"Alright, before we begin, I might as well ask, is there any sin you absolutely can't forgive?"
Serlina answered at once
"Betrayal, any and all kinds of traitors"
A few moments passed before James answered
"Any sin that has to do with children"
Mark looked at Serlina, since the two had met, she had switched to a more general jaw augmentation than the set of furious jaws, plus her tail had shrunk again
'Those gas station pills don't last, do they? Well, it's properly just a battle augment that's detachable anyhow'
Turning his gaze to James, Mark saw him visibly flinch. Well, that was understandable given how he had cut off the poor dude's arms before sticking him in a 'pickling jar' a few light minutes from Towo station for a couple of days
"Alright, let's get started then"
Serlina nodded before she silently sent a message through her bionic spine augmentation, a few moments later the first group of 5 walked in. These were all lower-ranked members of the Iron Snakes and were part of Mark's agreement with Serlina
"Let's start with you"
Mark walked over to the first person and put his hand on the man's shoulder, quickly feasting off his negative emotions before he moved onto the next person, then the next however he didn't move on from her, not before he grabbed her by the neck and shook her violently to the side snapping her neck instantly
"That's one traitor down"
Throwing the corpse aside Mark continued under Serlina's watchful gaze, after Mark finished feeding on the first group of 5, the now 4 people exited the room and another group of 5 entered. Like this Mark fed on person after person and by the end of the first day more than a dozen corpses littered the room, but more importantly he had managed to feed on half the employes of the Iron Snakes
'I feel kinda funny…'
The reason Mark had even made this kind of deal were the realisation he had made when he had last been on the lake between realities: he needed to feed and now he was begging to see why
'...'
Holding out his hand Mark gazed down at it as he casually changed its appearance while he tuned what laid below slightly, then a moment later a spark of white lightning flash from his thumb to his index finger
"Heh…"
A wide inhuman smile spread on Mark's face for a few moments before he restored his appearance and turned to James, who had remained to watch over him while Serlina had returned to work
"I'll continue in a day's time."
"...Alright, I'll pass word to the boss"
Mark nodded before he walked past James and made his way out of Metallurgy Developments LT's main office, waiting for him just outside the building were Nathan, just besides him were a grey plastic box, the package Mark had received from the gunsmith
"Let's go"
Nathan nodded and watched Mark pick up the package he had been guarding vigilantly for the past half day, Mark noticed his gaze and spoke
"It's properly not a pipe bomb, but it's definitely contraband"
"I know it's not an explosive, I had a bomb squad check it a few hours ago"
"See? I told you"
"...You do realise I am employed as a security officer, right Mark?"
"Are you going to arrest me?"
"No"
"Then don't worry about what's in the box"
"Alright"
Sitting down on an open seat in the interstation metro Mark opened the package and found a stack of double-sized magazines along with a fresh barrel for his ballistic rifle, also there were two boxes of custom ammunition included in the package. Nathan gazed at the quite illegal contents of the package Mark had just opened on a crowded public metro and asked
"...How did that even get through the logistics system without being flagged?"
"No idea… Oh, this box is incendiary ammo… This one has hollow points
Opening up the boxes of ammo like a fat kid after a long and fruitful trick-or-treat trip Mark continued looking through the package when he received a message from the gunsmith
[What do you think? Pretty neat, right?]
"Yep"
[They're all loaded with my custom powder blend, I adjusted the makeup after analysing your massacre to increase barrel and gas assembly durability, general penetration and range have suffered a bit as a trade-off, though. Fire off a few rounds from each box when you get a chance]
"Alright, I'll go plinking once I've finished up my deal with Serlina tomorrow"
[Boo~ Well I guess that will have to do, what are you going to do in the next 24 hours then? Jack off 37 times?]
"Sleep"
[Boring! Well I guess that's acceptable too… Try not to shoot up too many crowds in your dreams]
"Don't worry, I won't"
[Alright then, I'll catch you later]
-
Floating in the empty space of his mind's eye Mark drifted around, he was deep in meditation
'Power…'
Reacting to his desire the first power showed it to himself, the power of change, indeed he had the power to change not only his appearance, but also the makeup of his body this was his birthright
The second power was that over gravity, his ability to be unhindered, to float and fly freely, that was the power he had been granted for being born in this reality
The third power was that of annihilation, the power the white lightning that had been granted to him by surviving its strike in the other reality
'I see, so this is the result of feeding… I need to feed more…'
It became clear to him now, if Mark continued to feed then would only grow more powerful, it wasn't just some abstract concept to him either. It felt like his entire presence became more defined and entrenched in reality the more he fed
'... In that case, it is time to pay back a long overdue debt'
Mark's eyes snapped open at once as his mind returned to reality, he found himself floating around freely inside the private hangar. No one was there to brother him since he had depressurized the entire hanger before going to sleep, looking at his console he found that he had been asleep for a while longer than the original 24 hours
'To think I would sleep for 9 days…'
Touching down on the floor Mark opened his hand and recalled his blade, watching the sword for a bit Mark showed a smile and asked
"How are you, or well, how am I?"
Since he had fed on several thousand people, he now remembered what his sword was, it was him, a part he had split off himself and moulded into a blade. While separate, it was still him
"Which solves the mystery of how you followed me back…"
Walking over to the entrance to the private hanger Mark initiated the repressurization of the room as he idly spun his sword around by the hole in the hilt, a few moments passed before the whistle of the blade sounded out, as air returned so did sound. Mark picked up a backpack and stepped out from the hangar. He looked around and found Nathan standing a few meters away
"Hi"
"...I suppose hoping you would choke is a futile dream"
"Yeah, didn't I already tell you I don't breathe in the first place?"
"I don't believe so"
"Well, I don't, so naturally I can't choke either… Well, nevermind that, show me to the pilot's guild"
"Which one?"
"The one with the white stone floors and obnoxious android running it, of course"
Nathan nodded and took out his personal console to look up the route before he paused and asked
"What is your business there?"
Mark showed a smile before he answered casually
"Murder, aggravated assault if they roll over without a too much of a fight"
Nathan blinked twice before he let out a deep sigh and began leading the way while getting word out to his colleagues and the broader security forces, meanwhile Mark took a seat on the metro and opened up his backpack and pulled out a double-stacked magazine and a box of ammunition. In an act of inhuman dexterity Mark quickly switched to loading a magazine with a single hand while he typed on his console
"I'm awake"
[That took some time, did your snooze not go off or something?]
"I just needed some more rest than I thought"
[Why do you sleep in an unpressurised room?]
"Oxygen feels irritable on my skin after a while. It's nice to scrub it all off sometimes"
[Right of course, tell me if the voices tells you to blast off into a star so I can claim your earthly belongings first… So what are you shooting up this time?]
"One of the pilot guilds, the mercenary guild"
While Mark was busy chatting with the gunsmith Nathan watched Mark pull rounds out of the box with his thumb before dragging it against the side of the magazine and finally loading it from the top with his ring finger while he used his thumb to retrieve the next round for a few moments as his fingers moved unconsciously trying to replicate the technique. He could properly do something similar, but nowhere near as fast
"Help me load a few mags and I'll teach you the trick"
Nathan blinked twice as he snapped out of his daze, by now the car they were sitting in had emptied out, as public transit tended to do when some lunatic started loading magazines on the metro
"You do realize I'm a security officer, right Mark?"
"Do you want me to teach you or not?"
"...Hand me two mags"
"Good man"