New Town

"Sir … he's …", a man dressed in a khaki green jacket and trousers, nestled on a branch spoke.

"I can see that", another man responded, leaning against the tree with his arms crossed watching the scene unfold below him.

Tens of assailants lay dead, while Milo had his back to the carriage, guarding Renny's still unconscious body. He continued to rip through more of the assailants, with no regard for method or technique, he resorted to brutally beating them, tearing them limb from limb, even going so far as to bite.

'Shit …'.

Milo panted, looking back over his shoulder as his eyes fixated on a familiar figure dashing in the distance.

'Took him long enough …'.

Marcos hurdled the carriage, drawing his blood red blade and instantly tearing through another ten of the attackers. His normal, relaxed expression was twisted in fury as his mana flared from his core. A single step from the vampire carried so much power that Milo's weakened knees couldn't help but buckle.

Instead of trying to get up and fight again, Milo slumped back against the wheel, constantly checking to see if Renny was still alive.

Thankfully he was breathing, although faint.

"Sir, we've lost nearly 40 men thanks to that child", The man in khaki said, positioning himself to drop down onto Marcos.

The other man grabbed his shoulders, "Wait, this man isnt somebody that you can handle".

He pointed down towards Marcos, who continued to tear through the attackers without breaking a sweat, his blood red sword drawing fresh arcs of blood with each refined and calculated swing.

"He's a Vampire".

Marcos looked around, watching the final attacker slip from the end of his sword. He could feel it, there was a slight change in the air that was created with a swift gust of mana. His eyes darted around, crossing every stone, tree and animal.

"Wow! Would you look at those two go!".

"You! Who are you!", the man dressed in khaki called out, gritting his teeth as a man dressed in all black stomped down on his spine, shattering it effortlessly.

"Who me? Well, you can just call me Dark", he said, a wry smile creeping onto his lips as he turned his gaze towards the man lounging against the tree.

Despite the sudden appearance of Dark and the abrupt death of his companion, the man didn't show an ounce of fear.

"What's someone as powerful as you doing out here?", he asked.

As he uttered those words, his figure began to warp, bringing forward the appearance of an older refined woman. Her short blue hair nestled just below her shoulders and her eyes swirled an incredible amethyst glow. Her features hardened as she took a step toward Dark.

"Wow!", Dark exclaimed, bouncing around the woman, "It's been quite some time since I last saw you, number 4", his eyes drifted down towards her backside, then towards her breasts, "What the hell have they been feeding you? You've certainly grown up!".

"Perverted old man", Number 4 spat.

"Now, now", Dark clapped sarcastically, looking over the woman once again. He flashed to her side, "I should be the one asking what you're doing out here?", he whispered, his threatening tone not matching the smirk plastered on his face.

Number 4's expression became wary of Dark. She could feel it, he might have been acting as his playful and uncaring self, but he was threatening her, his message became clear at that single point.

"I have a client out here", she responded with a shrug.

Dark twirled his hair around his fingertips, paying no attention to her, "Oh, is that so?".

His expression fell flat as his aura flared again, "Who is it? And why are they targeting that kid?".

Number 4 held her arms up in surrender, "No idea".

A few minutes passed with Milo regaining his breath, watching Marcos hastily treat Renny's wound. He felt the warm shiver of his emblem activate on his back as the 40+ souls become visible to him, each one shivering in the air, slowly gravitating towards him.

If he could, he would have liked to take them all into his body, but after his experimentation with animal souls, he found that his limit was somewhere around 10 at a time. Milo's surroundings seemed to warp and blur each time he looked towards a soul, only a few became crystal clear as he pushed himself to his feet.

Milo spread his arms out wide, "Alright …", he mumbled, releasing all of his mana from his core.

He stretched his mana the length of the surrounding area, encasing each of the souls within his domain. Already he felt a cold sweat trickle down his cheek as his heart rate increased. Finally, he felt the mana in the surrounding area begin to move, slowly drifting back towards him.

In this stream of pure mana, the souls were nestled neatly atop individual nodes, being carried towards his figure. He felt his body lurch forward as one of the souls struck him in the back, seeping through his body and being absorbed by his own core.

This was followed by the screams of torment and agony, as well as the screaming and swearing from the final, dying voice of the soul.

Milo's mind began to grow cloudy as his eyes became washed in a milky hue. Each of the 10 souls had been absorbed into his body, but at the cost of his mental fortitude.

"Sir …", Marcos screamed, leaving Renny and attempting to catch Milo as his body began to fall.

"Wow there!", Dark whistled, catching Milo before he hit the ground, "That was a close one, wasn't it kid!".

"Ah! You probably can't hear me, right?", Dark waved his hand in front of Milo's eyes, gaining no reaction, "Damn, passed out".

Marcos raised a brow watching this.

"No need to be afraid, damn Vampire", Dark said, gently carrying Milo's body towards the carriage.

Marcos shook his head, "What are you doing here?".

"Fuck, everyone is asking me that today", Dark complained, placing Milo's body next to Renny before turning to face Marcos.

"I'm here because I came to check up on the kid. You see I happened to get a little bit worried in regards to his emblem and it seems my fears weren't entirely baseless after all".

Dark had already explained this to number 4, before he let her return to whoever her client was. He couldn't be bothered to find that out, especially when he watched Milo trying to intake more than 10 souls at a single time.

His gaze lingered on Milo's body before he spoke again.

