"Well, we sure did learn a lot, didn't we?" Glenn stretched with a pleased look, ignoring as best he could the mockeries of the two entities living freely in his mind.

"Absolutely! And among all of that, the most important thing was certainly that people called you the Grinning Demon!" Nelg laughed, soon followed by Diamanes.

'Man, how good is the Devil's Hand? Can't you rename yourself like that for your whole life? This is sick!'

Glenn's brain switched to the not-listening mode and he walked away into the black market, trying to find his Black Heir comrade.

"It's great to split up for efficiency, but why didn't he tell me how to leave the damn place before...?" The young man cursed under his breath while pretending to bear attention to the different wares displayed in the various booths. There were many interesting items, like armor engraved with strange protection runes, swords of alien shapes, and even eggs of unknown beasts.

If the black market had one thing going for it, it was the diversity of the items presented, that was for sure. Glenn leaned over one table and rubbed his chin absent-mindedly, trying to find out where Sahro could have gone to investigate. The item he was falsely interested in was a Spatial Shard, at least, that was what the sign next to it advertised. To Glenn, it only looked like a slightly darker amethyst than usual, but he was no specialist. What he did know though, was that he was never going to buy that shit for a hundred gold coins.

"Sir, this is one of our best products. Produced by Sir Lancaster of the Dimensional Travel study group of the Magi Brotherhood, this is an authentic Spatial Shard, rendering teleportation possible with a drop of blood or a bit of Mana!" The seller presented, his eyes smiling under his skull mask. Glenn didn't reply to him, only glancing at the "Spatial Shard" a few more seconds, before shrugging and leaving the booth.

The second he left the booth, someone shoved him out of the way, pushing him into a crowd of people. Glenn wasn't expecting it and crashed into them, earning himself a more than distasteful reaction.

"You drunk bastard! What the hell do you think you're doing!" blurted out the massive man he had landed into. Shirtless so he could exhibit his similarly massive muscles, with only a brown balaclava to cover his face, the giant punched angrily toward Glenn. The young man hurriedly ducked, the fist passing right over his head and knocking out another customer who was in the middle of buying some kind of snake-shaped sword.

"Urgh!"

"Hey, why did you do that? Call the security!" One of the knocked-out guy comrades called out, before unsheathing a short machete and rushing at the giant man. The machete guy and the giant man suddenly began to fight it out, Glenn using the occasion to escape away.

'I must not make waves. I really, really want to fight, but I have to keep my abilities hidden. I can't get recognized now, or I might have the whole black market coming after me. Thank god, the Indigo Bureau doesn't seem like it wanted to share the information of my presence with anyone here.' Glenn grimaced and quickly left the scene, realizing who was behind the whole mess. It was a Skinner, as the human leather clothes he was wearing suggested. The Skinner was running in a precise direction, teeth clenched and scowling.

Glenn followed, determined to make him pay for the disrespect.

'YEAH! KILL THE FUCK OUT OF HIM!!!' Diamanes cheered, earning a sneer of contempt from his host.

"You dumb bastard, I just want him to apologize for causing the mess! I'm not killing him just because he pushed me!" Glenn muttered, dodging someone trying out a new weapon in the street. The Skinner skillfully navigated the black market, Glenn failing to catch up.

"...He does skin people, though," Nelg remarked. Glenn tried to ignore the feeling of hesitation in his heart making him want to grab his longsword and throw it at the runner, and continued to chase the Skinner.

“Hey! Wait!” He yelled as he stretched out his arm, leaping over a nasty outstretched foot aimed at tripping him. Without hesitating for a single second, he landed with both feet on the trap, making its owner scream painfully.

'Shit, I'm going to lose him!' Glenn clenched his teeth and used his Gravity Manipulation to pull a nearby stone right into the feet of the Skinner, making him fall face first on the ground.

"Argh! Fuck!" the Skinner cursed, scrambling to his feet. Glenn grabbed him by the vest and pulled him back.

