17 Love Perhaps?

In a certain room filled with glass tanks, papers and all sort of operational tools, a young looking girl with black hair and blue eyes, with a crescent moon carved on her forehead wearing a lab coat stood just in front of a long metal table as she stared hard and long at a young looking boy all tied up with his eyes all gouged out, knife marks all over his body and an open stomach.

"Hmm, this one is a no show as well" commented the girl as she held up a scalpel with bloodied gloves while shaking her head

She paused again and continued staring at the table and the lifeless corpse before she released a tired and disappointed sigh. Removing her gloves, she walked up to some of the glass tanks which contained what seemed to be humans in it before stopping in front of a particular tank that had a four year old looking boy in it.

"Hah, trying to find a good match is a problem, only this one is showing a little promise but still, this is quite disappointing" said the girl as she scrutinized the boy inside the glass tank.

After staring at it for a while, she shook her head again before heading back to the table which contained the tied up corpse as she took out some papers and scribbled something down before proceeding to change her attire as she spoke

"Mace, come in here"

Not long after she spoke, the door to the room opened as a blonde haired young man with brown eyes stepped in and gave a polite bow

"Clean this up and make sure to stock up on more because these ones have been useless" said the girl with a slight smile on her face

The blonde haired man named Mace raised his head before responding in a smooth and deep voice

"Yes, master"

The girl nodded and stared at the man for a little while before proceeding to walk out, but just before she could walk out, the man spoke again

"Master, there's been a development concerning the number one person of interest"

The girl stopped with her eyebrows raised as she became silent but one could notice the slight impatience and extreme interest in her eyes, the man noticed this and continued speaking

"Like you instructed, I had him monitored secretly and recently he went to a certain village, right now the village is no more"

The girl was surprised before speaking again "and why did he do such a thing? was there anything important in the village?"

"No master, there wasn't anything special about the village, it only contained false mortals and nothing more. The village was also checked by our people long after they left but they found nothing special about it"

The young girl heard this and fell into deep thought before speaking again "Hmm, well considering he's an Ashel it's not really surprising but..."

This time a small smirk appeared on her face "...he's quite different from them, when I saw him I was sure of it..."

She paused and spoke again "keep monitoring him and report to me whatever you find, no matter how little or useless the information might be"

Mace kept quiet and listened obediently, he kept wondering why this eccentric master of his was so interested in that person. She was also like this when it came to him, she picked him, a no name and wanderer from the streets and took care of him, even teaching him all about magic personally, even going as far as to give him a name after which he decided to swear his loyalty to her.

However, not like he was boasting but she is normally an aloof and cold person, cruel in fact but only towards him was she warm and a bit kind, he didn't understand and didn't dare to question her but her interest in that person was way too intense that it got him wondering just what made her so interested in him, still he kept his thoughts to himself

The young girl then looked at him before speaking and snapping him out of his thoughts

"Oh, and make sure that not under any circumstance you're noticed by him, it must be discreet" warned the girl seriously

The man nodded as the girl went out but she still muttered something under her breath which gave the man a slight shock as he wondered

'Perhaps, it's...love?'

***

A very tall silver haired man with crimson eyes, wearing a black military like attire was staring at a bunch of papers in a well decorated office before putting them down and shook his head almost disappointingly before dropping the papers as he stood up and stepped out of his office where a brown haired, middle aged man was waiting patiently

The silver haired man looked at him as he spoke "Elam, there has been some slight movements from Eldrid, although it looks normal but I suspect that something is off"

Elam looked at him and was still quiet, as he seemed to wait for the man to continue with what he was saying

The silver haired man continued "I noticed this about four years ago, and recently the movements from Eldrid has been increasing, I'm not sure who exactly but I have my suspects, I want you to instruct the alpha squad to keep a close eye on all the grand duke families, most especially the Brunhild family"

This time Elam's face showed a slight confusion as he asked "But my lord, why more emphasis on the Brunhild"

The man replied "It's because of what Lily told me, afterall Cain told her everything that happened in the cave and that Brunhild child used a certain summoning which is quite suspicious"

He continued "It may be nothing and just one of the many strange summonings but...I feel something is off, so just do it"

Elam nodded and didn't say anything but he remembered something before he spoke again

"My lord, there's a new report concerning the young master"

The man raised his brow and asked "which is?"

