Chương 10: A Pitiful Cannibal

The man's eyes bulged from the lack of oxygen. Despite the knife through his hand, his free hand still shot out with abnormal strength and grabbed Lio's wrist. Lio raised an eyebrow as he heard his bones start breaking and cracking. The grip was crushing, powerful enough to shatter a normal person's arm. He really had to praise the man's inhumane strength. But Lio's expression didn't change. He was far too used to this type of pain.

His hand moved to his left forearm, where another rune sat—one that he'd acquired only about four loops ago. It was a simple geometric pattern of three overlapping squares. He was still learning its limits, and still testing how much power he could channel without destroying his own body, which was the reason he hadn't used it during his battle with that clock and glass monster. But this seemed like a good time to give it a test run.

[Augmentation] An intense power flooded through his entire body in a rush, focusing onto his arm. The muscles swelled, branches of veins becoming more prominent as raw strength coursed through him. His hand that was gripping the man's throat tightened with so much force that made the earlier pressure seem like a gentle caress. The man's eyes bulged impossibly wide. His mouth opened in a silent scream as his windpipe began to collapse onto itself. But Lio didn't crush it completely.

Instead, he carefully adjusted his grip, keeping the pressure just below lethal. It was just enough to cut off most of the air, and to cause excruciating pain, but not enough to kill.

"Let's talk," Lio said softly. He released the grip on the man's throat just enough for the guy to gasp in a rattling breath. The man sucked in air desperately, coughing and sputtering. Blood from his shattered nose ran down into his mouth, making him choke and gag. Lio waited patiently, his expression unchanging. After several seconds, the man managed to stop coughing. His eyes were now streaming tears, while his face was a mask of blood, snot, and pure terror.

"How many others of your organization are in Crater City?" Lio asked in a flat tone. The man's mouth opened. Then closed. His eyes darted toward the door, as if considering screaming for help. Lio's grip tightened.

"Don't you dare," he warned quietly.

"I'll crush your larynx before you can. Answer the question. How many others?"

"F-fuck you," the man wheezed out, his voice raspy and rough. Lio tilted his head slightly, studying the man like an interesting specimen. Then, without changing his expression, he squeezed harder. Seems like he needs a little bit more encouragement. The man's scream was cut off as his windpipe began collapsing again. His feet kicked frantically, his hands clawing at Lio's arm with panic. Lio held the pressure for a few seconds, then released it. The man gasped and choked, his entire body shuddering with pain.

"How many others?" Lio repeated.

"I—I can't—" the man stammered between gasps.

"I can't tell you—""Yes, you can," Lio interrupted.

"And you will." His free hand moved over, grabbing the man's broken wrist—the one with the knife wound through the palm. He then pressed his thumb directly into the wound, squeezing until a fresh flow of blood came spurting out. The man's mouth opened for what would have been a raw and almost animalistic scream, but Lio's hand quickly shot up to clamp over the man's mouth, muffling the sound to a strangled whimper. His apartment had thin walls.

The neighbors mainly minded their own business, yes, but they would still hear a scream nonetheless. And while no one would call the city guards over a simple fight, too much noise would draw too much unwanted attention. Lio kept his thumb digging and grinding into the wound while his other hand pressed hard against the man's mouth and nose. The man's eyes bulged, tears streaming down his face as he tried to scream against Lio's palm.

His body thrashed weakly, but his strength was fading fast, the lack of oxygen and the harsh, torturous pain getting to him. After several more seconds, Lio released the pressure on his mouth but kept his hand hovering close, ready to muffle any more incoming screams.

"Quietly now," Lio whispered.

"How many others?"

"Three," the man gasped out immediately, his voice just above a hoarse whisper.

"Three others—so please—please stop—" Sighing, Lio removed his thumb from the wound. The man sobbed quietly in relief, his entire body trembling with fear.

"Where are they? The three others."

"We—we split up to search around the fourth Ring," the man wheezed.

"We were supposed to meet back at the Brass Lantern—its a small bar—in the Third Ring by midnight if any of us found anything—""And what were you supposed to find?"

"The girl—we just needed to track her—" The words tumbled out desperately.

"We needed to confirm that she was in the city, and report back to headquarters—" Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"What does your organization know about her?" The man's eyes flashed with fear.

"She has information. And we need—they need to know what she knows—""Why?"

"I don't know! They don't tell me why, I just follow orders—" Lio's hand slowly moved back toward the wound.

"Wait! Wait!" the man hissed frantically, trying to keep his voice down.

"I'm telling the truth! We're just scouts, they don't tell us anything beyond our mission!" Lio paused, studying the man's face. Well, the terror and desperation looked genuine. The chance he was lying was close to nothing.

"Who sent you then?" Lio asked quietly. The man's eyes went wide suddenly, his mouth snapping shut, while his whole body stiffened.

"I—I can't—" His voice trembled.

"I took a Binding Oath—if I say anything about the organization, I'll—" He stopped, shaking his head frantically. Lio's eyes narrowed. Well that's irksome. Binding Oaths were magical contracts enforced by special types of runes, usually inscribed during ceremonies. Breaking them typically meant death.

