In the darkness, no one noticed the shadow that moved through the streets in the Port of Sin, lit only by sparse torchlight. The shadow traveled for a long distance to an abandoned corner of the town. From the shadows, a form appeared atop a locked cellar door. With deft hands, the figure quickly picked the lock and slipped within. Without much hesitation, the figure outstretched his hand, and a purple magic circle appeared on the ground. The circle was replaced by a large cylinder container that was a larger version of the container in which Anna, the android, was delivered.

“Current status?” Martel asked towards a cylinder.

“All systems are registering as normal.” An emotionless voice, quite similar to Martel, replied. “Taking control of local SRIN… Acquisition completed. Required intelligence is estimated to be gathered in approximately 1.3 hours. Body modifications are estimated to be complete two hours after.”

“Understood. I intend to come back within broadcasting range in 3 to 3.5 hours. Initial scans indicated that the possibility of detection is low. Should an unexpected situation occur, broadcast the emergency signal at max power.”

“Understood.”

Quietly, Martel exited the cellar and locked it behind him. He drank a couple of potions before slinking to the shadows. The potions he just drank were responsible for improving mana and stamina regeneration. Given how hard he was pushing himself and his desire to always be in top shape, Martel had quickly learned how to make various potions. This was because similar potions, taken in quick succession, had diminishing and potentially harmful returns. Theoretically, taking a mana potion would have been significantly faster to replenish his manna. However, he did not want to do this. Given that he was not currently in a battle and had decided to ‘walk’, it was not smart to take one in case of a battle.

Once Martel was out of sight of the Port of Sin, he dashed to the North towards the toxic swamp. Given Arachne’s Talent and his proclivity to research poisons, both for prevention and administration, he wanted to obtain poisonous materials. In large, poisons were not in circulation outside of those who produce them naturally or those who participated in assassinations. This meant that the respective materials were typically highly controlled and rare. Antidotes were subsequently rare, which made poisons harder to gather. However, this was why Martel wanted to gather poisonous materials quickly.

Once he reached the edge of the swamp, he pulled out another ball of SRIN freshly made in the presence of one of Martel’s soul bodies and placed it in his inventory. This was one of the terrifying aspects of the soul bodies, copying everything about the individual, including armaments, completely. Because of this, all of the soul bodies could share the same inventory, theoretically, no matter where they were. 

While the SRIN were low in number, but Martel did not have much choice at the moment. It lessened his exploratory range but was still extremely effective in identifying the materials, plant, and animal that he would want.

With a flick of his wrist, Martel sent a pair of black needles, made from Kuroka, into the heads of the two-headed snake. In one swift motion, he placed the snake within his inventory. The corpse was quickly accessed by one of his soul bodies, which allowed him to increase his proficiency in multiple hunting skills. 

As Martel continued, he picked the occasional plant and hunted the occasional animal. The swamp was covered by trees he used to traverse a decent amount of water, which made normal travel impractical.

Due to the lack of SRIN, Martel focused the vast majority of their numbers in his path. This limited his sight around him but increased efficiency as his goal was deeper within. The swamp had three tiers considerably more dangerous as one progressed towards the center. Just as Martel was about to enter the most dangerous area when he noticed something strange, his blood began to boil. This boil was different than what he felt with Asuka but much more similar to what he felt with Kappa and Ariel. However, this was different. It felt both more violent and suppressed. However, this was irrelevant when what was most important meant that something was triggering it.

Martel immediately recalled his SRIN and observed the surroundings in earnest, but it was too late. In just enough time to block with the shield, he realized something approaching from his 8 o’clock. Martel felt his body shudder with a resounding crack from the tremendous impact that sent him flying into a nearby tree, halting his momentum. Air and blood escaped his lips as his assaulter gave him no time to rest. Again, Martel managed to block the incoming punch combo and sent one back of his own. Even with his incredible defense, he still felt his shield arm fractured. If not for his Ki, it would have broken. The punch he threw with his free hand-land purchase on his opponent’s stomach and locked the two of them in a standstill. What he saw, what they both saw, momentarily stunned them.