"Excuse me, sir?" Glenn asked politely, his smile hidden under his mask. The Skinner turned, nose bloody and eyes angry.

"What the fuck do you want? Who the fuck are you?" He spat, spraying his wooden mask with spittle. Glenn blinked, before turning back and pointing at the now full-blown fight, where two groups were exchanging spells and other kinds of attacks.

"You, well, pushed me into that guy, and involuntarily caused this fight. Could you please apologize to me, firstly, then to them? I'd be very grateful," Glenn asked as gently as he could, the Skinner blinking at him crazily.

"Are you fucking insane? Get the fuck out of my way!"

Glenn's polite smile cracked. He reached for his longsword, infusing it with Mana to awaken it. Its shape changed into its mystical form, still hidden under his black hooded robe.

"...Should I just kill him?" The young man thought out loud, the Skinner reaching for a knife hanging at his waist while spitting another curse. A second later, a loud explosion shook the cavern, diverting Glenn's and the Skinner's attention from each other. Most customers went and reached for their weapons or prepared their spells, ready to fight. Some also went to hide behind powerful guards, shaking as they looked around for the source of the tremor.

The Skinner cussed out once again and sheathed his knife back, before ignoring Glenn and running away toward the explosion.

"Well, it's starting to annoy me, and you do skin people after all..." The young man sighed and lifted his sword, before slashing in the Skinner's direction. The man's arm suddenly fell off from him in a fountain of blood.

"ARGHHH!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!!" The Skinner screamed as he held his bleeding shoulder, before being suddenly pulled by Nelg's mystical force. He flew out in Glenn's direction, who reached out and grabbed his throat.

"So, let's start this again, but I'll add something to it. First..."

Boom!

Another explosion shook the cavern, but Glenn continued, undeterred.

"You should apologize when you commit wrongdoings. Secondly..."

"ARGHHHH!!! IT HURTS!!!"

"...Secondly, you should stop skinning people. Just don't do it, alright, and I might not kill you. Capisce?"

"WHAT THE FUCK DOES CAPISCE MEAN?!?"

Diamanes and Nelg laughed inside Glenn's mind, mocking him. The young man sighed and threw the terrified Skinner away before looking at the source of the explosions further away.

"Well, going unnoticed: failed. As usual, I'll say," Nelg commented mockingly, before following with a more curious tone, "...By the way, how did it feel? Was the swing good? Does it feel good to swing me?"

Glenn blinked and shook his head, ignoring how weird the question was. He jumped over a booth and ran from shop to shop toward the explosions.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"No way Sahro didn't see this. I'm sure I'll find him there, wondering whether I'm the one blowing everything up. Hehe, for once, it ain't me..." The young man grinned as he quickly went toward his goal. His grin quickly melted away when he recognized the human-sized cages and their prisoners.

"Shit...Should I use the occasion to free them?" Glenn pondered aloud, his bastard sword gleaming with mystical light, the hand guard covering his hand pulsing lightly. Suddenly, he recognized a familiar flash of blue electricity, followed by a scream of pain. The young man blinked, before rushing forward.

"Sah—! Sad!" Glenn almost shouted out the name of his friend, only to make up for it at the last minute. The blue lightning appeared again, only to stop right next to him. Sahro appeared on one knee, blood flowing from a wound on his forehead, gasping for air.

"Hah...Hah...Hah...Sorry about the mess, G—Happy...Cough!" Sahro spat out a small clot of blood before pushing up on his sword to stand up once again. A group of people arrived the way the Black Heir came from, a heteroclite team of six individuals.

"...Do you mind explaining to me what's going on? A quick summary will do the trick," asked Glenn as he held his sword with both hands, his eyes riveted to the incoming enemies. There were three mages with spells twirling above their heads and three knights. The first was armed with twin swords, the second with a spear, and the third with a double-edged straight sword with a flat tip. Sahro drew a deep breath and wiped the blood off his face, sparkles of electricity running down his sword.

"...There's a slave I, no, we need to save. It's a...You know."

Glenn understood directly when Sahro refused to elaborate.

