Punishment

'But where is she heading? It's been a good ten minutes since I've been following her, but she maintains the same pace,' thought Atlas as he tracked Asha across the rooftops, sprinting through the city streets at great speed.

"She runs so fast, this girl. But she's so se... *Ahem* I'm getting off track."

After a few more minutes of movement, Asha finally began to slow down, seeming to reach her destination.

The place she had arrived at was not far from the entrance to the black market, but it was rather isolated from the other buildings in the area. It was a courtyard barricaded on all four sides with a 2-meter-high wooden fence. The front of the fence had a large gate, also made of wood, and in this courtyard stood a large two-story wooden house, adorned with all kinds of beautiful flowers.

On the terrace of the house sat a man, his legs crossed, pouring tea into a cup on a glass table beside him while gesturing for Asha to approach.

- Did you ask for me, Master Elias?

- What a pleasure to see you, Asha.

- The pleasure is mutual.

- Well, come sit here and have a taste of this good tea with me.

- Um... time might not allow me, master.

- Hmmm... I see. He said before sighing. "You must be in a hurry. Perhaps you're too busy taking care of your dear little father who's dying soon."

Asha jumped at the remark and couldn't help but tremble. She had discovered that the man in front of her, who was the leader of the black market, now knew the truth about her and the scientist.

"Come closer, Asha," ordered the man with a hypocritical smile that could shake the city walls.

"You can tell from miles away that this merchant is bad. Just by looking at him like that, I feel like cutting his head off," whispered Atlas, gripping the fence, his head slightly poking out. At these words, Atlas's katana wavered slightly, and Atlas had the strange feeling that the sword was impatiently smiling.

"Tss... calm down, Muramasa, I'll discipline you. I can't even understand how you can have such a thirst for blood. How is it even possible for a sword to thirst for blood? And am I really talking to my sword? Damn, I need to get a grip," he continued to whisper, getting lost in his thoughts.

"Come on, Asha, come closer. Don't be shy," Elias insisted.

She timidly approached the merchant, while Atlas couldn't stop wondering how she could have gotten herself into such a mess, how she could have ended up working for such a jerk, since she didn't seem to be a bad person at all.

Now that she was in front of this man, Asha felt helpless, powerless. And as this feeling grew stronger and stronger, Elias got up to approach Asha more closely.

He placed his hand on her cheek, not far from her neck, before saying:

- After all I've done for you, is this how you thank me? By betraying me.

- I never said I wanted to betray you. I just want to...

- Shhh, don't defend yourself, Asha. Said Elias, interrupting Asha by placing his index finger on her lips. "You just want to stand in my way by protecting my main enemy.

I taught you everything you know, from your fighting style to everything you own. It all comes from me. I remember very well the evening you came to me, you were 8 years old and crying, begging me to let you work for me because you were hungry.

Hmmm... now that I think about it, so you're the one who kept that old decrepit Owen alive all these years."

Elias looked at Asha for a long moment after his words. Then, sliding his hand closer and closer to her neck, he added:

"This saddens me deeply, Asha. This betrayal cannot go unpunished."

He then grabbed the young girl violently by the throat. In the moment it happened, her head jerked back suddenly and her eyes twisted in pain, a pain so intense that blood began to escape. But not just that, blood was also flowing from her nose and mouth.

Atlas didn't hesitate for a fraction of a second to jump over the fence and run towards Asha to try to help her. But by the time he reached her, which was less than a second, Elias' magic had already done its work. On the outside, Asha was in incredible pain, but on the inside, she was living... a beautiful dream:

She was sitting on the ground in the middle of nowhere, on grass stretching as far as the eye could see.

As she tried to understand what was happening, two people approached her from behind: her father and her mother. They were both young. Her father had black hair and the vibrant purple glow in his eyes still shining brightly.

Her mother, on the other hand, looked so much like her. She had purple hair, just like her daughter, and eyes as blue as hers. It seemed so real that Asha completely forgot about what was actually happening.

Seeing her mother for the first time since she was 6 years old, the only thing she wanted to do was rush to embrace her. So, she stood up as quickly as possible, a tremendous joy evident on her face.

