Alex watched this happen with intrigue in his eyes. The rest of the group proceeded as if this was a recurring thing. He walked towards Marcel. When he tapped his shoulder Marcel almost flinched. "Hey, what was that just now? Is the team leader some kind of big short I'm not aware of?"
"The leader will tell you when he is ready, I'm in no position to talk about his past or current life". Marcel quickly caught up with the two. Once the team made it to the camp, they saw thousands of Jumpers. Many ethnicities and cultures from how they wore. Voices filled the air, laughter and the crackling of the camp fire.
As the team was walking by, one of the Jumpers caught on to them. He quickly tapped the guy next to him and pointed him towards Alex and his team. Most Importantly, they seem to be focused more on Bruce.
"Hey is that the rumoured Cursed child of death?"
"I thought he would be taller and bigger with all the stories flying around"
"Do you think he has emotions? I heard that his Mystica stripped him of all his humanity, now all that remains is a cold heart and death"
Alex could hear the whispers and it was as he guessed. His team leader has an interesting past. So interesting in fact it brought fear to all those in the camp. In the masses of people one individual was currently enraged when he saw the team get here. He is none other than the young master of the Carasiel Jumpers Mercenaries. Not a big faction but they were growing in fame.
Hailius was in a competition with three of his brothers to inherit the faction when they grew up. Unfortunately unlike his brothers, his comprehension was quite low, making his level lower than them. When he heard about the chance to go to a dimension where his flaws could be brought bare, and he might even get his hands on Treasure that could enhance his comprehension.
He started to plot on eliminating the weaker Settlements to decrease competition. As for the big factions and Settlement, he figured they might want to do him a favour or perhaps pay a price. They might already have something that helps them increase their comprehension. So now he was surprised that one of his targets got away. And to make it worse, the cursed son of death is here.
It doesn't take a Genius to figure out what happened to his people. And these weren't just any people. They were his cousins who wanted to help him, so he sent them to the route, the weakest settlement of them all. Who would have thought they sent their heaviest hitters.
Now he will have some answering to do to his uncles and aunts.'I have to get back at them somehow, I have 10 people going with me, even death would have a hard time taking down so many'
A devilish smile formed on his mouth. On the other side of the came, a young master of the Remsy family just received an order from the head of the family.
'This is shocking, the family head rarely involved himself with things concerning the outside world'
He opened the message on the connector and read the contents on it. As he read his face changed moods multiple times, those around him were even even wondering what exactly he was reading.
'What I'm getting is there going to be an entity with white hair, red skin and wings. Target it and not other demons that will appear there. I feel like these old bones finally want to kill me. Wait, the reward is I get to read from the family's secret advanced theory of plasma energy. No way!'
Jumpers from the same family tend to get similar power even if they are not the same. Their gene sequence uses the same patterns as their predecessor even though there would be slight chances because of the extra genes from the parent from outside the family.
The advantages these families have is that they have an extensive library of books, and hired researchers to help them better understand the theory behind the laws of their Mystica. So now the young man has been granted access to such extensive knowledge. With it he should break the 99th level and finally become one of the heavy hitters of his country.
The family would even be willing to get him consumable treasures that would make it easier for him to learn the knowledge. The reason the families don't just allow their youth to enter the library and read is because if they do not understand the knowledge they already possess, new knowledge might conflict with it and the Mystica might break the bond or worse, swallow the Jumper till they comprehend or die to increased knowledge resulting to increased exposure to energy.
Clovis discarded the fear he had before, the greed of power became his new motivator. When he raised his head he saw his team of 5 staring at him trying to make sense of his emotional rollercoaster.
"Well do I have good news for you guys…"
While that team was busy planning their new strategy, a mysterious figure approached the group and stood in front of Bruce. Bruce's face went from neutral to slight anger.
"Brutus what brings you here?"
The mysterious man took off his hood, behind it came out a man with similar features to Bruce. He appeared to be pale with eyes devoid of emotions. "Brother, father has sent me here to give you a massage. Finally you will get a chance to return to the family after many years. Mother is quite happy and looking forward to see you soon"
Marcel and Trister got a worries when they heard that, they knew everything about Bruce and his past. They knew how it affected him and the mental trauma is had cost him.
"Walk back and inform them that I refused. Brutus I'm quite thankful of our parents, the exile they imposed on me wasn't a punishment, but was a gift. I wish someday perhaps you would get a chance at it, little brother.
I thought I was lost on that cold night in front of the gate with nothing but the clothing on my back. But I have gained far more than they could ever give despite their wealth"
Brutus could hear that the words his brother spoke came straight from his dead heart. His face turned to stone. He looked Bruce in the eyes.
"If you don't plan to come back… They plan to change the recipient to Suzie"
Bruce walked closer to Brutus, His face inches close to his ear.
"Do you know what happens when I break past 99th? I'm no longer the child of death. I become death. Don't let me come down there and collect. Even they aren't immune to death. Even though they are undead, Mine is not the simple kind."
Brutus felt a chill in his spine. It was as though death was actually the one whispering to him. He took a step back.'"Brother, though I don't doubt your words, you should remember that this is not something any of us has any control over. If it were possible I would volunteer to be the recipient but unfortunately you and Suzie are the only truly dead ones."
Alex's eye grew twice in size, he thought it was just a condition of his power. He didn't expect Bruce to actually be dead.
"She won't be dead for long" Determination was evident in Bruce's words. Brutus could tell that no matter what he says, his brother had already made up his mind and it won't be easy to change.
"Ok, if you need anything, I will be with the team our family put up" Following that he left. The group of four appeared as though it was the smallest of the bunch, they took minimum literally. They found a camp fire with fewer people and joined in. Marcel and Alex put up the tents. They were now going to wait till more Organisations bring more people.
They waited till 8 pm in the evening, the sun just sat. So no more teams will be expected to come. The many small camp fires brought day to night, no one was crazy enough to sleep in forest infested with the fallen.
In the tents centered in the camp. The Chief commander Brinen came out. Each foot step felt purposeful, The thousands of Jumpers around camp fire turned their heads towards his direction.
He walked towards a stack of wood. Stacked so tall it dwarfed all the tents around it. With a snap of his finger, flames came to life in his hand, then he proceeded to throw it inside the dry woods.
When the fire caught on, it made the other camp fire look like stars surrounding the moon. The jumpers took that as a sign to get near