Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

"Go for it."

Lucius's confirmation of her request made Kalliope very excited. She felt like she wanted to let loose ever since watching him take over the attack at the Academy. She got to let loose a little, but it was while injured so she had to hold back a lot to prevent her injuries from getting worse.

After seeing him not hold back, or at least not very well, her blood had been boiling for a fight. Kalliope desperately needed to let off some steam. She excitedly locked her fingers into a claw-like position and bared her fangs as she began to shift. The nails on her fingers turned into sharpened claws.

When the bandit outside got impatient, he finally yanked open the door only to see an armored beastman waiting for him. Kalliope rushed at him using her surprise attack to take advantage of the attack. Her claws sunk into his neck and face sending a spray of blood into the air and along the stone paved road.

She could smell and hear a few other bandits in the immediate surroundings and rushed to the rear carriage to take care of the ones behind them. Instead of using Arts or Magic, she simply relied on the enhanced speed and strength her shifting gave her.

A second enemy rounded the back of the rear carriage and his eyes immediately fell to his comrade on the ground. He opened his mouth to shout for help, but before he could make a sound, Kalliope's claws had already pierced the back of his throat. What was supposed to be a shout turned into a squeak and a gurgle as he drowned in his own blood.

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"Ahh that feels good… More! [Beast Arts: Iron Claws]!"

Her clawed hands glowed with golden mana as she engaged the Arts. Her activation phrase attracted the attention of the bandits now who all rushed to the source of the commotion. They saw the two dead men on the ground, one of them still twitching on the ground at Kalliope's feet.

"Kill it!" They shouted and rushed her.

There were only four additional men attacking at once. None of them seemed particularly strong or possessed mana worth noting. Kalliope had finally started getting the hang of mana manipulation after the many years training with Lucius and Kalivas.

Using that skill, she forced some of the energy into her feet and lunged to meet the rushing attackers. The first of the four fell in less than a second, showering the face of one of the horses with blood. She swiftly turned around and gored the stomach of another, letting him fall to the ground in pain and scrambling to put his innards back inside himself.

The wolf-girl squeezed her hands and cracked her fingers while eyeing the two remaining men. They each reached into their pockets and grabbed out a strange potion. She decided to let them use it because if anything went poorly, she had Lucius and Desmond. On top of that, Therentil did not appear to be a slouch himself.

When they uncorked the strange potions, a smell completely unfamiliar to her assaulted her nose. Deciding that she shouldn't let them drink the potions in the end, Kalliope started to rush forward, but then a more familiar smell appeared. It was ozone.

In a blur of speed and crackling lighting, Lucius rushed out of the carriage. He appeared several feet away with both bottles in his hand. The look in his eyes was one of confusion and concern. Though she did not recognize the substance, it seemed he had.

"Where did you get this?" He asked.

"Why should we tell you?" One of them shouted nervously.

"Wh-when did you…"

"Answer." Lucius said. Thunder rumbled above and a bolt of lightning struck near the men's feet, throwing pebbles into the air. "Now."

"W-we just got it from some guy. He gave them to us as payment for letting him pass."

"When?" Lucius pressed.

"Uh-uh I don't know…"

Kalliope watched as another bolt of lighting struck the ground. This time it also struck one of the bandits, boiling his skin and burning the hair and armor off his body. The remaining man began to whimper and Kalliope picked up the smell of urine.

"Try. Again." Lucius warned, his eyes glowed with power.

"Three weeks ago we intercepted this caravan with a guy who looked like an elf, but also not. He was too ugly to be an elf, but… he had all these potions and promised to give these to us if we let him pass." The bandit answered. "He said it would make us…"

"I know what it does. What was his name? Where was he from? Where was he headed? Where did he get it?"

"I-I don't know… he showed us how it worked and we took them… that's all I know…"

Kalliope winced as drops of blood landed on her cheeks. Lucius had vanished from where he stood off the side and reappeared at the side of the carriage. He was in a crouched position and in his unoccupied hand was a bloody mess that used to be the final bandit's face. He crushed it into the stone like a watermelon.

"Therentil, have your men move the log. I'm done."

"As you wish, Lord Kane."

Kalliope undid her shifting and released her Art before climbing into the carriage. She saw that she was not the only one giving Lucius a strange look. Jade and Desmond were just as shocked at Lucius's change in behavior. He seemed content to let Kalliope handle it alone.

It was clear he was not concerned about her safety because she could handle herself, but something about those potions triggered him.

"What is it about those things?" She asked.

"When I was younger, Rena and I were adventurers. A short time into our adventures we took on a bandit camp with the help of… Mia and her allies." Lucius started to explain while Kalliope felt herself growl at the mention of the traitorous bitch's name.

"Anyway… the bandit leader was an unranked human, yet he had a potion that enhanced his strength. Pretty normal thing to find. However he was able to fight on par with my party leader for even a short time. Nearly killed me too. Mia and her group were supposed to look into it, but we separated there and I heard nothing more."

"So this potion is strong enough to have an unranked person fight against mid-level rankers? That is an insanely powerful substance…"

"It is… and a dangerous one." Lucius then growled himself. It was something that Kalliope had only heard a few times. He had no control over it like a normal beastman. For him, it only happened in intense anger or annoyance.

"What's wrong?"

"I want to investigate this… but we need to… gah. Therentil, get these fucking carriages moving. I need to be in Aedrider yesterday." Lucius yelled before closing his eyes and leaning back to practice some breathing exercises.

"Understood." Therentil called back.

Kalliope kept it to herself, but she felt bad for him. It seemed this strange substance really struck his curiosity, however he clearly wanted to resolve the elf problem first for Rena's sake. The best they could do was reach out to King's Shadow contacts over Aedrider's borders to initiate an investigation.

Kalliope smiled helplessly and placed a gentle hand on Lucius's leg. To her surprise, instead of pushing it away, he simply rested his atop hers which brought a faint blush to her cheeks.

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