Chapter 31: Avaricious

Lock

20 years ago

The loud and lively crowd rambled on throughout the cozy inn. The central inn of Atlus City was always crowded, no matter the time of day. It attracted people of all kinds in the City and outside, but in the afternoon it was usually filled with soldiers and tradesmen who came for lunch. It was the go-to place for cheap and large portions of food.

Soup ran down Lock’s chiseled chin as he placed his spoon back in his bowl of soup. He idly looked over to his right where his last opponent lay. An Atlus soldier, obviously Ketan with his feline ears poking out from his hair and markings across his face. With a swift motion, Lock threw his hand of cards on the thick wooden table, landing with a smack.

“Six of queens,” was all he said, turning the cards to his opponent with a smug look. The men across from Lock leaned over to check the cards. Lock’s opponent tutted and then gritted his teeth. He threw his cards on the table in a mess, left his wager, and walked off cursing under his breath. Lock took a bite of his soggy bread soaked in soup and counted the wager up as he sat alone at the table. “I guess it covers the grub,” he said dissatisfied with the payout. He placed his spoon in the empty bowl and leaned back in his chair. The wood of the seat creaked against his large, toned back.

“This is no fun, a small payout like this doesn't feel the same,” he said to himself as he swung idly on his chair. He reaches up and stretches his arms while clasping his hands together.

“Gotta get back in the mercenary game…still…nothing fun to go for,” The young man looked back to the inn's entrance as he watched the three Atlus soldiers leave Still, it's fun to cheat those bastards out on their coin. He thought smirking to himself. Lock picks around in the pocket of his loose trousers and finds an old letter detailed to him by Morrison, his current agent when it came to finding him work. The young mercenary flipped it open and discarded the envelope to reveal the letter inside, dated back a week ago.

Swift as always lock, you didn't even give me time to find a new bounty before you killed Condo. Atlus deserters would cause any normal soldier trouble. Not you I suppose. Anyway, I've sidetracked. You're gonna like this, something a bit different from your usual targets of bandits and Atlus deserters. Cash in hand, Devil relic, Dangai. I know…like I couldn't make it any more interesting. Got a tip from a spy in Atlus that theirs a Devil Relic wielder running around in Dangai and he’s being bringing a name to himself. Yami they call him, never gonna get over those weird foreign names. Anyway, Atlus wants that Relic. Said they needed a mercenary to do it so Atlus wouldn't be caught courting with Dangai or something. They gave me quite a hefty deposit, the rest is waiting for you once they get the relic. Course, you're gonna have to travel over to Dangai and fight a Devil Relic wielder but the payout will be worth it, I’m sure. Atlus does have deep pockets after all. They also mentioned to make it a quiet exchange. Once you get the Relic, drop it off and never speak to an Atlus soldier again…EVEN IN CARD GAMES!

Morrison

Lock shoved the letter in his pocket and puffed air out the top of his lip.

“All the way out in Dangai,” Lock said with a groan in his voice. He stood up from the wooden chair he sat in and strode towards the entrance door of the inn. It seemed despite the danger of the task laid for him, all Lock had taken away was the time it would take to travel to Dangai.

“Guess it's better than betting against deadbeat soldiers all day.” Lock uttered with a bored sound in his deep voice. Despite being dissatisfied with the usual ways he made money, he still stood tall as he walked to the door of the inn. The man was slightly taller than most Atlusians and was definitely more toned and muscular. As he left the inn, he was presented with a familiar face. Lock scratched his short black hair as he realized it was the same group of soldiers he had just played cards with. They all had looks of dissatisfaction and bitterness on there face as the four of them stood and surrounded the door.

“If you're back for round two, sorry, but I’m on work hours now,” he said as the tall man proceed to walk through the group of men. The soldiers from the front shoved Lock back as he tried to push through.

“We're not here for cards you little shit. You're gonna get a painful reminder of what happens when you cheat in a game of cards with us.” cursed one of the soldiers at the front. Lock only gave him a smug smirk Typical, they can never handle the heat of the game.

“Oh, and how are you going to do that,” Asked Lock. The soldier at the front jerked his head as a signal to Lock.

“Follow us, and don't even think about running,” stated the Ketan soldier.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Fine, fine, but let’s make it quick,” Lock proceed to follow the group of men for a few minutes until they reached a quiet alleyway. The narrow path let no light through due to the tall buildings and rays of light were only visible through their beams at the end of the path.

“If you want it quick, that’s fine,” said one of the men as they stopped in the alleyway to face Lock. They all had either looks of malice or arrogance on their face. Lock stood tall and confident among the four soldiers as they began to draw their swords. He stood and grinned at them menacingly as they approached.

