on a door standing behind a small amount of boxes. He knocked 3 times in a particular rhythm. After a few moments of awkward silence, a tiny slit in the door was opened, and a pair of gaunt, sharp orange eyes glared at him, narrowing slowly.

"Sabestian?"

The voice was crinkly and rough, but also had a gentle edge hidden somewhere. Sabestian nodded slowly and stepped back a few feet, allowing the figure to open the door.

The figure behind the door stood about 5'11, about Sabestian's height. His fiery eyes darted over to us and he opened his mouth a little, before he spat on the ground.

"Who are these mice?"

He asked, crossing his lanky arm as he glared at us up and down with a cold stare.

"Friends, ones who need your assistance."

The overhead lights flickered dimly, casting illusory shadows that bounced off of the man's face as he studied us carefully. He had a crooked nose, messy, blonde unkempt hair, and a few warts on his cheek.

"Well, kids, this ain't the charity corner, so I'd recommend you speak quickly if you don't wanna leave this place missing a finger or two."

I gulped loudly, but I managed to stutter out a few words.

"W-we're here to discuss the Nullifying Bullets that Sabestian keeps revealing from under here. Sabestian said that you were a person we could talk to."

The man put out his hand and shook mine roughly, a sarcastic smile forming on his face as he grinned. A cockroach scurried out of his hair and fell into the ground, before running into a hole in the wall.

"It's a total pleasure to attend to a maggot like you, truly."

His tone was just as sarcastic and choppy as his smile, but his grip on my hand remained unyielding, much to Shinso's visible discomfort.

"Now, what's the first order of business?"

He asked as he pulled me into his office, which was cluttered and filled with items that made me retch. On his desk laid a dismembered human hand, which had electrodes attached to it, making it give subtle twitches every once in a while.

"Sabestian said that I should talk to you, why?"

The man's eyes flickered with amusement as he took out a small piece of moldy food from his pocket before chewing on it loudly, crumbs flying all over the place and onto the table.

"I see, I heard something about bullets, I know a lot about those small, metal bastards."

After putting the food back into his pocket, he folded his clammy hands with untrimmed nails and glared at me curiously. 

"The shooting club above us utilizes Nullifying bullets, do you know who the suppliers are?"

"Suppliers?"

The gruff man asked, leaning in and raising an eyebrow. I could smell his awfully putrid breath, most likely coming from cigarettes, or the old food he just ate. I gulped and nodded slowly, the corners of my mouth twitching into a solemn frown.

"Yes, who gives us the bullets?"

"We don't do much of any "giving" around here, it's mostly stealing, gambling or anything you can do to get what you want. The chumps who own the bullets are a tiny group of underground cultists, they're hard to find, but if you give 'em' a little dough, maybe a little pleasure, then they'll come runnin your way, hear me?"

"Cultists?"

The man nodded, chuckling as he pointed to a corner of his room, which has a series of dismembered fingers lying on a table overhead a dimly lit gas lamp.

"That's what happens to those who don't pay 'em, they'll take your fingers as trophies, maybe worse!"

He laughed again amidst a series of hoarse coughs, before unraveling his hands only to show that the untrimmed fingers he had were actually semi-prosthetic, coated with certain materials to garner the appearance of regular human fingers.

"So you took back your own fingers as "souvenirs"?

The man nodded, rapping them against the table lighty, his eyes scanning my appearance up and down with an almost predatory glare, his fiery pupils locked on all of my areas and features.

"You better have some dough, your body looks like quite the trophy."

"My name's Aspen by the way, yours?"

"I-Isaac, it was nice to meet you I guess..."

Aspen nodded and hummed a tone of approval, he suddenly stood up and approached a closet in the corner of the room, he opened its large wooden doors before shuffling through the numerous items inside, before pulling out a large butcher knife, coated in rust and old blood.

"By the way, I recommend you take this. The cultists will make you cut em' off yourself, you hear me?"