"Well, he massacred a whole village and has been purchasing a high number of slaves all the while confining himself to his place of residence" said Elam as he stared at the man

The man asked another question "and? is that all?"

Elam spoke again "well, my lord, you said to watch out for the young master and report my findings"

The man shook his head before speaking again "cease with the useless reports, for now I do not want you monitoring what he's doing. Just focus on the task I gave you. You're dismissed"

Elam nodded before proceeding to go carry out his task, the silver haired man however just stood there as his gaze travelled to a luxurious looking mansion and a certain room where a young boy with black hair and crimson eyes was performing various gruelsom tests on different people

The man shook his head and smiled a little as he retracted his gaze "this boy, always so serious and focused on nothing more than his tests and magic, must have gotten that penchant for magic from Thelma"

He paused and sighed before speaking with a smile still on his face "I have nothing to do now, might as well go see Thelma"

***

Meanwhile, Cain was in a specialised room in his place as he killed slaves one after the other, either through extreme torture or through surgical procedures. All of a sudden he felt he was being stared at by someone making him halt, however he didn't turn his head but he smirked

"It must be that so called father of mine, quite an overprotective one I must say but still, what a pity, I wonder what face he would make if he realizes this family is basically just a purity farm for me"

He sighed and looked at the bloody mess in the room "well, I was right afterall, this eye of Ashel really has its use when it comes to torture methods, this will be very useful in the future but..."

He paused and stared at a young looking boy who looked no older than six years as the boy just stood obediently and stared at him like a little puppy

Cain's voice became cold as he commanded "With what you have seen me do so far, kill yourself in the most painful way possible"

The young boy looked at him and nodded immediately as he stepped forward and grabbed a small and sharp knife not far from Cain, he first plunged the knife into his left arm as he slowly drew a long and deep horizontal line down to his wrists, which provoked a scream from the boy as blood kept oozing out

Still, he didn't stop as he dropped the knife and placed his fingers into the cut as he proceeded to tear his skin slowly, he kept screaming and crying but still he couldn't stop and continued until his left arm was all exposed muscles with blood decorating the floor beneath him.

That was just the left arm, but his face was pale, Cain looked at this carefully and curiously as he studied the boy, the young boy however picked up the dagger again and did almost the same thing to both his legs and his stomach, but when he was done with his stomach and wanted to start with his eyes, his body entered hypovolemic shock, he couldn't proceed further.

Cain kept watching the young boy who was a bloodied mess slowly passing out before eventually becoming a lifeless corpse. He then nodded and commented

"Seems like the nano-parasite is better than I thought, it actually renders the eye of Ashel useless in terms of torture...well, nothing bad in having variety"

The rest of the slaves who were behind metal bars witnessed the whole process but they all had deadpan gazes, seemingly having lost the will to live after seeing the various tortures and killings that Cain had done and just waited for their deaths

"Now, I think I have a good grasp on most of my powers, and Valery and the rest have set out for their various tasks, I'll have to focus on increasing my personal strength from now. I'm very sure that all the noble families are extremely wary of me especially..."

He paused and looked eastward "....the Brunhild family, but I have a surprise or two for all of them"

He shook his head and stared at the bloody and messy room before he sighed and activated one of his powers, all the blood, flesh and bones were immediately gathered and compressed into a sphere before he absorbed it into his body, however he didn't feel much change, only a miniscule energy increase

He observed himself before smiling bitterly and spoke in a mocking but determined tone with a little madness in his eyes as it turned pitch black

"This predator ability is really useful but it is wasted on me, afterall I am but a weakling, still I will strive to be deserving of this power because only a predator is qualified to hunt and only the strong is qualified to be a predator...this world, no the universe shall be my prey and I, the predator"

He continued as he began making his way for the exit "might as well increase my strength now and wait for all my plans to bear fruit"