Meanwhile, Damien was scouring the streets in the dead of the night looking for Valentina. He knew that if Valentina left the forest, the only place she would wander would be the city since that's the only place he had told her about.
He saw a dim-lit shop where an old man was selling some common items. He approached the shop vendor and asked, "Excuse me, have you seen a girl with pink hair passing through any time recently?"
The old man's bored expression immediately lit up on seeing Damien, as he got up in a jittery motion, "Senior Azrael...what can this lowly one do for you?"
Damien said in a slightly frustrated tone seeing how this old man didn't even hear what he asked, "I said did you see any little girl with pink hair recently?"
The old man's heart trembled when he noticed the annoyance in his tone. He said as his mouth quivered, "Senior...this morning a little girl did walk through the streets alone. The poor girl's face was scarred."
Damien's eyes shook as he asked in an urgent tone, "Where is she? Did you see where she was going to?"
The old man gulped as he stammered, "Two men approached her and said something to her, and she followed them."
Damien's brows pulled together, "And who are these two men?" He asked in a serious tone while flipping a Yellow Spirit Stone towards the old man.
The old man was surprised when Damien offered such an expensive Spirit Stone in exchange for information. He almost drooled upon holding the Yellow Spirit Stone.
The old man glanced left and right as if checking nobody is listening to their conversation and then leaned towards Damien to speak in a whisper, "Those two are not simple. They usually wander around here and sometimes people disappear. Of course, those who disappear are those who have no significance in society or nobody cares about their life or death. No one would dare to offend these two since it's rumored that they are from the Eternal Zephyr Merchant Guild!"
'Eternal Zephyr Merchant Guild?' Damien didn't expect that those two were working for a prestigious guild which was run by the Gale Empire.
"And where are those two?" Damien asked in a restrained tone as he held his rage in.
The old man pointed to a pavilion that had recently opened. Damien squinted his eyes and saw that it was a pavilion that catered prostitutes.
As he walked towards the pavilion he clenched his fists and grumbled, "Eternal Zephyr Merchant Guild...we can't exist under the same sky anymore!"
In an alley off the main market square, Damien saw a building with a flowery placard placed outside reading "The Maiden Fair".
From the outside, the building looked inviting, well maintained, and enchanting giving off an enticing air.
It's tough to see through the stained glass windows, but the noise of women and men laughing and chatting from within could be felt outside.
As he entered the building through the decorated, wooden door, he was welcomed by joyful music and aromas of roasted meats.
The pavilion itself was packed. Locals seem to be the primary clientele here, often leading to exciting evenings. While many pretty girls were catering to their customers.
Several long tables were occupied by drunk, excited groups of people, with women frolicking around them.
Some were dancing on the table, while others cheered them on with clapping and yelling. The other, smaller tables were also occupied by people who were playing games and, judging by their laughter, were either telling jokes or, perhaps embarrassing tales to try and show off in front of the women.
Even most of the stools at the bar were occupied, though nobody seems to mind more company.
A woman with heavy makeup and bountiful assets came forward to welcome Damien.
But when she took a careful look, she had a blinking expression but calmed herself down and said with a seductive smile, "Hello, esteemed sir. It is our honor—"
Damien interrupted her by gesturing to her to stop talking with his palm and asked in a hard tone, "Do you know where Tony and Rick are?"
The woman's expression became stiff a bit as she knew who those two were. Apparently, those two had been indulging themselves in pleasure since noon and paying handsomely as well.
She knew the policy of not giving away their customer's whereabouts but the person standing in front of her was the powerful and reputed Alchemist Azrael who also had the Xeton Empire's backing!
Even the mysterious princess of the Xeton Empire came personally to invite him to their empire and that shows how much they value him.
She didn't know why Damien wanted to know where those two were but knew it had to be something important. And she knew she couldn't lie since it seemed as if Damien was sure that those two were here.
She immediately weighed her choices and chose the one which seemed safer.
"Sir, they both are in the first room on the first floor. But—"
Before she could finish, Damien walked past the hostess as he made his way towards the first floor, his feet tramping on the floor.
Within a few seconds, he was standing in front of a wooden room. He could hear ceaseless moans sounding from the room along with the grunts of two men.
"Anti-God's First Stage - Undying Wrath!!"
*BANG!*
Damien kicked the door down with a violent and powerful kick as it came down crashing on the floor.
"Kyaa!!"
"Ah!!"
He saw two women quickly getting off from the top of the two men and covering themselves with a sheet. They quickly moved to a side of the room shocked and scared at seeing someone violently break into the room.