"What happens if you break it?" Lio asked, just making sure. The man just shook his head again, his eyes pleading. Lio considered this. If the oath was truly comprehensive, anything truly useful would be locked behind it. But there were always loopholes.

"Is the organization based in the northern territories?" he asked. The man hesitated, then nodded quickly. That information wasn't protected, then.

"How long have you been working for them?"

"Two years," the man whispered.

"Do they have other agents hunting Ophila besides your group?" Another hesitation.

"Yes. Multiple teams."

"How many—" Lio paused, as the man's entire body suddenly went rigid. His eyes widened in genuine terror, his pupils dilating to pinpricks. A strange smell filled the air, like metal burning.

"No," he whispered, his voice trembling with fear.

"No, no, no… I didn't say anything—I didn't break it—" Lio released him immediately, and stepped back, sensing the danger. As the man collapsed to the floor, his whole body began to seize violently. His hands clawed at his chest where black veins were suddenly spreading across his skin—starting from his heart and spiderwebbing outward.

"What—" the man gasped, his fingers tearing at his shirt.

"I didn't—I didn't say—" But the black veins kept spreading, unfettered. It went from his chest to his neck, crawling up toward his face with terrifying speed. His back arched in pain, his spine bending at an unnatural angle. Lio watched with interest. This wasn't a normal Binding Oath, with most just killing quickly and cleanly with either a stopped heart or maybe a burst aneurysm. This was designed to be slow and painful. The man's mouth opened in a silent scream.

Dark red blood began pouring from his nose, his ears, and the corners of his eyes. The black veins reached his face, crawling across his skin like living things, until the whites of his eyes turned completely dark.

"Please," he wheezed, barely audible.

"It hurts… it hurts—" Then his body convulsed one final time, limbs jerking, until he slumped forward like a marionette with its strings cut. A long silence filled the room. Lio stood there for a long moment, staring down at the new corpse. The black veins were already fading, disappearing back beneath the skin as if they'd never existed. In a few minutes, there would be no visible evidence of what had killed him. How powerful…

Lio crouched down, and pulled aside the man's blood-soaked shirt, examining the area over his heart. There it was, the Binding Oath rune. It was far more complex than any he'd encountered before, made of multiple layers of interlocking geometric patterns. The craftsmanship was exceptional, one of the best he'd ever seen. And at its center, was a symbol of a crown made of thorns. Lio stared at it for several seconds, his mind looking through a thousand years of accumulated knowledge.

He'd seen thousands of symbols, emblems, and organizational marks across the loops. But this one… He didn't recognize it. Lio straightened up slowly, his mind working through the newfound information. He now knew that there was an unknown organization out there, one powerful enough to create sophisticated Binding Oaths and recruit powerhouses with powerful runes. One secretive enough that even after a thousand loops, he'd never encountered their symbol. That was...

concerning, to say the least, and left him with two conclusions. Either they were so deeply hidden that they'd never crossed his path in any previous timeline, or they were new, a result of Ophila's disruption. The former seemed most unlikely, with the latter being the most educated guess. He glanced at the grimy window. The moon was high, signaling that it was probably around 10 PM.

He had roughly two hours before the other three agents at the Brass Lantern would start wondering why their companion hadn't reported back. Lio stood there in the darkness of his room, staring at the corpse while his mind worked through his options. He could simply dispose of the body, hide, and hope the other three agents gave up searching when their companion didn't return. It had low risk, but low rewards as well.

Another option was to find Ophila early, move up the descent timeline, and get into Ghenna before the organization could regroup. The problem was that he had no idea where she was staying. The final option he could think of was to eliminate the other three agents tonight before they could report back or realize what happened. Lio's mind began working through the third option. The three agents were waiting at the Brass Lantern until midnight. That gave him a location, a timeframe, and the element of surprise.

A huge advantage. And more importantly, they didn't know about Lio's powers, nor were they preparing for an ambush. But there were problems. One of the main ones was that there were three targets. He'd only fought one so far, and that one had seventeen bodies worth of accumulated strength from his rune. What if the others had similar abilities? Second was that the Brass Lantern was located in the third Ring, a more public area than the fourth. A fight there would draw a lot of attention.

And finally, if even one agent escaped, the organization would know their entire team had been compromised. They'd most likely send reinforcements immediately. But there were definite advantages too. Lio walked to his bed and began examining his gear. How would he approach this? His eyes narrowed as the plan began forming. He knew that the Brass Lantern was a rather small establishment, narrow and cramped with a single main room and a back exit to the alley.

So it didn't offer that much in terms of exits or retreating. If the three agents were waiting inside, they'd probably be sitting at a table near the back, positioning themselves to face the front. So the back exit was the solution. Lio would enter through the alley. But even then, he'd need to be fast. Overwhelmingly fast. He had to hit and kill them before they could coordinate or trigger any alarms. He frowned, as he ran through some calculations. Three seconds.

That was all the time he'd realistically have before the chaos erupted. Could he kill three people in three seconds? Lio tilted his head. No. Probably not. But he wasn't going to attempt this half-prepared either. He let out a sigh, dropping the gear he'd been checking.

"I guess I'll have to go get that, huh?"