In front of Martel was a woman who appeared to be in her late teens. Her eyes, which contained fierceness and barbarity, were eerily reminiscent of what Martel would see in a mirror when he draconified, with the exception that they were silver. The piercing silver of her eyes was also matched by the color of her hair, which was extremely dirty, long, and unkempt. The shoddy clothing she wore was minimalistic and put together what appeared to be scraps of tattered clothing, armor, plant life. Her skin was covered in scars, some of which were terrible at first glance, while her blood vessels appeared to be giving off a slight silver glow. Her hands and bare feet were also noticeably covered in scales, scales that resembled a dragon’s.

The animosity in her bloodshot eyes began to dwindle as she registered the pain from Martel’s punch. “No… You, not him.” She said with broken speech before she slightly flinched, swallowing back the blood. With enough force to shatter the tree, she suddenly took off.

The moment she left, Martel spat out a lot of blood. Thanks to the System, the two of them had recovered from the injuries due to their brief bout, but that did not remove the results of the injuries, which could be distracting in certain circumstances. With a thought, he sent his SRIN to ensure that SRIN he had placed on her with the punch would remain within range. He then glanced at his significantly decreased health bar and started to make potions. He wanted to recover as he knew from her words that they were not alone.

…

The silver-haired young woman collapsed against one of the trees. Her hands and feet appeared heavily bruised, and there were patterns of bruising along her skin that matched her blood vessels. The silver-haired young woman collapsed against a tree. Her state seemed weakened, as evidenced by her bruised hands and feet. Her skin also had bruising patterns that followed along her blood vessels, and even her eyes seemed slightly dim. She weakly stood up and staggered forward but stopped with the same pain in her left arm. Reflexively, she turned to look only to see the glaring purple eyes on a giant purple snakelike head whose mouth encompassed her forearm.

“You!” She shouted as she threw a punch.

The serpentine head quickly withdrew and dodged the punch, almost smiling as it quickly disappeared within the trees. After not but a moment, the only evidence of the attack was the young woman purpling skin.

“Megumi, Megumi. What’s wrong?” A voice echoed through the trees, taunting the young woman. “Is your current state the cost of using your strange ability? No wonder you kept our engagements so brief.” He continued with an ever slight chuckle, watching from cover.

“You-” Megumi began before she stumbled forward.

“Now, now. After underestimating your resilience before, I gave you a far higher dose this time. While it shouldn’t kill you, if it spreads too fast, it just might. Just relax, and go to sleep.”

Fear gripped Megumi’s heart as her eyes quickly darted around, looking for an escape. Her ever-weakening body became less and less responsive, and it left her unable to identify the location of her assailant. Seconds felt like minutes, and her legs eventually gave way.

Seeming not to spill a drop of water, a long serpentine body arose from the still, swampy water in Megumi’s blind spot, not that she could see much at this point. The serpent’s eyes seemed to smile as he looked at his prey, finally within grasp after the hunt that spanned weeks. He approached slowly, not for stealth, but to taunt her as he knew she could tell he was now behind her. Relishing in his pride and success, his youthful lack of wisdom did not realize it was at this moment he was most vulnerable. 

Almost out of instinct, the slight whistle of wind drew his attention to the side. Out of pure instinct, the serpent ducked its head, the only way it could dodge the arrow in time. The serpent did not even have time to feel relief as he was suddenly struck on the side by a second arrow. Seemingly fired at the same time with the same amount of force, yet magically placed below and behind the first arrow perfectly blocked the second from his line of sight. Unlike the normal arrow that missed, this Ki enforced pitch-black arrow pierced into the side of the creature’s neck, decimating it’s HP. With barely an utterance, the serpent flopped over and floated in the water, completely still.

Hearing the noise, Megumi struggled to turn her head only to see the serpent floating still, with purple blood spilling into the murky water. Seconds passed, and everything was almost unnaturally still. Then, another arrow with even more force streaked towards the purple serpent. In a fraction of a moment, two large and purple batlike wings sprouted from the serpent’s body and propelled it into the air revealing his draconic species, an amphithere.