I hesitantly took the knife and gave Aspen a weird, semi-authentic smile.

"Thanks, I guess."

"No problem, Maggot."

Aspen gave me a weird smile, before casually approaching the door and opening it, allowing me to exit. After I stepped back into the chaos of the Dark Market, I saw Shinso and Sabestian looking at me with looks of a mixture of fear and curiosity.

"Apparently there's a cult down here that makes the bullets, we'll need to find them."

"A cult of all things, this keeps getting better and better."

Shinso groaned as he approached me and gazed down at the large knife in my hands, his indigo eyes lighting up a little.

"What's that for?"

"The old creep gave it to me, apparently the cult we're looking for loves to cut the limbs off of people who don't have money, or don't want to pleasure them...whatever that means."

Shinso nodded slowly, the uncertainty not leaving his face as he gazed down at the butcher knife which I held tightly in my hands.

"Well then, did Aspen give us directions or anything?"

I sighed as I put the knife into my coat.

"Unfortunately no, maybe I should ask him."

Suddenly I heard the door behind us open, and Aspen stepped out and stretched his arms above his head, before rolling his neck and speaking. 

"The cult doesn't have any particular location, they migrate all over the Dark Market. They like to blend in with others, they could even be watching us right now."

Aspen looked around quickly before shutting his door and heading back into his secluded office.

"Do you think we should ask around or something?"

Shinso asked, turning around to look at Sebastian with a raised eyebrow. The young man shook his head and sighed.

"I don't think that's a logical option, if you ask for information around here, you'll either get it or you'll get gutted. And trust me, I've had some wacky experiences down here."

Aspen then pulled up his shirt, revealing a large scar running horizontally across his lower abdomen under his major organs. 

"I simply asked for the time, those bastards."

He chortled quietly, before lowering his shirt and looking back at me. He then crossed his arms and leaned back into the rusty wall, his eyes flickering with curiosity and anticipation.

"So boys, I think we should move on. We have our information, but we just need to find these cultist freaks."

"I'd suspect you knew more about these guys, is it you coming down here in person to get the bullets, or do you send someone else?"

Sabestian shook his head.

"No, I usually send Barclay down here to retrieve them. I asked him about his whereabouts, but he says that he doesn't even see them. So I assume they must be well woven in secluding their overall identity."

"Behind you, behind you."

I didn't even question the voices, and I immediately turned around. But I only saw the ongoing cage matches and brutal fights, mixed with the ambience of screams, slurs and cries for mercy. Among the crowd I saw a figure shrouded in a black cloak that covered all of their features, they stood about 5 '4 and were slightly trembling.

"Stay here for a moment, I think I have a suspect."

I heard Shinso and Sabestian walk behind me as we all carefully weaved and maneuvered through the waves of crowds, gamblers and drug addicts. I continued to keep my vision locked on the cloaked figure which remained unmoving among the crowd. 

"Hey, you."

I called out. The cloaked figure turned to look at me, but I didn't see any resembling features under their cloak. They then darted their head around frantically before they started to dart away very quickly.

I quicked my face as I shoved aside a smaller individual, making them fall into a ring full of wild animals, who quickly ripped them apart. I didn't pay much attention to the carnage behind me, and I continued to pursue the figure that was running from us.

"Wait, kid!"

Sebastian called out from inside the crowd, lunging over a group of tall shoplifters and landing behind me, before grabbing me by the arm.

"Do you even know if you're pursuing the right guy, you probably terrified them!"

"I could care less if I scared them, my intuition told me that they're a person we're looking for!"

I tugged free of Sabestian's grip, before lunging forward and tackling the cloaked figure. I heard a tiny grunt from them as I landed on top of them. Around me, a lot of people were staring at us, but they didn't pay us any more attention as they turned back to their illegal activities. 

With a quick pull, I ripped down their hood, and a pair of silver eyes looked into mine with pure terror. It was the winged boy from earlier, the one who was fighting in the cage, and they looked extremely injured.