Chapter 77

"G-get away from me!"

The boy quickly flung off his cloak, revealing his scarred and mutilated body. There was a huge gash below his waist that was leaking blood, and lots of smaller cuts going across his back and legs.

His wings flapped nervously as he stood up and came into a defensive posture, his expression still as fearful as a few moments ago. I could tell he was surely terrified and fighting for his life.

"Calm down, please."

I took a callous step towards the boy, but he didn't take this gesture lighty. He lunged at me quickly and landed a powerful punch straight to my face, sending me back into the floor.

"Damn it."

I felt blood running between my teeth and out of my nose and mouth, but I quickly wiped it away and stood back up, my gaze still fixed on the frail boy.

"You pack a punch I'll tell you that, did you defeat that hunk of meat you were fighting?"

The boy's face flushed up as he nodded quickly, and he raised his bandaged fists above his face, guarding himself.

"I didn't come here to hurt you."

I suddenly raised my hands above my head, removing all aura of determination and strength from my body as I continued to stare down the boy with a gentle expression. The boy began to lower his fist, commending my gesture as one of friendship. But I guess my intuition was flawed. He rushed at me much quicker than I could calculate, and kicked me in the chest hard, sending me back into one of the booths.

I gritted my teeth as I felt the fractured shards of flask bottles dig into my flesh. My vision was starting to get blurry and I felt like throwing up. But I stood up again and raised my arms away from my body, still attempting to get the message through to him.

"I told you to get away!"

The boy shouted in a shaky voice, before flying at me once again and swinging at my face. I dodged the attack before pulling out the 4 armed statue from my pocket, tapping him on the shoulder with it.

Before I knew it we ended up inside the throne room, and I turned to look at the terrified silver haired boy, who was shaking in trepidation from my sudden move.

"W-where am I? Get me out, please!"

His voice was more shaky than a leaf during a thunderstorm. He pulled at his white hair as he began to pace around the room quickly, muttering undistinguishable things.

I kept my distance from him to avoid charging an emotional reaction. His panic and sudden environmental change probably set off an emotional reaction.

"I promise you, we're safe here, now calm down."

The boy's frantic gaze whipped over to me, and his gray eyes began to lose their feeling of fright and terror.

"What do you want from me?"

He asked, his voice now having completely lost its terrified accent. I stared at the boy with a calm expression for a few moments before speaking up in a calm and reassuring voice.

"I need to talk to you about a group of people."

"What people?"

I could feel the atmosphere grow a little colder as I swallowed my calico and began to speak further.

"Have you heard about a group of people that work with Nullifying bullets?"

His eyes narrowed at the bleak mention of the bullets, and his white wings began to rustle behind his back.

"I-I hate them, why are you asking about them?"

Behind his question I could sense something within him, something I believed to be a tiny flicker of trauma and abuse. At this inference I continued to ask him questions to drive a response.

"Do you work with them?"

He nodded, as he stared into the floor while putting his hands behind his back and fiddling with his fingers.

"I-I do in a way. It's a long story..."

I took a few steps back and sat on the throne near the window, my expression turning curious at the boy's statement.

"Go on..."

"W-well, I'm like a money generator for those people. They found me and recognized my fighting prowess, so they trained me, and set me up into the Dark Market's underground gambling empire. I eventually found out that they specialized in the creation of Nullifying bullets using the money that they earned from my multiple victories."

I gazed down at the gash under the boy's waist and approached him with a calm expression to avoid another emotional outburst.

"Hold still for a moment."

I knelt down and pressed by hand against the gash. The boy's eyes closed tightly as he bit his lip, trying to numb the pain with a distraction.

I read earlier in the history books that the historical projection ability that The Umbridge possessed was its one differential property of the depravity path. After he semi-accommodated the differential property of the path, it left residual effects on anyone who witnessed it that's above Order 9, therefore granting me the ability to a tiny extent.

I reached by hand out and clenched my fist, and I began to feel a warm and gentle cloth begin to manifest within my palm.

"Wow..."

The boy's eyes lit up with curiosity and wonder as I created the cloth. This ability could only dwell so far into the past depending on the Order of its user, so I remanifetsed the cloth used to seal my "stab wounds".

I reopened my eyes and began to wrap the cloth around the boy's torso, sealing the wound to prevent any further bleeding.

"Thank you."

He looked down at me and smiled brightly, before staring down at the sealed gash and almost jumping with joy.

"Y-you're welcome."

I felt immensely awkward from what I just did, but something within me overpowered that sensation, the new sensation was one of empathy and connection.

"Now, do you know anything regarding the location of those people? It's information I really need."

The boy smiled at me while spinning around, feeling the healing sensation already kicking in.

"Ok, ok. I'll tell you."

Suddenly his expression turned more contemplating. His eyes narrowed in thought as he bit his thumb, pacing back and forth.

"They're always on the move, always anywhere, everywhere. You'll need to be smart and cunning if you are to track them down."

I suddenly got an idea in my head, and I approached the boy and carefully put a hand on his shoulder.

"I have an idea, do you want to help me?"

He nodded, blinking a few times in curiosity. I looked the boy in the eyes for a while before speaking.

"Uh huh."

"Good, but I'll need you to put on a little performance. You have connections to the cultists, and due to your sudden disappearance they're probably looking for you as we speak here."

"I just want you to wander around the Dark Market until you spot them looking for you, then me and my group can finally catch them, ok?"

The boy nodded with a little uncertainty, I could tell the overall idea of a boy wandering around the Dark Market alone among the numerous criminals and other wretches would be a bad idea, but the boy has certainly beat many asses so I figured he'd be able to handle himself.