“Who dares! Do you know who my father is?” The purple amphithere shouted, looking in the direction of the attack, but only saw a black bow propelled upward and disappearing amidst the canopy of trees. Seeing that his assailant had seemingly given up his ranged weaponry, the amphithere’s eyes carefully scanned that direction. However, it was a bluff as he was checking the temperature with his thermal senses. He was so preoccupied with scanning his surroundings that he did not notice the slight movement of his shadow against the tree he was pressed up against for cover. 

The shadow slashed with terrifying accuracy, and the amphithere only barely managed to prevent it from being a mortal blow. With a powerful flap of wings, the amphithere began to retreat up into the tree line in an attempt to escape with his eyes locked on his aggressor. “Alucard! No, you’re not him. Whoever you are, my father will hunt you down!” He angrily shouted before he began to escape to the trees.

Martel only smiled as she reached up towards him amid a grasping motion. A large black net suddenly appeared through the canopy above the amphithere.

The amphithere tried to dodge out of the way, but the net had a mind of its own. It quickly encompassed the amphithere and even shrank down with a tightened grasp. With its now pinned wings, the amphithere began to plummet towards the ground. A dash of silver shot up in his direction.

“Crazy girl,” Martel mumbled as he also shut up to intercept her.

Having seen her pursuer more wounded than ever before, especially after putting her in such a weakened state, Megumi did not allow for his escape. Her badly beaten and poisoned body was under tremendous strain. The ability, which was a double-edged sword, increased her damage but caused damage to her. With instinctual accuracy, she launched herself into position to punch the top of his skull.

The amphithere, extremely limited in its movement, could not dodge, but that did not prevent it from counterattacking. It maneuvered its whip-like tail to strike and knock her away. Before the tail could reach its mark, a shield with a barrier suddenly appeared in front of her. The amphithere’s scream of pain from the Reflect was cut short as Megumi accurately struck the top of its head, propelling it straight into the murky water below.

Martel immediately caught the nearly passed out Megumi, her body half purple and red from poison and blood.

“Let go.” Megumi instinctually struggled.

“If you don’t want to die from your wounds, stop struggling.” Martel nearly growled at this crazy girl as he quickly pumped a couple of low-level healing spells to help stabilize her before he landed back on the trees. He glanced at the water, which almost seemed to be alive as large bubbles escaped from below. All of a sudden, Martel felt dizzy. His eyes flashed with magic as he immediately checked his surroundings. “Not good.” He suddenly said as he jumped up, his body expelling Red Ki at a rapid rate.

“You one of them?” Megumi said as she began to struggle again.

“Stop moving and shut up,” Martel growled back as he cast the wind magic focused the air in the area above where the amphithere had fallen.

Purple head and serpentine body, wrapped in a black net, shot out of the water. “You bastard! When my father-. Wait, are you a True Dragon?” The amphithere asked with, for the first time, fear, as he watched a flaming breath approach him. The only thing that answered his question, the last thing he heard was an enormous explosion.

*BANG*

… *Cough* *Cough* “I need to be careful when I emulate Morgan.” Martel said after being propelled a decent distance away. Even being prepared for it and using the explosion to get further away, the Ki Dragon that surrounded him was tattered. If he had not used Destruction Magic to dampen the sound of the explosion, it would have been in even worse shape.

Martel glanced at the now unconscious Megumi in his arms. “A vampire. Not exactly what I would associate with the term. Well, seeing as she would be hunted otherwise, this is for her protection.” He said as he pulled out a piece of paper.

After using the fast travel function to send her to the training area for medical attention, Martel turned his attention back to the explosion. It appeared the consequence of sending the amphithere into the swamp with such force was for highly explosive gases within the swamp, trapped by a layer of silt, to have been released. Consolidated with wind magic and lit with draconic fire, the resulting explosion could not be underestimated. The explosion was actually inefficient to guarantee the amphithere’s death. However, he knew it was dead, given the black dot that was rushing towards him.