“You‘ll have wished this was quick,” As he spoke, one of the men lunged at him, assuming that Lock was distracted. He lunged using his left hand with the tip of his shortsword aimed at Lock. The tall man quickly entered a defensive stance with his feet squared off and his arms guarding his face. As the thrust of the soldier's sword reached Lock, he weaved his head enough to avoid the point of the blade. With grace, Lock used his left hand to push down the soldiers fist and divert the blade away, while keeping the soldier wide open. Once his parry was executed, Lock then followed up by rising slightly from his weave and returned his left hand to his closed guard. Lock then threw out a jab with his right hand to the soldier's face which was devoid of any sort of guard. The jab connected with his jaw but was so fast it seemed invisible. It was so fast it looked as if the strike was delivered to the face at the same time Lock returned his hand to his guard. The energy of the strike broke the skin, flaying blood out quickly and fracturing the man’s jaw in an instant. His blade dropped to the cobbled path with a clank. Then shortly after, the man fell face-first limp to the ground as he lost consciousness. The sound of the strike could most likely be heard by people outside of the long alleyway they stood in. The sound resembled that of a small cannon. The three remaining men stepped back anxiously as a reflex. Never before had they seen such a strike delivered.

“O…on second thought…you can keep the coin…I-I mean you won it fair and square,” Stuttered one of the men with the other two soldiers replying back in agreement. The three spun in the opposite direction, dropping their blades and making a beeline for the end of the alley. Lock turned casually as he rotated and stretched his shoulder with an unsatisfied expression on his face. The tall man then threw up his left hand with two fingers stretched to point at the fleeing soldiers. Upon his hand sign, one of the fleeing men collapsed in on himself and fumbled in his sprint, coming to a complete stop. The man cursed and tried to start moving again but it was as if some invisible force was pressing against him, as no matter where he tried to move, it looked as if something unknown was holding his upper body in place. The other two soldiers stopped and turned around upon hearing the third soldiers foot steps disappear.

“What are you doing?! Cmon!” Shouted one of the men as he waved over to him to follow.

“I…I can’t move…I’m stuck” said the third soldier as he flayed awkwardly with frustration in his voice. The man’s legs flayed around in a wild attempt to break free of this unknown force, but nothing he tried worked.

“It's like my breastplate is stuck or something. I can’t move,” As he panicked, Lock began to approach from behind, still keeping his tall posture. Without saying a word, Lock lowers into a squared stance and delivers a straight punch directly into the soldier's breastplate, stemming from his lower abdomen. The strike absorbed completely into the breastplate and seemed to have no effect whatsoever on the leather.

“Huh, what the hell?” cursed the frozen guard as he tried to shift his head around to see what Lock was doing, despite it feeling like his breastplate gave him no room to move. The two other guards remained confused and fixated on the fact their friend couldn't move. Now that Lock had struck him with what looked like a powerful strike and yet the soldier hadn't even flinched, they were completely unable to comprehend the situation and were left speechless. Once Lock’s strike had been delivered and his fist returned back to his guard, two more strikes arrived just as fast as the first strike, totaling to three strikes in total. Despite their visual strength, the breastplate still remained undamaged and the soldier was non worse for wear. In addition, the once overwhelming sound of his strike to the first soldier had vanished and had no volume.

“What the hell is he doing?” asked one of the unfrozen soldiers as they both became increasingly confused by Lock’s actions. They looked at each other as if they were looking for some sort of affirmation from one another.

“Who cares? Just get him! While he’s distracted!” yelled the other soldier. Both soldiers nodded in agreement and drew their shortswords, making a sloppy sprint toward Lock and their immobilized companion. As Lock completed his third strike, the Tall man made a quick back step away from the stuck opponent.

“Guys! Help me out of this!” begged the frozen soldier as he writhed and struggled against his breastplate. Upon Lock regaining his footing and standing nonchalantly, the man raised his hand and clenched his fist quickly, accompanied by a menacing smile. As he clenched his fist, a small amount of green energy burst from his hand, as did the breastplate as if they were in a symphony. As the foreign green aura burst quickly from the breastplate. The soldier was suddenly sent into motion, with the sound of his breastplate snapping violently. The man was sent flying back several meteres - as if he had been hit by a siege ram - and was sent hurtling into his two comrades. The three men toppled against each other and all fell to the ground in a messy pile. While the soldier who was struck, lay incapacitated with his breastplate torn apart. The section that was originally struck by Lock had a giant hole torn inside which reached all the way to the soldier's abdomen, bruised and torn skin was visible and was slowly peeling away from how violently it was struck. Subtle groans could be heard from the soldiers as Lock passed by them casually, entering back into the main streets of Atlus City.

As Lock passed through the city - on his way to the entrance gate - he poked around in his left pocket. He then pulled out a small statue, its size was able to comfortably fit in his hand. It looked to be carved from an unknown alloy and was very well made. It resembled an hourglass, though, no sand resided in the vials and instead, they were comprised of an alloy, not glass.

“A Devil Relic user against another Relic user eh?” Lock said to himself as he smiled with anticipation. “The coin better be worth it for this long trip,” he said as he strolled out of Atlus City and onto the path to the transport docks.