Journey of the Son of Ares

A bell rang as Aurelius pushed the door open all the way and strode into the shop, every step carrying the weight of a stomp. The young man behind the metallic desk jolted and looked up.

His eyes met those of Aurelius, which were shaded by his hat and bore no sign of lighting. "You sell enhancers?"

The young man gulped as he leaned back and stood up with his legs shaking. "Ah, le— let me get my boss."

The young man entered the backroom, and after a minute or so, he came back and stepped to the side before a burly bearded man wearing a monocle came out with a displeased look on his face. The man put his hands on the desk and looked straight at Aurelius. "Get out; we're closed."

"No," Aurelius answered, putting down the two bags he was carrying, "you're not."

The man let out a surprised and disrespectful scoff. "We're closed if I say we're closed."

Aurelius walked forward to the desk and glared into the man's eyes. "I know you have enhancers."

The man threw his hands out. "This is a pawn shop. What makes you think we've got enhancers?"

Aurelius leaned forward, laying his palms on the chilly desk. "Cade told me."

"Hah, that fu—"

Aurelius' eyelids lowered, depriving his eyes of the last bits of light there were to be seen there. Now they were only dark slits. "Be careful."

The man's remaining words were left in his throat as his eyes opened. Then he leaned back and scowled. "You two close, huh?"

Aurelius remained silent, waiting for the man to get back to the matter at hand.

The man sighed and shook his head. "Whatever. I still can't give you enhancers."

"I'm not asking."

The man's upper lip curled. "You think you can rob us without consequences? I know people more powerful than you could imagine. Anything happens to me and your—"

In an instant, Aurelius was on the man's side of the table. He pushed him against the wall before lifting him up by the throat. The young man on his right was about to move when Aurelius glanced at him, rendering him still as ice.

He then looked back at the man struggling for breath. "You will give me the enhancers, or I will kill you. Sure, I can pay you. 100 gold. The same price Cade sold them to you." The man's expression worsened. Aurelius tilted his head and widened his eyes with a severe look. "That's not negotiable."

The man seemed on the verge of passing out with his face red, so Aurelius lowered him. The man dropped to his knees and coughed for a while. When he finally managed to control his breathing, he looked up with bloodshot eyes. "You won't get away with this."

Aurelius looked down and answered, "I don't care."

***

Right when the sun was on the edge of the horizon, Aurelius looked up at the largest of all the buildings in the factory while standing in the drizzle. He then threw his hat away and got the cloth off of his head before shaking his hair around a little, letting it enjoy the moisture of the drizzle. Lastly, he grasped the enhancer vial in his pocket to make sure it was still there before he walked forward and drew open the steel doors of the building.

Surprisingly, the room was illuminated, with a large oil lamp hanging from the roof shining its faint light in the center of the room, leaving the corners dark.

Then he saw her. She hung her head, seemingly unconscious, while tied with hyperwire to a metallic chair in the middle of the room.

Then he saw them, standing on her sides. A pair of thin-framed individuals dressed in clothes that were half-black and half-white.

His nose crunched up as he asked the pair, "What do you want?"

The one on the left pointed at him. "You."

The one on the left did the same slightly after. "Dead."

There was a flicker in Aurelius' eyes. The pair were so young. Just a couple of girls, probably no older than Aurelius himself. Then his gaze firmed again. He couldn't let his mind clouded. Something more important than him was on the line. He would need to do anything.

"You're after the bounty. So why go after Cade? She's stronger than me, and doesn't have anything to do with this."

The masked girl on the left walked behind Cade and laid her hands on her shoulders. "She is close to you, so of course she was bound to be involved. According to our information, she is your weakness. We also know you to be more unpredictable."

Maybe they had info on her beforehand. That would've made it obvious why they had targeted her. It was better to fight someone whose strength was more known.

'According to their information? Information from whom?!' Aurelius thought as he squeezed his hands into fists.