'It must be another Black Heir. Well, I was only trying to keep it civil because of Sahro, but if I have the right to let loose and try out my sword, well...'

The young man's grin grew wide as he cut toward the nearby cages, slicing up the bars but not hurting the prisoners, effectively freeing them.

"Don't mind if I do, then! Do your thing, Sad, I'll cover for you!" Glenn laughed madly as he charged forward, Mana flowing down his right arm into his sword, powering it up to the maximum. The twin swords guy lunged toward him, sending a cross-shaped Aura blade his way.

"Hup!" Glenn clenched his teeth and slashed downward, cutting right through the attack and pulling the twin-sword guy in. He flew right in the young man's way, unable to defend himself due to the unusual nature of Nelg's powers. Without losing a second, Glenn made his sword rotate and went for an upward cut, slicing him from the left foot to the right ear. Blood splashed left and right from Glenn as the two parts of the enemy fell beside him.

"One down, five more to go!" Glenn grinned and turned toward the five other guys, just in time to see a wave of projectiles coming his way. He paled and hurriedly used his Gravity Manipulation to make himself weightless and fly away, narrowly avoiding a fire spear, five boulders, and—

"Shit!" Glenn felt something grab at him and pull him toward his attackers while letting him stay in the air. One of them, a long-haired mage with a pointy nose, seemed particularly focused as he muttered under his breath without stopping.

'Telekinesis!'

Glenn lifted his left hand toward the said mage, hesitating only for a single second to use Diamanes' power. That second was enough time for the two other mages and the three knights to attack once again, forcing the young man on the defensive. Three fire arrows flew his way, burning brightly as they reached for his limbs. Glenn tried to hack at them, but due to his lack of foothold, he couldn't properly protect himself. He blocked two of the arrows, but one landed on his left leg and burned the black robe away before damaging slightly his suit under it. Thankfully, the suit was supposed to be a little fire-proof, so Glenn wouldn't go up in flame directly.

The young man winced before switching out his Gravity Manipulation, making himself a few tons heavier. The pointy nose mage suddenly gasped and blood surged out of his nose. The telekinesis failed due to the mage losing control and Glenn was freed, landing on the ground with a loud bang. He felt like he had become an actual boulder, and couldn't move an inch. The ground shattered under him, rifts opening up all around his position. He swiftly switched his weight again and dodged to the side, just in time for a stone spike to pass by him.

"Fuck me, Sad where are you!" He shouted before aiming his left hand at the fire mage, who was chanting a big spell. A large fireball was floating above his head, growing with each passing second. Without wasting a second, Glenn shot out a Carbon Blade toward the mage, the invisible, sharp projectile flying through the air silently. Right as it was about to hit the fire mage, the straight-sword guy blocked it, surrounding his weapon and himself in a steel-coloured Aura.

The massive fireball suddenly flew out extremely fast, forcing Glenn to brace himself as he summoned whatever image he could think of to protect himself.

"DEFENSE, DEFENSE!!!" The ground suddenly rose into a large belt of small asteroids gravitating around Glenn and absorbing the brunt of the damage. The heat still passed through and Glenn felt his hair catch on fire slightly. He gritted his teeth and ignored it, lunging through the flames and stabbing forward with his sword. A beam of Mana shot out of Nelg before being blocked by the straight sword guy once again. Only, his sword suddenly flew out of his hands this time to land in Glenn's hands.

The young man grinned and swiftly slipped the straight sword into his dimensional pouch, successfully disarming the straight-sword guy. Right as he was about to rejoice about that news, a force stuck him in place as a volley of stone bullets shot out his way. Right behind them was the spear guy, who had remained on standby until now to find an opportunity. Glenn gasped and used the asteroid belt spell he had just come up with once more, before infusing them with the power of Nitrogen with Diamanes' help.

'I should have used this earlier, damn it!' Glenn thought desperately as he felt more and more of his hair burning off helplessly.