Two tiny meters separated her from her mother when she fell to the ground due to an obstacle she hadn't noticed. As she tried to get up, she met her mother's eyes... only to see her head fall to the ground.

The green grass suddenly turned red as far as the horizon, and the beautiful blue sky became deeply dark.

"M... Mo... Mother," Asha said, witnessing this horrifying sight.

Her face appeared almost emotionless as a tear escaped from her right eye. Her mother's head rolled slowly until their faces were facing each other. Then, a macabre smile appeared on the decapitated head. A smile that was also on the face of Asha's father, who was looking down at her.

After kicking Asha's mother's head away, her father picked up a machete from the ground and began, without showing any emotion or hesitation, to slowly plunge it between his daughter's eyes, who couldn't do anything to stop this.

And with that persistent smile on his face, the man turned the machete, which was vertical, horizontally, and proceeded to split her head in tw...

... Asha now saw nothing but darkness, tainted with countless red stains.

Her beautiful dream had turned into a horrific nightmare.

...

{MURAMASA WITH DEADLY EDGE: transcend the one who touches your blade}

Atlas unsheathed his sword, ready to swiftly sever Elias' arm, forcing him to release his grip on the young elf.

Although he missed the merchant's arm, his strike was filled with such fury that the blade's edge extended all the way to the house, almost cleaving it in two.

As he grabbed the young girl, Atlas cast a fierce glare at the man who looked down on him. And for the third time, his time magic manifested.

There was a glimmer in his red irises, and once again, Atlas felt that sense of lifelessness surrounding him. Everything was frozen, so without wasting any time, he began to move away from the merchant.

"In a few seconds, I will start feeling the side effects. I need to act quickly to stop my time magic," Atlas thought as he moved further away with Asha in his arms.

"It infuriates me that I can't just beat the hell out of this bastard here and now. But what's most important is that she survives, no matter what has happened to her," he also thought as he looked at the young lady in a pitiful state.

Blood had gushed out from Asha's eyes, not sparing her nose and mouth. There was enough blood to almost completely cover her face.

If Atlas had stopped his time magic, Asha would likely have bled to death by the time they reached a place where she could receive medical care.

He intended to take her to a facility he and Alpheus had noticed while searching for the entrance to the black market. It was a hospital located in the upscale neighborhoods of the city of Santa Rosa.

Getting to the hospital was a true ordeal for Atlas, as he had to maintain his magic. And as he had anticipated, the side effects soon started to manifest. It began with headaches, followed by a trickle of blood from his nostrils. His heart rate increased more and more, his arms trembled as he held the young elf, and his vision gradually became blurry. But when he glanced at Asha, he forgot all the pain he might be feeling at that moment.

...

After the long and grueling journey, which had lasted only a second, they finally arrived at the hospital. Atlas was able to stop his time magic as soon as he entered the emergency room.

Fortunately, the doctors, aware of the situation, immediately took Asha to the intensive care unit.

On his part, as soon as Atlas turned his back to go sit in the waiting room, two massive heartbeats echoed in his chest. He fell to his knees and spat out a surprising amount of blood.

"Damn it! This magic is way too dangerous," he thought, wiping his mouth.

"Are you alright, sir?" asked a young nurse, as if it wasn't already obvious that Atlas wasn't doing well.

"Don't worry, it's probably nothing serious. And I have healing potions with me," he replied, getting up and taking a vial of potion from his storage bag.

'I wonder how Master Gaius does it. It's truly exceptional that he can constantly maintain his time magic on his body to slow down his aging. But what level of mastery does one need to achieve such a feat? Damn! It makes me want to train,' he continued to think, drinking his potion to alleviate his discomfort, all while smiling with excitement at the new challenge he would undertake during his journey.

***

Meanwhile, on Alpheus and Owen's side.

- Alright! Enough blabbering. I have an answer to these questions that have never been answered. The old man said, addressing Alpheus.

- An answer?! The result of your research?!

- Exactly!

- ...

- THE LINKS OF MANA!

****

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