Aurelius swallowed dryly before asking, "So what now?"

This time, the person on the right answered, saying, "Now you sacrifice your life for her and die. All you need to do is let us kill you, and she will be released."

Aurelius couldn't help but notice the resemblance in the girls' voices. They were sisters!

Aurelius exhaled deeply, trying to process the situation. "How can I know she isn't already dead?"

"You see her chest rising and falling, no?" the one behind her asked.

"Her hair is in the way," Aurelius said, prompting the masked girl to pull Cade's head up by her hair. There were bruises on her face. Something Aurelius thought he would never see. Her mouth was hanging slightly open. Aurelius could even hear her breathing. Still, he said, "I still can't see it," Aurelius lied. "Let me test her pulse."

The masked girl tilted her head. "And let you run away with her?"

"If she couldn't escape you, how could I even while carrying her?"

"We don't know what you're capable of yet," the one on the right said. "We won't take the risk."

"Then give me some insurance that her life will be spared," Aurelius demanded.

"There is no way for us to do that. You need to just trust us."

"Fine. I'll make you another offer then." Aurelius tilted his chin down as his hand reached into his pocket. His face then grew dark as he brought out the enhancer. "Let her go, and I won't consume this before slaughtering both of you."

The one on the right seemed to shudder just the tiniest bit. Just enough for Aurelius' enhanced senses to catch. Before entering, he had turned on Reinforcement as well as double enhancement, which were now running on mini supplies that Balgair had taught him.

It seemed that keeping his senses enhanced had paid off.

Now he knew the pair didn't have enhancers of their own. Maybe they were short on funds, or maybe they just didn't take them for the same reasons Cade didn't. Whatever the reason was, Aurelius now knew he had an advantage.

Immediately, after Aurelius issued his threat, the one behind Cade, materialized a knife. She then pulled Cade's loose head up by her hair and pressed the piece of materialization against her throat.

Aurelius heart jumped. At that moment, he wanted to lay down his arms and die to make sure Cade stayed safe. He couldn't do that, though. The game he was playing was a dangerous one, and any move could lead to death, but he had no other choice but to play.

He had to be cold. He had to be more than he was, or he would lose everything. At times like this, he would have given anything to have the intellect of Balgair. With that, all this could be resolved. In a situation like this, strength wouldn't cut it. He had to be smart.

He took off the lid of the enhancer and articulated himself as clearly as possible, "Lower... your... weapon."

The one behind Cade kept her weapon still and looked to her side. "Go take the enhancer from him."

Exactly as Aurelius predicted, they wouldn't try killing him with a beam if he had the enhancer. It was already clear they didn't know what he could do, and they wouldn't take the risk of starting a battle.

The masked girl approached steadily with steps that seemed to all be the last step before launching forward at full speed. She then reached out her hand. "Give the enhancer to me, and we'll let her go."

Aurelius looked at Cade and ground his teeth together before begrudgingly putting the hand holding the enhancer forward. Aurelius kept his gaze on Cade. When the masked girl was about to grab the vial, however, it dropped out of Aurelius' hand.

It wasn't an accident. Aurelius simply let the vial, which was worth over a hundred gold, drop to the ground.

In a split second, he turned to face the masked woman, who seemed startled despite her mask covering her expression. Aurelius had expected such a reaction.

He moved his foot forward before putting all his momentum into his hand, taking the girl by the throat and slamming her onto the ground hard enough to form a depression in the asphalt.

Aurelius also managed to catch the vial before it hit the ground and shoved it back in his pocket. The girl wriggled on the ground for a moment, but gave up once Aurelius flexed the joints in his hand and a ball of compressed essence game forth to reality.

He then looked to the other masked girl, who had drawn blood from Cade's throat. Not a lot, though. It seemed she had stopped when she realized she would lose her bargaining power if Cade died, and her sister would die.

"Now," Aurelius said, "let Cade go."