Boom!
By the time Marcus and the rest arrived, Eddy was already being dealt with by Mercidin.
When his initial attack on the younger knights failed, and he felt the possibility of being dealt with, even the entities in control wanted to run away.
"Impossible!"
"How is a Tidal Wave Knight this strong!? Why is there such a difference between us?"
The entities wondered.
They were a source of power sought out by others. At the same level, they were meant to be stronger, and yet, the reality with Mercidin was completely different.
Moreover, it didn't look as if the knight was struggling to do anything.
When the entities in control realized that more knights had shown up, a single thought crossed their minds.
Fight or flight.
"Weakling, let us consume you. This is beyond you and anything we can grant you in this state." One of them convinced, speaking to what little hold Eddy had on his body.
"With complete control, you can achieve total transformation. Radiant rank fighters wouldn't be your match then." Another voice said.
"Isn't it a transformation that your father has negotiated for your siblings? If we can help you achieve it, why wait for his help? Set yourself free, Ediziah!"
Like a spell, Eddy's consciousness sank into the depths of his soul, ceding control to the entities.
In that moment, a terrifying pressure descended from above, landing onto Eddy's body.
The Dark mana around him changed form, from being wisps of smoke to silk-like forms of dark energy.
With the density and rise in Dark mana, his body began to grow.
His ears extended a few inches before forking into three. His eyes turned yellow, and totems quickly formed on his forehead, resembling tattoos.
This new development put all the knights on their toes.
"What's this?" They wondered.
Marcus stood in the distance, watching silently as he continuously tried to put two and two together.
Looking at Eddy's transformation, he activated his [Inspect] skill.
Within a few seconds, a translucent screen with answers appeared before him.
[Nefarious Sprites (Corrupted) (Projection?) (Artificially modified): Entities born from deep seethed negative thoughts and emotions. They take control through possession and draw power from Dark Mana. Difficult to kill in many cases, unless the host is killed.
Weaknesses: Pure Light. Greater Corruption. Greater Mental Strength. Destruction of Host's Heart.]
Ignoring the words written before the introduction of the Sprites, Marcus read on.
This… doesn't seem proper, even for a crazed cultist.
Marcus frowned.
Now he understood why the young man seemed to oscillate between sanity and insanity.
He had no intentions of killing Eddy now. Rather, he had questions for him.
But at this point, with the way everything was playing out, capturing the young man would mean that he would have to deal with these Nefarious Sprites too.
His skill highlighted their weaknesses, but still pointed out that they were difficult to kill unless their host dies.
In other words, Eddy had to die.
Marcus sighed as he started to reorganize his plans once again.
"No, there's no need to be down. In the first place, there was no assurance that this guy knew the item Cassir was talking about. Also, from all indications, he's not a follower of the Faceless Order. My initial plans wouldn't have pulled through with or without the Nefarious Sprites."
Marcus jumped onto the roof of a building close by, to watch the other battle taking place not so far off.
Brown quickly followed behind him.
"Milord?"
"Kill the student. He's not human anymore, nor is he useful. A clean stab in his heart should do it."
Brown responded by unsheathing his sword. Three seconds later, he appeared behind the transformed Eddy and stabbed with his sword.
It was a quick and painless stab, to the point where the Nefarious Sprites didn't even notice anything until they tried moving.
That was when blood splurted out of the stab wound, from his back.
"No, what's happening!?"
"Who stabbed us?"
"Who!"
As Eddy's life force started to dim, the Dark mana around him gradually disappeared.
His transformed body also began to change back to its normal form.
The entities screamed, as that was all they could do.
Powerful as they might be, without life from their host, they were no different from inflated balloons.
Just when everyone thought everything had settled, they heard a sob.
It was Eddy.
In the final wakes of his life, he was… crying.
"Father, in the end… am I just a result of your lustful mistake?"
In Eddy's eyes, the only thing he could see was his parents' scornful looks.
Those looks stung, their disappointment towards him hurt more than the pain he felt in his body.
"Am I not worthy of your love and care? Am I not your flesh and blood–"
He coughed out a mouthful of blood and crashed on his back.
Despite all of this, his tears continued to pour out.
Eddy could hear the smug, mocking laughter of his siblings. Silhouettes of their faces appeared in the clouds in his eyes.
"Useless, waste of space." He seemed to hear one of them say.
With whatever little strength he had left, Eddy closed his eyes, unable to see those faces anymore.
"Maybe I'm not even worthy… of living…" The light of life left his eyes the moment he said that.
Silence filled the surroundings. Mixed with a bitter taste of doubt.
Everyone, including Marcus, felt like they had made a mistake.
But none of them could tell why they felt this way.
What could it be? Or am I just overreacting?
Guilt put its rough paws on his heart again. I only eliminated a necessary pawn, I shouldn't be feeling this way.
Though he tried to convince himself otherwise, deep in his heart, he felt like he had done something very wrong.
Marcus shook his head slightly and said, "Gather up and clean the area... Also, preserve his corpse."
With that being said, he vanished, quickly making his way towards the other battle site.
***
Over on the other side.
The hooded man was bleeding from multiple places, with four arrows lodged into his four limbs.
Struggling to move, the man slid across the ground, dodging Floki's fast attack.
"Why are you doing this to an innocent man?" He complained as he resumed his escape.
In that moment, the feeling of deja vu touched him.
Following his instincts, he docked to the ground and rolled. And in that instance, two arrows narrowly missed his shoulders.
A terrifying chill gripped his heart.
Out of the people he had faced before, he had never come across a scarier archer than the one who had incapacitated his ability to escape today.
At the same time, the man retrieved a yellowish, rectangular paper and struck it on the ground.
He smeared his blood on it and suddenly, the paper lit up.
The power of runes exploded from this flimsy paper, creating a circle filled with Dark mana.
Within this circle, he was safe, protected from those outside.
Arrows shot at him struck an invisible wall, before falling to the ground.
Even Floki and Caleb couldn't approach the man anymore.
They stood outside the circle, watching as he spilled his grievances.
"I can't believe I'm wasting a Goddamn treasure in this backwater place! Where the fuck will I get another Transference Talisman of caliber again?" He cursed.
The man glared at his attackers, swearing to come back for them.
He would have his vengeance.
That was when he noticed another figure behind the knights.
One that made him feel even more threatened than the three knights combined.
The hooded man poured all his Blood Force into the circle, propelling it to operate faster.
"Where do you think you're going to?" Marcus's voice rang in the man's ears.
The next he saw was the young lord stretching an arm out.
As though he commanded gravity, a powerful force pulled the man out of the circle and into Marcus's outstretched hand.
Marcus gripped his neck tightly, strangling the man.