The stone bullets were deflected easily, but the spear guy went through the asteroid belt as if it were butter. Glenn raged and forced through the telekinesis to put his sword in front of him, just in time to stop the spear from piercing his heart. The now-weaponless guy jumped over the spear guy and kicked down with a flash of steel Aura, ready to smash Glenn to bits. The telekinesis restricting the young man suddenly disappeared, letting Glenn use his Gravity Manipulation to pull himself away from the attack. He flew in the air and charged a Blackhole while slashing in the weaponless guy's way, who hurriedly jumped to the ground and dodged the attack.

The fire mage and the stone mage suddenly combined their forces into one spell, chanting together as a magma atrocity surged from the ground, some golem with a horse's lower body and an ogre's upper body. All of that was in a massive version that towered over Glenn even though he was flying in the air.

A blue electric line suddenly appeared in Glenn's sight and he watched the weaponless guy's head being lopped off before the spear guy lunged forward and managed to stop Sahro in his electrical rush. The sword and the spear clashed with a clanging sound while Glenn tried to find a way to deal with the Magma Golem. He didn't take long to decide to use his most powerful attack, the Nitrogen Lance. He charged his Blackhole with Nitrogen, initiating the spell while praying to not be attacked by anyone, before shooting the devastating ice beam toward the newborn magma golem. The beam pierced straight through it while freezing the magma and transforming the leftovers into a strange but impressive statue of volcanic stone and obsidian.

The two mages were dumbfounded at the sight, giving Glenn the occasion to push a little further. He glanced at the telekinesis mage, only to find him with his body sliced in four different parts, electrical current still running through his corpse.

'Sahro must have dealt with him already, that's why the telekinesis came off earlier!' Glenn realized, before slashing toward the two mages. Without a knight to protect them, they were forced to hurriedly chant defensive spells. A rock and a fire wall surged in front of the attack, blocking it at the last second. Glenn deactivated the pulling skill so he wouldn't receive the fire and stone bits in his face, and used his Gravity Manipulation above the two mags to make the cavern's ceiling much heavier. It crackled and collapsed, a huge boulder landing right atop the two mages, crushing them into a bloody pulp.

At the same time, Sahro lunged forward with his stump, surprising his adversary as the invisible, lightning arm seized the enemy and struck him dead. The spear guy fell to the ground, his flesh charred black, sparks of electricity still running through his corpse.

Glenn glanced around once more, failing to find another enemy, and allowed himself to breathe out in relief. He dismissed Nelg's awoken shape when he was reminded of his head on fire thanks to the unbearable heat.

"ARGH, DAMN IT!!!" He sent a short wave of Nitrogen into his hair, killing off the fire. Sahro mindlessly stabbed his sword in one of the corpses, confirming their death. Glenn sheathed his sword and dusted his hands off, looking at the chaos they had made. Every cage had been sliced open, their occupants long gone from the fight. Only the beasts remained imprisoned, a wise choice as they might have tried to eat their saviors.

"Phew, well, that was close! Do you mind telling me what you were doing while I was facing off the six bastards at the same time?!?" Glenn questioned with an accusing look, Sahro cleaning his blade on a small sheet of fabric before sheathing it.

"I was opening every cage. We needed a distraction to occupy the black market guards, what best but runaway slaves?" The Black Heir explained, his grin hidden under his sad mask. Glenn remained speechless for a few seconds, before chuckling in disbelief.

"Anyway, do you mind presenting me the person worth all this mess?" Glenn crossed his arms, curious. It'd be the first time he'd meet another Black Heir than Sahro inside King's Rise, and that in and of itself was surprising. Sahro nodded and led him to a cage nearby, still occupied. He leaned in and helped the person inside it come out, supporting them.

Glenn's eyes widened and he felt his heart miss a beat. Two whistles echoed in his mind as if to mirror his current thoughts.

"Damn she is hot."

'A godly beauty. Wow.'

Sahro sighed and stepped away, letting the woman stand her feet.

"Happy, I present to you Liara."

Glenn couldn't avert his eyes, shocked.

'Guys, I think I might be in love.'