The last time Marcus was here, the streets were silent, save for the crickets chirping.
Marcus placed his hand on the huge entrance door and paused for a second.
He could come to face those faceless humanoids once again if he stepped in… that was a possibility he was afraid of.
With slight force, the door broke off its hinges.
Thud!
The crash echoed down the dark corridor.
Marcus snapped his fingers and a few balls of flames appeared around him and his men, illuminating his surroundings.
Unlike before, the darkness didn't swallow the light from his flames.
That eerie sensation too was nowhere to be found.
Brown, Logail, and Caleb, held their weapons close to their bodies, ready to go into battle at any moment.
"Let's go," Marcus uttered solemnly.
Walking down the corridor, expecting to be ambushed on the way, Marcus paid much attention to his surroundings.
It only took them a few minutes to reach the inner halls of the auction house.
An auditorium spacious enough to contain over a thousand people.
The crimson clothes, interwoven with crystals, used to wrap the seats, reflected the light under the glow of Marcus's fire.
The last time I was here, we never made it to this place. We were transferred to another place. Why is it different this time?
While Marcus continued to wonder, his knights took in the luxury of this place.
They couldn't help but be mesmerized by the place, to the point where it made them angry.
They shook their heads at how much wealth had been wasted here.
But it didn't end there. Going to the floors below the auditorium, they came across an area that was no different from a prison.
Hundreds of cells lined up, some with blood on the walls, arrayed in Devilish Formations.
Some cells contained complete corpses, while others only had bones.
The deeper they went, the angrier they got.
"Those bastards, how could they do this to people?!" Brown said as he used his hand to cover his nose.
"Milord, what should we do with these corpses?" Logail asked.
"Gather them up and burn them. They might have been used for rituals and still carry traces of devilish energies. We cannot afford to add any more troubles to our plates."
The knights moved to carry out the young lord's order, breaking the iron bars of the cells and gathering the remnants within.
While this was happening, Marcus kept getting the feeling that he was being watched.
No.
Even more than that.
As though something deep within him was being stripped away from his very being.
"I have searched the entire building and still haven't come across anything similar to what we experienced the last time we were here."
The place seemed to be empty, but he refused to believe that.
With a thought, he activated his Rippling World.
Marcus focused on the crimson thread that was interwoven with thousands of others, and also stretched into the auction house.
Now that he was here, the connection between him and the other end of the thread became incredibly stronger, to the point where he seemed to hear faint whispers.
Marcus flinched, interrupting his concentration and Rippling World.
Cold sweat formed over his temples.
What was that? How can there be anyone in my Rippling World?
Forcefully calming himself down, Marcus looked around the stretch of what looked like an ocean with thousands of crimson threads floating about.
After a while, he found nothing.
"Could I have been hearing things?"
"No… I'm certain that I heard someone whispering to me. Was it because I was focused on the other end?"
Focusing on the other end of the thread again, Marcus began to hear those inaudible whispers.
His heart quickened, as though it was excited to hear these whispers.
This rush of excitement confused Marcus. It was a sensation that felt forced into him, one that he couldn't control…
"Milord, we've rounded up the corpses." Knight Brown said, interrupting his focus and cutting the whispers off.
Marcus opened his eyes and looked at the hill of people gathered at the center.
"May your souls find peace wherever they are. And may the hearts of those who harmed my subjects be crushed by me."
He waved his hand and one of the flames he had conjured since entering the auction house flew towards the corpse hill, setting it on fire.
"Follow me."
Following the aura of the thread, they walked into one of the cells that contained Devilish Formation Arrays.
Marcus walked up to the wall of the cell and placed a hand on it.
Tracing the formation array.
"Milord?" Logail called out.
Marcus's actions seemed a bit strange. To his knights, it looked as if he was caressing the wall.
"It's a third-grade Transference Array hidden on this wall." He began. "Third-grade formation arrays are beyond my current understanding, however, this one doesn't need one to understand everything about it. Just enough mana to be used."
The knights exchanged looks but remained silent.
Marcus had just finished speaking when he began infusing mana into the wall from the tip of his finger.
Just a few seconds in, the wall, like a screen of water, opened up into a vast land.
In this land, there was a hexagonal altar in its middle, one that Marcus recognized.
The altar was surrounded by a glaring red glow that stretched to the sky.
A river of blood in the distance, with bones floating around.
An oppressive pressure wafted out of the space, attempting to suppress everyone.
Finally, on the altar, there were twelve Faceless Humanoids lying on it.
This sight, the pressure, they all matched perfectly with what Marcus remembered. His hands trembled as fear slowly crept into his mind.
"What is this?" Caleb asked as he mobilized his Blood Force to resist the pressure.
His back was bent, struggling to stand as he resisted.
Logail and Brown did the same, as they too were being suppressed.
By the time they raised their heads to check in their young lord, they found out that he had already stepped through the wall.
"Lord Marcus!" Brown called out with worry.
But it was as if the young lord couldn't hear a word from behind.
His pupils were lifeless, as though he were in a trance.
By the time Marcus came to the altar, his mind snapped out of the trance.
His face slowly morphed into a frown as he took in his surroundings.
Marcus looked behind to see his knights struggling to move and catch up to him.
And then his eyes fell upon the Faceless Humanoids…
Now he realized where he was.
How did I get here? What had come over me? He tried to recall, while being nervous at the same time.
Before fear could overcome him, he noticed that the Faceless Humanoids hadn't moved.
In fact, they seemed harmless, like a piece of art.
Despite this, he made sure not to move, not even breathe.
Silently, he activated his [Inspect] skill;
[Low Tier Puppet. Octal Rank (inactive): Made from a corpse, stripped of identity and gender, and imbued with power.
Weaknesses: Yang attributes of equal or greater level. Greater Power. Authority.]
Reading this information, Marcus's anxiety slowly receded.
They're all inactive.
A lot of questions popped up in mind, but he ignored them and focused on what kept drawing his attention.
A small square at the center of the altar.
"That should be where the other ends of the crimson thread connect to." He whispered.
Staring at the square with his skill, a brief info popped up before him.
[A play on Cause and Effect.]
That was all that came up.
Marcus had no idea what this meant. The only thing he could comprehend or connect to it was that it had to do with Maney.
Out of curiosity, he touched the square with his hand and for a second time seemed to pause, before a blinding flash of light dazed him…