A couple of days later, Damien stood in the middle of a large building owned by Harris. The chubby new friend eagerly presented him with a silvery card that had no other words but "invitation" scrawled upon it. 

Damien accepted it with a grin. "Thanks, mate. I appreciate it."

Harris sweated. "No need for that...happy to help." He cleared his throat. "I have business to attend to, so sorry if I leave early." 

With that, he all but ran away. Damien blinked. The hell? Why'd the guy seem so...scared? Damien didn't get it. 

He then remembered he'd brutally neutered an entire group of men in front of the guy.

Huh. I probably should've expected this.

Oh well. 

Damien turned to Mary. "Shall we?"

"Let's not dawdle." She replied curtly. She then turned on her heel and led the way. The black market was not far away and they'd already acquired lodgings. All that was left was the market itself.

Valen was not a very large city. It was, as was the norm. a city housed behind a rather great wall that encircled the whole area. There were many buildings all cramped together and the hustle and bustle of life was seen at every corner. 

It was a hot day and you could smell the foul scent of human sweat, piss and shit faintly as they traveled.

It was inevitable. Even cities back on Earth stank like a fucking latrine pit. Anyone who had ever been to New York can testify. In any case, it wasn't as bad here. You get used to it, like a cat litter in your house.

The black market wasn't very secret but it was invite-only. The place they ended up at was a more secluded part of the city guarded by a dozen men dressed in chainmail. They exuded powerful auras.

They were Knight level at the very least. 

...In a world like this, the power system was a bit vague. However, it was also rather simple. Knights were highly trained soldiers, the elites. They were, even the weakest of them,  capable of fighting five men on their own. Their strength was great, at least thrice that of regular folk, and had the stamina of a donkey. 

In short, they were people who went beyond the limitations of man. Damien was similar to them in a way. He had a natural, inborn, strength. 

Added to that, he had practiced a type of body strengthening magic. More of a technique, really. But he so rarely practiced it, because lazy. And he even more rarely used this magic. His natural strength was usually enough.

But he got the sense that may not work against the men guarding this black market. Of course, he wasn't scared in the slightest by their oppressive auras. 

And the guards, too, noticed his strength. Damien had grown much in the past months. His laziest punch was, in itself, a kind of technique learned by him naturally. He blended his inborn strength with the strengthening technique he'd acquired from books to let form a strike capable of even causing a boom in the air. 

It was a strike capable of taking any normal human and pulverizing their insides.

He vaguely felt that he could refine this "technique". At the very instant of his attack, his mana exploded forth. That's when the boom echoed out. He could feel...something each time it happened.  Not simply power, but an indistinct comprehension. 

Damen didn't think too much on it. He'd grow at his own pace. It's not like you can force enlightenment. 

As he passed through the men, they stared at him vigilantly. More than this youth's hidden power, they felt something different. A kind of primordial fear. It made their jaws tighten, but they hardened themselves. 

Many strange existences had gone to the black market of Valen in their time. They didn't make a fuss. Damien flashed them the invitation and they nodded without further reaction. A quick scan with their aura allowed them to ascertain the invitation's authenticity. It carried the energy pattern of this black market's host, after all.

"Its rather crowded. " Vera commented. "There's more people than I expected. We should be careful. We don't know what kind of people with extraordinary identities may be mixed into the crowd."

Mary stayed silent. What kind of existence was nobler than the man who stood next to them? Very may have her experiences which Mary passed down to her, but she was still naive. The Dragons reigned supreme. 

Even if there were those who were equally as influential, none had the same noble lineage. Especially not when the Dragon involved was an Okeanos, who were a mere three or four generations away from a literal God. 

Even if it was the Phoenix Emperor himself, if he knew Damien's identity even he would be forced to show some respect.  Such was the prestige of those born of the God of Power, Okeanos.

Not that there would be any here who would recognize the Okeanos bloodline. 

Well, Damien would take care of any trouble. He was a capable man if nothing else. 

"I'll behave as long as everyone else does." Was all Damien spoke of the matter. That wasn't always true, but it was true enough. "Ah, fuck it. Who cares? I came to rob anyway." He chuckled. 

His mother froze all his assets, what else could he do? Damien walked confidently through the crowded streets. All around him were cloaked figures peering down at some item or another being sold by the various merchants. 

"This tome was authored by the deposed head of an evil cult, scripted in an ancient runic language." In reality, it was penned by a toddler.  "It surely holds many untold mysteries both dark and archaic." 

Another figure was being shown a set of keys. "Each of these keys has a ten percent chance of opening a lock you find. Once the key has opened something, it won't fit any other lock."

Somewhat useless, that.

There was one that caught his ear in particular. "This feline is an incredibly rare species bred from the Nine Clouds Purple Tiger. It's able to devour all types of poisons and other toxic substances indigestible to man."

Damien just so happen to look over and stopped dead in his tracks.

Kitty?!

Stopping so abruptly Vera slammed into him, Damien stared at the small ball of fuzz trapped in the cage held aloft by it's seller. The kitten was a beautiful grey with purple eyes, its hair long and luxurious. 

