Lord Of Beasts

While Ethan was clearing the Gate, surprisingly little happened outside. The compound had fallen into an uneasy silence. Most of the fighting was over, and with the remaining enemies either dead or incapacitated, there was little left for Kaela and Elara to do except wait.

Unfortunately, Kaela wasn’t particularly good at waiting.

"Where did you even find those?"

Elara stared at the bottles in the purple-eyed woman’s hands.

Kaela looked down at them as though she had forgotten she was holding them.

"These?"

"Yes, those."

Kaela shrugged before taking another long drink.

"Does it matter?"

Elara sighed, not even bothering to try to stop her as she leaned against a wall, casually drinking as though they weren’t standing inside a recently cleared criminal compound.

"You’re going to regret that later."

Kaela laughed.

"Probably."

That didn’t stop her from downing another bottle.

Meanwhile, Elara was more concerned about Mark, whom Ethan had left in her care. Though their battle had drowned out the noise from his exchange with the two men, she had sensed something unusual.

’The closest thing I can compare it to is the aura of that Orc Boss Beast.’

But she couldn’t sense it anymore, and he seemed fine.

’Better to check and be sure.’

Blink!

She flashed across the compound and found Mark sat on the ground, with two armed men sprawled beside him.

"You did this?" she questioned with an impressed nod.

He seemed deep in thought, looking up at her absentmindedly.

"Yes," he responded plainly.

Her brows raised.

Something about him was clearly off, but she didn’t question it since he seemed unharmed, which was the important thing.

"Do you want to-"

Before she could finish offering him to join her and Kaela below, Mark stopped her.

"Leave me alone... please."

Elara was confused seeing the man sitting there with his fists clenched. But be it because of the racists or something else on his mind, it was clear he didn’t want her watching over him.

Without another word, she respected his wishes and headed back over to Kaela.

But there was something she had to do on the way.

’Let’s make sure there’s no more of those racists running around here.’

Blink!

’Seems like we missed one.’

There was a tattooed, scrawny man holding a rifle, tucked away behind some rubble. She appeared behind him, knocking him unconscious before he could even react.

That left her with a question.

’How long do people stay knocked out for?’

A bunch of the men who had taken those pills had died from the side effects and the beating they had endured, but most were just unconscious. As such, just to be sure, she conjured mana constructs to shackle all the men by their feet and hands.

Mutated or not, they all posed a threat to Mark, whom she was leaving alone.

Swooping over the compound like a scarlet witch, her hands shifted as she created dozens of thick chains.

’No such thing as being too careful.’

She was sure Ethan wouldn’t agree, but at least now she could rest easy without having to worry about Mark’s safety. But it seemed as though he was the real danger to himself, as he stared down at his own hands.

Mark was usually the sensible one.

He was cautious, disciplined, and rarely acted without thinking things through. He wasn’t the kind of person who chased thrills or took unnecessary risks simply because something looked interesting.

Mark didn’t even drink despite owning a bar.

He had always treated his body like a temple, taking pride in keeping himself clean and healthy. The idea of deliberately swallowing an unknown substance would normally have been unthinkable to him.

Yet now he couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened.

’I healed from being shot, became bulletproof, then I was insanely fast...’

Mark clenched his fist.

’All because I swallowed one of those strange pills.’

But now there was nothing.

He closed his eyes and focused harder, trying to force that strange power to return.

Still nothing.

’I guess I wasn’t Titled after all.’

Mark’s expression darkened.

"I thought..."

He stopped before he could start feeling sorry for himself.

That power, thrill, and feeling of being untouchable - he wanted to experience it again more than anything.

’And, like Ethan would always say, when we want something, we take it.’

The old self he thought he had buried had taken back over, and it came to one conclusion.

’I need more of those pills.’

The thought disturbed him, and he knew it was wrong. Those pills were illegal and, not to mention, unknown and dangerous. He had no idea what they were made from, what they had done to his body, or whether consuming another could kill him.

Normally, that would have been more than enough to make him walk away.

But the memory of that strength and the voice refused to leave his mind; he needed to understand what those pills had done to him.

"You are a monster... What does that even mean?"

That was the part that scared him most.

But regardless, Mark had decided he wanted to experience it again, and the pills were the answer. He began walking through the compound, keeping his eyes down as he searched the surrounding area.

"Where are those pills?" he asked one of the shackled men who had stirred after being knocked out.

"Why would I tell a black-"

Swing!

Mark slammed his fist into his face before the man could finish and raised his hand to strike him again.

"T-There! Over there!" the man pleaded, having had his fair share of beatings for the day.

With his head, he pointed towards a large wooden crate that had been thrown outside one of the damaged buildings during the fighting. Mark quickly approached, crouching beside the crate and pulling the damaged lid aside.

His eyes widened.

There were hundreds of those pills.

Mark stared down at them.

For several seconds, he didn’t move.

Every sensible part of his mind was telling him to walk away.

He didn’t know what these things were, what their side effects were, and whether they would even be effective the second time.

That should have been enough to deter him.

He should have closed the crate and headed over to Elara and Kaela.

’Maybe there’s a safer version they can find for me.’

But even as he thought that to himself, his hands were already reaching inside the crate and his fingers closed around one of the pills. Their colours varied slightly, and likely so did their effects, with each using different beasts or monsters as a base.

Not that any of that mattered to Mark.

He stared at it, his breathing heavy and his heart racing in his chest.

Then, without any further hesitation, he swallowed it...