"I thought it was strange … how could a human child end up with a demonic emblem? I kept thinking that to myself by the way".

"Get to the point".

"Alright fine. Anyway, I came to the conclusion that somehow Milo has to be special. Although I don't know what it is exactly about him yet, but for a human to wield such a powerful dark art must mean his constitution is particularly strong".

"You should stop looking into it", Renny's tired and shaky voice called.

He pushed himself to sit upright, raising his hand to his forehead and dabbing it gently, coating his fingertips in blood. He visibly paled when he saw this and took a deep breath to regain his composure. Marcos rushed to his side, offering his shoulder for Renny to lean on.

The tightness of the hastily wrapped leather bandage, couples with the blunt stabbing pain thanks to the adrenaline coursing through his body was enough to allow Renny to meekly utter a few more words before passing back out.

"Please don't hurt Milo … whoever … you are".

"Admirable", Dark mumbled under his breath, effortlessly floating to Renny's side in his incorporeal form.

He disappeared inside Renny's body, not making a single sound for a couple of minutes whilst Marcos sat nervously awaiting his return.

"That should do it", Dark floated back from Renny's body.

In a few moments, Dark had used the mana from his own body and precisely circulated it around Renny's wound. He wasn't able to fully heal it as that wasn't his speciality, nor was it possible without a direct attempt on the wound from magic. Even so, through his own mana Dark had patched the wound enough so all that remained was a faint red line.

He switched back to his humanoid form, "Right, don't tell the kid I was here but I should be on my way now", he said as his form blurred, vanishing once again.

…

'Ugh! Where am I?'.

Milo was shaken awake by the rumbling of the carriage across hard rocks. He winced from a numb pain on the side of his head.

"You're awake", Renny said, sitting opposite Milo.

"What the hell happened?", Milo winced again, bringing his hand up and rubbing his temples, "Last thing I remember was beating up those guys … whoever they were".

During the time Milo was unconscious, Renny had awoken and thanks to the intervention by Dark, was fully able to start repairing the carriage. Of course, he had help from Marcos who was refusing to leave Milo's side, claiming that if something should happen to him, it was his responsibility to end his life alongside his master.

Dramatic but noble.

After they had repaired the carriage, they buried the driver in a shallow grave just beneath a tree. Marcos drew his sword and carved an image of a horse for some reason, and the mans name which they found hand embroidered inside his jacket. His name was Philip Maxwell, and he was a civil servant.

Through this information it became apparent that Milo and Renny's initial assumption about the man being employed by the noble family was false, and he was in fact, just a grumpy old bastard who hated small talk.

Before leaving, Marcos cleaned up the remains of the attackers, by throwing them into a ditch then lighting their bodies on fire … but he didn't seem to care, after all, they had dared bring harm to his master. In an instant, all of the corpses went up in flames and after dousing the raging inferno with water, Marcos climbed aboard the carriage and took the liberty of driving it himself.

It felt like time slowed to a stop as Milo found himself bobbing up and down, desperately trying not to throw up from the bumps.

"DAMN IT! MARCOS! STOP GOING OVER ROCKS!", Milo stuck his head out of the window, barking orders at his servant.

His eyes widened as they nestled on a fortified town with multiple carriages similar to the one he was riding in stationed outside. The stone walls stretched near 90 feet high and the steel gate at the entrance was constantly slamming shut after each passenger that attempted to pass through.

Children sprinted past the carriage, giggling to themselves as they pointed and laughed at the outfit Marcos had stolen from the previous driver. In an instant, the carriage ground to a halt and a burly looking man with a battle axe tapped to his back poked his head through the window.

"Name", he ordered.

Renny pushed past Milo to respond, "Renny and Milo Van Belched".

"Ok", the man responded, scribbling down on a piece of paper, "Reason for visit".

"Invitation from the Earl", Renny responded, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small black card lined with golden stripes.

The man plucked it from Renny's hand and inspected it, then he dropped into a bow, "Forgive me for my rudeness Baron Van Belched, these are just security checks. I hope you don't mind".

"Not at all", Renny smiled and waved him away, "Do what you need to do".

The man gave a small salute with three fingers and rounded the carriage. "Name", he asked Marcos.

Marcos cleared his throat, "Philip Maxwell".

"License", the man asked, reaching out his hand.

"Here good sir", Marcos responded with a hint of smugness, passing over a white card with the name Philip Maxwell written on it.

"All clear!", the man shouted, raising his hand.

In front of the carriage, the iron gate began to be lifted by multiple men turning some form of device in the corners. In the room next to it, what could only be assumed to be the control room, dozens of mages dressed in blue robes with their faces covered continued to pour their mana into a bright golden orb.

'Maybe a shield of some sort'.

Milo thought to himself, sticking his head out of the window and breathing in the scent of freshly baked bread.

The carriage slowly rolled through the streets lined with stands selling fruits, bread and meat on either side of the road. The corners were lined with all kinds of shops from what could be high end brands, all the way down to common shoe shops.

Men and women alike filled the busy streets, walking alongside the road, each gawking at the carriage as it rolled past. Some even went so far as to drop into a bow.

'What the hell are they doing?'.

As if reading Milo's thoughts, Renny spoke, "This must be one of the Earl's personal carriages if the citizens of the town can recognise it".

'I see'.

Milo thought whilst rubbing his chin. He turned his attention back towards the market, noticing a man dressed in the same outfit of the attackers he had faced dip into an alleyway.