“You big meanie!” Chibi-Cali shouted as she gave him a full-fledged tackle.

Given that Martel was using his Ki to fly, and Chibi-Cali was made of condensed adamantine, she literally and figuratively knocked the wind out of his sails. After regaining his balance and letting on a nearby tree, Martel looked at the cutely pouting face in front of him. “What’s wrong?”

“You blew me up!”

After stifling his laughter and placating her, Martel went down to collect his prize. Filling in the water, he found the amphithere’s corpse surprisingly intact. On closer examination, it seemed as if the wound had up and further, but the actual killing blow came from the arrow. Being a part of Chibi-Cali, the arrow had been manipulated during the explosion to cause fatal damage. Martel lavishly praised the proud Chibi-Cali and enjoying the expression he presumed to be on Cali’s face based on how she was acting. After, he put the corpse in his inventory and destroyed all traces that would possibly link back to him, and quickly left.

Martel quickly dispatched his two soul bodies to take care of Megumi’s emergency treatment and began to process the corpse, respectively. Currently weighing on his mind was the amphithere he had just killed. From his knowledge, he believed that this amphithere was not the one behind Sin City due to its limited strength and apparent youth. However, what worried him was that the amphithere was still surprisingly quite strong. He could help but worry about its parents’ strength. From what was known of draconic habits, while there were exceptions, the dragon’s parents would tend to take care of the children of the same gender. Most likely, there was still only a male behind this amphithere, but that did not rule out other possibilities. This was why he made sure to destroy all evidence that could lead back to him and part of the reason why he took Megumi. Martel did not regret slaying the amphithere. Quite the opposite. 

Due to her unique ability, Megumi would be a great addition to the team, which he could temporarily force on her as he had saved her. On top of this, he didn’t think he could have saved her without revealing a flaw that could potentially reveal his identity later down the road. Finally, there is something from the corpse that he really wanted.

…

“Current status?” Martel asked the cylinder once he was back within the cellar.

“Physical analysis complete, body modification complete in 17 minutes. Current behavioral profile at 43%. Required 99% estimated to be complete within three days without subsequent information.”

“Don’t worry. I will take care of that.” Martel said as he sat down. “Targets acquired?”

“Both targets are accounted for. VIP is safe and being monitored.”

“Good.”

Taking a second to get into a peak state, Martel withdrew some potions. Each of these potions affected HP, Constitution, and anti-poison capabilities. After doing so, using Ki to hold it, he withdrew a purple organ from his inventory. This organ was the primary reason why he decided to take out the amphithere. Through the use of his Heaven Defying Eyes, Martel could potentially tell when a creature had something that Martel could utilize with his Devour Talent. What he saw would typically be labeled as ‘potential for Devour.’ However, unlike anything before, when he looked at the amphithere, he saw ‘material for Devour.’ This implied that there was something within the body that he could devour without the need for additional or duplicate materials. 

Martel theorized this was because, instead of giving him an entirely new power, whatever it was would not give him a new ability but augment his Draconification. However, that also gave him pause. He held the draconic lung responsible for the poison breath that the amphithere never got a chance to release.

This left Martel with a daunting question. Just because the material was sufficient to cause the evolution did not mean that it could not succeed or fail. Nor how the method by which the material was devoured would affect that. This was extremely troubling as failure would most likely be total in this situation. 

Martel noticed that if too much time went by, the process would deteriorate. This meant if he failed with this, it most likely would go to waste as the chance of him attaining another one was extremely low. On top of this, he had the sneaking suspicion this would be extremely important for his plans to rid the Sin City. Given that he knew that dragon was also purple, he believed it to be poisonous as a dragons’ color typically gave away their elemental affinities.

Gritting his teeth, he decided to take the risk and quickly swallowed the rather large lung that numbed as it went down into his stomach. His entire mind was soon focused solely on his Devour Talent as his body was quickly racked in pain. Parts of his body began to turn to a slight shade of purple, and he began to foam at the mouth. Try as he might not to bite his tongue, his agony began.

…

“How long was I out for?” Martel asked after he spat out a mixture of purple and red.

