Marcus with a look of terror on his face stared at the large middle-aged man with short purple hair who had just busted into the warehouse.

‘Ander, what the hell is he doing here, I watched him leave earlier and he was not supposed to be back until tomorrow. Fuck, what am I going to do, I barely beat Osman how am I going to deal with him?’

As Marcus’ brain strained itself to find away out of his predicament, Ander scanned the entire warehouse seeing the damage Marcus had caused before fixing his gaze on Marcus. He stared at him like a judge at a dog show examining what made Marcus tick and once he was satisfied, he began speaking.

“Well Irene I have to admit that I am impressed with how you thrashed my subordinates, I commend you for coming out on top especially at only level eleven. If you had not let your bloodlust leak the other day, I never would have known you were targeting this warehouse. So, I have a proposition for you. This is going to end one of two ways; one you submit to me and join my group since you have really impressed me, and I can let bygones be bygones if you yield. The other option is that I beat you into submission and sell you away to the sickest pig I can find to recoup my losses, the option is up to you.”

During this time Marcus’ brain had never stopped moving at full speed looking for anyway to fight his current situation but he could come up with nothing that would put him out on top. For just a moment he considered Ander’s offer before the fragment of Irene’s soul burned with so much rage Marcus nearly lunged towards Ander. Getting his emotions under control Marcus steeled himself before spitting on the ground in disgust and answering Ander.

“I would rather die a thousand deaths than bow down and join you, you are a monster that goes around killing and kidnapping people, so I will have to choose option three, resist.”

Marcus then rushed towards Ander charging his scythe with mana and swinging with everything he had. The first slash comes fast towards Ander’ right side but in an instance, Ander drew his sword and deflected Marcus’ strike. Feeling the backlash from Ander’s sword Marcus’ hands felt numb from the force. Marcus furiously swung and swung at Ander who effortlessly blocked all of his attacks until he suddenly moved with frightening speed and tripped Marcus. Falling over Marcus tucked and rolled getting back onto his feet in one clean motion.

“Are you sure you do not want to reconsider, you would have no chance of beating me even if you were at your peak condition. I am twice your level and no amount of tactics of fighting spirit can help you overcome that difference.”

Marcus having already given into Irene’s fury began his assault again on Ander who then said, “Oh, well I have had my fun time to end this.”

In the next moment as Marcus was slashing his scythe downwards Ander caught his arm and twisted it forcing Marcus to drop his scythe. Then in one fluid motion he picked Marcus up by the arm and slammed him into the ground with his full force. The ground caved under the pressure leaving an imprint were Marcus had impacted the ground. Marcus had blood flowing out of many wounds and could feel several broken bones and the arm in Ander’s grasp was shattered. Marcus was broken and barely able to move as Ander lifted him up by his shattered arm and said, “See what did I tell you, you never had a chance you could not even put a scratch on me.”

While Ander was gloating about his victory with the final dregs of his strength as adrenaline pumped through his veins Marcus cast his iron threads spell and shaped it in the form of a corkscrew at the tip of his fingers before manipulating the threads to spin like a drill. Marcus then stabbed the rotating claws into Ander’s arm that was holding him aloft sinking in deeply. On reflex Ander brought his sword down on Marcus’ arm before kicking him away. Marcus then watched as his body seemed to fly backwards in slow motion and he could see his severed arm falling in front of him. However, this sense of slow motion did not last long as Marcus crashed into the ground skidding almost two dozen feet before coming to a stop.

Vomiting blood Marcus could feel his ruptured organs and the life of Irene’s body slipping away. Looking up Marcus saw Ander approaching slowly and saying, “Look what you made me do, with only one arm your value is going to go down by at least twenty percent, this could have been so much easier. Now enjoy your last few moments of being free because when you next wake up you will be attending your new master for the rest of your life.”

As Ander slowly approached him Marcus thought, ‘How could this happen, I tried so hard I did everything I could, why is this world so cruel. All the people from Irene’s community were killed and kidnapped, the bandits on the road killed people in cold blood just for some goods. Why am I the one beaten and battered when these people are the worst that society has to offer. Why do I hold back and not kill when no one does the same? Why should I stay my hand against this monster? Why why why why?… I know I should just kill him there was no need for this sense of misplace morality; Irene did not only want to save her little sister she wanted vengeance as well.’

When Marcus had finally accepted the entirety of Irene’s last wish the fragment of Irene’s soul resonated and merged with Marcus’. Ander noticing a change in the atmosphere suddenly stopped and watched as Marcus got back on his feet and the temperature in the room plummeted as ice started forming around the entire warehouse. He then watched as a translucent dark purple arm whose fingers looked like claws came out of the stump of Marcus’ severed arm. He watched horrified as the blood flowing out of the wound covered the arm giving it an even more sinister appearance. Ander tried to run but fear and ice had frozen him in place and in the next instance Marcus’ ghastly arm had slammed into him sending him hurtling across the room, through one of the cages and leaving him imbedded into the wall behind it.

Blood drooling out of his mouth and unable to move his broken body Ander looked down seeing the frightening imprint of a fiendish hand on his torso. Being completely unable to move Ander could only stare in horror as Marcus slowly approached him. When Marcus was only a few feet away his new spectral arm lashed out grabbing Ander by throat as Marcus began to slowly choke him and Irene started speaking.

“Do you remember what you did to my friends and family. How you came into the community under the pretense of wanting lumber only to kill and kidnap them. How you burned all our buildings to the ground. How when I tried to protect my little sister you killed me and threw me away like garbage.”

As the fragment of Irene’s soul let lose all of her feelings, Ander remembered who she was, the woman with a horrible scar on her face that had hit him with a board. When Marcus saw this realization on Ander’s face, he twisted his spectral arm snapping Ander’s neck before unceremoniously tossing his lifeless corpse on the ground.

With the battle over, the power keeping Marcus going instantly vanished and he passed out completely exhausted.