Silence. There wasn't a sound to be heard within the sewer walls. Curiously, the residents of the murky place took quite a liking to it; one of them being Heitor.

Silence only meant one thing for him at the moment - no more mercenaries chasing him. Nothing else mattered, for he was in no condition to fight or flee. The source of his problem was simple, namely, his leg.

Other than his first and last enemies, he wasn't so lucky in his second endeavor. The middle-aged man got a lucky strike at his right leg, cutting a very deep wound. It could be infected as well, taking into consideration the environment he currently found himself into.

Thus his current predicament. If left untreated, the wound would either kill him by bleeding out or a nasty infection. Time was running out, and he needed a cleric to cure him as soon as possible. Yet not only was his head wanted, but he couldn't even get up from the floor.

"The book." His sister suggested.

Yes, the book! How could he forget it? Once again, it proved to be his only way out of a dire situation. Crawling from his position towards the deceased leader's body, he placed the book beside the remains.

Since absorbing the first human, it didn't reveal any new pages. Perhaps as far as one went in the book, the bigger the sacrifices Karacatoa would require. By all means, though, there was only one way to find out.

The nightmarish phenomenon began once more. Tiny cuts appeared all over the body, and blood soon followed, gushing out of it towards the cursed object.

There was no light in the sewer other than the outside sunlight, so it was hard to properly see. Nonetheless, Heitor still felt that someone- no, something, was among them, observing everything. That intent, almost like an insatiable aura radiating from the book as the bloodletters re-arranged themselves. It was ravenous, a starving wolf in between a pack of sheep.

Then, as if nothing was there to begin with, the aura vanished altogether.

Erasing those useless thoughts, Heitor read the page's new contents. Contrary to what he expected though, there was no lesson this time.

Choose carefully, for our decisions form who we are.

The next lines jumped out of the pages and onto his sight.

Abilities:

Leech - [Rank D]

Requirements: Leech Dealer, Karacatoa's Blessed Child

Life and death are closely intertwined, for new life requires death, and vice versa. But you refuse to accept the natural order of things and instead chooses to live like a worm that feeds upon others to heal itself.

Mana Manipulation - [Rank D]

Requirements: None

Since the early ages, humans strived for survival. Nature wasn't amicable for their frail like, and so they resorted to the arcane arts. By wielding the invisible energies, their hegemony soon was solidified. Nevertheless, they've become arrogant and weak throughout the eons, forgetting the true behemoths and titans of the world.

Powerful Blow - [Rank D]

Requirements: None

Those who weren't capable of wielding the arcane could only resort to their body strengths, pushing their limits to the very extreme in order to deal a decisive blow when in dire situations.

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Agatha kneeled in front of the book, her frame slightly transparent in the light. Her breath came out as a chilling breeze as she spoke, "Take the Leech ability. You will die pretty soon if you don't heal yourself." While she was pretty when alive, now her beauty could only be described as ethereal. Her jet black hair blended in with the dark and her striking translucent blue eyes reflected the sunlight.

Nodding, he said, "But what should I use it on? The book already drained all the bodies dry."

Chuckling by herself, she replied, "You will have to make do with what you currently have."

"What do you mean- Oh." He stared at the leeches crawling all around the sewer walls, floor, and water.

Using a harsher tone, she spoke as she went back to the shadows, "What are you waiting for? Get on with it." He chose the leech ability and immediately felt his fingers being pierced at every spot possible.

"Arghh..." He groaned slightly as tiny droplets of blood ran down his palms. Now staring at them, the sight to behold was abhorrent, to say the least. Tiny holes covered his palms, little bony spikes jutting out of them. He wasn't blessed with the book, no, he was cursed - he reached the epiphany as he glanced at his blood-covered fingers. His sister's judgmental stare watched him from behind.

"No walking out of this now. No running away anymore." He firmly declared as he closed his hands tight. Instantly, the holes closed themselves as the bone protrusions went back inside.

Meanwhile, the rest of the mercenaries waited outside. After hours of pure waiting, uneasiness spread around the group like spilled blood.

"It has been hours since we've been here, and no signs of either the boss or who we looking for." Holding his sweaty hands together, he continued, "something went wrong."

"What should we do?" His close friend asked.

"One of us needs to go warn the city guards, this is out of what we can currently handle. The other two will stay here."

Of course, one of them didn't seem to agree, "Yeah, sure. Let's warn the guards and throw away 1 grand royal coin. Can you even hear how stupid you sound right now?"

"Get a little of sense inside your thick head, our boss is probably dead! Him, John and Darius! All three of them killed by a single man! Can you fight against someone like that?" He asked out of spiciness, "Fine, I will go. Money is useless for me if I am dead, after all."

He left in a hurry, leaving his 2 comrades behind.

Sure enough, Samuel couldn't wait anymore.

"I'm going in there myself! Aymon may be damned, that coward. Our boss should be lost somewhere, I knew that the map couldn't be trusted." He dispatched towards the sewers just as fast as his companion did.

"Wa- wait. What are you thinking? It is dangerous, don't go in there alone." Tomas tried to reason with him, but alas it was for naught.

"You wait here, I will come back soon enough." He brushed Tomas' worries aside with a sly grin.

Making his way inside the unlit tunnels, the first thing to hit him was the smell. It was intoxicating - literally poisoning. Then the second thing he noticed was the swimming leeches, crawling cockroaches and jumping frogs. Why is it so full of life down here? He asked as many others before him did. There was something odd about the place though, it was dead silent. Indeed, for a place so full of life, it was quite disturbing that no sound could be heard.

It was like the insects and animals were afraid of something. What it was? He had no idea and preferred to maintain it that way.

The more he made his way through the cryptic pathways, the more he started regretting his decision of wandering alone. His senses were hyper-sensitive by then, trying to find anything which could be dangerous.

Luckily, fear proved to be a life-saver. His keen ears caught onto quiet steps - right behind him! He turned around in fright, slashing his axe at the dark. It lightly hit at Heitor's arm. Likewise, Heitor slashed at his neck. But either because of the shock of being hit or the lack of training, it didn't hit his neck. Instead the sword impaled itself into the right shoulder.

At that moment, the two men stared at each other's eyes. There was a single thought in their mind - to kill and survive.

Heitor was faster though. Kicking him straight at the chest, Samuel fell back onto the greywater filled with leeches. His armor weighed on him and the water canal was deep.

Just like many common people, he didn't know how to swim - the leeches, on the other hand, knew pretty well.

"Please! Have mercy on me, just let me go!" He begged the mysterious man, which surprisingly extended his hand.

Samuel didn't think twice before grabbing it.

Heitor pulled him to the shore before driving his sword at Samuel's neck, this time hitting it.

"KHekh." Blood dirtied the waters as Samuel stared in horror at the sword blade and then into Heitor's eyes.

Finally, silence reigned once again.

"Now drain his blood," Agatha ordered.

Heitor did as asked without hesitation. Minutes later he stared back at the water, a pleased expression reflecting back. The feeling of sucking blood through his hands... it was quite good actually. Moreover, the ecstasy didn't go away for quite some time, and when it did... it wasn't pleasant at all.

Outside, the city sentries just arrived.

"Where is Samuel?" Aymon asked with rising anxiety.

Tomas stayed silent before answering, "In there. He said he would come back soon, but..."

"He didn't," Aymon concluded.