"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare Marieke Odekirk's dagger mine!"

Whoosh!

One of the daggers in the monstrous Marieke disappeared from her hand and appeared in Luuk's hand. He had got close enough to steal his own dagger.

Bang! Bang!

The sound of metal banging against each other still resounded in the building. Jacco didn't let up playing his War Drum to empower his team.

Luuk was still dangerously close to Marieke. He was well within her attack range, so he quickly made a move to retreat into a safer distance. Marieke started opening her mouth while pointing at Luuk, most likely to order him to stay there with her power.

Shit! If I fail to move away now, I'll be dead meat, Luuk thought.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Secrets, hereby declare the word order a secret!"

Valentine chanted very quickly before Marieke could even let out a sound.

"I ----- you to come here!" shouted Marieke with a voice that was painful to the ears.

...

There was no effect. Luuk's retreat was not interrupted!

WIth Marieke being startled by her failed chant, Valentine closed in on her and kick her in the stomach.

Crash!

She got pushed back and fell on the ground by Valentine's empowered kick. However, Valentine's right foot was overcome by pain because of contact with Marieke's hard body. It felt like kicking a concrete wall.

"Shit! Careful, her body is so hard!" Valentine warned loudly.

Bang! Bang!

Jacco was busy keeping the beat of the War Drum reverberate, so he couldn't do anything.

Luuk had sneaked in behind the crazed woman while she was on the ground.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare Marieke Odekirk's dagger mine!"

Whoosh!

Valentine's dagger disappeared from her hand and Luuk quickly tossed it to him.

"Catch!" he gave Valentine a heads up.

Valentine caught the dagger and then quickly chanted in quick succession.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Secrets, hereby declare the word order no longer a secret!"

"I, in the name of the Deity of Secrets, hereby declare the word mine a secret!"

With his restriction, both Marieke and Luuk shouldn't be able to steal. Valentine darted towards her who was already standing and readied his dagger for an attack.

Slash!

He managed to create a wound in her right arm that she used to guard against his attack.

"I order you to stand still!"

The horribly hoarse voice penetrated his ears and his feet refused to move from his spot. Marieke threw a punch right at his face.

Bam!

Luuk managed to kick Marieke's punching hand and made it miss her target. They retreated right away. The effect of the War Drum played a big role in Luuk's increased power. His normal kick wouldn't have been able to redirect her punch like that, not to mention being fast enough to even land it.

"Thank you," said Valentine.

Fwoosh!

Marieke moved very quickly past them towards Jacco who stayed far in the back. She seemed to have realized the importance of the supporting man.

"Shit! I thought she was supposed to be fucking rampaging! How can she still use her brain?!" exclaimed Jacco from the back. He got rid of the metal lids and guarded against her quickly incoming attack with both arms.

Crash!

Jacco's had his own hard skin, so it protected him to some extent. However, he still got thrown back and fell on his back. With the War Drum gone, Valentine and Luuk became visibly slower and weren't fast enough to save him.

Jacco got up and spitted blood on the ground. The power of the attack was stronger than he had thought.

This is bad. We need to give Jacco a chance to play his War Drum again, but how? Luuk was thinking hard.

Luuk then got an idea. He gestured at Valentine who understood right away what he meant.

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"I, in the name of the Deity of Secrets, hereby declare the word mine no longer a secret!"

"I, in the name of the Deity of Secrets, hereby declare the word order a secret!"

Valentine didn't know what Luuk was planning, but he knew that Luuk was planning to steal something. They both got close enough to their target, who was moving quickly towards Jacco. Whatever Luuk was planning, he had to do it fast before she got out of range again.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare Marieke Odekirk's pants mine!"

Luuk made a swiping motion with his right hand and a pair of woman's pants appeared. The keys that were inside the pocket fell on the ground beneath Marieke because the pants that were used for containing them had disappeared. Luuk then quickly discarded them and ran away.

Marieke, who was now only in her underwear, was enraged. She changed direction towards Luuk without caring about her pants at all. In fact, she wasn't able to care about being naked; she was provoked by Luuk's act of stealing her clothes.

"Now!" shouted Luuk.

"I, in the name of the Deity of War, play this War Drum!"

Bang! Bang!

Jacco had grabbed his metal lids back and resumed his banging. Valentine and Luuk became empowered again, the former launched a backstab against Marieke who was chasing the running away Luuk; with Jacco's support, he managed to keep a distance from her.

Stab!

Valentine stabbed her back twice in quick succession, which managed to cause a deep wound on her back. Thick, black blood flowed from her wound. She looked like she was in deep pain, and it made her even more furious. She quickly turned around and kicked him with a strong force.

Crash!

Valentine got thrown back several meters and hit the ground. She quickly marched towards him.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare Marieke Odekirk's hoodie mine!"

