Tiberius ignored the blood gushing out of the wound in his hand. His eyes were fixed on the red glows approaching him slowly from the woods.
Gradually Tiberius could make out a figure of a human with the help of little moonlight coming through the thick canopy above.
"Hello, Tiberius" A small orb of light appeared in between them to light the surroundings. Tiberius was stunned by the light as he had never seen a floating orb of light in his life before. The pair of red glows disappeared after the light appeared.
Soon Tiberius saw another figure walking out of the darkness dragging a man whose head was covered in black cloth. Both of the figures wore black skull masks to cover their faces.
"Your gift" before Tiberius could do or say anything, the second figure standing behind the tall figure kicked the man as he slid towards Tiberius.
Tiberius cautiously looked between the figure wiggling at his feet and the two figures standing a couple of meters in front of him. He had so many questions running through his mind
Pushing those questions to the corners of his mind, he slowly placed his hand on the black cloth to remove it. His blood flowed to the person's black cloth, drenching it,
"Go on" Michael knew about Tiberius's condition so he patiently waited for him to take off the cloth from Herius's head.
Tiberius grabbed the cloth, removing it to see a bloodied swollen face. Despite the face being bruised, bloodied, and swollen to the point that it's hard to recognize him, Tiberius was able to identify him. His body began to shiver the moment he saw the face. It was not because of his condition, it was because of the overwhelming anger burning inside him.
Two years ago, it was Herius who stabbed Tiberius in the back, causing his muscles to lose strength with time. Besides, although Tiberius was not best friends with Titus and Optimus, he respected them as gladiators. Titus and Optimus both fought Tiberius before their 50th battle that was supposed to earn them their freedom. Tiberius accepted the defeat like a champion because he was a soldier before becoming a gladiator, hence he valued honor. What they did to Optimus and Titus was not honorable. It was that day Tiberius realized that there's no honor among nobles and there's no difference between a gladiator and a slave. When he was a gladiator, he was drowned in women, glory, adrenalin rush, and attention. They kept him from realizing the state he was in, a slave, just like everyone else. In addition to Herius, he was angry with himself for being so damn stupid.
"Herius"
"Hrrhhhggghh" Herius frantically struggled to escape but his hands and legs were tied with ropes, making it easy for Tiberius to have his revenge.
Tiberius kicked Herius in the gut before getting on top of him with his dagger raised high. Looking at the dagger with eyes full of horror, Herius began to struggle more and more frantically. He could see the killing intent in Tiberius's eyes and tell what's about to happen.
"Arghhh" Tiberius let out a mad cry before going berserk on Herius. He slashed Herius as Herius's muffled cries began to sound wilder and wilder.
The blood gushed out of Herius with each cut. Michael saw nothing but mad anger within Tiberius's eyes. Tiberius's condition made each cut shallower than he intended. Therefore, Herius was put through the torture that slowly took his life. Tiberius saw Herius's light of life gradually dimming in his eyes. Nonetheless, Tiberius's speed of slashing him didn't even slow a bit.
Michael and Gaya patiently waited for Tiberius to finish without batting an eye. As far as they were concerned, Herius deserved nothing less. After all, Herius tortured and killed hundreds of slaves for fun and pleasure.
After inflicting hundreds of cuts on Herius, Tiberius was bathed in blood.
"I thought I'll feel better," Tiberius said after spitting the blood that went into his mouth when slashing Herius.
"Who are you two freaks?" Tiberius turned his gaze towards Michael and Gaya
"We are building an army and we want you in it"
"Humph" Tiberius snickered, "you may have not noticed but I'm done being someone's bitch a long time ago"
"You aren't one now?" Michael questioned him, aiming to kindle Tiberius's anger more.
