We continued moving through the damp, echoing sewer system. As we walked, I noticed Isaac constantly checking, adjusting, and flexing the black-and-gold glove on his right hand.
"What are you doing?" I asked randomly.
"Oh, me?" Isaac replied, still staring at his hand. "I'm just checking if this thing is actually going to work properly later on. You know, you have to be careful all the time, man. Honestly, I'm a bit scared to even use this."
"Huh? What do you mean, scared?" I questioned, keeping my voice low as we moved deeper toward the center of the underground market.
"I mean it has a really bad drawback, man," Isaac sighed, rubbing the golden threads. "My Captain said that if I use this glove more than three times, it will make me uncontrollably hungry and force me to cry non-stop for at least twenty-four hours. And if I cross that limit and use it a fourth time... it'll consume me whole."
He shivered slightly. "Just thinking about it makes me scared," he added.
"Hmm. Well, just make sure you only use it twice, then," I said dryly.
"Oh? So you can talk like a normal person!" Isaac joked, flashing a bright grin.
"..." I said nothing, instantly regretting saying anything at all.
"Well, even if I only use it twice, I'm still scared, man," he whined.
"Yeah, right," I replied, my tone shifting instantly from casual back to cold and guarded. I didn't buy his "scared" act for a second.
Finally, we reached the end of the sewer system. Ahead of us, a massive source of light pierced through the gloom.
When we stepped forward out of the tunnel and onto a stone balcony overlooking the cavern, my breath caught in my throat.
"Not what I expected," I murmured.
The entire underground area wasn't just a dirty cavern or a makeshift black market. It was a massive, upside-down cathedral.
I instantly realized what I was looking at. The grand, beautiful cathedral that sat in the very center of Blackwater Roost, shining brightly for the King's city above... its roots extended deep down here. The massive stone foundation and lower crypts of the holy building formed the very ceiling and walls of the underground where all the illegal atrocities took place.
The holiest place in the city was literally built on top of its darkest sins.
"What?" I breathed out, still trying to process the sheer scale of the upside-down cathedral.
"Yep, this is the illegal market. Let's go," Isaac said casually, entirely unfazed by the blasphemous architecture. I was still a bit disoriented by the whole situation, but I forced my expression into a cold mask and followed him down into the sprawling, crowded bazaar.
As we waded through the market, I saw a ridiculous variety of illegal and mystical items being sold in the open. At one stall, I spotted a pure Tier 3 Ether crystal. I bought it immediately without haggling; I knew I was going to need a massive amount of pure Ether for my future advancements. Isaac, meanwhile, bought an ornate, high-end sword. He claimed he needed it for "a good purpose," but I knew damn well he just bought it to flex.
Vendors were shouting over each other, selling everything from ancient artifacts to grimoires. Some even claimed to be selling authentic ritual books. I highly doubted they were real, to be honest. Genuine ritual texts weren't exactly something you could just stumble upon and buy at a dirty street stall.
We wandered around, killing time, until something pinned to a stone pillar caught my eye.
It was my photo. An incredibly accurate sketch of my face under the alias Lucifer.
Wanted: Dead or Alive. Bounty: 3,000 Pounds.
What? Just 3,000 pounds for wiping out four pirates? I thought, genuinely insulted. Sigh.
"Oh, hey! You're getting wanted posters, man," Isaac grinned, looking from the parchment to my face.
"..." I stared at him blankly.
"You know, I have a bounty poster around here somewhere too," he boasted, practically vibrating with excitement. "Do you wanna know how much it is?"
"No."
"Come on, man! I'll tell you anyway. It's bigger than yours."
"..."
"It's 6,000 pounds! I'm pretty famous around here, you know."
Sigh. Man, just stop flexing, I groaned internally. "Good for you," I muttered dryly.
Since my face was officially plastered on the walls of the city, I decided it was time to cover up. I found a merchant selling various enchanted visages and picked out a sleek, pitch-black Oni mask. The seller claimed it had a minor enchantment that granted the wearer night vision. It was incredibly useful, so I paid for it and strapped it to my face. Isaac ended up buying one as well, agreeing that we shouldn't draw unnecessary attention from other bounty hunters.