With that, her hoodie magically moved to Luuk's hand. She was slowly undressed by Luuk, who kept stealing her articles of clothing. The monstrous Marieke was now only wearing a t-shirt and underwear with her pair of shoes still intact. Her blind rage made her chase the quickly running away Luuk.

"I ----- you to stop running!" she shouted loudly, but her order failed to take effect because of Valentine's restriction.

"Your clothes are mine!"

Luuk's clothes disappeared from his body, leaving him only in underwear. He felt the cold night rubbing against his skin and the embarrassment of being naked in front of his team was painful, but his sense of danger made him want to keep running, and thanks to Valentine's restriction, he could retreat to a safe distance.

Valentine was sneaking with his dagger ready behind Marieke who was busy discarding Luuk's clothes. He lunged at her, aiming for her neck.

Stab... stab!

"Aaaaarghh!!"

"Cuuuuurse you!!!!" she shouted with a broken voice.

He had to stab her twice in the neck to cause a wound. His dagger was stuck deep into her neck with thick black blood flowing with difficulty around the uncovered wound.

With that last stab, she fell on the ground with eyes full of fury, which then turned blank, because her life had been snuffed out of her body. Soon after, her whole body burst into flames, burning her t-shirt, underwear, and shoes, but Valentine was fast enough to recover his dagger.

Once the danger had passed, Luuk went over to his discarded clothes and put them on quickly. Jacco stopped playing the drum and came closer to see the aftermath of the battle.

From the ashes that used to be Marieke Odekirk, there were two contract scrolls lying on the ground and a slowly forming round object. Valentine picked up the two scrolls and opened them while waiting for the object to fully formed.

Valentine opened the first scroll and saw the sigil. It looked like a right-facing concrete caterpillar with complicated lines and circles on its body. There was an inverted cross below the 'neck' of the caterpillar. Once he saw the sigil, knowledge transferred to his brain, including the summoning chant and the sacrificial materials.

He then tucked the slightly heavy scroll under his leather jacket and opened the second one. The sigil looked like a left-facing trumpet with extended lines and circles. It was the least obscure sigil that Valentine had seen so far. Knowledge of the whole ritual and materials transferred to his brain once he saw it. He also stuffed the scroll under his jacket.

"What Deities are those?" asked Luuk curiously.

"Deity of Theft and Deity of the Tongue," said Valentine shortly.

Luuk had figured out that Marieke had contracted the same Deity as him, but he didn't know about her other power.

The round object had fully formed from the ashes by the time he finished looking at the scrolls. It looked like a hand and a tongue that were compressed into a small sphere. The object also had a fleshy feeling when touched. Valentine picked it up and put it inside his jacket's pocket.

Luuk and Jacco were watching Valentine from the side. The former had no interest in any of the scrolls. Jacco, however, looked very interested in the Deity of Theft. He came up to Valentine and asked,

"Are you selling those scrolls?"

"Which one do you want?" asked Valentine.

"The Deity of Theft," Jacco answered honestly, "I can't use it for myself since it doesn't complement my power, but I can give it to my trusted man."

"Probably. But not now. I need to study them. Come to my office tomorrow if you're still interested," he said convincingly. Actually, he also planned to sell the Deity of Theft's scroll, but he didn't know the market price for scrolls, so he would have Graham divine it tomorrow.

He then took out two small brown envelopes from his jacket and handed them to Luuk and Jacco.

"Your commission money," he said shortly.

"Thanks, man!" said Jacco excitedly. He opened the envelope right away and saw ten guilder bills inside.

Luuk also looked excited but he didn't open the envelope right away. He put it inside his pocked without caring about crumpling it.

Valentine only watched the two men and didn't say anything. He looked around the empty factory building for something inconspicuous and not easily removable. He could use his blood, but it would be easily noticed and removed. He then got an idea and turned to Luuk.

"Can you steal a tiny bit of this part of the floor?"

Luuk looked confused, but then said, "If it's just a tiny bit, I probably can?"

He decided to trust the man and got ready to use his power, although he doubted it would work.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare this concrete floor's tiny part mine!"

He made a swiping motion and a very small chunk of the floor appeared in his hand. It was half the size of his palm. He was very surprised that his power actually worked. On the floor, now there was a hole the same size as the tiny chunk in Luuk's hand.

Valentine placed his hand on top of the hole and slit his palm. He let the blood pool and started chanting.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Secrets, offer this blood as a medium"

The blood on his palm emitted a mysterious mist.

"For I declare this place under the Shroud of Secrecy hereafter!"

He dropped the misty blood right into the hole and the area became strangely silent for a second. After that, he turned to Luuk,

"Put it back carefully,"

Luuk placed the part of the floor in the hole carefully, and since it was not broken, the part fit in perfectly, looking like it had never been taken out in the first place. Luuk then swept the top with his hand to make it even more even. Valentine's blood was now hidden under the concrete floor, so although the hole was discovered, it would still be hard to remove it.

"With this, we're done here," said Valentine triumphantly.