“14 minutes and 17 seconds.”

“It felt like an hour.” Martel groaned as he rubbed his eyes. Then with a laugh, he smiled. “Well, the very least, my effort was not in vain.”

…

Within the largest building in the Port of Sin, the mayor’s mansion, an obese man grumbled his way through. “What did the time go? I work myself to the bone and never have enough done.” The fat mayor grumbled as he made his way into his office.

Not two steps after opening the door and entering did he suddenly stop in his tracks. Sitting behind his desk, he saw someone he never thought he would see, himself.

“Who the hell-” *click* he began but was cut short as the door closed behind him, erecting the hairs on his neck. *Wham!*

“Man, this guy is heavy,” Martel mumbled as he momentarily struggled to hold up the mayor you just knocked unconscious.

The android merrier got up and walked over. “Are you ready to begin the process?”

“Yes,” Mattel replied as he put a hand on both of their foreheads. While not necessary for Esper abilities, Martel had noted that the body could act as a condiment by which the mind could more easily flow through then across space.

The process took minutes, and the strain on Martel’s mind and body became obvious when the nosebleed began. However, his face’s expression was not one of pain but of disgust as he copied the fat mayor’s memories to the android. However, what he found completely repulsed him to the point where he was deleting them from his own mind as soon as he could. Martel exhaled a stale breath once the process was finished. The System quickly healed the physical trauma he experienced. He ended up with a bullet point list from the mayor’s memories and a bad taste in his mouth. “Report.”

“Current behavioral profile is 77% and rising. Estimated to achieve the margin of error within the hour.” The android said before he walked over to the desk and opened one of the drawers producing a sealed letter. “This is a VIP invitation to the auction that will be happening in five days. This will give you access to one of the designated private boxes on the second floor of the auction house.” It said before it grabbed another document. “This is the detailed list of the confirmed auction items, recently updated.

Martel looked over the list, and with a trace of anger, he got to the final group of items. “Prepare a full analysis of expected auction prices as well as a detailed list of plan participants.”

“Acknowledged, processing ellipses completed and awaiting retrieval.”

Martel reached out with his mind and accessed the information. The financial analysis was detailed, and he was fairly confident that he would have more than sufficient funds in the next five days, along with his unplanned earnings of the Coliseum. However, he was extremely disappointed when it came to the participants of the auction. The first floor would be a first-come, first-serve limitation when it comes to the people, though each would require a deposit to prove that they had the gold needed to participate. There were 25 rooms on the second floor, of which he now had access to one, that would hold VIP guests. These guests were secretly invited or had purchased, at a high price, access to when the VIP boxes. The primary benefit of this would be obtaining an accurate list of the auction and the security of anonymity, even though they had always attended by proxy regardless. This meant that the people attending would most likely be the secret right hand of various kingdoms and nobles.

With a plan rapidly forming in his mind, Martel turned to the now mayor. “I transferred the authority of the local SRIN to you replicating at the nearby metal deposit. Ensure we have enough SRIN for the auction and focus on your cover. Make a teleportation circle in that secret chamber and send those women out when you can.”

“Understood.”

Martel looked at and picked up the unconscious mayor’s body as a portal suddenly appeared in front of him. “Don’t think you’re getting out of this so easily, you sick piece of shit.”

End of Day 88

…

Megumi awoke but felt as if she was dreaming. It was a strange sense of comfort that felt nostalgic, and it made her not want to move. Then like a pulse, pain traveled through her entire body, forcing her awake. With a start, she suddenly woke up in her room, on a bed, something she only had vague memories of.

“You are finally awake.” A feminine voice startled her from the side.

In response, Megumi essentially threw a punch only for the woman, dressed in frilly black and white, to easily catch Megumi’s bandaged hands. Pure white overtook Megumi’s mind as her ears were deafened by ringing as a tremendous amount of pain muffled her mind.