"Who the fuck—" Tony roared but stopped abruptly when he noticed the intruder.
"Hey! what the hell—" Rick got up and looked behind in annoyance. But just as his friend, he froze upon noticing Damien.
"Mirage of Myriad Phantasms!"
Before they could think or say anything else, shockwaves passed through the air as Damien kicked off the ground, storming towards the two men.
*Crack!*
"Kyaaa! AAH!"
The floor and the windows cracked and shattered just as he rushed towards them. Even the two women were blasted away to the other side of the room due to the shockwaves.
"Ugh…"
"Agkk"
He caught those two by their neck, one on each of his hands and shot through the wall, crumbling it as he went through it. The two men on his hands felt as if their backs were hit against a hard wall of steel due to the speed at which their backs were used to burst through the wall.
People outside the building were surprised when they saw the walls on the first floor of the pavilion breaking down suddenly as the rubble spilled outside, the debris spreading in the air.
But they failed to notice a cloaked figure carrying two men by their necks, zooming through the streets and disappearing.
A few kilometers away in a dingy alley, two men were pinned against a wall by their necks as their feet dangled in the air. Their necks were held by powerful hands that didn't seem to budge no matter how much they struggled.
"Tell me...where did you take that pink-haired girl?" Damien asked in a growl.
Tony started sweating from top to bottom hearing Damien's spine chilling voice as he stammered, "Senior Az-Azrael...we don't know...what...you—"
"Don't play with me!!" Damien bellowed as he increased the pressure on their necks, making their veins bulge.
"HRRRKK...I...will...tell…" Rick frantically moved his hands on Damien's as he choked out his words.
Damien loosened his hold on Rick's neck by a bit, allowing him to talk.
"Speak, if I catch you lying...you better pray you die quick!" Damien said in a grim tone.
"NOO...I won't...lie...." Rick's tone sounded raspy as he tried to voice out his words. The two men couldn't understand why the famed Alchemist Azrael was targeting them and what the pink-haired girl had to do with him.
Rick continued in a hoarse voice, "We took the girl to the...Dark Sky Guild...to be...sold off...in the auction tomorrow."
'So that's how it is.' Damien now knew how the Dark Sky Guild were running their business under the cover of a well known guild.
Damien's fingers dug into their necks as his eyes blazed in fury.
"Where is she being kept now?" Damien roared as he pushed their necks upwards.
Tony said in a croaky voice, "W-We...don't know...they won't tell us...the locations of the goods...they will only...bring out...the goods only during the auction. Please let...us go...s-sir...we didn't know...the girl...was related to you." Tony begged for his life towards the end as Rick also nodded trying to say the same thing.
"Goods? Huh? Let you go? No worries, I will let you go for sure." Damien said in a grinding tone as he released the two of them.
"Haa...."
The two men panted in relief when Damien let go of their necks.
However,
"Piggy!"
*Grunt*
A huge 4-meter tall ethereal beast manifested outside as it came out from Damien's soul space. Damien had named the undead Flame Hog as 'Piggy'; too lazy to give it a good name.
Rick's eyes bulged in horror seeing a huge ethereal beast with a stifling and eerie aura. Tony's pants already started becoming wet sensing the chilling aura from the Flame Hog.
They couldn't understand how an ethereal beast suddenly manifested out of nowhere. But their fear distracted them from those thoughts knowing that their life was seemingly in danger. After all, they were merely at the Low Levels of the Spirit Ethereal Realm.
How could they hope to stand against such a dreadful Flame Hog?
Only now they realized that their deaths were already set in stone.
"Please...S-Senior Azrael...we told everything you needed to know..please let us go!" Tony begged in a wobbly voice while Rick also pleaded in similar lines.
Damien simply opened his mouth and said in an indifferent tone, "Burn them to death!"
*Grunt*
Piggy gave a fierce grunt, acknowledging its master's command as jet black flames materialized from its eyes, hooves, and tusks. It immediately charged towards the two weaklings and stomped on them with its hooves, crushing the bones in their body to a pulp.
"ARGHHHHHHHHHH!!"
The jet-black flames blazed wildly and spread out over their entire mangled bodies making them let out hoarse screams of pain and agony.
However, within a few seconds, their screams died out as only charred particles remained in the place of their bodies.
"Tch...they died too easy." Damien felt that they died too fast, not that he was too disappointed.
His eyes became doleful as he thought, 'Valentina I am sorry...wait for me...Big Brother is coming for you.'
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