I envisioned the 4 armed statue, and before I knew it we ended up back in the Dark Market. The boy looked around a little, but he quickly pointed in a random direction. Among the scattered crowds I spotted more cloaked figures, similar to the boys.

"Hmm, it appears we don't need to execute the plan."

I saw Shinso and Sabestian standing exactly where they were before we left, their worried expressions remained on their faces, but quickly faded upon the realization that I was safe.

"Does this little thing wanna kill you anymore?"

Sabestian asked as he looked down at the boy and scratched his chin. I looked at Sebastian and smiled warmly.

"No, I was able to calm him down."

"Good, I didn't wanna treat you anyways."

He let out a hearty chuckle before ruffling the boy's hair, making him blush heavily.

"There he is, ma'am."

A voice called from the crowd, suddenly the group of cloaked figures charged over to us, shoving through crowds and waving away curious people.

"Hello sir, we've noticed you're with our boy?"

Sabestian looked towards the group of cloaked figures, before rolling his eyes and swearing under his breath. The boy immediately hid behind me, using his white feathery wings as a makeshift shield.

"I know, but first I have someone who'd like to talk to you."

He suddenly turned to look at me, before nudging me over, the boy then immediately hid behind Shinso, clinging to his leg like a baby koala.

"You supply the overground bar with Nullifying bullets, and you make them. What are the ingredients?"

The group leader, a figure with a skinny waist and long hair pulled down his hood. Tahoe was a woman with long brown hair and sharp green eyes.

"You want our valuable information? Hard pass."

Her voice was sharp like a blade, similar to the knife I had in my coat, which suddenly reminded me of what Aspen said about this group.

I suddenly took out the knife from my pocket, and I felt my gut sink when I sliced it over my pinkie. The finger fell to the ground with a quiet pap. Shinso, Sabestian and the boy all looked at me in fear and surprise as the woman knelt down and picked up the appendage.

She tucked it into her cloak before laughing.

"I see someone's aware of the deals within our group, although I'm confused on why you couldn't have just given us your blood instead."

"What!"

I had to hold in my surprise and anger from lashing out, but it was easy since the pain of my lost finger was flooding my entire body very quickly.

"Y-yeah, uhm...now tell me about the Nullifying bullets please."

The woman chuckled at my request, before backing up and ordering 2 of her bodyguards to walk over to me. They carried a small case in their hands, and they opened it a few feet from me.

They each took out 2 nullifying bullets from the cases. The bullets looked much different from the ones I regularly saw, they had a red hue embedded with them and were inlaid in obsidian.

"The ingredients in these are something even I'm unaware of. But back in the day when these were a lot more popular, you could walk into your local apothecary and get the recipe for only a few Lumin."

"Then it sounds like you're out of luck, boy."

She suddenly turned to the boy hiding behind Shinso and shot him a predatory and intimidating glare.

"Come, your next match is in 10 minutes."

She commanded coldly, reaching her trimmed hand out for the boy to take. The boy's wings ruffled, and I could sense a new emotion begin to surface within him, rage.

"No!"

The woman was taken aback by the boy's sudden yell. She gritted her teeth and her eyes were filled with fury. 

"You will come, do you want me to feed you tonight?"

Suddenly the 2 cloaked figures standing beside her took out metal pikes, pressing the button on the handle which caused sparks of electricity to flow through the air.

"You're gonna hurt the boy I see?"

Sebastian looked towards the group and pulled his sleeve up, revealing toned and well done arms. A snarky smile formed on his face as he faced the group.

"I will if you don't step aside, brute."

She snapped her fingers, suddenly the 2 men lunged at Sebastian, but he saw this coming. He stood back before grabbing the 2 men by the head, and slamming them together like street fruit.

In a moment, his bulky feet connected with the woman's chest, sending her back into the dirty floor. She then stood up quickly and landed a powerful hit to Sabestian's groin, making him hurl in pain and fall to the ground.

She then looked towards us and licked her lips in an almost pedophilic manner. She then grabbed the pike from the unconscious man's hand and swung it at Shinso, delivering a painful shock to his arm.

In quick retaliation he kicked her in the chest before lunging forward and locking her with his hands and slamming his head into hers. But the woman didn't move, or even falter from this attack.

Her veins started to glow an illusory red color, and she punched Shinso hard in the chest with surprising intensity, sending him back into a nearby stand.

"You, step away from the boy!"

She commanded. Her voice sent me into a cold stare, it wasn't angry or filled with rage, but rather desperation and concern. I looked towards the boy and put the pieces together when I saw his worried expression.

"Is she your mother?"

I asked him. He looked towards me and nodded, his lip quivering. I took this to my heart and realized more about the dynamic between them. This woman was treating her own son like a tool, a way to make more money and expand her creation of the Nullifying bullets.

"What kind of mother treats their son like this?"

The woman's scowl grew at my question, and she took a protective step forward towards the boy.

"He's adopted, but that doesn't mean anything less."

She suddenly leapt at me, clawing violently at my body and face. I managed to dodge a few attacks using my somewhat amplified precognition, but the sudden blast of crimson energy put me off guard.

It hit me straight on the forehead, sending me back a few feet. I felt a burning sensation in my forehead from the impact, but it quickly resided as the symbol on my forehead started to glow a bright red.

The woman looked at me with confusion, taking a few steps back in confusion and fear.

"A-apocalypse?"

Just then I realized the symbol on my forehead was totally visible now, and everyone could clearly see the symbol.

"Wait!"

The realization hit me, but it was too late. The woman exploded before my eyes, sending a canvas of blood, tissue and organs all over the place.