“I would not recommend any extreme movements in your current condition.” The woman said. “You are completely out of HP and apparently have been in such a condition multiple times, consulting multiple severe injuries. Master healed you the best that he could but could not heal you completely. Instead, he focused on healing your wounds at the base allowing your body to heal naturally. Until Master permits you, you are to remain in bed rest and stay here.” The woman said as she stood up and quietly left the room.

Megumi, having recovered from the explosion of pain, felt relatively clear-headed. She was not stupid. She seems safe now, though that was not guaranteed, her current situation was not good, and the bed was very comfy.

A short time passed, and there was a knock at her door. With Megumi’s lack of response, there was another knock. Then, the door opened, and a terra-cotta haired head.

“Oh, you are awake,” Hestia said as she entered along with a bed table with a simple breakfast upon it. “Are you hungry?”

“No.” *Growl* Megumi said, though her stomach I merely protested.

The normally stoic Hestia almost let out a laugh but managed to hold it in.

“Good, you finally awake,” Martel said as he entered the room.

Megumi immediately became alert at the sound of his voice.

“Is this any way to welcome your savior?” Martel mumbled as he walked up to the bed. “You have a home?” He asked her.

Megumi shook her head.

“Well, from now on, will be part of our family of misfits Martel said, pointing behind him towards the open doorway.

Megumi could just make out the rest of the party having an energetic breakfast at a large table filled with food from the bed.

For the first time since he walked in the room, Martel knew that he had her full attention. “Because you attacked me and because I saved you, I forcefully entered a contract, which means you have to do what I say for a little while. Once that time is up, may do whatever you wish. Until then, you only have to fight and get stronger. In return, you will have a roof over your head, food in your belly, and others to watch your back. Can you accept that?”

Megumi was displeased by his statements. However, something in her gut told her, for the first time in a long while, to trust. After a few seconds of pause, she slowly nodded her head.

“Good. Now then, seeing as your hands are currently tied up for the moment.” Martel began before he prepared to feed her.

Megumi hesitated for a moment before she reached out and took a bite. She chewed once, twice, then obviously became absent-minded and started to stare out in the distance. Then, one tear, and another.

Both Hestia and Martel were taken aback by the sudden turn of events.

“Is everything alright?” Hestia asked, a little self-conscious as her food caused a sudden emotional fit.

For the first time since Martel entered the room, Megumi made eye contact with him as her arms reached him, but never reached him in a manner that was no longer cold but almost childlike. “Help me find- Help me find someone.” She said.

“Help you find who?” Martel asked. Megumi’s eyes began to dart as her hands went to the sides of her head in a sign of slight confusion and panic. Why can’t I remember? I should remember, I have to remember.” She said in her panic.

Martel reached out and gently took her cheeks and forced her to look at him. “I promise I will help you look. If you want to find them, eat and rest so you can get better, okay?”

It took a moment, but Megumi nodded and relaxed.

“Good.” Martel began as the woman Megumi woke up with reentered the room. “This is Nanna. She’s going to take care of you and teach you while you are recovering, okay?”

Somewhat absent-minded only, Megumi nodded. Taking their cue, Nanna began to help feed Megumi as Hestia and Martel exited the room. What they found was that they were ignored by at least half the table, who were antagonistically fighting for the food in the center.

“Sir, would you find her.” Hestia asked.

“The poison swamps.”

A look of obvious surprise flashed in her eyes. “Sir, you went to the swamps alone? Even though the surrounding area has been colonized, there is not much reason or desire to go there.”

“How long ago was it colonized?” Martel asked, slightly changing the conversation.

“About 20 years ago. The Port of Sin is extremely recent. You see, under a decade ago, the majority of the preceding town was said to have been slaughtered by a vampire. This allowed it to be overtaken and eventually become the Port of Sin.”

“I see. How old was the appearance of the vampire?”

“Other than being old, I don’t recall any other features.” Then a flash of realization appeared in her eyes. “Sir, is she not a Dhampir?”

“At the very least, she’s not a murderer.”

Hestia quickly got the message and nodded.

Martel then turned to the motley group and spoke in a matter that made everyone freeze and shiver. “Now then, about everyone’s training.”

End of Day 89