Time was ticking. We were about an hour away from the start of the slave auction. I leaned against a dark brick wall and turned to my companion.
"This is the time where you tell me your Pathway," I demanded directly.
"Ahh, man. Is it already time to say this?" he whined.
I just looked at him with my cold, dead eyes through the slits of the Oni mask.
"Okay, okay! But you have to tell me yours too, deal?" he asked.
I gave a single nod.
"It's not some grand, mythical thing or anything," Isaac started, his tone dropping to a serious whisper. "It's a sub-Virtue Pathway of War."
I frowned beneath my mask. I was genuinely confused as to what a 'sub-Pathway' was, but I didn't interrupt him.
"So, you know how there are the main Virtue Pathways, right?" Isaac explained. "Mine branches off from the concept of War. I am following the Hunter Pathway. It's a sub-Pathway."
Hunter Pathway. A sub-branch of War. My mind instantly raced. That meant he fell under the same overarching cosmic domain as Raphael, the Grounded Angel of War. It made perfect sense given his combat instincts, and it made him incredibly dangerous.
"Now, your turn," Isaac prompted.
"Mine is Gravity," I lied smoothly. I gave him a half-truth based strictly on how I used Event Horizon against the pirate crew earlier.
Isaac didn't question it. He just nodded thoughtfully. "Oh, that makes sense. With the way you were manipulating the weight around us and crushing those guys' heads... yeah, Gravity fits."
---
Nine o'clock.
Exactly at 9:00 PM, the atmosphere in the underground market shifted. The sprawling crowd began moving systematically toward a single focal point: a massive stone amphitheater built directly beneath the inverted spire of the cathedral.
We followed the flow of the crowd and took our seats near the very back of the arena, giving us a perfect, elevated vantage point over everyone else.
"Look. The guy with the reddish hair, kind of like mine," Isaac whispered, subtly pointing at a man sitting just two rows ahead of us. "That's the pirate captain we need to kill today."
The target was wearing a heavy cloak and a dark mask, his dark red hair spilling out over his collar. He sat perfectly still, his gaze locked intensely on the empty main stage.
I still didn't know how or where he planned to get the batch of human hearts, but I knew for a fact he was about to make his move for the slaves.
"Why doesn't he just buy them?" I asked quietly, keeping my eyes on the back of the captain's head.
"Man, it's not cheap to buy merchandise like this," Isaac replied, his tone surprisingly serious. "The bidding is going to start at forty thousand pounds and will only go up from there. Only the obscenely rich nobles or the Pirate Kings themselves can afford that kind of money, not a rogue pirate captain. Plus, the massive commotion he's about to cause is probably exactly what his master wants. Devils feed on chaos and danger."
Isaac's eyes scanned the crowd. "Also, look. There are three more of his men stationed around the room." He subtly gestured to the different corners of the amphitheater. "One is sitting right next to the captain. Another is blocking the main exit. The third is lingering right next to the stage. They are perfectly positioned for a coordinated strike."
A hush fell over the crowd as a well-dressed announcer stepped up to the podium and officially declared the start of the auction.
The heavy iron gates behind the stage groaned open, and guards dragged out the main attraction: four Elves.
Even though their bodies were covered in dirt, fresh bruises, and bloody wounds, their natural, otherworldly majesty was undeniable. There were two males and two females, all bound tightly in heavy, glowing suppression chains.
As the rich buyers in the front rows began murmuring in sick excitement, I ignored the stage entirely. I kept my eyes locked directly on the red-haired captain.
He slowly raised his hand and pointed a single finger toward his crewmate positioned by the stage. It was a signal.
My instincts screamed. I knew immediately that all hell was about to break loose. Without a fraction of a second to spare, I flared my royal blue Ether and violently activated Event Horizon, instantly folding the space around me and Isaac to create an impenetrable, invisible dome.
Then—
BOOM.