The scream crashed into the place where Lux and Merlin stood. It was so loud and piercing, as if the scream itself were a steam-powered, metallic locomotive.
Lux took two simple steps back, hesitating whether to run or wait. Then, he turned to the hatless wizard and, with a hint of unease in his eyes and words, asked:
"Wizard, where did that scream come from?"
Merlin remained outwardly impassive, though inwardly he was dying of curiosity, fear, and sleepiness. Curiosity to know where the scream came from, fear of the unknown, and sleepiness... from being lazy. He took a step forward and then said, feeling curiosity devour his fear and sleepiness:
"Come on, Lux... let's investigate."
"Are you crazy?" Lux exclaimed, reluctant to walk.
"The craziest people are the future visionaries of the world," Merlin replied without turning around.
Lux rolled his eyes and started to follow Merlin. The two slipped away into the thick, strange undergrowth of the verdant mushroom jungle. Then they crawled toward some bushes, before hiding behind one of the mushroom trees and peering out to see what was happening, their eyes scanning the dark and bloody landscape.
A pool of blood spread with relentless fury, erratic and uneven, clinging to the ground with silent urgency, as if it had an innate fear of detaching itself from the sweet calm the earth provided.
A young, female body lay cold and motionless on the ground, blood—from stab wounds to her stomach—staining her clothing and the phosphorescent grass beneath and around her body a fresh red.
Beside the inert body lay a large number of steel-tipped arrows and a sack of them. Items that absorbed the blood of their former wielder, also turning red.
Looking at the corpse with faint intensity, a young man with black hair and light blue eyes, whom Lux and Merlin recognized as Sunday, stood. He carried one of the arrows, but its tip was dripping with blood instead of the entire body.
The darkness intensified, making every shadow seem darker and every light seem brighter. Every mushroom touched by the blood of the dead young woman became dazzling, so much so that they didn't even glow their usual neon green, but rather the neon green blended with the raw, crimson blood red.
For a few seconds, nothing happened, no one moved, no one willing to make the first move or utter the first word. The silence was so heavy it could crush a rock.
Then, Sunday turned slightly toward the mushroom tree where Merlin and Lux were hiding. Then, he turned sharply and completely, aiming the arrow in his left hand at the tree.
"Come out!" Sunday ordered, the blood from the arrow trickling down his hand until it became a droplet, then exploded against the ground as if it were a death threat.
Trembling slightly, Lux emerged from the tree's shelter, followed by Merlin.
Damn... this guy looks so black with a weapon.
Realizing it was Lux and Merlin, Sunday lowered the arrow and slid toward Lux.
"Hey, you've got an arrow stuck in your shoulder."
Lux almost doubled over with laughter but held it in.
"I knew it, I just didn't want the wizard to waste his magic moss and get mad at me."
Merlin punched Lux in the shoulder, giving him a look that said: "Hey! You might be right, but you're still insulting me."
Merlin sighed and shook his head, then scanned the bloodied body on the ground from head to toe. The wizard raised an eyebrow and moved closer for a better look.
"Sunday, why didn't you take the Centrum?"
Sunday exhaled with a newly acquired heaviness.
"I didn't have any sharp, cutting object. Besides, if I used arrows, the Centrum might break."
Hmm... the Centrum can be broken if pulsating pressure is applied, that's interesting.
Merlin activated his Aura and conjured a golden knife. He first cut through the filthy rags of the poor dead girl, careful not to cut too deeply, before plunging the knife into her chest.
After a brief struggle through blood and flesh, Merlin achieved his goal and extracted the Centrum. He then passed it to Sunday, knowing that this power didn't belong to him.
Sunday took it, turned it over, and examined the Centrum, searching for any imperfection or flaw. After finding nothing, he almost put it in his mouth, but then something occurred to him.
"Lux... what rank are you?"
"Uh, I'm... rank 11, why?"
"Hmm..."
Sunday froze, lost in thought.
"How long have you been a Sinner?" he asked.
Lux thought for a few seconds.
"Um… a month, almost two if my memory serves me right."
Sunday casually fiddled with the Centrum.
"And… how much do you know about Sinner powers?"
Lux almost backed away from the questioning, his mind wavering, unsure whether to answer or remain silent. Although his intelligence and awareness weren't half as sharp as his companions', Lux knew perfectly well that there was information only he should know. For example, his knowledge, powers, and weaknesses… especially his weaknesses.
After ten long, silent seconds, Lux spoke.
"I-I know the basics, which are the Paths and Ranks, the terminology, the types of Paths, and the Rank levels."
Sunday smiled knowingly and placed the Centrum in Lux's left hand, then looked at him as if he were betting on a game of dice.
Lux's pale eyes widened in gratitude, and his mouth sucked on and savored the bitter taste of the Centrum.
The bitter taste quickly spread through Lux's body like poison. His veins bulged, nearly bursting, turning a deep, pale yellow. A sharp pain pierced Lux's chest as if he'd been impaled, making him scream in agony.
Sunday and Merlin exchanged glances, not with fear, but with joy at their companion, Lux.
