A disturbing scenery

Celes looked around their room, unable to see Amy anywhere.

"Where is Amy?" Celes asked to Cess.

"T-that's right, Celes! The guards took her somewhere else! They said the Marquis wants her for some reason!…. Celes… Amy is…" Cess explained as her expression slowly darkened.

"It's fine, I'll get her back, okay?" Celes assured her.

"Yeah, I believe in you, Celes…" Cess said as Celes patted her head.

"Stay here, okay? Keep Lam safe, I'll also put on a barrier on you two." Celes stated before doing so.

"What about her? She's here before us." Cess pointed on the corner.

"Is that… an elf?" Muttered Celes before checking with her appraisal.

:Name:Lory (Weakened 8)

:Race:Forest Elf

:Age:72

:Level:27

:Stats:

STR:42

AGI:86

DEX:89

INT:46

LUK:1

VIT:19

Total Stats:273

:SKILLS:

Active:

Wind Arrow 4, Bow Creation 2

Passive:

Magic Control 4, Bow Mastery 6, Cooking 10, Housecleaning 3

Attributes:

Wind 84/100

:Titles:

[Hunter]⟩A slight increase in fear exerted to certain monsters and animals, and a slight increase in stealth

"She is an elf. Hey, Celes, is it possible to bring her back too? She has been nice to us, reassuring us that we'll be okay. Please?" Cess begged.

(What are you, a child?) Celes thought.

"We can't, Cess. My main objective here is to get you girls back to safety and make sure that the Marquis won't lay a hand on you again. What's more, she will become a burden." Celes explained.

"I see…" Cess looked down, understanding what Celes stated.

"… Fine, we'll get her back too, okay? So please remove that sad expression." Celes reached out to Cess' cheek and raised her face.

"Yeah… thank you, Celes," Cess said with a dry smile.

"Well then, I'll go get Amy now. You girls be safe." Celes said before heading out.

"Wait Celes," Cess said, halting Celes'movements.

"What is i-?" Celes wanted to ask but was interrupted with a kiss on the cheek.

"Y-you stay safe too, I won't forgive you if you came back hurt!" Cess said before running back to Lam and the Elf.

(This girl…)

"Okay, I promise." Celes smiled and reassured before closing the gate and headed out with her stealth on.

(Now where is that girl…) Celes passed many cells in hope of finding Amy; however, she was met with another person.

"There you are, you intruder!" A woman in black clothing appeared out of nowhere and swung her short sword in Celes' direction.

(Woah there.) Celes splendidly dodged the tip of the short sword and tapped the woman's leg with her's, setting the other party off-balanced.

"Why is my luck against me even at a time like this?…" The woman said.

(Luck? Appraisal.)

:Name:Ava

:Race:Human

:Age:32

:Level:27

:Stats:

STR:32

AGI:76

DEX:89

INT:36

LUK:-19

VIT:19

Total Stats:242

:SKILLS:

Active:

Energy Wave 6, Shadow Step 7

Passive:

Magic Control 4, Short Sword Mastery 6, Eagle's perception 3

Attributes:

Shadow: 80/100

Dark: 10/100

:Titles:

[Ill-starred]⟩ Luck decreases randomly from 0 to 2 every level up

(Oookay, so stats can go down to negative too… that's a nice find. But this works in my favor, she's currently on the expression that she's just unlucky, won't that be advantageous?) Celes thought.

"This time for sure, I'll get you!" Ava cried.

(Nope, too slow.) Celes dodged and dodged, leading Ava onto a wall and…

(There we go…) Celes tripped her once again, and Ava crashed hard with her momentum onto the wall, rendering her unconscious.

Celes ran again from room to room with the thought, (That was silly, that was beyond silly.) and moved on.

After Celes wandered around, she felt a sudden ominous aura.

(This feeling… it's coming from there.) She followed the source of that feeling. The closer she got, the more disturbing the feeling became.

(Just how big is this underground prison? I understand that his mansion's size is second only to the royal castle's, but these underground channels are too big.)

After a few corridors, Celes started hearing voices and the ominous feeling noticeably hiked up.

After a few more turns, she started hearing cries of cheer and the ominous feeling is now harder to ignore.

(What's up with this place. There's no way we're still in the Marquis' territory, where is this?)

A few more running and she reached a huge room, cheers can be heard along with painful cries.

Celes didn't forget to put on stealth as she slowly approached the room. She took a peek at the scene.

What her eyes lied on was by no means pleasant. What was unfolding in front of her was dozens of men cheering, having fun with pure bliss written on all their faces and a stage, covered in blood, guts, despair, and grief. Any sane being that might see this will be, by no means not disgusted. Yet all these men don't care, they're having fun in front of this spectacle.

In front of this stage was a young man, that seemed familiar to Celes.

:Name: Laor Galroe (Mind:Long gone)

It was the Marquis' puppet, and on top of the stage were women, women varying from all ages and different races, but that was not what Celes cared about.

Cause she too saw something she would've not wanted to see. Despite being emotionless, Celes couldn't help but want to take the head of the only man on the stage, Marquis Cro Galroe. On his arm was none other than Amy tied down with ropes, with his hands he forced open Amy's eyes, as the dying women on the stage mindlessly ate away at one another.

Celes didn't watch any longer and rushed to the stage after seeing Amy's condition :Name: Amy (Mind: despairing). She didn't thoughtlessly rush though, she first appraised most of the people in the room. Their stats weren't a problem at all, but she noticed one odd thing.

:Race: Human(?)

Each and every one of them, all of them had a questioned race.

*****