"Meow~" 

Damien, as of yet, had never run into a cat in this world. He'd run into bigger felines, but no kitties!

He fell in love the second he caught sight of the thing. At a breakneck speed, he rushed over.

"Take my money!" 

Vera nearly felt a vein burst in her head. "What happened to, 'I'm here to rob'?" She muttered hotly.

Meanwhile, the two men who were in the middle of a conversation were left stunned. "Pardon?" The seller, an ugly man with a scar and milky left eye, asked. 

"I want it!" Damien stared fiercely at the caged cutie, desire rampant in his eyes.

"Meow~?" It looked up at him curiously, pressing it's face against the bars of its prison. Damien's heart melted. 

Vera came up from behind him. "How much for the feline?" She asked with a tired sigh, reluctantly taking out a bag of gold from the inner pocket of her cloak. Damien had been an impulsive buyer all his life, so... 

The seller saw an opportunity. "100 gold." 

Meanwhile, the man he was just talking to frowned. "Hey, that's triple what you--"

A fist burst out from the seller's robes and sent the man flying. He slammed into the vendors at the other end of the street with a caved-in chest, coughing blood.

"As I was saying--" The seller offered a toothy grin.

But the men whose stalls had been destroyed by the previous exchange cut him off, furious.

"You motherfucking..." Several angry men seethed with rage. "Get your ass over here, you bastard!"

"Hah?" The seller sneered. "The fuck you talking to, you pissant? I'm doing business, fuck off."

His words incited the offended parties even more. "You think we're dogs to be kicked whenever you feel like, is that it?" A tall, dark-skinned man walked over while brandishing a mean-looking dagger. Several other vendors who had their stalls affected did the same.

"What, so eager to die? Fine, I'll be happy to oblige!" 

As the men began to fight amongst themselves, Damien grabbed the kitten's cage. "I'm going to name you Rex."

While the guards of the marketplace rushed to stop the fight that had broken out, Damien and his hand quietly walked away. 

"Huh?" The seller's face turned ugly. "Hey, you didn't pay for--" 

"Shut up." A burly guard clapped him behind the ear. escorting him away. 

"But my wares!"

"I said shut up!" And the seller got backhanded. "You think you can cause trouble here and get away with it? If you didn't want your things stolen, you shouldn't have made this ruckus!"

By now there was a swarm of people crowding the street as the vendors involved in the dispute were all taken away by the guard. They all had their wares stolen and the guards gave not one fuck. 

To their minds, if one got involved in fights like this and started causing trouble, they had no one to blame but themselves for their things getting stolen while they were busy fighting. 

"That was...awfully fortunate," Mary commented. "You didn't have to pay a single silver."

"Lady Luck was my lover from a past life," Damien joked. "Of course I'm fortunate."

The other two just rolled their eyes. 

***

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome!" A pretty woman with short hair smiled. The woman stood atop a well-lit stage, looking up at several dozen men and women with masked faces. 

The building they'd entered was great and showed off immense wealth with it's marble pillars lined with veins of gold and it's high, opulent ceiling from which hung magnificent chandeliers of glass and diamond.

They'd been brought to a dark auditorium where they sat down in wait until the woman before them appeared, her ample curves hugged by a red dress that shone beautifully under the lights of the stage.

"The Blue Heavens auction house thanks you for your patience. Without further ado, we will begin!" She smiled as a  tall cage was wheeled onstage draped in a thin sheet. "Our first item today is this." She motioned for the assistants on stage to pull away the sheet.

Beneath it was revealed a site that caused Mary and Vera to furrow their brows ever-so-slightly in disgust. 

"This elf was captured deep within the Krakoan mountain range, far from its home. As you can see, her deep purple skin and snow-white hair couple with the trademark blue eyes of the High Elves are a rarity. A sure sign of her mixed blood, and, of course, a trait that increases her value! Today, we'll start at 1000 gold p--"

Damien's voice echoed loudly in the otherwise quiet room. "The fuck? No, to hell with this. I didn't come here to participate in any slave trade." He yelled, his sword at the ready. "Listen here, girl, either you release that woman right now or I'm killing every last one of you degenerate scum." He warned dangerously.

All at once, the atmosphere tensed. 

Vera cursed. "Do you really have to do this now?!"

There were guards everywhere, okay?! 

Damien peered down at her. "Hey, no one told them to be filthy slave traders, alright?"

"Who cares if they are? Sit down!" Vera hissed. "This isn't why we came here!"

"Yeah, exactly." He clicked his tongue. "I can forgive the selling of illegal substances, but sex slaves? No, they have to die."

"What about--?"

"Mary, a favor." Damien interrupted. 

"I know." She sighed. "Don't worry, I'll find it." She then promptly teleported away in search of their sought-after item. Though her abilities were restricted, she could at least do this much. 

"Can you go a single day without causing a scene?" Vera asked, flabbergasted, as several angry-looking guards ran towards them.

"That depends entirely upon everyone else, " He replied. The world is fucked up. Damien is fucked up, too.

But their brand of fucked isn't always compatible.