Lux collapsed to the ground, vomiting and clutching his head. Millions of frenzied laughs danced in his mind, driving him mad. His yellow veins returned to their normal color, but that yellow traveled across his chest, becoming a brand etched there.
"Shit... What the hell was that?"
Lux lowered his head, still dazed, but what he saw left him so bewildered that his daze vanished. On his chest, glowing a faint, almost shy yellow, was a mark: a flower, entirely yellow from stem to petal.
"Wait, that means..."
Merlin smiled.
"Congratulations Lux, you're ready to rank up. You can suck Sunday's dick."
Lux stared at the mark on his chest, his face a picture of bewilderment.
"C-can I... rank up?" Lux's hands trembled, and his eyes widened in ecstasy. "I can rank up!"
Sunday sighed and leaned back against a mushroom tree.
"Yes, you can rank up. You just need the materials for the ritual, and the ritual itself... you owe me one, Lux."
Lux smiled inwardly, knowing that his Rank 10 name was "Comedian" and that the materials could be easily obtained in a place as mystical as the mushroom forest.
Smiling, Lux leaned back against the same tree as Sunday, closing her eyes...
Minutes earlier, about 30 meters away.
Nero's POV:
Nero was walking in silence, her head bowed in pain, a heat spreading from a finger mark on her left cheek. Clinging tightly to her back was Kōri, who glared at Nero with a hint of hatred.
"You slapped me," Nero said, wanting to rub her left cheek, but her hands were occupied carrying Kōri.
"You deserved it for calling me fat."
Nero turned her head to face Kōri, her eyes flashing in the darkness with a touch of impatience.
"For the gods... Damn Kōri, I've told you a billion times you're not fat."
"But you called me a sack of potatoes!"
"Hey, don't misunderstand me, I just said you were, I mean, really heavy."
Kōri glared at him with such hatred that her veins were visible from afar. Then, she calmed down slightly and a wicked smile spread across her face.
She leaned close to Nero's ear and whispered, "Nero, my hand itches."
A shriek pierced Nero and Kōri's eardrums, causing them to fall to the ground and cover their ears, their agonized whimpers drowned out by the shriek. The shriek quickly transformed into a thunderous scream.
After several horrifying minutes, the noise ceased.
"Argh!" Kōri groaned, clutching her broken leg.
Nero knelt before the blue-eyed girl, activated her aura, and with great sorrow, created a small piece of cloth.
"Stay still..."
Kōri nodded, taking her hands away from her broken leg, which had already turned purple in one spot.
Nero made a tourniquet with a piece of cloth and used the other piece to bandage the wound of the poor white-haired girl.
"Thank you, Nero..."
Nero turned toward the direction the scream had come from, undecided whether to go explore or stay and look after Kōri.
"Nero, help me up and let's go see what that was."
Nero looked at her strangely.
"Kōri, you're hurt..."
"Just help me up and walk."
Nero sighed and took Kōri by the arm, pulling her close so she could lean against him. Then, the two of them started walking toward where the scream had come from. Kōri tried to hide her pain from Nero, but sometimes it was so intense that it brought tears to her eyes.
When she fell off Nero's back because of the scream, she was forced to support herself on her injured leg, worsening her condition even more than before, and now she couldn't even bear the pain.
After walking at a snail's pace for about ten minutes, they reached the source of the scream. They quickly hid in one of the mushroom trees, and then Nero peeked out.
Nero's red eyes scanned the surroundings and he spotted three young people leaning against a tree, a pool of blood, and a corpse.
"Are those Sunday, Lux, and Merlin?"
Nero narrowed his eyes and looked more closely. Then, with a more relaxed smile, he picked up Kōri and led her toward the group of three.
Lux was the first to notice the two of them.
"Wow, looks like the couple has arrived..." He paused, staring at Kōri's leg. "Kōri, your leg is a mess."
Merlin rummaged through his pockets without even looking at Kōri. Then, he turned and stared wide-eyed at Kōri's leg, as if he were looking at an exotic animal.
Then, he put his hand to his chin and began to whisper to himself.
"Maybe with Black Spring Lotus... no, it would be ineffective because of the severity of the wound, besides, it's only for physical ailments. Maybe with a drop of Ruutz blood..."
Sunday raised an eyebrow.
"Why can't you heal it with moss?"
Merlin raised his hand to his face.
"That type of healing is only for piercing wounds... but if we get even a tiny drop of Ruutz blood, I could heal it."
Kōri leaned against a tree next to Nero.
"Ruutz?" Kōri murmured, closing her eyes.
"It's like a strange mix between an owl and a hawk, only red with orange eyes..."
The five of them remained silent, leaning against the tree. Kōri was simply trying to sleep, Lux and Sunday were having a quiet conversation, Merlin was reviewing ways to heal Kōri, and Nero... Nero was restless.
For a while now, he'd had a bad feeling, as if a cataclysm was about to happen.
Suddenly, the world simply vanished; everything went black, so much so that not even the slightest glimmer of light appeared...