A loud and deep sigh echoed throughout the mercenary hall as a woman walked around, tidying up the place.
For one of the first times since the Greed faction's creation, the mercenary hall was completely empty. Only Jessica was inside the hall, and she was doing the routine cleanup.
"Hello, Jessica." A low and could voice entered her ears and made her jolt up in fear. Looking around, she already had her dagger in her hand, ready to stab anything and everything that got too close to her.
However, just when her blade was about to slash the person behind her, it suddenly stopped...
No, it was her body that had stopped involuntarily. She couldn't move a muscle toward the person behind her because he body simply no longer allowed her to.
"Mast-... Sir... What are you doing here?" She forced a smile and took a step back, however, after seeing Silas' silence, she began to panic.
Sweat dripped down her face before she made a hand sign and spoke-
"All H-Hail Gre-"
"What are you doing?" Silas raised a brow in confusion.
"Greeting you, s-sir." She stuttered, not knowing exactly how to reply to him.
"But you're not being controlled."
"..."
"..."
"Oh... I'm not brainwashed either, if that was what you were wondering about." Silas crossed his arms while Jessica let out a sigh of relief.
"How have you been?" Silas asked without really looking like he meant it.
He didn't really care how she was doing, what he wanted from her was a favor.
"I-I'm good. It's just that... The people have become kind of creepy."
"No shit, sherlock." Silas sighed.
"Sherlock?"
"Nevermind." Silas sighed again before raising a brow.
"Kneel." He ordered, and at that moment, Jessica's eyes glowed with a shine of green before she was quickly forced onto her knees.
"S-Sir... What are you doing?!" She asked with a beet-red expression as her voice trembled with a tinge of fear.
"Slap yourself," Silas ordered again, causing her eyes to shine once more before her hand swung to smack her across the face without a single shred of hesitation.
"Hmm. No hesitation... Seems like the collar is still working." Silas thought aloud, yet due to his order, she still couldn't stand up.
"Oh... return to normal." Silas waved for her, causing her eyes to shine before the restrictions on her body faded away.
'Slave collars huh... They're truly terrifying.'
"What happens if I tell you to kill yourself with your collar on." Silas asked.
"W-What!" She screamed and threw her blade as far away from herself as possible.
"Well, that answers my question." Silas stroked his chin. After looking at her life force as well, he could not help but nod. She clearly had the beetle's enchanting substance inside her, but the slave collar took hold of her mind and body.
The only reason she was still not brainwashed was because she was SIlas' slave. And it wasn't like this was something only Silas knew... She knew it as well. She was well aware of it, and it was one of the main reasons she was so conflicted
Should she thank him? Who would think the person who enslaved them? But he did it for a good reason, right?"
"Alright. I need you to come with me." Silas waved for her to follow him, and she did exactly as she was ordered.
***
*Ring Ring*
A bell rang when Silas entered the blacksmith's shop, and when he did, three individuals immediately looked at him. However, the blacksmith only glanced at him and Jessica for a moment before returning to his work, allowing the sound of clangs to echo throughout the entire shop as he slammed his hammer onto the piece of metal, over and over again.
Silas also glanced at the blacksmith for a moment before turning around and looking at the two sitting on a bench made out of stone.
Silas could not help but raise a brow after seeing a weirdly handsome man sitting next to Grant, however, after looking at his mana core, and life force, and sensing the pressure, Silas could not help but raise a brow.
"And who are you?" Silas asked before pointing his hand at the young man, however, there was no fear in the young man's eyes.
'I remember him...' Silas thought after being reminded of the man who was standing outside of Archie's office.
The person sitting next to Grant had silver eyes and jet-black slicked her. He could have probably been a model back on earth, but in this world, looks seemed to be secondary when it came to finding a mate... Or as normal humans call it, a partner.
"He's an ally of mine. We worked together a few times in the past, and he's just a little weaker than me. It's only logical that he would have been able to withstand the enchantment." Grant lightly punched the man next to him on the shoulder. It was clear that they were close... Or at least that's what Grant thought.
'His eyes aren't pulsing like the people outside. He's fine right now, but...' Silas narrowed his eyes again while using all his senses to make sure what he was sensing was correct.
'He's weak... Or at least that's what he want me to think.' Silas thought after seeing the topaz core in his body, however, there was something different about it.
After his little rampage, his body changed.
He didn't understand it at first, but over time the changes to his body had become clear by the minute.
Everything about his body had changed from the fluidity of his movements to the amount of strength he could output.
However, that didn't matter right now. What did matter to his current situation was the increase in the strength of his sensory capabilities.
Everything felt much clearer to him now. He was able to feel and breathe everything around him as if it was a part of him.
In a way, it had become much harder for anyone to sneak up on him. It was one of the reasons he knew Seraphina was following him back when he went to the Judgement faction for the first time.
And right now, he was using all his senses to feel the strength of the person before him, but somehow, he felt something else too.
A mask.
And beyond that mask for a completely different person. However, what caught Silas' attention was not the person behind the mask, but instead, the mana core of that person.
Because, from what Silas could see, that person had an amethyst core one step away from breaking through and reaching the next core grade.
Yet, there was something holding him back.
'Oh... What did they call this again? A bottleneck?' Silas thought before muttering a set of words that shocked everyone in the room.
"You're Eclipse, right?" Silas asked.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"What the hell are you talking about-" Grant was about to shout at Silas, but the young man next to him quickly stopped him.
"How did you know?" Eclipse asked.
"I remember seeing you when I left Archie's office. When I looked at you, I couldn't help but feel like I had met you before, though, I couldn't put my finger on it... But that is to be expected, right? Especially when I was trying to remember someone with a completely different face." Silas shrugged while Jessica simply blinked in confusion from behind him.
"Yeah... I remember that too." Eclipse chuckled.
"Then, why are you here?" Silas asked.
"I'm here to help you."
"I don't trust you."
"..."
"..."
"Fair." Eclipse shrugged. "How can you trust someone when they are always wearing a mask?"
Eclipse's hand went up to his face before he grabbed onto it and slowly began to pull.
And as he began to pull off, everyone in the room quickly understood what was happening.
"An artifact?" Silas muttered under his breath while raising a brow.
"Yes... An artifact." Eclipse spoke before the sound of cracks and meet slamming against meat entered everyone's ears.
No one really flinched when they saw Eclipse's body begin to morph as all the bones in his body shattered and rebuilt themselves, but eventually, his body stabilized.
And what stood before them was no longer a young man. Instead, it was an older man that looked like he might have been double the age of the blacksmith.
"You're... Old." Silas commented when seeing his long grey hair and beard.
"Hoho... I'm much older than you think." He chuckled, now even his voice was different.
"..."
It was much raspier than before, while his body had become much skinnier too.
However, Grant remained silent the entire time with a stupified expression on his face that made Silas want to punch him.
After a few moments though, Grant regained his ability to think before an expression filled with fury appeared on his face.
'As expected.' Silas sighed.
Grant began to lash out at Eclipse for a while, so Silas simply ordered Jessica to not move from her place before walking toward Grant and Eclipse.
Stepping in front of both of them, Silas let out the full strength of his killing intent and pointed it at Grant.
'This might be good for us.' Silas thought while looking at Eclipse now.
"I need you to explain to me what happened. Don't cut any corners. I want to know everything."
------------------
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