"I'm not going to stand here and give you a golden speech. Instead, I'll give you an option, an option to regain everything you're desperate for"
"You...don't...know me" Tiberius gritted his teeth,
"I know enough to know you're losing strength in your limbs" Tiberius was surprised as Michael continued,
"You want to fight but you know you can't anymore. Soon, you'll be of use to no one here and die dreaming of your golden days"
"Well freak, I appreciate your gift, I really do but unless you have a miracle drug hiding in that armor of yours, you're wasting your time"
Michael heard Gaya gritting her teeth. It was obvious she wanted to beat the hell out of Tiberius for calling him a freak.
"Calm down" he whispered,
"There is if you accept my offer"
For a few seconds, Tiberius's eyes went wide in shock. A small glimmer of excitement and hope emerged in his eyes but it disappeared soon. Michael expected this reaction from him. According to Heinberg, there wasn't a cure for Tiberius's condition, at least not one in the Southern Continent. Since the healing potions had trace amounts of Arch energy within them and any Arch energy would be absorbed by the dormant Hydra in the Southern continent, the healing potion would be useless to Tiberius unless the healing potion brewed by Michael with a few adjustments from the system.
"This is gonna sting" Before Tiberius could react, he felt a sting in his neck.
"Fuck" he quickly slapped the neck where he felt a sting like swatting a mosquito to feel a needle sticking out of his neck.
"How do you feel?"
Tiberius clenched his fist. Playfully pinched Xanali's cheekA short snort of laughter escaped his mouth in utter surprise and joy. He could feel the strength returning to his arms.
"This is just a tip of what I can do Tiberius. If you want to kill more sons of bitches like Herius and live your dreams, this is your chance" Tiberius looked at Michael in a new light.
"Time to make a decision Tiberius"
Tiberius was more surprised to hear a voice of a girl from the masked figure.
"What you just gave me, is it permanent?"
"When I'm sure you're loyal to me, I'll give you the permanent cure. But know this, im not forcing you and one of my goals is to eradicate slavery, so you won't be a slave like you were before. What I'm giving you is a choice, ``Are you willing to be my soldier?"
"Well fuck it" the feeling of his strength returning was too much to let go of. He wanted the feeling to last forever. Besides, these figures brought Herius like he was nothing when Doctorus couldn't even get near the guy without being spotted by the spartans.
"If you can give me this and assholes like him to kill, I do whatever you want"
******************************
"Peyton" Back at Peyton manor, Xanali entered the room carrying a stack of parchments. Peyton was sitting on a white couch looking at the starry sky through the glass windows.
"Have they caught him?" Peyton didn't even turn back to look at Xanali. She was drowned in the beauty of the star-filled sky.
"Not yet and it's not him, it's her" what she said got Peyton's attention,
"A woman? How did you know?"
Xanali flicked her wrist as a vial with a few long strands of black hair in it,
"Our scholars found that these hairs we found on one of the L marks belong to a woman" Xanali handed over the vial to Peyton,
"Why is a woman drawing L marks in various cities and villages?" Xanali sat beside Peyton,
"It's either she's an ardent fan of Lucifer or she has been leaving the marks in the hope of contacting Lucifer" Peyton has been scouring the continent to find Lucifer before he kills more people. She was becoming obsessed with him. In five days, the time limit Lucifer offered is coming to an end. The nobles were already in a panic because it was them who did the worst crimes and had reason to be afraid of him.
"What I don't know is, how is she able to escape our men who are supposed to be on guard?"
"She's skilled enough to do that which makes catching her difficult but we're getting closer. In a way, this is an opportunity" Xanali smiled,
"Opportunity?"
"Yes. If we know about Lucifer, whatever she's doing might have already gotten his attention or will soon. We get her, track her, wait for him to show up and we nail both of these criminal scums once and for all. Or..." her smile grew wider,
"Or we leave our own marks. Lucifer will see them as calling cards and she might see them as a reply from Lucifer. Either way, we'll catch one or both"
Peyton nodded approvingly, "Get it done, I want this fiasco to end before the tournament begins. And by the way, has Noah returned from his little trip?" Peyton pinched Xanali's cheek in a playful manner as Xanali began to blush,
"He's still at the Rainbow islands"